I drove a friend to the airport today – she’ll be flying through Hawaii and stopping over for a few days.  Rather than staying on Oahu or going to Maui or the Big Island, like most tourists, she’s going to Molokai and is even going to see my parents.  I’m so jealous I could cry.  I love Wellington, and I love my life, but I miss my islands desperately. As I drove away from the airport, back to my little house to spend an afternoon baking, I thought of another island maid, torn between two cultures and dreadfully homesick for her own islands as she studied in a cold land halfway across the world.  Ka’iulani, the last princess of Hawaii, also loved her temporary adopted homeland, but she must have missed her home as much as I do: missed the tradewinds, and the easy warmth of the people, missed the endless green lawns of her home, the soft sound of the waves hitting the shore. But I’m getting ahead of myself just a little.  This …

I’m still plugging away on the Marmotte Masquerade Stays, but have been held up by boring paperwork and car fixing and whatnot.  So I’ll keep you entertained with other things. Between my stays and the  Fairies & Dinosaurs at Versailles party I’ve been fixated on mad 18th century hair. These fashion plates particularly delight me: ZOMG!  Look at that hair!  Look at the fruit!  The entire bowl of lemons (or apricots?)!  The full pineapple perched in front!  That one random pear at front!    And her fabulously NOSE-y nose. Best of all, do you know what the pointy fruit going up the back of her hair is?  I do!  I’m relatively certain that it is a cacao fruit. Yep.  That’s right.  Chocolate hair. I’m not sure what the large round fruit that alternates with it is though.  Out-of-scale quince?  Perhaps they were going really exotic and they were meant to be breadfruit. It’s like pastoral France meets my parent’s farm!  I love it! And what about this one: She’s a little more typically pretty, which …