(berkeley bougainvillea! x0x0x)
my pine street cottage project was featured in a HOUZZ article! x0x0x
i am so delighted that one of my favorite boulder projects was included in a houzz article. link to the full piece is here. many thanks to laura gaskill of houzz for the story and to heather burns of HBK photography for the lovely photo! x00xx
so HAPPY to be based in california now! x0xx0x
the tears (and FEARS!) of a clown! x00x
in art
for as long as i can remember, i have been pretty scared of clowns. i don’t like full face make-up for costumes or life as it makes it hard for me to understand someone’s face (probably why i have trouble when my fifteen year old daughter’s application veers into tammy faye - i just love her CLEAN face!) but the white paint on a clown and the exaggerated, big red smile makes my spine go cold. i can’t bear those 60s clown paintings (i won't show you a reference because googling them might give me an anxiety attack) but i see them accidentally sometimes when i am in a vintage shop. i might be admiring a mid century credenza or lamp and i turn around and BAM there’s some creepy clown leering at me. and sometimes i’ve even run into a full figure, life size statue… i can’t imagine how anyone could sleep with one of those in the house. (my position on art for your home is that is should make you feel JOYOUS and lift you up. i recognize that there are important works like picasso’s guernica or munch’s scream that are important to view and contemplate, but when i walk into my kitchen for my morning coffee i want to be greeted by a piece that makes me HAPPY and peaceful, which is why i am such a big fan of sarah kinn… her paintings make my heart feel bigger.)
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welcome to the NEW YEAR! x00xx0x
(hank wearing his new years crown!)
january's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
(challenge 2024 by ann rhode, 31W x 32L”)
twice a year ann attends “quilt camp” where she meets up with quilting friends for a week of quilt work, creative collaboration and socializing. they often “challenge” each other to design a piece with a certain fabric or pattern. this quilt is the product of one of these challenges. the blue and green background fabric was chosen as the challenge fabric. ann made a series of pillars in different fabrics and heights. she grounded them with contrasting horizontal stripes. for ann, it was a fun exercise and a way to play with value, proportion and pattern.
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HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEARS 2025! x00xx
(time with my dad was the very BEST part of 2025)
there are a lot of really wonderful things that happened to me in 2025… the most important, of course, is that it is the last year that i got to spend time with my father. i cannot begin to express how GRATEFUL i am that we moved back to berkeley and i was able to visit with him so easily. (we moved across town - i am southside now, but it is still only a ten minute drive.) as he grew more tired, sometimes we took naps (he in his big, leather chair, me on the blue sofa), sometimes we just made faces and sometimes i read to him. all of those visits fill my heart and give me peace.
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MERRIEST CHRISTMAS! x0x0x
(me and my father circa 1987 x0x0x)
wishing you all a very merry christmas… i am so grateful to be spending time with my family and remembering my wonderful father and wondering WHY at seventeen i was still receiving dolls for christmas! JOLLIEST wishes! x00xx
REPOST: christmas sticky buns
* i am reposting this story about my mom’s christmas morning sticky buns in case you are up for a DELICIOUS challenge! MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS! x00xx
the BEST breakfast of the year is always christmas morning because of my mother’s sticky buns. they are coils of cinnamon deliciousness with a sticky, brown sugar topping baked on. she makes two pans each year - one with pecans and one without (my nephew has nut allergies.) i prefer the ones with pecans, but i would NEVER turn down a plain one. we think about and anticipate the sticky buns all year long… rehashing how many each of us ate the year before and whether someone selfishly snuck a third before everyone else had seconds. when the pans are cooling we circle round them like sharks, peeking under the tin foil covers and trying to count how many there are (it always varies depending on the girth of the buns) - my mother protectively swatting us away and shooing us out of the kitchen.
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LEGOS! a last minute holiday gift! x0x0x
in holiday
neither of my kids were into legos when they were little. many of my friends had huge tuppers of legos that they tried to organize and store efficiently, but mostly i heard about how PAINFUL it was it step on an errant one, especially in bare feet. so i was not unhappy about my children’s disinterest in these small, sharp blocks.
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happy, happy hanukkah! x0x0x
(theo lighting the menorah on the seventh night)
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REPOST: gingerbread houses
i can’t remember when i started making gingerbread houses… it’s probably an extension of my love of my childhood dollhouse. i do know that making them with my children is one of my favorite christmas traditions. they are messy and sticky and my kitchen gets a thorough dusting of powdered sugar every year, but the extra mopping and wiping is worth it. we eat way too much candy, lick loads of frosting off our fingers (i always tell our recipients not to eat them, just use them as decoration!) and we usually feel a bit sick afterward. some years are more structurally successful than others - more than one house has had to make due with a cardboard wall as a result of a “kitchen earthquake.” the candy roof design has evolved as well. in the early days they were a kaleidoscope of random candies and today there is careful thought put into the layout of licorice squares, lifesavers, gumdrops and mike and ikes. the recipe is the same as the modern one we did last year… just a more traditional pattern.
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REPOST: a christmas miracle (around the HOLIDAY CARD!)
in hank, holiday, photography, family
every year, we send out a holiday card featuring the kids smiling and laughing together. they DO laugh and smile together pretty frequently, but hardly ever when we are shooting these photos.
“FEO, FEO” lucy (when she had no teeth) yelled downstairs in alarm a few years ago, “the christmas clothes are out… i fink we have to do the card today!” then a series of loud groans as they commiserated together.
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eating it up in california! x0x
(not many things better than a late night run to IN-N-OUT!)
december's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x00xx
in quilts
(fuchsia 2021 by ann rhode, 42W x 43L”)
this quilt started with an inspiration photo of fuchsia blossoms with bright green stems. ann wanted to capture the intensity of the lush, vibrant colors.
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thanksgiving GRATITUDE! x0x0x
(THANK YOU dad for teaching me the importance of a good NAP! x0x0x)
in addition to stuffing and cranberries and baking pies, thanksgiving is, of course, a time of gratitude. 2025 has been pretty tumultuous for me with the loss of my darling father (and how BANANAS our whole world has become!) but on this holiday, i am intensely GRATEFUL that my father was in my life for fifty-six years. i know that many people don’t get that kind of time with their parents and it was truly a gift.
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my FAVORITE thanksgiving recipes! x0x
(hank LOVES dressing up for thanksgiving!)
even though the corona is STILL effecting us all (nearly TWO YEARS later… HAY SEUS!) the pandemic has made me really grateful for a lot of things i took for granted PP…
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just DELIGHTED to be home in california! x0x
i LOVE new orleans! x0x0x
in travel
i first went to new orleans during theo’s junior year of high school when we were checking out tulane. it took me about thirty seconds to fall in love with that city. i have been back three more times (he’s a sophomore there now!) and each time i love it more. we are fresh off a visit and here are some of my new orleans FAVORITES:
PRETTY HOUSES (lots are even PINK!) with wrought iron railings and balconies.
so HAPPY to be back in beautiful california! x0x
(sculpture garden at oliver ranch in geyserville)