OUR POPULAR Weekend Links series is currently on hiatus, partly because we’ve been sharing our stories and discoveries so generously in the weekly newsletter that these links have started to feel like an echo.
WE ALL KNOW the iconic opening scene of the 1963 film Charade: Audrey Hepburn looking devastatingly chic in a chocolate brown Givenchy coat and oversized sunglasses, sipping coffee on a sunny terrace in the French ski resort of Megève.
THERE ARE many ways to measure time – by years and by minutes, by months and by days. Perhaps with each falling second, or the small everyday moments as they unfold, or big once-in-a-lifetime events of grand importance. Perhaps time is marked by a first kiss, or the first time you knew you loved someone; or the anniversary of an important milestone, maybe even with that person.
Long before Pauline Clance developed the idea of the impostor phenomenon—now, to her frustration, more commonly referred to as impostor syndrome—she was known by the nickname Tiny. Born in 1938 and raised in Baptist Valley, in Appalachian Virginia, she was the youngest of six children, the daughter of a sawmill operator who struggled to keep food on the table and gas in the tank of his timber truck.
Somewhere near the center of Nevada, on the western slope of the Toiyabe Range, there’s a little meadow beside a creek running down from the mountains. In 2019, long before I had ever been there, a man named James Fredette drove his mobile home down the gravel road from the highway and went fishing. It was a lucky day: He caught three big rainbow trout. Then, as the light turned golden and began to fade from the canyon while Fredette packed up his gear, he thought, why not, and walked back down to the creek to try his luck panning for gold. He turned up a few nuggets, right there. Yes, it was a very lucky day.
HELLO AGAIN and Happy New Year! How were the holidays? Hope you had a wonderful time! As you know, we took some time off and it was amazing. So relaxing and nice to actually not work for a bit. (Novel idea, I know.) We even took a break from the newsletter, which we plan on resuming at this end of this week, since there were so many new subscribers while we were away.
P SENDS me texts such as How much bay leaf (I was making refrigerator pickles) or Do you want a mini quiche when he's out picking up bits and pieces at the shops. I love these texts, with their lack of punctuation and misspellings, because they very much showcase how he prefers to get things done, and get them done quickly, rather than worry about the small details when he knows I'll know what he means.
THE NEW OVEN was delivered last week, and it's been sitting in the middle of the kitchen for days, as P thought he might get electrocuted if he installed it himself after watching one too many Youtube videos advising the hiring of a qualified electrician if you don't know what you're doing. I had a feeling it wasn't as complicated as he was making it out to be, but we tried to ask around anyway to see if anyone knew any electricians who could do it on short notice ...
RATHER THAN sit around watching the terrible progression of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and waiting for the awful news that seems all but inevitable, we're keeping ourselves busy with work as the distraction of choice. It's also made us realise that we've haven't had a chance to visit any places in Eastern Europe yet, despite the fact one of our writers was from Ukraine...
The immense and forbidding Southern Ocean is famous for howling gales and devilish swells that have tested mariners for centuries. But its true strength lies beneath the waves. The ocean’s dominant feature, extending up to two miles deep and as much as 1,200 miles wide, is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, by far the largest current in the world. It is the world’s climate engine, and it has kept the world from warming even more by drawing deep water from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, much of which has been submerged for hundreds of years, and pulling it to the surface. There, it exchanges heat and carbon dioxide with the atmosphere before being dispatched again on its eternal round trip.
HAPPY DECEMBER! Can you believe that it's already the last month of the year? Feel like 2021 just flew by and don't really know what I did in all this time. Know that had meant to get through more books. I did complete a web design and launch that had been planned long ago, and definitely got a lot of decorating done at the cottage since we've been homebound for the last two years ...
TIG NEWSLETTER subscribers always love Weekend Links best—in fact, it's also one of the most popular regular features on the site and I've often wondered what it is that readers like so much. This weekend was one of those cosy homebody types of weekends: a fire, some drinks, and P made Aubergine & Cauliflower Korma, a vegetarian dish with toasted cumin and coriander seeds, ginger, desiccated coconut and flaked almonds. It was delicious!
THIS INSTALMENT OF 10 IMAGES features the wonderfully bright and happiness-inducing photos of @alicedetogni. Her use of colour is inspired: from the purple umbrellas of San Fruttuoso, Liguria, Italy to the macarons at Ladurée; to picnics in orange gingham sundresses to fields of wildflowers, it's impossible to look at this interior and graphic designer's feed without feeling that the world is a wonderful place ...
I AM NOT sure why―when it happens every year―I am so unprepared for winter. The cold. The dampness. The continual overcast skies. And most of all, the darkness. Yes, the days have been, happily, incrimentally longer every day since winter solstice, but tonight, the sun still set 4:17pm. 4:17pm! On Sundays, everything moves a little more slowly ...
Daniela and I often talk about Mini Trends, the most recent being tracksuits with blazers, and she noticed at the same time I did that everyone seemed to be wearing big, fluffy white coats lately. Whether faux fur or shearling, they look so warm and cosy and perfect for a winter's day. Here is a round-up of a few of our favourite long white winter coats and ways to style them...
