Duct Tape to the Rescue

The Head to Toe drawer in the curio cabinet encompasses a broad range of offerings.  This time around I’m sharing my new/old tool box.

I needed a(nother!) something to hold my burgeoning collection of art supplies. Paints! Brushes! Tape! Gloss medium! Gesso!  I had an old tool box… the rust could be sanded off but wouldn’t it be more fun to DECORATE IT????  Yes.  Absolutely. Off to Target for colorful duct tape and huzzah! A fun carrier for my overflow supplies. 

I’m sure they are much happier in this colorful case than they would have been in a plain grey metal box. Don’t you agree?

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Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Why am I writing about a movie in this drawer of the curio cabinet? Because Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris will delight you from head to toe, de la tete aux pieds, from your chapeau to your chausures. The film has it all: a determined protagonist, ingenuity, thrills, set backs, despair, friendship, joy. And then there is salon show in which all but three of the dresses are exact replicas of  Dior originals.

Mrs. Harris was the first movie I’d seen in a theater since January 2020.  The theater was close to empty; my spirit, however, was full of delight.

 

At left: My mother in Paris, 1955

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Smiles of Summer

Anyone who knows my husband knows that when summer rolls around he is in watermelon heaven. One-to-two-a-week watermelon heaven. I’m asked upon occasion how I choose a good watermelon. For me it’s been about the sound.  I “thunk” it and it has to resonate properly. There’s a slight reverberation, a hollowness of sound that comes back to me as if the vibration is coming through the juiciness of the melon. If you thunk it and you get a thud, put that melon back and pick up another.

This demo video is definitely not ready for YouTube, but I hope it will guide you to a watermelon-licious summer.

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Morning Pages

I’ve begun my morning pages again. Followers of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way will recognize the phrase. Morning pages are a kind of journaling with three rules: the must be written in the morning upon awakening or very soon after, they must be done for 20 minutes’ duration, they must be written in longhand three sheets of     8 x 11 paper (one side only.) Like many wonderful personal practices, this one fell by the wayside. I would journal in the evening, or sometimes jot down sudden thoughts. But nothing compares to writing one’s morning pages.

I began again when I found myself waking up teeming with thoughts, my mind noisier than usual.  Although I participate in an online prayer and meditation group five mornings a week, morning pages offer a different path to calm. You sit down, you set a timer, put pen to page and write. No lifting of the pen.  No mulling over the phrase you just wrote down. No self-editing. No crossing out.  The goal is forward movement and getting stuff out and down.  Whatever it is.  You can even write, I do not like this I do not like this I do not like this if you can’t come up with anything else. Eventually you will.

When my morning pages are complete, I feel clearer. They are the muggle’s answer to Harry Potter’s pensieve.  They require more work than a pensieve, but the outcome is just as magical.

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Seat of the Pants Cooking

Marc Bittman has made an art and career out of what I’ve long called “seat of the pants” cooking.  I have a small library of cookbooks (each one has to earn its keep on the single shelf devoted to such compendiums) and use them not infrequently. But much of the time, I take what I have and make dinner.  The upside to SOTP cooking is that it’s everchanging. The downside is when I hit it out of the park, which is also not infrequently, I never remember to write it down. (Marc Bittman does.)

I did write down last night’s ingredients. I began with some cherry tomatoes that were going to wrinkle if I didn’t use them soon and a leftover slice of raw salmon that might have filled the tummy of a very hungry kitten. I sauteed the salmon in some olive oil and butter and removed it from the pan just short of doneness.  I crushed the cherry tomatoes and tossed them in the pan.

While they cooked, I diced a few spears of yellow pepper and added them. Playing hide and seek with the fridge I finished up a jar of Greek olives, thinly sliced a few sun dried tomatoes, got out some capers but decided against them, splashed in some white wine and the juice of a lemon, seasoned it all with some S&P and crushed oregano and let it simmer while the water boiled for the pasta.           I added back the salmon and warmed it up before serving.

Writing this now I realize that we were supposed to have snow peas as well but I forgot to serve them. That’s not SOTP cooking just my addled brain. Were I to make this for company I’d use more salmon and some really hearty pasta from the little Italian store near-by.  Bon appetit!

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