Illustrati

I look at children's books all day, every day, both French and English (very different sensibility, the French, silly and dark and frank) One of my favourites has always always been Ezra Jack Keats with his torn paper collages and colors:

Photo of Whistle for Willie by EJK by Letslookupandsmile

So when I saw the images from the new book by Phillip C. Stead, you might imagine why I went off the deep end. I mean look at this:
The image is from the interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and if you want to be inspired and rip up paper and paint things or you just care about process and beautiful results no matter the medium, you have to read the post. And if you want to be doubly inspired, read the post by his wife, Erin about her beautiful picture book A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Sigh.

And then I'm reading kids book reviews in the NYT and I see this Ralph Lauren project "the worlds first shoppable storybook adventure" and I kinda want to shoot myself. Because guess which kind of book I'll be seeing more of in the future...

Sometimes it feels like all the things I love are on the edge of extinction.

Old

This weekend I was at an (amazing) little concert of Congolese music for parents and kids and it struck me as I shimmied shamelessly - not for the first time - that I have entered my World Music Years. You know, when Folk Festivals and African music showcases seem like a slightly better idea than indie rock late night boozy concerts. This means you are likely a) a parent and/or b) old. Guilty on both counts! Whatever, it was exactly what I needed.

Other recreational sign of being old: gardening. I have tried here and there to plant living things and have them remain living - without much success. But our new (rental) house has raised beds! And already living things like rosemary and daffodils and chives and hyacinths. And lovely soil. So now I am officially Gardening. With the help of a judicious garden tool purchase on Craigslist, I am pruning, digging, weeding, and plotting. I sent off my seed order to Territorial seeds today and am crazy excited for them to arrive. My favourite purchase of the week is gardening gloves. To date I have not actually grown anything, but my god, I'm trying.
Things that were already here but are growing, so at least I haven't killed them.

Windowsill with tulips, pussywillows and hyacinth.

I'm also trying to knit a banana but that's another story.