what is your house dreaming of?

~ jama ~ 51 Comments

More than just wood or plaster, houses are alive with their own feelings and dreams. Each room has a story to tell.

“The Breakfast Table” by William Ratcliffe
NO. 115 DREAMS
by Jackie Kay

The living room remembers Gran dancing to Count Basie.
The kitchen can still hear my aunts fighting on Christmas day.
The hall is worried about the loose banister.
The small room is troubled by the missing hamster.
The toilet particularly dislikes my Grandfather.
The wallpaper covers up for the whole family.

And No. 115 dreams of lovely houses by the sea.
And No. 115 dreams of one night in the country.

The stairs are keeping schtum about the broken window.
The toilet’s sick of the trapped pipes squealing so.
The walls aren’t thick enough for all the screaming.
My parent’s bedroom has a bed in a choppy sea.
My own bedroom loves the bones of me.
My brother’s bedroom needs a different boy.

And No. 115 dreams of yellow light, an attic room.
And No. 115 dreams of a chimney, a new red roof.

And the red roof dreams of robin redbreasts
tap dancing on the red dance floor in the open air.

~ from Red, Cherry Red (Bloomsbury, 2019)
“Attic Room” by William Ratcliffe (1918)
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Eva Armisén: The Artist Who Paints Happiness

~ jama ~ 14 Comments

I was so happy when I chanced upon this adorable painting recently. A dark-haired girl eating alphabet soup!

Yeah, I kinda felt it was me, since she’s wearing a green dress (my favorite color) and has a blissful expression on her face. Those perky letters (don’t you love the ones dancing in her spoon) would be endlessly nourishing (esp. the letters C-A-K-E). 🙂

Spanish artist Eva Armisén.

Internationally renowned Spanish artist Eva Armisén, who lives and works in Barcelona, painted this delectable piece. She describes her art as, “Sincere. Simple. Emotional.”

Her work, with its whimsical, child-like style, is immediately recognizable: charming portraits of families, friends, and pets doing everyday things together. And of course there’s that ubiquitous young female, often with a flower in her hair, carrying beautiful bouquets, walking, resting, having fun. As the artist’s storyteller, she seems quite content to be on her own.

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let’s get cracking

~ jama ~ 39 Comments

“Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken.” ~ M.F.K. Fisher

photo by Nancy Jentsch
WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF EGGS? 
by Nancy Jentsch

Today’s pumpkin-colored yolks scramble 
with bubbly beaten whites, 
the foam a color Kandinsky 
would drool for. 
Frying eggs sizzle serenades 
harmonize with salty bacon 
sport accents of poblano and cheddar 
their taste delicate as their shells. 
 
If this is all you know of eggs 
it is sufficient. 
 
As for me, 
blessed with hens, 
my hands wonder  
at the warmth 
each egg entrusts 
exquisite as any snowflake or rose 
 
And in my dimpled basket 
their pastel rainbow—  
tans, blues, greens— 
seals an understated promise. 

~ Posted by permission of the author. Copyright © 2022 Nancy Jentsch
“Fried Eggs” by Dusan Vukovic
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[clucky review] Eggs from Red Hen Farm by Monica Wellington

~ jama ~ 16 Comments

What do crêpes, soufflés, frittatas, and quiches have in common? Why, yes, they’re all made with eggs!

Unless they’re from a family that raises chickens, many kids see eggs in the fridge or grocery store without ever considering where they came from. 

In Monica Wellington’s brand new interactive picture book, Eggs From Red Hen Farm: Farm to Table with Mazes and Maps (Holiday House, 2022), young readers are invited to tag along as two happy young farmers take their eggs to market. 

The story opens with Ruby and Ned collecting eggs from their hen house. After they sort and count the eggs, they load them onto their red truck. Off they go, “past the ponies, the fire station, and the bulldozer, to the farmers’ market.”

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[poesy + receipts] Three Cups of Tea with Miss Emily

~ jama ~ 44 Comments

“If we love flowers, are we not born again every day . . .” (Emily Dickinson to Mrs. George S. Dickerman, 1886)

Happy Good Friday and Happy Passover!

We are celebrating this rejuvenating season of renewal, reflection and rebirth with our dear friend Emily Dickinson.

Ever since Spring donned her yellow bonnet and tiptoed into our woods, I’ve been immersed in Emily’s words. Rereading her poems fills me with the same wonder and elation as seeing those first daffodils pop up or the dogwoods proudly showing off their white blossoms. 

Her inimitable voice remains fresh, clever, startling, a little subversive. For someone who once wondered if her verse was “alive,” she could never have imagined that it has remained so to millions for over a century.

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown -
Who ponders this tremendous scene -
This whole Experiment of Green -
As if it were his own!

Although she normally shies away from company, the Belle of Amherst couldn’t resist Mr Cornelius’s invitation to stop by (he has a way with 19th century poetic geniuses). She agreed to share a few of her poems if we provided tea and treats.

We were happy to oblige, quite anxious to try several recipes from the new Emily Dickinson Cookbook: Recipes from Emily’s Table Alongside the Poems That Inspire Them (Harvard Common Press, 2022). Arlyn Osborne’s charming compendium contains 50+ recipes – several Emily recorded, dishes she and her family enjoyed, plus others typical of the New England of her time – all adapted for the modern home cook. 

Our three cups of tea represent the triad of Emily’s existence: Garden, Writing, Home and Family. We have selected YOU as our society, so put on a clean white dress or shirt, place a crown of dandelions in your hair, and ring when you’re ready for your first cup of verse and victuals.

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