Odds and Ends

Check out these beautiful photos taken in my class at The Creative Connection two weeks ago in Minneapolis. Absolutely lovely. While I was teaching many of my classes, photographers with huge cameras and long lenses kept appearing and disappearing. It is nice to see what one of them got!

My friend Brett Bara was on the CBS Morning Show the other day. Brett also happens to be the host for the t.v. show I am a knitting expert on - Knit and Crochet Now. On CBS, Brett was announcing the Lands End Feel Good Campaign. Check it out on her blog Manhattan CraftRoom here. They are looking for knitters and crocheters and will give you yarn! to make afghan squares for WarmUp America.

I loved the Q & A with Alexa Hampton in the NYTimes last week. My favorite part:

"NYT: You have said that you once believed modernism was for the childless.

AH: I inherited that belief from my parents. There’s an arc that occurs — you begin with modern in your youth because you can’t afford swags and jabots. You can afford a West Elm parsons table, which can look chic in your orange room with your geometric fill-in-the-blank. As you get money, you collect and get stuff. And stuff when it gets into critical mass needs a setting that embraces it, so things become more elaborate. You need places to put things, to create the atmosphere where the presence of a whole lot of stuff doesn’t look wrong — softer edges, literally, so your child doesn’t stab his brain matter on an edge. Once you become an empty nester, you can finally eject the artifacts. I remember my mother calling me and saying she had a bunch of scrunchies I had to pick up from the apartment. When people jettison that junk, they go back to modernism. There’s a whole life cycle."

I would say I am in the middle part but working my way towards the last although I very much doubt I will embrace modernism unless I move.

The sunflowers are getting a bath and I fear they will fall down with all the rain we have gotten this week. First there was none, now there is way too much! We'll take it and at least I don't have to worry about doing the wash and watching the water for now.

Do you know this website? It is worth a look around. You may remember the owners' names from the early days of Rowan - Jamie and Jessie Seaton. They have moved on and are doing an amazing job. They really understand lifestyle photography and product presentation and know what makes me lust to buy something.

Thanks for your help with the skunk. Nessie has had a bath using the home remedy some of you mentioned and she seems less odorous but I assume the rain will keep bringing out the lovely smell.