JUST FINISHED reading Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow and it was so, so good. If you're looking for a work of non-fiction that reads like a fast-paced spy thriller, then you will love it.
This week’s links include decorating with plinth coffee tables, chic dinnerware for the holidays and the real cost of phone addiction; a Sydney home with a Mediterranean vibe; a recipe for citrus chickpea and brussels sprout salad and much, much more.
IT IS UNDENIABLY chilly, and the fire is on at the cottage most days now. The leaves have turned a bright yellow and the shops are a confusing mix of pumpkins and Christmas crackers. How there can be only two and a half months left of the year is a mystery. It feels like a moment ago that I was writing my New Year's Resolutions for 2019 and now we're on the cusp of 2020...
WE ENDED UP watching the entire series of Fleabag in the late evenings over the past week, preferring, already, to cosy up in front of the fire on these September nights. I have also been ordering soft camel-coloured wool jumpers and a new coat...
LAST NIGHT I spilled an entire newly-filled Brita over my iMac keyboard and while it worked after the incident, the next morning, the spacebar (Have you ever tried typing a paragraph without a spacebar?), the enter and delete keys, the apostrophe (and perhaps more) were no longer working. In hindsight, should have dried it out facedown overnight, but as it is now, it is most likely ruined, never to return to the way it was. On Friday morning, we left for London...
THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND WAS filled with all of the very best things: perfect late-summer weather and champagne at a Sunday garden party; white horses and hilly trails and drinks on flower-laden terraces; late brunches, coffee and sunshine and wishing that summer would never end…
Last week, had a strange dream about an old childhood friend; her name was Kathryn and she had golden hair and sea blue eyes. She would hand me long handwritten letters nearly every morning, even though we saw each other at school everyday. Every letter always ended with an inspirational quote, such as, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” (George Eliot) We were best friends.
ONE OF THE THINGS we perfected in Spain (and by “we” I mean P) is the tortilla, a cosy potato omelet, which is what we made this weekend. We also made another one of our favourite dishes, Chickpea & Kale Shakshouka―it was terribly rainy, so comfort food seemed like just the thing.
WE ARE CURRENTLY having a slice of summer cherry pie with custard and talking about all of the things that have been happening in the world these past few days. And it’s a lot to take in. It’s difficult to remain hopeful and inspired, and to keep on creating and absorbing beautiful things when at times, the world seems so chaotic. But it’s important (especially) at times like these, to focus on the good things that happened as well, the lovely moments, and the connections we have with those in our lives, those who know us well and who will always be there for us. These are things that matter most...
THIS WEEKEND WE SAW Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, whose ninth and latest film visits 1969 Los Angeles. Still not completely certain how I feel about it, but remember that it felt meanderingly and ploddingly slow, and very long. Of course, it was three hours and forty-five minutes, so it was actually long, but have always thought that really good films never seem to feel that way.
THIS WEEKEND WE watched the Wimbledon finals, and Sunday’s match, between Federer and Djokovic, was especially exhilarating and ultimately heartbreaking (Federer forever). The weather has finally turned summery and I’m all billowy white dresses and espadrilles these days. The roses in all the English gardens have begun to fade, but everything is lush and green as it always is at this time of year, the height of summertime, when the days are hazy and you can almost hear the clouds float by. We still have so much to tell about these past few months of change and renewal, but for now, it’s nice to step back a little from everything, safe in the cosiness of the cottage and breathe. Also began a new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, which has provided much to think about…
THE THING ABOUT MOVING in to a new place is that if you get it just right, it far too cosy to leave. This weekend, we ordered in a perfectly spicy curry from the best Indian restaurant in the area and stayed in, enveloped in the cosy-ness of the cottage.
WE PAINTED THE LIVING this weekend, Farrow & Ball’s Middleton Pink, and it turned out to be rather disastrous. We ended up having to pick up new paint the next day and repaint everything, despite all my research pointing to the colour being pale powdery perfection, the prettiest and most delicate pink. We’re not certain what went wrong, but perhaps a combination of the wall texture and room lighting were to blame in making the colour appear a vivid candy floss pink that somehow even managed to clash with the fireplace mantle, which is cream. Décor misadventures aside, everything else was rather perfect, with sunset walks and Spanish wine in the last golden light of day; old stone houses and English roses and roaring fires and the feeling of being really very happy.
WE HAVE RECEIVED a million notes and emails from you about the TIG newsletter, which has been on an unintentional hiatus due to technical difficulties for the past little while now. Far from forgetting about it when you no longer recieved it, you told us that you loved receiving article updates and missed it so and could we please fix it now?
