Apparently we are all hungry for connection and conversation around our hormones and our libidos and the weird ways that our bodies are changing. My people! If you missed the post I wrote in a fevered state over the weekend, you can read Hot & Heavy here. Thank you to everyone who subscribed or became paid subscribers!! What a gift you are.
School started Monday. Sauvignon Blanc harvest started last week. And even though it hit 90 degrees today, summer is unmistakably singing its swan song. I’m not built for this kind of heat — Andrew jokes about my Nordic blood — so I should just be relieved that it’s nearly over. But it’s bittersweet anyway. The neighbor’s pool is already cooling off and the tomato plants have gone woody.
Meanwhile, my shopping cart is filled with Ouija boards and tarot cards for the bookstore come October. We stocked up on mechanical pencils for homework. We vowed to start eating dinner at the dining table like civilized humans instead of parked in front of the TV watching Amazing Race. I’m so ready for routine to come back and tell me what to do.
We had a weirdly cold day on Friday and I happened to be working from home. After a trip to the farmer’s market, I got all of the ingredients to make Melissa Clark’s insanely delicious Ratatouille. It takes forever — only one side of our ancient oven works and there are multiple sheet pans — but it’s completely worth it. *gift link
How good is this entire Zara look, head-to-toe. Those pants, though. Also into them in olive.
I really mis-packed for Sea Ranch last week, bringing gorgeous sweaters that I had no business wearing while I clambered over rocks and down to sandy beaches. An older girl passed along her classic Patagonia jacket to Faye years ago and she still wears it. She was warm and comfortable and ready for anything — I had jacket envy and realized it might be time to get my own! I prefer the boxier shape of this men’s jacket.
My big toes are starting to poke out of my Rothy’s clogs which I’m taking as a sign that they need to be retired. Eyeing these supremely cool looking Birkenstocks, discovered on my new favorite substack from Antonia called Scandi Delights. That woman has taste for days.
In preparation for my chat with Catherine Newman on Sunday I have the delightful job of rereading her books and, oh my gosh, do I love her warm, funny, tender writing.
My God, did I love this book. I read the last few pages at the store and could barely give the poor guy who wandered in a hello. It is one of those books that made me feel on the verge of crying for a good 30 minutes after reading the final page. So deliciously, beautifully painful.
It has a similar romantic ache as One Day (I didn’t read the book, but the show slayed me). Two young women who meet one sultry summer in Paris. There is lust and betrayal and a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. We see their relationship evolve over decades. The missed chances. The reconnections. The stumbles and loss and friendship and ambitions and sexiness.
Almost Life spans 1978 thru 2013: Paris and art. Gay rights and the AIDS epidemic. Relationships and writers and publishing. Laure is cool and angular with her slim suits and cigarettes and prematurely grey hair. Erica is voluptuous and wide-eyed and slightly insecure. I had to laugh at her Laura Ashley dress.
We see the early headiness of young love. Drunken nights and seedy first apartments and days spent wandering around museums. We see the in-between years at university and blossoming careers. We see them soften into middle-age and motherhood and life in the country. You cannot help but root for them while, at the same time, realizing that they are exactly where they are supposed to be at that moment in time.
I am going to miss Laure and Erica immensely.
When Erica’s life takes her to Norfolk, she’ll need a classic trench.
A flowy but sharp blazer to wear to book launches and gallery openings.
Something sheer and sexy to wear while draped across one another on the rug at Laure’s apartment.
A slouchy and incredibly chic grey sweater for Laure to wear with black jeans.
Cropped black jeans with a slight barrel leg to wear with blazers and brogues.
As Erica starts to dress more like a Parisienne, she’d swap her flouncy floral skirts for something sleeker like this green silky number.
A bitchy little ankle boot for stomping around Paris.
Erica wears a green tea dress with Wellingtons on a walk to the water, looking like a farmer’s wife.
A very cool suede shirt that Laure would wear open over slim tanks and tees.
An early author event announcement (I feel like Oprah!!) for all of you incredible paid subscribers below:
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.