February was an adventure this year. Another birthday cake from Blackhound Bakery, this time a triple chocolate mousse and raspberry chocolate mini cakes. Before the cake of course, there was a dinner at Momofuku Noodle Bar that did not disappoint though my little one did make a face eating her chicken buns. Kids don’t know food until they are in their 30’s when their pallets have travelled the world.

My gardenia plant again blossomed with five heavenly gardenias. It seems to only bloom in the winter and always in February. There is a language unspoken perhaps, and it goes with the saying “what you give care to, will care back”.

This winter has been harsh and has not allowed me to sell outdoors. I took advantage of this downtime to visit museums. The Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibition on Alexander Calder’s Jewelry. His work in the early 30’s was mainly gifts made for his wife Louisa Calder (who shares the same birthday with me) and for close friends and family. Elegant tiaras spiral away, anthropomorphic mobil earrings and enormous collar necklaces and weaved cuffs…a sense of whimsy and fantasy fused with roots and culture. Dr. Seuss must’ve been a friend. These wearable art pieces evoke organic melodies of simplicity. There is a photograph of Calder working in his studio, amidst the brass wires, large hammers and anvils, and he is just there, a humbled man striking and pounding away.

I also made trips to the Ancient Mayan and Aztec Gold collection and found a pair of earrings that could have easily been made by Calder, except by an artisan thousands of years before. Two walls away were the South East Asian collection of tribal jewelry which I have seen in many visits but never fail to move me, and take me home. I know these materials and the techniques, the carving, the rope weaving and crocheting.

The other exhibits were Gothic Glamour and Seduction at the Fashion Institute Museum. The collection of Modern Gothic jewelry was fantastic! Earrings made of bird claws with cascades of South Sea Pearls and raven wings suspended in chain as a brooch. There were Victorian Mourning dresses along with the costumes worn by the cast of Dracula eerily displayed in a subdued light and with a coffin to punctuate!

And lastly, I have been crocheting and knitting many things this winter. I made my daughter and niece two yellow hats, a turquoise crocheted scarf and several leaf and floral crocheted pendants. DECOLLETE is the new line, mixing soft fibers with metal chains and earth’s rocks….