In Remembrance of Swallowtail

One of the sadder aspects of our current economy is that your favorite stores can fold at any moment. I do my best to stave off this trend as much as I can by patronizing stores I love, even if the best I can do is buy the occasional bar of soap. One of my longtime favorite stores, Polk Street's Swallowtail, recently closed its doors. What I loved about Swallowtail is that they always had the perfect mixture of beautiful artwork alongside historical treasures and botanical curiousities. Below are just a few snapshots by which to linger just a little longer in this magical store, and hopefully glean some inspiration for the future...

On a more optimistic note, I did see a Swallowtail booth at the Alameda Flea Market this month, so there are perhaps a few more goodies to be found.

-whitney

Chinatown

Since my camera has unexpectedly decided to... retire... I have decided to seize the day and post some pictures from my ever growing library of shots from around our fair city. So below are just a few of the shots I took last time I visited San Francisco's Chinatown....

--whitney

Vintage Suitcases

I admit it. I have a bit of a vintage suitcase fetish. However, I have never been able to rationalize buying one, as they are highly impractical. So today, I set about finding a way to justify such a splurge. Lo and behold, the internet provided (as it often does) a myriad of creative ideas...

The bar above is my favorite.

Bon Voyage!

--whitney

Daily Door: Paris Edition

It often seems like the more ambitious the project, the harder it is to get started. As these things go, despite our lofty ambitions here at the Light Telescopic, we have been dragging our heels about posting anything from our marvelous European vacation last September. Perhaps it just seems that no posting can do it justice... In an effort to kick things off (better late than never?) I thought a few Daily Doors a la Parisienne might be in order...

OK so technically, this last one is not a door at all - but it was too cute to leave out so I thought I'd just slip it in at the end of the post. You didn't even notice, right?

Daily Door

Wood and Wool

When the weather is chilly and inhospitable, it really makes me think about the concept of home-- what makes your home the most comfortable place in the world? The place you can't wait to get to when the world outside is blustery and unfriendly...

Perhaps the current chill has made me even more receptive to these beautiful images from the Dutch Wood and Wool Stool Company. They are colorful and cozy and soft-- rustic, a bit sentimental, sure, but still fresh and modern.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I currently am. I find myself continuously returning to them to transport me to "home", wherever that might be.

Hm... it seems my real home might be the Netherlands...

--gillian

Daily Door