The Witching Hour
A grown-up Grimms' fairytale.
Oh thank goodness, my baby Faye is home from camp!! We all felt a little discombobulated with one missing and, now that we’re back together, it feels so good. I will be doing loads of laundry for days trying to get the grime out. The bathtub may never recover. The child needs a deep conditioning masque and about 500 hours of sleep, but I think it was mostly wonderful. I heard about something called a ‘Bling Swing’ which involves trapezing through the air, 30 feet up. There’s a game called “Titanic” where you have to “pretend to drown, mom!” as your canoe sinks in the lake. There was also some homesickness which makes my heart ache.
Hilariously, it sounds like her bunkmates had some thoughts on our parenting. Aghast that she’s never once been to a McDonald’s or listened to Jason Derulo (I still don’t know who Jason Derulo is), they told Faye she must have “super over-protective parents.” I found myself getting defensive, arguing with kids I will never, ever meet. “Did you tell them there isn’t a McDonald’s in our town?” “Did you introduce them to Suki Waterhouse or Olivia Dean?” It’s tough to compete when our local burger place is Gott’s Roadside and the closest thing to a corner bakery is Model Bakery — the one made famous by Oprah.
We are spoiled rotten in Napa, it’s one of its perks.
Monday we're welcoming two of my other favorite kids, flying in from France to spend ten days with us!! Not the parents, just the kids. Maybe I'll take them to Gott's for a decidedly un-McDonald's burger.
I’m so into the colors on this flush mount. It would look great in Faye’s room.
Andrew and I had an actual daytime date and went to see The Odyssey. I loved it! My heart was pounding. I think Charlize Theron might be the most beautiful creature. Robert Pattinson is an excellent villain. And the entire time, I kept thinking about the delightful Emma Straub and her delightful take on the movie. I too want to sit next to John Leguizamo at someone’s wedding so we could chat the whole night long.
Yes, this is 28 hours of audio. Yes, I’m only 7% of the way in. But, so far, Calamity Club is proving to be a terrific listen.
I can’t help myself, these Henri Matisse-meets-surf culture shirt and sweatshirt are an immediate yes.
This perfect Kule blue button down is currently 40% off. Even though it says oversized, I’m still going to get it in an XL for a slouchy look. Use code: KULE40
Also part of the massive Kule sale? These excellent sweatpants.
The Children by Melissa Albert
I don't read enough books with a little magic in them, and I don't know why, because I love them — especially the dark, twisty kind where artsy parents behave badly in a rural farmhouse. This book is wildly inventive! Melissa Albert builds stories within stories, novels within novels, images that feel mined from some secret recess. I kept thinking: this came out of some brilliant, beautiful mind.
The writing itself is lush and strange, descriptive enough to sink your teeth into. Albert builds a world sentence by sentence, dreamlike and utterly real at once. I loved the way she described people: a woman with red lipstick and white teeth like a picnic blanket. A makeup artist's mouth "the brown of a bad apple." A morning-show host whose voice is “flat as a playing card.”
The novel is narrated by Guinevere Sharpe, who as an adult is still trapped inside the very public version of her own childhood — the one her mother made famous. Though fiction, her frosty, beautiful, forever-young mother Edith used Guinevere and her brother Ennis as the named protagonists of her wildly popular children's books. Everyone knew them, or thought they did.
Albert flips between Guin’s childhood and the present, and I loved the flashbacks best, thick as they are with the occult. Bad dreams plague the artists who cycle through the famous couple’s orbit. Things go “creepy crawly.” It reminded me a bit of Kelly Link’s The Book of Love, another haunted/psychological/grown-up Grimms’ fairytale type.
I devoured it, hungrily.
Even on sale this long cardigan is still over $600, but it’s so gorgeous and supremely cool and Guin has all of that book royalty money.
Hand-shaped objects feature prominently throughout and I’m a sucker for anything Astier de Villatte. This hand-shaped candle holder is so weird, and so chic.
Edith has a glossy, cropped, Marisa Tomei sounding haircut and this styling cream is just what she needs.
This fabulous, witchy little bag would be so perfect for Edith’s trips to the city.
Edith, the enigmatic young mother, wears a gold necklace with a charm that the kids rarely catch a glimpse of. This Moi + Toi necklace would be my version.
Edith “wore a hip-length waxed jacket” and, with her Welsh husband, I have a feeling it’s a classic Barbour.
Llewellyn’s models all wear heavy eyeliner and baggy clothes that hide their shape, before striping down. These balloon pants feel very artsy.
Llewellyn, the actor-turned-painter father, has a specific painting uniform and it includes a striped Breton tee. I love the racer stripes down the side of this one.
Half of the book takes place in the past, when Guinevere and Ennis are children (hence, the title!) so some fabulous kids finds make sense. Boden makes the cutest things and everything is 25% off during the back-to-school sale. Leopard vest. Chunky loafers. Denim skirt.
Hope you’re reading something good 💚
my son has also never been to a mcdonald’s…we too order from Gott’s when we order burgers. hopefully some day when he finally tries a sad mcdonald’s cheeseburger he’ll thank us. (we’re spoiled in SF too)