ZBelow is a purely self indulgent blog posting…

I stole some time away from my studio that has scarves everywhere ready to be photographed and listed for sale.

Sitting here on my favorite chair,  sipping my favorite Ceylon tea, enjoying a slice of pear pastry not too distant a relative of the ones I always enjoyed in Paris.

My favorites, pink Peonies and white Dahlias, listening to Tschaikovsky’s String Serenades by the Berliner Philharmoniker directed by Herbert von Karajan.

Life could not be any better. Well maybe with another slice of pastry, a tiny slice this time 🙂

I have been going down memory lane all day, revisiting some of my favorite places even if only in my mind.

It all started this morning when I flipped open my laptop and was greeted by a Tuscan landscape that took my breath away and in an instant I stood in the center of Piazza del Duomo,  the birthplace of Renaissance.

I am a sorry old sentimental sap and perhaps a recent milestone of a birthday, made me even more so. When your own issue date supersedes that of one of your favorite, scarves, well do I need to say more?

The peonies remind me of Paris and childhood.  The first time I remember a peony is when I was around two.  We had just moved into our old world apartment that my fashionable mother turned into a modern Danish flat void of any of its previous charm and history.  But there I was in a neighbor’s garden surrounded by flowers that were as tall as I was with flower heads as big as mine.  They smelled unlike anything I had smelled before. I still recall how the petals felt against my cheeks and how odd the thought of such huge lush flowers was.  I was surrounded by them.  Delighted I fell in love with the peony that day.

And cherries, of course.  My favorite fruit of all time!!!! 🙂  There is absolutely nothing better than a ripe sweet tart cherry right off the tree.  I grew up with an enormous cherry tree in my backyard.  My father had to trim the lower branches in order for me not to eat cherries that weren’t quite ripe yet, green and hard they did give me a tummy ache or two…

I do need to get back to my scarves.  Take photos of several new arrivals… but before I go, here are some of my favorite “things”…