fivetrees

2012-02-12T20:54:00.002-06:00

Dan played a show last week in a theater that a had a backdrop that made it look like he was playing Prairie Home Companion. Rock and Roll! He was great.

2012-02-12T20:51:00.000-06:00

The Congress Hotel looks like the back-drop for a noir film.

2012-01-29T10:46:00.004-06:00

New critters at fivetrees. . .

2012-01-26T21:24:00.004-06:00

City buildings juxtaposed against one another, tell stories. . .

City buildings taken by themselves, speak in poetry.

Xoco

2012-01-22T12:36:00.004-06:00

Dan and I had dinner at Rick Bayless's Xoco last night after taking the train into town and walking through the snowy city. It's a funny little shotgun restaurant where you either squeeze in next to other patrons at shared tables or sit on high chairs at narrow bars throughout the joint. Casual street food eatins. . .

I had Chicken Tortas.

Dan had Carnitas Caldos (the broth? consomme? was awesome).

Both were really good. . . but the thing I'd go back for were the churros:

The churros were hot out of the fryer and came with their own little mug of Mexican chocolate dipping sauce. Is there a better dessert with snow laying a few inches thick outside?

Volcanic Engagement

2012-01-22T08:51:00.004-06:00

When my romantic friend Dimitri fell in love with the perfect girl who loves volcanoes, I knew it was only a matter of time before he popped the question (and that's why Kari and I pushed and pushed and pushed him to do it every chance we got). D and Naomi are both proper forces of nature so perfectly suited for one another that everybody knew it was destined to be.

Well, folks, he finally popped the question this weekend, and she said yes! . . . and true to form, it all happened in the land of volcanoes (Hawaii) with the perfect ring:

That's right. That's a ring shaped like Naomi's favorite Costa Rican volcano. And my understanding is that the gemstone is peridot. . . a gemstone created by volcanoes.

Congratulations you two! We're all incredibly happy for the both of you!

Address Is Approximate

2012-01-19T16:31:00.005-06:00

Holy cow. A friend (the incomparable Jill Huntsberger) showed me this video.

Completely beautiful.

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Created by the U.K.'s Tom Jenkins of the The Theory. Thanks so much for this uplift today, Mr. Jenkins.

Snow

2012-01-16T09:16:00.004-06:00

There was snow in Chicago this week. . . a scant six inches. But it still made everything blue and hush and dreamy.

Fabric

2012-01-16T08:29:00.004-06:00

A friend (Jill) gave me fabric remnants--some from her own stash, some from a friend's stash who was leaving town and moving to Oregon (Ann).

And now I'm having to imagine far fancier critters. The black fabric below would make several collars for fancy jackets and capes. And the brown wool will turn someone into British landed gentry.

As for this fabric, though. . . I don't know what to do. It's gorgeous and I might just want to immediately turn this into a pillow to keep it forever.

The Secret Lives of Inanimate Objects

2012-01-15T15:26:00.004-06:00

As a kid, I had loads of stuffed animals. And they made me kind of nervous. Anyone else? You know, I sort of had the feeling that if I kicked them off the bed because they were taking up too much room that maybe they didn't take that too kindly. I thought that maybe they could plot against me if I didn't treat them well. That maybe when I wasn't around, they would talk with one another and hatch plans.

Truly. The Velveteen Rabbit probably had something to do with that.

So this video is reassuring. This video makes me happy, because no inanimate objects are planning evil things. They dance. They do the wave. They're filled with joy.

What Possessed Me

2012-01-15T15:19:00.001-06:00

So, I think this is my new favorite blog: What Possessed Me.

That is all. . .

Eggplant!

2012-01-15T11:00:00.005-06:00

I have never been a fan of the eggplant. I want to be--well and truly. It's one of the most beautiful vegetables, but I have never successfully tasted anything made of eggplant with enjoyment.

However, as such attractive veggies, they do make an excellent shape for crocheting and having as a toy.

Photo Evidence #1:

Photo Evidence #2:

Now available at fivetrees on etsy.

2012-01-09T18:41:00.003-06:00

So, I've just finished reading Simon Van Booy's Everything Beautiful Began After. And I would like to say right up top that I hate the cover art. Hate it. The only thing worse would be any picture or illustration that shows a solitary woman from behind doing something--walking through a field alone, trailing her feet in the water off a dock alone, cooking alone, shopping alone. It's as if there is some book jacket illustrating company that has done market research and has determined that a faceless woman doing anything alone on the front of a book sells big. It kills me. So, this book's cover art isn't that bad, but it does make it look like the book is a romance. . . and it's not and so, boo.

But otherwise, this is a gorgeous, sad, hopeful, thoughtful book. Three people in love in Greece. There's a tragedy (it's Greece, no?), leaving two broken people, thankfully still in love, though not the way you would imagine. "Thankfully", because sad people need tethers or they float away. Because sad people need someone to tie them here or they might never be able to find their way back.

But Everything Beautiful Began After is about hope and where joy or beauty comes from. It's about fate without actually believing in it. And reading it and finishing it made me cry--in a good way--and then it made me think about two things:

One.

When I was four, my parents took my brother and me to Europe for three weeks. It's the only time I have been overseas, and I usually only remember really random kid things from the trip in a lot of detail--scary fountains, specific popsicles, angry swans in Vienna, a weird street play in Munich, toys in a window in Bern. But something I have not thought about for years. . . As the trip was winding down and exhaustion was setting in, I remember really clearly riding on the Eurail and thinking I was tired and that my parents looked tired and that the trip had to end. And we were sharing a compartment with a young Japanese woman who made us origami birds. She may not have been Japanese. She could have been Russian or Portugese or African. In my memory she's Japanese because she gave us origami. But she knew a very small amount of German and my parents knew a very small amount of German and so their conversation couldn't last long. And then when conversation faded, she folded delicate little cranes for my brother and for me to fill the silence. And then a day or two later, me throwing mine off our back porch back in Cincinnati and being a little disappointed that it couldn't actually fly.

But I think of that, that smaller younger version of me with a small paper bird that had crossed an ocean, that had been made by a person that we knew in that train car. . . not knew, maybe, but had shared a portion of our lives with. Who is she now? Where was she during the tsunami in Japan? Is she happy? And thinking about the way strangers come in and out of our lives, are known briefly and then become strangers again. It's beautiful.

And then. . .

Two.

My husband and I are in love and married because a young man he knew said "palindrome" to a young woman I knew. . .on a train. Everything beautiful began after that. . . Such luck.

And that's beautiful, too.

What's up with the Vampires?

2012-01-03T20:45:00.002-06:00

And that's not even the right question. The question is really what's up with the ladies in modern day literature falling in love with them? Or worse, the lady authors who are writing about modern day ladies falling in love with them?

I need to rant for just a sec and then I promise I will go back to crafts and cooking and the whole shebang tomorrow.

I'm hip deep in the novel "A Discovery of Witches" and jeezle pete! It's like Twilight for grown-ups (though, I guess considering the Twilight series's readership, plenty of people thought that was for adults, too). The main differences between it and Twilight is that the characters spend loooooooots of time in libraries, and smelling and tasting wine, and discussing(shallowly) lesser known authors and poets from centuries long past.

But here's the thing that bugs me. The heroine falls in love with a total alpha male who is possessive, controlling, and constantly threatening the potential of violence he "might not be able to control" if she keeps pushing him--and it's all understandable and okay because he's a vampire. She knows he's a vampire. He's an instinctual creature. He is what he is. Blech. Puke. Choke. Cough. Cough.

Holy moly. It's all so insulting. If a teenager in Twilight wants to fall in love with a bad boy at just the perfect age for that kind of stupidity, I get it. But a grown 30+ year old woman with a PhD and tenure track position at Yale who has time off to study at Oxford for the year. The "Discovery of Witches" makes sure that she gets across the notion that having that level of education and working at those institutions makes her character a cut above the rest, but how am I to read the book as saying anything other than "really smart women can be ridiculously stupid too?"

And another thing, I'm half way through the book, and when her aunt's girlfriend/partner hints that it might be hard for them to maintain a relationship with her while she's dating something as dangerous as a vampire, her good aunt steps in and reminds her lover that plenty of people threatened to disown them when they came out and they won't do the same to her niece. Because being a lesbian and falling in love with a woman is totally equivalent to dating a guy who murders people. . . for food.

This vampire thing has got to hurry up, run its course, and then end for poo-sake. It's making us ladies look like victims. . . and willing ones at that.

Best Brussel Sprouts Ever

2012-01-03T07:42:00.004-06:00

So, I found a recipe on Poppytalk that sounded good. But I had to change it. I don't know if I have difficulty with authority or just following recipes in general, but I can rarely leave them just as is. . . except in baking which feels like chemistry I don't understand and thus don't want to monkey with.

But these sprouts were amazing.

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

serves 2-3

2-3 handfuls of sprouts
2-3 T Olive oil
Ground Sea Salt to taste
Garlic Powder to taste
Ground Red Chipotle Pepper to taste (or Cayenne, if you prefer)
Ground Black Pepper to taste
(I put the dry seasonings in order of which you should use the most to least of. You can use the sea salt pretty liberally. But the idea with the red pepper isn't to make these little buggers incredibly spicy. . . just to give them a little pleasant heat.)
Honey to finish

Directions--clean sprouts as usual, cutting off tough ends and stripping a few outer leaves. Cut all but the tiny-tiniest in half, then soak in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain the sprouts and lay them out on paper towels--you have to do this with the cut side down or they will retain a lot of water.

Scatter sprouts over a metal baking tray. Pour olive oil over all sprouts, then sprinkle all dry seasonings over sprouts. Use hands to shuffle and mix sprouts on tray until they are evenly covered with oil.

Put in oven for twelve minutes. At end of twelve minutes, use a spatula to stir them around, flip them over, then put them in for another twelve minutes. (24 minutes total will carmelize them nicely--much more than that and they will burn.)

Pull them out of the oven and while still on tray, salt them a tiny bit more and dribble a little bit of honey over them. The honey--like the hot pepper--is not meant to overwhelm them or make them intensely sweet. It's just an additional flavor to round them out.

These are ridiculously good. It's like healthy comfort food.

It's Like All He Does Is Sleep

2012-01-01T19:40:00.007-06:00

. . . and I pretend not to be jealous

Stewart Phillips Traditional New Years Day Brunch

2012-01-01T14:16:00.005-06:00

Every year. First day of the year. Tea (me), coffee (Dan), orange juice, scrambled eggs, maple sausage, and warm out of the oven Danish puff pastry.

You have to start the year out right, doncha know.

Danish Puff Pastry Recipe

As part of a brunch, this will serve 6-10 people.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First Part:
1 C. flour
1/2 C. softened butter
2 T. cold water

Second Part:
1 C. water
1 C. flour
1/2 C. butter
1 t. almond extract
3 eggs

Icing: 2 C powered sugar and enough warmed milk (1/3 cup?) to make a fairly runny, but still opaque, simple icing.

Plus: 1/2 C walnuts, finely chopped

Directions:
Mix first part. Divide into two even halves and pat each part out on an ungreased baking sheet. Both should be @ a 10"x4' rectangle. Both should fit on one large baking sheet.

Second Part: bring water and butter to boil. Take off heat. Add Almond extract and flour immediately. Stir until smooth, then add eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth and full combined between each egg addition. Divide second part into two equal halves and spread evenly on top of the two strips of dough on baking sheet. Pat smooth.

Then cook for 60 minutes until lightly browned.

While still hot, drizzle liberally with icing and nuts. The icing is the only source of sweetness for this pastry, so don't be shy with your application. Best the 1st day, but also yummy as a leftover one day later.

2012. Girls.

2012-01-01T09:43:00.002-06:00

2012. Hey everybody, we successfully got through 2011 and have come out the other side.

It's nice to be here with you.

I don't know how your year is shaping up, but I have pastries cooking in the oven for a quiet brunch with the d-o-g and the man. And then we're going to organize and clean and lay around. . .likely not all in even distribution. . . and think good thoughts about the coming year.

Girls | FOR NO ONE from FOR NO ONE on Vimeo.

Good Thing Sixteen: Beginners

2011-12-29T11:51:00.009-06:00

My favorite film of the year. . . because despite centering around a guy who is so quiet and so cut off from his feelings--or, at the very least, his ability to express them--it's a movie entirely about love in all of its forms.

Romantic love. Familial love. Love of animals and their returned affection. Love of the world and history and mysteries. In my world, creativity and its expression is also love.

And while having a bad year, Beginners felt like it was commiserating with me. But I was also jealous of how much time all of the characters had to explore each each other and themselves. It was like a fantasy of what life should be like--taking the time to know your parents, taking the time to fall in love, getting to take your dog with you everywhere you go.

I've been letting work eat me alive now for years, and I think Beginners has reminded me to slow it down. Beginners may be my only New Years resolution in 2012.

Thank you, Mike Mills. Really. I mean it.

Good Thing Fifteen: My Brother is a Farmer

2011-12-29T10:39:00.006-06:00

My older brother--Richard Stewart--trained in college to be a graphic designer and we always thought he would be an artist. He was always drawing and painting and sculpting. But when the recession hit just after 9/11, he was the last hired at his design firm, and so was the first fired.

So, he went to work for my dad (also Richard Stewart) on the family farm. I don't know if he knew if it would stick or not, that it was his future. . . or if maybe it felt like just a temporary thing until he figured out his next step.

Ten years later, he's still going strong. He's built up a truck garden/organic/farmer's market presence in Cincinnati--selling veggies and honey at farmer's markets and to local restaurants. He's a bee keeper. He's become a sort of farmer celebrity in Cincy and northern Kentucky. Just yesterday at the Northside farmer's market, he was selling honey, dried black beans, corn mea l, turnips, and carrots.

Once or twice a year, the farm, Carriage House Farm LLC, is a part of farm tours and my family gives lectures on growing things, keeping bees, foraging for food in the woods (have you eaten a pawpaw grown in the wild? yum).

He's happy. That makes me happy.

Plus I totally get free honey every time I come home for the holidays.

Good Thing Fourteen: Christmas Food Traditions

2011-12-25T12:29:00.004-06:00

Monkey Bread--made by Dad.

Strata--made by Mama.

The family is capable of making real cranberry sauce. . . and we do. Even a really creepy creamy one that I think has horseradish in it. But we all love the canned cranberry sauce the best. Truly. And for the holidays we usually cut it into holiday specific shapes--turkeys for Thanksgiving, stars for Christmas. (My grandmother also always made bunnies out of pear halves for Easter. . . )

And then Pepper always hanging close by the table hoping for something to conveniently fall to the floor for her.

Good Thing Thirteen: Dinosaurs

2011-12-25T12:22:00.005-06:00

Seriously. Is there anything cooler than dinosaurs? It's the first things that kids discover that are beyond belief. . . and yet are still real. Dragons used to live on this very earth and they were HUGE! And so they teach kids science and awe and linguistics (those are some long, complicated names those beasts have. Spell or pronounce this at 3 years of age: Dasygnathoides).

And if we're lucky, that awe and inquisitiveness sticks with us for the rest of our lives. . .

I'm lucky this year, because my niece and nephew have just hit their dinosaur phase. And so I got to spend time making dinosaurs just for them for Christmas. (*Shhhh, though. They don't open those gifts until tomorrow.)

Good Thing Twelve: The Future is Now

2011-12-25T12:14:00.007-06:00

There's a stretch of 65 heading south through Indiana where I feel like I've slipped on to a set for some futuristic film. What the country looks like in Blade Runner? Or maybe this is what's behind all of the fences in Brazil?

Giant wind farms as far as the eye can see--and in prairie country, that's pretty far. I think the windmills are beautiful.

The other good thing here is outside of the frame. Considering that this is the future right now, I'm super glad that the future hasn't meant wearing silver skin tight clothing. I was wearing jeans and a wool sweater while taking these photos, thank you very much.

Good Thing Eleven: Raclette

2011-12-22T12:28:00.003-06:00

Man. As long as there is raclette in the world--plus the tiny red potatoes and gherkins to eat with it--there will be a reason to be grateful.

If you've never had raclette, you may not allow me to convince you of it. It's a stinky swiss cheese meant solely for melting and eating with salty buttery potatoes. It's undoubtedly terrible for you and the raclette is about $18.00 a pound. . . so, it's also pricey. And really, it's the perfect dinner meal after you have either driven a herd of cows or a flock of sheep amid the Alps. . . or alternately skied all day long or lumberjacked your way through a few giant cedars using only one of those two-handled saws, back and forth, back and forth.

I do none of those things.

But Dan and I have it at least once a year. We eat less cheese now--to save money, I guess, and to leave room for other things. Now we have raclette (just melted in a non-stick fry pan. nobody needs one of those fancy raclette cookers) over buttery boiled potatoes, with gherkins (traditionally to cut the grease of the cheese and potatoes. . . seriously, you have to try this), sliced up brats, and salty/lemony broccoli.

We got some greens in there. See. Now it's healthy.

Good Thing Ten:Digital Cameras Allow for Unfocussed Picture Taking

2011-12-22T12:17:00.009-06:00

I feel like this wasn't the case when I got my first digital camera. Everything was always in focus--unnaturally so--and so I had a very hard time giving up my film cameras. Nothing is as velvety or dreamy or beautiful as out of focus lights photographed through rain with a reflex camera. . . but digital cameras are giving it their best shot.

And that's a great thing, a fun thing, a thing that allows for experimentation and fun, that allows for capturing the dream version of the world, the memory version of the world, the softer, less literal version of the world. . .

And this year, I have needed a less literal version of the world. . . or at least, my photo library from the year seems to suggest that. 25% of all my photos from this year are blurred from speed or lack of focus or refusing to ever use a flash even in the lowest light imaginable. It's as if I never wanted to see this year clearly again. . . and it's all pretty beautiful as a result.

Good Thing Nine: Graffiti

2011-12-18T19:10:00.008-06:00

In Columbia's neighborhood, graffiti continues to be weird and awesome and often beautiful--even though don't fret has left our community. Anywhere huge swathes of young people live, new ways of expression are bound to crop up. . .

embroidered wheat paste? shut the door, that's great.

A little ship's masthead maiden just appears attached to the most colorful wall in the neighborhood? I've been passing her for weeks. . . like a little saint, leaving us looking for the other new stations of the cross. . .

Good Thing Eight: Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell's Begonias

2011-12-18T18:39:00.007-06:00

To be totally honest about this, I listened to this album over and over like a teenager wearing an album out all while rehabbing. While mom was visiting, the weeks afterwards. . . still, now, off and on.

This album is the soundtrack of Little, Big for me. They are inextricably linked and tied up with this summer and my childhood and magic and sadness.

But what Begonias sounds like is that party or the memory of that party from years ago. . . that party when you were really pretty and everyone else was pretty too, like everyone in the room literally had a shine to them that leached into you and warmed you right up. It was the first time you felt grown and free and like you could make choices just to make them about the shape of the night and your future and that boy sitting across the room. The party might have had lots of candles lit or maybe loads of small white strands of twinkling lights hanging overhead. You probably spent some time outside staring up at stars. There was definitely a balcony involved. . . or maybe a cobblestone paved courtyard. Someone you'd been crushing on for months smiled at you and smiled at you and at some point, said your name in just the way you'd been hoping they would say your name for weeks--on the edge of a laugh, like your name could be the answer to the most fascinating question someone ever asked.

Begonias sounds like the tenuous memory of that evening. It sounds like country music if country music had always been about porches and sunlight and love. . . and never hate or abuse or jingoistic nonsense or a boot up anyone's ass. It's a gorgeous and nostalgic album that on some level, a little, saved me this year.

Thanks, Caitlin and Thad.

Good Thing Seven: I made a perfect doll this year

2011-12-18T18:35:00.004-06:00

her proportions are perfect for maximum cuteness. a slight upturn to the nose. the first time I tried those ears.

when she was done and I pulled her sweater dress over her head, I held her out to look at her and gasped. seriously. I'm super hard on all of my work. . . but this little girl was an achievement.

Good Thing Six: This is Still a World Where. . .

2011-12-18T16:47:00.004-06:00

people store gold fish in bright turquoise lined tanks.

Totally showing off their gold-fishiness with great success.

Good Thing Five: Our House Looks Like Christmas

2011-12-18T16:45:00.007-06:00

Every year, we hem and haw over whether or not to decorate the house. We don't have kids yet and we're busy and we always spend Christmas in Cincinnati with my family. But it's so nice to have a decorated house, right? The house is a little cheerier. It break up the monotony of the appearance of the house that we spend a lot of time in in the winter's of Chicago.

Anyhoo. We rallied again this year and got it done.

Good Thing Four: My Husband made me listen to the Avett Brothers. . .

2011-12-18T09:52:00.003-06:00

and they became my go to band for singing at the top of my lungs in the car. They're music is awesome, easy to harmonize with and perfect for car belting. This has been a big year for them, I think, and I am happy to have jumped on the band wagon.

Good Thing Three: Christine Hale

2011-12-18T09:33:00.004-06:00

Time alone of course means a fair amount of time exploring the interwebs. And so I was lucky enough to find Christine Hale's illustration work.

I think I found her through a trail of blogs--one of my favorite blogs to one of their favorite blogs and so on. Her completely charming blog links away to a number of different Christine Hale centric sites and you should check them all out. But start here: http://christinehale.blogspot.com/.

I most love her doggies and her Triste elephant.

Her work was a joyful spot in 2011.

Good Thing Two: Best Book of the Year

2011-12-18T08:42:00.009-06:00

Best book that I read this year, that is. I added it to the big stack of "books to read while rehabilitating" based entirely on reviews on Amazon--all which said something like, "This is my all time favorite book, but I can't begin to describe what it's about. . . impossible to put into words." Again and again the sense that the experience of this book was outside of language, and so I wanted to know what that experience would be like.

I can tell you that it's a dense book. It's about family and generations and the inexorable revolution of the planet and the way that the passage of time dismantles everything--from houses to tradition to beauty and love. . . to memory. But on every page, it's a book about something that it refuses to ever look directly at. It's writing with its eyes averted. It asks the reader to understand out of the corners of their eyes. I can't imagine the writing of it. . . even the reading of it, months later, seems unlikely.

I read it in the deep of my grandmother dying, after my own weeks of pressing fear. . . the stress test, the inconclusive or false test results, the angiogram, the back surgery, and so Little, Big was no doubt heightened by all of those things. But as a kid, my grandmother's house was like Narnia or Wonderland--an amazing house with nooks and crannies, and darkness and warmth on over an acre of green grass. My brother and I talked about it then, a place of adventure without any actual danger. It's weird to think of it now, because it seems so improbable, a place with almost no technology to speak of (I'm old enough, that that wasn't strange at the time), and so the house is a memory of food and games and picnics on the back lawn and reading books aloud. There was a blackboard in the hall off the dining room right next to the radiator, so you had to be careful not to be burned, but the sound of water rush and clank combining with adult voices filtering out from the remains of dinner while I drew in the darkness of the hallway. My brother and I spelunking under the dining room table, light dappled through the crocheted table cloth grandma had handmade years before, confined to bed with rickets. The front solarium filled to brimming with plants like some strange indoor office/jungle. Mozart's bust on the edge of the polished piano. A trunk upstairs on the top floor filled with nothing but costumes and dolls. . . even Japanese platform geisha sandles with thongs made of velvet. The golden starburst clock above the mantel in the living room. Everywhere, rugs of wool that prickled and burned bare feet and knees. Grandma in her night gown, letting me sit on the cool tiles in the bathroom while she unraveled her bun and brushed out her hair--a silver river flowing below her waist,

And this summer, grandma's and my last phone call--me sitting in Grant Park on carved steps next to the riotous gardens of sun and bright and whispering, and her in a bed in hospice in Cincinnati with the phone being held up to her ear. And the two of us just calling out things we remembered from the old house. The swing set. The old apple tree. The vegetable garden. The sandbox. Sheets sewn up on one side to keep kids from falling out. Croquet. Twelfth Night. . .

That was a good thing.

And so that's what Little, Big by John Crowley was for me--the way that families and the places attached to families shape you and break you and put you back together again. It's a magical book--both literally and figuratively. And it will always be a sad, bright spot in the midst of this dumb year.

Good Thing One: Hayao Miyazaki

2011-12-17T08:50:00.003-06:00

If you live in NYC, you have the luck of being able to go to a Miyazaki retrospective. The man Dan and I have been fans for years. Studio Ghibli is the best animation studio in the world. (Okay, tying with Pixar. . . though Pixar has never experimented or dabbled with more adult films, and I doubt they will ever make anything that comes close to "My Neighbors the Yamadas").

The movie that probably introduced most Americans to Studio Ghibli's films was "My Neighbor Totoro". At the time it was released, there was no animation feature length film that was more beautifully rendered, more imaginative, or more moving. Two young girls living in the country, being comforted by the magic of forest spirits while their mother convalesces in a hospital in the city.

Above is a poster made by Mondo in time for the retrospective, unfortunately, they sold out, almost the moment they went on sale.

Miyazaki's work always makes me want to be creative in return. It fills me with wonder and jealousy and after finishing watching one of his films, I want to quickly go and make something to answer his work. He's a world treasure.

The Year is Winding Down

2011-12-17T08:39:00.003-06:00

That's the phrase everyone uses, but I don't get it. Like a music box running out of steam? Like a wind-up toy slowly stuttering to a stop. Both would mean that the year slows down. . .

It always feels to me like the year is unspooling, rushing to a close, like a thread bobbin on a sewing machine, wobbling and jittering as it spins madly with the thread rushing away. It flies past faster and faster each day until the year just flies away.

So, I'm going to try to write a post a day here until the end of 2011. It was--and continues to be--a pretty terrible year. But good things happened in there--good books, good music, good food, fun with friends, good art--and so I'm going to do a little wrap up on those things to salvage what's left of this junky calendar year, before it floats off into history.

How is Christmas two weeks away?

2011-12-11T10:04:00.004-06:00

We've been so busy this year that the whole Holiday season has sort of crept up on us.

But this weekend, we went shopping in town to all of our favorite groceries and butchers to pick up food we don't get out in the suburbs. The Vietnamese grocery on Argyle, the Greek shop just off Clark on Foster, the German grocer/butcher in Lincoln Square.

And as weird as that sounds, that will put me in the holiday mood. The holidays are all about love and gift giving and community and eating well. . . well, we're going to eat well all week!

Renegade 2011

2011-12-11T09:28:00.006-06:00

It feels like Dan and I have been going and going and going for months straight--traveling for the holidays, Dan's shows, friends' rock shows, weekend work for me--all in funnel down to the Chicago Holiday Renegade Craft Fair. And every bit of it was worth it.

The fair went really well. I met loads of lovely, charming folks (both sellers and buyers!) and I sold a good chunk of rattles and mitts and scarflettes. . . even a little luchador.

Here's the gorgeous booth my man built for me (that a few other vendors claimed jealousy of) with the new name banner I put together this fall.

On both sides of us were incredibly nice, incredibly talented artists.

To our left was the Anne Benjamin of Mok Duk, whose illustrations and posters were some of the best at the fair (she, Jay Ryan, and Laura George are neck and neck for me). She also makes beautiful bespoke wedding invitations:

I totally got some of these small prints as Christmas gifts for my niece and nephew (which I can totally say here, because they are too tiny to read yet. . . )

To our right was Reuse First--a couple that also prints illustration work, makes creatively bound blank books. . . and the total hit at Renegade, succulents and cacti and candles in recycled fine alcohol bottles. They source their bottles from local bars, and as beautiful as liquor bottles are, it makes total sense. They were swamped by customers all week.

And then across the way was a Minnesotan beekeeper--Worker-b--selling all things bee-related: honey, lip balm, wax, etc. Their booth bee was ridiculously cute. I don't feel like I can cheat on my brother bee keeper with other keeper's stuff, but it's still always encouraging to see other keepers out there doing their thing!

And then upstairs, I was knocked out by Rachelle Vasquez's scarves. Truth be told, I'm not sure I would wear them as scarves. They're pretty expensive as scarves go and I'm such a wuss in the cold that I need a scarf that covers every inch of my neck and lower chest and ears and. . .

But these are totally cheap for what I think they actually might be, which is fine art. Just crochet the animals and then frame these up in gorgeous barn wood shadow frames, and this artist could sell these for $700 to $900 in a gallery show. Easy. The craftsmanship is amazing and I was totally jealous of her skills.

Renegade is Coming Up!

2011-11-26T09:41:00.003-06:00

This coming weekend, fivetrees will have its very own table at the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair!

Dec. 3 + 4, 11am-6pm
Pulaski Park Fieldhouse

Hope to see you there!

garage graffiti

2011-11-19T14:24:00.003-06:00

Saw this walking between meetings at work on the inner wall of a garage.

Totally beautiful.

The Summer Just Evaporated

2011-11-19T14:06:00.005-06:00

The year flew by, and most of it was terrible. I like trying to find the silver lining, but it was really hard this year.

But I just found these photos on a camera that I had for forgotten I had taken. . . and it makes things look pretty good. . .

. . .

2011-10-16T15:11:00.005-05:00

All new houses built within the last decade on the Outer Banks look like this:

And because hurricanes tend to blow in every few years and destroy older homes, more and more houses on the Outer Banks look like this--though often built in spearmint green, pink, pineapple, as if the OBX is a slightly more northerly outpost of Miami beach.

Most houses on the OBX when I was a kid looked really differently than this. The grand homes had high sloped dark green roof lines and were covered in dark grey weathered shingles with white trim around windows and doors. Usually they had wrap-around deeply shaded porches and every window was covered by a green shutter--propped open on a green stick when weather was fair. The lesser homes, were lowslung modern concrete block houses with profiles so short that the dunes protected them from the worst winds of incoming storms. All houses built to be cool before air conditioning took off. Houses built to blend into a island of sand and sea oats. Houses built by people who knew, unless the weather was bad, you wouldn't be spending much time in them anyway, and so, built sturdy modest getaways for families to nestle into for a stolen week or two each summer.

A few still exist, but they're a dying breed. . .

There was sun. I swear.

2011-09-27T13:14:00.002-05:00

Walk on the Beach

2011-09-27T08:37:00.015-05:00

On the yearly family vacation at the Outer Banks. We usually stay in the quiet still of the Southern end of Hatteras Island, but Hurricane Irene damaged all of the routes in in ways that we hope aren't permanent or crippling.

So, this year, we headed north to Duck. Duck is not our kind of town--more expensive, while being really packed in tightly. None of us quite understand why it's considered so fancy except for the exorbitant pricing. Yesterday, I saw a 4 oz. bag of pistachios for $8.99. One red pepper at the big grocery store? $2.99. Silly.

But it's still the Outer Banks. It's still the Atlantic. It's still fresh seafood and time with the family. So, we're gritting our teeth and having a lovely time.

The first day was overcast and a little drizzly, but if it's not outright pouring, there's no excuse to stay inside during vacation. So, Ma, Pa, and I headed out to the beach for a long walk to the pier.

Pelicans are out in full force travelling south in big groups. A big Noreaster was blowing on our first full day and the pelicans were mostly gliding.

Even the dunes want to extract a price from you in Duck. He he he.
Seriously, though, unexploded ordinance? Terrifying. We stayed on the beach. I'm hoping, though, that this is the length to which wildlife folks are now going to protect birds' and turtles' nests--scary signs to keep you out of breeding grounds.

The Core of Army Engineers builds piers that look an awful lot more stable than the piers on the rest of the island. So straight and solid.

Lots of cool stuff blown up on the beach by successive storms. . .

2011-09-05T14:49:00.002-05:00

No one could ever claim that our L.P. is not a handsome wee dog. He is small and cute and good looking.

But many also know that he is an obsessive little guy. Tenacious and mostly interested in chasing things, all things. . . any thing. Today, he pulled this runner bean from the bottom of a vine in the back yard and brought it to me to play fetch.

Not surprisingly, once thrown, that bean was pretty hard to find. . .

September Farmer's Market

2011-09-04T14:31:00.005-05:00

It's all I could do this summer to fight the monster of glumness. But without fail, the farmer's market was there to brighten each Saturday. . . and then to fill the week with food that I am sure is helping me heal and get healthy again.

Right now, my own garden is cranking out herbs and tomatoes and string beans and hot peppers.

The farmer's market is augmenting that harvest with broccoli and melon and peaches and the first apples of the season. It's going to be fall soon and the fruit will drop off, replaced by butternut squash and pumpkins and chard and onions and leaks and spinach. But I'm certainly enjoying the last hurrah of summer.

New Cowls at Fivetrees

2011-09-04T13:41:00.003-05:00

I love making cowls and mitts. Both give me an opportunity to play with color or new lace patterns I haven't tried before in finite projects. And there's such an immediate pay off. A day's work and there's something beautiful and complete to show for the time spent.

Anyhoo, here are a few of the new cowls in my fivetrees shop:

August

2011-08-24T08:50:00.002-05:00

August is the best eating season ever. Tomatoes straight from the plants in our garden. Red Haven peaches at the farmer's market. Melon, peppers. . . and the season will end with onions and potatoes and spinach and butternut squash. Best time of the year, hands down.

Weekend Joy

2011-08-22T15:55:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was really lovely. We got the weather you always want in the summer, but rarely get. No warmer than 84 degrees. Blue skies. Puffy french vanilla clouds. We went to the farmer's market, read books, ate outdoors on a rooftop with dear friends and then walked for local custard, gardened (a little), ate good food, turned the AC off. Really really nice. . .

blurry tomatoes

Did you know there was such a thing as red okra? I didn't.

and my favorite outdoor painting (of which there are many) along the L platform in Oak Park.
Perfect wee birdies.

I want one, please.

2011-08-19T14:00:00.002-05:00

William Thielicke built an MM6 Hexacopter, attached a video camera to it and then made this gorgeous video of Cameroon. Who wouldn't want a camera attached to a remote control helicopter that has six rotors? Seriously. Who?

A nice place to fly: Hexacopter in Cameroon / Africa from W. Thielicke on Vimeo.

A New Raft of Critters at Fivetrees

2011-08-16T13:20:00.002-05:00

Check out my new little buddies in my fivetrees shop!

Havel

Ulla

Artur

and the photo shoot was going very well right up until someone jumped on me and bumped my arm so that I got this picture. . .

the cutest critter I know. . .

Clam Cuteness

2011-08-16T11:43:00.001-05:00

Ack. . . so cute I could explode.

Summer Storm

2011-08-14T14:48:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, a big summer storm blew in early afternoon and never really let up again until this morning.

Right before it hit, I ran outside to take my second cutting of basil of the season for pesto that we will lay up in the freezer for the eatin's this winter. And while I was mid-harvest, I saw this impressive cloud formation.

It had the look of an open spot in the sky that aliens might swoop through. Though, I imagine that Cicero wouldn't be the first target that aliens would want to colonize. . .

And because of the storminess, I stayed in the rest of the day making things out of a rainbow of felt.

New Art for Me!

2011-08-10T15:53:00.003-05:00

I bought a painting today and it looks like this:

(can you hear me squealing and making little clapping motions just below my chin in delight?)

It's a painting by a Canadian artist from Toronto who has a shop on Etsy called greasychickenface. This is a teensy painting--just 4"x3"--but I love it and it will be perfect to smoosh into my salon-style grouping of art in my office/studio. It's great having new inspiration in there.

Anyhoo. . . greasychickenface's art is great. Colorful and that kind of artwork that's some unusual mix of cute/sad/ugly/playful that makes me sort of nostalgic for how I saw the world as a kid. You should check the shop out!

Things I've Seen On Walks

2011-08-09T20:25:00.004-05:00

Walking around Cicero and Berwyn, there's no shortage of wonderful sites to collect.

And lilies, lilies, lilies. Mine all bloomed back in June.

and I love this final picture, because even though I took it mid-day in natural light with the Harinezumi, it looks like a Dutch painting.

Ouch That's Cute!

2011-08-09T20:05:00.004-05:00

Man, do I love Hine Mizushima's work. Hine has been my favorite shop on Etsy pretty much since I discovered Etsy. The work is so smart and ridiculously cute.

I saw this little guy--Ectoplasm No.1--just today, and I thought I would have to chew my own hand off to get out of the trap of its cuteness.

It was shipped to its buyer in a specimen tube.

Can't. Take. The. Cuteness.

(not to mention 10% of the shop proceeds help out Japan Relief!)

Moving

2011-08-04T13:52:00.002-05:00

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

I love these short films by Rick Mereki. Not surprisingly, they've gotten 93,000 views in two days of being posted. Three: Move, Learn, Eat.

Moving has meant a lot to me in the last two years, mostly because movement was hard or painful. But just back from a two mile walk without any pain or exhaustion or any feeling other than being a little sweaty. And I feel like I could star in this film. . . and that's a feeling I can't really put words to. . .

Here are the other two. . .

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

dream home

2011-08-02T10:51:00.004-05:00

Part of my rehab is taking long walks to realign my back muscles and strengthen my whole mid section. So every day (nearly), I go for a long walk in the neighborhood. About four days ago, my walk took me past what I think might just be my dream home.

It's in Oak Park directly across the street from a park containing a man-made sledding hill. It's south facing on a corner. And because of the way the house is positioned in the lot, it has two good sized yards on either side of the house. Which would undoubtedly mean one yard for dog, kid, friends, bbqing and one whole yard for a massive vegetable/cut flower garden.

It's only a dream, though, so I started taking dreamy pictures. . .

It's only two drawbacks are that it's undoubtedly out of our price range. . . and it's not for sale. Otherwise, it's perfect.

Perfect Summer Salad

2011-07-31T17:11:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that July is almost over. I have spent so much of this summer wrapped up in my health that it's skidded past me. It's silly, but while still bound to lay down much of the day, I feel like it will be fall and then winter before I know it.

So, I'm bringing summer inside with the perfect summer salad this evening.

Ingredients:

fresh sweet corn--cut right off the cob
red onion--diced
fresh basil--given a good chiffonade
apple cider vinegar
olive oil
freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

No specific amounts here, because who knows how much corn you have on hand (plenty, though, I hope this time of year!).

But this is how I put it together in a little word puzzle:

for each ear of corn, I add 1 T each of oil and vinegar.
for total amount of corn, I add half as much red onion.
I add enough basil so that it looks like there might be a bit of green in each bite.

It's so simple. As simple as summer food should be.

Hand Modeling

2011-07-28T19:42:00.005-05:00

When I was little, it seemed like there was far more hand modeling than there is today. All of those ladies on the Price is Right swooping their hands and slender arms over and around and in the general vicinity of all of the amazing prizes in the showcases. A full living room suite [*hand flourish* at corner of showcase, then limbs skimming like agitated birds over coffee table top, the edge of a television set entrapped inside of a giant piece of furniture, alighting for just a moment on the back of the easy chair, then tripping along the back of a couch until the hostess perched cheerfully on the arm rest looking anything but right at home.]

Plus, disembodied hands showed up a lot more in commercials for jewelry, for Neet, for moisturizers, cars and on and on. Something about a long slender hand--the kind you imagine might be attached to someone who looks like Betty Draper--that made products fly out of the stores in the 70's and early 80's. Not so much now. Maybe because we're allowed to show so much more now on TV, the staid hand couldn't hope to pique anyone's interest in the way it used to.

But my childhood was filled with my brother and I mimicking those hand and arm movements. My parents bought a new VW bus, my brother swoops into the picture brushing his arm the length of the racing stripe down the side and finishing with a hand framing flourish around the VW insignia at the front of the van to family applause. We finally, at long last, years after all of our friends have gotten one, get a color TV, which I do a short spinning dance in front of and then lunge to the side with my arms lagging behind, framing the 16" TV screen with happy little jazz hands. It could be joyful. It could be sarcastic. It could be mean. But those movements we learned from glamorous, besequined women were a meaningful part of the anatomy of hand motions in my household growing up.

My mom was here visiting this last week while I recovered from surgery. But for one walk a day, I wasn't allowed to leave the house. So, we read and watched movies and talked and cooked, and I asked her to be my model for a load of mitts I have made to sell on Etsy. Bona fide hand modeling. . . and in the midst of it, she brought out some of the old moves we used when I was a kid.

It was one of the many reasons it was nice to have her here this last week and I miss her still.

Is that a mug?!?
That's a great mug!

Holy Cow! Frank Lloyd Wright was really talented!!

Flowers are so pretty! Oh man, did you see how pretty those were?

Nicely done, Mom. Nicely done.

Happiness

2011-07-20T10:38:00.005-05:00

Reading John Crowley's Little, Big and I love it so far.

Early on (because I'm only to page 70 at this point) one of the main characters, while falling off to sleep, imagined he saw a sampler in a tiny house nightlight that said:

The Things that Make us Happy
Make us Wise.

That is undoubtedly true. . . here are somethings that make me happy.

pretty street art + complimentary colors

complicated cloud formations

flowers that have people faces

the tidiness of farming

L.P. enjoying a rolled down window.

train stations that try harder than most

blurry photos that just give you the sense of a thing

My grandma used to say that happiness was "liking what you had to do." I think that is also wise.

Pesto Day

2011-07-19T18:24:00.003-05:00

We usually have a pesto making day a few times a summer. Early July, late August, and, if we're lucky, late September--however long it takes the basil plants to grow back every time we snip them down to their lowest few branches.

Mama--my nursemaid and companion after surgery--was nice enough to harvest the basil today, while I prepped everything inside for pesto making.

There's a recipe below, but I don't truly believe in pesto recipes. They're only ever there to give you a sense of what goes into a good pesto in general proportions. Because a pesto's ingredients are so few, how each ingredient tastes (and how those tastes vary widely between kinds of basil or garlic or types of olive oil or parmesan cheese) can change the pesto's final flavor drastically.

So, the recipe below is the basic, no fail recipe that will get you to a good balanced flavor, but then you should expect to add ingredients in small amounts to get to the flavor that you most prefer.

The two most important ingredients are basil (as fresh as humanly possible--right from the garden is best. Once basil leaves have been off the plant for more than 2-3 days, the flavor diminishes significantly and they should be discarded.)

And garlic. The garlic should be as fresh as possible as well. Older garlic tends to mellow, and since pesto is made to go on hot pasta, the heat of its final destination will mellow the garlic flavor a little. And I like my pesto to have some bite. Mama brought me fresh dug garlic from the farm in Cincinnati. . . lucky me.

And the garlic was soooooo pretty. I loved the purple inner papers.

Summer Pesto Recipe (makes 5 1/2-cup servings of pesto--or enough pesto for five pesto dinners for four people per dinner):

1 c. parmesan cheese (roughly chopped from a big block. get good cheese. it makes a difference.)
1 c. pinenuts
7 garlic cloves (or a whole medium sized head of garlic, peeled and smashed with the flat of your chef's knife)
8 c. basil leaves (preferrably sweet Italian basil)
3/4 c. + 1 T. olive oil (some people really care about the kind they use, but whatever flavor it could impart is pretty overwhelmed by the garlic and basil)
1/2 t. salt
5 turns of pepper grinder
1 t. honey (optional)

I suggest tasting as you go, so that you can get a sense of how each ingredient affects the flavor. But I usually put it together in this order: In a large food processor, pulse together the pine nuts, parmesan, and garlic until they look like cheaper parmesan shake-cheese you can still get at the grocery.

Then add basil with olive oil--you may have to do this addition in a few batches because the flat leaves take up a bunch of space. . . but hardly any once pulsed. So add a handful of leaves and some of the olive oil, pulse, repeat.

Definitely taste it at this point. If there's no bite from the garlic, you need to add more. If there's no nutty flavor, you will need to add more pinenuts. Then add the salt, pepper, and honey.

Honey is not a traditional ingredient of pesto and its purpose is not to make the pesto taste sweet. Both honey and molasses--much like salt--are excellent for making a thing taste rounder and more fully like itself. Trust me. Maybe make the pesto without honey, but then add a short drizzle to one half cup of it, mix it up and see whether you prefer it with or without.

We immediately put this pesto into small 1/2-cup tupperware containers and freeze them. I don't honestly know how long its advisable to keep them once frozen. But we have certainly thawed them out in early March the following year and found it to be just as good and tasty as it was the previous summer. And man, in the winter doldrums of early March in Chicago, nothing is better than eating food that tastes so green and homegrown to chase the blues away.

Recovery & Rehab

2011-07-18T15:34:00.004-05:00

So, the big surgery is out of the way, and I'm now in recovery. My back hurts, but I'm meant to walk about as much as I can. These first few days, I've decided that's mostly scuffing around the house, in combination with one big walk a day(I'm only allowed to use stairs once a day, so. . . not a lot of other choices).

Mama is in town to take care of me, and so we used Freddie's ridiculously yummy ices as a draw for the walk midway point. I had lemon. She had raspberry.

And then on the walk home, we took a slow-mo gander at all of the neighborhood roses. . .

It's a little over half a mile one way. And so now, I'm bushed. But the ice was totally worth it!

Oh, the Cuteness

2011-07-09T08:35:00.004-05:00

Trolling through Etsy this morning and very early on I found Runaway Dreams--a shop run by Julia and David, two artists in love in Mexico City. And their work is so cute it makes me want to chew my own arm off.

See:

"I'm floating" (Is it wrong to love that his balloon is tied to his hand rather than him holding on to it? It's kind of a creepy cute touch that I adore. . . )

"Getting ready for the party"

"Marcel--the mushroom collector"

Marcel apparently collects mushrooms for his girlfriend. I can hardly take it.

I wish there was a children's book starring the little hairy critters. I would surely by it--good story or no.

Check out their work on etsy at runawaydreams.

4th

2011-07-05T10:27:00.005-05:00

Our buddies Jess and Jett joined us for our yearly Cicero 4th of July. Just the four of us this year because I need to keep things small and manageable. Maybe next year, we'll throw a real blow out.

Dan grilled burgers to go with broccoli salad and baked beans. . .

And there was cake. . .

And the night sky and Cicero provided the rest. . .

Marketing I Can Get Behind

2011-07-04T10:21:00.003-05:00

I love finding original product images on etsy--not just the typical object perfectly lit against white or gray or other solid color background. The off kilter images are the ones that catch my eye and make me want to find out more about what the artist is doing.

So, today, I'm posting images from bless that dress's etsy shop. All of the images I'm posting here are images this fun shop from Spain is using to sell clothing. These skirts aren't my size, but if they were, these photos would undoubtedly have sold me.

I love that the images are beautiful and sort of nostalgic while also being pretty dark. . .

What is that. . . mustard gas? I'm completely jealous of these photo shoots.

On top of that, she's selling some pretty cute clothes! Go check it out.

Patterns 2: Counting

2011-07-02T18:20:00.005-05:00

It's seriously the first pattern I remember actually having to learn--Counting 1-10. I guess the alphabet was next. Once you know them, it seems so logical, like it's always been there in the world and your head. Neither of which, of course, is true, which makes both knowing the numbers and the letters a little like magic.

What's equally magical is how hard it is to remember the challenge of learning your numbers or letters, though my friend Casey's son Ben reminded me one visit home to Cincinnati. Just learning his alphabet by singing the song at, I don't know, three-years-old? And he hadn't made it very far, so he sang, "A, B, C, D, E, F, Mommy. Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy. . . . " and so on through the entire length of the melody. Melody is apparently easier than both letters or numbers (even though it involves both).

Ridiculously cute and it also brought back all of those sessions in school learning how to write and read and becoming citizens in this weird patterned and coded world of adults.

But here's a little extra cuteness to round this out.

Prettiest Broccoli Ever

2011-07-02T18:16:00.003-05:00

Courtesy of the Oak Park Farmer's Market. . .

Just didn't want you to miss it. . .

Patterns One: Heart Beat

2011-06-30T08:10:00.004-05:00

One of the patterns that is at the very center of our lives is the beat of the heart. Yesterday, I had a stress test in prep for surgery next week and I was surprised by how changeable it was. I have always thought of it as a very steady beat like a metronome. But as I sat perfectly still having images of my heart taken, my heart was steady and slow as I exhaled, and then speedier when I inhaled. And in a doctor's office far north of the city, sitting in room after room for solitary tests that took fifteen minutes at a time, in a hospital run by folks who seemed to care only about the expensive equipment they were running (ugly ugly rooms, with old broken things heaped on counters at the edges of rooms, no art anywhere to speak of, the only thing breaking up the expanse of drab cream colored walls that I had to stare at interminably were wide cracks in the plaster), I had a lot of time to focus on my beating heart.

Boring, grim stuff. . . but then in the middle of that boredom, I remembered the story of Ann Druyan's part in putting together the Voyager Golden Record for both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. She was part of a group of scientists (including, of course, Carl Sagan), who selected music, speeches, and sounds to record and then send into space as a representation of humankind. Heady work. And during the course of that work, she fell in love with Sagan--and him with her. Nearing the end of the project, they admitted their love for one another by getting engaged over the phone. Before their first date. Before even their first kiss. They just knew.

A few days later, Druyan was having all of the electrical impulses of her body recorded and converted to sound to include as a human physiological orchestra to include on the Voyager Golden Record--her heart beat, brainwaves, breathing. . . But those sounds were also the sounds of a woman in the new flush of love. And that's the record of human life that we have sent into the void in the hopes of intelligent life finding it and knowing us.

Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and the heart beat of a woman in love.

There's a pretty great piece about this in the Radiolab archives. It's a story that makes me teary-eyed every time I hear it. And it was a comfort to me yesterday while listening to the beepings of machines and staring at blank hospital walls.

Patterns

2011-06-27T16:53:00.002-05:00

I think we all know that life hands us lemons from time to time. I think we also know that it's our job to do our best to turn those lemons into lemonade. Well, I'm having a rough week. And I imagine a few tough ones to come.

So, I've decided to think about patterns. Our lives are made of patterns--large and small--the patterns of our daily lives scheduled around family or work. The patterns of sounds we hear in the tiny worlds around us (i.e. I can expect 9 months out of the year to hear the kids at the school bus stop on the corner in the mornings chattering their ways into their mornings or during the summer months to hear the ice cream truck and its happy/sad clown song to wend in soft and loud concentric circles around the neighborhood streets calling out to children). The patterns of the growing season--berries and asparagus in the spring, tomatoes and squash and peppers in the summer, apples and winter squash in the fall. Or small things--like the patterns of footsteps of the people we love and knowing which one of them is coming by the sound of their particular pattern of footfall before they appear in your doorway. And on and on. . .

And so, posts for a few days (or longer?) about patterns to help me get over the hump. Maybe you, too? That would be nice. . .

Chicago Tourist

2011-06-26T16:42:00.009-05:00

Dan's mom is in town this weekend. I love having people visit, because it reminds us to be tourists in Oak Park and Chicago. And since the last two days have been gorgeous--mid-70's and blue skies as far as the eye can see--it's been an extra delight.

Dan took Mom to see Frank Lloyd Wright homes yesterday. Today, we took the train in to the city to see the Millennium Park and the Art Institute--and took an impromptu side trip to the Cultural Center along the way.

the world's largest Tiffany dome. . . in my town!

That's Susan and me a little right of center, reflected in the Bean. I have on a red top with my hand up in the air.

This was Susan's favorite building, the pointy roof on the right. There's a wide porch at the top of the building covered by striped fabric awnings that were rippling in the breeze off the lake. Susan and I have decided to purchase the penthouse, and then you can come and visit next summer!

Noon time concert in the park. The band was half-surf rock band and half klezmer band.

Lurie Garden in all of its summer glory.

This building on the northside of the train on the way home. Abandoned industrial building covered in festive graffiti that almost made it look like something was happening there. An urban circus?

Anniversaire

2011-06-25T16:49:00.004-05:00

Daniel and I have been married for six years--as of a few weeks ago. This has been an odd and busy late spring-early summer, so we celebrated off schedule when time permitted. It's our day, after all, so we celebrate as we see fit.

I almost argued for end of summer, after my surgery and rehab, when we could literally do anything at all. . . but then friends were playing at Space and we got a taste for tapas and the small gifts had already been purchased. . .

Happy 6th, D! I feel lucky every day.

small yard

2011-06-25T15:24:00.006-05:00

Dan and I have a tiny urban bungalow yard. But I have big gardening dreams--in which I manage to have both beautiful flowers, interesting foliage plants, and produce loads of food to eat all summer long. It's hard to fit all of those big hopes into one small yard, and while I'm not quite successful yet, with the help of container planting and some vertical growing, I am fitting a fair amount in.

Herbs: sage, oregano, parsley, tarragon, rosemary, basil, dill, cilantro, and chives (and unwanted invasive mint)

Veg: 4 kinds of tomatoes, serrano chilis, thai chilis, yellow squash, two kinds of green squash, green bush beans, yellow bush beans, some kind of heirloom italian bean, 3 kinds of pole beans (Scarlet, Kentucky Blue, and Hyacinth).

Edible Flowers: Nasturtium (several kinds), Marigolds

Fruit?: rhubarb, six apple trees, though we've only gotten two apples off of them so far.

Decorative plants: iris, magnolia bush, hydrangea, wisteria, hosta (loads--mostly in front of the house), lilac, peony, lilies, lamb's ears, ornamental grass, two evergreen shrubs and three bride's veil bushes.

Now that I write it all down. . . that's pretty impressive. But as I think many gardeners feel, it's still not good enough. I want it to be a bit prettier and I want a bit more variety.

je t'adore

2011-06-12T16:37:00.004-05:00

Kid Francescoli's One Moment. Something about this video makes me so happy.

Letty

2011-06-05T10:52:00.002-05:00

New to the fivetrees shop today--a brightly colored mouse named Letty.
I lover her tiny noggin and her orange and pink sweater.
I think more things in the world should be pink and orange.

Peony Season

2011-06-05T10:26:00.004-05:00

My mama helped me take a divide of one of our ancient peony plants from Carriage House Farms LLC. It's taken them a few years to get accustomed to Cicero, but now I get pretty bouquets! They're especially pretty paired with lamb's ears cuttings.

harinezumi + gardens

2011-06-02T08:30:00.002-05:00

Everything looks a little dreamier and more nostalgic through the lens of a harinezumi 2++.

Beans

2011-06-02T07:38:00.003-05:00

After a few days of rain intermingled with a few hot sunny days, the beans are coming up. So exciting. I think just germinating seeds are incredibly cute. Is that strange? I hate the idea of "thinning" them and so rarely do. That would be like culling puppies (okay, well, not just like, but. . . ). The tiny plants are so filled with energy and promise. And this year, if I get enough beans, I'm going to can! Dilly Beans! Spicy pickled beans! Watch out!

Summer

2011-06-02T07:24:00.003-05:00

It's summer in Chicago. And if you've never lived in Chicago through all four seasons, you might not know that Chicago is the best place in the world to spend summer. We really earn the summer months and we take the season seriously. Everyone bikes and lazes on the beaches and spends long evening hours in Grant Park listening to free live music or playing in the fountains or tangoing/merenguing/waltzing through Dance Chicago. The first warm day arrives and it feels like the population of the city quadruples as everyone pours into the streets to enjoy the weather.

And there is an unusual mix of the everyday hustle and bustle of one of the hardest working cities in the world and a beach geography that juxtapose really beautifully. When I was a kid on vacation at the beach with my parents, there were things we commented on every year that we loved: the seagulls, the seafood, the smell of the ocean, the ocean sky. I get the first and the last all summer long in Chicago--seagulls and their plaintive calls that sound like summer and the vast multi-cloud layered expanse of sky out over the lake to the east and the plains to the west that is just as open and complex as the sky over the Atlantic.

It's nice to settle in to the best season of the year in the best city in the country. . .

Tiny Clothes

2011-05-31T12:30:00.004-05:00

I was sick all Memorial Day weekend. Had one extra day today. I slept a lot, read a lot, and made a few things--including tiny clothes for new tiny friends to be added to the fivetrees shop soon.

Pink and orange. . . more things ought to be pink and orange. It's such a lovely combination.

I love this tiny cardigan.

Two boy pants, one girl pant and one pair of pants suitable for a carnie. Which is which? Hmmmmm. . .

Getting Better Every Day

2011-05-22T21:16:00.003-05:00

The northeast corner of our property. A tiny apple tree and lots of hostas.

Today I added loads of flowers to the garden . They're hard to see right now, but they're going to grow big and fat and then this garden will be full of green and purple and red and blue and yellow and white. And I will show you another picture then. . .

Three Spirea Bouquets

2011-05-22T20:50:00.002-05:00

Little kiddies have been stealing the low hanging blooms on our spirea bushes, and it occurred to me that I should do the same. Don't know why it took four years to consider bringing in spirea blooms for bouquets in the house. . .

small

medium

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Happy Spring!

Manifest 4--Convergence

2011-05-16T11:10:00.011-05:00

Convergence is the final huge event of the day. A gift to our seniors of spectacle and beautiful strangeness in partnership with Redmoon Theater.

everyone under a giant tent waiting for the party to start. giant red and white balloons come in first, pulled along by costumed folks. From each balloon hangs a little clear cornucopia speaker that's droning on about birds and history and and and. . .

followed by a costumed DJ being rolled in at the start of a procession of bird priests (from the labyrinth I posted earlier) and other costumed folks. They stopped briefly to hand gifts to our professional and student honorees.

An announcer on stage kicks everything off officially, followed by an announcement from. . .

a giant red phonograph that lets us know that we are descendants of the birds. . .

followed by first a song through electronic megaphones and then a joyful dance by a flock of turquoise mo-hawked birds. . . but then, what's that singing behind us?

An opera singer playing the part of the Phoenix, singing on a platform 15 feet above the crowd in a costume that would make Wagner proud.

And as her song starts to wind down, a young gentleman is wheeled into the midst of the crowd, balancing on the end of an extendable hook and ladder.

And when that hook and ladder extends and raises up into the air and he drops down a length of white silk, a young woman from the audience climbs it and starts performing a kind of aerial ballet beneath him (It's totally fair at this point to assume that I am having trouble taking pictures while simultaneously tearing up and trying to clap my hands together like a little gleeful kid at the circus).

He's falling in love with her and pulls her up on to the ladder with him. Where he chases and woos her, until. . .

they perform acrobatics below the ladder together and finally. . .

kiss and fall in love. (The crowd literally melted down with delight).

And then the tent goes dark while the two lovers watch the raising of the ceremonial star that signifies all of Manifest and the passion and heat and creativity of Columbia students.

I think it's fair to say that no college anywhere in the world gives a larger or more impressive gift to their graduating seniors than Columbia. . . that's probably true in part because no other college produces a more diverse, engaging, creative bunch of graduates anywhere in the world.

(And Convergence isn't the big party for grads in the Hilton that follows this. . . and isn't even the spectacle that is graduation the following two days. We're serious. . . )

Go Columbia! Go Art!

Manifest 3

2011-05-16T08:31:00.005-05:00

There's so much great artwork to see and hear at Manifest--In a seven hour period (11AM to 6PM), something like 110 different activities happen.

I went to a lot of it--or maybe a third of it, which is still a lot of it--but mostly what I took pictures of was performance art. I'm not usually a performance art gal, but everything that was happening on the street this year was so much fun!

The Grad golf game was pretty much performance art. . . and then right up the street was this event.

It's a labyrinth that spectators are led through by bird priests. The participant wrote their best idea on a piece of paper and at the center of the labyrinth, through an elaborate ritual, the participant's best idea if burned to make space for new ideas. It was weird and charming and perfect.

In 623 S. Wabash, there was another Grad performance: "No Sweat". Students revolved between the four canvases, using work out routines to make art on the canvases. There was a coach sitting in the chair in the foreground who would spur them on and the teammates would consistently cheer each other on as well. It was very funny. . . and I'm sure there are plenty of artists who wished that art-making was this communal and supportive.

Double Rainbow!!!!! Right around the corner, my friends Joe and Jill were heading out to walk about campus as a double-rainbow. They were headed away, but took very little coaxing to turn around and come back for a picture.

And I don't know that anyone would call this "performance art," but A+D throws an art car derby every year. It reminds me of the all of the Cub Scout Derby's I went to as a kid with my family. But I was able to catch a snippet of the final match between the possible winners of the derby.

The cute red scooter for the win!

Manifest 2

2011-05-15T19:47:00.006-05:00

At the kick-off, students competed for $500 in a hack-your-t-shirt competition. I hack my t-shirt every year, and I like to think that I inspired this. . .

Theatre students at the start of what can only be called the prettiest and most joyfullest kick-off to Manifest in its ten year history.

This was my favorite piece in the Book and Paper Arts gallery. . . A gorgeous handmade map of the world made of handmade paper. . .

The PGA (Please Generate Art) a "putt-putt golf course" built by Columbia Graduate Students. I think I hit a ball once and the rest was more like an art/golf course-themed maze. . . like a haunted house, but not scary? It was great. Giant rats, trees filled with legs, a room teeming with dancers, wrapping up in a tea party and a chance to add to a giant painting. It was funny and clever and well put together.

Manifest

2011-05-15T19:28:00.004-05:00

Such a great day that I will have to divide it up across a few posts. Early morning, just bouncing around watching prep for the big festival, watching the crowds build, catching a quick coffee and danish with my professional photographer until kick off at noon.

Below is Maggie Sichter (please, someone, if I am wrong about this, please correct me, but I'm 98% sure it's her). Maggie is the young woman who was chosen to do all of the print design for this year's Manifest. She proposed an initial idea. The campus voted and chose her vision. And then she worked with the in-house graphic design office to spin the idea out into multiple posters, printed invitations, giant banners, pins, magnets, t-shirts. It's an honor, and a lot of work and Maggie did an amazing job--right down to hand branding the windows of 623 S. Wabash the morning of. . .

Once done painting, she hung paint soaked silk panels to finish the design. She's just ridiculously talented, Ms. Sichter.

This next pic. . . Who are you lacey-legged, bird-feathered hat, blue-haired cutie sitting outside the IAM Bitmap show? Do I or do I not see you at every Manifest? Should I know your name? Please, say hello to me one of these days and clear up the mystery. . .

To my great delight, one of the first speakers at kick-off was CeCe--a young woman who I met first in the Behind the Curtains class of High School Summer Institute. I think she may be one of my very first graduates from HSSI. I believe she participated the first year I was in charge of it and she just graduated from college this weekend. I'm so thrilled proud of her. . .

Industry Night

2011-05-15T11:38:00.003-05:00

No real pictures of Industry Night--though it was fabulous. I was out with visiting high school guidance counselors and arts teachers showing off the event and all of our visual artists' work to our guests. But I was able to take a second to sit down and relax my back and feet and notice how beautiful the city and the weather was being.

Our students, faculty and staff at Columbia College work incredibly hard to put on Manifest, and the day is a celebration of that hard work and the innovation and creativity of the community. But the strange magic of the day wouldn't be the same without its cropping up in Chicago.

Manifest Emissaries

2011-05-15T11:20:00.005-05:00

Last year, in lead up to Manifest to the hooligans running around building anticipation were Magritte inspired, colorfully-vested, trench-coated, bowler-hatted pranksters.

This year, they were more sober, steam-punkish, hard-working folks. Two to three khaki enrobed workers dragging around a wheeled desk in which cardboard eggs and typewriter were nestled in live grass. On a pedestal above--a red emergency phone and a Chinese lantern. And always, following in their wake, a darkly dressed gentleman taking notes and speaking into a small recording device, investigating their work. . .

Why is he so disapproving?

I love it. . .

Comedy Studies

2011-05-15T09:18:00.006-05:00

This past Tuesday, Dan went with me to kick off a little early Manifest fun.

Columbia has been running the leading "study abroad" program in ensemble improv comedy training on site at the Second City, taught by their gifted training faculty and called "Comedy Studies." As a capstone project of the semester-long program, the students put on two nights of shows for friends, family and the public on Second City's ETC Stage.

I've tried to make it to most of the final performances. I missed them for the first few years, but have been going every semester since. . . because the Comedy Studies students are ridiculously funny. Their work is savvy and smart and witty and a little vulgar (which I love, because they're not just making me laugh. . . their parents are there, too).

My favorite piece this year, was a song called "Ambiguously Asian."

And every year, Jason who works for the Second City and the program brings me a ridiculous drink. I do a little paperwork for the program and it's incredibly nice for Jason to reward me with far too much garnish.

One of the Best Weeks of the Year

2011-05-15T08:29:00.005-05:00

Blog-wise, I usually get out ahead of this each year, but it's been an really busy spring. Anyhoo, this past week was one of my most favorite of the year--the week that ends in Columbia College Chicago's Manifest.

It's a magical week on campus--students are wrapping up their finals, seniors are dreaming about graduation, street art and performance art starts to crop up around campus. And we had the added bonus of hot sunny weather almost the entire last week.

The first thing I saw that let me know Manifest was gearing up was this great installation by (don't fret.). Super talented wheat paste artist that Columbia gave a wall to play on. Obviously, he doesn't need to be given a wall. His job is to find walls and take them over. But I think it's a lovely testament to the college's dedication to all forms of art that we invited him to do his thing on one of our buildings!

Beautiful Day + Log

2011-05-08T22:32:00.004-05:00

This spring has been a cold and rainy one in Chicago. But last weekend we had a sunny day and again today, a sunny day. And it was in the low 70's. So, I took my bad back outside into the sun and did a little yard work (emphasis on the "little"). One thing I did do? Cut a few non-magnolia stumps out of our pretty magnolia bush.

And then L.P. went to town on the tiny stumpy logs.

L.P. had the best day of any dog in town today. No contest. Don't even try, other dogs, because L.P. loved that log. . .

It Doesn't Look Like Much Yet. . .

2011-05-01T18:57:00.003-05:00

But you just wait, the front of our house is going to look better in a month or two. And in 2-4 years, it's going to be the envy of the block!

But for now, it looks like this ("Hi!" to Dan waving from the back yard):

I have this terrible habit of imagining what a garden spot could look like in ten years, and then planting that garden immediately. That's not really how gardens work. Nevertheless, I imagined the northeast corner of our our lot being a shady, sun-dappled little glen--with a dwarf, gnarled, apple-tree as the center piece, with hostas and lily-of-the-valley growing blue and green and gold in its shade.

But the apple tree is a stick and won't be much more than that for another year or two. Regardless, with the image of a wooded glen in mind, last year, I immediately planted hostas and lily of the valley right up against the sidewalk--which is a pretty sunny place. Dumb.

So, I moved some things around today. I moved hostas back into the shade of the house--some lilies, too. And a huge rhubarb plant came with the house when we bought it. It was a giant monster in the backyard, and looking at it, I realized it's easily 6-7 rhubarb plants trapped in a tight spot growing on top of each other. So, I divided two off and have planted them in the front yard. They look sad right now, but they'll perk up! (fingers crossed!)

The neighbors have pretty tulips blooming in their front yard right now--the red with black center of poppies. . .

And the backyard got some love today, too. Dan cleared out old leaves and did some weeding. And I have filled loads of containers with new dirt and seeds. In a few weeks, I hope to see the start of hot pepper plants and nasturtiums and zucchini.

Casey Riordan Millard

2011-05-01T17:53:00.003-05:00

Went for a second view of my best friend Casey Riordan Millard's show at the Schopf Packer Gallery in the west loop of Chicago. Her work is as brilliant as ever--pretty (like hardcore schoolgirl-in-pigtails-crinoline-and-patent-leather-shoes pretty), and gorgeously executed and sad. If you haven't seen her work before, you're missing out.

Check out her website: caseyriordanmillard.com

This is my favorite piece of hers. . . ever: "Shark Girl Riding Blue Bird"

New Critters

2011-05-01T17:46:00.003-05:00

They need pants or skirts or something, but they're hanging around my office at home until I figure out the plan. . .

I love this little girl's bell-shaped sweater. She will need, I think, a similarly full sweet skirt to go with.

Our House is Naked!!!!

2011-04-17T17:21:00.003-05:00

At long last, our house has a face for the first time since we're owned it. As it turns out, it's a vaguely sad unkempt face that needs some painting and cosmetic attention--but how is one to know until one cuts the bangs and really takes stock?!?

Here's what the house looked like just two days ago. . .

My folks came up to visit and Dad gave Dan Tree-Cutting 101-classes in the front yard. And at long last those durn trees are gone gone gone.

(That's the house, Dan, Mom and Dad. . . Dad was being shy, though, and camouflaged himself as the old trees. See close-up below:)

I have plans for the front yard garden-wise. I won't leave it looking like that forever. There's a spirea at the corner that has to go and we have to grind down the remaining tree stumps. After that, though, I am going to plant 2-3 colonnade apple trees, a hydrangea and a big old-fashioned lilac. Whatever space is left over will get filled with some perennial herbs, irises, lamb's ears and any thing else I can think of that my mama and grandma grew when I was a kid (black-eyed susans? hollyhocks? snapdragons?)

Easter and Passover Season

2011-04-17T16:58:00.003-05:00

I'm not a very religious person. I was raised Presbyterian and was active in church until I fell away in my angry teen years--but more than any other season of the year, spring still seems attached to religion and the food that is attached to religious communities.

April pops up and every year, I get a yearning for hot cross buns, delicately poached fish on fridays, and homemade matzos ball soup (raised Presbyterian, but close friends all through childhood with loads of folks from the Catholic and Jewish communities of Cincinnati. Most closely tied to the Jewish community, though, as if the German-ness of both Presbys and Jews was the tie that bound us together in a German German German town).

I am also the daughter of both a gardening tribe (Hi, Mom's people!) and a farming tribe (Hey, Pop's peeps!) And so Spring is a season of hopeful, simple, ridiculously yummy food. Sweet sugar snap peas everywhere. The first fresh herbs of the season (sage, thyme, parsley, oregano, chives) showing up in pale flavor-rich soups and simple bean dishes.

My first venture into the new season:

The strength of this matzos ball soup was the broth--some homemade, some storebought, but all combined and recooked for an hour or so with a few pieces of garlic, bay leaves, celery leaves, peppercorns and a handful of uncut carrots. Ridiculous. The matzos balls could have been a little more flavorful and will be next time. . . but topped off with fresh parsley from the garden, it was pretty great anyway. . .

Brigid

2011-03-20T18:20:00.002-05:00

New at my fivetrees etsy shop. . . Miss Brigid!

Organizing

2011-03-20T13:48:00.003-05:00

I've been sick for days and days. The longest I've been sick for a while--and between napping and napping and napping, I kept waking worried about work or thinking about projects I wanted to start.

So, yesterday, as the illness was beginning to relent, I whipped together a needle case for all of the my double-pointed knitting needles. My aunt gave me a needle holder years ago, which I love and use all of the time, but it officially doesn't have enough space for both single and double points.

So, here's the new concoction:

Neatly bundled up. . . but rolled out to total width, it's about 42 inches long. That's more space than I really need for knitting needles, but my collection seems to keep growing.

Not a very difficult project and I still had to take breaks throughout the day to nap between steps. Being sick is so strange. But having a new needle case is lovely. . .

Bertram

2011-03-13T22:05:00.001-05:00

New pachyderm at fivetrees + a few other new toys appearing soon.

2011-03-13T22:01:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I wish I could read his mind. . .

Other times, I wish I could escape into his noggin and think the way he does. The world is a rough place right now. There's way too much to think about, worry about, get worked up about. But this little guy pretty much just worries about meals and who's going to throw the ball for him next.

What's a Birthday Without Decorations?

2011-02-21T20:01:00.002-06:00

My man and his twin brother are having a big birthday soon, and we're lucky enough to get the brother in town to celebrate. So, I figured, beyond the usual oodles of party food, I probably needed to make some decorations for the big day. . .

So far, with 4 slim packs of paper and one extra sheet of scrapbooking paper, I have made three very long garlands and a whole host of 3-d decorations. If I had more time, I could make twice that for the party. . . Paper is awesome.