I’m not much of a bath taker –– its been years, in fact –– but plonk me in this dreamy goose egg, and I’ll never get out. It’s kind of amazing to me that rooms like this even exist. But only in dreams. And on Pinterest. Real life asks for a towel rack and soap dish, at the very least.
Posts from July 2019
traces of an imaginary walk
July 31, 2019
Artist, Abigail Doan calls these collections of finds –– seeds, shells, dried flowers and sand –– walking libraries. “The idea of preserving subsequent finds in a library or archive came from my need to gather, decode, and organize materials into a language that might highlight organic relationships, new hierarchies, spatial pockets, and the connective threads of place. The tactile nature of this practice is also an immersive way of identifying solutions for future systems, with walking serving as the facilitator for deeper interaction and examination.” There’s something quiet, meditative, moving about these works. They remind me of a collection of twigs, papers, snail shells, and other ephemera unearthed by an artist in Kensington Market, in an effort to preserve a piece of her neighbourhood’s history. She arranged her finds in small paper boxes. Works of art. Classification. Have a walk through, when you have a moment.
house and garden
July 31, 2019
I came across this charming site, with botanical drawings, vintage posters, paintings and photographs of garden life, that’s really a gardener’s dream. Just look at all this fabulous topiary, and these perfect pansies. This is exactly how I’d like to look while watering the roses.
she sells seashells
July 27, 2019
I read this quote on Instagram, it was Comedian Steven Wright who said it, and I loved it. “I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world… perhaps you’ve seen it.” That we can admire beauty, but not need to possess it, that it can be enough to know that something exists, is an idea that resonates with me.
i miss u
July 26, 2019
Tu mi manques, means literally, “you are missing from me.” As a child, I spent long chunks of time away from my Mum. And my Dad. As a teenager, I moved away to Italy, and then university and spent years travelling between London and Toronto to be with Jason. And for the last twenty years, I’ve lived with Jason and our family on the other side of the ocean from my parents and siblings and oldest friends. I’ve spent most of my life missing someone. Sometimes, that feeling has manifested as a giant void, or a longing, saudade, as the Portuguese call it. Other times, it’s physical pain, like I’ve been turned inside out. But most of the time, it’s there, like the scar on my chin, and I’m barely aware of it. The people I love are so rooted within me, that it doesn’t matter how far away they are. I feel them when I need to. And when I don’t — sometimes we just can’t access that part of ourselves — I trust that I soon will. This is what I explained to Iole just before she left us today for camp. We are the sum of our parts, and our family (and by family, my definition is broad) will inform our choices, support us, and guide us daily regardless of where in the world we all are.
all that glitters is gold
July 25, 2019
trifecta
July 24, 2019
My studio pals tell me it’s meant to drop down to 15 degrees tomorrow, (like October weather, right?) so here it is, the perfect outfit for cooler summer days. High waisted cotton pants are my go-to for May to October, and the silk blouse, leather sandals and straw hat tick every sartorial box I care about. Comfortable, chic, original.
islands in the streams
July 22, 2019
I ran into a restaurant today to grab a juice, and the one-and-only Dolly Parton was playing on the radio. Here you come again….one of my very favourites. I don’t know much about her life and career, but Dolly’s music never fails to lift my spirits. When I picture her, I see her sitting with her husband eating fried chicken on their porch, hair in rollers, talons a shimmery shade of candyfloss pink. Happy Birthday, Dolly. You’re a doll.
relic
July 22, 2019
I came across this exquisite image of the Char Chowk ki Haveli Laxmangarh, a 19th century havelis, one of the largest, in the Shekhawati region. It was once owned by a family of bankers and moneylenders, but now sits abandoned. I imagine rollerblading through these halls, or lying flat on the ground and trying to figure out how to re create the frescoes in my kitchen.
white out
July 19, 2019
Outside of a brief period in the early 90s when our kitchen walls were a mellow yellow, I grew up with white walls. There was so much colour and print in our home, that a white backdrop made sense. It still does. No other colour offers the possibility of white. But every now and then, I’ll walk into a space with walls the colour of a watermelon, or that mellow mustard of my youth, and I’m tempted. After all, it’s only paint.