Poppy

Poppy used to listen to the airwaves on the back porch overlooking the meadow behind his house. When Mike tells me this I wonder if Poppy listened and missed Ireland?

This is the same meadow where his grandchildren, Mike and Karen, ran wild during the summer. The same meadow where Mike pelted rocks at bulldozers flattening the land for ensuing condo units. The same condo units that Mike would eventually live in, his driveway looking out at Poppy’s back porch. Except Poppy doesn’t live there any more. How, terribly sad.

Now, I live with Mike. How lovely.

I wish I could have known Poppy. He was born Patrick Kernaghan in 1942. He came to America from Ireland and worked in a factory. The Catholic Church next to his house told him they needed to demolish it for a new church. They gave him a house aside the church and a job as the custodian. Now there is a hall in the church named Kernaghan Hall. Does he know this?

But, Poppy used to listen to the airwaves. And now we listen, channeling Poppy’s spirit, echoes and memories and words and tunes and stories transmitted through to us. In our kitchen! It sits prominently in the very center of our house, occupying the ledge that separates the kitchen and the living room. Gracefully old, weathered and worn, loved. It defines ritual in the Thornton household - Saturday morning , 10 AM. Coffee (made just the way we like it), orange juice, a variation on Mike’s ever-evolving breakfast eggs, and NPR filtering out over the waves circa this 1950’s masterpiece. Amidst the hustle and the bustle, we sit and sip and listen and sigh together. Quiet moments, the moments that make up "us". Heaven on Earth.

Poppy would have liked this ritual.

Warm Winter Object

I can't remember when I got them, or where I was exactly, but it was after I moved to Chicago.
They looked warm.
They still are.
Here they are laying over the radiator of my old apartment at the top of a three floor walk-up.
Radiators.
A completely foreign concept to a southern girl in the windy city winter for the first time.
But,
I washed them and learned the simple pleasure of allowing each one to dry and soak up heat before placing them on my feet underneath thick boots.
I learned to do this with my bath towels too.

Appreciating the text.

As we read through this book - again - I realized something. I had no idea who most of the people Kalman is talking about are. All those Russian names. What is a pogrom? I had loved the idea of this book. The handwritten text. The illustrations. The exploration of how one thing leads to another. The appreciation of ideas that are world changing and details that only she notices. But I had no time to appreciate the richness and depth of the ideads and the people she included. I just read the little bit of information she provided and moved on. I think the only thing I looked up the first time we read was the Dodo and Spinoza and Wittgenstein and Kitty Carlisle Hart. And this lady, she is smart. She is well read. She loves people and time and places and the details that made their lives worth living. Worth noting. It's inspiring.

Thus, I have started to do a little research. Vita Sackville-West is fascinating. I really want to read Virginia's Woolfe's diaries now. Or a biography about her many affairs with women in early 20th century Britain.

I stumbled upon this project that includes a entry from Alex & Lulu Kalman.

Just to name a few...
As I research, I find myself looking up new things completely.
And "one thing leads to another" rings in my ears.

And here is something just for fun: teacup pig

Love Poem Paperweight.

Maira has an excellent and elegant website.

I want her love poem paperweight.

They sell some of them at the MOMA.

And then I found that they were designed by her husband.

One thing leads to another.

And ... just in case ...

Maira Kalman at maira@mairakalman.com

Maira Kalman is represented by the Julie Saul Gallery
http://www.saulgallery.com/
535 West 22nd Street New York, NY 10011
Tel: (212) 627.2410
E-mail: mail@saulgallery.com

Two New York Times Articles On Objects, STUFF & Names

Here are two articles that Annie passed along that in thought you all might enjoy.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/arts/design/history-of-the-world-in-100-objects-from-british-museum.html

Stuff That Defines Us
By CAROL VOGEL
Published: October 28, 2011
“The History of the World in 100 Objects,” from the British Museum, was an intriguing and popular BBC radio series and is now a book that will be available in the United States on Monday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/arts/design/the-power-or-folly-of-a-products-name.html

The Power, or Folly, of a Product’s Name
By ALICE RAWSTHORN
Published: October 30, 2011
The titles of items like computers, automobiles and apartment complexes are getting more refined and, in some cases, more outlandish as marketers try to impress customers.

Kalman on Colbert

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/363667/october-28-2010/maira-kalman