Storytelling

Don't judge books by their covers—they're not just for reading.

Check out the stack of books, top row center.

If their colors give any indication as to their age (publishing date), these burnt orange hardbacks most likely stocked shelves at the local bookstore (yes, bookstores did exist in flesh, or brick that is, long before eReaders, Kindles and Nooks opened their virtual shopping spaces) in the 70s—perfect complements to the avocado shag.

These retro reads are a select few of an extensive collection that belonged to my grandfather. Their bold colors have breathed life into monotonous bookcases in our family room and warmed up the cold mantle above our fireplace. Cheaper by the Dozen and Spanish in a Nutshell are just two of the curious titles among them. 

What boring lives books must lead. They're read once, twice or maybe even a half time. They then live out the rest of their pre-Goodwill days standing stiff on-end. 

Let your literature live a little. 

Antique fanatics set out in search of shabby chic hutches, distressed leather chairs or Victorian silver teasets. 

Pick up some books! I mean, they are practically antiques in this day and age.

Vintage books make for interesting, eclectic design elements. Try mixing up your tablescape with something old and unique but sophisticated and chic nonetheless. They are recyclable, inexpensive and  can serve to create varying height features, identify party table numbers, or make the perfect platform for candles and flower arrangements. 

Autumn: the year's last, loveliest smile.

My favorite season by a landslide—

Last September, as I prepared to make a mammoth move overseas to southern Spain, I was plagued by serious reservations. Well, one reservation mainly. I was raised in the lush expanses of the Northwest where Autumn is likened to that of New England. I thus feared that when I transition to living life in Andalucía, the fall palette for which I have developed an unwavering love affair would fade until the following year. 

I was absurdly mistaken. 

In Granada, this phrase is stamped onto porcelain souvenir tiles, on brick dividing walls, or in this case, pieced together mosaic-like at a local Granadino garden:

“Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada."

"Give him alms, woman, in life there is nothing like the pain of being blind in Granada."

Indeed, after spending many hasty mornings and lazy afternoons Granada-style,  it would certainly be an inexplicable pity to wander the winding charismatic streets of this city sans sense of sight.

In the end, my worries of a bleached Autumn were wasteful—


Combined with beautiful new sights and the marvels of a fresh love, otoño en España was ironically and miraculously the richest season I've ever witnessed. The gold sun cast a glowing light, bringing all the cordial, cozy colors of fall to bright life. 

Here is a collection of my photographs taken last Autumn in Granada. 

"A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made.  The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."

-   Eric Sloane

 

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November."
-Rose G. Kingsley
The Autumn Garden.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

-John Muir

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life." 

- P. D. James

"Falling leaves

hide the path 

so quietly"

-John Bailey

Autumn, A Haiku Year.

"Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined

And spreads a common feast for all that live."

-  James Thomson

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."

-Elizabeth Lawrence

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face."

-John Donne

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."  

-Stanley Horowitz

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."  

-George Eliot

"How beautifully leaves grow old.  How full of light and color are their last days." 

 -John Burroughs

"Summer is already better, but the best is autumn. It is mature, reasonable and serious, it glows moderately and not frivolously...It cools down, clears up, makes you reasonable..."

-Valentin, Finnish writer

"Autumn begins with a subtle change in the light, with skies a deeper blue, and nights that become suddenly clear and chilled. The season comes full with the first frost, the disappearance of migrant birds, and the harvesting of the season's last crops."

-Glenn Wolff and Jerry Dennis

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree."

-Emily Bronte

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air."

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Swinging on delicate hinges

the Autumn leaf

almost off the stem."

-Jack Kerouac

"There is a harmony In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which through the summer is not heard or seen,
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!"

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower."
-Albert Camus

"Just before the death of flowers,
And before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season
When nature is all aglow."

-Unknown

I love you more every season, through every calm and every storm,

to the sun and back and back again

remembering the beginning

nursed by Autumn's arms.

-From me to you

Black (and white) to basics.

Nothing gray about it.

Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder's concept of "ebony and ivory" has stepped off sheet music and into haute couture fall collections everywhere. Last February, renown designers like Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Moschino and Versace fashioned their waify models in the traditional yin and yang color palette when they debuted their fall creations to hungry fashionistas. As we surrender summer and take the first steps into Autumn (in high-heeled ankle booties, of course), this sophisticated trend is popping up everywhere, namely on trendy risk-taker Evan Rachel Wood. While promoting her latest film, The Ides of March, at the Venice Film Festival last weekend, Wood wore several crossword-colored combos. Polished, avant-garde and retro yet modern, she certainly was the toast of Venice.

Sleeveless Tops by Lafayette 148 New York
Pumps by Joan & David