lost and found

yes i am still around - for all those who have called and asked

life is just full. last week i would have said overwhelming, but things are shaking down, as they do, and i sense my groove returning.



we had a wonderful trainride to portland and back. amazing really. to have a straight 29 hours with one's family is more of a gift than i had imagined. (have you read this article?) i am not claiming any spiritual revelation, but there was certainly a lot of joy in just kicking back and looking out the window. together. the wedding wasn't. a long story short: my niece is a smart girl and made a wise choice. we love her so much. we still had a wonderful weekend (oh how we love portland) traipsing the streets with d's family from the east, and of course checking in on our fave portland babe and his family. (thanks melissa as always!) we were sorry that time and weather did not permit all the visiting we had hoped for. but we will be back in august for more!

i have moved into my shed. or shack. or studio. we still haven't settled on what to call it. it feels very good.

the weather is already turning hot. the garden still seems to be happy. the pool is leaking - but d thinks he can fix it before the triple digits arrive. life is good. full. but good. i even find myself looking forward to that long hot lazy socal summer ahead.



if i disappear again. don't worry. i am just outside playing with the bugs.

building blocks

d cut some blocks at work - scale to shipping containers. he is dreaming of building a house with them here. (mom is there now - wish we were with you!)

also trying to develop personal building blocks. better use of time and space. our modernshed is almost complete and i should be moved out of my old space by 1 june. this week is full of movers and inspectors and museum aquisition committees. but friday a train will take us north to portland. for our niece's wedding, and hopefully some time with friends. can. not. wait!

have a great week!

happy mothers' day

counting my blessings and playing in the sunshine...

::

hi there. still having trouble getting to this spot. there is so much other stuff going on. my laptop seems to have fizzled out on me - though i am promised it is "fixable".

our neighborhood school is in the throes of many battles, while at the same time, played host to an amazing community weekend of mural painting and gardening with 175 volunteers in attendance. {it just seems like "the system" doesn't want us to succeed. sigh.} the main issue at hand is an offer of co-location to a charter school. while at first glance this may not seem like anything too terrible, our community really feels that it goes against all that we have been working for. i have nothing against charter schools, but this one serves a demographic much different than the one attending our school. the differences will be notable, compounded by the fact that they are in uniform, and we are not. i really worry about the message of community we have been working so hard to foster being divided. we will continue to fight to keep our "home" ours. and we will see.

the shed is still moving along. almost there. that and our little garden are my therapy. must find time to sew...

bolstered

tr.v. bol·stered, bol·ster·ing, bol·sters

To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion.
To buoy up or hearten



State of public education is really getting me down... I am taking a little break. Need to "buoy up". Be back soon...

::

{was turn-off your tv week.}

more info here.

see you next week...

getting there

back to the work that needs to be done here.

the ceiling is in. and windows up. still roof and siding and then to the interior i believe. (right hon?)

we had a "ceiling raising" party of 4 today. thanks guys. (we are so blessed to have the world's best neighbors!)

here is the view i will have from the deck there will be.



ahhhh! can't wait! (more on our progress here.)

another day in ny

breakfast with my amazing and talented friend jillian.(who i just realized i have known for 20 yrs come this september.)

lunch with a couple of french guys




and then across the street to an amazing show. if in ny and have the chance - do go see "pricked: extreme embroidery" at the museum of arts & design. i was actually too blown away to take any pictures, but you can see a few of the pieces here. and here.

tonight was the opening. and dinner. and a little too much wine. successful and lovely. and a little bit sad.

tomorrow back to la la land.

things i never get to do at home

read the nyt in bed while eating scrambled eggs and toast.*

have a car take me up the hudson to visit a very dear friend.

spend an hour talking about vignelli's contribution to sans serif fonts and the beauty of helvetica with same friend. (jan, have you seen this film?)

sit in front of one painting at the museum of modern art for 1/2 an hour.

walk down the street with a crowd of 100s.

*ok, d i know you are thinking - she gets breakfast in bed from the girls all the time - but this was different! oh but i do miss you! xo

up,up,up,up and away

i am off to ny. back at week's end...

tea for three

unseasonably cool here yesterday. we spent a lot of it working in the yard, tending the veggie patch and prepping for the shed, then broke for a tea party complete with freshly baked cranberry scones and a hot cup of tea (panda berry for the girls, and genmaicha for me).

happy monday.

natural pest control

with a nasty infestation on my native sunflower bush, we turned to the ladies for help...



thanks ladies!

for my laptop

which i won't be hauling around as much when i have a home office ;)



perhaps it will get more use filled with mail as i ride my bike to our local mbe! (can you tell i am excited about this home office deal?)

i love this bag from moop::handmade bags. it is just the right size. (largish). and has pockets and rings on the interior. the strap feels good on my shoulder and the craftsmanship is fantastic. (living up to their credo.)

i have a lot of thick (thick - about 1/2 inch!) felt around and hope to fashion some kind of cozy for the laptop as well. hmmm...

thanks for the support as always. have a great weekend!

daydreaming

we have gone ahead and put a down payment on a home office. we found a deal we couldn't turn down (a gently used model from a design-show). and in the end it will be better than renting a space off-site, which looked like my only other option. i could feel the weight lift off my shoulders as i entered our incredibly over-crowded home office this a.m., filled to the gills with crafting, homeowners accumulations and my recently moved files and books from work. the new office will be primarily a space for me to work-work. that is at my "job". it arrives next week (!). lots of prep to begin - i shall share as we progress!

(oh and melissa - the little vase is what the bunny brought me, and cup one of my heath purchases. you can see the larger bowl here. more blue and orange... xo)

misty bay area coloured memories...

heath(en)

did i mention we visited heath ceramics while up north? i have wanted to for some time, but hadn't had the opportunity. it was fantastic. their vintage tiles are so beautiful. (and have inspired a summer project.) and so much orange and blue and brown - love.



we had a picnic outside in their courtyard, then naturally one of the little had to use the bathroom, so we got an up close and personal look at the kilns and some molds too. (the staff was so lovely and welcoming.) and came home with a few pieces as well.

then received a little extra on easter morning.

thanks bunny. xo

hope your week is going well...

happy easter :: happy spring

invited the neighborhood kids (and adults) to colour eggs on the driveway on a perfect socal day...

hope yours is the same!

break

just back from a much needed get-away up to the bay area.

back now to the grind. tempered with generous doses of tea and berries to help along the way.



{thanks you guys for your love and hospitality - we miss you already!}

mellow yellow

friday already? feeling much better, though the time change thing seems harder this go round. luckily, it has been a gorgeous week. and taken up by digging in the dirt. the natives we planted last year are all starting to bloom. {i am so loving the yellow flowers on this california sunflower bush (encelia californica) we planted around the turtle pond. as is the turtle.(for her lunch)} we have our little starter plants going for the veggie beds, and there is nothing i would rather be doing than working in the yard. unfortunately, there is a lot of stuff i should be doing.

with that. we are off to the bay area for a few days of escape - to mellow out - and to spend some time with much missed friends.

{yay for spring break!}

enjoy

a little green

these are from a set of doll furniture made by my great-aunt jess - much played with when I was a child, and now by my girls.

i am feeling a little green myself. hence the lack of posts for this lovely green week. i have been enjoying the sightings of others! thanks so much emily for the inspiration.

have a great weekend

green

e calls it the green chair.
k, the birthday seat.



was acquired during a busy move of some dear friends. we are holdling onto it for them.

we will see you soon ramblers. can't wait. xo

for green week

more info here



these hills on my drive to work are only green for a couple of weeks each year. those few precious weeks after the rain and before the heat. my favorite time here.

i will be working from home in a few weeks. no longer commuting. will not miss the driving. but will somewhat miss the drive. i enjoy the solitude. traffic doesn't bother me. i listen to the radio, and take in the subtle clues to the los angeles seasons the hills provide.

it will be good to do this without the car.

better

a jumper for e that i cut out months ago. finally sewn up last week. i had lost the directions to the pattern and winged it (wung it?). i wasn't happy with it and returned to it to sew down the pleats and add some buttons. much better. of course yesterday while cleaning out my work-space-to-be, i found the directions and read all i had done wrong. no matter. i will reuse it in some of the cotton lawn perhaps as a spring dress for k. the "right" way.

i am feeling better too. spring feels like it is really here and the blue funk i have been riding all winter will lift. it has been a tough one. and i thank you again for all your kind comments, thoughts and messages. it is all really appreciated.

to spring!
happy monday

loss

i feel a need to write something down. not really a need, perhaps. but an obligation. though that word fails as well. to call out a memory that i carry with me each day. and a date that marks the time since he left me. 6 yrs. i still feel his hand on my shoulder. and see his twinkle in my girls' eyes.

and miss him.


my dad and grandma c. 1960

::♥::

happy valentine's day!


a lavender filled valentine from sam

inspiration

brought home



from liberty.

in the process of redoing my work-space as i make the move from the studio to working from home. storage is my biggest issue - mainly for my work files, but also for my burgeoning fabric collection! any ideas? i am thinking of some ikea cabinets with a custom work surface top. and d is trying to convince me to allow for a work surface in the center of the room. it is a small space. and i'm not sure about this idea. what do you think? what works for you? (links welcome!)

spring is in the air

daffodils in london. now 80 degree temps here in los angeles. finding it hard to get back into the groove of it all.

the trip was hugely successful. the auction beyond expectations. and a few very worthwhile meetings as well. while i didn't get in as much sightseeing as i wished for. (thank you so much for all your suggestsions!) i did do alot of walking. and being away from my family was tough. though we all came through with flying colours. those 'unused muscles' that someone mentioned needed to be used every once-in-a-while, were. in many ways.

now back to work. happy monday!

night night

from london



arrived this afternoon to a beautiful london day. spent it walking. and walking. 'til dark. {with a break to skype the girls while they got ready for school.}

a few pictures over here.

off to bed. {with a glass of red wine and coronation street on the tellie}

this and that

busy preparing for valentine's day as i will be off to london all of next week. it is my first trip of any real length and distance away from my family - and i am struggling with mixed emotions. (daydreaming about a bath that lasts longer than 7 minutes, but also wishing i could share the sights and sounds of london with d and our girls...) our last trip there was with a 6 week old e. seems like a lifetime ago.

clearing off the kitchen table, and clearing my mind of travel worries, with the latest issue of american craft magazine. i gave myself a subscription for my birthday upon reading an article on its restyling by former dwell founding editor andrew wagner and i have loved both issues received so far. beautiful articles on heath ceramics and lenore tawney. (did i tell you we found a loom in the trash? must figure out how to work it...)

happy tuesday!

ack - just realised it is wednesday not tuesday! things will likely be quiet here for the next week or so. will try to check in from london... in the meantime, any not-to-be-missed suggestions? (i have all my favorite museums on my list, as well as, liberty, orla kiely, and the conran shop...)

overcast overhead

it is raining.




i had to drive downtown for meeting to determine if funding was going to be fulfilled for another grant we just received for our neighbourhood school. looks like all will go ahead. (whew!) and as an added bonus i got to spend the afternoon looking up. (i love downtown l.a.!)

glass half full

a lovely long weekend.

the gift of a decadent trip on my own to the opera. {five hours in length but not a moment too long}

sharing in the joy of a boy turning 5. {a perfect party in the park.}

witnessing my girl meeting a long-time love of my ownat my neice's 8th birthday party. {e wants to go skating again next weekend!}

rereading all of your kind and thoughtful comments. thank you so much. while my gramma will be missed - her memory lives on...

happy "monday".

Edith Louisa

my mom called me yesterday afternoon to tell me that my grandmother had passed away in her sleep on tuesday evening. she had fallen ill this past summer, and was never able to fully recuperate. i feel so blessed that d, the girls and i had a visit with her last month on our way to the island. it was brief. i could feel how she was failing. so frail. we didn't take our annual group picture. the one above was taken a year and a half ago. i want to remember her like this.

she had a hard life. her mother died when she was two or three years old. her father didn't know what to do with a little girl on a farm and sent her off to live with relatives in "the city". she returned to rural manitoba and married a cattle farmer with whom she had four children. and then her husband died and she moved away from the farm again - to raise her two sons and two daughters in "the city". they grew up. and she bought a small hobby farm just outside of town where she lived with her two youngest children and raised shetland ponies and sheep. i have vague recollections of riding a ski doo, petting the sheep, and gazing at the large porcelain cow that sat high on a shelf in the corner of her living room. when that became too much, she returned to "the city". to the little yellow house of my memories.

i have vivid and fond memories of her little yellow house in brandon with the fish pond in the back yard. i remember my brother and i falling asleep in her big bed while my parents were out for the evening. i remember eating kentucky fried chicken at her kitchen table. i remember finding an old brownie camera that she let me play with. and i remember her knitting while we listened to old disney records on her turntable. she moved from my hometown in manitoba to british columbia when i was still a young girl. but we would drive to see her every summer. she survived breast cancer, a bad second marriage, and bone cancer. the latter came around the same time i moved to los angeles, and i was generously given a leave so i could go stay with her and help care for her as she struggled to overcome the burden of her chemotherapy. they had wanted to remove her leg. but she wanted to fight. she loved to walk. every day. and couldn't imagine having that taken away. she won that fight. and i won too. an amazing week of stories and time. and advice that true love was more important than anything else. and of course knitting.

my mom was able to spend the last few weeks with her. so fortunate. she told me that as she went in and out of consciousness she would often be completely unaware of her surroundings, and her hands would often be busily knitting the air in front of her while her mind carried her to other times and places. on her final day - she picked up the project she could only see and turned to my mom and said - "It's finished."

i am canadian

and in love with rick mercer.

(don't worry honey... petite gourmand beat me to him.)

thanks petite for the tip!

cuts

I have been trying to get the girls to stand still long enough to photograph the matching nightgowns I made them for Christmas. My mom always had a new nightgown waiting for me under the tree Christmas eve, and it is a tradition I am trying to keep up. They are of the softest Moda flannel with pink rick-rack, and oh so cozy.{Little better look at them here.}

I did get them to sit still long enough to cut their hair last night. An inch of K's and three off E's. I have been trying to do this on my own, in an effort to be more frugal. I do think I am getting better, but wonder if anyone has a good set of haircutting instructions out there? I am so lucky they both have curly hair! {Do I remember correctly that there was a guide to children's haircuts in Martha Stewart Kids way back when...)

Happy Monday!

update: the nightgowns were based on Burda 9766 - and haircutting tips are in the MS Kids Spring 2002 issue {thanks Sarah!}

rolling along

out the window on our last day of driving...
home.







it has been a busy week. two shows that have been on the books for a long time opened. bittersweet.

preparing to travel to london for this.

soaking in the socal sunshine. hope you are having a lovely weekend.