Over Thanksgiving I started floating the idea of traveling for the holiday next year.
Mr. Blandings and the boys are neither stubborn nor unreasonable, but they get a little set in their ways.
Many things around here happen through the sheer force of my will, but I find new ideas are more easily adopted if I bring them up far in advance. I grind away at their resistance and then work to fill the trough with my enthusiasm. Admittedly, I wear them down.
As we made the long drive to California a couple of years ago, I pointed out to Bill that in ten years the boys would be finished with school and we could live anywhere, my voice and imagination filled with wonder.
All images, via the Wall Street Journal Magazine, the home of Betty and Francois Catroux in Provence. The story, these images and images of their Paris apartment can be found here. Photography, Francois Halard.
“Is Halloween on a full moon?”
“No.”
“Then I’m going to be a werewolf, because since it is not a full moon I can just be a regular kid.”
“If you don’t wear a costume, you can’t go trick-or-treating. House rules.”
“Then I’ll be a lamp.”
With a pause I looked up over the top of my glasses, “I can totally make you a lamp.”
Do not double-dog-dare me. Not to make you a lamp or take the tequila shot or drive to Dallas to see The Who. Because I will. When I suggested he tuck the end of an extension cord into the cuff of his pants and carry the plug over his elbow he said, “You have to stop now.”
This is my way of explaining why posts have been spotty. Picking paint colors and working and managing the boys all take a little energy and some creative juju. Sometimes there is not enough left over for a blog post. I’m not quitting, just getting things together. A woman who I worked with a million years ago, one of my favorite women ever, used to say, “I need to get my shit in one sock.” That is, indeed, what I am trying to do.
In the last two weeks we felt the loss of both a cultural icon and a long-time friend.
Both deaths caused me to pause and consider. Lucky, and aware of it, I was relieved and reassured that I am doing what I want to be doing. What I think I should be doing.
You might have seen Steve Jobs’s Stanford commencement speech and while it acted like heated oil to several kernels of ideas, most significantly it made me wonder what I would do if one of my boys wanted to quit college and start some crazy business in my garage. Or be a fisherman, as one claims he will.
Sharing this with a friend at dinner he wondered, “If he’s happy, what difference would it make?” “It’s important to live up to your potential,” I replied and he asked further, “But how do you know if you are?”
Then he rose to pull the chicken from the oven leaving me with a mental party favor that I’ve carried around since – setting it on the counter here, loading it in the car there. We won’t know, I suppose, any more than these artists knew their work would live for centuries. At the time they were just making brushstrokes on wood or silk or porcelain.
All images from Exotic Taste: Orientalist Interiors by Emmanuelle Gaillard and Marc Walter published by The Verdome Press. The book includes hundreds of images of rooms and objects influenced by the Far East, India and the Islamic world. It’s stunningly beautiful and if you have a strong connection to Chinoiserie or porcelain or unbelievable tile, it is a must. All images Marc Walter. The publishers provided the book for review.
