Yosemite Valley + The Greatest of Pride

‘I am going to climb The Nose of El Capitan. The largest cliff face in Yosemite Valley. The largest granite monolith in the world. And I am going to do it before we leave the States.’

To hear this out of his mouth and to know that it was going to happen, made me exhale. The air that I had been holding on to was stale. I breathed in again. The air was fresh. Life. Because that is exactly how my love lives. He lives with life. Nothing is too great a challenge. And the greatest challenges are there to be met.

He and a friend would rock climb up a 3000 ft sheer cliff face in 5 days, spending nights in a hanging porta ledge and the days with their hands full of rope and slings and granite rock. This was the greatest of challenges so far. It was indeed a life dream. 

It was early morning in Yosemite Valley. The five of us sat in line at camp 4 waiting for a site to open, drinking hot coffee from the jetboil. The mountains towered over us, their cliffs already tending climbers and waiting to meet more later that day. 

On the day that they started, the meadows were quiet. Morning shadows split The Nose in half and we watched. Teeny little people were crawling up the cliff face. It was hard to tell their size. It was hard to tell the mountains size. Everything looked a little dreamlike – the same way it had felt the few days before. It towered over us, The Captain. And everything else was small. 

While they were on the wall, we left them and The Valley to drive on to the city. As we drove, I felt a huge wave of pride flow out from my heart. The feeling was rare. Indescribable almost. There he was, my love, living. I wasn't scared. He clearly wasn't either. He was living every ounce of his life.

The pride didn't wear off. It still hasn't. To be that proud, to watch someone so inspired, so driven, so brave and so strong was nothing close to stale. It has stayed fresh. Oh so very fresh.  

They made it. 5 days, 31 pitches and the biggest stories you will ever come to hear. The challenge was much harder and longer than they’d imagined. I got a phone call a day after they had finished after well-deserved pizza, beer and sleep. They were exhausted.

‘So, you did it. Your dream is done. What’s next?’ I joked.

‘I am going to climb The Nose of El Capitan again. This time much faster, maybe even in a day. And I am going to do it the next time I’m in the States.’

There wasn't even a beat. And I wasn't even surprised. Because my love he lives. And nothing is too great a challenge, and the greatest challenges - they are there to be met. 

Creative Humans - Mariele Williams | Young in the Mountains

In my opinion, Mariele Williams just so happens to have the cutest studio in the cutest little cottage house with the cutest Golden Doodle (Harold) in the whole of the  breathtaking mountain foothills of  Boulder, Colorado. Mariele is a jeweler and ceramist who designs and makes strikingly beautiful pieces under the the marque, Young In the Mountains. Spending a little time with sweet Mariele in her home and studio made me quickly realise just how driven she is to create work that is truly inspired and unique. Mariele loves what she does - and her work reflects that. It is geometrically organic, simply detailed and all heartily handmade. And then there is Harold the dog. Clearly a very important part of Mariele's studio life and mountain nestled days. Harold instantly stole my heart as he trotted around the house posing for photos and showing off his workshop skills... I could have easily taken him home, along with one of each of Mariele's pieces. I did manage to leave with two small mountain vortex ceramic dishes which I will be treasuring forever and happily parading in my home. The best reminder of that cute, inspired, fluffy and mountainous filled day.

What projects are you currently working on?

Currently I am working on my ceramic wholesale collection. I have been developing a collection of work that I feel comfortable reproducing and that will look well together because I want people to collect these dishes over the next few years. I have been working on my line sheets and just recently partnered with a show room in NYC.  I am looking forward to how that will affect my business.  I also just returned from a lapidary retreat in New Mexico last month. I am so excited to start cutting stones and to be able to offer my jewelry designs in stones like turquoise and labradorite!

Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?

My creative inspiration is almost like a well that is always there. Maybe I’m lucky. I have never had any issues with being blocked creatively. Having a healthy lifestyle supports making beautiful art. I am very sensitive to my surroundings, so I make sure I have a clean house and a beautiful studio to work in. With a few hikes a week to exercise my body and my mind, everything flows pretty smoothly when I finally sit down in my studio to create. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to make before I sit down.

Do you have a  favourite ceramicist and or jeweler?

My favorite jeweler is Digby & Iona and my favorite ceramicist is a much harder question to answer... sorry.

Do you listen to music while you work? If so, would you be so kind to share some of your favourite artists?

I listen to lots of Podcasts in my studio. I listen to Democracy Now every morning along with NPR. I really enjoy the podcasts Freakenomics and the Moth.  When I listen to music I like to use Pandora to to create playlists. Some of my favorite Pandora stations are Wendy Rene for soul, The Growlers, Devendra Banhart

Do you have a morning ritual?

When it’s cooler like in Fall and Winter I start every day with a big mug of Earl Grey tea. I like to enjoy my tea and look at Pintrest. I have lots of inspiration boards and I find that starting my day being visually overloaded makes for an inspired and productive day.

What's your idea of a perfect Friday night?

A perfect Friday night would be a hike up in the mountains after the weather cools down. Maybe come home and open a bottle of wine and make dinner at home.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I really want to go to Greece! Something about the light in all the photos looks so beautiful and soothing. All the blue and white just looks amazing. I am also planning my next big camping trip from San Francisco up the coast all the way to the Olympic Peninsula.

Best piece of advice you've ever given or been given?

My dad always told me to be my own boss. I always knew I would be and i am so happy that its working!

What's for dinner?

Dinner tonight is going to be in downtown Boulder somewhere. Date night with my BF! I am hoping for Italian.

The best part about being a creative?

That’s a big question. I am so grateful that I am creative person. I have spent a lot of time nurturing that part of me. I love being able to make myself anything I would possibly need or imagine. The worst part?

That stress when the bills are due. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. There is no quitting when you are truly a visionary artist. I am happy I never gave up, though there have been times, certainly around the 1st of the month that I would question this path.

Day or night?  Day Old or new? Old City or Country? Country Coffee or Tea? Tea

Thoughts for the future:

I am moving back to San Francisco at the end of the month and I am very excited to reconnect with all my friends. I am planning on creating a big new studio!

Pineapple Jam

Last week, I was sitting in a pie shop in Brooklyn eating an apple and salted caramel slice of heaven. I was down to the last bite. I ate it. And I tasted memories of my grandma. I tasted pineapple jam.

I have such fond memories of spending days with my grandma, playing cards and hand sewing teddy bears. The days were much quieter and slower with her. I would hear the clock ticking in the back ground and smell the cows tongue on the stove, being boiled for lunch. For morning tea, grandma would put on the kettle and serve up a piece of white bread smothered in butter and topped with pineapple jam. We would sit there in mounds of silence, sipping and chewing while looking out the side window of the house. I would be smiling. White bread. I was never allowed white bread at home, only wholemeal or some sort of gluten free variety. But this white bread, it was so soft and malleable. I would pinch it and it would stick together. I always ate the crust. Pineapple jam. So sugary and sweet. Sometimes it came out of a golden circle can and sometimes it had been made by grandma and spiked with pine melon - a wild grown melon found only sometimes in certain paddocks and on certain peoples farms. It was all so simple. All so yummy. All so very grandma.

I wanted to make pineapple jam. Tasting it in the pie shop brought back all of these lovely memories and a flavour that I thought I had long forgotten. It was strange. The pie was apple and salted caramel after all. But for some reason, my brain told my taste buds that they tasted pineapple jam - so I savored it. Who makes pineapple jam anyway? Besides grandmas and maybe people in Costa Rica with way too many pineapples.  I started to brain storm. I wouldn't just make pineapple jam, I would make it special. I would add something else to it, maybe a spice, maybe another fruit, maybe some sort of healthy variation to cane sugar. I would make the jam and then put it into something. Jam drops? Bakewell tart? Some sort of  rolly polly jam sponge? I would style it. With flowers and vases and pieces of grandmas vintage tea cups and fabric. But then something stopped me. Something made me want to slow it all down and simplify. Why not just pineapple jam? On it's own, as it is. The way grandma was and the way grandma used to serve it. Simple.

Recently, I have found myself naturally searching for a little piece of grandma within myself. I have felt the need to simplify. My grandma was a strong woman. She lived alone for the last 30 years of her life, will power through the roof, happy to just get by and as independent as ever. She wore simple clothes, ate simple food and lived a simple life. She held onto special belongings and cherished them, for years. She made things, from scratch.  She was never, ever in a rush. And there is a certain beauty that I find in all of that.

Although I enjoy the parts of life that are slow and simplified, I do enjoy find enjoyment the complicated, moving, busy times full of people and places and adventures too. But the idea of simplifying, of keeping things minimal, cherishing quality over quantity, gathering, making, enjoying slow traditional rituals and stripping things down to their natural, bare beauty. That, that is what I want to take from memories of my grandma.

Pineapple jam doesn't have to be made with cinnamon or rose water. It may taste great if it were, but why not let it be just pineapple? Why not just put it in a jar and enjoy looking at its simple beauty? Why not enjoy it for what and how it is and be content with just that.

So I made the jam. As I remembered. Without any pine melon, but with just pineapple, water and sugar. All local, all from Florida. And now I have it, sitting in lovely simple jars ready to be enjoyed as it is or how I want. Maybe from the spoon. Or maybe on a piece of white bread smothered with butter - for grandma and for old times sake.

Pineapple Jam

prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes 
total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
yields: 2 medium sized jars full

1 large pineapple
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 medium sized jars

Remove the skin and core from the pineapple and cut into large pieces. Using a grater, grate the flesh into a medium sized bowl. You should end up with about 2 cups of pineapple, including the juice.

Place the pineapple and water in a small saucepan over medium low heat for about half an hour, or until the pineapple flesh is soft.

Add the sugar and stir on a high heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to boil. Once boiling, turn the temperature down to a gentle simmer and leave to cook, without stirring, for 45-60 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Keep an eye on it, especially towards the 45 minute mark. Every stove top and saucepan is different - you don't want it to burn! The mixture should end up thick with a jam like consistency (it may still be a little runny).

Place 2 medium sized jars in a 95C/200F oven for 10-15 minutes.

Pour jam into jars, cover with lids and store in the fridge for up to three months.

San Francisco - The Mission

The Mission. It's a fragrant place. The air is filled with wafts of burritos and fresh graffiti paint. Everything is vibrant - the hibiscus, the houses, the alley walls, people's innovation. The history is present and the freshness is rife.

Of course, my agenda was food driven. I inhaled the bread pudding, drank the finest of chocolate and shared a feast of Eastern European fare. Cultures are mixed and so very welcome here. Flavours are too.

It's a real place. An open table kind of place. The kind of place that serves up everything you imagine a hip San Fran to be. I would live there if I could. I'd work at Bi-Rite where you would find me happily arranging the flowers, sneaking fresh figs into my belly and taking lunch breaks in Dolores park.

That would be nice.

To Eat:

Tartine Bakery - Try the raspberry bread pudding... Craftsman + Wolves - lovely for lunch. Dandelion - Chocolate! Bar Tartine - Eastern European Cuisine. Bi-Rite Market - Groceries / Picnic food. Bi-rite Ice-cream.

To Do: Dolores Park - Take a picnic and enjoy the view! Valencia St - lovely, never ending independent stores. Heath Ceramics - showroom and store for local handmade ceramics.