JOURNAL
documenting
&
discovering joyful things
Mid-century mail-art
Maybe there was something in the pinot noir that week but I was really feeling a mid-century vibe when I painted up all these little packages. Polariods and UFOs. Weirdly-tinted poodles and monstera deliciosa. Vintage suitcases, 60s sitcom opening credits-style cartoons, and Liza Minnelli. I don't know. But I had a lot of fun, and I hope the recipients do, too!
I couldn't believe it when Eti (the plants and books) told me she had never received a personally-written piece of mail in her whole life. What even?!? I felt terrible for her, and so happy that I could rectify that situation. (Also embarrassed, because I felt like her first letter should be SO MUCH better than the one I had written).
The letter to Eduardo (the UFO) was for a snail-mail themed film project that is going right now. The filmmakers are collecting as many letters as they possibly can to be used in the film. If you want to add your mail to the mix, get in quick: it has to reach its UK destination by 21 March (that's one week!). All the details are here if this is up your alley.
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.
Gifts for a first birthday
Our friend's daughter is turning one next week, and it has got me thinking about the sorts of gifts to buy for this birthday. It's always a tricky one. The parents are SO PROUD, and rightly so. They have made it through a whole year with their new baby and managed to keep them alive. One year is a massive turning-point in all the good things and exhausting things about being a parent.
Plenty of derogatory words have been said about first birthdays being more for the parents than the child, to which I say DUH. Of course they are! And rightly so because frankly, the parents have done the lion's share of the work to get to this point! (Don't get me wrong, babies are awesome. I wish I had started having them earlier because I seriously would have like about eight. And I get that they are adjusting to, you know, Earth, for the first time, and that's not something to be sniffed at. But let's be honest: there's not a whole of exhaustion to be found in the sleep-feed-cry-cuddle-poo-play cycle, when played on repeat for 12 months).
Anyway, back to the point of this post(!)
So you have been invited to a first birthday party. What present do you buy? They're too little for you to have any helpful idea about their likes and dislikes. You don't want to get anything too young, because they'll grow out of them so quickly. But you don't want to give them something totally inappropriate.
What you see here is a short list of gifts that our children were given when they turned one, that have stood the test of time in terms of popularity and durability. My children are now aged two and three-and-a-half, and both of them still play with all of these. When I think about it, most of these toys are the types that can grow with the child, so that they play with them very differently now to the way they played with them when they were little... but they DO still play with them!
Onward to the list.
Stacking building blocks
These typically come in sets of ten, and are made out of sturdy cardboard. They are five-sided cubes that stack away neatly inside each other. When Ralph was one, his favourite game was for one of us to build a "tower" and then he would knock it down. Now he is two and I watch him building his own towers, carefully figuring out which sized 'block' is big enough to support the next. (And yes, he and his sister still like to knock those towers down).
Doctor's kit
We bought this kit (why yes it IS Peppa Pig themed. Don't judge!) when Scout was about one. Thanks to a stable but regularly-checked heart condition she has had from birth, plus a nasty bout of septicaemia when she was 11 months old, Scout developed a devout fear of doctors, and all kinds of medical intervention (even bandaids!). She loves role-play, so we thought a doctor's kit might help to remove some of the stigma. It maybe helped that situation a quarter of a fraction so in that sense it was a fail, but in every other sense, it has been a fantastic toy. The children both still play with it regularly. The other day I saw Ralph performing a "check-up" on Scout, using all the different instruments appropriately. Except that he listened to her heart through her leg.
Things on wheels
Scout has a green car she was given on her first birthday and she and Ralph still love to play with it. Anything (safe) on wheels is a long-term winner. I've pictured the bus here because it is extra popular, for a number of reasons. I bought this for Ralph when he was one. He loved "brooming" it around the room, but also loved that the roof opened up (there are little wooden people in there - I just kept those confiscated until he became big enough for them not to be a choking hazard). One of his favourite games (other than brooming) is to put little things into big things, so he uses this bus to hold all his matchbox cars. Also, he and Scout two days ago spent almost an hour with this bus and another big truck, racing them at top speed up and down the length of the house. I don't know. They both just love things on wheels.
Ride-on things on wheels
Here is another great toy. This bumble-bee, a gift for Scout I think when she was about one, is a perennial favourite, not only with my kids but also with visitors. Before Ralph could walk, he would hold onto the bee's antlers and move around on his knees (the wheels went too fast for it to double as a 'walker'). He used it to transport things on its back and, as he grew older, started to ride on it. This one is still so popular that they fight over having turns.
A stroller
When Scout turned one, a friend of ours gave her this stroller*, to cart around the dolly she had also been given from another friend (we were deep into "second baby on the way" mode and coming up with all kinds of schemes to help her adjust to life with a baby). Once Scout learned to walk, she would push that stroller all the way up to the post office or shops, it helped her balance and focus in those early walking days. We had no idea it would be as perennially popular as it has been, but both children still really love to play with it. Ralph likes to stack his cars inside the stroller and call them "my babies." Both children take turns - one with the stroller and one with the bus from above - to put their favourite toys inside and race up and down the house and into the garden.
* About a week ago after MUCH use, this stroller finally bit the dust, so I've had to dig out an old photo to use instead. This is Scout at about 16 months, pushing her stroller to the post office. Aagh too much cute!
A doll's house
I use this term loosely. What you see here is Ralph's rocket ship, complete with stairs and a ramp and a lift, and it is very popular around here. It was given to him recently, when he turned two. But I've included it because we also have a similar structure that is more of a traditional "doll house" (Peppa Pig themed - I'm serious don't judge!) which was given to Scout when she turned one, so I know this kind of play is also popular with one-year-olds. House or rocket ship, it doesn't really make a difference: this is all about accessible play-spaces to encourage imagination. My children play with both "doll structures" frequently and in the same way. I rotate the two structures, and the rocket ship happens to be out now. The kids role-play like champions with this thing and, now that they can talk, they even do voices! The other day I overheard Ralph narrating this conversation to himself, complete with voices, between astronauts and some anthropomorphised (by Ralph) cars:
"It isn't a problem" says the astronaut "It IS a problem" says the car, "I can't get up high!" "I will help you" says the astronaut, "It is magic" UP UP UP (and Ralph sent the car up the lift)
Also... we first came across the Peppa Pig house at the office of my obstetrician when I fell pregnant with Ralph (Scout was nine months old). She instantly took to it, and the obstetrician noted that it was universally popular with every child who came into her office. "Even six-year-olds," she said. Point being, kids love to role-play, and it is SO good for them!
Musical instruments
Full disclosure, these instruments come and go in popularity. They are not as consistently used as some of the others included here, but they have definitely survived the age test. This wooden set was a present for Ralph when he turned one: he loved banging things and making noise, so, hey! He played with it pretty consistently for about six months, and still returns to it semi-regularly. Add in a tambourine, and one of the children's favourite games these days is to grab an instrument and march around the house singing "We're in a marching band, we're in a marching band," one following the other. It's pretty cute!
Books
You know what? Books are always great. I'll do a proper post on some good books for one-year-olds (that seem to stay popular for longer) shortly. In the meantime, we bought the book above for the family friend I told you about at the start of this post, who is turning one. It is a little bit old for her, but she will quickly grow into it. It's a book with no words, so you can make up a story to go with the pictures. These books are great for growing with children, and fostering imagination. When they are little like this one, the reader can make up a story for them, according to their interests. As they get older, they can make up their own stories... and the stories will change as the child grows.
Two final tips:
1. If you're buying a present for a child and this is a new activity for you, treat those "age recommendations" with a fair bit of flexibility. If a toy says "suitable 2-4 years" that's most likely a safety recommendation in terms of choking hazards and the size of the equipment etc, it's not necessarily a sign that a four-year-old will enjoy the toy. Get it for the two-year old. My rule of thumb is to "buy up" when it comes to age, unless it's a safety issue. Assume the kids you're buying for are a lot brighter than the box would have you believe. They almost always are.
2. One-year-old is a funny time in a child's development to be buying most toys. In my experience, they REALLY start to get into serious, imaginative play at around the 18 month mark... but of course that's not a birthday so they don't have lots of people buying them toys. Most of the toys I've recommended here will be kind of liked at one, but will probably (hopefully!) become really popular at around 18 months.
How about you? What are/were some of the most popular toys for the one-year-olds in your life?
ps. I just discovered this mess-free finger-painting activity last week. The kids had fun even now but, seriously, this would have been a LIFE CHANGER if I'd known about it when my guys were one!
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run
- John Keats
Earlier this week there were two whole days that felt, at last, like autumn. Cold mornings, a touch of wind. On our path along Rathdowne Street, the first of the leaves were starting to fall. Scout looked up at me from kicking the leaves. "Is it real autumn yet?" The children can't quite grasp how the calendar can say autumn on a 39 degree day. I'm finding that a little hard to accept, too.
Autumn is a shedding, a paring back. The trees shed their leaves, I shed the weight of summer and step out alive into the day. Relief. On the weekend, riding home in the pram after going out for dinner, a cool wind lifted Ralph's curls. "Are you cold" I asked him, "would you like a cardigan?" Ralph spread his arms wide in the air, all goose-pimply and pale, relishing the unfamiliar sensation of cold on his skin. "No thank you," he said. "It lovely!" My own boy.
Right now the soil in our garden is radiating heat, holding onto the indian summer like buried coals in sand. But I am hopeful, hopeful that soon - any day now! - the "season of mists" will finally roll through. Buoyed by that hope, today I have been choosing bulbs to plant in my garden after Easter. I'm thinking bluebells, lily-of-the-valley, and then a riot of ranunculus for colour.
Also I'm supposed to be detoxing but last night I ate two hot cross buns while watching the Bachelor finale.
Maybe it really is autumn.
Image credit: Maria Shanina, licensed for unlimited use
Wild strawberries
This was the outside of the mail I sent for the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt. Sadly, it hasn't arrived at its destination yet. I feel pretty bad about that. I hope it gets there very soon!
Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt: the big reveal!
Last month I took part in an annual event organised by Fab from Snail Mail Love called the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt. The way it works is that each of us is assigned one (secret) pen-pal. Fab provides a big list of potential things to send and we are to choose five items from her list.
We all revealed what we had received on the one day, and it was pretty amazing to see. (It also made me feel a bit self-conscious about the package that I had put together for my secret pen-pal. I mean I tried really hard and spent AGES gathering everything together and making it all... but once I saw what everyone else had done... and once I received the truly beautiful and thoughtful package that MY pen pal created for ME, I felt pretty insecure. Nervous! I hope my pen pal likes it).
If you want to take a look at some of the lovely pen-pal packages, search the hashtag #spsh2016 on Instagram.
The package I received from my secret pen-pal, who turned out to be a super-sweet woman called Joey, was gorgeous. Each item was wrapped in lovely paper with vintage maps, and hand labelled. I had some very enthusiastic and inquisitive help when it came to unwrapping everything, too. You're curious, aren't you! Here's what was inside those packages...
City Explorers' Kit
∧∧ Cute little London-themed paper things
Something not square
∧∧ Fab pen! Lovely washi-tape! Terrible photography!
Something to use while travelling
∧∧ This is the BEST. Just fill with ink or water
Postal freak's kit
∧∧ All the beautiful snail-mail ephemera! I will have to make something for Joey from this and write back to her
A gift
∧∧ Joey added an extra little gift for me, a beautiful necklace that she said reminded her of the Earth. I loved it and so did Scout. Oh BOY so did Scout! This picture is blurry but I included it because will you just look at her face? That is the face of someone who, a nanosecond ago, spotted a sparkly necklace, and is now hoping against hope that maybe just maybe she might be allowed to keep it...
Something seasonal
∧∧ Yeah, these did not last long at ALL
Trilogy
I'm a little late to this party so forgive me if I'm sharing old news here and, if that's the case, feel free to skip right on past this post... but I finally just watched the Sia/Maddie Ziegler music-video trilogy back-to-back, in order, and it broke my brain.
In a good way.
To call these videos controversial is somewhat of an understatement, considering the kinds of criticism heaped upon them from some quarters, especially once the second video (the one in which Maddie plays some kind of inside-the-mind wolf opposite Shia LaBeouf) was released. (And then I came across a website that was going on and on about something called monarch mind control. What even?).
On the other hand I read this piece about what Sia has created on Noisey and I have to say, I agree:
"Sia’s album campaign—the videos, the performances, the responses and the counter-responses—has in itself been one of the most spectacular pieces of contemporary populist art, personally revealing, visually sensational, and entirely functional, as it served, at least in the first place, as a way for Sia to disguise her own face."
I found the videos disturbing, too, but entirely in the way that (I believe) they were intended to be. Each video features pre-teen dancing prodigy Maddie Ziegler portraying... I guess... an inner Sia? An inner Sia battling - often physically - with her inner demons, the thoughts and voices that twist and torture her. Their musical collaboration is profoundly moving, pared back, confronting, and truly beautiful.
And oh my goodness, the video for the third and final track (Big Girls Cry) is something beyond. That torturous battle: the voices within, her gradual descent, all played out on the outside and exposed for us to see... it is astonishing.
Honestly I'm a bit breathless.
Do you need a reason to write a letter?
Just popping back in for a moment to let you know about an exciting, not-for-profit campaign that's running right now, to inspire people to start writing more letters. It's called Write_On, and everyone who gets involved makes a promise to write 30 letters in 30 days, during the month of April. It's a fun kind of group event, with everyone supporting each other and swapping ideas and sharing inspiration.
The idea started with Tess Darrow, founder of letterpress company Egg Press. “As the owner of a greeting-card company, I wanted to experience, first-hand, the benefits of a regular practice of writing cards,” she told me. “Letter writing is something that I enjoy, but often forget to do.”
The timeline went something like this.
April 2014: Tess set herself the challenge of writing 30 letters in 30 days, and some of her colleagues at Egg Press and at another letterpress company Hello!Lucky decided to join her. They invited the broader community to take part, and in the end they gave away 2000 free "kits" of letterpress cards to help people get started
April 2015: Word spread about Write_On and thousands more people joined in. Also joined by Sakura of America (makers of the gelly roll pen!), Tess and her friends sent out more than 5000 free letter-writing kits
April 2016: It's almost time! This year, they plan to send out 10,000 free kits to help encourage another 10,000 people to write letters to the people they love (or like or appreciate), but they need our help to make it happen.
They've launched a campaign on Indiegogo to raise the money to do this, and so much more. Depending on how much money they raise, here are the very exciting goals (in ascending order):
* with $15,000 raised, they'll send out all 10,000 kits, shipped internationally if needed * with $20,000 raised, they'll also support and equip 20 retailers around the US to host letter-writing events * with $40,000 raised, they'll do all of the above, plus bring Write_On to five schools to inspire the next generation, including supplying writing materials, and * with $60,000 raised, they'll reach more schools, keep things running all year round, and even go global!
As with all these sorts of crowd-funding campaigns, there are perks for every level of support. That's everything from stationery to tote bags and, because the organisers are talented letterpress artists, everything is super beautiful. Personally I am going a little bit crazy for the letter-writing-prompts calendar I've shared below. It is such an amazing idea!
Today I ordered groceries online and then they got knocked back because there wasn't enough money in our account, which is not only embarrassing but also annoying because I really wanted to make Lebanese bread pizzas tonight. My point being I can't afford to donate yet BUT there are three days left of this fundraiser (people! only three days left!!) and assuming the pay comes in on time, I am definitely going to support this wonderful campaign that is inspiring people all over the world to pick up a pen and write to someone.
"By donating, you're contributing to our goal of shifting Write_On from a passion project to a cultural movement" they say on the campaign page.
Which is rather special, don't you think?
Image credit: all images from the Write_On Indiegogo campaign page
Mail art - 9 new ones
So far none of these packages have come back to me, so fingers crossed they made it to their destinations!
I especially enjoyed making the mail for Emmy. She is in her first year away at college and her mother asked me to write to her - Emmy's mother said the two of them read my blog, and that was just the nicest thing to hear. Such a lovely mental picture it gave me! Hugs to you Emmy, and Emmy's mum!
Lauren's and Akira's mail-art envelopes were experiments in leaving more white space (or in this case brown space) in the pictures. I kind of like them, but then there is something about covering the whole envelope with paint and incorporating the address more fully into the illustration that I do enjoy.
I actually think the mail for Barbara, that last one, is my favourite, even though no matter how hard I try, I can never draw hands. Despite the wonky hands I still feel like I got the "comfort factor" I was going for right.
Spent last night making more zines and envelopes at the Snail Mail Social Club, so I'll be making and sending more mail soon!
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.
News eek!
“Snail-mail will always be a personal gesture. It can’t help it. Think about it. Someone’s hand held the pen that wrote those words. Their finger ran along the flap on the back of the envelope, sealing it down. And then you hold that same letter in your hands, days later. After it has passed through a couple of post offices, a mail room and the gloved hand of a postie. Stark, blank-eyed words on a screen have got nothing on that.” - Selise McLaggan (loverssaintsandsailors.com)
Drumroll please... I finished the first draft of my snail-mail book last night! Just popping in to share that news because, as it turns out, I'm quite proud!
There will be loads more edits and reworks and a photoshoot to go yet, so it won't be out any time soon, but finishing an ENTIRE draft of a book is still something to celebrate, I think.
Back soon! Naomi xo
ps. I will be scattering "quotes about snail-mail" like the fantastic one from Selise above throughout the book, so if you still want to contribute, please feel free (I'd love it!). The details are here
Image credit: photo is by Joanna Kosinska, licensed for unlimited use under Creative Commons
Back to food trucks
Today I'm dipping back into an old, semi-regular kind of post I used to do: a celebration of food trucks. If you're interested, here are all the food trucks I visited back then.
For me it all started when we moved here from Interstate four years ago. It was late summer, I was about two-thirds through my first pregnancy, and it was the sixth interstate or international move we'd made in 18 months. When you move to a completely new city that many times, you get pretty good at learning how to turn "a place" into "a home." I'm not just talking about your house or apartment here, I'm talking about your neighbourhood. I have worked from home for the past 15 years, so I don't have the opportunity to make friends and learn about my city through co-workers. I've got to do the legwork myself and, since we only have one car and Mr B needs that for work, it is literally legwork.
A friend told us, "I've heard that if you walk all the way to the end of your street, there's a taco truck that parks up there at night." I became a little obsessed with this promise. I mean I like tacos (who doesn't?), but I fixated on the mysterious taco truck to a probably overly-excessive degree. To me it represented the first entry in my mental collection of "Stuff I Like About My Neighbourhood," which is a very important collection to start when you move somewhere new.
I think my daughter was about six weeks old when I finally caught up with the taco truck, although it wasn't at the end of our street (those darned things have wheels, and it's harder than you think to track them down in the right place at the right time). I had made a new friend and she and I pushed our prams (her son was about two) north along Lygon Street for several kilometres. The traffic was loud and there were all kinds of building works going on so we walked single file and couldn't chat. The truck location was a lot further than I'd anticipated. Scout started crying for a feed, my friend's son was wiggling and fidgeting and decidedly over being strapped into a pram, and still we were walking.
But when finally, finally we made it to the dingy little park outside of which the truck was parked, there were pockets of people milling around. Eating, chatting, lining up for more. Picnic rugs covering dubious patches of grass. Plastic wine glasses and soda bottles with striped straws. People in suits perched on a low wall, bending over their little cardboard plates so that taco juice wouldn't drip onto their nice clothes. Someone somewhere was playing a guitar. Oh and the tacos were really good (especially the fish ones).
It was the sense of "instant community" that got me hooked on food trucks that day, even more than the food itself. The fact that they can roll up there somewhere not particularly pretty, most often a car park or the side of a nondescript street, and can, by way of a colourful awning and a great-smelling kitchen-on-wheels, create community. And so it started for me.
My food truck hunt slowed down somewhat (alright it pretty much stopped) after I had Ralph. It gets a whole lot harder to schlep around town when you have not only a newborn, but also an 18-month-old who only recently started walking. Double prams are not the most mobile of beasts, and timing long outings around competing nap times and feed times and little legs wanting to run just got too hard. This also coincided with Yarra Council (the area where I live) making it increasingly difficult for food trucks to operate in our area, so I tended to have to travel further afield to find them. I visited a few food truck parks, and even the street food festival last year, and it's kind of great having all the trucks gathered together, but that's a) a different kind of community, and b) even I can only sample just so many types of foods in the one meal (especially if I have to individually line up for each one).
But then a few months ago we ducked into a shopping centre to visit the Apple store and, lo and behold, there was a veritable food truck bonanza parked out behind the supermarkets and greengrocers. I left my family waiting inside with the air conditioning (it was 39 degrees that day) and temporarily dipped back into Food Truck Land just for that one afternoon.
What we ate:
* From Wingster's Grilled Chicken: a burger with buttermilk chicken (because the wings weren't ready yet) and a spicy sauce I can't remember (but it was good), and fries * From the Real Burgers: a classic weiner (because I am a rebel and also it looked and tasted so good) and fries * From the Refresher Truck: a (virgin) piña colada, and a "green power"
Ah, I'd missed the smoky deliciousness in the air, and the comforting rumble of those generators.
