Monday, March 31, 2014

color at the MoMA

frank lloyd wright
jackson pollock
helen frankenthaler (i love this painting!)
matisse
matisse
klimt
rousseau
van gogh
chagall

Saturday morning I took the bus into NYC to visit the Museum of Modern Art.
My intention was to see the new Jasper Johns and Gauguin shows,
neither of which allowed photographs.

It was a rainy afternoon and the museum was very crowded,
this made for some blurry photos as I was bumped around quite a bit.

I've been working so much lately it was a relief to spend some time 
with many beautiful paintings.
xo, j


Monday, March 24, 2014

Raggaknits






On Sunday I took a class at my LYS, Conversational Threads,
with Icelandic knitter Ragga from Raggaknits.

My dear yarn buddy Jenn and I had both started our days out
stressed and rushed only to leave the session very relaxed and very happy.

If you ever get a chance to meet Ragga, run don't walk!
She is smart, funny and such a genuinely nice woman
with a wild imagination…a fearless Viking knitter!

Although the last photo is blurry it's my favorite.
She taught me a lot about knitting but even more about just letting go.

Time to renew my passport and start saving up my pennies,
her next Icelandic knitting tour is in 2015 and we're going!

Thanks so much to Cindy for scheduling the classes at her amazing yarn shop,
to Jenn for taking the afternoon off to attend the class with me
and to Ragga for her spirit and smile.
xo, j

Thursday, March 20, 2014

on not getting rid of books


"They chart my life.  I don't want to sound ponderous, but they
chart my intellectual life.  They chart everything that I've been interested in 
and thought about for the whole of my reading life.  So if they went  I would,
in a sense, lose a sense of identity.  They identify me…"
-Penelope Lively


This is an excerpt from an interview
 by Terry Gross on her NPR show Fresh Air
from March 17, 2014.


Sunday, March 09, 2014

quince&co and seeds






A mild weekend has helped to melt down some of the snow
and definitely lifted many spirits.

My color swatch cards arrived from Quince&co on Friday.
I've always wanted to try their yarn but needed to see the colors
before a decision could be made.
I secretly wish that I could work for a company like this!

Repotted my elder ficus and olive trees
and am trying to start some chamomile seeds.
I probably don't have enough light and they prefer to grow
 outside but I would so like to grow my own tea.

reading, reading, reading
xo, j



Sunday, March 02, 2014




queen of the bed

"However little television you watch, watch less.  
Read.  Read for pleasure.
Read for happiness."
-David McCullough

And so I have.
Thoroughly absorbed in an 800 page tome
with a small stack waiting on my chair.

While wandering through my local greenhouse Saturday
I found a large palm plant in the discount section.
I have a weakness for wayward plants so now I wake 
under the sweeping green boughs each morning.
I hope it will get enough sun in that corner,
but better a chance with me than into the dust bin.

Cut veggies to be roasted for dinner
and Pantone color reference cards to try and spur
my reluctance to commit paint onto board.

It's snowing again...
but spring is just a couple of weeks away.
xo, j