of friendship & birthdays

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to a dearest one

&

a belated one-


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song to the siren

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born this day January 25th, 1882, child of the Victorians.

"It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. " Virginia Woolf

photograph Max Siedentopf

Long afloat on shipless oceans

I did all my best to smile

til your singing eyes and fingers

drew me, loving, to your isle.

And you sang, "sail to me, sail to me;

Let me enfold you."

Here I am, here I am waiting to hold you.

Did I dream you dreamed about me?

Were you here when I was full sail?

Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken lovelorn on your rocks.

For you sang, "touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow."

Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.

I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.

I'm as riddled as the tide.

Should I stand amid the breakers?

Or shall I lie with death my bride?

Hear me sing: "swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you."

"Here I am. Here I am, waiting to hold you."

 Tim Buckley

 

the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain here 
the Tim Buckley Archives here
Bryan Ferry's Olympia here

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a birthday or 2 or 3

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I don't do a great deal of celebrating birthdays-my own or others. today I am reminded of 3 I should celebrate-

young Edith Sitwell on the 7th september

my  grandfather George Joseph Cushwa

born on this day- died three days after his 50th dinner party celebration-

failing to blow out  three of his birthday candles.

(GJC is left, as a young man, his nickname was "Dutch")

he entitled the photograph

"on the road to the asylum"- a clever and carefree young man-fearing little.

& dear friend &  impetus for little augury-

september 7,Virgo.

I do so wish I had an early photograph of SP-he would say-

god! look at all that hair, girl! I was quite a scoundrel then.

celebrate those you love every day, today I celebrate.

.

on celebrating

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a
name day

today
August 11th

happy birthday

ULLA

here

to see Marvelous HAVANA photographs from her trip this Summer go HERE , they are Not to be missed.

all photographs are the property of model's own

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summertime gal

today is the first day of summer
today is Elizabeth's 27th birthday

an 80th

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today we celebrate my Mother's 80th Birthday!

April 12

I stood still and was a tree amid the wood,
Knowing the truth of things unseen before;
Of Daphne and the laurel bow
And that god-feasting couple old
that grew elm-oak amid the wold.
'Twas not until the gods had been
Kindly entreated, and been brought within
Unto the hearth of their heart's home
That they might do this wonder thing;
Nathless I have been a tree amid the wood
And many a new thing understood
That was rank folly to my head before. 

Erza Pound

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Rose C'est La Vie's first birthday

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Happy Birthday Rose C'est La Vie!

my blogging Sister- Rosie has been blogging for a year!

read here interview Here

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words

 -Plautus

Parthenia Card for Rosie

read the Style Saloniste's post about my Parthenia cards Here

my Rose posts Here

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birth of a Dame

image from the Guardian
photograph by Jane Brown

In honor of a favorite English Eccentric: EDITH SITWELL

September 7 1886- December 9 1964

anaglyph image from Kathy Fernleigh- here

"The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth."
Dame Edith Sitwell

from Sitwell's autobiography, Taken Care Of, the Dame talks about her childhood pet, Peaky, a ravishing Peacock nonetheless. Her childhood was an unhappy one- the first child and a girl at that- She was a disappointment to her parents, especially her mother who bemoaned the child's strange appearance. An augur of the woman Edith became, her bond with the peacock continued until a female bird was purchased for Edith's pet. Jilted. For a while though, the peacock would await Edith's appearance and shriek at her with delight and accompany her for a stroll in the gardens. Edith wrapped her arm around the peacock's neck-

"I would go to the garden and we would walk, you might say, arm in arm. When asked why I loved him so, I answered, 'Because he's beautiful, and be cause he wears a crown!' "
"If it had not been for his crown, which made him slightly larger than me, we would have been the same height." es

An Indian Tale for Little Edith

the Princess & the Peacock

image (here)

Read more about Dame Edith Sitwell:

Genius in a Wimple TIME magazine 1955

Strictly old skool! guardian.co.uk

september 7 is also the Birthday of friend Sanford Peele-
who died December 15th, 2008
happy birthday SP

september 7 is also the Birthday of my grandfather George Joseph Cushwa
who died september 10, 1944

Elizabeth's Name Day

happie birthday

june 21 1983

liz Z tapp

liz wearing a dress from a josef albers study project(click to go to site)
TimeLINE dress (click)

Betty Anne's Name Day

a page from my mother's baby book

Betty Anne Cushwa

one of the many mementos my gramma lovingly saved for Sugar Cushwa

as a young lady

as a young mother

Happy Birthday BA, April 12.

I'd like to be the air of spring, At flowering of the dawn.

I'd hover low on gentle wings , ruffling blades of grass
Spilling jewels in sparkling array, As I tiptoe past.
I'd beckon trees on bended knee, And watch them bow to me.
Then with a whisper, I'd kiss the flowers
Tenderly, tenderly, Never mussing a fragile petal.
And with the full bloom of dawn, I'd gather my robes about me-
And disappear with only a whisper-
I was here-
I was here.
~Betty Cushwa Tapp