Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts

Monday, December 04, 2017

The Power of Habit


I am loving this book, The Power of Habit. It's making me rethink all of my routines and rituals, wondering how I can harness them up to hone in on things I want to change and accomplish.

It's a very easy read, and I've been reflecting as I go through the book on positive habits I've succeeded in installing (flossing, housecleaning, planning), and negative habits I want to ditch. It's the whole idea of changing your course by a single degree, to find yourself miles away from where you would have been. Exciting, and perfectly time for a new year!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Vintage Inspiration for a Mature Woman's Wardrobe

(Let's hope she likes neutrals!)

* a silver-gray silk--"she had white hair, and the effect was beautiful"

* a black silk dress

* white dresses--"that's what my chum's grandmother used to wear when I went visiting in the summer"

* real lace collars, to go with the gray silk

* half a dozen plain collars for everyday wear

* a gray voile dress, very simple and elegant, lined with gray silk and trimmed with lace dyed to match (reduced from sixty dollars to thirty)
(hopefully she likes neutrals!)

* a coat and skirt suit of fine soft black taffeta, for traveling

* a handsome black cloth coat for cool days

* a black and white dotted swiss dress

* a white linen suit

* a handsome black crepe de chine dress

* a black chiffon waist (blouse)

* filmy, dreamy, white shirtwaists, simple and plain in design, and exquisite lace simply applied, fine handmade tucks and finer material

* white linen and white lawn for morning wear at the seashore

* two white linen skirts

* several pairs of silk gloves, black and white, undergarments dainty enough for a bride, a dozen pairs of stockings

* a black lace bonnet on a foundation of white roses, with a drapery of fine black lace which swept around the roses and tied loosely on the breast

* a lace wrap from the cloak department

* a plain black bonnet

* a sweet little gray bonnet

*  a fine silk umbrella

* a lot of pretty belts and handkerchiefs

* some shoes and rubbers

* a handbag of cut steel

Grace Livingston Hill wrote Aunt Crete's Emancipation in 1911. It contains an exhaustive description (this list is verbatim) for a dream wardrobe for a woman of mature years.

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Japanese Craft Magazines for Sale

 I'm spring cleaning my bookshelves and have many beautiful Japanese craft magazines to sell! These are all in excellent condition with all the patterns intact--however, if they came with a packaged fabric sample, that won't be included. I'll list the available issues below each picture, and will remove titles as they are sold. To buy, please send me an email at pleasantviewschoolhouse  (at)  gmail then a dot then com. I'll send you a paypal invoice. First come, first served.

Each issue is $8. If you want to know more about an issue, please ask Mr. Google. Also, be aware that these are actually in the Japanese language, although the patterns are usable by anyone able experienced in following a pattern--very clear diagrams. 


Cotton Friend

Volume 23
Volume 30
Volume 31
Volume 32
Volume 34
Volume 37
Volume 38
Volume 39
Volume 44
Volume 45



Cotton and Paint

 Volume 27


Cotton Time

Volume 78
Volume 89
Volume 90
Volume 95
Volume 97
Volume 99
Volume 100
Volume 101
Volume 106

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Felix Recommends The Pleasures of Reading


Felix recommends a little reading to those of us turning away from distraction.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

While Baby Napped


This baby is a great sleeper (also eater, also spitter-upper), so we got to read for a bit under the rosebush during the afternoon nap.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

My Mostly Off-Line Lent (So Far)


Much reading, thinking, and discussion going on in the house about the issues surrounding Distraction by Technology. Lots of practicing the discipline of being unplugged.


Also experiencing an unprecedented interest in leather notebooks:

 (much cheaper on ebay than on the Filofax website!)

And in old-fashioned letter-writing. I use Daisy's piano lesson as my Correspondence Hour. 

Monday, March 06, 2017

Miss Buncle



My cousin Sally sent me the first book, and I was hooked.


I ordered the next two on my own, and they've been my Sunday afternoon treats.


Friday, January 13, 2017

"A World Made to Measure"

"You can't build yourself a world made to measure, but you can build a village."

--Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera, The Awakening of Miss Prim

Thursday, December 01, 2016

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School


"I could not have predicted the residue and damage that a lack of cooking skills had on people's daily lives. Among the boxes and cans, I found a larger story of perceived failure that left them struggling with guilt, frustration, and a stinging lack of confidence. . . ."

--Kathleen Flinn, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School


This fascinating book follows the author's work with nine ordinary people who don't know how to live with real food or how to function in their own kitchens. By the end of the book, Flinn's compassionate, enthusiastic coaching has transformed them.

Cook your own food, and teach your children how.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Let's All Take a Minute to Imagine a House by the Sea

"Big, wide rooms with fine white matting on the floors, and many comfortable willow chairs and couches, with cushions of faded but fine texture. . . 
Long, sheer curtains at the windows, floating in the breeze . . . .

[And lunch will be] fried fish and hot biscuits and a tomato and cucumber salad for the main course, and iced coffee for the drink, and sponge cake and strawberries and cream."

--Grace Livingston Hill, The Strange Proposal

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

"It Was Officially the First Day of School"

"It was officially the first day of school so Anna made muffins for breakfast . . . the entire family was gathered . . . Mrs. Ray tall and slim in a starched yellow morning dress, Julia and Betsy in new shirt waists and skirts, Margaret in a new striped gingham with a big striped bow atop her head ."
--Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy in Spite of Herself 

Thursday, May 05, 2016

Dinette Cookery

After the wedding Giles and Tia will take up residence in a tiny apartment Tia has charmingly dubbed "The Dollhouse". The kitchen is brand new and very nice--not very large, of course, and has a tiny table for dining.

What a mercy I ran across an entire chapter on "Dinettes" in a vintage cookbook this week. The author does her level 1934 best to cheer and exhort homemakers who suddenly find themselves downsized from a full kitchen and dining room. Here she is, looking on the bright side:


• Everyday diners have a way of tasting better when served in the dinette.

• Dinette cookery requires the intimate touch of individuality, even to the pots and pans used in the kitchenette.

• It is next to impossible to serve a formal type of dinner, with several courses, in dinette style.

• Much planning must be done ahead of time, if the dinette dinner is to be successful.

• Space is at a premium, and must be planned to create the idea of leisure, hospitality and intimacy.

• There is something chummy and friendly about dining in a dinette--something akin to dining out in a corner of a hotel dining room or tea room.

• An excellent cup of coffee compensates for many other deficiencies.

-- Jessie Marie Deboth, The Fashion Book of Recipes

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

A Grace Livingston Hill Reading List: Home Makeover Edition



Oh Grace Livingston Hill, you make me think I can do anything! And that's why I'm upholstering two sofas at once, while simultaneously renovating the upstairs, sewing for a wedding, and planning a dinner party. For inspiration:


Not Under the Law. Joyce finds herself out on her own and buys herself a tiny land office! It's an empty shell, but she turns it into a one-room home complete with kitchen cupboards, curtains, and a hand-made mattress for the bed.

The Honor Girl. Elsie turns the wreck of her father's house upside down with her industry. From pot roast and pumpkin pies and new floral eiderdowns on the bed,  to a new fireplace and chrysanthemums in season, she cranks up the domestic goodness.

The White Lady. Constance has lost her money and position, and decides to go into the restaurant business. Finding a decrepit mansion at a great price, she gives it new life with artistic wallpaper, potted palms, and dreamy mirrors. And the table d'hote menu sounds delicious.

April Gold. Assets lost to a bank crash, the Reeds move to a spider-infested shack in the worst part of town. But they scrub and paint and paper and build shelves and even haul the old henhouse across the yard to add on new kitchen space. And their bare yard is transformed by forsythia and daffodils.

Re-Creations. Domestic transformation begins, ends, and informs this one: when Cornelia leaves college before she can complete her degree in interior design, she finds plenty of opportunity to put her theories into practice at home. Before she knows it she's painting the dining room a soft green, designing a fireplace to be build out of fieldstone, making a marble-topped work table for the kitchen, and stenciling birds onto curtains.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Like Mother, Like Daughter


Today a reader asked for some inspiration to help her through the demanding years when it's you and a bunch of little people trying to make it through the day. The struggle is real.

Please, if you need help, good sense, and a wise and witty woman to help you through those years, I want you to start reading this blog. Every day.

Read the archives, read the links. Every single time I read Leila on parenting, I'm nodding along. To my mind, she gets things exactly right. It's everything I would have written out if I'd been thinking.

Now go and read.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Our Man on the Ground

I'm pleased to introduce you to a new contributor here at the Schoolhouse: Our Man on the Ground in New York, Giles. He'll be providing us with photos and stories from NYC, as he runs into interesting things and takes beautiful pictures.

Friday, January 01, 2016

A Good Start to 2016


Black-eyed peas, greens, cheese grits, and a new Bible reading plan.* All set for a new year.

*This year I'm doing the Four Streams Bible in a year. I just finished Eat This Book. 

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Log Cabin Quilt: Dark Wood


Clara and I designed and made this for Felix' Christmas present. First you have to know how much Felix loves Dante. He's even teaching himself Italian so he can read it in the original. 

Brace yourself for perhaps the world's first rendition of The Inferno as a log cabin quilt.

It's called Dark Wood--the place where the story of The Inferno begins.


The narrator is lost there.




He wants out, but his way is blocked by a lion:


a leopard:


and a wolf.


However, he is going to find the way:



The sun breaks through the darkness, and a guide appears. It's going to end well.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Another Thought on Late Bloomers

Remember the posts on late bloomers?

Malcolm Gladwell has this lovely thought:

"Late bloomers' stories are invariably love stories."

--What the Dog Saw (2009)

Friday, July 10, 2015

Making Yourself at Home


I am very fond of Jane's Seymour's book Making Yourself at Home. It's all about styling your home with what you have, and what you enjoy.  Even though my taste is nothing like hers (except for the lilies!), it's still inspiring to be reminded of various joys of homemaking. Setting a pretty table, arranging the dishes in your cupboards, displaying garden produce, making art with your children, laying out your favorite books, setting up little vignettes, cutting flowers, and looking around your home with fresh eyes..


Monday, December 08, 2014

Wholehearted Living


I've recommended Jennifer Grant's writing on motherhood before, and I'm doing it again today. Wholehearted Living is written for busy parents, who can find maybe five minutes to spend thinking or reading at a time.

Jennifer begins each reflection with a quotation from a real thinker or writer--and it's surprisingly refreshing to be confronted with the real deal in small, manageable doses, even for mothers who may feel like their thinker has gone missing.

But the real reason I am so drawn to Jennifer's writing is her genuine and lifegiving humility. She invites, never commands. She suggests, never tells. She is tender.

Written to last all year, this is a wonderful choice to stretch your soul.

Related Posts with Thumbnails