I really only have a teensy snoppet of time just now-
but as it happens to be Thursday,
(well it was when I started writing this, anyway!)
I feel moved to thank my lucky stars for some bits
of assorted amazingness I’ve been experiencing lately:

♡ It finally rained yesterday! We’ve been in a terrible drought lately
down here in Texas, so if you happen to have any extra rain, please
send it our way. We would be extremely grateful! Summer thunderstorms
are the best! Shivery bolts of lightning + broody dark sunset skies.

♡ In other celestial events, there was a total solar eclipse the other day-
(I’m not sure where the following is quoted from, sorry-
Miss T. Verhext sent it to me! I must ask her!)
“This extra-long eclipse, occurring at a degree that implies a pressure for resolution,
is in the sign of Cancer the Crab, who clings with tenacity. It seems, with all water signs,
that we do best by recognizing some emotional experience. Cancer, the first water sign,
hints at the most primitive emotions or stages of development —
the earliest in time or the most deeply buried in the unconscious.
Thus, both our personal histories and our collective or ancestral memories
may be the ground through which this potent eclipse moves us forward along our life path.

Eclipses are known to bring things to a head or indicate a release point.”

Um, yeah. Dead on! It was an extra intense one for me,
and brought up a lot of memories and thoughts about my mama.
Which brings me to the next amazing thing:
Sweet Miss Gala Darling did me
(and a lot of other ladies) an enormous service by posting an open letter
from Francesca Lia Block- go read it:

♡ forty-five thoughts for my daughter and my virtual daughters
Reading this was so good for me, and so powerful-
I cried like I haven’t in awhile. I didn’t realize how much I needed to
read those words. It was like unlocking a floodgate.
I love Francesca Lia- she was such a magic beacon for me when
I was was, and still! I wrote her a letter when I was seventeen,
dangerously pregnant (an ectopic) in Los Angeles- and very young + afraid.
She wrote me back immediately, and made me feel so much better.
I think I would feel very lucky to be a daughter of hers.

♡ Okay, in more quotidian news- I finally broke down and got a freakin’ Iphone!
Guess what? It’s magical. I don’t think I’ve ever been more delighted and amazed
with a piece of gadgetry before. It is a good tool for me. Future-sorcery!
Also, it has a pretty killer camera for a celephone, eh?
(All of the following pictures were taken with it!)

♡ I love my jewelry class.
My teacher is a sage. He is truly the best teacher (in many subjects) that I have ever known.
I feel so lucky in his classroom, tinkering away at my various intricate projects.
See that bulbous-headed tool in the lower right-hand corner?
That’s a snarling iron! Bob made it for me, so that I could make one
of my visions real. That’s just so incredible- I feel very honored.

♡ I found this record at the shop recently:
Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band-
man, I ought to have snatched up this album when I had the chance!
The nice fella who bought let me snap a picture before he took it away.

Look at “Sweet Emma” Barrett!
(March 25, 1897, New Orleans, Louisiana – January 28, 1983)
She was nicknamed Bell Gal, because she wore a red skull cap
and garters with Christmas bells that jingled in time with her music.
She was featured on the cover of Glamour magazine
and written up in publications on both sides of the Atlantic.
She’s my latest inspiration. Time to make bell garters!

♡ Who is this fine fellow? Adolphe Menjou, perhaps? Maybe not.
Whoever he is, I think he’s mighty fine.

♡ Oh, Follies!!
Go see the treasure trove of chorus girls that Miss T. found!
Talk about inspiration! Miss Virginia Biddle + Marjorie Leet
were too, too gorgeous and had diskostani style in spades!

♡ Found this wonderful wall in an old building that had been converted
into a yoga studio in Chicago. Acme bricks. Solid. A good stairwell for singing.

♡ So yes, we visited Chicago recently – and I promise to share some of those adventures soon,
but first things first: after 24 hours of no sleep, dancing late into the night, frenzied packing
and all day travel, we were ushered by our dear friends into a cool, calm bastion
of deliciousness known as Province. If you get the chance, go check out their fabulous food,
and truly stunning cocktails. Strangely curative tonics for weary and travel-tattered urchins such as we!
My favorites were these:

Pimlico Grid – Pimm’s No. 1, Hendrick’s Gin, lemon-lime juice, ginger beer, cucumber slice

Yellow Moon – Death’s Door gin, Benedictine, St. Germain, lemon juice, lemon sweetened rim

Lapsang Sazerac – Old Overholt, Herbsainte, Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters, lapsang souchong syrup

♡ Also, they have walls made of moss, trees hanging from the ceiling,
and hot pink accents among all the black, white + neutral. So lovely.

♡ Oof, one more thing! My favorite meal of late! – Hoi de Bap!
Actually, I have no idea how it is transliterated from Korean-
but it’s raw sashimi chunks with salad, rice and smelt roe.
Perfect. I wish I could eat it every single day! If only.