The Lost World of Vizcaya

March 6, 2020 mithra ballesteros

On a recent visit to South Florida, my parents and I visited the fairy tale villa perched on the edge of Biscayne Bay known as Vizcaya. Built in 1916 by International Harvester heir James Deering, using money he inherited from his family's tractor business, Vizcaya represents a decadent mash-up of Italian, French, and Jamaican influences.

To be honest, I was skeptical about seeing an American imitation of a European estate. Somehow, I thought this place would be the 1900 version of Disney’s Epcot. Maybe if Jane Austen had actually slept here,

Roses Are Red and the Plane Is Blue

February 14, 2020 mithra ballesteros

Happy Valentine’s Day! My husband and I are traveling with my parents this week so they can visit my father’s BFF in Florida. My father is 87 and his BFF is almost 90. On the way to the airport my parents reminisced about the olden golden days of flying. American Airlines served so much pot roast that my parents called them “Pot Roast Air.”

Bonnet House: Come for the Monkeys, Stay for the Art

June 21, 2019 mithra ballesteros

In its heyday, the mangroves at Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sheltered a barrel of wild monkeys who so loved their mistress, Evelyn Bartlett, that they seemed to know exactly when she was en route from Massachusetts. By the time she arrived for the winter season, they were gathered in the branches overhanging the porch, awaiting the toast points with strawberry jam that Evelyn fed them.

It seems outrageous, calling to mind Mrs. Thurston Howell III, doesn’t it? But such are the privileges of the very very wealthy. And what good fortune that Evelyn Bartlett (whose maiden name was indeed Fortune) did not sell her valuable property to Fort Lauderdale developers, that instead she donated all 35 acres to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.

Audrey Hepburn's Hedgerow at Hidcote Manor Garden

September 29, 2018 mithra ballesteros

Today’s post is a photo journal from a day spent at Hidcote Manor Garden in England. We toured this idyll in the middle of the Cotswolds last September and I never posted the pics. They’re simply too divine to sit languishing on my phone so pardon the year’s delay. As every procrastinator knows, and as I will someday tattoo on my arse, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.

Writing in a Chicken Coop

August 2, 2018 mithra ballesteros

I am just back from a writing retreat up in Door County, a scenic peninsula in northeastern Wisconsin that juts into Lake Michigan. The retreat was held on the grounds of Write-On Door County, and it was pure bliss.

For three days, eleven of us plus an instructor had the run of Write On's beautiful property. And that included the famed chicken coop (pictured above), which was once the writing space of Door County author Norb Blei. We wandered the fields, stretched out in the grass, and turned our attention to important thoughts. Like how the flight pattern of a butterfly resembles an EKG test.

Do You Take This Mec To Be Your Lawfully Wedded Husband?

July 13, 2018 mithra ballesteros

I had the great honor to attend the wedding of the daughter of our French friends, Beatrice and Didier. Their daughter Margaux, an intelligent, beautiful, and accomplished young woman, married Gaël, a suave, open-hearted, life-of-the-party French man.

Bucket List Item: Photo Shoot in Paris

July 6, 2018 mithra ballesteros

It's been almost five years since I began blogging here at The Bubble Joy. Not long ago, I paid for a one-hour consultation with Abby Glassenberg, a blogger, podcaster, and small-business consultant. Abby advised a number of things, including that I spend a little of my shop earnings on updating the look of The Bubble Joy: new template, new color scheme, a new logo and profile pic.

My Men in Havana

June 29, 2018 mithra ballesteros

Only two Hispanic families lived In the small rural Illinois town where I grew up. My family, headed by my Colombian father from the cool mountains of Bogotá, tried hard to fit in. Then there was the Rodriguez clan -- a boisterous group of Cubans who fled Castro’s communist revolution only to somehow land in southern Illinois.

A French Wedding

June 16, 2018 mithra ballesteros

I am sending this dispatch from France, specifically from the waiting room at the ferry station where my husband and I sit after missing the boat to attend a wedding on an island off the coast of the Atlantic.

Pasaquan and the Bodacious Mystic Badass of Buena Vista

May 25, 2018 mithra ballesteros

What happens when a man veers off the road travelled by his fellow humans and walks alone into the wilderness? When, like Henry David Thoreau, he decides to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life?" This is the story of such a man. Born in 1908 the son of a Georgian sharecropper, Eddie Owens Martin eventually became St. EOM, the visionary artist who transformed his backcountry farmhouse into a trippy acid-colored temple he named "Pasaquan" and who died, alone, in 1986, never receiving affirmation or recognition for his flamboyant artistic genius.

Meghan Markle, Tea Towels, and Some Greasy Fish and Chips

April 27, 2018 mithra ballesteros

We are a few weeks away from Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle and I just heard the news that the British are not exactly overjoyed about Diana's second son marrying an American.

I get it. The last time a British royal married an American divorcée, things got discombobulated, throne-wise. Edward VIII was confined to a life of pugs, pins, and pained smiles.

But Harry is sixth in line and as likely to wear the crown as Sonny Purdue is to occupy the Oval Office.

Three Days in Savannah

April 20, 2018 mithra ballesteros

We were at Wormsloe Plantation (above), remarking on the flora and fauna along the Skidaway Narrows when I noticed a girl, probably thirteen or so, standing nearby. I screamed at her, "Watch out!" She didn't flinch. Not even her eyelids moved.

"Did it work?" I asked her, referring to her hiccups and my attempt to startle them away.

To which my husband said, "You mean did you convince her you're crazy? Yes. Yes it worked."

She looked at my husband. She looked at me. And then she hiccuped.

Happy Persian New Year via Instagram

March 23, 2018 mithra ballesteros

This Tuesday, the northern hemisphere began its tilt back towards the sun, and Iranians around the world celebrated the Persian New Year, also known as Norooz. (It can also be spelled Norouz or Nowruz, as it is a phonetic approximation of the word as written in Farsi, the language of Iran. This inexactitude drives me a little crazy, tbh.)

In Iran, Norooz is an ecumenical holiday, meaning no matter your faith, you take part in the celebration. I liken it to the American Thanksgiving because as a holiday, it boils down to sitting around a table with your family for hours. On Thanksgiving, we express gratitude for the blessings we have enjoyed in the past. On Norooz, we express hope and joy for the future.

Finger Puppets Gone Missing!

March 16, 2018 mithra ballesteros

This is an all points bulletin. My finger puppets, last seen above in front of Cinderella's Castle in Orlando Florida, are AWOL.

Somewhere in the Magic Kingdom, I left them, careless mother that I am. And not the first time either. Once, years ago, I lost a human child in Disney World. Every staff member within a 2-mile radius sprang into action and George was found quicker than you could say bob's your uncle.

Not quite that reaction from the staff this time.

This is a huge issue for me but maybe you're with the staff on this one. Do you care? Have you ever cared? Have you just tolerated these puppets this whole time and now you're secretly relieved?

Kicka%$ Quilts That Aren't Even Close to Boring

February 9, 2018 mithra ballesteros

You are a tourist when you walk through a museum. You marvel and gawk. Standing in front of a famous statue, you know there is more to the object than its surface. You wonder how the sculptor chiseled away the marble's negative space to reveal the goddess within. Perhaps curators at museums prefer a little intellectual distance between the art and the tourist. Maybe our ignorance intensifies the mystery behind the art.

This gap between art and visitor does not exist when it comes to quilts. We are as familiar with fabric as we are with our own skin. We understand the physics of a needle and thread. We can't see the cotton batting between the front and back of the quilt but there's no mystery to it. Perhaps this is why quilting is called the democratic art.

Three Sweet Days in New Orleans

January 26, 2018 mithra ballesteros

New Orleans is a colorful city. Not just the buildings. Not just the music. But the people. It is a stewpot jambalaya. Stay away if you can't handle a little spice.

Our trip was short but sweeeet! Our youngest son, George, is a jazz musician and we were fortunate enough to hang out with a couple of his musician friends, longtime natives Wes and Desi Anderson. Wes teaches music at Loyola University, and we loved the bulletin board (photo below) hanging outside his office. Wes and Desi steered us to many of their favorite spots. Their recommendations were so great, I thought they were worth sharing with all of you:

The Coziest English Estate in the Cotswolds and the Brilliant Woman in Charge

November 3, 2017 mithra ballesteros

On a trip to England this fall, my husband and I rented a small car and very slowly drove on the left through hedgerows slightly wider than my kitchen island to a place in the Cotswolds so quintessentially English, so utterly charming, that our first night, I dreamt I was a flower girl in Kate Middleton's wedding. Not the famously grumpy flower girl. The other one.

Sunday at the Blacksonian

August 18, 2017 mithra ballesteros

The last time I traveled to Washington D.C., I went for the Women's March. Hesitant to get political on my blog, I never posted those photos here. Last weekend, I returned to D.C. to visit my son. On Saturday night, we attended the Washington Nationals baseball game. As we rose for the National Anthem, the announcer asked for a moment of silence for the victims of the violence in Charlottesville. He expressed a rejection of racism and bigotry in all its forms, and in a very emotional response, the crowd roared its approval.

On Sunday, we toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We certainly didn't plan it that way, but the NMAAHC, or the Blacksonian, as it is affectionately nicknamed, seemed like the ideal place to spend the day after Saturday's events. I thought you might like to learn a little about the newest addition to the Smithsonian fleet of museums.

Strangers in Paris

June 2, 2017 mithra ballesteros

Last year at an estate sale up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the woman standing next to me remarked that this was the home of her deceased surgeon. "Sorry to hear that," I said. "Yeah," she replied, "Good thing my cleaning lady saw the obit. I was scheduled for a boob job that Tuesday."

Of course I immediately looked at her boobs. Couldn't have helped it if I tried. My glance answered my first question, which was whether she found a replacement surgeon. But the second question I asked myself went unanswered. Which was why. Why did this nice woman tell me, a perfect stranger, such a thing?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes at This Year's Alt Summit

March 3, 2017 mithra ballesteros

Recently, I attended Alt Summit, a conference for creative entrepreneurs. Alt Summit used to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, a logical setting for a conference organized by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. I've attended twice in that location. But this year, founder Gabrielle Blair moved the whole shebang to Palm Springs, California, and the new setting made a big difference for some interesting reasons.

Welcome! I'm Mithra (pronounced Mee-thra). I'm an interior stylist and a writer. I'm also a vintage and antiques lover. I have an online shop, Finder Not Keeper, where I sell my best finds. (That's a white lie. I keep the best finds.) Read more about me and the blog here.

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A few days back in the ‘Quon. All of February is the price I’m willing to fork over for one week in September.

Latest blog post about our new outdoor shower and the differences of opinion between this guy and his mother (me) on how it should be used. #linkinbio

Brainy, brave, kind, genuine, indefatigable, funny, patriotic, fair, hard working, gentle, strong, iconic.

Those aren’t my hands forming baguettes. But I took the pic. @heat_her_all_a_man has it down and I’m ready with my salted butter and honey. What do you eat with baguettes?

Surveying the herb garden after a good weeding session. Basil took a hit the last couple weeks but everything else is flourishing like summer lasts forever.

First restaurant account for @littlelaurentide! Also first time eating out since the snow was flying. Really really fun night. (Not to mention that building’s white with black trim paint color scheme is 💯)

Surprise lilies, also known as naked ladies, fit in well here at the farm for reasons we will let you ponder.

This is son #2, the farmer. Walter is working hard to turn this place into a sustainable organic farm. Follow us @littlelaurentide for the latest on how mother and son align, clash, argue, hug.

On the blog today, the newest bachelor at Little Laurentide. Will he draw viewers or is he a train wreck along the lines of Juan Pablo Galavis? Read the latest blog post to find out! Link in bio.

On the blog today: a tour of the best places on the farm to sit for a spell. And I write a bit about what it’s like to cohabit with a son who used to give me every kind of gray hair. He could teach a polar bear how to be grumpy and I could teach a grizzly bear how to be grumpy. It’s a new world for the two of us, farming together, and can you guess how it’s going??

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