trees

"Her mother's bed is soft, and there are many layers of sheets, blankets and duvet. Through the window she sees the Thames moving in the dark, as through it has breath. Kitty presses herself between blanket and duvet. Next to the bed is a photograph of Marina, young and laughing, in the orchard at Hay, with Kitty gazing up at her and Sam and Violet crawling in muslin nappies, out of the frame. Kitty doesn't remember who took it, but she recalls the feeling of the sun on her face, and how her mother laughed when she told her she was going to build a tree house and live at Hay until she was very old, at least fifty-three.

"But what about your husband, little Magpie? And your babies?" Her mother said, stroking her hair out of her eyes. "What about what they want?"

"They're just going to have to like trees," Kitty had answered."

Sophie Dahl, Playing with the Grown Ups

source

Sophie Dahl writes the way I wish I could write; simple and honest and good and true. I still remember reading a column of hers in the waitrose food magazine oh, many, many years ago now, and reading about how pumpkin always reminded her of bonfire night, and bad men with long hair who didn't want to eat her carbonara pasta (included in her cookbook as "heartbreak carbonara", which is remarkably apt, really, since I've always through carbonara was true, true comfort food). And then I feverishly searched for her first novel, finding it in a tiny little bookstore in Cambridge when I was visiting my brother's godfather, and I devoured it. The ways she writes... its romantic and rosey and champagne-hued, but it's also completely effortless. The first chapter of her novel, the first line, contains one of the best descriptions of a character I've ever read. "Her grandfather, Bestepapa, had hands that were true as butcher's blocks, and his voice was like the beginnings of a bonfire." The beginnings of a bonfire. How wonderful. All that talent, to write and tell stories and cook, and just look at her, too. Sometimes god gives with both hands.

X

You have read this article books / dreams / photos / pictures / quotes / sophie dahl / writing with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2012/09/trees.html. Thanks!

chic

celebutopia

Ashley Olsen is the last word in chic. I'm sick of reading about people who think her style is boring. It really isn't. It's effortless and inspiring and endlessly exciting, full of luxurious fabrics, interesting extras (that little split on the side of her jeans, a shirt with a hem that slightly longer at the back than the front) and it's the only way I want to dress. I think what I love most is how she dresses for summer. No denim cut offs and tiny singlets for her, oh no. She's all about the diaphanous shirt, the tapered slacks and the casually wrapped shawl (all The Row, of course). I love how she combats heat with clothes that give her skin room to breathe. I've always felt that you shouldn't wear things that are tight or constricting in summer - all that heat trapped up against your body can only be a bad thing. In warm weather you have to give yourself room to move. This summer I'll be wearing my shirts extra wide over long pants, with loafers and sandals and ballet flats. Replicating even further my summer wardrobe planning wish - a closet full of la garconne moderne, of painters smocks and big trench coats and wide brimmed hats to shade me from the heat and sun.

X

You have read this article ashley olsen / celebrity / sandals / shirts / summer / the row / weather with the title . You can bookmark this page URL http://startthefire-cafagesta.blogspot.com/2012/09/chic.html. Thanks!