fog & horses

photograph by rinne allen

natalie chanin in athens

we are very excited to have our friend natalie chanin in athens for a few days! for those of you who are local, she will be giving a free talk tonight (friday, jan.29) at the UGA chapel at 5 pm...!

natalie was recently featured on the moth and told the story of her returning home to alabama, after years away. also, the bitter southerner recently wrote of her work too.

please take a moment and learn about natalie and all of the great work she and her company Alabama Chanin does in her hometown of florence, alabama, and come out to her talk if you are able.

words & photographs by rinne allen

winter mud

photograph by rebecca wood

on the side of the road

i had never noticed this one before, but someone put a road in next to it and so it was uncovered. i love the picture of the old house next to the freshly torn up red clay. this one had the classic floor plan: a central hall that led to a covered porch out back. the two front rooms were 'fancy', as in plaster walls and an amazing blue ceiling in both rooms! i've seen another house that had the same plaster walls and blue ceiling. how pretty it must have been, back in the day! polished wood floors, white walls, and blue above. all looking out on green and prosperous fields… wish i could have seen it with the furniture they had in there.

words and photographs by rebecca wood

red dogwood

photograph by rinne allen

alex raskin antiques in savannah

i recently revisted alex raskin antiques in savannah- 4 floors of patina and treasures...!

iced branches

photograph by rinne allen

tulips and woodfire

mandy and i played with flowers yesterday and these tulips and japanese magnolias came home with me. they are right at home with one of rebecca's woodfire vases.

arrangement and photograph by rinne allen

winter ice

photo by kristen bach

trowbridges

we recently spent a couple of days in florence, AL. we stopped by trowbridges for an afternoon snack and treat....and what a treat it was!  this old school ice cream parlor has been open since 1918 and it still holds that old charm.  we ordered a banana and mayo sandwich, vanilla malt and a couple of cones....all super delicious!

photos by kristen bach

fog and lichen

photograph by rinne allen

a week of favorite books: miscellany

we have enjoyed sharing some of our favorite books this week...here are a few more, that do not fit into any specific category, but that we love to look at...thank you for following along all week!

rebecca:
this one from the fashion collection at the met is ever so inspiring and wonderful. i never get tired of looking at all the styles!

rinne:
this sheila hicks books is one of my all time favorite books ever. the combination of paper and design is the perfect backdrop to her stunning weavings.

rinne:
a friend gave me this jurgen lehl book years ago. i look at it often for inspiration when i am going on a textile shoot.

rinne:
seeing the gee's bend show years ago at the whitney was life changing. this book reminds me of the power of the show, of seeing these quilts in person.

rinne:
my books are heavily leaning towards textiles today! one more...i love this facsimile of louise bourgeois' ode a la bievre...the renderings of her textile 'pages' leap off the page.

rinne:
rebecca gave me this book a long time ago. the clothing shown within are all made from paper.

rinne:
another book from a powerful show...there are too many good ideas within it to pick just one...innovative ways design can help the planet for the people who need help the most.

rinne:
i never tire of looking into maira kalman's worlds...i particularly love this one.

kristen:
i am surrounded by children's books in my work life and home life and i have a major weakness for them too. this made it hard to choose my favs from our collection.  sharing a few of the sweet ones that my family has enjoyed throughout the years.
 

kristen: 
maps is one of those books that is never dull.  each page you turn is filled with illustrated information about different cultures and areas in the world.  it's loved by any age!

thanks you for reading this week!

a week of favorites: books on country living

continuing our week of favorite books today with books on living in the country...

rebecca:
of course, foxfire books are a goldmine of old country ways and wisdom...everything from cooking to cures, and hogs to homes...filled with interviews with old appalachian people living on the land. this book on alex stewart is also a goldmine, but fewer people have heard of it. it's from years of interviews by a college lad, and has so many facts and ways of living you can hardly imagine today. fascinating, and i was so sad when it when it was over!

kristen:
lovely photographs by gordon parks that document segregation and southern history. 
:

kristen: 
rinne and i picked the same book....for different days.  this book holds photographs by william christenberry that capture the beauty of the south.  everytime i page through this book i am reminded of the landscape that i fell in love with.  several years ago i read an interview with him and he said something so perfectly, "i find beauty in what's old and changing, like we are all changing".  

rinne:
deeply moving images of the southern landscape.

rinne:
inspiration from the countryside.

rinne:
things to forage for in the countryside.

thank you for reading!

a week of favorites: homes & habitats

today we are sharing some of our favorite books that center on homes and habitats...books for young & old...enjoy!

rebecca & rinne:
we both picked this book...from rebecca: this is a hippie classic from 1973. a compendium of ideas, history, architecture,instructions on everything from making a thatched roof to constructing a geodesic dome. lots of historical pictures of houses around the world that i've never seen before...all kinds of styles of houses, and the hippies that are building them.

kristen:  who doesn't dream of a good treehouse?  when i was thinking of a name for my business, i was trying to think of a place where your mind and imagination would run wild.  hence, my shop called treehouse kid and craft.  
 

kristen: this book is something that i reference often.  it is filled with recipes and home made tips to live in a natural home.  

rinne:
william christenberry has photographed buildings around the south for over 40years, some of them over and over and over again, charting the passage of time across each.

rinne:
we all love rural studio around here and this first book about them is a good primer on their work.

rinne:
a long time ago i was traveling in southern france and visited both of the places featured in the next two books...both are small churches designed by 20th century artists, matisse & jean cocteau, respectively. i loved seeing how they thought through every detail of the space; matisse even designed the vestments used in the services, and cocteau's drawings covered every inch of the walls in his space.

rinne:
we love handmade houses around here.

thank you for reading!

fading colors

photograph by kristin karch

a week of favorite books: flowers & gardening

continuing with our week of favorites...today we are sharing books about flowers & gardening...enjoy!!

rinne:
simple ikebana inspiration here...rebecca & i love ikebana so much...(and, i am awaiting on the translation of this book title from rebecca's son zack (who knows japanese)...!

rinne:
i am a big gardener and this book was one of the first ones that i purchased for my library...eventhough the setting for derek jarman's garden is completely different than my own, i look at this book alot because i love his beautiful space and how he made the landscape his own.

rinne:
i have written about my love for this book before. i just love it.

rinne:
this book was in my family's library when i was little....it was written by a schoolteacher in nyc and encourages the reader to explore nature anywhere you can find it, be it a crack in the sidewalk or in a small city park. i have shared this book with many others, and its simple principle has encouraged all of us to explore nature with our children, even in the most urban of settings. it is always good to be reminded that there is so much to learn from right beneath our feet.

rinne:
like the above book, this book encourages us to find inspiration in unlikely places. in this instance, in the bolted, overgrown plants in our yard. i love the textures and forms in these wild plants.

rinne:
i am not normally drawn to cactus, but they pair perfectly here with the textures of adam silverman's amazing pottery.

rinne:
another ikebana book, this one from the 50's...'japanese flower arrangement'.

rinne:
another inspiring book that embraces the beauty of flowers.

rinne:
this is hands down one of the most important books in my collection, because seeing the 2004 exhibition that went along with it inspired me to start making light drawings again.

rebecca:
i love to study japanese flower arranging, the history and the styles. 'arranging flowers' is a wonderful guide to the history and styles of arranging. there are spectacular color pictures of huge arrangements as only the japanese can do. highly recommended.

rebecca:
this book was written at the end of the 1800's by the first westerner to really study ikebana. so much wonderful info concerning appropriate flowers for different occasions, as well as appropriate arrangements for all the different parties they had, like moon viewing parties,incense parties,flower arranging parties, and poetry parties. i love the picture of the couple entering the tea room to observe the ikebana!

lathe & plaster

photograph by rebecca wood

a week of favorites: cookbooks

we are continuing on our favorites theme this week! we will be posting some of our favorite books all week...today, for our Garden to Table theme, we have made a list of some of our favorite cookbooks. enjoy!

from kristen:

i will be honest, i was drawn to this book by the lovely cover. i was excited to see that it was a vegetarian book about my favorite cuisine, middle eastern!  this book is filled  with hundreds of recipes paired with lovely photographs. 

from kristen:
as you can tell by the cover's patina, this book gets pulled out often.  super natural cooking is my go-to book for mealtime inspiration.  I would eat anything in this book and the recipes are very approachable.  if you have just one vegetarian cookbook in your collection, make it this one!

from rebecca:

this edna lewis book is a classic that was all about local and seasonal before it was cool. wonderful, evocative stories about the food and the time of year it was cooked in.

from rebecca:
i've had this spiral bound cookbook for years. it has all my go-to southern recipes.

from rinne: asking me to choose my favorite cookbooks is tricky, since i make cookbooks for a living...! some of these are my favorites to cook from, but a few of them are included here because i think they are just great cookbooks.

rinne:
we cook from this alice waters cookbook all the time, obviously (note its worn pages). super simple, classic recipes.

rinne:
growing up, my dad was the primary cook in our house. this marcella hazan italian cookbook was his bible. he handed it down to us a few years ago...

rinne:
a few years ago, we made this community cookbook as a fundraiser for arrow. it includes recipes from family & friends, but also from folks in the food world from all over the country who are friends. we cook from it all the time because all of the recipes are kid-friendly and diverse.

rinne:
i love (former athenian) tamar adler's writing and how she cooks economically and thoughtfully.

rinne:
i am always looking for great ones when i travel. i found this 'folk wines' cookbooks 9 or 10 years ago at rabelais in maine, one of my all-time favorite bookstores. my husband has made some great things from it! plus, it is really beautiful...very '60's...

rinne:
i am including Noma in my list because i think this cookbook exquisitely speaks of the place in which it was made. while i do not personally cook from it, the photography is stunning and the cohesiveness and sense of place make it worth a look.

rinne:
skye gyngell's first cookbook made a big impression on me when i was starting to photograph cookbooks. the photographer, jason lowe, is so good...he was one of the first people to weave in images that conveyed the personality of the place, as well as the personality of the food.

rinne:
i would be remiss if i did not include this cookbook- full disclosure, i helped make it...i do cook from it regularly, but mostly i wanted to share it because it encapsulates hugh's personality & philosophy so well.

from kristen: and lastly, another fav from Yotam Ottolenghi.  i love his beautiful approach to vegetables. his recipe for black pepper tofu has changed the way i cook tofu forever!  also, check out his other cookbook 'Jerusalem'.

thank you for reading along!