Happy Birthday Fred Astaire!

Today is See Beautiful.  The blog hop held the second Friday of every month and designed to celebrate all things beautiful in the every day.  I always see beautiful when I watch my favorite old films, and tommorow is the 115th anniversary of the birth of my very favorite classic film stare, Fred Astaire.

I've done a lot of Fred Astaire related posts on this blog, but I couldn't resist posting one of my favorite pictures of Fred taken in the 1960s. Doesn't he look very dapper with his pet Siamese cat?

and of course a dance:  Begin the Beguine from Broadway Melody of 1940 with Eleanor Powell.  Of course Astaire is best known for his dances with Ginger Roger's, but Powell was an incredibly gifted dance and this is an amazing number.

On another beautiful note my vintage blogging friend Jessica of Chronically Vintage has decided to open an Etsy shop.  Jessica is incredibly knowledgeable about vintage and her shop has many lovely things and is sure to soon have many more.   There are several beautiful dog themed items, barrettes and a brooch that really caught my eye, 

See Beautiful-7 Years With Bob

On Saturday, April 12 our beautiful Bob turns 7 years old.  I cant believe that Bob is officially a canine senior citizen and that its been this long since we brought him home as a rolly polly puppy from Red Brick Bulldogs.   I hope we have many more beautiful years together:

 

We will be going on blog break for the next week and a half.  Mom and Dad have off work for Spring Break and we want to enjoy our staycation together.  We wish you all a happy Spring!

Luck of the Irish-Vintage Outfit Post (and seeing beautiful with a sweater and a close canine companion)

There is no color, if you ask me, that is more beautiful then green.

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Green means spring, and its particularly inviting after a long cold winter like this one, reminding us of all the beautiful like this one.  That is one reason why I really like St. Patrick's day, and yes I know its not celebrated in Ireland.  

 In my dreams I live in an Irish cottage like this one:



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and not a row house on a crowded city street. 

Thanks to the lovely  sweater I got from the wonderful Regiane from vintage and cool knitting.   I can feel transported right out of my city dwelling and into the Irish country side this St. Patrick's day.



I discovered Regiane through the blog of fellow vintage lover, Jessica at chronically vintage.  Isn't it amazing how blogging can connect us to beautiful things, and more importantly beautiful people?  This is the second sweater Regiane has made for me, I wrote about the first in this post, and I love them both.

I also have to say I love the 1940s land girl style pants I am wearing in these pictures, form Hey Day Vintage, which I also discovered through blogging

and the cute little 1930s or 40s St. Patrick's day pin from Etsy shop SoCal Jewelry Shop.


Of course by far the most beautiful thing in these photos is my darling, some what reluctant co-model, Norbert. I've been more then lucky to share my life with him for 11 years, I can't believe  he will be 12 in July.  

Among the myriad of ways that Norbert and my other dogs  have enriched my life is through building my self confidence.  I've always loved clothes and dressing up, but in the past I rarely had the confidence to wear full on vintage style, because I worried what others would think.  Or that I was too short, chubby, etc.   In my teens and early and mid twenties, I never wanted to have photos taken of myself, and in fact I have almost no photos from this period.  I first started posing for photos with the dogs because it was easier to get them to stay still for their pictures with me in it.   Overtime, I started to feel more confident about having my picture taken and even to like it.   I also started to realize that the dogs don't care what I wear, they love me regardless, this helped me to develop the confidence to dress exactly as I please... and confidence truly is a think of beauty.   

See Beautiful-Tell Your Pet Their Story

As my dogs and cats get older it gets more and more important to celebrate and savor my time with them.  Recently, I read a book about a common dog health problem, I will review it at a later date, and the book talked about taking the time to tell your dog their life story.  The author recommended getting down on the floor with your dog or cuddling up together on the couch and telling them the story of their life, including as much of the details as you can remember and involving other family members and friends if they are close to your dog.  Your dog will bask in the attention and you will be reminded of wonderful moments you may have forgotten.   While the book recommends this exercise for older dogs or dogs with an illness, I see no reason not to start with a dog of any age.  You can begin telling your dog their story the day you bring your puppy home for the breeder, or spring him or her from the animal shelter, or adopt them from a foster home.  

 While I made a photo book of little Weasley's first year of life using shutterfly

 I've never really sit down with my dogs and cats and told them their story.  Well this year I'm going to start.   While this blog certainly can't came one one hundredth of all of my darling pets stories I do have some key memories that stick out.

Tubby, I remember the first night you came home.   You cried and cried in the crate and we weakened and put you in the bed you crawled right up on my head and stayed there.

 Norbert, I remember when you were about two and we would go to the dog park park every day.  One day you were having such fun you forgot to check for your dad and I.  For a moment you thought you were lost, you spun around and around and then ran over too us so happy to find us it broke my heart.  I was reminded again of how much you depended on us:

Ping, I remember taking you on a bike ride over the Brooklyn Bridge.  You were so relaxed in the basket.  You loved going down the bridge and feeling the wind in your face.   It seemed like everyone in Brooklyn stopped to pet you.

Bob, I remember when you were a baby and we took you in a relatives swimming pool.  You couldn't swim but you loved the water and you still do.

 Weasley, and I apologize for this one, I remember when you were taking your puppy training class and there was a group of family members in the front row watching their dogs.   You were tooting so much, as you often do, that everyone in the front row had their shirt pulled up over their nose.

 Baby cat, I remember, when your father and I adopted you as a kitten.  We were all set to name you Totoro after the Japanese animation character.  That night watched Bringing Up Baby on AMC, you watched the movie with us, and that decided your name

Scooter, I remember when you were a tiny black kitten.  We were staying with your Great Aunt Antonia and she was eating a pork chop.  She got up to go to the sink and you pulled the pork chop right off the plate and started eating it.  It was bigger then you.

 Ernie, I remember when we had just adopted you and you had to have your leg amputated because before your adoption you have been hit by a car.   You were so sick and we had to give you so much medecine that sometimes you hid for us.  Other times you would sit there and let us give you the medecine you seemed to know we wanted to help you.

 

See Beautiful-The Lyndhurst Mansion

 Just before Halloween I was lucky enough to visit the Lyndhurst mansion.

 The mansion is in Tarry Town New York and was built in 1838.  Its done in a European gothic style and is smaller then a lot of other mansions along the Hudson River that were built at a later date.   Situated in the middle of an English style park it was a weekend retreat for several powerful industrialists.  The last resident of mansion was Anna, Duchess of Talleyrand-Perigord, the daughter of rail way tycoon Jay Gould who lived in the mansion for many years.  After her death in 1961 Anna donated the mansion to the national historic trust.  Its been used as a back drop in several movies, particularly two TV movies based on the Dark Shadows soap opera, and its open to the public.  The best part of the mansion is that its gorgeous grounds are dog friendly.  On the morning we went with Norbert and Weasley the grounds were nearly deserted and it was absolutely beautiful.  

 Since it was almost Halloween there was a scare crow festival at the mansion.  The scarecrows had been designed by local high school students and they were really amazing.

 I found myself coveting some of the vintage outfits on the scarecrows, a few of the dresses were pretty nice.   Speaking of vintage clothes I wore a really lovely 1930s style  sweater from Vintage and Cool Knitting.  She makes really beautiful sweaters from old patterns and I am so thankful to the beautiful Jessica at Chronically Vintage  for posting about these sweaters on her wonderful blog.

  
Its so amazing that there is a special place like this, one full of beauty and history, that people can share with their dogs.  Sadly, many parks and estates don't allow dogs on the grounds, perhaps because of irresponsible owners or mistaken beliefs that owners will be irresponsible.  I was quite relieved that while at Lyndhurst I did not see one speck of dog poo, an unfortunately constant site in my neighborhood park.   Hopefully, if owners keep things beautiful we will have more places like this to enjoy with our dogs.