It is also National Cheese Fondue Day, National 8-Track Tape Day, National Submarine Day, National Living Donor Day, and National Barbershop Quartet Day.
Phew! Who knew?
It turns out that all 365 days of the year have multiple celebratory claims on them, each quirky, possibly historical, and passionately championed by at least one other American. Curious? Take a look at National Day Calendar and look up your birthday or anniversary. Perhaps you’ll find even more reason to celebrate.
But I digress.
To observe National Pet Day, I want to celebrate our own Stella. As a five-year-old rescue, she came to us on March 7, 2022 already with her name. Since then, she has become our own North Star, our beacon of hearth and home. (Above, Stella in my office in 2022. Below, another early image, the one I use as my screen saver.)
The word “couture” has buried within it the root words for “suture” (or “thread”) and “com” (or “with,” “together”). I have been fascinated by this art form from afar for decades. For the first time, I am exploring it in an up close and personal way.
I tailor-make texts all the time. I design one-of-a-kind quilts for myself and for the people I love, and knit socks to fit unique feet. With garments, however, I have lived off-the-rack–department store, boutique, occasional consignment chic, but mostly catalog fare leavened by accessories.
Last autumn, pondering what to wear in my solo appearance as a mother of the bride next month, I decided I wanted to explore out of the box options. I was so very fortunate to learn of MHD Couture in Saint Paul, and my second fitting is today. Maggie Dayton, the couturière, is a true artist and an adept listener (to the said and unsaid). She is helping me (well, doing all the work!) fashion an outfit of separates (skirt, blouse, jacket) that will rise to the occasion of a wedding but can be worn in different ways afterward. The goal is an ensemble that fits not only my particular form at this stage of my life but, just as important, express my own quirky sense of style. I can report from the muslin fitting that is it an incredible pleasure to experience molding something “almost” into something exactly right in terms of fit. A perfect body? Never was or will be my experience. But a perfect fit–that is achievable.
Below are a few places you can, if you like, learn a little more, as I have about the technology and techniques. Muslin Fittings are used in couture, while Mock-ups are used by all kinds of designers mainly to acquire feedback from users. Mock-ups address the idea captured in a popular engineering one-liner: “You can fix it now on the drafting board with an eraser or you can fix it later on the construction site with a sledge hammer.” Love that! The couture version is a cloth-centric translation of the carpenter’s adage: “Measure twice, cut once,” where the cutting is twice but only once with the expensive shantung silk from Ginny’s Fine Fabrics in Rochester, Minnesota.
Shantung Silk Ginny, of Ginny’s Fine Fabrics Trusted Fashion Consultant
In a loosely related aside, I am thrilled to know that Meryl Streep and Co. are releasing a sequel to one of my very favorite movies. This May 1, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” will open in theaters all over. I already have plans with a fellow arm-chair fashionista and Vogue reader to rewatch the classic 1995 send-up, “The Devil Wears Prada,” and after, come hell, high water, or even high heels, to see the new release on the big screen!
Last fall, Tim and I journeyed east, and I was able to fulfill a long-held dream of visiting the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachussetts. Comprised of two houses–the Homestead, where Dickinson lived all her life, and the Evergreens, built by her brother, Austin, for his family, connected by shady gardens, this small plot of ground is very near to the graveyard where Dickinson is buried. Collectively, these rooted structures comprise a portal that allows the visitor to time travel back more than a century and to understand how one American poet’s vision of eternal verities were grounded in a particular time and place.
The HomesteadThe Evergreens
At the museum shop, I purchased two delightful postcards (above) depicting Emily Dickinson with whimsy and vibrant color, and they are now always out where I can see them, near a photograph Tim took of Julia and me so long ago it seems like a different age.
Today’s poem, “Shade Garden,” arose from my thinking about that journey, about the protection shade can offer against prying eyes, and also about the covert humor extant in the word play of so many of Dickinson’s poems.
Below are a few images of the autumnal 2025 trip to Amherst.
Until tomorrow,
LESLIE
Leaving a Susan B. Anthony (Dickinson’s Contemporary) Coin, Token of Determined Vision
Glimpses of blue sky have been few and far between this spring. I have been especially cheered this year by the unrelenting hardiness of the Siberian squill–also known as scilla–that washes over that reliably refreshes the dry winter lawns each April. This year, I am choosing to view this beautiful resurgance as an emblem of grassroots democratic ideals.
One of the joys of deep friendship is sharing. Another is becoming inspired by the experiences and insights of someone you trust and admire. Lynn Lawrence is that kind of friend to me. Her ways with words and images parallel her deep understanding of the human mind and the heart. Her zingy irreverance and spirit of adventure enliven my world with laughter and sane new ways to explore this crazy world we all inhabit. That our friendship grew out of an intersection of words and images sparked some years ago by National Poetry Month seems like a species of destiny.
Rarely does a day go by when we are not in touch by text, email, or phone, trading images and observations. I was so happy that today Lynn allowed me to share a few of her own photographs here. Each has influenced my own eye as a photographer. Lynn’s work helps me to look more closely at the world and to see more penetratingly what is before me.
Doorway with Piano in Morning Light (Leslie Schultz) Piano Interior (Leslie Schultz)Stripes and Striped Light & Shadow (Lynn Sara Lawrence) Lightbulb at the Beauty Salon (Leslie Schultz)
For instance, my photograph above was something I “saw” only after being mesmerized earlier in the day by Lynn’s study of wing chairs with the stripes of shadows.
House Inside House (Leslie Schultz)
My own image, above, was taken this morning after studying the lines and curves of Lynn’s recent photograph below.
Parquet Floor, Louvered Light, Curved Chair (Lynn Sara Lawrence)
This interior of Lynn’s also helped me see and capture this moment last week that daylight played upon my own floor.
Shaker Basket in Afternoon Shadows (Leslie Schultz)
My poem for today, “Practicing Interior Light,” was inspired by my frequent exchanges with Lynn of our quotidian observations.
Just so you know, Lynn’s eloquence is not limited to visual images. Her poetry and professional prose is similarly luminous. Take a look at this work she co-edited and co-authored, published by Columbia University Press, titled Narrative in Social Work Practice: The Power and Possibility of Story.
A picture truly can be worthy of a thousand words. Sometimes pictures painted by words, our sharings of our stories, can be similarly liberating, especially when accompanied by deep listening. Let’s celebrate the power of friendship to make our lives more deep and delicious!
Until tomorrow,
LESLIE
Interior Reflected in a Glass Stem (Leslie Schultz)
