Reader Survey! If You Do What You Love, Does Money Follow?

I’m really interested in this.  Has it ever happened for you that you did what you loved and the money followed?  I’m not talking piles of money—maybe just a modest living. 

Or, do you need to work to eat, and do what you love in your free time?   Tell, tell!  This should be interesting.  ♥

Recession-Style Flowers #2, and a Few Cute Dogs Thrown in for Good Measure.

Hi Everyone.  Happy Thursday. 

Here are some important members of our family.  (L-R):  Hazel, Clover, and Riley.  Hazel actually lives two blocks over from us, and often comes over for play dates—but she and Clover are sisters.  The girls gang up on Riley—he’s low guy in the pack.    

  Riley in his role as Vanna White Dog.  Here he shows off two bunches of grocery store flowers.  These lasted well over a week. 

                            Our neighborhood florist sells medium-stem roses for a dollar each, every day.  I’ve found a lot of inspiration from other bloggers to find small ways to add beauty and interest to our lives and home, and these dollar roses make a big difference.  I now have flowers in the house mostly all the time.  It seems even more meaningful during this recession.     

 

Dollar roses in the kitchen.  Aren’t the colors fab?

  

Easter flowers.  Five bunches from the grocery store. 

You must understand, grocery store flowers are not my first choice.  But if it means I can have flowers all the time, I’m going to keep an open mind.  And I’ve been surprised at how well some of them last. 

Do you have favorite ways to enjoy flowers economically? 

  Clover says, “Good bye, and 

Take time to smell the roses today.” 

you might also like this post on recession-style flowers.

Note:  I have an update to readers posted below.  Please read if you’re interested. 

Fresh Flowers, Recession-Style

I adore flowers and am lucky enough to work as a fill-in floral designer at a local florist a few times a year.  Recently I visited a blog on which people shared what they could not give up in the recession. Many said “fresh flowers.”  So I thought I’d post some ideas for enjoying fresh flowers without going broke.

Gerbera daisies (pictured above) are pretty reasonable, and you don’t need many to make an impact.  However, they’re very susceptible to bacteria and need a very clean vase.  Having stems wired at flower shop will make them last a lot longer.  If they wilt, re-cut the stems and put them in deep, hot water for a few hours.   
 
Lilies last up to 2 weeks, and often smell wonderful.  Buy stems with lots of buds, and pick off pollen-covered anthers.
  
Alstroemeria last 1-2 weeks and are reasonably priced.
 
Carnations have been maligned as old-fashioned, but there are simply gorgeous colors, like the pale green “Prado” above.  To modernize them, I like to display them in bunches without other flowers.  They last up to 2 weeks, and smell good.  Changing water is important.   

Anthuriums can last up to 6 weeks in the vase. 

Other ideas:  Vases make a difference.  If you have a wide-mouthed vase you’re going to need to spend more to make the flowers stand up and look arranged.  I like to use several heavy-bottomed, skinny-necked vases and have one stem (like a gerbera) in each. 

Also, think about where you spend the most time and have your flowers in the small spaces in those areas—like on a table by a reading chair; by your bed; on the kitchen table.  You’ll get a bigger impact from a small arrangement than if you tried to decorate a whole huge living room with flowers.  In my tiny house, this rule of thumb is a given.

Finally, remember these tips for preserving your flowers. 

Always remove foliage that will be below the waterline. Otherwise bacteria can develop on it, and kill your flowers.

Change water frequently.

Cut flower stems at an angle with a sharp knife (not scissors) when you get them home.  Recut them if you think about it every other day or so. 

Putting the vase vase in a cool place or refrigerator at night will prolong vase life. 

Keep away from fruit (flowers don’t like ethylene gas), heat, and sun. 

Enjoy flowers!  They add so much to daily life.  Don’t they? 

“Post Consumer” Clothes Shopping

I’ve been a second-hand shopper for a long time.  In the 1980s, I was a college student in Tucson, Arizona, where the first Buffalo Exchange Store was founded.  It was there I overcame my queasiness about “used” clothes and started a life-long adventure in creative shopping.   

 Laly Vintage Clothes, Prague

People who buy second-hand as an eco-friendly lifestyle choice are starting to call it “post-consumer” shopping.  I like this term.  It incorporates a deeper philosophy than mere “thrift shopping.”

Over the years I’ve spent a lot on new clothing—mostly for my first professional job.  But I keep coming back to second-hand.  Here are some reasons why, with a few photos of basic pieces from my closet, which I found “post consumer.”   

Reason One:  I believe that if my washer and dryer can sanitize a baby diaper, they can take care of any second hand clothing issues I might have.  For shoes and bags, I believe in alcohol.   

Reason Two:  Uniqueness.  I’ve never seen anyone else wearing a coat like this vintage wool one.  It fits me well, and it was $12.00.  I removed the belt and belt-loops as they do nothing for me.  I love the princess seams and the pointy collar. 

Same thing for these boots that my sister gave me from her Etsy shop, Rocky Mountain Retro.  They’re warm and comfortable and completely fun to wear.   

 

Reason Three:  Quality.  This was the reason I bought these Doc Marten shoes.  They stand up to Montana winters, and their clunky shape works well with my figure.   The Olaf Daughters clogs---same thing.  If I polish them, the Docs look the same as they did when I bought them nine years ago.  (Cute doggies:  first quality, paid full price.) 

Also, I can find better quality brands at second-hand stores than I can in our local “new” stores.  I found this Ann Taylor vest for a dollar, and I’m using it now with summer blouses to help transition to spring.  I love the knitted pattern (which you can’t see very well).   

Same with this leather bag from the Sundance Catalog, which set me back three dollars. 

I think I’ve really improved the quality of my wardrobe in ways I couldn’t have if I were only shopping our local retail stores. 

Reason Four:  Ability to try something new without a big investment.  I bought these two moderate quality tops (one summer, one winter) with horizontal stripes to test the theory that small stripes are lengthening.  I wouldn’t have paid full price to test this out, but I’m now really enjoying these pieces. 

Likewise these Hilliard and Hansen shoes.  The times I’ve had to wear heels in the past five years is approximately once, but when those occasions come up and I don’t have anything I like, it’s bad.  Why not have these hanging around?  They’re neutral, pretty cute, comfortable, and the only “heels” I’d feel safe wearing.  And if I never wear them?  They were six dollars. 

(I’m really careful with buying things for “maybe” days.  That’s led to too many mistakes.  But for something neutral, classic, and moderately well made which could very well have a special occasion use, I’m glad to have them on hand.)

Reason Five: Options, as in the freedom to spend less on clothing to save more for travel; to cut up a sweater, make into something else, and not have a heart attack; to be less beholden to the clothing industry.  And, last but not least, to enjoy my clothes hobby with a decreased sense of angst at the human and environmental costs. 

To finish up, here are a few interesting links I found that are related to post consumer clothes shopping.  Hope you like them as I did. 

“Old Clothes, New Looks” by Alexandra Palmer and Hazel Clark is a fascinating-looking book (I’ve only read reviews) about second-hand clothes circulating in history, and how the practice has affected cultures.  I want to read this. 

Great ideas for remaking an old or second-hand sweater. 

A link with information on cleaning second hand clothes. 

And here’s one of the many sites by people who recycle post-consumer clothes into new products:  Armoursansanguish. 

What are your thoughts about post-consumer clothes? 

Things Not to Give Up in a Recession: Art!

Have you ever read a promising new author who tells how literature saved his or her young, confused life through the redemptive value of J.D. Salinger or Shakespeare?  Or maybe this happened to you?   

For me it was Euripides.  I was haunted by Medea; and, later, by the heroes of John Steinbeck.  The more tortured the moral predicament, the deeper I dove in. 

“Medea,” Rebecca Parker, www.deviantart.com

In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages would-be artists to expose ourselves to all manner of human creative expression.  Poet Kathleen Norris wrote in The Cloister Walk that literature was her first form of religion.  Art feeds art—whether one’s art is a perfect cake or an original piece of choreography.

I live across the street from a university with a good reputation in the arts.  There are dozens of arts opportunities every year that I can absorb—many of them free or nearly so. 

For instance, last summer my husband and I took our daughter to an exhibit of Rembrandt’s “Beggar Etchings.”  When have we ever had Rembrandts—or many other things this old—in our little town?  These etchings are almost painfully realistic; not even sympathetic necessarily.  It was exciting just to be in the room with something the artist worked on. 

“Beggar Seated Warming His Hands at a Chafing Dish,” Rembrandt van Rijn 

Then there was the snowy night I went to a faculty recital by soprano Anne Basinski, who was being accompanied by my friend Lee Heuermann.  I went to support Lee, and didn’t really want to be there because I was in the throes of an icky cold.  But when Anne and Lee sang Lakme’s Flower Duet, I shut my eyes and I was transported (you can click on the link and listen). 

This week I’m going to see a new exhibit of paintings by Montana artist Fra Dana, an American Impressionist.  Dana was a cattleman’s wife torn between her ranch duties and love of art.  In 1897, the year after her marriage, she began to study at the Chicago Art Institute with William Merritt Chase.  Chase’s other students included Georgia O’Keeffe and Joseph Stella (and his “Girl in a Blue Kimono” is coincidentally up there on my page).  A prenuptial agreement allowed Fra (pronounced “Fray”) Dana to study in New York and Paris with some of the most important American Impressionist artists.  Here’s one of her paintings:

   “Breakfast,” by Fra Dana

…and here’s a portrait of Dana by William Merritt Chase—also part of the exhibit on campus:

  “Portrait of Fra Dana,” William Merritt Chase

She doesn’t look very happy, and I don’t think she was.  After trying for several years to mix her art and traveling with the life of a ranch woman, Dana gave up her painting dreams.  Near the end of her life she wrote that she could fight the world and win, but could not fight both the world and her husband and win. 

I’ve enjoyed many musical and dance events in this town,  including Emmylou Harris, Elton John, and the Ailey II Dance Company (below). 

When the Rolling Stones played Missoula a couple years ago, though, my dislike of crowds won out.  I stayed home, and listened to the thumping of the concert from our house.     

The Stones don’t exactly qualify as belonging to “the arts” in my mind, though “Sympathy for the Devil” has some of my favorite lyrics, and “Angie” will always break my heart.  And even Sir Reginald—a favorite since grade school—isn’t really “fine art.” 

But while we’re on the subject of what could be called popular art, let’s not forget the summer day my daughter came home and said casually, “Oh did you know the prince of Russia is in town talking about Shrinky Dinks?” 

Say what? 

It took a long time to believe her, but she was right:  it was Prince Andrew Romanov (yes, that Romanov) at the Missoula Art Museum showing his collection of Shrinky-draw-on-plastic-and-bake-it-Dinks.  On these shrunken pieces of plastic he’s depicted his colorful and singular life.  Apparently the old gentleman has a great sense of humor.   

Who but the grand-nephew of the last tsar could achieve international fame as an artist in this medium?  But look at this example: 

“Balmoral Castle,” Prince Andrew Romanov

I love it!  Who’s “A” and “K” in here?  Is it Andrew and the King? 

And here’s the 80-something prince himself, photographed here in Missoula: 

 

What a fantastic face, to say nothing of his neckerchief and mustache.  I wish we’d met him that day.  By the time we heard about it (and believed it), the event was over.  Andrew has a book about his life called The Boy Who Would Be Tsar.  It’s illustrated with his…um…images. 

We’re not in New York or Paris here, or even Boise, Idaho.  But:  I love being able to skip across the street after dinner and take in something beautiful or fascinating that elevates me above the mundane.  And there is beauty, and fascination, and passionate creation by highly talented people.  How I appreciate what they give us.   

So for now, I’m looking forward to more of the same in my town.  Next month the university is presenting “Medea,” and I’m going to be first in line.  Because we’re in a recession and I need the arts more than ever, and because it’s Euripides, who’s been with me for a long time now.   

What Can’t You Give Up During a Recession?

My short list:

1.  Healthy food.

2.  Enough free time to spend with friends and family.

4.  Parmiggiano Reggiano.

5.  My office…  

                      

…downtown in a converted historic hotel, built before Montana was a state.  This is the view looking toward the south window.  The patchwork kimono in the window is a handmade, vintage silk piece I acquired for $18.  Yes, I know.  It should not be hanging in the sun.   

This is where I do my work-work.  I do my blogging at home.  The owner of this building and my friend, the encaustic artist Leslie Van Stavern Millar, makes these small rooms available at cost to local artists and writers.  Since my husband works at home, everybody wins if Mom works downtown.  Does that make sense??  

Here’s a view looking down the hall to the other studios.  

And here’s my desk, my computer, and my loud pink water cup.   

What can’t you live without?