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Category: Hunting and Gathering

  • New Glasses and a Concert

    I picked up my new glasses yesterday afternoon.  That isn't really where I planned on starting, but it is probably the most important event.  I knew I couldn't see well, but I didn't really appreciate how badly I saw until I put my new glasses on and the world suddenly snapped into focus.  Putting them on I was transported to the day I wore my first pair of glasses.  I was 21 and I looked out my dormitory window completely entranced by the details of the leaves on the trees, rather than the impressionistic, late Monet view of the world that I had previously experienced.  The change wasn't that dramatic, but it was enough of a change that I really noticed the details and even the familiar drive home seemed new.

     

      IMG_4588 George took this picture of me with new glasses while I was taking a break from putting up bookshelves and moving books yesterday.  It is not a particularly glamorous shot, but hey, new glasses were worth running out for even if I was dressed for shelf building not shopping. I had originally toyed with the idea of going into NYC for fancy glasses, but when I learned that my stronger eye saw better without my glasses than with them, I knew I just needed glasses ASAP and I am really happy with this pair.

     

    What I wore:

    New glasses by Lindberg

    Ancient sweatshirt picked up when I was shopping at Ross Dress for Less with my sister-in-law Ann, who passed away last year, which makes this a priceless part of my wardrobe.

    Cartier hoop earrings purchased from Beladora last year.  These have become my standard wear with everything earrings, the ones I wear with jeans or chinos, or whenever I don't know what else to wear.  I suspect they fill the role that diamond studs are supposed to fill, but I learned that I am just not a diamond stud kind of woman.

     

    Hochman On Sunday George and I went to a piano recital in Beacon, part of a series we had attended for years prior to this year, and we had a wonderful time.  I was thrilled that he wanted to go, as I have been torn between wanting to go to the concerts and feeling somehow that leaving him behind would be disloyal, especially considering how much we used to enjoy going to conerts together. 

     

    A month ago he never wanted to go to a concert again, but then one day something clicked, and his attitude changed.  The entire concert was gorgeous, but the high point, as far as I was concerned,  was the Schumann Arabeske, which was just tender and beautiful and filled with yearning.  The program notes said it was militant in places, but I didn't get that  out of the piece, just exquisite tenderness alternating with deep longing and yearning, which was almost overwhelmingly palpable, but not militant.  I wonder how much what we experience from music depends on our own emotional states and readiness or lack of readiness for a particular feeling.  Increasingly I think these things are open to interpretation, but then again I wonder if this is just ignorance of musical theory on my part.

     

    G was focused and attentive and great company and we had a wonderful time.  It was sweet being with him, much like it used to be years ago, before he started to get somewhat restive in concerts.  It made me very happy.  Afterwards we got soaked in the pouring rain as we didn't quite manage to run to the car, and then we went out for Mexican food.  We shared an order of guacamole, after which G had enchiladas de mole and I had my favorite succulent slow-roasted pork, cochinita pibil.  By the time we got home, after another slow-motion attempt at a mad dash through the freezing rain, we were cold and wet so we just put on jammies and cuddled on the sofa watching mindless silly TV (Journey to the Center of the Earth) which seemed like a fitting end to a lovely day.

     

     

  • Statement Rings

    IMG_4457 I've been looking at Wendy Brandes' Swear Rings for some time but never really managed to actually buy them.  I figured they were too trendy,  too young, and I was counting my pennies for some more serious jewelry.

     

    But I am not really a serious jewelry person, or at least I am not really a person who wears jewelry seriously.  Really, life is too short not to have some fun.  So this week I finally broke down and ordered them.

     

    When I picked up the mail yesterday I was excited to see the box from Wendy and I practically ripped it open as I walked to my car.  I did wait until I got in the car to actually open it as there was enough slush and piles of snow and ice to negotiate without crawling around looking for lost jewelry, but as soon as the box was open, these rings were on my hand.  

    IMG_4499 Sometimes I gal's just gotta make a statement.  What surprised me is how happy the rings make me, just wearing them brings a bit of a smile to face.  

    Since you can't really see them well in the first photo, G managed to snap another picture as I was heading out the door to knitting.  I think they go particularly well with pearls.  

  • A New Wallet

    The expedition was fabulous.  I did spend time in the yarn market.  I did meet friends, both anticipated and unanticipated.  I should have realized how many people I knew who would be there and made more of an effort.  So if I missed you I am sorry and I would have loved to meet.  I should have registered and decided to stay for a longer period as soon as I knew that my life had changed and that attending might even enter the realm of possibility late last fall.  But my mind was not working on that kind of schedule.

     

    And yes, I did buy yarn, but more on that another time.

     

    I was possessed with other ideas and other ambitions and so I pulled myself away from the market in the early afternoon in order to allow myself to wander and to shop.  My primary goal was to visit several stores in search of a new bag, but there were a few extras on my list as well, one of which was a new wallet.  

     

    Did I need a wallet?  Technically, no.  Notice the part where I wrote "technically".  I had a wallet.  Notice the past tense.  Now I have two wallets, but one is on its way out the door, as soon as I decide which door it is going through.  

     

    IMG_4425 My previous wallet was perfectly functional and in good shape. It was well made and still looks fabulous after two years of constant use.  But it was too big.  I felt lost in it.  Too many pockets, too many card slots.  I couldn't find anything and I kept reorganizing it hoping to make it work better but only managing to confuse myself further.  It was time.

     

    The new wallet is only slightly smaller, but it is perfect in every way, including the luscious blue color. Although I didn't know what wallet I wanted, I knew where to look:  Bottega Veneta.  I had a Bottega Veneta wallet before the red one and I adored it.  Except that it wasn't really a wallet.  It was a card case, a grass green card case, made of the same intrecciato leather as this wallet, and it brought me great joy. I kept my cards in half and bills in the other half.  I threw coins in the bottom of my purse and emptied them out into a jar every evening.  I used that "wallet" for years, and I abandoned it not because it fell apart, or because I didn't love it, but because I suddenly found myself caring for another person and having to carry far more "stuff" in my wallet and the little green case just didn't cut it anymore. So I ordered the red Levenger wallet.

     

    IMG_4428 But it drove me crazy.  And this year I knew what I wanted and where to get it:  Bottega Veneta.  It is true that I probably could have found an equally functional, well made wallet somewhere else and probably spent considerably less on it.  But the details of this wallet bring me joy and although I could rationalize away my choice with some kind of exposition on quality, the truth is that the Levenger wallet is beautifully made for its price-point, and I was perfectly happy with it except that it was just too big.  But I didn't realize that when I bought it.  Now I know better.  And I also know that I have a weakness for beauty and elegance, and yes, luxury.  There, I've said it.

     

    It is perfect for me.  It has 8 card slots, just the right number.  It has a coin pocket with a lovely, sturdy, metal zipper, a pocket large enough for bills or prescriptions or even, should I travel again, larger European currency.  It has a pocket just the right size for my NYS automobile registration card which is larger than a standard credit card therefore annoying to carry in most wallets.

     

    IMG_4424 Because I was feeling indulgent, I also bought this lovely green woven keychain.  I've wanted one of these for years but one never materialized.  And there they were in the case next to the wallets.  I really wanted the green wallet, but the wallet I wanted didn't come in green so I got the keychain so that I could have a little piece of that green attached to a nice sturdy ring.   Somehow, not only do I need to carry more in my wallet than I used to, I carry more keys as well.

     

    Oh, and I still dump out my coins at the end of each day, only now I save the quarters and dimes because I need them for parking meters and to claim a cart at the grocery store.  Nickels and pennies still go in the jar.

     

    If  you know anyone that needs or wants a used but still in good shape red wallet that can double as a clutch and will hold an i-phone as well as currency, please let me know.  

     

     

  • A small expedition

    IMG_4415 I'm off to NYC today for the first time in what seems ages, although I think it was only last May. Strange to think that it used to be such a normal occurrence. 

     

    I've not got much planned.  I am going to head over to Vogue Knitting Live and hopefully meet a few friends.  I wish I had anticipated that I would be able to do this and signed up for a class or two but it will be enough to just check out the market and experience the general hubub. Then I do hope to get a little wandering in as well.  I need a new bag and I've got a list at hand, including a stop at M0851 based on Mater's recommendations.

     

    IMG_4416 Since I'm planning on spending a good amount of time at the market, and doing a fair amount of walking, the rule of the day is for comfortable shoes and layering.  I'll probably spend almost as much time on the train as I do in the city, but I don't mind, the trip along the hudson remains a joy even after several decades.

  • I’m Sorry, Apparently I Just Crawled Out From Under a Rock

    Yesterday we got a new caregiver in the house, Mary, and she seems very nice.  Soon after she arrived I had to go out to run a few errands and she asked if I could pick up some dinner for her at Burger King.  She said she wanted a burger and fries, or at least that is what I thought she said.  I actually thought she said a "buh burger" and some fries, so I asked if she wanted a particular kind of burger like a whopper and she just said just a "buh burger", so asked if she wanted a plain hamburger and she repeated herself again and then when I asked yet again, she said yes, a hamburger.   So I said OK.  What else could I say?  It was pretty obvious that I was a bit confused, and the truth is that I haven't been to Burger King in at least 4 years, maybe more and have also managed to remain pretty much oblivious to any advertising from the franchise or any of their competitors.  

    So eventually I get to Burger King.  And I am thinking that I have no idea what I am doing, what kind of burger I should get, and I had better not go through the drive up window, so I park and go inside where I am faced with a big wall listing all the various options. And then I thought I would go outside and call Mary and just check to be sure she wanted a burger and fries.  I suddenly recalled that she said she only ate goat and chicken,  or was it that she only cooked goat and chicken?  Perhaps she wanted a chicken sandwich and I had completely misunderstood.  So I stood outside by the highway where I could barely hear and she said she wanted a "buh burger" and I thought that I didn't remember her having such a stutter, but that I had better just buy a burger of some sort and so I went back inside.  

     

    I asked the girl at the counter what was the most popular burger and she said the "BcBurger" or at least that is what I thought she said.  I wondered if I needed to have my hearing checked.  Then she said the one on the poster up front, but I didn't see it.  I've known I badly needed new glasses for at least a month now, but I did think I should be able to read a big advertising poster.   I saw a poster for BK Burger.  I thought that perhaps I was out of date and a BK Burger was not pronounced "bee kay burger" but "buk burger" so I asked what came on that and told her to go ahead and get me one with an order of fries. 

     

    It wasn't until I was back in my car with the burger and fries safely on the passenger seat that I noticed the sign.  It said Buck Burger and it suddenly struck me that Mary was asking me to pick up a buck burger, meaning a burger that sold for a buck.  I could have just stepped off the shuttle from Mars for all I knew about what she was saying.  I could only shake my head and smile, and think of all the stories the nice girl at the counter would have to tell her friends about the crazy old lady who had never been to Burger King and couldn't understand English.

     

    I really do need to get out more.

  • Pan Lust

    Picture 32 I've been looking for a large, roughly 12", deep, sauté pan and have not been happy with what I have seen. Until now that is.  I recently discovered Iittala's line of cookware named tools and I covet them all, especially, this large 30 cm saute pan.

     

    Suddenly I am thinking that even things that are used everyday should be beautiful and make my heart sing each time I use them.  But is it as perfectly functional as it is beautiful? It must be more than just a pretty pan to hold its own in my kitchen and in my heart.

  • Winter is icumen in

    Picture 31 And spring has arrived in my mailbox, courtesy of Stella McCartney via Bergdorf Goodman.

     

    Pre-ordered, with an expected January delivery, I thought it would brighten my winter spirits.  And here it is ready for me to jet away to warm climes for the holidays, although it would work for a holiday party as well.  In reality I shall probably display it on my sewing room wall while I dream of spring, both sartorially and physically.

     

    The cut is simple.  It is true I could have made if except that I could not, in all likelihood, have found this fabric, and I bought this dress for the fabric more than anything else, or perhaps for the perfect combination of cut and fabric.

     

    I can say however, that the shape skims the body and looks slimmer on me than on the model even though she is far far slimmer than I.  Or perhaps I am just deceiving myself.  But then I am all for a bit of self deception on occasion, it is the perfect armament against the vagaries of life.  

     

    Oh and it is longer as well, hitting just above the knee on my 5'9" frame.

     

    photo courtesy of Bergdorf Goodman.

  • A change in attitude, with chairs

    Life was so different two months ago.  Looking back now, my thoughts at that time seem strange and foreign to me even though I know that of course they were not strange, just different.  The change is not necessarily bad.

     

    On that particular weekend, the one in my thoughts now, G and I went to an exhibition of hand-crafted furniture by the Hudson Valley Furniture Makers.  It was a small show, just the right size, and we were impressed by the quality of the work.  Of course we were pulled to the aesthetic of some craftspeople more than others, and there were two in particular with whom we were determined to follow up.

     

    Picture 26 One of these was Rob Hare, and his dining chairs in particular captured our imaginations.  We had been looking for new dining chairs, off and on, for the past six years, ever since we had taken a spur of the moment detour to Prosperity South Carolina where we wandered into a store called Dixie Heart Pine and left as the proud owners of a new dining table.  

     

    We liked these chairs and we both found them comfortable and aesthetically appealing.  I liked the wood and hoped they would work as a bridge between the modern and traditional aspects of our dining room.  G, who tends to be drawn to glass and steel, was attracted to the wrought steel supports.  We both hoped they would work with our table and we spoke with Mr. Hare about potentially buying some chairs early next year. I was imagining myself in a house filled with beautifully made, hand crafted furniture.

     

    But then, as you know, life changed.  A week later G took a fall that seemed to begin a downward spiral. Two weeks after that he was in the hospital and I was faced with changing everything in our lives.

     

    By the time he we discussed the future and G's needs if he was to come home I realized that I needed to radically change the way we lived in our current house.  I needed furniture and I needed it right away.  I needed chairs that were not too low (our old chairs) and I needed at least one sturdy dining chair with arms.  I thought about those fine chairs briefly, but I realized that I couldn't really wait for a set of chairs to be made, and that fine custom made chairs, when I was contemplating a life with a spouse who had trouble getting around, with caregivers in the house, were out of the question both financially and practically.  I needed something that would work with the house, that I could get right away, and that I would not fret about if it got banged up.  Hopefully I would also find something that I could accept stylistically within the above parameters.

     

    IMG_4228 I went to a furniture store that gaurantees delivery within days.  A store that G would dismiss as "cheap s***".  And I found everything on my list.  In one day I furnished a family room, a dining room (chairs only) and two bedrooms, and I am happy with my choices.  To tell the truth, my elitist self was surprised.  But the other part of me, the part that just wants a room that looks nice and is comfortable was perfectly content.  The part of me that says I just need a house that works, not furniture for the generations, is happier than she has been with the house in a long time. I should let that part of me out a little more often.  And I particularly like my dining room, the one with chairs that match, chairs that look good with the table, chairs that are comfortable.  It is a frivolous thing, this caring about appearances, about just wanting the world to look perfect and perfectly put together, but it is still a valid part of who I am, frivolous or not.

     

    The chairs I chose are not particularly contemporary, but neither is my table.  I learned that contemporary dining sets, at least at this particular store, don't tend to include armchairs, or that if they do, the arms are too low to be useful.   My new furniture might now win any design contest, but it works, and that in and of itself makes me very happy.  

     

    This doesn't mean that I no longer yearn for beautiful hand-crafted things.  There is much on Rob Hare's website that appeals to me, and I am not giving up on my dream of working with him someday.  There is a part of me that wants to live with beautiful furniture, furniture that was made by hand, not churned out in some giant factory, and this part of me lives on.  At some other point in my life such things may be possible again.  I certainly believe so, just as I believe strongly in supporting craftsmanship, in buying and using beautiful things, in taking care and pride in the things we gather, be they precious or commonplace, and in gathering things with thought and care within whatever parameters life sets for us.

     

    ** photo of rob hare's dining chairs courtesy of robhare-furnituremaker.com.

     

     

     

     

  • Seasonal Find

    Yesterday's surprise find:

    IMG_3992

     

    Fresh Chicken of the Woods mushrooms, still young enough to be tender and beautiful.

     

    We had some of them sauteed them in butter with tender small fennel and finished with a small bit of cream.  This mushroom doesn't really shrink up when you cook it.  Even a small amount has a rich and luxurious flavor.  

     

    Tonight there will be a rich mushroom risotto.

  • A Clip and a Comb

    I had a couple of errands up in Rhinebeck the other day and I stopped to check out local designer,  Haldora.  It was kind of silly really, timing wise, as I had just recently joined Weight Watchers to knock off the pounds I had put back on plus a few more and was therefore a little reluctant to buy nice new clothes, at least right away. And, secondly, I had just come from my favorite jeweler's, where I was so dazzled by the offerings I had vowed to buy no more clothes and save all my money for jewelry.

     

    IMG_3989 I didn't buy any clothes, but I liked a lot of what I saw so I will be back, because, of course, I will buy clothes again.  There was however a lovely assortment of hair accessories, and I am rather desperately in need of nice hair clips and combs.

     

    The last time my hair was long enough to put up, I had a collection of long elegant metal clamp like clips that looked like beaks.  I don't think I got rid of them, but I might have;  I certainly cannot find them right now.   Haldora did not have any of these beaky clips, but the barrette here works almost as well.

     

    Just in time too.  The furnace went out yesterday morning, the new furnace, and I am not fan of an ice cold shower.  I managed to easily twist my hair up with the barrette and clamp the front sweep of my ex-fringe with the comb firmly enough that my hair stayed up all day, with just the occasional wispy bit, despite the fact that I was running in and out and all around for much of the day.  Yesterday was the first sunny weekday since the previous Wednesday.  Between carpenters, masons, landscapers and furnace repair, I had 8 trucks in my driveway at one point. 

     

    Prior to this, I had decided that my hair was too long.  But now I have doubts,  I like being able to wear it up.  But will I succumb to the lure of always wearing it up, which was the problem in the past, or will I bother to dry it and style it and wear it down?  I have an appointment for a cut next week.  Decisions must be made.