2009 - The Simple Life

I don't know about you, but simplicity is not something that I manage to experience very often in the way I live my life. I came across this poster from Ready Made and it made me think. The dynamo lights on the bike in the drawing are almost the same as those on my Dutch bike. They never need batteries and I am always able to cycle home in the dark, even if I have forgotten my LED lights. Maybe living simply is about removing the need to remember so many things, like bike lights, and just getting on with living. If there were more room in my head for the importan things in life, perhaps I would be happier. I'll give it a go and let you know how I get on.

Christmas

Christmas came and went this year in a frenzied blur. I was out of the country until mid-December and didn't feel remotely Christmasy at all, even after mulled wine and minced pies the last week in December. The lack of Christmas cheer made me feel sad, I used to love Christmas - the magical promise of life in twinkly lights against the darkness. Maybe next year will be different. It's hard to feel Christmasy walking along the top of the Andes in 18 degree sunshine in December, or while filling in a tax return at the kitchen table, or while the house is full of builders' dust and the Christmas tree is coating in a fine grey powder and the lights are only half visible. Next year there will be baking and trees and cinnamon muffins and presents and lights, lots of lights, and I will try to stop to take it all in.

Red onion & goats' cheese tart

This is really easy and totally yummy... if your hands are cold enough to make pastry, then go for it, but if you can't be bothered to get flour everywhere then jus-rol is good enough I think!

1 roll puff pastry
3 large red onions, sliced
3 tbsps good balsamic vinegar
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
big knob of butter
150g soft goats cheese
1 egg, beaten with a dollop of cream
Two springs of fresh rosemary (optional)

Put the vinegar, oil, butter and onions into a thick-bottomed frying pan and leave on a low heat for half an hour. Stir every so often. The onions should caramalise and look a bit sticky... don't worry if some have a tinge of black around the edges. While they are cooking, prepare the pastry...

Roll out the pastry and then score a border around the edge about an inch from each side. Then prick the rest of it with a fork and bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Take it out and act all surprised that it has swelled up like a balloon and hit the top of the oven (optional). Bash down the pastry in the middle gently with a fish slice. Brush the edges with the egg/cream mixture and then put the rest in the middle of the pastry square.

When the onions are ready put them into the centre of the tart and spread over evenly. Then break up the goats' cheese and dollop it all over. If you are using the rosemary break it up and sprinkle on top of the tart before seasoning with salt and pepper and baking in the oven at the same temperature for another 25 minutes or so.

It's great as a starter with some mild leaves and a basic dressing.

I did actually get around to making one of these over Christmas, but the photos didn't come out, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looks and tastes delicious.

An attempt to not be like the town mouse

When I was a child one of my favourite books was The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, which is based on one of Aesop's Fables. In the story the two mice are cousins and they go to visit each other in the town and country respectively. Each struggles to understand the way the other lives his life - the town mouse turns up his nose at the country mouse's simple food, and the country mouse is scared to be in a big house with the 'music' of barking dogs accompanying quince jelly at dinner. My childhood version of the story ends with the mice resolving their difficulties, understanding each other and living happily ever after, but Aesop's is (unsurprisingly) less cheery - the country mouse runs out of his cousin's town house shouting, 'Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear', and that is the end of that.

As I arrived at a cold, damp station platform today I could see mist blowing through the darkness alongside the train. The night sky was so much darker than I remembered, there is dark in the city and dark in the country, and they are so different as to be almost unrelated. As we sped through windy lanes towards my parents' house the trees stood black against the pink-black sky, and I thought I had come to the end of the earth. I'm a city girl and the country always shocks me at first. A pine cone splutters to light in the fireplace and the fusty smell of woodsmoke engulfs the air around us, I reach for a glass of port and try to relax, I'm not doing a good job of it so far, but unlike the country mouse I hope to settle in and not run out in fear, shouting 'Get me to the city!' I can try anyway.

The Modern Restaurant, New York - A Lesson In Perspective

On a trip to NYC earlier this month we were lucky enough to have dinner at The Modern, one of the restaurants at the Museum of Modern Art. Everything about it basks in glorious modern design, jst as the museum does, without being overdone. The chef, Gabriel Kreuther, is 'Alsatian-born' (I didn't realise one could be), and the food is 'French-American', which makes sense of the carbonara with escargots... I loved everything about it, we ate the Bar Room, the informal side of the restaurant with square leather seating and precariously small tables on which to balance crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, the building design is elegant enough to raise an eyebrow, yet understated as not to overpower. It took a good half an hour for me to notice that the ceiling in each side of the restaurant was a different height. Not only that, but the furnishings were perfectly in scale to the height of the ceiling in each room - higher chair backs, tables and tablewear in the taller restaurant side. The Bauhaus was a serious influence, a lesson in perspective over wine and escargot was a welcome break from the frenzied, freezing streets outside.

Sometimes

Sometimes I wonder if I'm strong enough; if I have enough faith, will, truth, love to do the things that I believe in. To get on a plane to Asia and never come back. To make my home in a land of tones, where words are sounds and incomprehension reigns. I wonder if I'd make it. If my heart would bear the excitement; my eyes the standing out, my ears the strange sounds... Yet I am not at home here, now. This city, this ordinariness, bacon and eggs and toast and coffee on a crisp winter morning, the loneliness. Sometimes I wonder...

Grateful Friday

The air is thick with drizzle, sparkling as the street light catches the drops as they meander to the ground. A damp hat sits next to me as I type, and I'm glad to be indoors on this rainy Friday in November. I've lost my voice and a rasping sound leaves my chest very few minutes or so, but nonetheless, I'm grateful for:

1. Friends - brunch this Sunday with four of my best girl friends... I'm thinking Mexican, but I'm not sure if they're up for lime and coriander at that time in the morning... could be fun.

2. The Christmas lights at Sloane Square - tasteful and joyous on a cold day. I almost felt Christmasy for five minutes as I walked towards the Royal Court.

3. A new bathroom - in progress... it may be a dream but I live for the day that it appears, all shiny and gleaming and warm, one morning soon-ish.

4. Hope - This life is a mystery to me... the older I get the more confusion I feel, my sight failing as I blunder my way through the ether. I see so much sadness, so much struggle, some my own, some that of dear friends, and we have no answers apart from hope in the one who knows all things. In the words of Julian of Norwich, "All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

Grateful Friday

Winter seems to be here. The cold hasn't crept in unnoticed as usual, but turned up unexpected one wintery day. I don't mind and quite enjoyed digging out thermals, scarf, hat and legwarmers in one day... my hands were cold on the cycle yesterday morning so I'd better hunt for some gloves soon too. So, on this blistery Friday I am grateful for:

1. Autumn fashion - layering is made for me! I adore nothing more than leaving the house in six layers all wrapped up like origami away from the biting wind. And I get to wear legwarmers all the time, what more could a girl want?

2. Potato and bacon gratin - real comfort food. I made up a recipe and cooked this for H and I this week, it was delicious!

3. A surprise day tomorrow - I don't know where I'm going but I know I'll be too excited to sleep tonight :-)

4. Remembering what matters in life, and forgetting the rest. Chaos has visited me too many times to count over the last month. And while there have been times of sadness, of fear, of truth, of loneliness, of despair and of helplessness, there have also been flickers of love and joy and reality and truth and openness - gorgeously beautiful moments with those whom I am honoured to share this life with. You know who you are, and this week it's you whom I'm most grateful for, a thousand thank yous.

What unites us

We are all human, a fact I rarely ponder or reflect upon. Within our humanity the world is divided into a plethora of sub-groups, we gravitate to our own kind, to those we feel a sense of affinity with... those who 'get' us in some way. Yet I wonder if we would be richer if we stepped outside ourselves for a while and looked at the 'other' a little more. I am middle-class, I live in a 'nice' neighbourhood. People pick up litter, children play outside and I feel safe walking home at midnight from the tube... yet this week I found myself witness to an attack on a man outside my house who wasn't like me. He didn't look like anyone I would hang around with, or even speak to, yet he allowed me to put my arm around him and looked me in the eye as blood fell in sheets down his face and splashed onto the tarmac. I wished him well as the ambulance took him away and wondered why I had found him, and not someone else, someone stronger, someone who would have known what to do. I wonder at the dispirate nature of life, how divided we are from those outside our front doors and how diferent my life is from the man I found that night. I am troubled by the memories. His eye with the gash, his mumbling, the way his glasses were contorted and twisted on top of the car bonnet where he banged his head. I try to forget, but the images come back to me on the waves of sleep, and I wake up sweating.

Two days later I am in A&E with another attack of an illness I'm fighting. My face is hot and shiny, the room warm and my throat dry. I lie in pain waiting for someone to come, while the canula in my arm drips blood onto the stiff sheets. Half-naked and alone I am helpless. I cannot leave, bound as I am with needles to this room of sickness. As another red spot of blood bulges through the pink plastic tap on my wrist, I am reminded of the man on the road and the gash in his eye, of the blood that poured from his face, and of the way we are united by our humanity. We may not look the same, sound the same, think the same, but undeneath we are blood... and that is never going to change.

The weeping willow

The willow weeps openly for all to see.
The branches hide not shame, nor guilt,
Nor sadness, nor lack of love,
Nor difficultly, nor indifference...
They weep openly for all to see,
And if you care to look closely
The tears are falling, falling,
Falling, for you.

Grateful Friday

The autumnal weather is bright and cheerful. The nights are drawing in, but instead of feeling forlorn there's a resigned acceptance. A thought of Christmas and winter evenings curled up with a friend and a glass of wine. So, on this autumnal Friday in September I am grateful for:

1. Our party this Saturday. The first one with H as an official resident, and therefore, host. We'll be making our W14-famous canapes and cocktails. Hope you can come!

2. My bike - the cycling weather is (dare I say it) perfect. A cool breeze, a slight nip in the air and not much rain. Long may it continue.

3. Cinnamon porridge with sultanas and brown sugar, made with soy milk. It keeps me going til after lunchtime.

4. The return of my social life. I was purposely 'not around' much in August, choosing instead to fill up my introvert's energy quietly at home. September is still a new term for me, though I left formal education years ago. I still feel the need for new shoes and a pencil case.

Have a gorgeous weekend everyone.

Raspberry Jam

We finally got round to making the raspberry jam I alluded to earlier. The raspberries have been ready for weeks and time was ticking on! I have to say I really enjoyed this foray into preserving this time. I have been known to get stressed about all kinds of jam-related things, such as if it's really set or not, but the jam thermometer and previous experience is making it all a much happier activity.

The morning started with a trip to the market for 4kg of berries. That's quite a lot... especially when you have to carry them home on a bicycle with 4kg of sugar as well. We managed and they got back in one piece. Then the fun began!







22 jars of ruby-red properly set jam goodness. Yum.

Grateful Friday

On this rainy day, the first Friday in September, I am glad to be grateful for:

1. The gocco postcard swap I'm taking part in next month. Thanks to Lisa for organising! I just have to think of an idea for my card.

2. The Sunday Cycle Picnic (scroll down for more info) this Sunday at London Fields. We have been getting ready this week and I'm praying the weather stays dry... Please come along, you'll be most welcome.

3. Listening to Rosie Thomas this week. I love all her music, especially her album 'When we were small'. It's quiet and dreamy and blends extremely well with the pitter patter of rain on the window.

4. Homemade raspberry jam on toast.... ooooo it's the best jam I've ever tasted!

5. Visits from old friends from Asia this week. We met up last night and ate kao ya (roast duck) at Four Seasons in Bayswater. It still makes me laugh that they come all the way to London and want to eat Chinese food, but it was a good chance for me to eat some real Chinese for a change.

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Sunday Cycle Picnic: Please Come!

I will be at The Sunday Cycle Picnic next week at London Fields with these lovely ladies. Please stop by if you can for fun, games, cakes, jam, cycling accessories and the chance to win a Bobbin Playbike... Hope to see you then!


Bobbin Bicycles, Cyclechic.co.uk and Sawako Furuno invite you to an afternoon of fun, frolics and bicycles!

Put on your Sunday Best, pack yourself a picnic and come on down to London Fields for the very first Sunday Cycle Picnic.
The Magnificent Revolution's pedal-powered cinema tent will play host to Ray Pascoe's beautiful vintage cycling films,
alongside contemporary shorts. There will also be garden games, stalls and prizes for stylish bikes and their riders.

So saddle up and we'll see you there!

What you need to bring:
Your bike and a lock (secure cycle parking provided)
A picnic
Your friends

For one special lady a Red Bobbin Playbike is up for grabs. Just turn up on the day in a fetching outfit and sit on the bike for
your chance to cycle it away into sunset. For style inspiration visit bobbinbicycles.co.uk. May the best outfit win!

The Sunday Cycle Picnic, Sunday 7th Sept, 12-5pm
London Fields, Hackney

Grateful Friday

It's a dull, humid late-August day, the last of the summer creeping away gently as the promise of Autumn blows in on a cool breeze. The lilies on the kitchen table where I'm typing give off a fierce perfume which would be enjoyable were it not competing with the paint stripper fumes from the hallway. So, this Friday I am grateful for:

1. Perfect cycling weather - cool enough to not get too sweaty and warm enough to cycle in a t-shirt. There's a slight breeze and I've been loving ambling along slowly on my bike this week.

2. Dinner at Buono Sera last night - with my lovely sis. I had a tagliatelle dish with spinach, lamb and pecorino cheese, just perfect.

3. More gocco experiments - including some cards for two dear friends. I was nervous, the gold ink went everywhere, but they loved them!

4. My nespresso coffee machine - it's had a lot of use of late and I'm loving it.

5. The updated flat - our flat has had a wee makeover - new chairs in the sitting room, new paint in the hallway, a bit of a clear out and new carpet to come. Lush.

Whatever you are up to enjoy the late-summer weekend!

- The Nectarine -

At breakfast we slice a second nectarine
Because you are here.
The flesh is soft and you are
Surprised how red and textured
The sweet fruit is on your plate.
We eat crumpets, washed down with tea
And talk about the day ahead.
Work, email, supper and a show later...
Nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary
Except for the red flesh of the
Extra nectarine at breakfast.

Gocco At Last (Part 1)

Yesterday was Gocco Day! I've been waiting for a free afternoon to try out my new Gocco (a small screenprinting device from Japan that I bought a few weeks ago), and yesterday was the day. Here it is:


First of all I needed to choose an image to print. I have heaps of ideas but wasn't really sure where to start. After much deliberation I decided to print a small image of a Japanese temple/pagoda and write 'Ni Hao', or 'Hello' in Chinese next to it. The gocco works by exposing the carbon on your image onto a screen, so I wandered down to a local shop where I paid the grand total of 14p to photocopy my images! This bit was cheap, just as well as the rest of the process uses screens and bulbs that are quite hard to come by in the UK and cost quite a bit.

So, here's the image I chose, it's sitting on the grey pad on the bottom of the gocco:


The next part is to put a screen and a blue filter into the top part of the machine, press it down and check that the image can be seen, like this:



Next is the exciting bit - exposing the screen. You have to use two single-use bulbs (like the old camera flash bulbs), that are screwed into a flash unit that sits on top of the blue filter you see above.

I'm gutted I didn't get a picture of the flashing part, but it's quite dramatic, a big flash filled the room and there was the unmistakable smell of burning...

Next I peeled back the cellophane on the screen and applied the special gocco ink to the screen. I choose silver for the temple, red for the sun and black for the writing.

The next part was the printing... I was kind of nervous at this point!

Gocco At Last (Part 2)

You can see the screen which has been put back into the top of the gocco.

All you need to do to print, is place your card or paper on to the grey pad (which is slightly sticky) and press down.

I really thought it wouldn't work, but imagine my surprise when this happened!

Isn't it amazing! I was so pleased. I kept on printing until I ran out of paper. I knew that you could print a lot from one screen, but I really wasn't expecting to be able to do so many prints.

I made about 70 notecards to send to friends.

Here's a close-up. I like the texture of the red sun and the clarity of the black on the Chinese characters.

So, it's official. I love gocco! Can't wait to print some different screens soon. Watch this space!

Grateful Friday

On this blustery, humid August day I am grateful for:

1. Getting out of the city this weekend. It's my dad's 60th birthday and I'm taking a little trip back home to share the birthday love. I hope the sun shines!

2. Finding the Flickr Gocco group - I am addicted! There is so much inspiration, I am overwhelmed with excitement and can't wait for my Gocco to arrive.

3. Spending yesterday in Hyde Park with this amazing photographer. We were doing a photo shoot for the project I alluded to recently - I still can't talk about it and it's almost killing me! Let's just say we had a ball yesterday and I can't wait to show you the results.

4. Paper packages tied up with string - I came home today to find the lovely H had made me this beautiful necklace. I shall be wearing it a lot, I can tell you.


Have a wonderful weekend!

Marimekko Purse with Zip

I had a piece of lovely blue Marimekko fabric left over from another project, and Sian from Bobbin suggested I could make it into a purse. It only took about ten minutes and I was really pleased with the result. I like how the pattern fits onto the sides. I've got my make-up in it!

Two Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1. Getting a personally signed copy of James Frey's new book Bright Shiny Morning.


I don't care that he thought I was called 'July', it's kinda cute and shows he has enough literary imagination to think I could have been called such a fun name! He even wrote the sweetest inscription (considering he doesn't know me from Eve):


I am so looking forward to reading it. I loved his other two books and the debate over their truth is kinda boring now, so I'm pleased to get his new book in time for a good read on the train home this weekend.

2. My lovely Japanese bag book arriving from this shop on Etsy.


The bag patterns are gorgeous and surprisingly easy to follow even though the instructions are in Japanese. I hope to post some bags made from these patterns soon!

Chinatown

One morning this week, I found myself walking through Chinatown to the tube, when I became aware of a gross smell - it was vaguely familiar, and after a few minutes I tracked down the source:


Durians! The durian is known as the 'King of Fruit' and it's eaten a lot in Singapore and Malaysia. I couldn't stomach it myself, but some locals love it. Needless to say, the bad smell had me retreating hastily into a nearby shop, where I somehow managed to leave with all this:


And the best part was char sui bao for dinner!

Love in a Gocco Shaped Box

I've been trying to up the creative stakes of late... Though the list of sewing is getting longer and longer (for a little project I'll talk about soon), I have a million ideas of new things to make and just wish there were more hours in the day.

I've been doing some research and I found out about a Japanese screen-printing machine called a Gocco. Imagine my excitement when I realised what can be done with this little machine!


Image (c) Chris Keegan, found via Flickr. For more of Chris' work see here.

This little video * gives you an idea of the process involved, it's old-fashioned and quirky, but that's part of the appeal.

At the same time as I was thinking about a Gocco, I read on a friend's blog that she had just bought one. She printed some gorgeous cards and I quickly emailed to share my excitement. To cut a long story short she then helped me buy a second hand Gocco on Etsy (the US crafters site) and I actually did a victory lap of the sitting room with excitement! I just can't wait to get my little mitts on it :-) I promise to post my first attempt, failure or success for you to see.

*The video link should now be working - thanks to Suzanne for pointing out that the link didn't work.

Cycling at what price?

I would never define myself as a protester or as being 'anti' anything. I'd much rather be 'pro' something and make an opinion in a positive and gracious way. That's part of the reason why I love Critical Mass, a monthly group cycle ride through London that meets on the South Bank. There's no agenda, just a group out to raise the profile of cycling in the city by doing it together one Friday evening.

In my experience (and I know things haven't always been like this in the past) the atmosphere is always fun, friendly and relaxed. Before the ride cyclists of all ages and types gather to chat, ring their bells and admire other riders' bikes and accessories. You're just as likely to see a fifty-year-old lady with a basket full of flowers on her Pashley, as a trendy group of couriers on their fixies. It's great fun and from what I have seen, the cyclists are not there to make trouble.

I was really sad to read of what happen in New York recently. The equivalent of Critical Mass is called Times Up! At their ride last week, a policeman deliberately ran into a cyclist, pushed him to the ground and then arrested him for assault. A tourist captured the event on video from the curbside, and the police officer has now been stripped of his badge. (For more info see here and here). See the video here.

Clasp Purse

I made my first ever clasp purse this week, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. The polka dots are gorgeous and it's lined in an Indian gold and cream polka dot fabric (bought when I was in Calcutta a few years back).



I'm going to experiment with different sizes and fabrics, and I'm not sure the gold clasp works too well (the shop was out of silver).

The Isle of Wight

A little trip this past weekend was very much appreciated. I'd never been before and was amazed how gorgeous it is. The weather was lush, 30C on the last day with bright sunshine!

Vintage Notions

I love the term 'notions'. I don't think it's used very much nowadays, probably something my grandma would refer to. Us modern folk talk of 'haberdashery' instead, but it's more clinical and less like Alice's rabbit-hole than a real notions shop.

A little trip to the Isle of Wight uncovered an old-fashioned notions shop in Ryde. There was no sign outside, and every nook and cranny, including the floor, was full to bursting with ribbons, buttons, elastic, thread of every colour, lace, wool, beads, feathers, braiding, ric rac, velcro, cotton... in other words, my dream come true.

Fortunately I was with two other ribbon fanciers, who didn't have to get bored waiting outside whilst I repeatedly told myself to calm down and buy less.

Here are some of the glorious notions I left with:

Check out the pom poms!

These are my favourites - embroidered ribbons from the 1960s (the shopkeeper told me he's had these since he first opened the shop!)

I love the farmer chasing the chicken with his fork. I hope to make something lovely using each of the designs and will post the results for you to see.

Mamma Mia

Mamma Mia the movie is out this week, and I have to say it's the worst film I've ever seen. I watched it in a cinema chock-full of oestrogen and from the slightly confused faces all around me I can deduce that most of the other women didn't enjoy it either. I really wished I'd brought a manuscript to read so that I could have got two hours work done instead of listening to Pierce Brosnan's attempt at singing. He tried. But he still can't sing. Maybe that wasn't the point though...

Anyway, the redeeming factor was that it was a fabric lover's delight. The film is set in a run-down rustic hotel on a Greek island, and everywhere you looked there was gorgeous fabric. At one point the fabric hanging on the washing line was Josef Frank*! I excitedly whispered this to the friend on my right, but sadly she didn't share my excitement.

Here's one of his designs 'Green Birds':

I'd like to say it was worth it for this alone. But I'd be lying.

* Swedish fabric designer of a similar era to Marimekko. His fabrics sell at £99 a metre in Liberty of London, but I can dream.

Preserving on its way...

Coming soon:

- Plum jam (including pix and a 'how-t0' guide)
- Raspberry conserve (which will be softer than regular jam with a more intense flavour).

Since H has moved in, we've upped the preserving stakes somewhat. I invested in a jam thermometer to check the setting temperature. While I love making jam and am often described as a calm person, I find myself overcome with anxiety at the setting stage... is it? isn't it? have I just ruined 3kg of fruit?! Hopefully the thermometer will add some science to the art and make for a calmer Jules.

We're just waiting for a spare afternoon to do the raspberry, and for the plums to ripen (could be a few weeks yet). Watch this space!

- Love is for the birds -

"Love is for the birds my friend."
Was your harried response in blue type
Across seven time zones.
Did you mean you don't believe in love?
That each show of affection
Merely falls like Hansel's crumbs for
The sparrows to eat?
I don't know.
And I'm not sure you do,
Either.
"Love is for the birds my friend."

- The Genius Bar -

4.20pm, a buzz of white noise -
Chatter, high-heels, music and the
Whir of the elevator - engulfs the
Space between us on two tall stools
Whilst a gangly man in a
Leather flat-cap (no irony)
Tries to fix my laptop.
You pick up Sharon Olds, defiantly,
And start reading.
A gesture I don't appreciate in
My hour of need. You see, the Genius is
Not a genius, and you are not here
For that.

- The Girl -

On Regent Street on Tuesday
We stop to wait.
For the lights to turn red.
To cross the road. And in front of
You there's a girl in a red and
Blue dress, an apparition of
Gypsy glamour and understated
Pretense. I see you looking at her...
Eyes grazing her skin, her auburn
Hair and at that moment she
Walks forward and becomes
Part of the bus. Red more than
Blue now, and her hair a mass of
Matted damp. And the screaming,
And I'm crying and as I turn to look at
Your face, you take my hand in
Yours and squeeze, and I'm ok, and
For a moment I'm glad it was her
And not me.

- Just in case -

There are better things to worry about
Than if I am destined to spend this life
Alone with my thoughts, or if someone
Else will help make me who I perhaps
One day shall be. (Always, yet never
Again myself?) Is this it?
Or shall I be moulded like a jelly for
A children's party...
Or, more like, a lump of hard clay that
Won't yield to a gentle touch and needs
Soaking for days in tepid water 'til it's
Slippery and malleable?
There are better things to worry about
But I watch out for the cracks,
And soak the edges once in a while,
Just in case.

- In Between -

In between the birth cry and death gasp,
There's that otherworldly time
When you are new and protected -
Caul from your tiny head tucked in a
Pocket for luck against drowning -
Yet grown up, part of you is dying, cells degenerate
Eyes lose sparkle and teeth grind down...
So busy you don't look up, least of all notice
That the edges are being rubbed off your self
'Til you're all smooth and sandpapery,
Dust of your dreams blown forth by the
East Wind. If you stopped to look
You might glimpse that otherwordly time
When you are dying, in between.

- The Knitting Needle -

I hate mornings.
Brain. Works. Graveyard.
Conks. Out. 7am. Pain.
Tea in bed.
The Today Programme.
Rejected, day after day after day after day.
May as well poke a number 4
Knitting needle through my head
And twist it.

A Life In Polaroid

A site that I read regularly posted a link to this site: Photo of the Day. At first glance it is a random collection of polaroids, in chronological order from 31st March, 1979 until 25th October, 1997. The site doesn't contain any information but you figure out pretty quickly that the images have all been taken by one guy who took a polaroid photo every day of his life until he died.

The images are ordinary to begin with, dinner with friends, card games, trips to watch baseball. Some are candid, some abstract, some incomprehensible.

As the years go by, the images begin to tell a story. This is a photographer, he works in the film industry... later he is photographed with various musical instruments.

The images speak of a happy life - dinners with friends, holidays, lying in the park on a sunny day. Ordinary things. Then in May 1996, one photo tells more than a thousands words:

And within six months, he has died.


The original site contains no information about the identity of the photographer, or indeed why he decided to chronicle his life in this way.

Another site explains that he is called Jamie Livingstone.

After he died, his friends Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid put the polaroids together and exhibited them in an exhibition called PHOTO OF THE DAY: 1979-1997, 6,697 Polaroids, dated in sequence. The physical exhibit opened in 2007 at the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College (where Livingston started the series, as a student).

I can't find any information on whether there are plans for the exhibition to travel. The website has every image, (almost 7000 of them) and they make gripping, if poignant, viewing. They reminded me of the energy of the human life, and the fleeting nature of our earthly lives. If I'm having a bad day, I'm going to try to remember this guy and how quickly our lives can turn around. I complain about the tube being crowded, my coffee being too cold, the alarm waking me before I'm ready, but today I hope to thank God that I'm alive, that I can drink coffee in a cafe reading the newspaper and that my ears could hear the alarm sound this morning.

Vanity

The Sartorialist is in London this week, braving the rain and bad customer service to photograph some of the city's stylish peeps. Call me vain, but I keep wondering if he would photograph me if he saw me in today's outfit... the answer (said to myself) is usually no, but I live and dream. I wonder if he'll take any more bicycle pix? The below is one of my favourites - I love how he looks so nonchalant, he has the air of being totally indifferent to what is happening. It looks like he's thinking, "I'm just a guy on a bike, get over it."

Jam Update

Just to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who bought jam in aid of the Care for Children China Earthquake Appeal.


Thanks to you we raised over £110, which we're really thrilled about. The CEO of Care for Children is currently travelling around China to assess the damage to the orphanages and to ensure help gets to the most needy. They have already pledged a huge amount of support to buy clothes, milk powder and food for the children. THANK YOU and please check out the website if you want to read more about the work.

Grateful Thursday

Technically I'm cheating, it should be Grateful Friday, everyone knows that, but I guess the rules are there to be broken! I started writing Grateful Friday a few months back to make me stop and think of the good stuff I've been blessed with, even when life gets dull or bleak or boring. It made me see that there is always something, however small to be grateful for...

1. The weather forecast for today and tomorrow says it's going to be sunny. I'm not sure I quite believe it yet, but there's hope on the horizon.

2. The thought of a bank holiday weekend away with ten of my closest friends. I can't wait! I'm thinking strawberries and cream, a midnight swim and a lot of lying on soft grass with a book.

3. H's new bike! Poor Gladys Pashley (H's fairly new bicycle that smacked of old-school glamour and inspired me to get my new Bobbin), sadly was stolen a few weeks back. Poor H. I almost cried and she wasn't even mine. The period of mourning is over and the time of free-wheeling is here. We're going to collect her new Bronx Vintage really early tomorrow morning and we're going to cycle back via breakfast somewhere in time to start the day.

4. Chorizo and slow-roasted tomatoes - a recently rediscovered recipe. Roast a pack of cherry tomatoes with olive oil, inch slices of red chilli, salt and pepper for 15 minutes. Add thin sliced chorizo and roast for another five and serve with cous-cous or on its own. Delicious if a little spicy.

Inspiration Number 3 (On a fashiony theme)

I wonder where you are reading this? In the office? Snatching a break from reality at home? Wherever you are hello! I'm typing this sitting al fresco with an americano at cafe around the corner from my 'office' (aka the library). Today the sky is blue, my coffee hot and my creativity stirred from the sites I've just been flicking through. It would be rude not to share so here goes:

• A Dress A Day - you may have picked up my renewed love for sewing and my weakness for dresses (I also have a weakness for dumplings but that's another post). A Dress a Day belongs to a lovely lady called Erin who has a huge appreciation for Vintage patterns. The site, which has developed a cult following internationally, tracks her love for dresses and her successes and not-so-great attempts at making her own. Very cool.
  
• Some Girls Wander - is the sister site of The Black Apple (referenced previously). Some Girls Wander is Emily Martin's 'fashion-y blog'. Her clothes are almost as beautiful as her paintings and I love seeing how she layers and puts together different fabrics. She has a gorgeous figure, but isn't a size 0 and it's great to see how amazing she looks without starving herself half to death.
• Gala Darling - belongs to a Melbourne based fashion-writer. That IS her real name, and she IS quirky and cool and whacky and all those superlatives rolled into one. Her blog is real-life, she writes about anything, not just fashion, and I guess the combination of shopping, fashion, where she goes on holiday and snapshots into her personal life has led to the site's popularity.
  

Hope you enjoy. If you read any inspiring fashion sites please leave a comment with the URL, I'm always on the look-out.

Jam Hot

The jam is made! H and I spent a morning in the kitchen last week and as I type this the jars are sitting looking at me all shiny and lovely. It was a bit stressful, I have to admit. I'm never quite sure when it has set or if we'll manage to get it finished without at least one limb or eyeball succumbing to a splash of molten sugar, but this time it was all good :)

WIP photos are here!




We decided that rather than giving the jam away, we'd sell it in aid of Care for Children's China Earthquake appeal. Care for Children is an amazing charity that facilitates fostering of orphaned Chinese children with other families, who either can't have their own children, or who are restricted by the one-child policy and would like to have a larger family (the one-child policy still allows for fostering and adoption). They have orphanages in the affected regions and will be helping in the aftermath of the earthquake. We're almost sold out but hope to make some more soon!