One of my very favorite movies.
i spend a lot of time imagining things
Still, I wish I had this to wear tomorrow. I like to look nice, even for casual family events. So much work goes into making and preparing and hosting, the least I can do is show up looking presentable. I'd coming bearing gifts - a bottle of something nice for my dad, and a casserole full of something tasty to share. After dinner, I'd wrap up in a cozy cardigan and fall discreetly asleep on the couch while everyone else finishes the pie and watches movies.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(And thanks, Courtney!)
when i was young, i helped raise a squirrel
This is me and my squirrel. I'm about four in this photo.
Back in the day, my dad (among many other things) did animal rehabilitation. People would bring him injured and orphaned creatures and we would nurse them back to independence before returning them to the wild. We had raccoons, rabbits, owls, snakes, and just once, orphaned squirrels.
This little guy eventually returned to life in the trees. I had named him Sparkle, but he ended up going by Sparky.
to keep
Birthday spoon belonging to Dinosaurs & Robots, seen at Reference Library.
I think I need one.
to give
The hand carved spoons at herriot grace are made from reclaimed wood and no two are alike.
Nikole (whose father carves the spoons) has a very beautiful blog and flickr as well.
1002 spoons
Jurgen Lehl's collections fascinate me. His spoon collection is being exhibited later this week in Tokyo. As described:
New and old, elaborately carved and simple, big and small, carved from wood, coconut, horn, shell and bamboo,made of iron, brass and gourd,hammered from silver, copper, bronze and stainless steel, salt spoons, tea spoons, ceremonial spoons, tea ceremony spoons, serving spoons, ladles, and jewelry made of spoons.
Many were designed and made especially for this show, while others were found in Vietnam, China, Japan, Indonesia, Timor, the Philippines, Korea, India, Africa and Europe.Photo by Kenichi Higashi. Spotted (aptly enough) at Spoon & Tamago.
snow steps
In 2000, the CMA did a small show of photographs by Yasuhiro Ishimoto called Traces of Memory. I still remember it because of this photograph.
sunday tune: sufjan stevens - the lakes of canada
working on: little houses
I love cardboard holiday villages. Finding vintage sets in good shape is difficult, and most modern sets are a little uninspired, so a couple of years ago I started to make my own, in a couple of different styles. They've proved to be popular gifts.
This particular model recycles old cardboard tubes as the base. I save the ones from the center of gift wrap, paper towels, lint rollers, etc. because paper alone isn't sturdy enough to make a solid little house. A dremel tool comes in handy to cut down the tubes and to bore holes for windows and doors. I think all mini-houses look better lit up - I love seeing light peeking out the tiny windows - and these are the perfect size to accommodate flickering LED tealights.
big boxes
Nora got a new, extra-fluffy bed in the mail this week. She knew immediately that whatever was in that box for her. As soon as she let me unpack it, she tried to drag the massive thing across the house in her teeth, full of the joy of new possession.
They've been pretty much inseparable ever since.
possibly this room
Erin's post on psychedelic home decor came pat to the psychological moment, I guess. I've been a bit obsessed with this Wary Meyers room, and up it popped on Ffffound. I took it as a sign of synchronicity and am posting it for you.
Those bargello pillows - that horse picture - and just look at the books! I'm a little weak in the knees.
Generally, I gravitate to the austere but Wary Meyer rooms hit some latent Wes Anderson-esque strain of controlled excess buried deep in my soul. I think they would be down with designing me my very own game closet.
inkle
My mother (among many other things) is a weaver. While she used to work at her floor loom, my sister and I would weave on a little inkle loom nearby. I've been thinking about getting one of my own. I can think of lots of things I would use woven trim for ... like extremely cool suspenders.
blanketing the world
Travis Meinolf and the blanket offer project:
Since 2007, Meinolf has woven and given away 32 blankets in an attempt to "[wear] down my own tendency to hoard the product of my labor, to take pleasure in the feeling that I worked for another's warmth and let that eclipse my fetishization of the objects ..." The first were set out in piles, with a sign stating "If you need a blanket to keep you warm, you can have one of these. I wove them out of wool that was given to me."
I can't think of a more beautiful gift to give.
Via hunter & gather.
All images from here.
imaginary outfit: winter stargazing
Winter is my favorite time to stargaze. The stars feel closer, even if they are bright, icy pinpricks impossibly far away. When I was small, my dad would take us out on winter nights to look for constellations and tell us stories. My favorite was one about a time when all the animals of the earth were fighting. Finally the din and noise from their disagreements drove the Great Spirit to drastic measures, and he pulled a heavy blanket down over the sun. The animals were quieted at once - they had never known the dark and were afraid. They knew the sun was somewhere behind the dark, but no one was brave enough to go and find him. Finally, the hummingbird, small as it was, flew up into the murky black, and used its beak to make tiny hole after tiny hole in the blanket, letting in dim bits of light. The Great Spirit was so charmed that he decided half the day would be given over to the little bird's work, and that's why, my dad claimed, we have stars in the sky.
These days he says he told this story to try and get me and my brother and sister to stop arguing with each other, in a quest for a little peace at home, and that it wasn't really about explaining the stars at all. Very crafty, right? I don't know how successful it was on that score, but I do still love to look at the stars and think of how they got there.
the impulse to understand the immense
A large square is marked with black paint on the gallery floor. The edge pointing true north is curved, and acts as the horizon. Placed on this surface are small limestone and quartz rocks collected from the Keewinaw Peninsula in Upper Michigan, in an arrangement that reflects the stars above San Francisco at first visibility on the night of the reception. This reflecting pool serves as a record of one moment in our trajectory through the universe.
Claire Nereim, Reflection. Currently on view at PLAySPACE.
angelica the doorkeeper
The falcon soarsAnonymous.
The town's gates are even higher
Angelica's their doorkeeper
She's wound the sun round her head
She's tied the moon round her waist
She's hung herself with stars.
Translated from Serbian by Anne Pennington (and included in one of my favorite anthologies).
Image: detail from Jane, Class of '44, No. 20 by Amanda Blake. Her watchful face is close to how I imagine Angelica looks.
ritualized brutality
Nicolai Howalt's photographs of young boxers, taken moments before and moments after their matches.
Top to bottom: Boxer # 5, 2003; Boxer # 7, 2003; Boxer # 10, 2001.
Via lost.
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