Furnishings for April
I am a maker of lists. Favorites. Things to do. Reasons to do or not do something. The list goes on (ha!). I recently learned about the concept of furnishings. Different from “favorites” or “best of,” lists, furnishings are the things that are simply present. Like a dinning table or a couch. They are the things that accompany a life. So, of course I promptly made a furnishings list for my life; the things that, if you were to walk into the inside of my mind, you’d see filling the space.
I don’t think I’d ever want to share my life’s furnishings on the internet. It would be too much like baring my soul. But I like the concept of furnishings so here is the one for April. Some of these are favorites, others were simply just there.
Life:
Drawing a fox. I feel a little unhinged talking about this but I am now in month three of trying to learn how to draw a fox. Yes, a fox. One day I was walking by the pottery cafe in my neighborhood and I saw a display of pre-made pottery that you can paint. And I had a thought that I’d like to paint a fox on a mug. Why a fox? I’m not sure other than I just like them. But here’s the thing: I cannot draw AND I have an almost debilitating disease of perfectionism. So now there’s a notebook filled with my attempts at drawing a fox and this has become one of my favorite activities of late. I’m not getting any better at it and at some point (maybe soon) I’m just going to have to paint an ugly fox on a mug and see that it doesn’t kill me.
Photosynthesis. I am an early riser who is not a morning person, but it gets easier when the mornings are sunny again, like now. For me this means a return to rooftop coffee. Which is exactly what it sounds like: I take my morning coffee up to my building’s rooftop and enjoy the sunrise and the neighborhood coming back to life.
Music. I’ve been going to the symphony again and honestly I don’t know why I ever stopped.
Food
This is a little unfair because my food list can be the size of an encyclopedia but I’ll just stick to the things I have been repeatedly reaching for lately.
Black lentils, especially the already-steamed box from Trader Joe’s. I don’t know what more I can say about lentils that I haven’t already said before. Here’s an anecdote: in Ethiopia, the dish we make to mark any special occasion is doro wot. It’s a delicious, spicy stew of a whole chicken, boiled eggs and about half the onion/shallot supply of an entire village. And in our household, alongside the doro, it’s tradition to make a small pot of misir (lentils) for me. Without the cultural context maybe this doesn’t make sense but just accept that I love lentils so much, my family made sure I had it in place of the much fancier stew.
That damn Piquant Popcorn from Trader Joe’s. When will I be freed from this spell.
Four Season Scallion Sauce from Kai Dong. It’s good on everything but especially over jammy eggs and steamed rice. Add some wilted greens and you’ve got my current breakfast hyperfixation.
Cheese and roasted seaweed. Okay I am sure I didn’t invent this but why didn’t anybody tell me that you can just eat roasted seaweed with cheese and it would be divine? My current combo is an English coastal cheddar on a roasted seaweed sheet, topped with the tiniest drop of honey.
Books
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, Elif Shafak. I really loved this book, which is not a surprise considering the author. It’s the story of a woman who has just been murdered, and in the 10 minutes and 38 seconds that her brain takes to die, we see flashbacks of her life, and the events that led her to where she is now, killed and stuffed into a trash can. The beauty of this book is that just as you begin to feel weary for the flashbacks, the book’s POV changes to the people in her life who are finding out what has happened to her. You get to see her now through the eyes of people who loved her and want to honor her life. This was not a cheerful book but it was touching and hopeful.
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, Hwang Bo-Reum - this was cozy, simple story that was a good break after some heavier material. It’s about a woman’s second chance at life as she opens a bookshop and navigates the world of running a small business.
Such Times, Christopher Coe. There was a short stack of free books on a table at my library and I thought this one sounded interesting so I took it home. The story spans across San Francisco, New York and Paris, in the lives and love of one couple, Jasper and Timothy, against the changing decades of the 70s and 80s and the devastating years of the AIDS epidemic. Unfortunately, this book appears to be out of print right now, since I can’t find a link to purchase or read it anywhere. It may be getting a reprint soon (I hope it does).
The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich. A small community in the Midwest is reeling after an entire family has been murdered. The story is told in multiple points of view as members of the community try to figure out who did it and why. It explores many themes, including the struggle between settlers and the native Americans who are indigenous to the land.
Careless People, Sarah Wynn-Williams. What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? While I found the information valuable, I can’t say that this book left me with any sense of empowerment or understanding that could be employed against the careless people it aims to expose. It mostly just left me feeling angry and hopeless about the people who control so many of our communications channels.
Skin, etc
Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. Do you remember the early aughts when all the beauty gurus in the UK were using or talking about this cleanser? (If you do, please tell me so I know it wasn’t just me mainlining beauty content instead of doing my coursework. Maybe I’d be more successful today). Anyway, last month in London I realized that I forgot to pack a cleanser so I walked over to Boots and found myself in front of the Liz Earle display. I brought it mainly because it was cheap and familiar, but since then I’ve been asking myself why I ever stopped using it (I know why: nobody needs an imported face wash). This is a lot to write about a face wash, and really it could all be summarized like this: it’s gently exfoliating, smells very relaxing, does not dry out my skin, and my “mature” (read: aging oh aging so fast omg) skin really loves it.
The nighttime skincare routine I’ve been loving lately: Biologique Recherche Lotion P50 PIGM 400, followed by Avène Vitamin Activ Cg, followed by Ole Henriksen Strength Trainer Peptide Boost Moisturizer, and finished with Liz Earle Superskin Eye Cream. It’s all easy and absorbs quickly into my skin so there’s no goop to be careful of when I’m trying to sleep. File this one under “returning to the simplicity of my early years in beauty.”
Okay, one more from the aughts: do you remember Soap & Glory? Babe just go to your local Ulta or whatever and get the Righteous Butter in the original scent! I had forgotten how nice it smells (in a simple, familiar way) and how well it moisturizes without making my skin greasy.
Speaking of fragrance, are you tired of me talking about the Sex Musk fragrance oil from Cyklar? It layers beautifully under everything I’ve been wearing, and is even better just on its own.
Alright, that’s it. That’s my big long list of consumerism. I would love to be someone who doesn’t like or need or want anything and can just live with one bar of soap or whatever but unfortunately I like pretty things and my little routines give my days meaning and joy.
Anyway, hang in there. Find the little joys and hold on to them. Talk about them. Remember that all tyrants seem invincible until they fall. And they all fall.
Thank you for being here.