Happy Holidays from the Wingchair Traveller!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all! I wish you the best, and I promise to return very soon with a vengeance...
Love and best wishes xoxo,
the wingchair traveller

Bright Star By Jane Campion

Just wanted to give you my review of the movie Bright Star. This movie is brilliant as expected by a director like Jane Campion. I am waiting with anticipation for the DVD so i can play it non-stop, all-day, 24 hours a day. Not only is the story so right-on, the emotional intensity and the amazing cinematography combine to create a masterpiece of a film. A love story that is 200 years old is brought to the present with a not just modern, but timeless idea of spiritual love without the clutter of physicality and sexuality. Love it, love it, love it!! 5 stars...

Leo has been found!!

I just realized, after checking out my desolate blog, that I never announced that our cat had been found! Exactly four weeks after he was lost, a wonderful person was able to find him and a wonderful mailman eventually called me with cat in hand, sick with a fever, 3 pounds lighter, with not many days left. What a wonderful birthday present for me! He was found on October 9th, the day before my birthday. This just proves that miracles do happen. We are so happy, and Leo is right back where he was before, happy and healthy again.

A Big Thank You to Austenprose!!

I just wanted to have a post to give out a big thank you to Austenprose for awarding me the Audiobook of Lady Susan. This was from a contest they had during their Soiree with Lady Susan. I will definitely enjoy the book on my walks. Thank you! Thank you, Austenprose!
http://austenprose.wordpress.com

LOST CAT!!

I am on an emotinal roller coaster right now. My cat Leo has been lost for a week now. I have gone on searches totaling miles everyday. I am not eating, nor sleeping. But, one thing I must say is that the people of Kenmore, New York are tha most amazing people. I am so impressed by their caring and thoughtfulness in this very hard time of my life. Everyone is searching and searching, all the kids want to be the hero to find him. I hope someone does because I don't think I can take much more of this torture, and torture it is, torture it is...

Oh my Leo, please come back to me. I miss you!!

New Quiz! You know I love them!

Take the Quiz here!

Computer unsavvy...

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am having a heap of trouble trying to figure out how to design my blog. If you see any weird layouts or things that are not quite right, it means that I probably spent an hour trying to figure it out but couldn't. Sorry, I guess it's my age...

Don't Forget the Earth!

I just wanted to throw in a quick post to remind everyone of the importance of avoiding phosphates in our cleaning products and detergents. I have some pictures of the soap suds that are floating around Glen Falls in Williamsville and, although I have no pictures, the mouth of the Niagara River is also full of them. Be mindful of our animal friends! Someday, it might be us that this affects.

Also, we have been seeing lots of blue herons both in Glen Park and on the Niagara River lately. See top photo.

Bright Star By Jane Campion

For those of you who are fans of the Romantic poet, John Keats, there is a new movie coming out called Bright Star, directed by Jane Campion. If you remember, she was the writer and director of The Piano, one of my all-time favorite movies. Bright star highlights the romance between

John Keats and Fanny Brawne interrupted by his untimely death at the age of 25. Not sure about the Buffalo opening, but it will be sometime this Fall. I'm sure it will be great. Jane Campion is a genius!

Watch the amazing trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7IwhVQa8Uk

What I am Reading Now

These are the works that I am currently reading:

Jane Austen's Lady Susan (the blog Austenprose is reading this right now)

A.S. Byatt's Possession in preparation for her lecture in Buffalo on October 9th

Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters

I get installments e-mailed to me every day from DailyLit.com

Aphra Behn's The History of the Nun, or The Fair Vow Breaker

I am reading this for my class, Early Women Writers

Also, I am rereading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. I am trying to follow the syllabus of a class that I decided not to take. Much cheaper doing it on my own!

Smooth Sailing!

I would like to leave you with some of our sailing pictures (and two extra)from the end of summer, while I recover emotionally from my last post. For those of you who don't know, we own a 25 foot S2 sailboat which we moor at Youngstown Yacht Club.....

Tristan

Well, it was off to school for Tristan today. It was his first full day and first time on the bus. This marks the end of my almost five years of being a full-time mom. The door of the bus shut today, and I stood helplessly trying to see into the tinted windows for a last glimpse of my little boy leaving to enter the world on his own. It was both sad and wonderful at the same time, knowing that all the time and teaching and care I have given him over the years will now be put to the test. As the bus rolled off, my old life rolled off with it. I was left behind with just myself, again.

Tristan, this first post is for you. May you spread your wings and fly! I'll be waiting with open arms for you when you come home...

Official Grand Opening

This marks the official grand opening of my blog. Let the musings now commence!

September House BeautifulI love the new issue of House beautiful

I love the new issue of House Beautiful. It is all about color and color personalities. There is a great quiz in the back to determine your color personality. Here are my results:

What's the first color you see in the morning?

Yellow

What color are your eyes?

green

What color do you wear most? navy

least? red

What color do you wear when you want to feel sexy? siver or grey

What color gets you the most compliments? grey or aqua

What color is your lipstick? neutral or natural

What color was your living room growing up? white with orangy seventies brown

What color was your bedroom then? pink then yellow

What color are your sheets? grey

What color was your favorite crayon growing up? sea blue

What color was your prom dress? non-existent

What is your favorite gemstone? opal diamond sapphire

What color is your car? navy, silver

What is your favorite flower? hydrangea, peony

What color makes you happiest? pearly white

What color depresses you? reds or maroons

What color calms you? blue-green

What color makes you grind your teeth? red!

What color would you like to try and are scared to? orange and black

Well, looks like I'm a silvery white colors of the sea person. I love neutrals and all shades of white. And I definitely don't like jarring colors. Everything needs to be balanced and muted somewhat.

How about you? I welcome all comments.

Ah, Summer!

I'll be the first to admit summer is not the best time to start a blog, but I will do what I can. Between the swimming, the beach, the sailing, the Shakespeare in the Park, the outdoor concerts (btw Artpark in Lewiston, NY is amazing! saw Gin Blossoms last night....beautiful venue and great acts for free), it is hard to find time to sit and write. Tune in for fall when things start to slow down...

My plan is to bounce ideas often of blogs, magazine, books etc. that I read. I am a true magazinophile and it would be nice to put all the info I attain to good use. My favorite blog is Habitually Chic. It is written by a young designer in NYC, Heather Clawson. She is living the life I long to live and she has a degree in Art History just like me. So, I COULD succeed in NYC too!

Ah, but what price paradise....

The Marriage of the Sea by Jane Allison: Review

I agree with other reviewers that the book is confusing, but I think the book is truly a representation of the sea itself, at times murky, always beautiful. The characters are always within a kind of watery dance with each other, and the cities of Venice and New Orleans are beautifully described and embodied within the language. I am presently about half way through...I'll let you know how I feel at the end...4 stars so far...