A long-awaited rain, a Tehran love story, a film about sisters, and a spring outfit to share.
I stood on the front walk Saturday afternoon with my arms out like I was trying to catch something. Which I was. Rain. Twenty minutes of the lightest sprinkle — and I was not going to miss a second of it. Truthfully, I was overjoyed.
We have been in a drought here in North Carolina. Fire warnings, actual fires in other parts of the state, and if you have never been to Pinehurst, let me tell you what our landscape looks like: pine trees. Thousands of them. And underneath them, instead of grass, a thick carpet of pine needles. Beautiful, yes. Flammable, absolutely. So when rain finally came on Saturday — first a whisper at four in the afternoon, then real, steady rain by the time I went to bed, on and off all through the night.
I woke Sunday morning to peonies bent low, a few stems snapped under the weight of the water, and I won’t pretend that didn’t hurt a little. I wait all year for these pink and fuchsia flowers. But everything else was so green. Layers and layers of green. The kind of green that makes you remember the garden has been thirsty for weeks and has finally had a long drink.
The cool mornings and warm afternoons this year remind me of growing up in the Midwest — that particular combination of spring that feels earned after a long winter. I still love it. I will always love it. Saturday was gray and a little cool and I thought, more than once, this is exactly right. Sunday was much the same, a little more glorious rain and then late in the afternoon about 5, sun.
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What I’m Reading
I just finished The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, and I am still thinking about it — which is always the sign of a book worth sharing.
It is set in 1953 Tehran, at the moment of a coup d’etat that changed Iran forever, and at its heart is a love story that gets derailed by history in a single afternoon. Roya and Bahman meet in a small neighborhood stationery shop — books, pens, bottles of jewel-colored ink — and fall in love the way you do when you are young and the world still feels possible. And then it isn’t.
I kept thinking about Iran while I read it. The parallels to what is happening there today are impossible to ignore. Political upheaval is never just political. It reaches into the most ordinary corners of people’s lives and changes everything quietly, permanently, and without asking permission.
It is a beautiful book.
What I Watched
If you have not seen Finding Your Feet, please go find it this week. You can actually watch it on YouTube.
Imelda Staunton — who I adore — plays Sandra Abbott, a very proper, very put-together woman who discovers on the eve of her fortieth wedding anniversary that her husband has been having an affair with her best friend. She ends up, shell-shocked and homeless, on the doorstep of her estranged older sister Bif, played by the wonderful Celia Imrie. They are as different as two sisters can possibly be. Sandra is buttoned up and bewildered; Bif is loud, warm, completely unfiltered, and absolutely magnificent.
Bif drags Sandra along to a community dance class, and from there the film is everything you want: funny, warm, genuinely moving, and full of women of a certain age living fully and without apology. There is a scene in this film, actually more than one — I will not tell you which ones — that made me cry.
It is the kind of movie that makes you want to call your sister. Or show up on her doorstep. Or both.
Outfit of the Day
It’s getting hot out there, a pair of linen shorts and a linen shirt are perfect for those sultry days. Wear them with sandals, espadrilles, or sneakers. I paired it with this blue and white bag which was a best seller this past week. Don’t forget a spritz of your favorite perfume.
Click the images to see the products
Before You Go
If you missed it, I joined Kim and Juliet for Weekend Meanderings on Saturday — come say hello and stay a while. We all had lots to share, including an update on the Creekside Folly and a beautiful walk in San Francisco.
And yesterday I shared,
Tell me: did you get rain this weekend? And has anyone else stood outside in a light drizzle just to feel it? I cannot be the only one. Leave a note in the comments — I always want to know.
Have a beautiful week, friends.
If you enjoyed this post, I would love it if you shared it. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and X — I would love to have you along.
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