Be Still My Heart

I love shelter magazines. Like my children, I don’t really have a favorite. Each one offers me something different. Some days they delight; some days they disappoint, but I always appreciate their individuality.

Just like one of my boys saying “please” and “thank you”, House and Garden always catches me off guard with their still life covers. As I pull the as-yet-unknown book out of the mail slot, eagerly awaiting the unveiling, a gasp of delight if the cover is a still life.


August ’05, James Merrell, photographer
I only wished I had saved them all.


September ’05, James Merrell, photographer

For me, it’s like looking through the key-hole into the issue. A tease. Just a bit of camisole showing.

July ’06, Christopher Baker, photographer
And while these images may appear in the actual article, it doesn’t spoil it for me the way it does sometimes when a room is on the cover.

March ’07, Beatriz Da Costa, Photographer
Each and every one is a study in color and balance and detail.

The latest, September ’07, Beatriz Da Costa, photographer
It’s such a nice opportunity to stop and focus on the small picture. We could all use a little more “still life.”

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7 thoughts on “Be Still My Heart

  1. I’m with you on this Mrs. Blandings. These are their best covers! (Although two with people have been pretty special: Jan. 06 with Chloe S. in the pink dress/terrace garden and Whitney Fairchild with her son a few years ago.) But the still life is probably my favorite 🙂

  2. H & G always has incredible cover art. I had forgotten about some of these past issues. For a while there I was good about tossing them after a month or two. Now the shelter mags are piling up. I can’t decide which is better–saving them “just in case” or letting go of the clutter at the cost of losing valuble info.

  3. I know just how you feel! In my office I have row upon row of baskets filled with the last 7 years of every national shelter pub—and a few international ones. I have to throw them out after that or I would be overrun.

  4. I did love the Whitney Fairchild – and still have it. It’s funny how it all seems so recent!

    Zim – happy to see you here – am sure you have piles and piles – great minds and all.

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