Switching it up
November 19, 2015
While I will usually go for a simple Thanksgiving table decorated with Bosc pears, nuts in their shells and oak leaves , I’m thinking I might just switch things up a bit. Heath Ceramics dinnerware in basalt and linen, blown Polo roses and a tangle of Tallowberry will keep it simplequietmodern with a chalky neutral palette. Now that that’s taken care of let’s see if I can simplify dinner without any sacrifices.
Photos:gp
Paper or…
November 15, 2015
You know I can work a classic Kraft paper shopping bag six ways till Sunday. But, this waxed canvas market bag takes simplequietmodern to a new level. Easy care cotton canvas hand coated with organic beeswax. Perfect for carrying all the quince, apples and persimmons you’ll be cooking up during the holidays and leaving the brown bags you’ve been recycling available for the wrapping of gifts come December.
Top photo:https://food52.com/shop/products/718-waxed-canvas-market-bag
others: gp
Serving It Up
November 8, 2015
Turkey, Vegducken or pie….they have to go somewhere. Picture presenting your Thanksgiving feast here, on this Paul McCobb walnut and brass credenza. Designed as part of his Irwin Collection for the Calvin Group in the mid 50’s, this stunner was born to be put into holiday service now through the first of the year providing a simplequietmodern stage for everything from a full buffet, coffee and dessert or stirring up a few Manhattans. 
photo: Plastolux
A Little Needed Comfort
October 27, 2015
Between Halloween, Dia los Muertos and turning the clocks back, this weekend might just have you craving or needing a little comfort food. My simplequietmodern shortcut for Pork with Green Chilis and Potatoes to the rescue. A slow cooked New Texican stew served up over rice or folded into tortillas might be just what’s needed to fight that candy corn hangover.
photos:gp
It’s not over till it’s over
September 7, 2015
While Labor Day may mark the unofficial end of Summer, it’s actually not over until September 23rd. So, today, my time will be well spent flat out on one of those lounges indulging in a bit of vitamin D therapy or refreshing myself in the cool depths of that slate lined pool. Topping the day off with a simple alfresco dinner and an evening fire at the pool house and I’ve put together the perfect holiday stay-cation.
Photo via: http://cabbagerose.tumblr.com/post/128362395033/green-glass-tile-cd-poolhousemarc-merckx-via
C’mon Jax
August 26, 2015
Is it too much to ask? Just a quick pic to chronicle his birthday. Yep…Baby Hambone Jaxon 3000 is three years old. It might be easier if he wasn’t so black…or, if you were better able to distinguish one end from the other. Maybe if he stopped spinning like the Tasmanian Devil…or at the most basic, if he’d just look at the camera. Then it dawned on me. It was that Puli sense of humor at work, playing me like a Strad.
Road Trip!
August 2, 2015
What better way to spend a gorgeous Summer day than a road trip. A micro vacation if you will. With perfect temps, blue skies and an early start, todays destination: the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I concentrated on the Sculpture Garden… 30 acres of meandering walkways, plantings, meadows and waterways. Around each turn and down every path I experienced another of the world’s most significant works of outdoor sculpture, each expertly presented within a site and plant environment specifically chosen to compliment it alone. A unique museum experience to be sure.
top to bottom:
“Cabin Creek” Deborah Butterfield
A cooling rock falls along the way.
“Plantoir” Claes Oldenburg
iPhone snaps: gp
A Complete 180
July 26, 2015
You can’t get any further from Winter’s icy grip than the middle of July. A near ninety degree Sunday calls for a simple plan, spending as much time as possible outdoors. Maybe a little yard work, to bring that Spring clean-up back on schedule, followed by a big slice of watermelon. Perfect.
photos: gp
Fireflies…Fireworks…
July 3, 2015
and a long full day of July 4th celebration. Phew! I can’t think of a better way to recharge for the rest of the long weekend than in a bed dressed in these crisp, summery cotton percale sheets and shams. Now, if you’ll excuse me…
Photo: http://www.parachutehome.com/products/percale-sheets?variant=4220118657
A summer breeze…
June 26, 2015
a great view and a tall cool one. The only thing missing is a place to relax and take it all in. That’s exactly what Thomas Lee thought when he set out “planking” together what would come to be an icon of Summer while weekending in the Adirondacks in 1905. Many incarnations of this classic design have evolved over the last one hundred plus years, but none compare tho the elegant simplicity of the original. The Westport Chair…inviting you to kick off those flip-flops and sit a spell.
photos via Gardenista and Remodelista.
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