Ever since we painted our bathroom in honor of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, I’ve come to think of my toiletries differently. I used to just have a toothbrush lying around, soap in a dish, a razor lying on the bathroom shelf.

My life with Maria, an artist in the Kahlo tradition of independence and innovation for sure, has made me think of my bathroom and my utensils differently. Last year, I bought an aluminum stand from Harry’s to hold my razor, and I bought a black toothbrush from Quip that stands upright.

I think I got the drinking cup at the Brooklyn Museum and we just bought the plant – a little Poinsetta – for Maria this afternoon from a small florist.

We have company coming for dinner Sunday and spent all morning buying ingredients – I’m cooking. I had the bug to buy some flowers – keep me grounded in the dark days.

I was surprised to see Fedex deliver a new lens, a Lomography 2.5/32 art lens I bought eight months ago and forgot about.

Lomography was founded as a Kick Starter crowdsourcing project, and they are not conventional- they operate in their own time frame –  but instead are very creative. I’ll take the latter.

The lomographers have become a photographic cult. They’ve rediscovered the beauty of Russian glass and the simplicity of the early days of photography, and deliver treat color in a new and precise way.

The new lens is made for street photography, landscapes and still lifes. So far, I’m in love with it.

The lens and the bathroom came together to focus on my shelf, using the same old utensils but recognizing that they are being made in a whole new way. Toothbrushes and razors can have style and feel.

My new lens captured that, as well as our post-World War II sink, an art piece all of its own.  Maria captured Frida Kahlo’s ghost in her restoration of our old bathroom. One ghost who is welcome.