kitty nurble comes home

last summer, we met the fabulous kit lane in person (it was at lisa's house - they both live in minnesota). you may know her as the inventor of bobbaloos. (she is wonderful, by the way.) and as a little joke, we presented her with a hairball extracted from the outside (not one of the thrown-up variety) of our norwegian forest cat, lila. we also gave her real gifts, so we're not totally mental. today, this little creature arrived - our very own kitty nurble - composed largely of lila-hair. a little piece of our beloved (and aging (she's 14) cat).  it was getting a bit dark when i took this, so more proper photos of it tomorrow in good light. and this is not at all a very blurry shot of frankie trying to mangle welcoming it:

~~~

small stone :: two

days shared.

laughter.

sumptuous plate of healthy salad.

laughter.

wine.

the unbearable lightness of being.

life.

gone to the beach

it's the easter holiday. we're having the best weather that has ever been in the history of denmark. since weather was recorded. and possibly even since time began. it's clear, sunny, in the lower 70s, no wind, the grass is green, the daffodils are in bloom. and we're taking a little trip to the beach. so i leave you with a few more shots from our jacabob photoshoot...that way even if the weather isn't perfect where you are, i can at least leave you with a smile...

gertie, elwold, gilda and hubert

hubert

nelson

elwold

patoot

perdy the pirate

if this weather continues, it may be a couple of days before i'm back. it seems a shame to spend any time in front of a computer when it's a holiday and the weather is this great. 

happy easter and happy spring!

jacabob sightings in the garden

nudiped habitat

our sweet little nudiped arrived today, another of the felted marvels (to which we may or may not be addicted) by kit lane.  he took his sweet time getting here, being passed up by nelson, elwold and perdy, all of whom were adopted after him. we realized he took the slow route because he's a bit shy and perhaps just a little tad chubby. as soon as he could, he escaped up to a little perch on the new treehouse out in the garden. he wanted to get the lay of the land, and to catch a few rays of sunshine. i assure you he's far less crotchety than he looks. he's actually quite sweet, once he gets over his shyness.

a couple of days ago, sabin encouraged me to ask kit if there would be any easter jacabunnies. we got an answer from her that a couple of little bitty peep-colored bunnies were going to find their way into the shop in the near future. so sabin created a pair of glasses with which to stalk check kit's etsy shop at regular intervals. we wanted to be ready when the new bunnies were listed - since we'd decided it didn't do at all to have 13 (why, you can't set a proper table for 13, whoever sits on the corner will never marry, it's a well known fact).  we'll suffice it to say that the shop stalking glasses (which were modified at one point to include a magic wand) were very effective.

if you know about jacabunnies, you know that their arch enemies are the barn kitties. we're not entirely sure why that is, as we've had several jacabunny-barn kitty encounters around here and never had any trouble. maybe it was because the jacabunnies decided to lie very still when woody approached. but look at him, doesn't he look totally innocent? he wouldn't hurt a jacabunny. he just wondered if they had any snacks.

and speaking of bunnies, samba wasn't entirely thrilled with his encounter with his namesake. but maybe that's because he was rather unceremoniously held up in the air underneath the clothesline.

lastly, down at the bottom of the garden, there was a very rare sighting of a whole herd (or is it a gaggle or a flock?) of jacabunnies.

rarely are so many seen together in one spot in their natural habitat.

it was a very fortunate day indeed in the land of jacabunnies.

if you'd like one of your own, you'll have to stalk check kit's shop regularly too.  we're going to try to stop. for awhile at least. to give someone else a chance.

try to make me go to rehab, i say no, no, no

elwold and perdy arrived today

that makes 13.

i had to have a pirate one. isn't he precious?

i wonder at what point you have to admit you're addicted? and whether you really mind. because there are worse addictions. and 13 is surely not yet enough...

reading and writing and reading and linking

i'm reading jussi adler-olsen's latest crime novel, journal 64, featuring detective carl mørck of department Q, which reinvestigates old unsolved cases. the series has already won a number of nordic literature prizes. and it is well-written for crime lit. i'd actually listened to the first three novels as audio, so this is the first one i've actually read. it's interesting how the voices as i heard them on the iPod, resonate through my head as i'm reading. apparently zentropa has bought the film rights to the novels, so they'll be making their way to the big screen at some point.

journal 64 is a good book, as it weaves historical fact with contemporary events into a very convincing, if chilling, fiction. nazi-like parties which want to keep denmark danish strike a bit close to home these days with the political rhetoric that's in the air.

but i didn't set out to write a book review here and it's too early for that anyway, as i'm only about halfway through. actually, one of the most interesting things about the book is the lexicon of swear words that adler-olsen has either revived or simply made up (fandenbukme, edderrolme, saftsuseme, edderbroderme - a few examples for those who read danish). i keep texting them to husband and he tells me whether they're something he'd heard before or whether they're made up. adler-olsen takes danish swearing to an entirely new level, for which there really aren't equivalents in english. it will be interesting to see how these words are translated when the novels come out in english in may (no less than penguin will release them). it's funny that it wasn't something i noticed in listening to the novels, but i've definitely noticed it in reading this one.

maybe because the book is called journal 64, which is actually a reference to a medical journal, i got to thinking about handwriting (you know, journaling). and suddenly, i've been noticing handwriting. and thinking about how it's often quite cultural. for example, you can instantly tell the handwriting of someone from the philippines. i remember twenty-odd years ago, i so admired the neat, pretty handwriting of my friend natz, and i can recognize the lines and strokes in the writing of my filipino friends today - it must have something to do with the way writing is taught in schools. there is simply a distinctive style that is filipino handwriting. the same with russian handwriting, even if russians are writing in english, you can tell they're russian. there's just a special russianness to their handwriting. i'm certain it's true of others as well, but we don't see that much handwriting these days, do we?

i noticed it again today when my latest jacabunny arrived...kit's handwriting on the package is so recognizable as upper midwest handwriting. it could have been written by any number of people from my hometown. in my own handwriting, i can see echoes of both my dad and my maternal aunt. so perhaps it's also in the actual construction of one's hands how your handwriting manifests. that might also explain the distinctive filipino and russian handwriting styles.

ok, and now back to the scandinavian crime novels...i also recently read karin wahlberg's pigen med majblomsterne. wahlberg is a doctor in lund, sweden, and apparently started writing to work out the stress of her real job. the novel was heinous. badly plotted, badly translated (from swedish to danish) and ultimately rather uninteresting. tho' i am a firm believer in writing to ease one's psychological issues, sometimes people should simply be stopped from publishing. i was happy that the book was only 69 kroner. it's one of those books where i wondered why i was doggedly determined to finish it. when will i ever learn to put down a book that's not good. somehow tho', once i've started, i feel compelled to plod through to the end, no matter how bad it is.  i also wondered how she got it published and strangely, it's not her first. i guess in the aftermath of the success of the stieg larsson books, scandinavian publishers are looking for the next Big Thing.

* * *

if you're interested in reading more about scandinavian crime novels, this blog is great.

if you want bobbaloos, stalk check here.

as for handwriting theories, i've got no links, tho' i'm sure they exist.

new friends

nubby & bunnykins

solskin & samba - jacabunny versions of our real bunnies

as you know, we have a bit of an...ahem...addiction to kit lane's delightful little bobbaloos. for the longest time, the only ones in her shop were special orders reserved for others. this finally got to us and so we ordered the little darlings that you see above. first came nubby and bunnykins. sabin wanted bunnykins to be bright pink, but we told kit to choose the color of the jacabunny - i think color-wise it's my favorite one of our now 10-strong collection.

i kept thinking about that i'd like to see some that were the colors of our real bunnies - samba & solskin, and so i sent some photos to kit and she came up with the beautifully detailed darlings just above...perfect down to the little white spot and brownish-paws that samba has in real life. thank you kit, they're just wonderful!

we're going to try to restrain ourselves for awhile, but you never know.

the water heater of creativity

last week, i had the opportunity to discuss the mysteries of creativity for an entire afternoon. and i got to pick the brain of a very creative person. who hates to be called that. because there's so much pressure in it, isn't there? and while you can generally be creative, you often don't really have that much control over it. much of what we discussed was about creativity and creative people's place in business and i'll be writing about that elsewhere. but something he said stuck in my head...he said he felt that creativity was like the hot water tap. when you turn on cold water, it's always there, but when you turn on hot, it's there, but eventually it runs out and has to be replenished.

from the great jacabunny photoshoot - by sabin

but the difficulty is in finding one's own inner water heater, isn't it? what is it that recharges you? i watch sabin, who seems to be able to be endlessly and spontaneously creative, all the time. she sees the creative potential in everything around her...from the box the veggies come in to some bits of fabric scraps, to simply taking 1335 (not kidding) photos of our growing kit lane jacabob collection. and she seemingly never needs to stop and recharge.

my inner water heater functions best when i have a change of scenery. i can get very bogged down if i remain in the same physical space for too long. even if that space is home, which is filled with people and cats and bunnies and things i love.  i don't need to go far, i just need to get out. and get new impulses, see new things, eat new food, breathe new air.  last week's winter holiday was just what i needed.

a new work in progress

i can always tell that the hot water of creativity will flow again when i wake up with pictures in my head of things i want to create, or when i can scarcely fall asleep because so many exciting ideas are going through my mind. these last two photos are a hint of the picture that was in my head when i awoke yesterday.

the space ships are coming!

i'm looking for a way to combine the things i love...photography and fabric. there are many, many pretty pictures out there now that everyone has a digital camera, so it's difficult to stand out from the crowd on etsy or big cartel. i think sometimes that the pictures are too pretty in their glossy perfection once you've had them printed, so i wanted to break the integrity of the photo down a little bit. i'm still working on it, but i'll back back later to show you what i mean...i've got to keep going while the water's still hot.

quietly zen saturday

from yesterday's jacabunny photoshoot

it's saturday morning, the laundry is underway, the dishes done, the living room is rearranged. the bird feeder is full and the birds are swarming it. bunnies and kitties are fed. there's a fresh pot of tea steeping.

tho' the t.v. is tuned to discovery travel & living in the other room and i keep hearing that ad for the show about women who didn't know they were pregnant 'til they were giving birth (really?! really?!) and the constant click of the camera as sabin stages a photoshoot with our kit lane jacabunnies (apparently the 472 pictures she took yesterday weren't enough), it feels quiet and calm around here.

i have a strong suspicion that the cat, in her catch-and-release program, has released a mouse under the shelf just to the right of my desk. she's spending an inordinate amount of time swiping a paw under there and she doesn't usually do that.

but i'm feeling quite zen about the whole thing.  calm and settled.

it's good to be home after a few whirlwind days in copenhagen with bloggy goddess gwen (you may remember her from woman on the verge and not really) and her kids. we had so much fun and so much food and we all bought legwarmers.

i feel a bit of time out of the house always settles me down. i need experiences that are outside the norm in order to appreciate those that are the norm. like a steaming cup of tea and a calm saturday morning.

cutie patootie

meet patoot the jacabob by kit lane. i couldn't believe my luck. i've been stalking admiring kit's work since she left a clever comment on one of lisa's flickr photos before christmas and the other day, i happened onto her etsy shop at exactly the right moment to make patoot mine. and patoot arrived just in time yesterday to help me make some birthday bunting for sabin's upcoming birthday. featuring little danish flags, of course (the danes are such flag-wavers on their birthdays).  kit is super clever, check out her etsy shop and be sure to read her hilarious profile (just don't take a sip of your coffee before you begin unless you've got applecare on your macbook). but if you want a jacabob, you'll have to be quick, they go very fast.