Lily King, kitchen moves and dyers to the world

I just finished Writers and Lovers, the Lily King novel, which blew me away. I can't believe a novel about writers, among other tragedies, could be this gripping.  I usually find writers writing about publishing so exciting, nearly as good as grating carrots. 

But she's no everyday writer. She's powerful and I really recommend you read this.  I'll look for more of her work. 

This came out a few years ago, and it looks as if she brings out a new novel every few years, so I'm hoping there's another soon. She crafts sentences that just come at you, and knock your breath out.

Gary was reclaiming his plants this morning, very happy about how they managed in his absence, especially the snake plant that finally got going.  And he pruned large sections of his butterfly bush, because that too had flourished to the point where he had to stoop to walk under it.

He's thrilled with my morning glories, and I'm hoping for seeds so he can start some too.  And now he's thinking about a hibiscus, after seeing mine. If he has room.

I've started moving things out of the kitchen bit by bit before the repair work gets started. I don't have a date on that yet, but better do it bit by bit, because it's heavy work. And I'd rather do it myself so I know where things are. I think we've experienced helpful people putting things away so you never find them again. 

Like Handsome Son clearing the table a while back. Took me three days to find the salt. He'd filed it alphabetically with spices, instead of on the salt and pepper turntable with half a dozen salt types. Logical thinking which baffled me. But he assumed I had one salt, and probably one pepper. 

I have a ride to tomorrow's knitting group, and I had to organize a project to take with me. I resurrected this 

Late July, I thought I'd be wearing this by now, but one thing and another.. 

There was a presentation a couple of days ago,  Master Dyers to the World,on great dyers in India and Pakistan in the eighteenth century and earlier, by George Washington University Textiles, given by Lee Talbot.

The subject was the Bible of dyeing of that period, 

As usual with museum and collection presentations, the interest was largely in the provenance and quality of finished items. So it's not a place to learn about process or sourcing, or the social position of the makers. However, they do label their slides fully enough to give us place, techniques and current location, to follow up on.

The large tent with dyed woven hangings was the kind of moveable palace used by rulers in the Mughal period in India, conspicuous consumption. Often this kind of display was meant to convey the power of the ruler.

As dyers from India -- this was long before Partition, so India meant the whole subcontinent, including present day Pakistan -- developed high-level skills in dyeing and block printing cotton textiles, they dominated the market. Then came the industrial revolution, and Britain passed protectionist laws to prevent Indian textiles from being imported, in favor of the British textile industry. 

You see how Indian design had centered European taste and clothing for their export market. There's a lot of design from the subcontinent designed for Western tastes. And they catered to the developing Japanese market, their uses of textiles for wrapping as well as clothing and wall hangings. Thailand also imported from India.

I have a great catalog raisonnee from the Met exhibit a while back, on the history of textiles, which points out that Indian cloth, dyed, stamped and resist treated, was a key barter commodity in the flourishing spice trade.

This presentation was a look at one part of the skills and connections of a worldwide trade.

Happy day, everyone, so much to do!