Looking for a great summer trip?

Or just want to escape reality on this Wednesday morning?

My cousin's wife, Jacqueline Carcagno Weyman, has started a French Touring Company called
Occitaniatours

Jacqueline is taking travelers on small personalized tours of her native France.

Sounds like heaven to me - go check out the website - the trips are all inclusive (room, board, and travel while in France - airfare excluded). The prices are reasonable and you're staying in a private residence in France! Jacqueline is a fabulous cook, and does much of the cooking on the trip herself. The menus look amazing!





All images courtesy of Occitania Tours

Prius Problems
Now Toyota Prius owners are reporting cases of gas pedal problems. But it's hard to tell if this is a mechanical defect or just driving mistakes made by people dumb enough to spend $40,000 on a compact car.



Vaccine Scare Disproven
A 1998 report that linked the measels vaccine to autism has now been totally discredited and retracted by a leading medical journal. Autism scaremonger Jenny McCarthy will now just have to go back to taking off her clothes.




9/11 Trial Problems
The White House still can't find a U.S. city to hold the 9/11 terror trials. Detroit was a leading candidate to host trials, but most of the ruthless killers say they're actually too scared to go there.



Ted's Bison
The Montana state government is giving Ted Turner 88 bison from Yellowstone National Park. Montana made the decision when it learned the bison were the only living beings in the entire state that watch CNN.



Green Spending Cuts
Almost every state in the U.S. is cutting back on environmental programs because they're too expensive. That means fewer tax breaks for solar panels in Florida, fewer recycling pick ups in Texas, and California is forcing Ed Begley Jr. to put himself into a compost heap.





February 3rd


1377: More than 2,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena are slaughtered by Papal Troops. Nobody complains about the Communion wine ever again.


1809: The Illinois Territory is created. Most of the founders are still voting in Illinois elections.


1916: Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada burn down. Canadian troops follow proper national protocols and only save the beer.

In My World Today it's Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day, and I hear that Punxatawney Phil has seen his shadow back there in Pennsylvania, and thus predicted that we will have six more weeks of winter.

Our local groundhog, Hanford Hank, has not seen his shadow today, and so I believe that, here in the Pacific Northwest at least, spring will indeed arrive in six weeks as it should.

Our closest encounters with groundhogs are their cousins the hoary marmots in the meadows of Mt. Rainier.

These guys will not even poke their heads above ground until late April at the earliest. At that time they are skinny little dudes, having hibernated since the previous September. They set out to eat their way through the spring and summer meadows, dining on grasses and wildflowers, lichens and mosses until they have doubled and more their girth, ready with a lovely layer of fat to carry them through another winter of sleep.

We met this marmot in July last year.

My World Tuesday brings out the best of bloggers from around the world. You will find their offerings here.

Powder rooms

Powder rooms are the jewel boxes of bathrooms – small and beautiful . They are usually not that big, and so you can be more daring than you might be in a larger room. I love wallpaper in powder rooms. And I say go for it – use a bold pattern that makes a statement. If you do use a bold pattern, keep the fixtures simple so there's not too much going on.

Photo above courtesy of Elle Decor, Monique Lhuillier . Photo below Courtesy of Elle Decor, Tom Scheerer




Powder room above by Meg Braff




Wouldn't this Osborne and Little wallpaper above be amazing in a powder room?


From Elle Decor, a Miles Redd powder room

Finally, my own powder room, in Osborne and Little wallpaper:


Image courtesy of Whitehaven

Things I love...

The wonderful thing about going on house tours or perusing our favorite shelter magazines (either in print on online) is that we begin to find our own style by seeing how other folks put rooms together. Have you ever had the feeling, either when in a house or when looking at a photo of a house, of “that is so beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous” (insert whatever adjective suits you) that it takes your breath away?
Well, those are times to remember because you have just had a connection with something in or about the room – either the way it was arranged, or the color, or some object in the room. We can then take those memories and use them to inspire us in our own homes.

Many of the things that inspire me have been with me for as long as I can remember – like my love of white clapboard houses (because I grew up in one), English and early American antiques (passed on to me by my mother and grandmother), large formal dining rooms (where families can gather) and my love of pillows (my grandmother always has so many pillows on her sofa). But just as many of the things that inspire me I have found on my own over time– like my love of black and white marble floors, French antiques (we were lucky to have inherited a few from my mother in law), painted Italian tables, chairs, mirrors and curio, and fresh flower arranging.

I think a house with heart reflects the interests and loves of the owner – the owner has a connection with the contents. They have been acquired over time – whether it's from family, or through travel, or through many diligent shopping trips to favorite stores . The house and its contents tells the story of our lives.

Here are some photos of the things that I love:
Florentine table:


Fresh flowers (arranged by me):



Marble floors!



image courtesy of parisceramicsusa.com

Some of the antiques we have found over the years:




Except where specified otherwise, images from Whitehaven

Groundhog Day
The groundhog has come out of his hole and predicted six more weeks of winter. Of course, trusting a groundhog is no dumber than trusting the UN climate panel's bogus warnings about global warming.



Ford's Big Month
Ford posted a 24% sales increases last month. Most new Ford customers say they desperately needed a reliable car to get to their lawyers' office and sue Toyota.



Volcker Rule
Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is unveiling a plan today to separate banks from owning and running hedge funds. Unfortunately, our financial system will never be safe until the government can separate the banks from cocaine and hookers.


Volcker will also say that big banks should be "euthanized" and not bailed out the next time they fail. It's a very courageous move for Volcker... not because it's a tough financial policy, but because it takes guts for an 82-year-old man to use the word euthanasia in public.



Baggage Issues
The bad news is a new report says that the new luggage fees on airlines do not lead to improved service or fewer lost bags. The good news is baggage handlers are less likely to try to steal stuff from your bags since they know the fees are making you too broke to have any valuables anyway.




Illegal Money
The new White House budget gives $1 billion to California to keep illegal aliens in jail. Of course, they could just give the state money to keep illegals from crossing the border in the first place... but that would be racist.






February 2nd


962: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years. The delay was mostly because all the best Holy Emperor candidates kept fathering children with campaign aides.


1653: New Amsterdam, (later renamed The City of New York), is incorporated... but only after getting approval from the teachers' union.


1848: The Mexican-American War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the ceremony, all the Mexican signatories illegally immigrate to the United States.


1901: Queen Victoria's funeral takes place... which was very embarrassing sinc she didn't die until three weeks later.


1920: France occupies Memel... then sneaks out of Memel's apartment the next morning without even leaving a note.

Godøya west of Ålesund

When you are at Molja (see post from Thursday) looking west you will see a large mountain-island: Godøy.
Far west on the island you can visit another lighthouse from 1876 at Alnes.The lighthouse is in operation and is accessible for tourists. It also houses an art gallery and a small historical museum.
Alnes is a small village in the municipality of Giske, Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. In 2006 its population was 205, but as the population dropped below 200 the next year, Alnes on Godøy is no longer counted as an urban settlement and its data no longer registered.

You can arrive Godøy and Alnes from Ålesund free of charge through 3 subsea tunnels (total length: 11492 meters) plus a bridge of 552 meters. When my girls was much younger I took them out there from Oslo (560 km away) in a heavy stormy weather, for the purpose to see the large waves and let them understand part of why I am as I am. Our ancestors on my mother mother side can be followed back to Torberg Arneson Giske (990 - 1050) and further back to Finnvid from Ønundarfjord, Iceland (850 -)

My winter-night moonshine painting is from 2007.