hands

Whenever I go home to my parent's house, someone is always making something.  Most of the time it's delicious food.  Whether it's homemade bread or pasta, or someone is pulling fresh vegetables from the garden, something is being created or nurtured.  I like that.

 

Buddies

My sweet Woody Guthrie.  He's been so patient with Shine through all the tail pulling and fur plucking.  He even lets her hang out in his cage.  Poor little man.

Summer of DAVE!

Things have been very different around our house.  David quit his job to work for a new company.  In his business, they are required to take a 3 month "garden leave" which means he will be home all summer!  It's only been a few days, and it's been dreamy.  On Friday, after taking Shine to her first music group at the Old Town School of Folk (so cute!) David surprised me with a spa day at Trump Tower.  I had a facial and a manicure, and felt like I was on vacation.  On Saturday night we celebrated his new job at Spiaggia, where I had the best gnocchi of my life. I am SOOOO excited for this summer!

NATO

We live one block from the steady stream of motorcades, so our neighborhood is full of policemen, helicopters, and passing dignitaries which has been super exciting. We don't drive much since we walk most everywhere, so it hasn't been a hassle but I know all the road closures have been inconvenient for many.
 David and Shine were on a walk together and they saw Obama's motorcade!  It's good to have him back home.

Ewok

Music

I saw this subway symphony flashmob here, and I cried and cried. 

Wooden Textiles

Elisa Strozyk's wooden (yes wood!) textiles are AMAZING!
via NY Times Mag

Ben Butler

Loving this Ben Butler sculpture

Shine on moon

My sweet husband typed out this Carl Sandburg poem for me for mother's day.  Oh my.

Backyard
 
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.

An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month; to-night they are throwing you kisses.

An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a cherry tree in his back yard.

The clocks say I must go—I stay here sitting on the back porch drinking white thoughts you rain down.

Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes. 

*painting by Susan Covert

Girls

Have you been watching the new HBO series Girls?  I am a bit obsessed with the show's uber talented creator/director/actress Lena Dunham.   She grew up in New York City, and both of her parents are artists.  Super cool.  These photos are her mother's pieces (Laurie Simmons)  from the late 1970s. 

Sweet Thames

 


"Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. 
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, 
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends 
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed. 
And their friends, the loitering heirs of City directors; 
Departed, have left no addresses." -T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland

*painting by Thornton Dial 

The gap

I love this.  I wish someone told me this when I was younger.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

― Ira Glass

from here
*image from here

Super Moon tonight

*image from NASA

Babies

 I love babies. 
That's all. 

GLS

Last night's date at Lincoln Hall to see our beloved Great Lake Swimmers.