Material Girl

Heading to Materials For the Arts is a part teacher ritual, part surreal fantasy.  For me–a salvager, thrifter, and lifter-upper of rocks to see the squirming bug-life beneath (a past time of my non-girly leisure time as a little girl)–my skills as a “shopper” are well-honed and aligned to several of my favorite past times: getting my hands dirty, sitting on the floor in enthusiastic searches, turning every thing I see into an opportunity of change, creation, betterment. I guess I might have made a fine Gold Miner in a former existence.  But no, a teacher–which I partially forgot over the summer but now understand wholly and sacredly–again.

And so for the public school teachers, a free tote!  Because we deserve it.  Because we try to make things better, as opposed to all those other industries that mess the world up… mess people up so they must rely on products to fix themselves.

Sometimes there are no mannequins at the warehouse and I am disappointed. Other times there are tons and I get to stand on the shopping cart precariously and try to take an aerial shot, difficult given my height.  There’s something I love to capture in all those familiar, lifeless forms, how they lean into each other as if whispering. 

She’s got pretty eyes.  Pretty, sad eyes.  Uh oh, I’m going to fall in love with a mannequin.  Gosh, 80’s movies were so odd. 

I try.  I try not to think about mermaid craft when I go to Materials for the Arts. I use up a huge stock of mermaid-related crafts every year and think to myself, “Finally, my stock is diminishing.”  But left to my own devices, I begin to seek out more.  This time, a huge stash of glass beads (not pictured) has offset the valuable real estate in my back bedroom, which will soon become my craft room.  And it all started with a glance of this green sequin trim.  Just one look… 🧜‍♀️

While we’re on the ocean theme, who doesn’t need a slew of Sharknado fins to wear on their head?!  As we waited for check out on this very busy Rosh Hashanah visit to the warehouse, I had to partake.  

After, dinner at Pinto in Brooklyn Heights.  Though it felt like autumn outside, summer rolls started the meal.  I don’t feel like waxing poetic about these. Just appreciate the gorgeous cross-section and take a bite of summer, dipped in tamarind sauce.  

And because it felt like Fall, we both got the pumpkin curry: roasted kabocha squash, a flavorful homemade pumpkin curry sauce with tofu, steamed local seasonal vegetable and brown rice. This curry sauce was so good, though I wished there were move veggies within that drank it up, like cauliflower or broccoli.  The zucchini kid of repelled it. I would love to take a bath in this curry.  And that is why I got the leftover curry at the bottom of my bowl “to-go.”

I’m ready Fall.  School’s here, I got my earth tones on, and I’m eating squash.  Meet you there.