It’s 4 pm, and I’m alone in the house with no plans for the rest of the day: blissssssss. It’s sunny and warm, and the windows are open in my favorite room in the house. The sun is casting dappled patterns through the newly leafed trees. I can feel and hear the breeze, and Argus is stretched out nearby.
I was out in the world a little more than usual this week, at an oral history conference and then at an Iron Works weekend at the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, CT where a group of master blacksmiths smelted iron from a bloomery forge. Humans have been making iron for thousands of years, and as I watched the group of men and women tend the (incredibly hot) furnace, adding iron ore mined in Vermont and charcoal from Virginia, I had the sense of the chain remaining unbroken; of knowledge, curiosity, and collaboration flowing from the past into the future. I’m introverted and a creature of habit, which means it isn’t always easy for me to be in the world, but this week reminded me of the pleasures of meeting new people, new ideas, and exploring new (and very old) ways of doing things.
PS, this is a musical version of Just Trust Me.
A. These (sadly expensive) porcelain boxes charmed me; how special and unexpected! They might be a good graduation gift….Croissant box, Orange box, and my favorite, the Donut box!
B. Here’s how you know it was a busy week - I put this postcard into my newsletter images twice and didn’t notice (and now I’m too tired to fix it). Here’s to not letting perfect be the enemy of good….
C. In my travels this week, I poked my head into a gift shop that carried a lot of this line of paper animals. This month I snagged for a pal.
D. And I was very tempted by this collection of Luna Moths - every summer in my childhood, once or twice we’d be lucky enough to see a luna moth at night, attracted by our screened porch light. They hold a sort of talismanic place in my memory.
E. A friend slipped this into my grocery bag after we stopped at local cult favorite Guido’s on our way back from the oral history conference. A reminder that friendship doesn’t have to be big gestures and, in fact, is found in the smallest ones. ✨
F. I’m salivating just looking at the bag of this new to me Haribo Ginger-Lemon candy. I ate an entire bag in the car earlier in the week.
G. Alex found these mini Krazy Glue - so smart and such consumer insight (how many crusted-over Krazy Glues have I had to cut open with scissors?! many!)
H. I saw this postcard this week - true!
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I include a few bonus finds here each week for paid subscribers as a small token of appreciation for making this newsletter possible.
This IKEA stool seems cool and practical, and I’m coveting a few of them!
These IKEA bins are my go-to gardening tool to corral all kinds of things (and also kids’ outdoor toys!)
I just bought Alex these flip-flops that were a mainstay of my teenage years.
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