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 The story of these buttons is one of my favorite examples of the ways that ancient Greek motifs are translated through the Roman Empire, passed on to Napoleon and the picked up by the Victorians. At our first National Button Conference, I came across a beautiful set of buttons modeled on Roman coins minted in Alexandria Egypt in the year 144/145. Beginning in 138AD, Hadrian's adopted son, Antoninus Pius, sat at the head of the Roman Empire, which encircled the Mediterranean Sea. The coin mints of Alexandria made a remarkable number of designs during this time, thought in part to celebrate the completion and renewal...

I am focusing on small joys. Perhaps it is just adulthood or perhaps some collective fatigue of living through the pandemic, but it feels hard to get ahead, to feel rested and restored. So I am finding a place to exist in simple joys. I accompanied Phoebe's 2nd grade class to a farm for a field trip yesterday. The calming delight of holding a warm chicken egg, petting a newborn sheep, dipping empty yogurt containers into a pond to look for damselfly larvae. It was good. (Though I truly could not survive as a 2nd grade teacher. My word, we...

Add a luscious pop of color to your collection with our newest fine jewelry designs! My favorites talismans, made from antique buttons and teaspoons and charms in sterling silver adorned with glowing rubies and sapphires in shades of plum blossom pink and deep magenta.  The stars of this collection are our California Poppy Teaspoon necklace, an elegant marquis pendant with blossoms overflowing with rubies and sapphires. Our favorite Meiji Era Camellia sings with two large rubies set at the center of each flower. Shop Fine Jewelry

Our yard has been a perplexing dust lot for a while now. We have never wanted expansive lawns, what with living in California. This weekend we finally deployed the magic of mulch and created a lovely sitting area. We used broken flagstone from around the garden and with 5 bags of mulch and a few bags of gravel... BAM!  Johnny and I got the upcycled junk dodo bird at the Mendocino Arts Center on one of our first trips as an engaged couple, my cousin made the burl bowl-turned-succulent planter. The wine barrel sphere, placed ever so specifically by Phoebe, was...