Life on the Farm: More from The Selby

You all know I am such a huge fan of Todd Selby, and that he paid us a visit in the summer of 2012 when we first moved to England. Some of his photos ran in The Guardian last year and I posted them here. This week he posted his own edit of the pictures on his website. I loved seeing the additional pictures of our kids living out their farm life dreams, and Christopher was delighted that he included the more real, messier parts of the farm like the abandoned barns, the storage sheds and the compost pile. Enjoy!

The best view of the farmyard is from the treehouse where you can see the side of the cottage, the old grain barn and sheds in the distance. The stables and old piggeries (where Christopher's painting studio is) are across the track on the right side.

Zach headed down the fireman's pole.

Zach drawing in the treehouse. We have since transformed this space into a little art studio for the kids. 

Old Land Rovers are the best family cars for the countryside. We can fit 10 people inside comfortably (with seat belts!) and you can cross even the most muddy, bumpy terrain. We love ours.

Giving Zach a cuddle in the Land Rover.

It's funny to me that I look at home in the garden here because I am so not a gardening person, apart from liking to pick the flowers to make arrangements for the house. Occasionally I do some weeding, but it is really more Christopher's passion.

Poor Clementine. We went out to feed her one morning and she had died. She was only a year old. Life on the farm can be really harsh sometimes. 

Coco feeding her twins - Clemmie and Hamlet. 

Jack Bauer and Inspector Clouseau chowing down on fresh grass.

Coco always says she's going to train the donkeys to be ridden, but it hasn't happened yet. But otherwise, she is a real pro on the farm - helping out with all the animals and not afraid to get her hands very dirty.

I posted most of the interiors of the house in my last Selby post, but there were some nice details he included this time, like the 70's fashion illustrations I bought at a yard sale on Shelter Island.

I don't know what it is about England, but we eat an unfathomable amount of toast here. Therefore, many condiments are required.

Cheese! We eat a lot of cheese here too, as we did when Todd came to visit. My shirt and vest are by Proenza Schouler, by the way.

I love this picture of Christopher. Our house is really his genius. He converted it from a cart shed 25 years ago. 

A silhouette of Christopher by artist Elliott Puckette.

A glimpse of Christopher's motorcycle collection from days past.

The most photogenic part of the farm is definitely the garden shed. People love to fantasize that there is some cute little guest bedroom with a fireplace in there. As much as I would like that to be true, it really is just a garden shed. Christopher feels it's pretentious to convert every old building into something overly cute and decorated, so it just is what it is - a garden shed. 

The inside of the garden shed. Doesn't get more real than that.

Another view of the garden shed. It has since been organised a bit, but nothing dramatic. 

Coco has since moved onto to a bigger horse, but Polo will always be her true love. He has taught her everything she knows about riding and now it's time for her to teach a younger horse how it's done. Polo remains a legend around here though - he has been ridden by my niece and many neighbours over the years so all the local trainers and teachers from pony club know him well and give him lots of shout outs. Recently he also became a top model when he appeared on the cover of JCrew and the back page of Teen Vogue. As you can tell he is very loved.

Some of Coco's rosettes in the tack room. The rest are in her bedroom.

In the summer I get very into arranging flowers for the house. Occasionally I mix, but on the whole I like very simple arrangements with just one variety of flower. 

The barn. Ugh!!!!! What an amazing space, right? But you can see what a money pit and a time suck this would be. Sometimes we get so excited by the idea of doing it up and living on a bigger scale but then we think about how much we love the simplicity of our lives at the moment and realise how grateful we are for what we already have. Maybe some day.....

A window in our "master bathroom" in the barn. 

Even though we have no current plans to start construction, the fantasy lives on in the reclaimed wood, windows, and architectural details Christopher has accumulated to one day use in this project.

Gingy girl, catching her breath on the top of the hill. 

Christopher showing off his perfect soil from the compost pile.

Have you ever seen such a smile?

Travel: JAPAN, part 3

Well, you may be tired of my Japanese pictures by now, but this is my last installment and hopefully I have saved the best for last.

In between our two stays in Kyoto we went off on a bit of a road trip, or a train trip I should say. Our first stop was Naoshima, an old fishing island now devoted to contemporary painting, sculpture and site-specific installation that many fashion and art friends highly recommended. Also, in my experience kids tend to react very enthusiastically to contemporary art, especially when its thoughtful, clever and visually stimulating. In face the kids got excited before we even descended from the ferry when they caught sight of on of Yayoi Kusama's pumpkins in the rainy park next to the ferry terminal!

Do you know SANAA? They are a duo of Japanese architects who designed the New Museum in New York, the Christian Dior building in Tokyo and the Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London, among others. They also designed the ferry terminal in Naoshima. It was stunning in its simplicity, and I also liked how it announced how serious the seemingly sleepy fishing island island was about art the moment you arrived.

I had read about an American diner on Naoshima, and we made a beeline to it from the ferry. We loved all the Japanese food we'd had, but 10 days in we were ready for some more familiar food. Zach was in heaven with his hot dog, root beer and popcorn.

The entrance to the Benesse House Museum, where we stayed. Yes, you can stay in the museum. You walk through the galleries, passing all the beautiful contemporary art, and at the back of the building you take a private monorail up to your room. As a guest of the museum, you are given access to view the art at any hour of the day or night. Pretty cool. 

A classic Donald Judd on the way to our room at Benesse House.

The view from our private monorail. It was great fun to have this quirky experience, but it certainly required patience - the trip from the room to our lobby could take 20 minutes if the monorail was at the wrong end of the line.  Having had this great experience, I may stay at the Benesse Beach hotel on my next visit, which is less unique but more user-friendly.

The Tadao Ando-designed "Oval" of rooms gathered around a reflecting pool in the centre. We spoiled ourselves and had a suite at the end with sweeping views over the Inland Sea. 

Our beautifully hand-painted room in the Oval at Benesse House.

"100 Live and Die," by Bruce Nauman at Benesse House. Our kids especially liked this one, as it lit up in different configurations and patterns. And, being kids, they were delightfully scandalized by the curse words.

Zach and I felt compelled to walk down to the beach to see Yayoi Kusama's yellow pumpkin up close. This piece is clearly the art star of the whole island, with people lined up to see have their picture taken with it.

There were constant reminders around the island that Naoshima is still very much a fishing community, as most obviously evidenced by the octopuses hanging from flagpoles and laundry lines around the villages.

A classic Cy Twombly at Benesse. Always my favourite.

This is what I most loved about Naoshima: amongst all this super cool art are rather mundane Japanese fixtures like the American diner, a kitschy but deliciously soothing bathing house, and this funny little cat café where you have a meal prepared for you and then you can pay an additional five dollars to spend thirty minutes in the cat room, surrounded by hilariously adorable and friendly cats. This may have been Coco's highlight of Japan.

Coco and I both agreed that James Turrell was the standout artist of Naoshima. We saw three completely different installations by him around the island, each blowing us away in their originality, and in the human interaction required to enjoy them. 

Christopher and I were resistant to seeing Monet's Water Lillies at the Chi Chu Art Museum, but they turned out to be a highlight. In another incredible Tadao Ando building, this one built underground, the five giant Water Lilly canvases were installed in a tile room with rounded edges and only illuminated with natural light. The result was subtle, but entirely unique and unlike any other painting viewing experience I have had. Chi Chu is a must see in Naoshima.

The view of the Inland Sea from Naoshima.

Next we headed to Miyajima Island, with this incredible Torii shrine in the water just off the shore. We would use Miyajima as a two-night base to go see Hiroshima by water taxi.

As soon as we exited the ferry in Miyajima we were surrounded by tame deer, which we all enjoyed so much. The kids were a bit nervous about visiting Hiroshima, having seen a rather violent documentary about it preceding our trip, and it was as if the deer were there to provide comfort.

The main street of Miyajima early in the morning. Feeling rather broke from many nights in expensive hotels, we stayed at a very simple but charming guesthouse run by an elegant 84 year old Japanese lady. She made us home-cooked meals and gave us directions in English. It was the most authentic part of our stay in Japan, and we loved it. Off the main shopping street, there were lovely coffee shops, tea rooms and tiny little restaurants, and once the sun set at 5pm, driving the tourists back to the mainland, we felt we had the whole island to ourselves. We loved this place.

Zach made a friend that followed him all around town one morning. No matter what Zach did the deer followed. It was too cute.

The Atomic Bomb Dome at Hiroshima. It is the only original building still standing in the city. It survived because it was directly under the epicentre of the blast and the radiation waves spread from up in the sky missing what was right beneath it.

A tricycle devastated by the Hiroshima blast. 

The peace flame burns at the centre of the Peace Park. It will not be extinguished until all the nuclear weapons in the world are destroyed.

 Our last meal at Miyajma, cooked by our lovely hostess.

All the deer gathered, as if to to say goodbye as we left Miyajima, a wonderful adventure.