New Beginnings / New York
An Homage to The City in Bloom
Spring in NYC is one of those palpable experiences of seasons… the dualistic battle for light over long nights, warm concrete over frozen river breezes and harkens to the deep primal feeling that beneath footfalls, in the parks and in the cracks of the sidewalks nature spirits are working on their soon-to-burgeon blooms. And just as the trees know the moment to extend their bare branches, the bulbs display their knowledge of time with green ribbony shoots. Bless the parks! And the sturdy petals of daffodils within them!
As a Nature spirit seeker, I love this interplay of hope and knowing, and it is, therefore, one of my favorite seasons to spend on Manhattan island, or drifting in and out of the other boroughs should I land on a chilly breeze going over the East River.
This last stay was christened at the start with the privilege of aligning to Lia Chavez's quick return to The City. This in alliance with Visible Women Agency and in the famed feminist gallery, Pen and Brush (that was weirdly unknown to me before this night), was a gathering of women true to New York style— it was a room of all ages, walks and ways who turned up in the cold, pre-equinox shade to share a spiritual moment. This was indeed a treat, a collective prayer, breathed in and out with tenderness under the guidance of our dear Lia. Beyond the devotional, which was truly moving, I cherished the young women sharing so vulnerably to the elder of us about their struggles and triumphs in this modern age. Looking forward to more of this connectivity in future, with thanks to Stacey Yael.
Within two days in town, we celebrated the Pop-up residency for turn of the seasons with Bliss Lau. She brought the incredible talent she has spun into gold and diamonds to my Bleecker street store, along with some tropical florals to be sure her Hawai’i homeland was present for the party. Big love to all who came out that brisk first night of Spring.
Over the weekend, because “no rest for the wicked'“ as my mother would say, I did something very new, and very unexpected with new New Mexico friend Paige Geffen. There will be so much more on this intime, but in short: bringing The Objects to life in this way was unreal beautiful for me. The event was hosted by the angel Robyn Berkley in her space for Live The Process in Tribeca. A little about the concept here.
Pink came in all the ways: Cherry blossoms striking poses on the brick artist building that houses my sweet Chrissy Angliker. Pink drinks at Donna West Village with darling Alex. Inspi walks from RWGuild to Egg collective, Ted Muehling to Future Perfect, drinking in a bevy of beauty with dear one Denise Downing.
Inspiration also bloomed in conversations all around town. From talking luxury industry at the private dinner tables of La Mercerie. And again in close talk with art at Chrissy Angliker's studio where we were welcomed by cherry blossoms and engulfed in swaths of paint on her brightly rendered Taos hot spring dips from the year prior. And Bowery studio visit with Jamie Kim talking past present future in her mixed media work. Over meals— from Lindsey Thornburg’s Victorian, Parlor floor apartment sharing Taiwanese take-out in pink boxes from my fave Spicy Moon; martinis at the timeworn Temple Bar with Karen Duffy on a cold night to seasonally apropos rosé at Odeon with Rebecca Gordon, plotting future workshops and comparing notes on celestial activity and my career.
And all that time was buttoned up in a pink suit from a previous Maison Marche at their first UWS event where I happily dolled up and doled out talisman prescriptions :)
All this recollected as I'm ferried above the high desert en route to Oaxaca…At the start of the day mesmerized by the subtlety of rich color along piñon dotted mesas and soft edged buttes -- colors I know that have no direct names. A kind of maroon that is kissed by iron dust, a peach hue like sandstone and sun mingled together. To landing in Oaxaca City to a tumble of cumulus clouds lit like rose petals and silhouetted against blue black hills… onwards and sometimes upwards with that Jeweled Life….
