Finnish Summer Houses.

Finnish Summer Houses by Jari & Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen.
$50

It's a gorgeous day in L.A. - hot but breezy - it feels like Spring. I have had a very quiet day in the shop - I think I've only sold one book (on NYC Punk Photography), but I've been sitting here planning my dinner - sauteed white fish crumbled into a fresh, crunchy salad with homemade wholewheat garlic bread - and listening to Simon & Garfunkel. It's been perfect. I've been reading this book on Finnish Summer Houses today too - I want to go and stay in them all. I've mentioned before that I think I would love Scandinavia - I love pickled herring and mackerel (and all other pungently flavoured fish that make other people retch) and I am obsessed with reading Swedish murder-mysteries. Maria from Yolk also talk me how to say Stockholm like a proper Swedish person (she's one of these) - I like to say it under my breath every now and then.

This is from the foreword:

"The northern way of life is strongly tied to nature and the changing seasons of the year. The short and intensive Scandinavian summer allows people to be more unecumbered than usual. For Finns the ideal way of spending these months is at one's own cottage and sauna amidst nature, by the shore of a lake."

This is my idea of an ideal summer!

Werewolf.

My friend Jackie The Werewolf came to visit Saturday afternoon.

Shark Attack!

Sharlene made these great collages after a day of shooting down-town. I love how colourful they are. And she's wearing my favourite Hot-Pink-Panther-Pants. Try saying that quickly after a few drinks.

Hats!

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones

$39.95

"You shouldn't ask 'why do you wear a hat?' What you should really be asking is 'why are you not?' I can't imagine leaving the house without a hat. How can a look be complete without a hat? From a cap to a full-on fascinator; the hat is the accent, the exclamation mark, the finishing note that punctuates the whole look. I apply this to myself as much as to the collections I work on. Where do you think 'thinking caps' get their name from?

Hats change and enhance - indeed they complete a silhouette. Always work up as well as down. You are meant to dress from top to toe, so don't forget the final flourish, A face is so much more photogenic when framed with a crown, a boater, a brim, an air of mystique...To imagine a look without a hat is like imagining an English tea-pot with no lid, or takeaway coffees without their tops. It just won't do."

John Galliano (from the Foreword.)

I concur John! I concur! While I was home I went to the exhibit that this book is from. It's on at the V&A in London. It's INSANE. The best exhibition I've been to in a while. I loved the presentation. I went with my Mum and we had a top notch lunch at the V&A caff too - we sat next to Lulu Guinness and drank wine.

Acid Bloom.

Acid Bloom by Ninagawa Mika
$60

Marianne Faithfull.

Marianne Faithfull in this month's Interview magazine. Photo by Paolo Roversi.

I have long loved Marianne Faithfull. It's probably not her favourite memory but I remember reading her biography a while ago and getting really stuck on the fact that she lived on a wall in Soho for a long while. I still think how tripped out people must have been to walk past and see Marianne Faithfull just sitting on a wall. I got her new album a while ago and it's extraordinary (called Easy, Come, Easy Go - buy it at AMOEBA;). She doesn't have the best voice in the world but I love it. Her voice is the auditory equivalent of smokey bars and whisky. It's an album of covers/duets. My favourite is her cover of "Sing Me Back Home" with Keith Richards. I'm sure she's a fascinating character - I would like to have a date with MF - we would have a long walk on the beach and then eat fish and chips out of the paper, sitting on a wall. Ha.

A not-very-good-picture of an Ojai sunset taken with my camera phone. I spent a lot of time messing about with my new Diana camera - especially on the pinhole setting at night - I'm excited to see how they turn out. They're at least bound to be more successful than the photos I took at Descanso Gardens with the lens cap on the whole time. Curses.

1984.

I went away this weekend to Ojai - it's very peaceful. It feels like it's on a leyline. I was reading 1984 by George Orwell - which I've never read before but have always meant to. It has been scaring the beejeezus out of me and making me suffer from paranoid and frightening dreams/ nightmares.

Ted Muehling.

Ted Muehling: A Portrait by Don Freeman
$55

The Clinic.

Last night Sharlene, Joya and I were supposed to be going to a dance performance but because I'm a loser I made us late and we missed it BUT we did poke about in The Clinic for a while and I found all this stuff! I wanted to buy the "I love you this much" person - but Shark forbade me. Blurgh.

The Clinic, 1832 West Sunset Blvd, LA, CA 90026

Wish.

Joya stopped by today and she brought me a wish. This was very fortuitous timing as I was dealing with an especially difficult customer and I was at that very moment wishing some-one would rescue me. And she did.

Donkey.

Ahhhhh

loves one to know one

Hey

Hi

Hi ya' wathA

eye I have you know

Donkey loves Dove

myn e idiomadvent for adverture

Flows

through streams of imperative's lie's

Between what's known

Un'known

Flower'd wild cat's charm these beautiful folk's

In byou

Suns of suns

Going bong

In

Faunal favour

"Alas"

About people

Rare world you are

One who feather's to be feather'd

in horse like whisper

"we dance"

wild to be native' dancers of the valley

This is the poem on the facing page in the Mark Borthwick book. I have always loved donkeys. One lives on the farm next door to my Mum's house in south Wales. We call her Gertrude.

Mark Borthwick "not in fashion"

Mark Borthwick "not in fashion"
$50

Just arrived!

Union Jack Cushions.

Shark-Sock-Monkey.

For Sharlene's birthday I spent a lot of time worrying about what to make her for her birthday. For my Christmas present she excelled herself and got me the most amazing gift - a set of Union Jack pillows - I'd mentioned back in June that I'd been searching for some and hadn't had much luck. I then sort of forgot about them - but Elephant-Memory-Sharlene remembered and had a pair made for me. They are perfect.

So I needed something equally spectacular and decided to make a Sharlene-Sock-Monkey-Twin. This wasn't quite on a par with the Union Jack cushions but the monkey sure does keep the conversation flowing and she sure does get about. Here she is with Sharlene's friend Ryan. She's a bit of a monkey-whore (the monkey - not Sharlene).

Descanso Gardens.

Monday was the first proper day off I've had since I got back. It was Doctor-Blissful. Shark had organized a photo-shoot for the company Artemas in Descanso Gardens. I went along and held the bounce, which made me feel very important. I was also the source (sauce?) of humour for the shoot - apparently my outfit made me look like a deviant schoolchild. This also made me feel important.

Descanso Gardens are insanely beautiful - the cherry blossoms in particular were glorious. It's not as gargantuan as Huntington Gardens but with it's $8 entry instead of Huntington's $20 - it's a botannical bargain.

www.descansogardens.org

Hundertwasser.

"Hundertwasser appears sometimes in public dressed in what might be called "strange ways". He could, for instance, walk into the dining room of Claridge's in London wearing on each foot knitted socks of different colours which are covered by a combination of sandals and shoes fashioned by himself, a multicoloured sailor's cap on his head, a striped caftan over his shoulders and yet, not one person present will laugh or even snicker. Somehow, they feel very strongly that a mysterious, important messenger has entered the room."

I love the translation from the Austrian into English and how the tenses have gone a bit awry. I also love the description of his outfit. I also really love martini's at the bar in Claridge's, I could do with one right about now.