Decemberings



Navigating that space between the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

2014 Books

 

So last January I made a couple of New Year's resolutions. I didn't come through on the jeans (to be honest, I chickened out in the face of flat felled seams and rivets). But I did manage the resolution I really wanted to stick to, reading more. So in no particular order, here's my favorites this year:

1. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams. I'm a sucker for sci-fi. I inhale mystery novels. So long story short, Dirky Gently is a detective I can get seriously get behind. Caveat: don't read this on a crowded flight like I did, because your maniacal laughing will be impossible to contain. Sorry, seat mates.

2. The Last Gentleman, by Walker Percy: Armed with a telescope and an insatiable curiosity, Will Barrett is on a hunt for life's meaning. Beautiful prose, wonderful scenes of Southern life and the most gut-wrenching final chapter I've ever read, The Last Gentleman is a keeper.

3. American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang: One of the best graphic novels I've read in a long time. I loved the blending of past and present, fact and fantasy. So very good and well worth the read, regardless of age.

4. The Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden: A tale of five children fending for themselves in rural France, this one is brilliantly vivid with a pitch-perfect narrator.

5. Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works: Hopkin's way with the English language is completely unparalleled and his later poetry is especially mesmerizing.

And here's the rest of what I read in 2014. Which begs the question: what should I read in 2015?

Calm + Bright

 
I just ate a sugar cookie for breakfast and the lights on the tree are going full blast, which can mean only one thing: it's time for me to head on out and do some fa la la'ing.

Hope you're having lovely holiday seasons! It's been busy here, wrapping up a book cover and starting sketches for something new and exciting (more on that in the new year). I also volunteered for this year's Candlelight Stroll at Strawbery Banke. I had the best time playing a WWII Air Raid Warden (that hat sure does make you feel like you mean business).

But right now, I'm off to spend the next few days with my family. I have pies to bake and tunes to listen to and general seasonal frivolity to partake in.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Peace and Joy to you and yours. I'll pop back in sometime before the end of the year, but in the meantime, here's wishing you the very happiest of holiday seasons.

Tea and Toast


Bits and bobs, sketchbook things. December, I'm liking you (if for no other reason than I get to hear "Snoopy and the Red Baron" on the radio).

  
 Otherwise?

*I made these cinnamon rolls yesterday. Granted my version ain't going to win any beauty pageants, but they sure do taste fine. Bonus: they're grain-free AND sugar-free.

*I have the mermaid tea towels up in the shop! If you don't see any, I have plenty to keep re-listing, so no worries. And if you want one reserved, feel free to holler at me.

Wild + Free

 
There might be snow and slush on the ground, but I finally finished the last bits of the wildflower print I started work on this past Summer.

But enough with flowers. I need to start thinking about a Christmas tree...

Happy Friday!