postcard swap extravaganza

 I can't believe it but I actually made the deadline for the ihanna postcard swap. I ripped up an old book about Rodin. I felt very bad (the book was almost 100 years old), but something mad came over me and I did it anyway. Sometimes being bad can feel great. And then I collaged over the pictures.

This beauty (pictured with the envelope she flew in on, because it too was beautiful) arrived from Bea in Portugal the other day. I took a look at her blog and it's gorgeous. I love the letterpress work she has been doing. My father used to run a publishing company, and everything was printed using letterpress, but with the advent of computers and digitalisation, he got rid of all the letterpress equipment. He says it's one of his big regrets. I remember playing with the letters as a child. They're beautiful. This website is dedicated to the preservation of letterpress.

And this arrived from Hedy in Australia. You can find our more about her here on her blog. The photo isn't very good, but the postcard is gorgeous in person. In postcard. In ... actual fact. The thing I like about it the most is that, if I look really carefully, I can see Hedy's fingerprints on the card - where she stuck the little collage pieces on. I once asked an artist for a photo of himself in his studio (long story), and he responded, "But you already have a photo of my studio don't you?" and I said, "Yes, but I need a photo of you" (it was for work - I wasn't actually stalking the poor guy) and he said, "You already do." I love that idea, that you can see an artist wherever you see their work.

jam for japan

 One day, a giant basket of black-boy peaches (where do they get these names?) were dropped off at my door. I chopped them up, added sugar and lemon juice, boiled them up, threw them in some jars and wonder of wonders ... Jam for Japan was born! A friend was running a stall at the local market to raise money for Japanese tsunami and earthquake relief, so I dropped my jars off with her so she could sell them and make MILLIONS of dollars. Which she did, of course.

rock on

my kids rock

the wilderness and I

A few weekends ago, three friends and I walked the Heaphy Track. It was 78km of breath-taking goodness. I fell in love with the myriad different moss and lichen; and the landscape which changed every day - from moss-hung goblin forest, to palm-fringed beaches, and wind-swept tussock mountain plateau all within a few days. The best part, though, was spending four whole days with good friends.

seeings

Seeing as I'm currently enamoured of my children's picture books, I couldn't resist singling out this gem. "Podivanky", the name of the book, is a play on words. Because it's Czech, and Czech is a mad language, I'm not going to try explaining exactly how it is a play on words, but basically the title means "Seeings" as opposed to "Sayings". I love it. There are so many things to see. I love, in the bottom picture, the little transparent bag of fish the boy is carrying. And in the second to bottom picture, in the bottom right-hand corner, there's a crouching man dressed in green. He seems to be patting one of the fish.

peter and the wolf

I absolutely adore this book - both the illustrations and the story itself. When we were kids, we used to listen to Peter and the Wolf on the radio. In fact, I think this is the first time I have seen this book - having heard it so often and loved it so much as a child; but never having actually read it. I found this edition in a second hand shop recently. I can't believe its previous owner parted with it! I'm so happy that the illustrations capture perfectly the beauty and terror I felt while listening to the story ... 30 years ago (!).

home

Our last hurrah - a visit to Wellington Zoo. Vincent & Izmae were transfixed by the lions. There were three sleepy lionesses lounging by the window and the kids didn't know whether to be afraid or amazed. In the end, I think, there were both; and stood, amazed and afraid at the window, watching.

We've been back home now for a couple of weeks and it is so good; good to be home and good to be a complete family again. The garden turned in to some kind of extraordinary, wild, blooming, vegetable extravaganza while we were away. It blows my mind, every year, how seed + earth + sun + water = masses of happy, growing, edible things. My current experiment is to grow flowers amongst the vegetables - all kinds of flowers. Today I planted a veritable city of poppies next to the corn. I want colour and life everywhere!