British Life in Pictures - English Wildlife

Recently I found a few great books featuring British life.  My favorite this week features English wildlife with charming illustrations and pictures along with retro commentary.  The book series dates back to the 1940s and is part of a really charming series.

Written in a past that seems so naive and fresh. The opening passage of this book seems so sweet to my American eyes. "An American cowboy on his first visit to Britain sat amazed as he looked from his railway carriage on his journey from Plymouth to London."  What American cowboy??

F. Fraser Darling is the author. The illustrations are charming and well produced in colors true with fine lines.
For a limited time, I have a copy of this book in my shop take a look here.

Fabulous Fourth - New Yummy Project in the Works - The Kraut Works!

Update dateline August 22.  How did the Kraut Turn Out? It is divine. Crunchy, flavorful and really homey.  Since I used only sea salt, water and cabbage, it doesn't have the tang of processed krauts.  I've already started a new batch
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We've been keeping it simple this weekend. Staying close to home and enjoying some much needed rest. 

I do have a project up my sleeves for tomorrow. I gathered the necessary equipment and ingredients yesterday. And tomorrow I will give it a go.  Drum roll please. . .

I'm going to make a big batch of sauerkraut. The recipe is amazingly simple: cabbage, sea salt plus anything else you care to include. I'm going to throw in some garlic, some fennel, some caraway seeds and a little orange peel. 

The recipe takes from one week to one year. (I don't think I can wait a year!) 

I bought one of those old timey crocks yesterday at the hardware store.  If I had some ready cash I would have bought my crock from Ogusky Ceramics. See what I mean here:
Handmade Ogusky Ceramic Crock

Anyone have some tips on successful kraut making. I'm all ears!

Retro Collage Fun - Happy Retro Style

This winter I got out my tiny little scissors, my stacks of retro ephemera and I returned to collaging.  I had accumulated so many bits of fun ephemera I was just itching to do something with them.

My first idea was to develop around a thing. And since the magainze ads were so conscipously aspirational around the desire to accumulate wealth and possessions, that was my first idea.  But I tossed it in the trash like so many other great ideas that don't work except in your head.

I then focused on all the happy people in the ads and thought maybe I should just go with that flow. Without any irony but just see if I could find a way to enjoy their happiness. 

Here is one of the collage boards I just finished. I'm quite proud of the way it turned out.

It's an Atomic Life!

Imagine you were an astronaut. Where are you going? What have you seen?  Back in the 60s every child's imagination was in space.  We all imagined we would be living the life of the Jetson's by now.  And now with Iphones andGoogle Glass maybe we are there already.

I've recently fallen for Atomic design.  I found this great wall clock that embodies some of the best of atomic. Bright, cherry red color. Lovingly compact design, square and centered.

Imagine you were sitting on the edge of the moon and staring back at earth.

Find the clock.
 

Start a Collection - Art Books for Everyone

Do you love art? Do you want to know more about it. Start a collection of art books. There is a such enormous variety of art. It's good to just jump in and start to look at everything.  You could, however, go about learning in chronological order. Start with cave dwellings, and 5th century BC Greek masterworks and end with WeiWei.

It doesn't really matter how you take this on. But it is hugely rewarding, and can be so much pleasure to take in beauty, or be challenged by art tension.

This past year I added an art book lovers book club. You can subscribe to a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription from the best my JVoyage shop has to offer. Find out more.

Books Make Great Gifts

I was inspired to offer a new item in the shop this month.

A Vintage Book of the Month Club. I think of this as a great way to find books without leaving the comforts of your own couch.  I offered several flavors and sizes of this concept in my JVoyage shop.  You can choose a genre, a time period, hard back or paperback.

It's all good. I am lucky to live in a town with more than 200 colleges and universities. What does that mean? The library shelves of all these academics are teeming with books. The books come spilling out of homes on Beacon Hill and Back Bay.

I tend to favor the old vintage books that are covered in leather or marbeled papers. But like the saying goes, "there is no such thing as a bad book".

I've enjoyed putting together the monthly shipments for the many generous customers that are buying for themselves and buying for others.

Vintage Book of the Month Club
Vintage Art Book Club
Vintage Cookbook Club

My favorite category is called, "Surprise Me". Several of my customers have said they enjoy the adventure of discovering something new and unexpected on their doorstep each month.

Do you have a favorite genre?

Spicy and Nice - Rubs for All Seasons

Here's the next new thing I've been playing around with: spice rubs. I've tried a couple of really yummy combinations. A cumin rub that's both tangy and slightly sweet. And then a more concentrated rub that features paprika, cayenne, garlic powder and some other flavors.

I've tried these with chicken, pork and fish. And, you know what, they are delish. I think they could also have potential sprinkled on potato salad or even on creamy polenta.  Any one interested in the recipe, just let me know.

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