We steer clear of old-fashioned umbrellas with a curved handle because we can’t stand carrying one more thing in our hands; we opt for a big pop-out folding Totes Golf Size umbrella. THEN we saw this elegant man strolling in lower Manhattan the other day, his big classic umbrella hooked on his back between vest and…
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At Remodelista house tour recently, we spotted this this wonderful detail in the Paris home/studio of architect Nicolas Soulier and artist Cécile Daladier: A table made of a custom molded slab of concrete on steel tubing base, with a charming Ikebana-inspired vase inset for Cécile’s flowers. Ingenious, unexpected and charming.
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Rainy days always slow me down and tuck me in, seducing me to perform unnecessary housekeeping chores unimaginable in bright sun. When my ancient, duct-taped, binder of recipes tumbled off the top of the fridge in a splat of disorganization, I remanded it to the top of the clothes dryer. Now, a few drops of…
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This image from Elle Decoration reminded us of the wonderful design of the ubiquitous tin can once it’s label is torn off. They really do make great vessels. Tin cans must be in the wind. Yesterday, we came across these zinc chic-ed up can vessels for sale at Anthropolgie.
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Three years ago, we posted about Anne Herbert, the mysterious writer of Peace and Love and Noticing the Details, a blog that presented haiku-like shifts of view of the the most ordinary things. Herbert is also known for having come up with the brilliant, radical philosophy: ‘Practice Random Kindness & Senseless Acts of Beauty‘, which eventually…
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A few weeks ago, we wrote about our bistro table hunt, and our dilemma whether to go with the name brand Fermob or a cheap knock-off. While we weighed the pros and cons of each as well as our reader’s thoughtful comments, we periodically surfed the net to see what other possibilities or info we…
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To give his quadriplegic friend, Pascale Honore, the experience of surfing, Ty Swan, rigged a simple Kmart backpack (with leg holes cut out) to be a harness with which he could carry Pascale. Then he strapped her onto his back with duct tape. The video, pure gumption, valor and generosity, had us in tears. Said Swan:…
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BACK!! Thank you for bearing with ‘improvised life’ while I took time off to… sleep late nap wander cook sit on the terrace and LOOK
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(Video link here.) One of the things Designer Stefan Sagmeister is known for is the seemingly radical act of taking a year long sabbatical every seven years to refresh his creative self and explore projects freely. He has much to say about sabbaticals. Our favorite bit: How important do you think a sabbatical is for…
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This Memorial Day weekend has us thinking about extraordinary friends who have passed away over the years, and the many gifts and resonances they left behind. For us, Memorial Day becomes Memory Day, rich with memories of lives lived BIG and generously. Each of the people we remember was completely unique, one-of-a-kind, original and taught…
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Maria’s Robledo‘s instagram of ramps reminds us that the wild leek that grows throughout the Appalachian and Catsill mountains in spring won’t be around much longer. Like many truly wild foods, they possess mighty powers to fortify the body and lift the spirit. Buy ’em while you can get them. If they’re in good shape,…
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(Video link here.) Balance is a mesmerizing video of Rigolo Swiss Nouveau Cirque artist Maedir Eugster, creator and master of the “palm rib balance”, in which he builds a living mobile out of palm ribs and a single feather. It had to have been carefully plotted (the palm ribs appear to be notched) and rehearsed over and…
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I see these outdoor junkyard tubs featured here and there, but I liked the rustic simplicity of this one, from a diy featured at Houzz: salvage transformed into elemental luxury. We had one years ago on our back deck in Malibu. I found an old tub for $5 in a junk yard with a flaking ocean…
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If you like, skip the stilted, overlong 2:22 minute set-up of this video about the food International Space Station astronauts eat…Jump right to 2:23 and Momofuku chef David Chang improvising with pouches of freeze dried shrimp, asaparagus and cheese grits (among other things) in an attempt to jazz up the fare for astronaut Chris Hadfield. It…
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While walking in the park across the way, I passed a tree stump left behind after Hurricane Sandy. Overwhelmed with fallen trees, the Parks Department had done their best to remove the huge tree bodies with chain saws that struggled against massive trunks; the cuts were often roughly-made or incomplete like this one: a tusk…
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Recently, we went looking for a 24-inch round metal bistro table for our Harlem terrace and hit a dilemma: whether to buy the pricey classic Fermob table (top photo), made in France, (THE table used in many public spaces), whose durable finish we’ve tested in the guise of a rectangular table we’ve stored outdoors for 2…
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(Video link here.) Paulo Goldstein sees himself as a craftsman in his approach to repair. It seems to us, he has the viewpoint of an artist, and certainly his repairs reflect a rare sensibility. We found this short video incredibly illuminating, for the many levels of living he addresses. Here’s the gist, but there’s way…
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Wish you could create a rooftop vegetable garden like Chef J.W. Foster of the Fairmont Hotel, in San Francisco? Get yourself a copy of Lauren Mandel’s EAT UP: The Inside Scoop on Rooftop Agriculture.
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There is something really charming about the patches of “freesyle” painting on the entranceway walls of this Los Angeles home. It “breaks” the expected symmetry in a lovely way. (And we have a thing for breaking with the expected…) From Freestyle: New Architecture and Interior Design from Los Angeles, 1986 via An Ambitious Project Collapsing Related…
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(Video link here.) We’ve written in the past about the virtues of hula-hooping as exercise. But we’ve never seen SUCH an inspiring example as Grace Jones, age 65-ish, performing Slave to the Rhythm at Roseland. Amazing body, energy, joy… If you crank the music up and have a hula hoop on hand (or just feel like…
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