Mecozy

feathers and pipe cleaners

2012-01-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

my super talented friend jeff made this in his first semester at risd. hypnotizing.

inside

2012-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

i want you
thrown right at me (there are about 35 versions of this duet on youtube—hard to pick one)

trying to decide if i want to go back out into the bluster.

MLK

2012-01-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

some good listens in honor of MLK:

the new jim crow author michelle alexander on fresh air. the last part of the interview is especially powerful.

the latest this american life about apple (and other) products being made in china. storyteller mike daisy goes undercover as an american businessman in order to see what's going on in the factories in china.

wish one could listen online on alternative radio to the whole interview with richard wolff about occupy wallstreet.

the new bill moyers show is also about occupy. i have not yet listened to the whole first installment, but guessing it's pretty good since bill came out of retirement to make it.

this morning

2012-01-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

in pictures:
1. cat is abducted by ufo (for being this cute)
2. year round roses in alameda
3. honey man showing off his bees at the farmers' market
4. fireside letters and light
5. green+green=green

skating

2012-01-08T19:46:00.000-08:00

for the bookworms

2012-01-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

history of sadness chapter: before language, the sea mirrors feelings of loneliness

history of love chapter: sexual, personal confusion
confusion or
confusion with thicker lines

scenes from 1955 chapter: oh shit
caption at the bottom: mcdonald's opens its first franchise restaurant, april 1955

history of love chapter: real problems in a relationship | imagined problems in a relationship

got this book of mike mills' drawings from the movie beginners (my favorite 2011 movie) for xmas. love it. so funny. bigger and more spreads here.

on my reading list for 2012

jeffrey eugenides' the marriage plot
ann patchett's state of wonder
salvage the bones by jesmyn ward
the art of fielding by chad harbach
something by oliver sachs
something by marcel proust
perfume by patrick suskind
doc by mary dory russell
under the banner of heaven by jon krakauer

bye 2011

2011-12-31T14:57:00.000-08:00

oh, you're taking a photo of those cards? let me sit on them for you.

(card backs)

happy 2012 to you!

gott nytt år!

a horse is a horse

2011-12-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

when home in december, i always end up going with my mom to the stable where she keeps her horse. my mom has been a horse person since she was a girl, while i have never been a horse person. but horses are pretty cool regardless. top is godiva. my mom is pictured with her horse, nejlika, who traveled to california by plane from sweden. certain kinds of horses are more expensive to buy in the states than to buy in europe and have flown over! nuts. did you know that horses often ride on passenger planes?! nuts. my mom is 70 and has a replacement hip, but she rides regularly. nuts. :-) but good for her i'm sure.

nejlika expects (and receives) treats on the regular. carrots, sugar cubes, cookies made for horses, apples. giving nejlika treats is one of the more fun activities at the stable.

delicious

2011-12-22T16:27:00.002-08:00

i'm hoping a certain L isn't reading this. had to take some photos of the beautiful blue chair jam cookbook before wrapping it. the book is chock full of crazy delicious photos by sara remington. and the graphic design is gorgeous as well. mmm. (more photos of the spreads)

good in december

2011-12-21T16:58:00.001-08:00

lights of alameda's movie theater

i think there should be advent calendars all year round. little (often meaningless but nice and simple) surprises each day. i've been enjoying hanna konola's advent calendar so.

also liking the best of 2011 lists, though so far i have only heard the lists on fresh air for books, music, tv. and their linguist's word for the year: occupy.

lately i'm listening to lykke li's latest album, wounded rhymes (just realized she had a new one—yay!). also check out her version of the righteous brothers' unchained melody.

pretty excited about this calendar that i picked up by brendan monroe.

circles and triangles

2011-12-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

liking my new cup, seen in elisabeth's shop, but purchased in sf at rare device. intended to be buying holiday gifts for others, not for me....

winter trees

2011-12-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

the trees in alameda are tall and old and great.

always inspired by sandra juto's tree photos, which are gorgeous. here are just a few

the morran book project

2011-12-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

camilla's beautiful morran book is out. such a wonderful tribute to such a fine dog friend. i love this photo of camilla and ingvar and morran, from my trip to sweden this past summer. all three laughing and enjoying a fika. that morran was so lucky to go on all those hikes in the woods in göteborg and on adventures all over europe! wrapped in cozy blankets, snuggly sleeping spots at every turn, treats treats, treats and so much affection.

above is one of my two contributions to the book based on this great photo by camilla.

all profits from the book go to the world society for the protection of animals.

tomte time

2011-12-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

despite today's sunny weather, i'm ready for winter glögg, candles, darkness, tea, cookies, tomter, strings of lights.

goodies:

me, at parties may be my all-time favorite drawing by gemma correll.

in swedish, but still fun to see this video of designer lotta kühlhorn's studio, style, design. found via lena sjöberg.

i like this oakland backyard, via lena corwin.

dust and water

2011-11-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

oh, antony. come back to sf so i can see/hear you live please.

dust and water
dust and water with audience participation. go swedes.

book recommendation

2011-11-19T11:28:00.001-08:00

more fall in alameda. to the farmers' market this morning. perfect day for bicycling, again.

finished what is the what last night, a fantastic book. my foremost book recommendation for the year. it is the story of the incredible life/struggle of valentino achak deng, who was one of the "lost boys" from sudan, written brilliantly in valentino's voice by dave eggers. i got chills reading this short interview with valentino and dave about the process of writing the book—the faith and trust and patience and friendship required to create this book. (i also recommend purchasing the book since the proceeds go to the vad foundation.)

♥

farm bill rant

2011-11-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

the fate of the US farm bill is not yet decided. currently it's in danger of being (re)written or revised by the super committee instead of its going through any kind of public hearings or the usual (largely pretense of) negotiations. if the super committee writes parts of the bill, almost certainly any new pieces that would benefit small, sustainable, organic and/or beginner farmers would not be included. and the few good programs that came out of the last two farm bills are in danger of not getting re-authorized. if the committee does make decisions about cutting funding, at the very least, they should not be allowed to write any new agricultural policy, as this would be even more undemocratic than the usual already undemocratic farm bill process. this (among other things) is what i learned at a recent kitchen table talk event about the farm bill.

if you care to learn more about the farm bill (which deeply affects us all—our food and our environment) and/or make some phone calls to senators/reps, civil eats has posted a blog that includes pertinent info. also the book food fight, which i have yet to read, can supposedly help demystify the farm bill.

the civil eats post also features a very short video of michael pollan talking about the farm bill. it never ceases to amaze me how good pollan is at tailoring his message to the medium and to how much time/space he is given—such an adept communicator.

speaking of pollan, can't wait to read the new edition of his food rules now illustrated by the fabulous maira kalman!

amusing

2011-11-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

sometimes he just cracks me up.

it's fall in alameda.

this weekend listening to: vetiver, florence and the machine, broken bells

will scobie and lots of other good illustrators/designers found through meowoodle

grattis!

2011-11-04T19:59:00.001-07:00

today is my mom's 70th. she is in sweden celebrating with her sisters. it sounds like they are treating her special all around. lots of celebrating. i'm glad. it seems like just yesterday i was 11 and my mom and i were surprising my mormor on her 70th. appearing from behind a piece of fabric that was hung in the back yard at vallsta. the family was all gathered, everyone in on it except my grandparents. my great aunt carin worried that my morfar (who had heart trouble) might have a heart attack on the spot, so carin's eye was on him when my mom and i emerged. i don't remember it all that well, but i love the photos. mormor clasping her hands, a huge smile on her face. totally surprised and joyful. and then clutching my mom hard to her. and morfar sitting, looking somewhat stunned but calm, smiling. seems like it took him a bit longer to take in the scene. (he survived it.) it's hard for me to believe that my mom is of grandma age now. grattis på födelsedagen mamma min!

don't have access to photo albums at the moment, so above is an oldie i've posted before. bigger.

lilli carré's shadows

2011-10-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

the top photo made me remember to post photos of this mini art book of lilli carré's. it's part of little otsu's wonderful mini art book series, living things. lilli's is about shifting shadows. i love her work.

the way lilli interpreted her theme reminded me of this swedish kids picture book i read when i was little. in it, a kid is afraid of the dark because at night, he sees monsters everywhere. but the outlines he sees, which do look like monsters, turn out to be innocuous things when the lights are turned on—oh, that trickster perception.

tail

2011-10-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

bigger

PL is finally settling in to the new place. it's only taken almost two months! it's so much quieter here than at my old house in SF, but he seems more sensitive to suburban noises. finally he's hanging out (out from under the covers) during the day. this morning when i was taking photos of him enjoying the fall light, however, the toast popped up in the toaster. yikes! immediate fat tail. i almost caught the tail puff on camera. (this is a half deflated fat tail.) at least he didn't run for cover though. that's something.

hi

2011-10-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

finally going to go to gather this weekend. can't wait.

been reading richard russo books lately—so entertaining.

i love this clever tiger zebra animation. i also like her rocket coffee blast off sweater drawing.

funny cloud t shirt

now back outside! so pretty out today.

alameda houses

2011-10-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

more

one of my sources of entertainment in alameda is bicycling around and looking at the houses. so many different styles of houses from different years line the streets and stand in varying states of decay/renovation. (another day i'll post some decrepit ones.) there are plenty of well-used porches, trellised entryways, gardens (popular: sunflowers and roses), raiders flags.

the house i live in was built in 1895, and there many other victorians on the island—some gigantic, some itty. i think i'll pick up some books on the history of alameda/its houses.

according to wikipedia, alameda, named so in 1853, means grove of poplar trees or tree-lined avenue in spanish. before the spanish arrived, ohlone lived here.

on a totally different topic: via more & co, this awesome project: (moveable in more ways than one) moveable type

around my hood

2011-10-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

wild garden, crazy bright rose, perfect green truck

(another bigger of the rose here)

i scored some sale red + pink marimekko fabric that i will make curtains from. two curtains down at my new place and six to go.

guillaume kashima
amanda marsalis makes beautiful photographs. found through jeana's closet visit with amanda.

plant/flower

2011-09-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

abundant in alameda:

fat squirrels (all over—i think it's something to do with all the big trees and it being an island)
american flags
tangles of kids roaming together
riding of bicycles on sidewalks and without helmets (guilty—everyone else is doing it)
great old signs
bright coral colored roses

good stuff:
carson ellis
pawling print studio

more bits

2011-09-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

from the new home

there are various tomatoes growing. tomato still with the vine scent on it has to be one of the best scents.

the yard—rambling and with so many possibilities. my landlady dreams of multiple treehouses and covered bike storage (sounds good to me!). chickens, of course, crossed my mind. i like hearing some neighbor chickens clucking. goats? i should at least try to garden! (there's also a tall, somewhat stingy with the oranges orange tree and a picnic table outside of the picture frame.)

one of my favorite san francisco stores, gravel & gold, apparently went to sweden. they visited the jobs textile factory. and check out their cute post about their own funky and bold first printed textile, panda.

bright eyed

2011-09-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

i plan to install a shelf to the right there for reading lamp and glass of water.

this here fine marimekko pillow i was ogling this summer in the marimekko store. and dear liz (in regular generous liz form) bought it for me for my birthday right then. i love it.

some good things

2011-09-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

some alameda surroundings that tug at me.

the cake plate from laurel and family wants a small iced sweetness to top it.

the peaches (not mine) tempt me at least twice daily.

the blue flowers (also not mine, and just by the peaches) wish to fit inside my small blue ceramic vase (and they have in fact. shshsh). it's a matter of time before a peach finds its way to my house. maybe i'll ask if there's a plan to harvest or if they just plan to let them fall. the way the tree is propped up does make me think they have some peachy intentions. they certainly look ripe though, don't they?

slowly

2011-09-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

settling in. bought some cutie plants today at encinal nursery. some thread for curtain sewing. a mixing bowl for cookie baking. (i've always had housemates with mixing bowls it seems.) still need to get a small cookie sheet though for my miniature oven.

goodbye living room doves.

2011-08-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

i got the apartment, by the way! so very grateful. i'm off to the sunny east bay soon.

while i appreciate the convenience, diversity and cultural and food offerings of san francisco, i've never felt like a city person. i grew up in a city of 23,000 and lived on the edge of it, surrounded by hills. and the two colleges i applied to, i chose based mainly on the number of trees in the vicinity (a lot). so it's strange to me that i've weathered city life in SF for 13 years. as cities go, i suppose san francisco is pretty gentle (aside from ridiculous housing prices). and the neighborhoods almost seem like small towns that just spill into one another. but still!

some things i will miss about my apartment of eight years
being able to easily walk to dolores park, bernal hill, and to all the bakeries and ice creameries and other deliciousness in between
the views from the back steps
flowers from the yard
rainbow grocery right down the street
my housemate of four years, heather (and splitting our csa box)
going to the alemany farmers' market with jen and mati most saturdays

some things i will not miss
the sirens that sound from living near a fire station
men peeing wherever/whenever on the street, regularly
city noise
the heavy influx of marina types and mainstreamers (stereotypes, i know) to the mission
carpet
slow drains
extreme drafts/lack of insulation and heat

i'm excited to learn a new place. to walk around and look at different houses and different yards. to figure out where to put things in my apartment. to bike. i wonder what the SF fog looks like from there...

have you seen heather smith jones' beautiful new shop, blue sparrow press?! lovely.

want

2011-08-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

wee house by my house party

it has been a long time since i've wanted something so badly. since i've known what would be good for me. this house, this little sunny apartment would suit me just right. at first when i entered, there was a strange smell that put me off. but that is just the current resident's smell. it can be waved away. and after a minute's adjustment, i no longer smelled it. then a couple of minutes imagining away the current tenant's things, and i could see myself and pinky leon there so clearly. in that bright morning kitchen with its black and white checkered floor we could bask—me drinking tea, PL on the floor, tummy to the sun. kitchen things on white shelves. tall windows and tall ceilings. hardwood floors throughout the rest. a tiny bathroom—the bathroom has never been important to me—the less bathroom to clean, the better. a back door to the large, rambling yard that has so much potential. and already an orange tree and tomato vines growing up, up. and a super friendly musician-mom landlady!

and i'm so excited to move away from the bustle (and poop) of the city and onto a sleepy street with tall old trees lining it. there are a lot of american flags out there, and i counted two of those military tank-like SUVs within about as many streets, which puts me slightly on edge, but the house feels so safe. i can bike all around the flat town on my cute public bicycle. there's a city carshare pod nearby. a public library nearby. an expensive, but cute natural foods marketplace. movie theater not far. BART not far. what more does one need, really! a park and a swimming pool, but i'm guessing that can be discovered there too.

i am getting ahead of myself. she has not decided yet who will move there. but i tell you, all of my fingers and toes are mentally crossed, and in my head i'm already there, already home. i did not feel this way when i moved into my current apartment years ago. not even close. the wait is excruciating. i may be developing an ulcer.

and i know it is dangerous, this wanting, because all this imagining, all this hoping could be dashed. but i can't help it.

well

2011-08-09T20:14:00.001-07:00

i was trying to photo the marimekko socks that i bought in sweden—almost the only thing i bought for myself in sweden. but a little cat decided he was a far more interesting subject. i suppose he's right.

today i finished the grapes of wrath. it was 27 dollars for a paperback in sweden!! so i figured i better get one that's guaranteed to be good. it was. man. that is one intense trial of a story. constant struggle. and i'm guessing today's migrant farm workers' struggles are not much different. probably even worse in many cases. it's crazy how most of the seeds of today's food movements can be found in that book, published in 1939; we've known for some time how f-ed up our agricultural system is.

margaret

2011-08-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

bigger mk photos

amidst dropping off books at dog eared, dropping off cd jewel cases at scrap, dropping off old electronics at green citizen, donating some smudged FromOFGs to hayes valley farm, picking up moving boxes and doing some packing, i managed to catch the margaret kilgallen show at ratio 3 and eat a salted caramel ice cream and have a sauna! now i'm wiped out.

sweden bits

2011-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

in sweden i saw
lots of brown midsummer poles not yet taken down—holding on to summer
dramatic skies (though mild, lovely weather)
puffy clouds
small, bright green, perfect couch
lots of terriers and strange looking dogs
people baffled by the new locker system at both the göteborg and stockholm train stations
way more tattoos than i've ever seen before in sweden
camilla, morran and ingvar and karin for the first time—all completely charming

i was moved when
as the plane was landing at arlanda airport, i immediately felt safe and home (and not just from having miraculously survived yet another plane flight)
listening to our tour guide describe carl and karin's house and life together at carl larsson gården (unfortunately there are no photos inside the house allowed)
watching beginners (the movie) for the second time
saying goodbye to carin

i like
the black train cars
fika, of course
the smell of the underground
the soft air
how well little things seem to work everywhere—like how the hot water comes on right away
night swimming under an almost full moon in the archipelago
strawberry cake

some more descriptions under my photos.

off to sweden

2011-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

i will see some of these cousins soon.

i'm off for two weeks to sweden. bought the ticket many months ago and have been looking forward to this trip ever since, and daily for about a month. it's been 5.5 years since i've been back, since mormor died. i wonder how it will feel without her there. i'm happy to be going with friends, so i won't linger too much on the lack of mormor's physical presence. i will visit her sister carin, the last of her generation on either side of my family. i know there is so much i'll later wish i had asked carin, but i think that's just how it goes. i know when i see her, between us will be our missing mormor, and that that will make us cry.

as always, i am nervous about flying. racing around tonight trying not to think about it.

some lovely scandinavian flickrs for a virtual summer visit:
by the water
in the water
at the water's edge
(can you tell i can't wait to jump in?!)
red house on tree legs
astrid's temporary kitchen

see you in a bit!

typical

2011-06-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

his fur is almost grown back. i like how his formerly shaved patch is aligned with the light rhomboid. good job PL.

pssst: camilla engman prints for sale on the PL purrs site.

folding

2011-06-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

origami and fries at frjtz

arrghgh!

2011-06-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

listen/watch. so damn good. the words, the delivery, the images. wow. can't express how good, so you'll just have to watch.

my short friend

2011-05-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

i mean come on with the cuteness.

more, bigger

in motion wiggly

formaggio

2011-05-16T19:31:00.001-07:00

cheeses make nice shapes.

you can find art for sale from the pinky leon purrs fundraiser here. more will be posted there wednesday too.

hi

2011-05-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

hope to see you here tonight!

you're invited

2011-05-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

well, i guess i'm getting a little better about asking for help, because i'm throwing a pinky leon purrs fundraising party (with mati's, jen's and leslie's and a lot of other people's help). can't say i feel entirely comfortable with the concept, but it feels better if i think of it more as a party and art show. a bunch of friends/artists/crafters are contributing artwork. the moola will go to help pay part of the whopping cost of PL's procedure and surgery.

so, come to the party! not this saturday but next. party info.

(pinky leon will not be attending the party, unfortunately. he's even more shy than i am.)

blue

2011-04-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

at dusk on the back steps. last bit of light and the deep blues.

thank you all for the recent book purchases. it's been a big help in many ways!

pinky leon got his cone off yesterday, finally! i think he was beginning to believe it was a part of him. he cleaned it regularly, making big scraping noises (sandpaper tongue on textured cone fabric). a little funny, a little pitiful. that cannot feel good on the tongue! he looks much more dignified now, and is markedly cleaner and more sprightly. there's a spring in his step, and his old orneriness is back.

some flickry cats and dogs for you
sunken treasure's cat
a beautiful dog by anja
dog shore's album cover
gemma always cracks me up

Pinky Leon purrs

2011-04-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

it's been a rough week. an emergency trip to the vet (two vets actually) for pinky leon (surgery) and the emptying of my pockets to pay for it.

pinky leon's tummy is shaved and piglet pink; he's appropriately named. but i've known that for a while. when he was little he would meow, and for several seconds after meowing, his mouth would remain open. it was very amusing. he had a long list of descriptors—pink mouthed-pink toed-pink nosed-brillo backed-(his back fur was oddly rough when he was small) bushytailed leon. eventually shortened to pinky leon or PL.

the pink man is home recovering now. i am recovering too. so stressful. and while there is security in a bit of savings, there is also security in a warm, purring friend sleeping, finally, after much pacing about, settling in on my lap.

we are listening to the low anthem. (once upon a time PL was afraid of the piano. he heard it on the radio and freaked out. made airplane ears and ran and hid. his musical taste has matured, however, or he's become desensitized to the piano.)

to help pay for his surgery, i am having a Pinky Leon purrs BIG SALE on From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens. the books are half off.

some of my favorite PL photos
PL tiny, 1999
sweet face
in the sewing maching cover
tummy show off

love ∞

2011-04-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

love ∞ big

bernal hill is my favorite place in the city, especially when it is green. very soon it will start turning brown/tan—its summer coat. but right now the grass seems unusually lush after our many days of rain and then bursts of sun. today the hill was dreamy. (these photos do not capture it.)

i walked by julia's old house before walking up on the grassy bernal hill. julia was the eccentric french lady i used to go grocery shopping with. she died in april six years ago. her house looks the same. i remember her peeking out of her upstairs kitchen window when i rang the doorbell, yelling down to me that she'd be right there (descending in a cloud of perfume—she must have lost some of her sense of smell) or waving goodbye from the window when i left. i thought the house would have been spiffed up. it'a a very plain house, but with a sweet, sloping, overgrown garden and an amazing view of the bay. funny that all the houses on her block are plain and a bit downtrodden. they're probably worth so much just for their view/location. i think there must be a lot of people on that block who have lived there a long time. julia certainly appreciated her home. she spent what i gathered to be her happiest years there with her second husband. he died 15 years into their marriage, but she stayed on there, enjoying herself and her view and her dog(s) for many more years.

up on bernal hill, there were the usual people walking their dogs. and then there were a few little groups of people, almost hidden, sitting amidst the grass. one couple was putting down their blanket, but it was billowing, so they were sitting, letting the red and white pattern billow over their heads and against them. today reminded me of that most fabulous hillside picnicking scene in room with a view. lazy and warm and soft and springy (though lacking that passionate kiss).

more spring

2011-04-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

april morning (more/bigger anemone)

so much eye candy!

my beautiful aunt, ulrika lönnå, paints shimmering trees with thread. she recently had an art opening in gamla stan in stockholm. my cousin lotta blogged about it. so fun seeing my family on each others' blogs! (i'm just sorry i missed posting the link in time for any reading swedes to attend the exhibit.)

jen causey's the makers project made me tear up, it's so lovely. all these people making beauty in the world. and jen capturing it stunningly.

and jeana sohn's closet visits are such pretty peaks into others' closets and homes.

spring flowers!

2011-04-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

more/bigger.

nasturtiums, anemones, sun and perfect park days.

am digging anja mulder's photostream

bits

2011-03-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

non sequitur photo

Prairie Collective, another of my favorite stores in SF is now carrying From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens. and Rare Device restocked them. thank you dear SF store owners Annabelle and Giselle!

currently i'm reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball. it's making me want to escape to a farm. somehow i'm able to read about all the trials of farming (about the blood and guts, the extremely taxing and intense manual labor, the cold, the time suck, the death, the pain, the vast practical and particular skills/knowledge required, the unpredictability and instability, the neverendingness, the fact that it's mostly outside {while i'm a homebody}, the fact that one doesn't make money doing it, and on and on) and i'm still able to romanticize it. only because i've never done it. i don't even garden for goodness sake. of course it's that draw of community and closeness to the land and animals and food, the physicality (as opposed to the disembodiment of sitting in front of the computer all day). the sense of rootedness and home. the purpose felt in improving land and contributing to the health of a place.

Kimball and her husband, first generation farmers, are clearly both optimistic, strong, smart, clever, generous and open, and they're good improvisers and really brave people who have a lot of faith. i'm only halfway done, but i can tell you already that the book is inspiring and funny. (there's an auction scene that had me chuckling at many points.) the many unexpected and specific details in Kimball's descriptions of her experiences make the book especially engaging.

bitter+sweet

2011-03-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

afternoon tea with rittersport marzipan (the only rittersport i like).

you can enter the hearts + hands raffle for japan. over 80 artists/crafters have entered pieces for the raffle. 100% of proceeds go to japan relief efforts.

point reyes dogs

2011-03-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

just had to put something up to move the tulip head down.

i cani (the dogs in italian). hundarna (in swedish)

now this is a good dog photo.

GIANT tulip

2011-03-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

ecco tulip (i'm taking italiano)

tulip for you

tulip hat

tulip headband

balancing tulip

:-P

one bigger.

have you listened to the most recent this american life? wow. oh so so so heartwrenching. infuriating and beautiful and really good.

harrison quilt

2011-03-01T22:16:00.000-08:00

congrats to my bff from grade school!

here comes a quilt for baby harrison to roll about upon joyously.

more, bigger

style

2011-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

my cousin, lotta (above), has a fashion, etc. blog as part of her job in the fashion department of one of sweden's oldest department stores, åhléns. she could be a fashion model herself—so stylish and beautiful.

i miss all my cousins and the beautiful streets of stockholm too. old apartment buildings with their accordion elevator doors. the echoes in the stone stairwells. in july i'll be there again. it's been since january 2006. too long.

more prettiness
lasso mauve rose (am loving these colors right now)
santorini
eva morell
also by eva
sirens of the sea

oh, and speaking of style, here's mati in her new sven clog-boots with a gold stripe! up the back!

LWKND

2011-02-23T19:47:00.000-08:00

this past weekend four friends and i watched the water come in and go out, be still and move swiftly past (first to the right and then to the left), lap beneath the house, sound like rain, reflect stars, shine shades of grey, blue, green, lavender.

of course we took pictures.

we stayed on the water of tomales bay in marshall, california. the weekend was like the water, moving fast, moving slow. so much emotion, so much laughter and silliness. we played (a surprisingly competitive game of) apples to apples, we dressed up, leslie set up a photo booth, we told stories and dreams, we beaded necklaces, made dinners, painted, ate and ate and ate. we walked on dillon beach, rambled rather loudly through point reyes, and ate some more. luckily, we didn't fit everything in, so we'll need to do it again. thanks katrina, jen, leslie and mati. y'all are beauties.

fika dags

2011-02-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

my mom visited this past weekend. we ate our way through the pastries at knead and sandbox bakery (and at the rooftop cafe at moma, but that cake isn't worth this mention).

the almond twists at knead were new to me, and delicious.

finished i know you're out there by michael beaumier a few days ago. in it baumier recounts his experiences/observations working in the personals ads section of a chicago paper. that guy's really funny.

also funny.
comfortable (and kinda funny--her expression)

farm books and bills

2011-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

i'm loving farm together now: a portrait of people, places, and ideas for a new food movement, a book that just came out by amy franceschini and daniel tucker.

it's beautifully designed, with gorgeous photographs by anne hammersky and illustrations by corinne matesich. and the text! it consists of interviews with the hero farmers who are reinventing local food systems (plus sidebar definitions of things the farmers mention that the reader might not know about—organizations, legal acts, etc.) i've only just started reading it, but i'm already moved by these folks' wise words.

about the farm bill, the first farmer interviewed, Jim Knopik, says,

The Farm Bill—and I'll put this very bluntly, as clear as I can—is like a bull with a ring in its nose. The Farm Bill leads the farmers in whichever direction big industry wants them to go. If the Farm Bill is set up by big industry, or the big packers, or whoever has the most influence, then that's the direction the farmers will go. And that's the direction the farmers are in now in conventional farming. They are where industry and the big guys want them to be....But I do think it would be best if the change happened through the Farm Bill—a better farm bill. I think it almost has to, because it's so far out of hand. If it isn't going to happen there, I think it's going to be by a revolution.

this year i'd like to somehow get involved in the movement to get a fair farm bill.

here's the farm together now site with a great list of inspiring links.

surprise!

2011-01-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

surprise packages, with surprise eggs inside=double delight!

bigger

take a walk with me

2011-01-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

on this glorious SF day. (they don't get much more beautiful weather-wise.)

buy a tasty morsel at knead (second choice of treat since they're no longer making persimmon chocolate chip scones—their persimmon tree is done for the season) and use all willpower to wait until we are atop bernal hill to eat said morsel.

take a blurry photo of custardy goodness whilst a dirty white poodle tries, with poodley charm, to snatch treat.

marvel at the day! the view. the dogs of all stripes with their dog walkers.

walk over to past cortland avenue and meander by the houses...

with big numbers on their sides.

walk around holly park (which is in the shape of a circle, roughly), back to cortland avenue to see if our friend jeff is working at the video store. he is not, but the succulent part of the store has expanded into the video part and is super pretty.

talk with succulent guy in the sun. feel a bit guilty about not buying any plants from him. next time.

over to church street, through noe valley, and back over to the mission district and the corner natural foods store to buy some straus ice cream for later. soon it will be later.

here is amelie walking with the blind man.

speaking of cows

2011-01-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

went on another hike in wildcat, but the cows didn't howl today. moo, yes. howl, no.

you would not believe how loud the frogs were in this pond/puddle. it seemed like there must have been a whole fleet of very loud frogs in there. the water was rippling with them. but as soon as jen and i got out our gadgets to document their talking, they went quiet. all at once. except for one frog, who apparently didn't get the message that it was time to be quiet. so the slow one ribbeted once more, but then silence and stillness on the water. and they didn't start up again. i was glad to hear them though as it seems i hear frogs less and less these days. there used to be frogs in the valley behind the house i grew up in. i would hear them in the evenings and at night, but no longer.

bigger, more

more old homework

2011-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

bigger poster, bigger scene

while i'm at it, i'll upload some other old homework assignments to flickr. the above was for photoshop class.

my excellent photoshop teacher loved (and presumably still loves) shocking/twisted/gross images; he often has as an assignment portray your fear (real or fake) and include yourself in the scene. the results generally are blood and guts-filled. because i knew i'd be staring at it for a while, and i preferred not to be spending hours zooming in on snake scales or the like, i chose a fake fear: fear of woodland creatures. (who doesn't love woodland creatures—aside from those woodland snakes?)

for the above assignment, we were to create a persuasive political/topical poster and then include the poster in a scene. my poster was about (surprise!) sustainable agriculture and industrial agriculture: sacred cow vs. mad cow. in the scene, the independent farmer (my classmate) is vanishing in a wasteland, america's heartland soil dead from the destructive farming methods employed by industrial ag.

the poster is another piece of mine that i didn't like at the time. i thought the poster was too literal. it is pretty literal, with a lot of text, but now i can see that it is also emotional/powerful—i feel sick about that poor jailed cow (even though it's not showing the actual brutality of a CAFO) {which again, i didn't want to stare at for hours while completing the assignment, and which would have been even more literal}).

new to read, to listen, to see anew

2011-01-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

love it when i am excited about my reading list:

housekeeping by marilynne robinson
the devil's teeth by susan casey
a visit from the goon squad by jennifer egan
i know you're out there by michael beaumier
freedom by jonathan franzen
by nightfall by michael cunningham

and got some new (to me) music from the library—the latest the national album.

i say it again: the public library is where it's at.

since i have no new photos to post, i'm posting the above stamp i made over a year ago for an illustrator class assignment (stamps about a social/political issue). at the time, i didn't like my stamp compared to my classmates' stamps, which were much more technically advanced. but i found it printed out at stamp size recently, and now i think it's pretty cute. i wouldn't mind getting it on an envelope.

my seed saving US stamp rant:

This stamp commemorates and encourages seed saving and trading. Seeds connect us to our heritage and to an unbroken chain of people who have saved seeds over hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years. Immigrants from all over the world have brought their countries’ seeds with them to the United States, preserving and integrating a vital part of their cultures into the greater American culture.

Seeds that have been selected and saved over generations possess an invaluable genetic heritage and are often specifically adapted to the region in which they have been sown. Multinational agrochemical corporations are attempting to control seed supply worldwide, buying out smaller seed companies, dropping the regionally-adapted seeds and instead selling and distributing a select number genetically modified hybrid seeds and patented seeds, rendering the saving of their seeds useless and/or illegal and significantly diminishing the genetic diversity of seeds. By protecting seed diversity through the free saving and exchange of seeds, we honor those before us and protect ourselves, our culture(s), our future and life on earth.

colors and colors

2010-12-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

annie of ALL for everyone makes me excited about color! the hat and tags above are from ALL knitwear.

the thing that looks like a matchbook above is a little pad of paper from krank press (also so colorful). i LOVE krank press' produce calendar, which shows you what to plant and what foods are in season to eat, while being pretty.

now this looks cozy and winter wonderlandish.

i am thinking about new year's resolutions. often i don't really make any, but this year i feel like making some. changes are in order!

getting darker

2010-12-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

and darker. soon though, it will start getting lighter.

congratulations to ELK—you won the giveaway!

thanks all for checking out the book and for entering your names, veggies and books into the mix!

kale lovers unite

2010-12-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

pinky leon on the heater and me reminding you (with a postcard) to enter to win a From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens book

i can't believe how many of you love kale. for all you kale fanatics, i made this delicious kale salad for thanksgiving. it's so good. my housemate, heather, turned me on to 101 cookbooks. lots of yummy recipes to be found there.

so this weekend i pull a name out of a hat, but there's still time to enter to win a book (until midnight tonight)! thanks for playing along, vegetable lovers. and thank you for the orders of late. i'll announce the winner on monday.

this week i saw low at the great american music hall. they were so in sync with each other. such perfect restraint and belting out. fantastic! when i go deaf.

santa's, i mean diana's workshop

2010-12-11T17:23:00.001-08:00

there she is at the top in her red skirt, figuring. diana's studio is filled with shapes. it makes me hungry to look at them all. delicious in every way. and then there's the texture and the evidence of her drawing hand everywhere.

flowers spilling over the brim. an animal in black hiding underneath a bowl. cups lined up in rows. some wildness and some order—the best combo.

good things you want to touch and hold and look at and eat out of.

more (and bigger) photos of diana's studio here.

--------------------------------

remember to enter my book giveaway!

holiday giveaway!

2010-12-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

i'm giving away of a copy of From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens—happy holidays! to enter to win the book, leave a comment by december 17. if you feel like it, tell me your favorite vegetable or the name of a good book. (if you don't have a website, please leave your email so that i have a way to contact you.) the winner will be chosen at random. good luck!

i put a ton more photos of the book here.
learn more about the book and the contributors here.

if you're purchasing a book, i'll be shipping them out through december 21 (and then again starting december 28).

cheers!
shash

that's my former housemate and completely awesome, beautiful woman, Tamara, in the bottom photo. she wrote a wonderful piece for the book. in her story, Long Live Negrita!, Tamara weaves together several memories. she recalls gleaning walnuts as a child in the orchard her grandfather managed, how some years ago, working with plants helped her recover from a terrible loss, and how more recently, she created a garden with the children at the public housing development library she manages in Hawaii.

into the holiday winter spirit

2010-12-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

with some homemade glögg and kanel bullar (above)

wintery photo goodness
so cozy
reindeer
trees

goodness
i like sunken treasure's moon calendar and prismatic print shop's astrology calendar.
maria's come darkness scarves and book (scroll down) look gorgeous.
hanna konola's holiday cards

thanksgiving moments

2010-11-26T14:49:00.001-08:00

looking at where the zip line from jen and bob's new house to nicole and jayn's future house will go—from the palm tree of course. i love this photo. bob imagining, nicole listening, kevin laughing.

feets

jen preparing delicious appetizers on the wedgewood (jealous) stove

makeshift dining room

it's so fun to see the transformation of jen and bob's house. every time i go over there, a ton of stuff has changed. that place is going to be SO awesome. i look forward to the day when it's close to done (guessing it will never be entirely done as there is always another project), and all of their fabulous art collection hangs throughout. it will be the coziest gallery (serving the yummiest treats), i've ever been to.

november

2010-11-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

finally it feels like november in san francisco. last night a thunder, lightning, pouring rain storm passed over, leaving the air clear and crisp today. up on bernal hill, even off in the distance one could see the distinct shapes and colors of the houses lining the hills and streets. the wind blew cold, and the dampened ground made the green grass smell grassy. smelled like winter. i was glad to be bundled in scarf and jacket.

----------------

i really wish i was going to the loney dear concert in göteborg dec 3.

there is a sweet and delicate art show up at rare device right now. it's sarah mcneil's work. her drawings remind me a little of beatrix potter's illustrations.

holiday special

2010-11-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

photo by jen hewett

For your foodie friends, your sustainable agriculture-interested friends, your arty friends, your grandparent-adoring friends, your gardening friends and for family members you want to pressure (ever so subtly) into moving away from eating so many processed foods—

now through December 31, 2010, you can purchase From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens: Art and rememberings celebrating sustainable agriculture and good food for just $25! (5$ off the regular price)

The book is a coffee table book with beautiful artwork, and it has some meat (or really, mostly vegetables and fruit) to it in the form of non-fiction writing and poetry. More info and a list of artists and writers included in the book can be found on the website.

--------------------------

I'm starting to think about making my annual Pinky Leon holiday cards.
Here are some sweet cards for inspiration/purchase:

Shanna Murray's
Lena Sjöberg's (in Swedish)
Anna Emilia's
Gemma Correll's
Anke Weckmann's

(I know there were more cards I wanted to link to, but now I can't find them.)

Lightening is striking now, so time to get off of the computer!

jam for the people

2010-11-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

shakirah simley, one of the contributors to my book, started and runs slow jams from la cocina, here in SF. her delicious preserves change along with the seasons. she can't keep her wares on her online shelves, they're so popular! i found these at bi-rite grocery. can't wait to try the brown suga pear butter. mmm.

(i think the graphic design for her treats is rad too.)

find a great interview with shakirah over at lettuce eat kale.

now, time for toast!

pdx ♥

2010-11-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

from a fabulous portland weekend

so good, it canceled out losing the hat i had just special ordered to replace my other recently lost hat, flying (this is huge), watching a movie so bad we walked out of it, and being accosted/harassed by four drunks (on separate occasions).

some good parts
leaves in many shapes and colors (one that danced and flew like a bird)
a street where cats of all shapes and colors greeted passersby
little winter, a fantastic, small handmade market, so thoughtfully organized, with beautiful wares and art
unexpectedly running into jenny and her sister at little winter
so much good food and drink at clyde commons and at broder
so many friendly people (at little winter and at every restaurant and store we went to)
not very much rain, and quite a bit of sunshine
jen and liz and crazy giggling and talking talking eating talking walking

my photos
jen's photos

spinning from the metal

2010-11-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

grateful for

midnight colored packages tied with twine, colored with a story of annamaria painting in canada. so much is curvy-curly in her world—birds, clouds, vegetables. (how appropriate that she wears a blouse with scalloped sleeves.) and inside the package, a rainy watercolor soaked in weather. her clouds roll heavy with water into my house.

laura veirs singing last night

looking forward to portland's little winter: a handmade market and to spending time with two friends, one of whom who will soon be leaving san francisco for colorado. a bittersweet weekend. we will eat a lot of good food.

sarah jessica parker in LA story in constant motion—(on the beach) is it ok to spin here?

(which of course reminds me of THE best spinning-related scene in a movie ever)

ice cream party

2010-10-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

bay area people: come over for some ice cream this saturday!

this morning

2010-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

bigger

all the rest waiting for the sun.

(i take this backyard photo all the time.)

yellow
from heather smith jones
from annamaria

web (the real kind)

at Gravel & Gold

2010-10-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

i like that From OFG is right by one of my favorites, Gunta Stolzl.

the other day i stopped in at Gravel & Gold to document From OFG on their shelves, and Cassie, one of the store owners, happened to be talkin' it up with Severine von Tscharner Fleming! and introduced me (and the book) to Severine! Severine is an articulate and groovy young badass farmer-filmmaker-activist, for those unfamiliar with her. i missed the recent screening of the final rough cut of her film, The Greenhorns, but i will definitely not miss the undoubtedly awesome final version.

view part of the film

grey/green

2010-10-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

our overflowing yard was cut to the quick recently. our downstairs neighbor takes care of the yard sporadically. i'm not complaining—no one else takes the time. but this last flurry/fury of clipping and trimming and weeding left the yard seemingly barren. the huge quince tree (a favorite of the birds and bees) was sheared in half and totally de-leaved. and my favorite rose bush is nowhere in sight. and my housemate's blueberry bush was transferred from a pot to the yard, though she had it in special soil.

i've actually been avoiding taking a close look at the damage. but on this grey day, the greens were so bright, i had to check them out. well, of course francisco does have a plan. there are new things planted, and they are spaced evenly around the edges of our concrete slab. succulents are being succulent, and a new pint-sized gargoyle in permanent roar watches over the growing. i still don't know how the tree or white rosebush will do, but i trust that the yard needed a makeover and that francisco has a vision.

more, bigger over here

sigur rós today: gong

beautiful photos of mostly bay area artists. found through serena's blog.

congratulations to molly

2010-10-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

congratulations to Molly for winning the Astounding Beauty Ruffian Press Poetry Award for her The Recent History of Middle Sand Lake. her book of poetry will be published soon!

three of Molly's beautiful poems from The Recent History of Middle Sand Lake are in From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens, for which i am so grateful. they move me every time i read them. i can't wait to read the rest of her Middle Sand Lake poems when her book is out!

you can read the two above poems of molly's if you click to view the image larger. the photograph is by terese wallbäck. terese's photos are some of my favorites. to me her photos fit perfectly with molly's poems. from what i can tell, both of their grandparents' had/have a great love for each other and for their grandchildren. so much tenderness in both molly's and terese's work.

early morning clouds

2010-10-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

better bigger. more skies. the sky where i grew up.

uncloudy day (willie and dyan cannon)
unclouded day (johnny and his momma)

hairy

2010-10-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

just some hairy pavement for you today

and some flickr paths
from sameli
from molly
from ti.mo (this one feels very familiar to me)
from shari

one of my all time favorite songs (though i miss the crickets in this version)

fierce

2010-10-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

photo by bob lake, bigger here

this was my second time seeing patti smith. first was about ten years ago at the fillmore. she rocked both times. raw and loving and loud and awesome.

other good stuff
these two drummer-hand tap dancers (via my cousin)
amazing paper artist

grateful: rollin' fog

2010-09-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

a whole other post could be grateful: people who are bringing back snail mail. thanks gwen. marimekko perfection.

i was inspired by mati's grateful fridays. and needed to remind myself.

i am grateful for san francisco's fast moving, nighttime fog. the first time i experienced it, i didn't live here yet. i was on a road trip from vancouver and seattle, back down to Santa Cruz with my friend tammy and her friend d. we stopped in san francisco and stayed overnight in a big pacific heights house. (pacific heights is a fancier, mansion-filled part of the city, for those unfamiliar with sf.) i can't remember whose house it was. i shared a bed with d. in an upstairs room. the room overlooked an empty, manicured pacific heights street. from the bed though, i couldn't see the street. i was nervous for various reasons and lay frozen in one position, staring out the window. soon, huge white clouds tumbled by. everything was a thick violet outside aside from the white clouds which moved so fast i couldn't believe it—like a silent, billowing freight train, or like a ghost or a herd of cloud animals. the clouds calmed me down—the wonder of them. they kept rolling by.

living now in the mission district, i'm not directly inside the fog belt, though i can see it in the distance from my window. and fog does pass by/envelop my house occasionally. sometimes i'll take the trash down our back steps late at night, and low clouds will be zooming by overhead. it takes me out of myself every time. reminds me of the larger world and the bigness of weather and nature. i think it's the silence of it that surprises me. here's this big thing happening, and we wouldn't even know it was happening unless we went outside. it seems like so much movement, so fast, would make a noise. it feels like a secret. it must be cleansing for a city to have fog regularly sweep through it like that from end to end. or anyhow, the fast moving nighttime fog is one of the aspects of sf's character that i love best.

slow clothes

2010-09-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

i posted a rant about slow clothes over on sew green.

can't believe i only have one book (a place on earth) left to read of wendell berry's port william books. going to savor it and hope he writes more of them.

prickle

2010-09-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

i've never seen these pricklers before.

flickr faves
sweden
the rains have begun
rhodesian ridgeback

good stuff

2010-09-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

a few photos from flora grubb

i really like this bed found via mieke willems

also really like yelena bryksenkova's work found via lena sjöberg, who has a new book that looks fantastic: cold facts about ice.

some photos from my housemate heather of our general store/kite adventure, which i wrote about in my last post.

general store + kite flying

2010-09-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

general store is one of my favorite stores in sf, so i am so pleased that they're carrying From OFG. (i will stop posting about the book at some point, really.)

i love how every time i visit the general store, it has transformed—new shelves inside the store (new goods of course), their little greenhouse built, now a small stony-mossy patch in front of the greenhouse, copious cacti and gardening tools, a great, long wooden bench along the fence—a perfect lounging spot. i missed the blooming of the wildflowers. next time i go, there will be some other development/blooming.

because it's on the other side of town, it makes for an adventure to visit it. heather and i went today and then flew her kite at ocean beach. ocean beach was surprisingly not cold, and the wind was pretty gentle, but steady. the kite flew almost directly above us, a bright rainbow flapping against the blue sky. it mesmerized us like a swimming fish or a campfire. i was only a little nervous that it might take a sudden dive and poke someone's eye out. luckily that didn't happen—all eyes are intact.

spin

2010-09-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

more, bigger thisaway

mati's and jennifer's opening, spin, was so fun. their work looked great together, and i enjoyed the playful board game-related theme and their interpretations of the theme.

it makes me smile to look at these photos of cuties mati, hugh, katrina and david.

it was a treat to meet jen hewett for the first time last night too. she contributed a beautiful screen print to From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens. also a treat to find From OFG front and center on the book display at rare device, thanks to lisa c.

jar and cup

2010-08-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

my friend sarah and i traded art. now her beautiful jar and cup hangs on my wall. it's even yummier in person. her paintings remind me a little of thiebaud in that i just want to eat them.

flickr faves this week are from some contributors to my book! (thank you all for your purchases!)
under the apple tree by mistubako
3d version of anna emilia laitinen's houses
9 july by shari altman

outstanding in the parking lot

2010-08-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

bigger, more over here

this weekend jen and i picked berries and jammed. after about eight hours of making and preserving 17 pints of strawberry + blackberry jam yesterday, jen and bob's neighbors brought out the barbecue for an outstanding in the parking lot dinner, the city version of outstanding in the field. jayn set up her wind-up gramophone! and we watched the full moon rise over the warehouse building across the street. pretty sweet. we also discussed important matters like pig orgasms, which according to our resident pig orgasm expert, leah, (and then google for verification) last 30 minutes. we topped the evening off with vanilla ice cream served the freshest berry syrup on top. YUM. an all around delicious weekend.

norwegian film

2010-08-20T20:52:00.001-07:00

whenever i go to lost weekend video, i always check out the scandinavian section. i am obligated to. usually, it's the same shelf all the time: babette's feast, show me love, together, italian for beginners, my life as a dog and a few more. but last time, there was a new addition to the shelf, a 2003 norwegian movie: kitchen stories. it looked like it would be a bad comedy. turned out to be a very sweet, quiet, interesting and a little sad film. it was mostly in swedish, as one of the two main characters is swedish. and much of it is silent, so i didn't actually end up reading any subtitles. i recommend it. i'm not going to tell you what it's about, aside from that it's about a friendship that develops between two men.

above are poor photos of the movie (on my tv). these awesome swedish camper trailers play an important role in the movie. so cute and round.

they're here!

2010-08-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

i've updated the book site a bit with some new images from the book. the pre-order price is available until friday at midnight. starting saturday, the books will be $30.

my house smells like bindery glue. 20 boxes are stacked high. 3 empties, plus stray shipping envelopes litter the floor. the place is a mess. woohooo!

memory

2010-08-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

pages from a proof

even though from orchards, fields, and gardens is filled with the writing and artwork of others, it feels so personal to me. not surprising i guess considering i've spent almost a year with its stories and images.

you know how you appreciate certain photos or paintings often because they evoke a certain feeling or memory? well, most of the artwork in the book is like that for me. when i first saw abby's photo, i was immediately drawn to and moved by it. i didn't realize until later—until even after i'd chosen it for the book from a group of abby's farm photos—just how closely it resembled a painting that is very familiar to me. the story—

after college, my friend laurel and i eurailed around europe before laurel left for northern spain and then college on the east coast and i left on a train north to go live in sweden. (our dramatic parting is another story altogether, involving multiple barcelona underground stations with the same name, losing each other, bomb threats at the train station, canceled trains to the basque region and phone calls from my fretful mother to the paris central train station, my hardly recognizable name announced over the loudspeaker several times in a thick french accent, just as my train for stockholm was arriving.)

laurel and i traveled around for a month, staying in hostels and rigorously seeing sites and attending museums, surviving on baguettes, fruit and hit cookies. toward the end of the trip, we traveled to cupra marritima, on the east coast of italy, where my mormor's brother torsten had a house. he was there for the summer, and my mormor and her sister, carin, were visiting him there for the first time, as luck would have it. we stayed with them for three days, the first physically relaxing days of our trip. we swam in warm, clear turquoise water and ambled up the beach strip to get our daily gelatos. in the evenings, we all ate on the roof of torsten's house. mormor, carin and torsten reminisced about their childhood. i wish i had a recording of their conversations. i don't remember a word of what they said, but i remember how close they seemed and how they basked in each other's company. i had never really seen my mormor as someone's sibling until then. i knew she and carin were close, but hearing the three of them, i got a different sense of their relationships.

mormor, carin and torsten

carin, laurel and mormor

anyhow, during that stay, torsten (an artist) painted in his front yard. he painted a blue ladder and the fig tree behind the ladder. the ladder stayed in place all day and night, there when laurel and i arrived, and there when we left. later, that painting graced the cover of a book from a retrospective exhibit of torsten's work. i often return to that book with the ladder on the cover. funny that i did not consciously recognize it when i first saw abby's photo.

bigger

beautiful bounty

2010-08-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

bigger yonder

some weeks the csa box is more impressive than others. this is one of those weeks. (even pinky leon is impressed—basil sniffing kitty). all of the sudden the colors changed. deep purple grapes and figs and green green peppers. i'm not even a pepper fan, and these look good to me. they look like they are especially crisp, don't they? i had been refraining from buying the hyper expensive figs at rainbow grocery, but they were wearing me down looking so plump and soft and ready to burst. pretty sure i gasped when i opened the box this evening and saw all the figs. just what i wanted. YUM. feeling grateful and lucky.

right now i am reading eaarth (that's with two as for a reason), by bill mckibben. the first half of the book is all about how we cause(d) climate change and about the tragic consequences that change is having across the planet. it's eye opening to read about the crazy many small and large ways climate change is affecting the earth and just how badly we are screwing ourselves. parasite and insect booms, forests dying, species dying, tropics expanding, tundra thawing/releasing bursts of methane, drought, storms. mckibben writes about how we are altering large and important (for earth's climate and for our survival) natural features of the earth (the ocean, the rain forest, the ice caps) so extremely and in mostly irreversible ways! people who like doomsday stories, this might be a book for you. luckily, there's a second half to the book. i'm just getting to that part, but so far it's intriguing and oddly optimistic, given the frightening first half. i'll report back when i'm done with the book. (did you know reagan removed the solar panels from the white house when he became pres? it's almost comical.)

in other news

2010-07-31T09:04:00.000-07:00

i've also updated my website. it needs a bigger overhaul, but for now, there are some new design projects added to the graphic design section. a fun one is the centaur-fold. you can read the story on that page, or you can skip the story and just watch the unfolding/see the centaur sail away (in flash).

here's the post about the centaur-fold evening, when my cousin karin and her peter (very, very soon to be married—speaking of news!) visited san francisco.

flickrs
i love rosa's fabric
cakes
wish i was here

Finally, the big news!

2010-07-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens: Art and rememberings celebrating sustainable agriculture and good food will be back from the printer mid-August! Until then, you can pre-order the book and get $4 off of the regular price.

The book features writing from 11 authors, and photos and illustrations from 21 artists. The authors remember activities, people, and places that shape(d) their appreciation for small scale food production and processing.

Find out more about the book.

I've been working on this thing for ten months. I often feel that I lack faith that things will work out ok, and this lack of faith makes me not take risks. I worry. And I envy people who believe there's a greater, loving force out there. They must feel more secure. Making this book has tested my (non-religious) faith. But I think it has also generated faith, because each step in the process yielded positive responses. Two friends encouraged me from the start. People I asked to contribute to the book agreed to do so—amazing! When I suggested edits, people didn't seem to think I was a meanie! When I asked (via snail mail because he doesn't do computers) Wendell Berry if one of the contributors could include stanzas from one of Berry's poems, he promptly wrote back, and he agreed! When I asked a long ago ex for help with a final edit, she agreed! When I asked for printer recommendations (after not feeling confident about the one I'd planned on using), a friend sent me to a helpful, flexible, fair, green, family-run press. This project has forced me to ask for help and to let go/not put so much pressure on myself when I can't meet deadlines. I still feel quite nervous about the final product (wondering if I made good design choices, etc.), but I'm also very excited and grateful. Thank you book contributors and friends!

goats

2010-07-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

my friend's neighbor has goats. they're the cutest of course. i love how they flick their tails and ears. the tips of the goats are constantly in motion. and their baaas, each with a unique timbre. ridiculously cute.

warm colors

2010-07-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

my friend brought this sweet zippered guy back from argentina. i love the colors and the pattern.

pinky leon

next week i should have some news to share here (if anyone is still reading my sporadically updated blog)....

a leaf for a leaf

2010-07-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

this is my first, beautiful mati mcdonough original painting! now, where to hang it....

mati and i traded—my leaf for her how to identify trees painting. this painting has been in the back of my mind ever since i first saw it in her little pink houses show, one year ago.

i'm still on a blogging break, more or less. today less.

flickr favorites of late
fuschia
waiting (makes me long for sweden in the summer)
weekend kitchen
Lu (cat pretending to be a bird)

reading

2010-06-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

sneaking a post in here. i just finished uncertain peril, a book by claire hope cummings about genetic engineering, the privatization of public institutions and the politicization of science. so interesting and important and thorough and, in many instances, shocking. i wanted to dog ear every page, but restrained myself since i had the book from the library.

cummings is a journalist, and she grounds the chapters of her book in specific places, like berkeley, hawai'i, abu ghraib, norway, vietnam, iowa, mexico. she gives the reader scientific, historical and political information, while telling fascinating stories. and, i don't want to tell too much, but storytelling, it turns out, is vital to our being able to deal with and transform the environmental mess we are in. stories and myths shape how we think.

i just read the first page of another book i checked out, diet for a hot planet, and it seems like it's going to be a continuation along similar themes. anna lappé opens the book by quoting environmental philosopher susan griffin:

Like artistic and literary movements, social movements are driven by imagination...Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: It is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future...Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in our hands.

these words about stories, art, social movements and the imagination encourage me.

hi

2010-06-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

i think i may be away from here another month.

some flickr faves for now
can't
from eva morell
mending
nights to walk and pedal
wander

reading the excellent wisdom of the last farmer by david mas masumoto right now. thank goodness peach season is here because this book makes a person crave peaches big time (and cry btw).