Jessica Brannen.
Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Lately: Making mobiles, asking people to draw me a piano, longing to have a garden, hibernation mode, baking a disproportionate amount of biscuits, looking up words, scrawling in notebooks, chasing whippersnappers, making lists, making collages, looking at tree branches with spring waiting in their wings, 9 am Saturday morning dance class. (tooooo early)


Listening to: The Radio Dept., New Order, LCD Soundsystem, The Drums, Max Richter, Fourtet, Krakel Spektakel (kids), The Kerplunks (kids), Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter (kids).

Reading: Natalie Goldberg- Writing Down the Bones, Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, Virginia Woolf- A Room of One's Own, Tove Jansson- Trollvinter, Solveig von Shoultz- De sju dagarna.

Watching: In The Night Garden with tired kidlets at bedtime, and a little Portlandia.

Scotch tape, play doh, book pages and freshly cut grass on top ranking smells list.

Persnickety yet easy-going?
And no more naturally austere than you are naturally vicious. (Charlotte Brontë)

Middle child.

You can make me a Mexican feast and bring me cosmos or tulips.

Bookish, journal-writin' type.

Husband from Scandinavia and 2 kidlets.

Grew up in Chezzetcook on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, playing on the beach and in the woods. Still spend a lot of time there. You can hear roosters.

Lived in Sweden for many years and speak Swedish. Love Sweden and Finland. Visit every year.

Hollyhocks and delphiniums.

Studied art, photo, film and textiles. Have a love of all things arts and crafty. Also gardening, sewing, and writing.

Remember rolling down the hill?

Remember picking Fool's Gold out of the road with butter knives?

Remember that time we sneaked into that white abandoned house and saw a wedding dress in the closet?

Let's go swimming in the ocean.

And go thriftin'.

I can peel carrots really fast.
I'm left handed.
I wish to find secret letters or notes hidden in old walls.
I love good old-fashioned letters.
I love quilts.
I love scraps.
I make a mean pancake.
Collective nouns are funny.

Over and out.

January 24, 2012

Tack för idag. (Thanks for today.)

It rained for most of the day but by late afternoon it had stopped and I could walk to do the preschool pick-up. Most of the snow had been rained away. I left early so I wouldn’t have to rush. The bark of trees looked nice after the rain, like muted abstract paintings, and I always like looking at Halifax paint combinations- this green and black is great.

I like being out at dusk. I like the way things look as the daylight gets dim and lights start to come on.

This photo reminds me of when I worked at a photo lab correcting colour as I printed people’s pictures. I would spend my days analysing whether or not the colour was right, and as I walked home I would think that the sidewalk was too magenta or too green.

I’ve missed walking and pushing our little caravan like this. We’ve been driving a lot because of the weather. But as they sing on one of the kids’ cds by the Kerplunks, (recommend, it’s kids music you won’t hate, and Canadian!): “I like to walk, not drive
I like to walk, not drive,
I like to walk, not drive
I use my feet
to arrive.”

I’ve been using P’s old Fjällräven backpack. It’s well worn but still has held up over decades of use. Good quality products are so satisfying in this world of throw-away-ism.

Tack för idag is a nice Swedish phrase that you’ll hear used at the end of a daycare, school or work day, or after a nice day with friends or family, especially if it was particularly nice or someone went out of their way to help you or make your day better.

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