Tree Rings

I have interiors on the brain — Color! Pattern!

This feels like a fringe topic, but as you can see below in Odds and Ends, I am once again thinking about my kids’ rooms. Our homes as memory makers! Spaces that feel special and a little bit magical.

I didn’t realize until after adding and removing and then adding those items (sconce, art, frames) to my cart again that the shipping would cost me $161!!! Items were coming from multiple countries with multiple shipping and tariff fees. So, of course, the whole thing was abandoned.

But why is it impossible to find colorful, interesting, beautifully designed things stateside? Why do the Europeans get to have all of the decorating fun? I can’t help but think that we were collectively whitewashed by the neutral throw pillows and subtly striped bedspreads in shades of “latte” and “soft cloud” made popular by Shea McGee. The exterior of every house that we pass on the way to school, renovated in the past five years, looks identical to the next one. Two stories with bright white wood and black steel-trimmed windows. Pretty, but boring when everything looks like everything else. Remember that song from Weeds (Mary-Louise Parker forever!)? Little boxes made from ticky tacky.

Kendall Jenner has the right idea at her mountain house, a house I am drawing endless inspiration from. The brilliant Heidi Caillier designed it and I’m infatuated. The checkerboard shower. The textured walls. That oxblood paint on the bathroom walls. The color! The pattern! It feels so original and livable and utterly gorgeous.

Does anyone have any good sources for beautiful home goods that don’t require passage on a cargo ship?

• After the cat managed to pull down the enormous canopy hanging over my daughter’s bed, I need to quickly cover gaping holes in the wall. Eyeing this happy print to go with the cornflower blue bobble frame. And I’m obsessed with this rechargeable sconce!! The colors! The paisley! Perfection.

• Another find for Faye’s room, this fun wavy mirror from Ikea.

• I’ve talked about my love for these little chickpeas before, but I gave myself the gift of turning them into Alison Roman’s brothy chickpeas (I leave out the chilis). Pop them in the oven before work and come home to sheer deliciousness! Top with a fried egg and pat yourself on the back.

• Honestly, I cannot remember 90% of Night Manager Season 1, but no matter! Because I am hooked on Season 2. Based on the novel by John le Carré, you know I love a British spy drama.

• Meet my latest health obsession, Biologica. And just look at that gorgeous packaging!! I’ll report back after taking it for the recommended three months, but I empty a little sachet in water first thing in the morning. The sexiest way to get your vitamins, electrolytes and probiotics, all tailored to your hormonal age.

• The terrific and very stylish Christene Barberich recently did a round up of navy sweatsuits and these Varley pants immediately went to the top of my wish list. I love how polished they look! Like Christene, I’d opt for a hoodie instead of the half-zip.

Greenwood by Michael Christie

Lest the name of this newsletter be misleading, I do read (and love) books by men! After two separate people told me that Greenwood was the best thing they read last year I immediately brought home a copy and then proceeded to tear through it. They were right, what a novel.

The story begins in 2038 with Jacinda Greenwood, a tour guide and babysitter for the uber wealthy at one of the last remaining forests in the world. Then it’s 2008 and we meet Liam Greenwood, a carpenter. Jumping back further still it’s 1974 and Willow Greenwood has recently gotten out of jail after getting caught for environmental activism. And, lastly it’s 1934 and Everett Greenwood finds a baby in the woods and goes on the lam.

But the part that thrilled me was that we then move forward again in time, re-connecting with each of the characters in each of those years after understanding all of the rivalries and dramas that eventually lead back to Jacinda in 2038. This drawing showing the timeline like a line through the rings of a tree just delighted me.

I found the structure of this family saga magnificent. The implications of a bloodline against an environmental cry for help. The world is being looted for its natural resources and, by the time we get to the future, trees are a rarity while most of the world is coated in dust. Canada with its remaining resources has become “a panic room for the global elite.”

It’s about the passage of time. About regrets and the weight of heritage and the desire to establish oneself as singular. Christie talks about the passage of time so beautifully, saying, “It simply accumulates — in the body, in the world — like wood does. Layer upon layer. … Each triumph and each disaster written forever in its structure.”

I loved following each thread into the past and back again. I will be pushing this on my husband next as I know he’ll love it just as much as I did.

1. If I had an extra $6200 (!!) I would scoop of this vintage Danish sideboard. It feels fitting that it’s from the 70s when Liam Greenwood was making beautiful pieces from reclaimed wood.

2. Something about the colors and quilting of this gorgeous tote feel like it fits in with the novel. Maybe it’s simply because I love it so much.

3. A rain jacket is necessary on the island off the coast of Canada. This lightweight packable version would be ideal.

4. A leather bound journal plays an important part of the story and this tomato red beauty really caught my eye. We carry Notem at the bookstore and I love the way they look and feel. I also appreciate that they’re not crazy expensive.

5. It’s hard to find a decent picture of these Wrangler jeans, but they are Laurel Pantin’s favorites and they’re $55 and they feel exactly right for all of the loggers and farmers in this book.

6. Greenwood by Michael Christie

7. A classic chambray shirt to wear throughout the decades.

8. Such a pretty lace blouse — I imagine one of the women in 1938 wearing something similar.

It was so lovely to see all of you at Sunday’s live book club session with Corina Crysler — cannot wait the next one (this Sunday at 9am PST for paid subscribers). 💚

Hope you’re reading something good.