Edward Lear designs a room

Last week's post on Christina Rossetti prompted one commenter to request Edward Lear for this week.  I try to be obliging (especially when it comes to literature!), so here you go, some Edward Lear verses and some corresponding home decor items.  What could be better?!  :)


"The Owl and the Pussycat"

 

I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea     In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money,     Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above,     And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,       What a beautiful Pussy you are,           You are,           You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!     How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried:     But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away, for a year and a day,     To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood     With a ring at the end of his nose,           His nose,           His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling     Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.' So they took it away, and were married next day     By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince,     Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,     They danced by the light of the moon,           The moon,           The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

 

Words and pictures by Edward Lear (1812-1888)

This little story for children got me thinking, what would the owl and pussycat's house look like?  Here's my interpretation:

Hanging on the wall, some framed prints by Poor Dog Farms:

 

By the fire, a cozy wing chair upholstered in a buffalo check:

At the window, matching curtains:

Across the room, a worn Chesterfield sofa:

Across the back of the sofa, a cozy throw:

Beside the sofa, a brass lamp:

On the floor, a sturdy jute rug:

Next to the sofa, a hand-me-down table:

On the table, a little gift:

Quotation of the day

I don't know what it's like in your "neck of the woods," but here in the Midwest we are finally supposed to have a couple days with above freezing temperatures.  At last, a chance to scrape all the ice off the driveway and get the car washed!  Until we get there, though, I will enjoy the snow piling up bit by bit around our yard.  I snapped this photo of our frosty little boxwoods yesterday.

It makes me think of the first verse of "In the Bleak Midwinter."  I know it's a Christmas carol, but it just seems appropriately descriptive of this time of year too.

In the bleak mid-winter
  Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
  Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
  Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
  Long ago.

- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

This sheet music takes me back to my choir days.  The notes here seem a little different from what I remember; maybe this carol is sung to different tunes.  In the version we sang, that last "snoooow on snow" always seemed a little long, like the snow really was never-ending.  Does anybody else remember singing this version?

Either way, since much of the country is experiencing the cold, dark days of winter, tomorrow I'll try to warm things up a bit with some images of happy, colorful interiors.

Quotation of the day

{Dried hydrangeas from our garden}

"At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don’t need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens – that letting go – you let go because you can. The world will always be there – while you sleep it will be there – when you wake it will be there as well. So you can sleep and there is reason to wake. A dead hydrangea is as intricate and lovely as one in bloom. Bleak sky is as seductive as sunshine, miniature orange trees without blossom or fruit are not defective; they are that. So the windows of the greenhouse can be opened and the weather let in. The latch on the door can be left unhooked, the muslin removed, for the soldier ants are beautiful too and whatever they do will be part of it."

-- Toni Morrison, Tar Baby

Quotation of the day

A little bit of literature as these fall days begin to feel more like winter...

{Pond by our house}

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature.  It is earth's eye, looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature....Nothing so fair, so pure, and at the same time so large, as a lake, perchance, lies on the surface of the earth.  Sky water.  It needs no fence.  Nations come and go without defiling it.  It is a mirror which no stone can crack, whose quicksilver will never wear off, whose gilding Nature continually repairs; no storms, no dust, can dim its surface ever fresh; -- a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks, swept and dusted by the sun's hazy brush--this the light dust-cloth--which retains no breath that is breathed on it, but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface, and be reflected in its bosom still."

-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "The Ponds"