more flowers

I feel that I have talked and shown flowers a lot lately.no accident, you might add since I love them.they soothe, they dazzle, they uplift, they smell divine,they heal, they help make honey, they color a room,or calm it down,and now in the spring, they are everywhere.
these are camomille flowers that I am ready to dry.

red

Dot brought me this notebook for my upcoming voyage to Paris.And since I am visiting my mother, that sums it up pretty much.
The red geranium is blooming and its single blossom would put any swiss citizen to shame.The terraces of the old wooden chalets are filled, come summer, with bursts of hundreds of red blobs,stating their patriotic pride .That was the ritual of each summer of my childhood upon arriving to the mountain.My grandmother, then mother would go to the market and buy a few pots of red geraniums that would adorn and brighten the front of the house till September.
My favorite colors are black and white, so red is there sometimes, for shock or memory, in small doses.

greek gods

Helios drove his chariot across the sky over the week end,which was particularly appropriate since it was the annual Greek festival, here in Oakland. Cheap vacation: a balmy terrace overlooking the city, greek bands bringing everybody to their feet, food stands with homemade fare,kids digging into their carton of loukoumades,Greek gods working things out, older men drinking retsina wine, cooling the parched throats.Imagine the sunset with Greek singing in the background and the smell of honey poured over the loukoumades...until next year...

Loved the aesthetics of the jewelry studio/store called Modern relics in san francisco, where a book release party took place. I also love the book featured called" San Francisco kitchens" published in japan, with a very different eye to details and artfulness.It feels snapshoty, and intimate, going for the uniqueness and funk rather than the upscale monotonty of brand designs.

black and white

I love my new Rae tiles in my kitchen.
but then, he said:" Don't you have them backwards , cook first then eat ?"

My mother's day

Dot works on Sunday, so we agree to defer the day to yesterday.The plan: to pick me up to take me to her place where we would have tea and a mom/dot time, then significant would pop over and we would all have dinner together.
First,Dot went to get me my special favorite afternnon tea of the moment ( masala chai from Peets), and arrived with this:

then we drove to her quiet refuge next to climbing favas and gossipy chickens, and had our tea and crumpets in her kitchen

She had made a sweet card, we talked about relationships and books while dipping madeleines.
She showed of her new ring, that fits her wildness:

When significant arrived, she served us some apetizers, styled just so on the plate !

We had a delicious dinner, the rosé was refreshing, we played a little game , she and I had a couple of dance moves before leaving. My heart is full.

mustard petals

L brought me these roses the other day, she called them "honey dijon", the petals ,unopened, were pinkish yellow. It wasn't until today when the flowers exhaled that I saw the amazing color emerge.....

squeaky good

special day. birthday.
art, wine, flowers, phone calls dinner out, and more.
went to see the Squeak Carnwath show at the Oakland Museum, and loved, loved loved it.
I think I finished a new painting, and put it behind a beautiful eye catching bouquet that significant brought back .
life is squeaky good.

trippin'

The Friday night event at the De Young Museum was hard to pass by: a show of Warhol's works, cocktails , music by the Elastic Amoebas, a Warhol's Factory party room, silkscreens with Obama's portraits, and more. The exhibit was a sensory explosion: music piped in, T.V sets playing his shows and movies, acid colors on his hyper graphic canvases, and a space that sent you back to a world that Andy might have experienced and created: plush square sofa/bed/mattress in a center of a room with a psychedelic show of concert footage and images with a light show tagged on,recording of the velvet Underground group that used to reside at the factory.....
I really admired his work, was inspired by some early drawings that showed great talent from the start, and was amazed to see how prescient he had been about the whole celebrity fascination. I had forgotten his magazine Interview that captured the global frenzy for the "people" press. And what of reality T.V with his movies of people sleeping, kissing,eating ? Again, precursing hints of the voyeurism and narcissism of today.

We grabbed a G and T, listened to the band, and watched the crowd walking by.Some people looked a little too much like their sixties ghost, so I had to ask "Edie S" if I could take her picture , lounging in the factory party room:

But the evening was young, and we headed to Farinafor a fabulous meal. I love the room where every design details is thought through and hand made, just like the food, prepared delicately but with bursting flavors. Their pasta made there is in my mind unparalleled. I am still dreaming of my dish of hankerchief pasta with ligurian pesto. a melt in your mouth...
Dot ordered the tiramisu which I thought deserved a picture for its presentation, if only you had been there to taste it ! an inch close to sublime.

nourish

L and I are working on some images for a slideshow event that sounds just too hip and fun.Artists get together in a cool space ,share a potluck and watch a slide show of art that they submitted. so why not have a little fun when the world is coming to pieces, ponzis are still scheeming, and Sunday school teacher maim and kill. Theme of the show: nourishment, which is something we all need,heart, spirit and stomach.
so off we went with it, and with the idea of Farm to table, I sent L to a local garden and we worked on some food shots with ingredients growing there.Artichokes,meyer lemons, garlic,chard.....the strawberries were from the farmer's market and I couldn't resist their cocky little stems, the oranges were for one of my plating.

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW SF II
Friday, May 8th, 2009
7pm Potluck | 9pm Slideshow | Afterparty to Follow
LeftSpace | 2055 Bryant St. | San Francisco, CA 94110

lunch with applications

photos by Chloe H. taken with i phone.

The i phone was in my purse when we got back home to have lunch with Dot who was going to hold my hand and take me through the tech maze: music, facebook etc....well, leave it to the teacher to come up with the best shots of the kitchen counter to test the phone camera !. My head spins up a bit, but I am excited. Now I just have to learn to turn the mail to manual or something when I go to France in May.Otherwise consider me.... connected !