joy and a celebration of the changing of the seasons ...
344094
This book is part memoir, part travel journal, part poetry book.  The author has led a rich and interesting life and has now arrived at a place of wisdom, independence and acceptance.  Her writing is full of a sense of adventure, joy and a celebration of the changing of the seasons in the year and in life.  There are many life lessons here and much poetry.
4223646
The perfect thing to have for this time of year...
3433856
Great way to enjoy the meaning of the Holiday
1843880
This beautifully arranged CD features traditional and new Christmas carols that are a delight to hear. My favorites were Gaudete, a very old carol brought to life by Terence P. Minogue, and the new Advent Song, a reverent, lyrical tribute to the season. Listen to this album with the Christmas tree lights illuminating the room, and sip some hot chocolate or a glass of wine as you enjoy this wonderful music, so evocative of the true meaning of Christmas.
2032892
Ah, I can hardly believe that the holidays are around the corner. It's seems just yesterday I was huddled together with my SO trying to keep warm while waiting for the ball to drop. Although, to be fair, I am excited that the holidays are coming. It is like the only best time of the year. The coloring book includes devotions on one side of the book and on the accompany pages it includes an intricate coloring page. A fun and perfect activity for the holidays!
827292
What a joy of a book!  Lily's bouquet of offerings from around the world transports us instantly to a lifetime of family gatherings and  friendships, rooted in tradition, experimentation, and love.  Behind these pages we feel the drive, strength, resilience, and artistry of a remarkable woman and her family in their  'pursuit of happiness' as they settle in the Boston area.  For those of us who enjoy a blended culture, this is a celebration of the human community, and a treasure to pass on to our children and grandchildren,  Lily, thank you for this gift!
393728
I just received this calendar and was entirely and utterly delighted by it!  If you are a positive person, you know how difficult it is sometimes to maintain your positivity in the face of negative people, cynics, etc., and as I also LOVE to laugh, I just thought this calendar spread warmth, positivity, compassion, and the JOYS of laughter to a world that sorely needs it right now.  I admire the gentleness, wisdom, light-heartedness, and compassion the calendar espouses.  I plan on buying several more to give to my friends and family, particularly those that need a little boost every day. I think its a great way to start the day!
71639
"Around the World" is a delight to behold, especially today when the glory and glamor of the journey itself have been reduced to quart-size ziplock baggies and competitive shoe removal stories. The authors present pages from authentic travel albums, from Levine's personal collection, created by leisure travelers in the early twentieth century. The whimsy and unabashed creativity of the photos and their unstudied presentation on the page draw the viewer unknowingly into a multidimensional experience of travel and foreign worlds that are no longer accessible to us. The informative accompanying text by Levine and Jensen complete the picture as they remind us of the excitement and ordeals that were the basis of vacation excursions in the past, which often lasted for months or even years at a time. Descriptive glimpses into the lives of the travelers themselves heighten the excitement that comes with a first, second and third viewing of this book. The design of the book is lush and fine, too, making this an all round perfect gift book for the holiday season.
4163648
I really wanted the "Christmas" production, but was glad to get the Easter and Halloween.  My favorite is still the Christmas celebration!  All went well with this purchase, would purchase again.  Thank you.
1812668
A completely new assemblage of traditional Christmas Carols to compliment her first
Christmas release, " Christmas With The Harp",  and a superb addition to your Christmas
collection.  Karen has done a remarkable job of bringing such traditional favorites as
"Silent Night", "Joy to the World", and "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem"  to name but a
few, into your home to brighten your holiday season.  "Christmas Peace"  will bring
holiday joy for untold years to come.
179378
For the last 8 years I have purchased this beautiful calendar for all the members of my immediate family.  My Sisters and my 3 Children all know that every day of the year, regardless of where they live, all of my loved ones and the children living in their home Grandchildren (and I) are looking at the same lovely picture.  THIS IS A TRADITION WHICH BRINGS CLOSENESS IN THIS VERY BUSY SOMETIME DETACHED WORLD...WE ARE BROUGHT TOGETHER.
1046903
It's fun to do something different this year and these postcards are just a bright change from Christmas cards.  The postcards are firm, not flimsy and the scenes are delightful.  They add an extra sense of joy in the Now, as well as a remembrance of things gone by.
3869472
The book does a wonderful job of pointing out the magic of Christmas and how our society has turned from a celebration of the holiday and spirit of Christmas to a shopping ordeal and loss of good will.  It does a good job of returning nostalgic thoughts when Christmas held a ton of wonder for kids and parents getting the chance to see the utter joy and anticipation in their child's eyes.  I loved being able to picture Christmas like it was as a child and should be today.
1831537
I ordered two of John Lander's 2016 calendars, one for myself and one for a special Christmas gift. I was struck by the composition  and unique garden of each page. Unlike most calendar's rather strident colors, this calendar's soft colors bring about a sense of peace and harmony so very welcome in the bustle of our daily lives. I look forward to Lander's next year's calender
2117272
I really enjoyed the photographs and the words that accompanied them. They are all about reasons to celebrate this beautiful world that we all share. This book is a slice of inspiring photos and words and will pick you up when you are down and will make you laugh.
1404041
The foreword to this book, by Deborah Needham, says its message is a sonnet to the seasons.  It rejoices in the beauties particular to each and to the immense joy to be had from paying witness to those changes, and of bringing its fruit into the home.  This lovely book is a collaboration between the celebrated lifestyle photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo (text and photos) and Nicolette Owen of Brooklyns famous Little Flower Shop (arrangements).

Its arrangements are typical of the back to nature esthetic movement, which showcases local and seasonal beauty harmoniously and ingeniously composed, without using either out-of-season flowers or rare floral and plant materials.  But these arrangements, though composed sometimes of very ordinary materials, are anything but ordinary themselves.  The inherent beauty of the simple is the guiding principle here, and Ngoc and Owen demonstrate how locally sourced materials, beautiful in themselves, achieve a holly new level of beauty through lush and artful combination.

The book is divided into the four seasons of the year and each season features favorite flowers, around which exquisite displays are constructed.  Owen effortlessly blends together the spare and sublimely economical esthetic of Japanese flower arranging with a taste for the lush ripeness of French floral bouquets.  Ngocs photography captures arrangements that are saturated with floral color, ripe fruits and mysterious greenery, all structured in artful poses and expressive gestures.

Here are the flowers that anchor the seasonal designs, in order: peony, fritillary, carnation, dahlia, chrysanthemum, hellebore, quince.  All are familiar, common and easy to grow in most gardens; interestingly, only the peony is what most gardeners would think of as an outstanding beauty, while the others are not what one would expect to attract the eye of the flower arranger.  A word about the choice of the fritillary: this is perhaps the least common of the principal flowers and it is a bit odd for this to make the list, but I confess a particular fondness for it.  It grows in water meadows, and they thrive in the meadows of the River Cherwell in England, as Ngoc notes in her comments, next to Magdalen College at Oxford where I studied for three years.

Sometimes an arrangement consists of a single bloom, sometimes a handful of blooms to the same flower, sometimes a large bouquet of many different flowers but all in a harmonious monotone of color, and sometimes a variety of flowers in a complex blend of colors and shapes.  But always the effect is the same: beauty achieved by conveying the essence of the flower or plant material to the mind of the observer in a way that is almost transcendental and that uses an economy of materials that is haiku-like in its densely poetic expression and its miraculously spare structure.

This is a book to delight the eye, and it broadens the mind to new worlds of flower combinations and new ways to use the beautiful materials that are around us in such abundance.  People have been arranging flowers for thousands of years.  This book, with is gorgeous visions and insights on every page, gives us a mature esthetic vision and a sense of joy in the nature that is all around us, waiting to be admired.
2736168
The wreath is just what I have been looking for.  Telling the world the reason for the season in a loving and beautiful way!