in stock

craig and i collaborated on some jotters

find them at design collective

hurry! they are only there until our move...1 more month
and thanks to all who have been snappin' 'em up

180° South

We thoroughly enjoyed this documentary about true adventure, the Patagonian wilderness, dreams, the fight for conservation...

This, at the present moment, resonated with me:

"The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It's so easy to make it complex. The solution to many of the world's problems may be to turn around and take a forward step. You can't keep trying to make a flawed system work."
-Yvon Chouinard, Environmentalist and founder of Patagonia

We've been preparing for a cross-country move and have been paring down our belongings, attempting to simplify, get rid of useless crap, clear the clutter out. It is hard to simplify. Society has conditioned us to "need" so much. It's madness. I am sure that as we unpack our belongings and arrange our new space, more things will be headed out the door.

lately

North West Company Fur Post

Here are a few photos from the annual rendezvous at the North West Company Fur Post. It's in my hometown and I hadn't been since childhood.

In 1804, Europeans used this post to trade goods for beaver furs with Anishinabe hunters. The fur trade was spurred by European fashion and status at that time. At most, a post was kept open for 3 winters(the best time to harvest beaver fur, since beavers have their heaviest coat of the year then) before the surrounding beaver ran scarce and the post was moved elsewhere. Before abandonment, however, posts were burned to the ground so that they would not provide a free shelter if rivaling trading companies were to later move in.

We toured, ran into friends, spent time with family, tasted bread cooked over the fire and spent time in the warm fall sun.

autumn has arrived

isn't it fabulous?

Joanna Newsom: The Book of Right On

you know, when i first heard joanna newsom, i wasn't sure about it. but , you know what, it grows on you. i like the harp and i like watching the movement of her hands. poetic.

also enjoying this beaty remix of right on by the roots

that chair!

I spotted this great chair on the Selby today. Chairs are often under-rated. A chair is a work of art that can be a feast for the eyes and a haven for the body. This chair would be the perfect companion to my chair.

Anniversary Waltz

I came across this Swiss Thorens music box carousel for free. I fell in love with the children dancing and the mushrooms(by their feet-hard to see in this photo) and the lovely tune. It plays the Anniversary Waltz. I didn't care for the style it was painted in(here's what it looked like before) so I added a few coats of flat black spray paint and voila! Then I played it for our anniversary and we maybe pretended we knew how to do the Waltz.

Keeping Mr. Emerson's House

Wouldn't it be fun to live at Ralph Waldo Emerson's home as the caretaker? That's the gig a young couple just started in Concord, MA. Full story in the NYTimes here, photo slide show here.

Carly Waito Paintings

Yes! These are paintings! I know. Can you believe it?

Carly Waito creates these fabulous paintings. See more here.

make do and mend

a button here
a button there
a few stitches here
reinforcement there

almost through my pile of mending

my answer to our throw away society

{image via clare owen}

No one needs a smile as much as the person who fails to give one.

I try to remember this every time I smile or say 'hello' to the dark-haired man that I often pass in my neighborhood. He fails to reciprocate every time, even when we found his diabetic kit and wallet in the middle of the street and rushed to find him. Husband calls him 'my buddy' and it's all I can do not to smile at him.

making the sick mopies go away

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
one of my favorite nearby places to stroll
and look at pretty pictures in the trash
even in the rain
strolling there makes the sick mopies go away
so does a very understanding sweetheart

salon style

love the salon style framing at the Walker
I could sit and sit and sit
I'm going to map out a wall in our next space for this

North Shore Camping

We recently took a trip with friends to George Crosby Manitou State Park on the North Shore. Our campsite was a 3 mile hike in and a short hike from the Manitou River, which we visited first thing in the morning to wash with refreshingly-ice-cold water, sit on the sun-soaked rocks and pump our water for the day.

The weather was nice, the scenery gorgeous, the campfires warm and the hiking invigorating. It certainly reinforced all our jogging efforts. We couldn't resist stopping at Lake Superior on our way home to see the fog rolling in.