Better Than Bette Davis Eyes

Speaking as someone who is fairly undiscriminating about mascara -- and who tends to underestimate the value of sitting still and carefully applying it so one doesn't end up looking like a drunk raccoon ... well, I've Seen The Light.

I now know what my life has been missing and I can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

Yes, Besame ... www.besamecosmetics.com ... Besame of the lovely ladylike packaging, Besame of the LikeMyrnaLoyButBetter cosmeticry ... Besame has come up with the quintessential mascara: Sculpture Lash.

It's so pretty in its florally engraved tube ... another elegant product.

I'll let you know exactly how life-changing it is. Stay tuned.

Edit: the Besame Sculpture Lash is exquisite. A conditioning, lash-lengthening miracle. I'm not kidding ... it's a wonderful mascara.

Why Don't Adults Get Spring Break?

I already have my outfit.

Well, this and a thong.

Harbinger of Spring

We bought beautiful ceramic pots at a warehouse ... and I resurrected the urn we moved from the old place. There's space that needs to be filled.

So yesterday in a chill drizzle, I'm on our front porch, slinging potsoil and planting geraniums and pansies and ranunculus and -- uh, I think there's some narcissus in there.

Container gardening. Portable beauty. A sure sign of spring.

Awwwwww. Easter Dress for A Little Girl.

There's a little girl in Illinois for whom this would be perfect. At least I think so.

Bail o Dhia ort!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from all the members of my clan, be they Mag Uidhir, McGuire, McGwire, Maguier or Mac Guire (and our Scottish relatives, the MacQuarries)!

Only because I am able to google, and clanarans.com is knowledgeable, can I tell you that "Maguire is the Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mag Uidhir, which means ‘son of the brown-haired one’. The sept originated in County Fermanagh in the north of the country, where the name has been established since the tenth century. The chief of the family, Donn Carrach Mag Uidhir, became ruler of the entire county in the fourteenth century, and there followed fifteen further Mag Uidhir chieftains over the next three hundred years. The name is now thirtieth most numerous in Ireland, being most numerous in Co. Fermanagh and also very common in Co. Cavan."

Today, I make corned beef and cabbage, and soda bread, and I thank all my ancestors who were hungry enough to come to America.

Bail o Dhia ort! (God's blessings on you!)

Oliver Cromwell ... Karl Rove

I dunno. One was regicidal.

You Hold It Tight and Then You Let It Go.

I just finished reading one of my favorite blogs, you know the one, where the young woman is about 30 years old and she has a pre-school daughter and we get to hear all the anecdotes about her daughter and we get to see the pictures of this gorgeous little girl (her mother is beautiful as well) ...

...and every month she writes a letter to her daughter, talking about everything the little girl has learned in the past month (and the pictures, oh my God, the pictures. This child is so gorgeous.)

And what's the point of this post? Just that it came to me suddenly that this gorgeous child coming into her own is ascendant -- and the mother, as beautiful as she is, is slightly, slightly beginning her own decline.

And this is life. You are a beautiful young woman who meets an attractive young man, you mate, hopefully you create a child ... and then, slowly, slowly, you feel your life move toward closure. As that child races toward meeting her own mate, and her own fate.

(Ok, I refuse to concede this in total. But I love the way it sounds.)

Bucky As Seen By the Old Lady Down the Street

Bucky has not made the best impression on the owner of the Pomeranian down the street. Where one may see "small dog," Bucky sees "hors d'oeuvre."

Dog a la Warhol by graphic artist Kadi Kurema and photo artist Laura Nõmmik.

Lapin, Lapin!

Merci, Doug!