Imagination Required

Chestnuts Roasting on the Open Fire -

Is it me or are you too repellent to the idea of Christmas lapping at our heel-steps? After 52 Christmas', I've got the first signs fine tuned to tip me off of the holiday shopping season's impending arrival.

It all begins with the re-launch today of Starbucks festive scarlet red cups to those first, somewhat understated, television commercials. The t.v. adverts begin with a tease only to build slowly...surely... with greater fervor, until the week before Christmas Eve, in which they reach their ultimate crescendo.

As you read this, I deliver you a story not worthy of any accolades. It is void of clever tips, catchy phrases or facts you likely never knew. What I bring you is a few moments of grandeur; beauty of design, and the architecture of spaces and mankind. A few seconds of wondering what it would be like to sit-back, lounge and relax in the most gorgeous of spaces, with some of the most gorgeous of men, of our lifetime.

Take a few minutes for yourself before the holiday rush begins ~ (you can thank me later.)

Rock n Rolla with Idris Elba

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Sting - no intro required, or shirt either.

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photos courtesy of Cote' de Texas

English Actor -the dandy Hugh Dancy

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Candace Bergen Home - Architectural Digest

Colin Firth - 'Oh Mr. Darcy'

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Kelly Wearstler design

Jeffrey Dean Morgan - 'P.S. I (do) Love You'

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Miles Redd design

Robert Redford - The Original 'Sting'

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photo for Vogue Living

George Clooney - The man can sport a tux like no other

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Miles Redd design

'For Your Eye's Only' - Sean Connery

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Kelly Wearstler design

Cary Grant - Funny was so sexy on him

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Miles Redd design

Gerard Butler - Movies include, 'One More Kiss', 'The Cherry Orchard', 'The Game of Their Lives', 'P.S. I Love You', 'The Ugly Truth', & 'How to Train Your Dragon'; is there a theme going on here?

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Met Home photo - Doug Meyer designer

Gregory Peck - He was my 'Man Meter' for setting
the standard in which to measure other men up to.
FYI -
President Richard Nixon placed Peck on his enemies list due to his liberal activism.

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Domino photo

Marcello Mastroianni - 'La Dolce Vita'

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Alan Cumming - For the love of a kilt & a good laugh.
Not sure who would giggle more, you or him?

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Elle Decor photo - J. Adler designer

Harry Connick, Jr.- have you seen him shake his hips? Please......

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'The Boys Are Back' with Clive Owen

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Kelly Wearstler design

Gordon Ramsay - BBC's "F Word" Chief Chef and Bad Boy

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Anderson Cooper - Epitome of "Grey Fox".

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Shaken but never stirred - Current Bond Boy - Daniel Craig

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Met Home photo - Geoffrey Goldberg & Lynne Remington designers

Hang on to your stick-shift it's the British Boys of BBC's 'Top Gear"
James May & Richard Hammond

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Met Home photo - Robert Kaner designer

Mad for Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

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Met Home photo

"You're Gonna Love Me Like Nobody's Loved Me, Come Rain or Come Shine"
Hugh Jackman

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Elle Decor photo - Shaun Jackson designer

Ewan McGreggor
Not - 'Down with Love'

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Hugh Laurie
any man who rides a Triumph is that man of mine.
Did you know his father was a doctor & Hugh actually suffers from depression?

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photo Johanna Henderson

Savory Scotsman - James McAvoy
"King of Scotland", yes maybe.

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photo compliments of midcenturyjo/ flickr

In full Orlando Bloom

Ahh..where would we be without a little help from our friends?

{go forth & live responsibly}
Let us give thanks

The Amazing Creature Called Woman - "Amelia"

This post is dedicated to my readers - my friends. You all have left incredibly kind messages over the last months in regards to my mother's fight with cancer, and all the twists & turns in my road. I have never met any of you, and yet, you overwhelm me with kindess and compassion, laughter and tears. The tears are tears of gratitude, for when I feel lonely or scared about what's next in this crazy life, I know that I am never really alone. Xxx dw

Let me introduce to you 'America's first celebrity fashion designer' - Aviator Amelia Earhart. This is where fashion mass marketing began some 70+ years ago.

Often thought of by the public as "Lindy in drag" (after famed aviator Charles Lindberg), Earhart was boyish, freckeled faced with her short hair, thin build; devoid of hips and breasts. She had no interest in feminine fashion but her manager/husband, publisher George Putnam, vowed to 'glam-up' this American female idol. Earhart sported a lovely smile, bright blue eyes, blonde wavy hair, and that willowy, model like physique. With the help of a make-up artist, well tailored clothes, and hair stylist, Earhart was transformed into the epitomy of androgynous chic.


After Earhart's solo flight across the Atlantic in May 20-21, 1931, Earhart and Putnam searched for ways to raise money for the aviatrix's next venture while promoting her image as a national heroine. The high-flying Mrs. and husband decided to focus on fashion. At that time, American designers were not world-wide celebrities like their high-fashioned Paris counterparts. Even the highest-end U.S. fashions bared the manufactors label only. After convincing the U.S. Rubber Company to back them, Amelia Earhart Fashions debuted in 1934.


Her line of clothes were offered in special Amelia Earhart shops in a single department store per city (in New York, Macy's and in Chicago, Marshall Field's). The label, sewn into each garment, featured the aviatrix's signature in black with a thin red line streaking through it to a little red plane soaring in the right corner. Earhart told one newspaper that she nearly always incorporated in the styles "something characteristic of aviation, a parachute cord or tie or belt, a ball-bearing belt buckle, wing bolts and nuts for buttons. Despite a blizzard of publicity, Earhart fashion failed to catch on with the public, and the line disappeared from America's stores even before the aviatrix vanished.


Jean Paul Gaultier conjured up this non-traditional woman as his muse for his Fall 2009 line for Hermes. At the Hermes show in Paris last March, models wore aviator hats and goggles with the clothes, as the roar of prop-plane engines set up beyond the catwalk filled the air.


Sadly enough Gaultier told the Associated Press, "I was inspired by a woman, I forgot her name, an American pilot with very short, wavy hair who was wearing an aviator jacket, which I love, and a little scarf that was so Hermes."

Was she the best woman pilot of her era? It's been written that some said no, there were better. There is no doubt, however, that the world will always remember Amelia Earhart for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women.

In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident. "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

“As far as I know I’ve only got one obsession—a small and probably typically feminine horror of growing old".

Starting at the age of 22, Earhart began 'shaving' off a year of her age, not stopping there.



Earhart's biographer Susan Butler wrote that Amelia often flew wearing men's underpants. Apparently supperior to a womans for a 'quick pee'.

"Now and then women should do for themselves what men have already done -- occasionally what men have not done -- thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do".

George Putnam reportedly had to propose six times to Earhart before she accepted; even then, she referred to the union as a “partnership” with “dual control.”

Amelia Earhart was an accomplished and articulate writer who served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930.


Amelia was the 16th woman to receive a pilot's license from the FAI (License No. 6017).

The United States government spent $4 million looking for Earhart, which made it the most costly and intensive air and sea search in history at that time.

Earhart met Orville Wright at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1937, the same year she disappeared.

Earhart developed a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, who wanted to learn how to fly. Earhart had planned to teach her, for which the First Lady even got her student permit.

She called herself “a hobo of the air,” and described her early flights as “vagabonding.”

Amelia, at nineteen, attended a ritzy boarding school in Philadelphia. Many of her classmates were content to be “finished,” but Amelia kept a scrapbook of clippings about self-starting women: a fire lookout, a police commissioner, an engineer.

Edwin (Amelia's father) encouraged Amelia’s exploits, and a sense of their complicity as two profligate rolling stones stirs beneath the clichés of her prose. He had often given her the kinds of present that a man buys his son: a baseball bat, a football, a .22-calibre rifle, which she wanted for shooting rats.

"As a sex, women seem to regard matrimony as a highly honorable retreat from business failure ... They think they are after freedom, but what I'm afraid they want is lack of responsibility ... Mr. Putnam thinks idleness is the greatest curse of married women."

"My ambition is to have this wonderful gift produce practical results for the future of commercial flying and for the women who may want to fly tomorrow's planes."

Some twenty-five years after Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, a strange psychic postscript occurred on the Island of Saipan. Researcher, Eugene Sims began employment on Guam, from which Saipan could be reached by air in thirty minutes. As a part of his business activities, he began making weekly trips to Saipan.

Sims soon made friends with numerous families on the island, frequently discussing the disappearance of Amelia Earhart with the older members. He soon noticed that few people were comfortable openly discussing the aviatrix’ disappearance.

On one visit, Sims brought his wife with him and as part of a tour of the island, the two were shown Garapan Prison. They were taken to a cell that they were told once held Amelia Earhart. Sims took copious photos of the jail.

A few days later, when Sims got the photos back from the processor, he was stunned to see, in one photo of Earhart’s cell a ghostly white figure standing in the metal doorframe.

"Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price".

"There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls."

After all, times are changing and women need the critical stimulus of competition outside the home. A girl must nowaways believe completely in herself as an individual. She must realize at the outset that a woman must do the same job better than a man to get as much credit for it. She must be aware of the various discriminations, both legal and traditional, against women in the business world.

Yes Amelia, you were my kind of "gal".

{go forth & live responsibly}

quoting Amelia, "The most effective way to do it, is to do it".

Thank you once again for all your well appreciated comments & support. I promise to get caught up on replies and comments on all your fabulous blogs a.s.a.p. One day at a time, right?

abouthistory.com; Gio Diliberto@ Huffingtonpost.com; Wgntv.com; Earheartmovie.com; newyorker.com; ameliaearhart.com

Rachel Zoe vs Dumbwit Tellher

Rachel Zoe from Bravo's the 'Rachel Zoe Project'

The dumbwit tellher project, Rachel Zoe style. Yes, it's true, I want to be uber hip, ultra annoying, scary skinny, stylist to the stars; Rachel Zoe for a day.

"Oh my god", "I die", "You look bananas", and "You are shutting it down", will be my catch - phrases for twentyfour flippin' long hours, or until I get the job done. However, I call it quit's if I am sequestered to honor any marital obligations (if you get my drift) towards her equally annoying husband, 'Randy' Rodger.

Watch and learn Ms. Rachel ~

p.s. - Dear Rachel, one teeny weeny request. Please, I beg you, loose the beret/cap/chapeau, (whatever) in the next taxi. And while I'm at it, your fake heart-attack in episode #7, while in Paris for fashion week was, well.."le magnifique". Oscar worthy really.

Almighty Arms - Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States of America

Scassi - gold metallic silk. Michelle will rock the 80's

Carla Bruni Sarkozy - First Lady of France. If only those legs could talk

YSL for Christian Dior - vintage 50's silk taffeta masterpiece (Holly Golightly must of worn)

Rosario Dawson - "Will you light my candle?" (adored her in RENT)

Ralph Rucci - chiffon & feather blouse w/ choc. velvet pants

Kate Hudson - "batter-up"

Halston - sequined set from the 80's (Studio 54?)

Gwenneth Paltrow - daughter Apple's godfather is British actor Simon Pegg

Herve Leger - 80's bandage dress

Ravishing - Kerry Washington

Gianni Versace Couture - sweeping stunner w/plunging neckline. Circa 2000

Sarah Jessica Parker - the symbol of sex & the working girl

Christian Dior Haute Couture - gold lace ostrich feather dress, circa 1958

Scottish /Androgynous - Agyness Dean

Jean Claude Jitrois - 1980's lambskin & fox fur motorcycle jacket

Jamie King - "Sin City" indeed

Norma Kamali - pinstripe mermaid gown, circa 80's

Penelope Cruise - the vegetarian lifestyle has served her well

Harvey Barin - 60's chiffon mini-dress

Uma Thurman - This would certainly "Kill Bill"

Bob Mackie - peach chiffon, circa 1970's

Cate Blanchett - not looking like Bob Dylan in this shot

Torrente Haute Couture - silk chiffon ruffled gown w/train, circa 1980's

Kiera Knightly - she's got to kiss Johnny Depp over, & over again; enough said

Victor Costa - dramatic puffed sleeve 80's gown

Londoner & lady who sans a sharp & wicked sense of humor, Thandie Newton

Jean Desses - smoked chiffon ruched gown. Circa 1950

Kitty Kat Kate Winslet

Unknown designer - sequined trench, vintage 70's

Smoking Sienna Miller

Naeem Kahn - sequined cocktail dress, circa 1980's

Kristen Scott Thomas - "I've loved you for so long"

Unknown designer - black silk crepe dress w/feather & rhinestone detail

Marion Cotillard - French face of "Lady Dior"

Unknown designer - 30's English made ostrich feather caplette

Natalie Portman - Pres. of the 'flat-chested' club & I'm the V.P.

Givenchy - low-cut tux jumpsuit, 1980's

Rachel Weisz - in this weeks news for her stand to ban botox. I say, "reserve objections for when your over 50".

Arnold Scaasi - 80's velvet structural dress w/tulle & horse hair

Adorably French - Audrey Tautou

Pierre Cardin - 60's wool dress w/metal detail

Emily Blunt minus 'midgy' ex-boyfriend, Michael Buble (love his voice however).

"You just haven't met him yet", Ms. Blunt!

Fe Zandi Couture - 1950's sculpted gown w/dramatic hip structure & train

Anna "Nuclear" Wintour - school drop out at 16; she became the woman we'd all love to be,

if only for one day.

Christian Dior Hatue Couture - 60's silver sequin gown


Anjelina Jolie - the woman whose man we'd all love to hot-tub with


1950's couture silk satin ball gown

Christina Hendricks as va va va voom ...Joan Holloway - the woman with the 'rack of ages' and former member of the flat - chested club

Chanel Haute Couture - 80's coral silk gown

January Jones as hot housewife Betty Draper. If this what January looks like, bring on the other 11 months.

Estevez - 1956 green silk cocktail number

All fashions available on 1stdibs.com. Watch the Rachel Zoe Project each Tuesday on the Bravo channel .

Now share, "What is your favorite "Zoe-isim"?

** I want to apologize for my lack of postings recently. My mother is terminally ill; combine that with a new job, computer issues (can anyone hate 'Vista' more than me?) & houseguests for a total of 5.5 weeks, it's taken it's toll. I appreciate your sticking in there with me. I value you all tremendously. Xxx

{go forth & shop responsibly}

purchasing vintage is green at it's finest

Fall 09's Biker Chic - Fashion or Fiction?

I never wanted to be to the girl that just rode on the back.....

Miss Sixty

I say, "Live large & in-charge"

Elvis Presley & Barbara Stanwyck riding off to the 'Big Valley'

Sienna Miller in Gucci

DKNY

Yipeeee.. for Ewan McGregor

Roberto Cavalli

Dr. Gregory House - I feel a cold coming on...

Rick Owens

Ann Margaret--Rrrrrrr.....

Yves St. Laurent

Mr. Pitt definitely not the pitts

Jean Paul Gautlier

Ewan McGregor

Andrew Gn

Elvis Presley - digging the hat with those shoes

Alexander Wang

Steve McQueen full throttle

Stella McCartney

Marlo Brandon

Rodarte

actress - Vanessa Marciel

Phi

Marianne Faithful - the ultimate 'Girl on a Motorcycle'

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Haider Ackermann

Steve McQueen sandwich

Balmain

Hugh Laurie on his way to a "House" call

Armand Basi

dumbwit tellher in Scotland


dw in Houston with my new Triumph

Ride baby ride....
helmet required
{go forth & live responsibly}

photo credits; cinabeatsblogsome.com; style.com; telegraph.co.uk.com; orange.co.uk.com; fashionmagazine.com; elvispresleymusic.com.au; bikerzbay.com; mariannfaithful2blog.motorcycle.com;

For my love of Leslie...

This is what 60 looks like

Born 19 September, 1949 Neasdon- London- England

She represents my youth
It started with a pair of lavender suede 'hot-pants' my father
purchased for me on Carnaby St. in London.
If you loved fashion, you wanted to be her..
even when you were 10.

Her name is Leslie Hornby and her face launched the arrival of the teenage revolution and epitomized 60's swinging London. What was swinging London? It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasized the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. In 1965, Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, said "London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment."




When this carpenter's daughter from Neasden in North London was 16, she was declared the face of 1966. Her story began with a push from a friend to see a 'woman' she knew to discuss a modeling job. Leslie took the idea with a chuckle and went to see this woman.Leslie was told that she was too small (5' 6 1/2" and weighed in at 6 1/2 stone/91 lbs.) but thought she had an interesting face and agreed to send her for some test photo shots. But first, Leslie was to see Leonard at the House of Leonard, a posh Mayfair salon for a trim and style.
After their brief introduction, Leonard slipped away to phone photographer Barry Lategan. Leonard asked if Lategan could snap a few photos of this "girl". He wanted to do his new haircut on her but wanted to know if Lategan thought she was photogenic first. During her photo shoot, her then boyfriend Justin de Villeneuve, made the comment, "Oh Twiggy"(an obvious nickname due to her spindly frame). Photographer Lategan said, "Great name, if you ever model, you should use it". Lategan did the shots, called Leonard and said, "Yes she is photogenic, and yes do the cut". After eight hours of color and cut, photos were shot and ultimately Leonard hung them in his salon.

The famous haircut that catapulted this waif to icon status.
androgynous became fashionable

One of the first Barry Lategan photo's that launched her career

In Leslie's words from an interview with Swindle Magazine this is the rest of the story; "The next lucky break was that one of the most eminent fashion journalists of the day in those days, Deirdre McSharry, came in and loved the photograph. She worked for a national newspaper called the Daily Express. She was a client of Leonard’s. She said, “Love the hair. Who’s the girl?” And Leonard said, “A young schoolgirl.” And she said, “I want to meet her, I think she’s got something.” So I got this phone call at home. They said this lady wants to interview you. I was so green, I didn’t even know what an interview was. I went to meet this lady; we had tea. They took more pictures of me. She said, “I’m going to write a piece about you.” So every day for about two weeks, my dad would buy the Daily Express and there’d be nothing. We thought it’d be a little tiny column. Two weeks later, my dad came in. It was the whole center page. The headline was “Twiggy: The Face of ‘66.” It was the big headshot that Barry took. And that’s when my life turned around."

with her painted on bottom lashes and her doe shaped eyes..
she launched mod fashion. An era hard to describe nor to replace.
You felt change in the air. It was as electric as the hot-pink, and the
neon-yellows of the fashions.

"I remember the day I first met Twiggy. She had a great curiosity. She walked around my studio looking at everything. She truly had a different look and she had an amazing, big laugh. She brought the idea of teenagehood into acceptance; she was a non-ruling-class girl who made her
way in the world. She still knows how to handle herself with a professional elegance and dignity."
Barry Lategan, photgrapher

As a part of the British youth subculture in the early mid 60's -
you were either a mod or a rocker.
Twiggy was a self-proclaimed mod.

"Twigg's used to come into Biba before she was well known, in great vintage pieces such as 40's coats with huge shoulders. I use to think, "God, that girl is amazing. She looks like Garbo." Despite all the celebrities coming into the shop, Twiggy was the one who counted; she was a superstar. We worked together making clothes for shoots and parties. Twiggy modelling Biba make-up, doing the interiors for her dressing room for the pantomime Cinderella in 1974 and for her Notting Hill flat. I remember being in the back of the car with her on her way to appear on Parkinson and watching her slap on her make-up, her boots caked in mud, she didn't care. She was always terribly funny and very loyal."
Barbara Hulanicki, designer and co-founder of Biba

other than the photo of the Beatles walking across Abbey Road,
no other image represented the late 60's more than Twiggy's.

"The fact that people are still astonished at the success of Twiggy after all these years says it all. That invincible smile, the rock-hard confidence, despite her small frame, in a shrunken sweater and tiny skirt. Leonard, my hairdresser and friend, had shown me the Barry Lategan black & white snaps. Leonard was hoping this new face might be useful to launch his "little-boy" haircut - a haircut which, like her painted-on eyelashes, "the twiggies", became the waif look of the season. In the heady 60's, I liked not only working with her as a model (always easy to be with), but watching her grow (in inches too) and learn. She understood what the new wave of romantic designers, such as Kaffe Fassett and the late Bill Gibb, were doing. I remember her hanging her first Gibb frock on the wall of her flat like artwork. Twiggy had genuine charm, extraordinary application and was always the iron butterfly, coolly eyeing the main chance, never missing an opportunity to shine".

Deirdre McSharry, who discovered Twiggy when she declared her the 'Face of 66' in the London Daily Express.

"You could put her anywhere and she would always be happy"-
Tessa Traeger whose late husband Ronald Traeger, shot this famous 1967 image above for Vogue in Battersea Park, London; Twiggy designed her own 'mobile dress'.

"Twiggy arrived on the scene unlike any other model before or since - smaller, thinner and with extraordinary charm that enchanted everyone then as it does today. Twiggy is unique and a wonderful model, and can dance like a dream. She is as fresh as she was on the first day, and brilliant. She will last forever."
Mary Quant, fashion designer

At the mere age of 20, & after just 4 years of modeling, Twiggy decided "You can't be a clothes hanger your entire life", and left modeling. She went on to stage acting, to perform in musicals, and act in films & television (winning 2 golden globes).



In 1976, Twiggy signed to Mercury records and released the albums Twiggy and Please Get My Name Right; she released another album, Midnight Blue. In 2007, Sepia Records released a previously shelved album that Twiggy recorded in 1979, Produced by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers. To celebrate her 60th birthday, her newest cd, "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance" was released Sept. 14, 2009.

Twiggy on Sept. 24th at a book signing

A sincere Happy Be-lated Birthday to you Twiggy for looking into your face brings back memories that endure a life-time.

{go forth & live responsibly}
inspire inner revolution
** this post is dedicated to my favorite Brit blogging-buddy & friend - Jackie @ Home

research & photo credits attributed to; wikipedia.org; swindlemagazine.com; guardian.co.uk; dailymail.co.uk; gregwengerphotography;iamthechildofthemoon.blogspot; dollyrockergirl.blogspot;rhetro.com;alan ballard; blogcdn.com; gininateacup.blogspot; directnews.co.uk; miakillen.com; lewis morely; nndb.com; snowrecords.com; terry o'neil; zimbio.com; topfoto.co.uk; 2009 photos - bryan adams;

Highland Home for Sale

"Money a mickle maks a muckle"

Saving a small amount soon builds up to a large amount

but will it be enough to buy Scotland's Ackergill Tower?

Hang on to your haggis - for stately Ackergill's asking price is
GBP £5,000,000 (8.2 million American). A Realtor's ® dream!

Ackergill Tower is just five minutes from Wick Airport which now benefits from multiple no frills scheduled flights into Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Inverness and then on to Wick with either Flybe/Loganair from Edinburgh or with Eastern Airways from Aberdeen.

Depart from London Heathrow via Edinburgh at 08:00 and be here in plenty of time for lunch, and when you leave Wick at 12:00 you will be back in Heathrow at 17:20.

With the Tower's million dollar price tag, you would become the
host of a ghost.
It is believed that the ghost of Helen Gunn haunts the castle, who was the
daughter of an opposing family. When she was kidnapped at age
15 she jumped to her death from the battlements of the tower.

Ackergill Tower, a historic estate dating to 1476, is on Sinclair’s Bay in the northeast corner of the Scottish Highlands. It was expanded significantly around 1850.The estate is three miles from the town of Wick, where there are shops and an airport, and approximately 105 miles north of Inverness, which is known informally as the capital of the Scottish Highlands.

The estate has about 30 acres, including a Victorian walled
garden, formal lawns, woodlands and waterfront land with
five miles of sandy beach

There are also remains of a medieval moat that once surrounded the castle

The purchase also includes an opera house (once the coach house), an approximately 1,100-square-foot tree house (with a deck, dining room and kitchen), and seven more guest rooms in various outbuildings, some of which were once kennels and a blacksmith shop

Your buying approximately 12,000 square feet of Scottish Castle

Owned by only three families over five centuries,
the castle retains a medieval aura

Ackergill has 17 bedrooms, each with an en-suite bath

The furnishings, which are included in the sale, are mostly original
to the castle and include tapestries and Persian rugs

WHO BUYS IN THE HIGHLANDS?
Among non-Scottish buyers, the English are the most common, followed by other Europeans.
states Reg MacDonald, the regional director of Re/Max Scotland.

If you are to live in the Highlands, you will certainly need to practice
your Scottish sayings.
Repeat after me ~

• Fit Like? - An Aberdeen greeting, meaning how are you?
  
• Dinnae fash yersel - Don't trouble yourself.
• You're a long time deid - Enjoy life now.
• A dinna ken - I don't know.
  
• Dinna fash yersel - Don't worry
• Nae Problem - No problem

Do you love a good history lesson? Read about the great sand heist of Ackergill at odd.scotland.com.
Fascinating story of the the beach being ancient burial grounds for the Vikings.

To purchase this stately home contact

John Coleman @ Knight Frank, 011-44-131-222-9600; www.knightfrank.co.uk

Want to test sleep before you buy? Stay a wee whiley at the edge of the sea; rates and information are found here.

Something to wet your whistle and sooth your soul down to those woolly socks

Champagne Scottish Apple Romance -

brought to you by wineintro.com

1 shot Glenmorangie Single Highland Malt Scotch Whiskey
1 shot apple brandy
Rose Champagne

Pour Glenmorangie and apple brandy into a flute glass, then add in Rose Champagne to fill. Delicious!

JennieMac from letshaveacocktail.blogspot was incredibly kind to honor me with this clever award on Sunday. Her one request was for the receivers of her award were to pass on a cocktail recipe and join in the party. I hope you will give the champagne Scottish apple romance a try and visit Jennie's hilarious blog. She has a way with whit like non other.

Gin a body meet a body

Comin thro' the rye,

Gin a body kiss a body,

Need a body cry?

Robert Burns

Coming thro the rye

credits; ackergill-tower.co.uk; allgreatquotes.com; nytimes.com; odd.scotland.com; knightfrank.co.uk; theinspiredroom.wordpress; scotlanddreaming.com

The Day The Music (in me) Died

This is about the embedding of video chips (up to 40 minutes worth mind you) in magazines. I would love to know your impression?

"Call us crazy, reviews Joseph Flately of engadget, but this whole idea of embedding video in magazines seems rather callous. Really, what better way is there to rub publishers' noses in the "death of print media" than by taking a perfectly good magazine and embedding a TV commercial? Apparently CBS doesn't see it that way, so they're taking Americhip's "multisensorizing®" technology to an ad insert that will run in the September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly. The ad, which will only be seen by subscribers in the New York and LA markets, plays about 40 minutes of video and, presumably, some crappy audio. We've tracked down a YouTube demo of the device (or similar), and although it does little to change our ornery opinion of the matter, we suppose that if it results in one more Ghost Whisperer fan it'll be worth it. Decide for yourself after the break".


Americhip describes it's video chip technology as "revolutionary video in print". Multisensorizing that appeals for five senses - sight; sound; touch; smell; touch. Engaging customers, influencing the decision making process and elevating and elevating brand recall through those five technologies.

BBC World News reported this morning that each video chip costs the publisher approximately $20. dollars.

I think my five senses are abused as it is and one of the many things I value about print magazines is they take me to another place the minute the shiny, glossy pages hit my epidermis. They become a cherished item and if indeed I decide to part ways with one of them, they are 1oo% recyclable.

With this news this morning, I can't help but think of Don McLean's "American Pie" , with my dumbwit twist of course ~

A long, long time ago..
I can still remember
How that magazine used to make me smile.

And if I had my chance
that I could make those people dance.
and maybe they'd be happy for a while.

But September made me shiver
with every mag I'd deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn't take on more step.

I can't remember if I cried
when I read about the death of print
with the invention of Americhip,
but something touched me deep inside.
the day the music in me died.

{go forth & shop responsibly}

ought or naught?