Birchgirl Learns Something New

Generally, I stay up very late at night on the Internet. Having the world at my fingertips is like a drug for me. I lie on the couch with my laptop and immerse myself in so many worlds of thought and imagery. I literally lose sleep over it. I'm not saying that's a good thing; it's just the thing I do lately. So last night I whipped up a new blog (well, technically I repurposed an abandoned blog). Heh heh. It's called Birchgirl Learns Something New. I realized that I really do learn something new and fascinating every day, and my new blog will be the place where I can quickly record that new something and start a collection of my newfound nuggets of knowledge. Fun and quick. I have two entries so far--the two things I learned in the past two days. There are also some other random posts on there from a previous blogging spree. Have fun! http://birchgirl.wordpress.com/

A Little More Grey (and Pussy Willows!)

I was just enjoying my daily check-in at SouleMama, and one thing leads to another and another in the Web and, depending on the time of day, sometimes I'm still making discoveries four hours later. In this case, I kept it to ten minutes of discovery, which I will share with you now.

Every weekend, SouleMama features carefully selected sponsors and their giveaways and discounts. She selects small businesses that share her values in terms of handcrafted goods, environmentally responsible materials and business practices, lovely products that are beautiful and useful, and business owners who are thoughtful about their lifestyles. Today she featured Aurora Shoe Company. I really like the way the owner explained the values of thinking about what we are purchasing, from whom, what materials were used, where did they come from, etc. Here is an excerpt from SouleMama's interview with Aurora Shoe Company:

~:: We're always inspired by other small business owners who, like us, have committed to a culture and a lifestyle that build our local economies and support our own ideals. It's so easy to become a blind consumer today, always buying the cheapest goods without taking the time to think about where they've come from or what their real value is. We're proud to be a part of the growing sector of America that is much more conscious of how their money is spent and where their goods come from.

There is so much creativity and industry all around us - we just have to be willing to look a little farther (or in our case, closer) than the nearest strip mall to find it!

When we buy handmade we're demonstrating a value that goes beyond price.  To buy handmade is to invest in an art form, a way of life and a cultural ideal.  It's to take part in a system that supports the individual, the artist and the entrepreneur in a society and an economic system that leans in the opposite direction. ~::

They also pointed out that the goods on the shelves in American stores often have prices that don't reflect the cheapness of their quality because of the costs of import taxes, marketing and shipping.

I have not even come close to making a complete switch to local, organic, environmentally responsible food and goods made by people who are very conscious and intentional about their work. I still frequently shop for convenience and low pricing, and usually out of necessity. But I have been subtly, gently influenced by SouleMama and Etsy and my own attraction to supporting the business owners in my own community, and will continue to move in that direction as I am able.

I clicked on a link in SouleMama's post about Aurora Shoe Company that led me to an Etsy shop called Madder Root, which sells handprinted, organic tea towels, napkins and produce bags. I found this pussy willow tea towel in oyster gray, which I thought was a perfect little follow-up to my last post about shades of grey and pussy willows! I can add oyster gray to my list of shades of gray, and it falls in the gray, not grey, category, according to my rubric for when gray should be spelled with an "a" or an "e"! I sure do love that bowl of eggs in soft shades of brown, gray and cream!

lovely pussy willow tea towel from Madder Root's Etsy shop

Shades of Gray

I love shades of grey. I love the word gray, and I love the name Gray. I love it when people name their daughters names like Mary Gray. I can't decide which spelling of gray I prefer: gray or grey. Considering my affinity, affection and fondness for gray, this is something I should have an opinion on. I do now, after thinking about it for a moment. Grey is for slate, steel, charcoal, pewter, gravel and all the hardest, darkest shades of grey. The "e" makes the word harder and more steely, I do believe. Gray is for softer shades, like dove, heather, feather, blue-gray, seaspray (that's a West Elm color), winter-sky gray, pebble, pussy willow.

By the way, is there anything prettier than pussy willow? Hardly. Hydrangeas, tulips, peonies, orchids and gerbera daisies take my breath away, but the pussy willow soothes me like nothing else. I could fill this post with 100 images of beautiful gray things and pussy willows. And put it all to a David Gray soundtrack, because I like him too and it's just so perfect that his last name is Gray.

Fortunately for you, dear blog reader {I keep that singular because I think there may be only one or two of you, maybe three on a high-traffic day}, I do not have time to post that many pictures of gray things. But I will toss out a few. I'm bedding-crazed right now, probably because I can't afford to buy any and I've decided it's time to even though there just ain't the budget for it right now. Here's a set I'm drooling over:

 This is BlissLiving Home's Ashley Citron bedding, available online. It kind of takes my breath away.

Maybe I should just stop there, for maximum impact. I forgot to mention how much I love gray with mustard yellow, or any yellow, really. Let's just call it citron from now on because citron has such a lovely, Frenchy ring to it. Why say yellow when you can say citron or dijon? But yellow's a pretty word, for English.

 I own this tablecloth, but I purchased it for a table I no longer own and my current table is too big for it. It's folded on top of my linen armoire because it deserves to see the light of day and it makes everything prettier. It's the Williams-Sonoma Marseille tablecloth in dijon (not citron). ;-)

Okay, back to bedding after that brief detour to table linens. Three "hellos" in a row, all from West Elm.

 Sadly, I have to go to bed now in my so-not-gray-and-citron/dijon bed. But at least it's cozy and white. I leave you with some pussy willow as my parting gift:

 From Le Papier Studio, a lovely online shop that is a sponsor for SouleMama, a favorite blog.

photo credit: http://www.isledegrande.com/giimages15/cook-pussy-willow-closeup4-06.jpg

photo credit: http://www.isledegrande.com/giimages15/cook-pussy-willow-closeup4-06.jpg

For the Love of Finnish Linen and Lace

I promised a peek at my linen-and-lace fabric bin and pillow cover when they arrived from Finland. I slowed down to relish and document every detail of opening the package and enjoying its contents. It was Christmas money well-spent. I'm so perfectly pleased! Thank you, tuuni, for rescuing this beautiful Finnish handwork and remaking it into something so lovely for my home! Thank you, Mom and Dad, for treating me to my new treasures!

 a customs declaration of handmade textiles--how delightful!

 my first-ever package from Helsinki!

 "brown paper packages tied up with string

these are a few of my favorite things!"

the tuuni sticker says:

TREASURES FROM THE PAST

UPCYCLED TO YOU WITH LOVE

 the fabric bin ironed up beautifully with my 16-year-old, crummy iron

linen and lace perfection!

the fabric bin nestled in its new home, holding compact discs for now

the pillow with gray doily

such rich texture woven into the linen

Swooning over Scandinavian Style

 Tuuni linen and lace fabric bin

This week I discovered two new obsessions that I feel compelled to share with you, and both happen to be Nordic (Finnish and Swedish). I also discovered that Finland is not technically Scandinavian--it's Nordic--but I went with Scandinavian in the title of this post for alliterative flourish.

I was in uninspiring Food Lion on a cold, snowy eve, so the soft-white-and-cream-hued cover of my longtime favorite magazine, Victoria, looked especially inviting. I began subscribing to Victoria when I was 16 and was shocked and hugely disappointed when it ceased publication for a few years. It has since been reissued, and this is the first issue I've been moved to purchase. I'm so very glad I did because of the delightful discovery that the artists-in-residence for 2011 are four Charlottesville women! (Photographer Jen Fariello, designer Jennifer Carroll, and floral designers Pat Roberts and Sherry Spencer.) And because it introduced me to my new favorite Finn.

I spent an enchanted evening poring over my Victoria magazine and was in raptures over a very simple, white fabric bin with a strip of lace that was featured in it. I Googled the brand and found it was handmade by a Finnish woman with an Etsy shop called Tuuni, which "is a Finnish name for a girl. It refers to something peaceful and calm. My shop name 'Tuuni' also refers to a finnish word 'tuunaus' which is commonly used when making products from recycled materials. I guess the word in english would be re-purposing." The maker of these gorgeous fabric bins and pillows hunts for old, handmade Finnish lace and linens in secondhand shops in Finland. She rescues this heirloom handwork and mixes vintage fabric with modern sensibilities. I am so in love! I sent her half my Christmas money in exchange for one lovely linen and lace fabric bin, similar to the one in the photo above, and a pillow with a light gray doily stitched onto the front. I'll post a photo of it when it arrives in all its re-imagined, Finnish glory.

I may end up sending the rest of my Christmas money to another Nordic source of beauty and inspiration: Lotta Jansdotter! She's a Swedish designer and print maker who lives in Brooklyn. I like her a lotta (did you not see that coming?). She has a slew of books on sewing, decorating, stenciling and printing on everything from fabric to linoleum, and she creates stationery, sticky notes, tote bags, fabric calendars and more. Many of her designs are inspired by nature. I want at least three of her books, including one coming out in March that features artists and designers and their studios. (Studios are sacred spaces of wonder to me.) I also want the "Simple Sewing" book with enticing projects and "Handmade Living" that includes some of her favorite Swedish recipes (cinnamon buns, mead, Swedish meatballs), simple decorating tricks, favorite music albums and online shopping recommendations.  

 And I want a supply of her stationery and sticky notes for myself and to give to friends! I also want expensive leather boots, linen hemstitch napkins, a new rug, a tablecoth, a fabric tote bag, new pots and pans, a Fiestaware pitcher, a sewing machine, a crockpot, a trip to Europe and pretty much tons of other stuff too, but there's only so much a girl can do with $65. ;-)

Photo copied from: http://oneofakindgiftideas.blogspot.com

Photo copied from:  http://designspongeonline.com

Photo copied from http://www.kaboodle.com

Interlude

photo credit: Amy Melious, Winter Branches 

As this year o'2010 draws to a close, I find myself in an even more reflective state than usual in this passageway between old year and new. I start December full of busy intention, then shed all but the most essential plans and expectations of self as the days whoosh by, leaving me bewildered as to how I once again ended up so unprepared for all the doing/making/buying/sending that is Christmas. Wasn't I going to start earlier, having learned my lesson from all the previous turbulent December rides?! Why is personal change so hard to enact? It's like trying to use the same materials to make two vastly different products, say, a sweater and a guitar.

But this holiday season has been different for other reasons. Reasons that dissipated all my busy intentions and blew them away like a snow swirl in a gale. This Christmas was no ordinary happy holidays. No, this Christmas was a time to mark the days leading up to an incredible woman's departure from this life. My husband's Aunt Faye was in the thick of being a vibrant, compassionate elementary school principal in a low-income school with a large population of non-native-English-speaking students. She had a dazzling smile, a hardcore work ethic, a keen intellect and a rippling laugh. She listened intently and was extremely intuitive and insightful. At Thanksgiving, she was diagnosed with an incurable, degenerative neurological brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and by Christmas she had ventured from this life into new, uncharted territory beyond.

Along with the sadness and surrealism of witnessing an amazing woman's dying days and her family's and friends' sorrow, there is something else I feel. I feel enriched. Faye, at 60 years old, was working, living and loving passionately. She was giving life all she had and was inspiring people of all ages as she went about her days.

Her family, friends and colleagues gathered during a week that would normally be dominated by holiday preparations. In place of all that hustle-bustle, we sat.
We sat with Faye.
She could no longer speak, and the silence of sitting with Faye was profound. It left us with time to contemplate who she was while still in her presence, listening to her breathing, holding her hand. Each visitor who came and each story told about her added to the resounding consensus that she was extraordinary and beloved.

The vulnerability of her position touched me deeply. She couldn't make decisions, couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't eat or drink. I wondered if those who were charged with caring for her and making decisions concerning her felt humbled by so weighty a responsibility. It seemed like tenderly and gingerly caring for a very powerful, beautiful, rare bird that had been injured, with the uncertainty and hope that you were helping and not hurting, wishing she could tell you what she wanted, felt and needed.

Somewhere in the interlude of sitting in a room with Faye, when there was nowhere else to be but there, all of life was distilled down to what remains when there are no more plans and no more activity. I found that what remains are the transcendent properties of faith, hope and love, just as found in the biblical passage I Corinthians 13:13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love carries the day and covers us when we are stripped bare.

This Christmas I was given the gift of this interlude, and I am enriched by the last hours I spent with Faye. Even in dying, she imparted something so deep and true that I hope to still be contemplating it when life resumes its usual distractions and demands. I hope it will anchor me and give shape and purpose to all I undertake henceforth. I am thankful for the time I had to keep vigil with Faye and her family and friends. I kept wondering why I was there, and I think I know now that it was for me to receive nourishment that can only be spiritually discerned and digested.

Faye, thank you for the gift of this interlude. May your life and your death continue to inspire and touch us. And may I seek more than just self-improvement or personal change; may I seek nothing short of transformation, the kind that radiates like your smile and ripples like your laughter.

photo credit: Amy Melious

Bits of December

It's late o'clock, and I will have to peel my eyelids open in fewer than six short hours, but for the moment it feels good to be awake blogging by the soft white lights of Christmas by night. I can already smell the morning's coffee in my head, and I wish I could get started on it now. Thank goodness for the anticipation and comfort of morning coffee after the folly of staying up too late.

Here are some bits of December that I've enjoyed so far ...

 Father-son lumberjacks

 These two don't leave home without a football to toss.

 The Kickoff

 Hay bale snowman (only in Virginia!)

 Hauling the Catch

 Holiday party for Clayborne Education, waiting for invitees to arrive

 A busy elf

 "Have a peppermint."
(from my favorite girlhood books, the Anne of Green Gables series)

 The Life
(I envy the life my cat leads on a daily basis, and especially so on frosty, sleepy mornings when it would be sooooo very nice to stay curled up in bed.)