With a chance of showers and thunderstorms

In less than 48 hours, we'll be leaving for our now annual wedding anniversary trip to NYC (I can't WAIT). I wondered if the weather in NY has been as crazy as it has been here this "summer". Anyhoodle, I checked the 7-day weather forecast:

Tuesday: Mostly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Humid with highs in the upper 80s.

Wednesday: Partly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 80s.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 80s.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy in the morning...then becoming partly sunny. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 80s.

Hmmm.... I'm detecting a pattern here. I might have to pick up a pair of these!

Simply summer

One of my favourite things about summer is that it's perfectly acceptable to simply have a big bowl of cherries for diner.

Listening to this soft song.

Watching this sad and beautiful film.

Reading this great bio, in preparation for a retrospective I'll soon be seeing at the Met.

Connecting threads

Hello there. Last week I was nestled at my parents' seaside home for a little vacation. Despite being sick for most of it, and the cold rainy weather, I managed to have a nice time. Books were read, naps were taken, comfort food was eaten, socks were finished, and I even found some time to learn a new handcraft.

There's a strong tradition of hand-quilting in Acadian culture. My maman is one of a long line of master quilters in my family. She turns simple cottons and threads into masterpieces (one day I'll show you my gorgeous wholecloth whitework wedding quilt). It was high time the knowledge got passed down to the next generation.



So with my maman's patient help, I modestly started on my own quilting journey. My interest mainly lies in the "piquage", (piquer is the french term for quilting, and the word literally means to prick with a sharp object) using the stitches to make a design on one large piece of cloth, instead of piecing or appliqueing different fabrics together.

I'm starting off with a simple crown design to fashion a small pillow. Forming small and even stitches takes practice, but I'm enjoying the soothing, repetitive movements (sound familiar)? And I especially love the threads that connect me to my fore-mothers. These small simple movements feel encoded into my very DNA.