happy halloween

{and thank you}

a good distraction

saturday morning i sat down at my sewing machine at 10:00 a.m. and barely left it until 11:00 that night. it was a therapy i had been searching for all week. and a chore that i looked forward too. of course the request for halloween costumes doesn't understand grief. or mourning. or heartbreak. all of which have been consuming me.

he was my - i struggle to find the words to put to it all he was - my employer, but also my mentor, confidante, companion, hero, inspiration, friend - a constant presence in my life for the last 8 yrs. he used to joke to people that i was his wife but we didn't share a bed or anything "like that". i met him 10 yrs ago and became his personal assistant soon after that. i have known him longer than i have known my husband. and he is gone. it is all so hard.

thank you for all your kind comments, emails and telephone calls. i will get back to you. right now i am throwing myself into all the minutiae that needs to get sorted out, and so looking forward to trick-or-treating with alice and dorothy.





be well...

good bye

turn it off

1 hour tonight los angeles! from 8 - 9. "Fight climate change with the flick of a switch!"

where i'm standing

whoo. hard to find time to put words in this space right now. though i have a couple of projects on my sewing table that i am quite happy with. our neighbourhood public school transformation is still the focus of my attention. two grant applications down (lowe's and city beautification) and one to go (kirk&anne douglas). fingers crossed please.

we had an amazing meeting the other day with an architect who has been "donated" to our parent group by a "westside philanthropist". he has this fantastic vision of what our school can be. it gets me all goose-bumpy. when our neighbourhood elementary school opened in 1956 disney came and filmed it for inclusion in their "circarama" production "a tour of the west". it was a school of the future. sadly - it pretty much stayed in 1956 and is in need of some tlc. (on the upside it maintains its 50's design, keeping with the 'hood.) so we are trying to recapture some of that initial pride in what our school can be. we have great teachers. great kids. great families. just need a little facelift to show the larger community that we care. to pique the interest of those neighbours who are spending thousands of dollars a year going to private school, and those who are writing big cheques to the pta-s of "better" public schools. this is our neighbourhood school after all! we can walk to it. we see our neighbours every morning as we trek along. some walk with us. some are backing out of their driveways for the long and tedious commute to some other school. (and you've heard me say it before - it is the school in our community, we need to be putting our community in the school!)

so back to the grant writing...

have a wonderful weekend!

sunshine and rain

feeling oh so inspired by a very sunshine-y and very generous stash of fabric and trim from lisa. (you are my superhero!) can't wait to see her show down in venice. i already have a selection pulled and have started in on a log cabin pillow (in homage) based on the tutorial found here. it's rainy and cooler and i feel very much like playing with my new machine. (yes halloween costumes are on the pile too!)

and i finally broke down and bought some shinzi katoh glasses. i had been on a thrift hunt for juice glasses for the girls - to replace their plastic ikea ones - and just couldn't find any. not quite true. i couldn't find any they would fight over. which may sound counter intuitive but, for some reason, k is very attached to the colourful plastic in our cupboard and i felt a need to go heavy on the cute quotient to draw her away from the "dark side".

it worked. they fight over them. though e prefers the animals and k the bubble girl.

there is another with a donkey that i am soft on. half filled with a good cabernet. a rainy night. my new fabric stash. and my sewing machine.

perfect.

happy wednesday!

xo

11:48

19:26

12:27

10:32

08:38

07:42

a little rumpled

my mom always ironed our sheets. in fact i think she ironed everything she could. (didn't you?) she always loved ironing. i think the fact that she would set up near the family room where she could watch my brother and i was likely part of it. that and the warm good smell (you know what i mean) and the repetitive motion of it all. and really - is there anything better than tucking into freshly pressed sheets?

given that - i don't iron our sheets. i am lucky if my family goes out the door these days with their shirts ironed. (sorry d!) we are all looking a little rumpled lately. a little tired. it seems we are right back in the throes of the school year, and as is the way, it is flying by. (september where did you go??) i have requests for halloween costumes (dorothy and alice please "mom, they are sisters don't you think?") and a dining room table covered COVERED with pta "stuff" and half finished sewing projects. (dining room table where did you go??) and we are halfway done landscaping the front yard. (must say saturday spent at a plant sale and working the dirt did feel very good.)

then you have the long awkward pauses between awkward and pretty mundane blog posts. and my neglect of two green chickens and sewgreen.

this week i am going to try and establish a rhythm to it all. like that of my mom's ironing i hope. warm and good and with a gentle sway. i love the cooler temps that have finally arrived. and feel the timing is right to re-balance things.

and so, as a start, i will fall back on the exercise of documenting my week. (inspired as usual by carol.) no words. just pics.

enjoy yours. how is your fall rhythm?

(oh and the bunny on the bed - made with love by sam. for k. because when e got this for her birthday k fell in love... thanks hon!)

my gift to myself. by stephanie. upon opening the box i was so struck by the beauty and simplicity of this. it actually took my breath away. it feels to good to hold. the power of handmade. can't be replicated.

and sitting on my new chair - so good as well. (cross number 11 off my list!)

so many of my favourite people have birthdays in september

and dogs too




thanks for letting as share your day with you miss moki!
cake from three dog bakery)

and thank you for all your bday wishes to me!

happy october

thirty.seven

thirty.seven things to do:

1. join treepeople
2. clean off my desk
3. repaint the office
4. paint a mural
5. bake bread
6. keep chickens
7. re-read daniel deronda
8. get out my old slr
9. teach a class
10 take a class
11. pay bills while sitting on this
12. reduce our produce purchases by growing our own
13. attend the pta state convention
14. breath more deeply
15. sit up straighter
16. take more local hikes
17. frame {some of} our unframed artwork
18. knit some wristwarmers
19. knit a bonnet for a babe
20. try to never use another plastic bag!
21. ask for a mailbox to be installed within walking distance of our house
22. send mail on time
23. visit here more
24. see some live music
25. eat dim sum downtown
26. add some variety to our dinner menu while eating seasonally
27. watch more movies after the kids are asleep
28. go out just - d and i - to a movie {have r & j babysit!}
29. ride the orange line
30. sew more clothing for myself
31. organize a block party {shut down the street}
32. draw up a planting plan for the backyard
33. apply for a grant for a literacy garden
34. visit the l.a. county fair
35. grow where i am planted
36. slow down
37. enjoy being {thirty.seven}

that's 3.08 things per month to do before i turn 38. perhaps too much. the slow part. the enjoy part. the most important part.

happy birthday to me. {thinking of you mama!}

feeling autumnal

cooler temps (unseasonably cooler but much loved by me, and the girls) mean it is ok to go out with your tights, cap and scarf on.

we are revelling in the lower temperatures. a trip to disneyland in the rain. (choice of the birthday girl.) but all good for this family who only want to go on the carousel, small world, and eat gigantic pickles. it was a prefect day. (and when the rain cleared it was gorgeous.)

temps to rise up again tomorrow...

c'mon autumn - come back soon!

back{pack} to school

i had started this before e's return to school, but then ran into difficulties sewing through the many layers with my old machine. happy to report my new machine made it a breeze. so good! and ready to hold books and lunches. first grade has been a breeze so far too. so good! (she has an amazing teacher. which for me is so much what it is all about.)

the pattern by liesl. available through purl.

fabric left over from reupholstering an old chair and from superbuzzy.

off to a pta meeting! happy tuesday!

now we are six

When I was one I'd just begun,
When I was two I was nearly new,
When I was three I was hardly me,
When I was four I was not much more,
When I was five I was barely alive,
But now I am six! As clever as clever!
And I think I'll stay six now for ever and ever!



oh how i wish you would my love! it is all passing by so quickly. but it does keep getting better and better. my baby is six. she didn't want a birthday party this year. so we had an unbirthday party last night with our neighbourhood friends. she didn't want a cake. so i made brownies. she didn't want anyone to sing to her. so we hummed the tune as she smiled that marvellous smile that lights up my heart. happy birthday big bug. i do love you.

thank you a.a. milne

5768

i think that since meeting d, and marrying into his large, loud, loving family, rosh hashana has become one of my favourite holidays. i love the idea of possibility and new hopes that come with a new year. and there is something especially poignant about such ideas in the fall, with new beginnings in our lives and other things coming to an end.



wishing you a sweet new year.

looking at these apples reminded me of a great article in the l.a. times food section this week - on heirloom apples grown locally. you can find it here.