12.01.17 house


The Doll’s House (Faith Bradford, 1951 / Smithsonian)

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11.26.17 without


My mother died just before Thanksgiving two years ago. This is what I wrote when I went home to pick up her ashes: eulogy.

Since her death, I’ve been reeling around the world in shock and pain, pretending that I am fine because that is what she would prefer, unable to look directly at the loss. Without her, I no longer know when daylight savings has happened. I never receive government warnings about destinations Americans should avoid. I have nobody to explain the strange things I find in the family photographs.

She always knew, even when I was thousands of miles away, if I was sick. Without her I forget to go to the doctor, or do routine tumor checks, or take the medicine that keeps me alive.

Above everything else, I have no dependable source of lacerating anger and wit to make even terrible experiences look trivial. I’ve been crying a lot, which she would hate. Growing up, I was never allowed to cry, no matter what happened.

My mother was an extraordinary, powerful, strange person. I miss her more than I could possibly convey.

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11.25.17 thankful


Today I’m thankful for old friends and young folk.

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11.22.17 guests


Guests are arriving!

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11.01.17 intended


This week we’re finishing a tile job abandoned 90 years ago, with correct historical materials.

The goal is to make it look the way the original owners intended. Restoration, not renovation.

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10.15.17 books


Finally putting books on shelves! Year three, brownstone restoration.

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10.10.17 coffee


Coffee with the London family.

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10.05.17 belvedere



10.04.17 schloss


Orangerie, Schloss Schonbrunn

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10.03.17 light


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