A Smattering
n. A small amount of something; or, a slight superficial knowledge of a subject.
Many new faces around here (hello!), faces that are probably wondering, where in god’s name is that newsletter I signed up for? Utterly and entirely fair enough. For those who are new—and those who have been around a while, but perhaps are asking the same question—here’s something like an explanation.
Treehouse is—under normal circumstances—a biweekly newsletter and monthly paid print zine broadly concerned with living creatively. That means we do things like: projects around our houses, apartments, or gardens; or taking deep dives into interesting minutiae like light switches, Early American stencil design, or jacquard towels. We learn about and fall for Italian communist furniture designers. We are interested in doing things ourselves, but we’re also interested in learning from experts, to deepen (or hey, even just start) our knowledge of a certain thing. We’re interested in the ways that personal creativity makes meaning in and around your home and family and community. We also have a popular vertical called The Source, which is a sourcebook for shopping and tools and materials.
Despite the fact that it’s just me, I am typically quite consistent with this schedule. My friend Kate, who tends to cut right to it, once told me she is always surprised when another one shows up in her inbox—Like, wow again? Another?
The reason that you haven’t heard from me in entirely too long is that for the past two and a half weeks, I have spent the majority of my time bedside at—or on my long commute to—the Alfond Center for Health, a hospital in Augusta, ME. Here, I mostly try to do busywork and wait for new doctors and nurses to come in and tell us something about my stepfather, who has become incredibly ill. I have several newsletter drafts open, but to be perfectly honest, the borderline unhinged and irreverent tone I usually tend to take is just not there right now. I scroll; I buy my kids new sneakers for school; I try to get refunds for things I have signed up for during this period.
I also have a lot of open tabs.
So, for now, during this strange period in my life and in this moment where many are only just getting to know me and this publication, I thought I’d do something different: Something like an informal, less curated, more personal version of Click On This (my weekly link roundup series). It may be something you’ve seen already, but that I just want to say something about. It may be something you’ve never seen! It could be one of the so-called Zinzi-isms that my friends tells me are ‘clever but abnormal’ (usually both) systems or things that I do.
For now: A smattering. A smattering of things that are making me happy or making me think from the terrace level of the Alfond Center. :)
As always and especially now: Thank you for being here. 🤍
I’m a little more personally interested in home-related handiness and caring about one’s car has always seemed like the “eat your vegetables” of being capable. However, this book/manual by artist and photographer Sarah Lyons is pretty sweet and frankly seems pretty helpful.
After visiting several homes and stores, and after borrowing a sweater from a friend, my partner Jesse and I have become very interested in scent. Stay tuned for a collaboarative newsletter on the subject that he plans to call ~Scents and Sensibility~. Anyway, as we have explored this idea in our personal life, we have become excited about actually-good-smelling pot pourri. It exists! I want to try this one from Santa Maria Novella. This one ensconced in a wax tablet seems fun, too.
Speaking of good-smelling borrowed sweaters, I picked up this laundry soap at a local grocery co-op and now everything smells great, including the outside draft from the dryer.
I’m pretty enamored with this new hardware in forged bronze and wrapped in either braided bamboo or leather from Nickey Keyhoe. And, you know, all the other things too, but that’s not exactly new.
One of the things I’ve had to duck out of as a result of all my hospital-hanging is a Women’s+ Intro To The Woodshop class at Yestermorrow in Vermont. Which looks incredible. But! I’m going to be able to move to a different workshop, which maybe seems even more fun (and longer): Intro to Woodworking. Fun. Join me?
I finished Olivia Laing’s latest, The Garden Against Time a few weeks ago. I love her voice and I love gardens and I love people tackling ambitious projects, which is what she does in this book, but in the lyrical and historical and socially-curious way that she does. Ugh, it’s so good. Before the summer, there was a lot of interest from this here Treehouse community-universe in a potential book club—this one is a real contender.
A few summers ago, friends stayed at an Airbnb in Rockport with a natural pool, also known as a recreational pond. Are you familiar with these already? Basically, they are man-made swimming pools that achieve a balanced eco system using plants, different animal species and usually some kind of aeration system to make a chemical-free pool that is clean and safe to swim in. This one was lined with gravel so there wasn’t any weird pond vibes underfoot. The whole thing really broke my brain and I’ve become fixated on figuring out how to get one. (The photo above is of the natural pool at Ralph Lauren’s estate in Montauk.) And then recently, within the past few days, I found out about this Substack, Organic Pools, by natural pool pioneer
in the UK. Gears are grinding.
This can also be repurposed for walking past unknown people in the hospital tbh.
Yestermorrow!!! I spent the most magical day there 20 years ago and have always been angling to get back!