LOVE by Lee Posna

Garnets darken a stump.

There's the red carpet in me
and the one in you -
they meet in the center
like children.

We roll
as egg from spoon into sun.

Into the canopy a green balloon.

Though
the cradle endlessly rocking
slows - you can see it
in the country - I foliate, I love you.

A rabbit there studies
erased in sun,
the carpet unrolls
as we push it, you know?

I adored this beautiful love poem written by my bro-in-law-to-be so much that I thought I'd produce it as a frieze as a special Christmas present for Lee and Therese.

Now I just have some jars of homemade muesli to make and then it's relaxation time from here on in.

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I'll be back in the New Year.

The Glad Game

I know it's not remotely cool to admit to it but since I'm too old to worry about being cool I'm going to say that I think that the 'glad game' that Pollyanna invented was a really nice idea and one that Oprah pinched a while back when she implemented the gratitude journal where she encouraged her viewers to record five things they were grateful for each day. While I'm not that big on Oprah, seeing as it's grey and rainy outside it seemed like an appropriate thing to do - so here's my glad list du jour:

Choosing 'Dreamy' from my word-of-the-day tin - the best Christmas gift ever from my sister a few years ago with about 200 hand-written words inside. Next to the tin is my magic wishing stone, which has granted us many wonderful things but should only be used judiciously.

Seeing Big Tom, Paisley and Zero getting along famously

Finding these colourful animal and letter foam stickers to jazz up my prezzies - although there weren't enough 'e's and only one 'k', which Jack got at the expense of Lieveke because her name can be abbreviated but his can't.

Also finding this beautiful hand-knitted bear at the op-shop. I can't imagine how many love hours went into making this little chap. It always makes me a bit sad when toys like this wind up at the oppie among piles of crappy mass-produced ones. Lucky I was around to rescue him.


Rearranging things to make room for a new painting by Emma Smith - a very quiet and enchanting lavender girl (the photo doesn't do justice to the beauty of the image)

The ceramics on the left are from my Hanmerware collection and the ceramic kete and vessels are by the very talented artist Emily Siddell who incidentally is the most discerning op-shopper I've ever met.

Finding two balsa wood butterfly models to use for my secret book project for Lee. After painting the wings and backing them with coloured cellophane they looked like this:

After attaching them to the cardboard cover with a butterfly shape cut-out it looked like this:


Now I just need to work out how to attach the poem to the cover... so enough with the gladness, I've got prezzies to finish!!

Stocking Fillers

My introspective mood has passed and the Christmas spirit has taken over in a big way. The decorations are in place (including my favourite Peruvian nativity scene) and the first prezzies have been wrapped. After many years of living on love and baked beans I've worked out that one of the keys to having a wonderful Christmas on a shoestring with a bountiful stash of prezzies under the tree is to find great stocking fillers. Each year I make or buy one special present for my nearest and dearest and then find lots of little gifts so that there's plenty to open at midnight on Christmas Eve after our annual viewing of 'Love Actually' (I know that sounds corny but it works for us!)

Here are a few of the things I've found so far:


Who can resist these little wooden pull toys - the angel and devil are just too cute. I found them at the '$3.00 Japan' store on Queen Street and from the same store I bought these beautiful hand-thrown ceramic bowls. They have a huge range of ceramics in all shapes and sizes right down the back of the shop, all for $3.00 a piece:


At my local oppie I found these pretty crocheted flowers that I'm using to embellish my plain brown wrapping paper; a vintage scarf that I've used as an alternative to wrapping paper and two cute crocheted strawberries that I'll stuff with nuts and chocolates. In the same op-shop I found these sweet fabric envelopes embroidered with lanterns and cherry blossoms. I think I'll make some pretty cards or notebooks to go in these.

All in all, my thrifty Christmas is off to a great start! More to come...

The Balancing Act

This beautiful illustration comes from my favourite new picture book, Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch, published by a wonderful New Zealand company Gecko Press who specialise in publishing English translations of unusual children's books from around the world.

The image of death quietly contemplating the body of his departed friend perfectly encapsulates my mental state at the beginning of this new week after the frenetic pace of last week. My craft supplies have been neatly tidied away and my stack of library books have taken their place ready to be imbibed, their contents hopefully forming themselves into an erudite thesis chapter about the connection between Rita Angus and Cleopatra.

Colin Thompson, How To Live Forever (Random House: UK, 1995)

There's a certain sadness that comes with the realisation that the many facets that make up your life are so diametrically opposed that you have to compartmentalise them all. It's a delicate balancing act.


There's the me who spends hours sitting on a miniature wooden chair in the children's department at Borders reading all the picture books and playing with the pop-up books (last week I discovered that Robert Sabuda's pop-up Wizard of Oz actually has a tornado that spins along a wire as you open the page). There's the publisher me who attempts to conceptualise the work of my favourite poets and artists and turn my responses into limited edition handmade books. There's the crafty me who plays around with fabric and paper spending countless love hours making nice things for my family and friends. And there's the scholarly me who has dedicated four years of my life to understanding why Rita Angus painted two imaginary children that she kept secret from the world. Quite simply there are too many me's and not enough time.

Etienne Delessert, Ashes Ashes (Stewart, Tabori & Chang: New York, 1990)

The daily struggle is to prioritise thesis writing and resist the temptation to play. It's either this:

Or this:

Valorie Fisher, Elsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears (Simon & Schuster: UK, 2004)

The cautionary tale about the spider and the fly best expresses the struggle:


Because we all know what happens when we give in to temptation:

The Spider and the Fly, Tony DiTerlizzi ( Simon & Schuster: UK, 2002)

Still, what do I have to complain about - they might be split into separate parts but each compartment of my life is a lovely treasure that brings its own rewards. At the end of Duck, Death and the Tulip, Death watches Duck's body float away on the great river. 'For a long time he watched her: When she was lost to sight he was almost a little moved. But that's life, thought Death.'

Etienne Delessert, Ashes Ashes (Stewart, Tabori & Chang: New York, 1990)