high up in the trees

A good morning.

{Little Olive under the sheets and Omar above.}

Today I woke up to the sounds of two men quarrelling in the street in a language I could not understand, and to Omar, my Siamese cat, walking across the back of my calf muscles as I lay in bed. Today I also slept in and I love days which afford me such a luxury. I am going to work today on finishing two new zines, a handful of collages and I have the whole day before me. I also plan to wrap up card orders in tissue and ribbon and send them to many of you. Today has a good busy and productive feel to it. It is Friday and it is warm, and I think it’s going to be just swell. Wishing you, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, an equally grand day also.

** We’re in the Book Arts (The University of the West of England) November/December newsletter if you fancy a read. We’re on page 10 of issue 38 which you can download as a pdf here.

** I have just discovered the photographs of Amy Stein and her more than beautiful domesticated series. "The photographs in this series are constructed based on real stories from local newspapers and oral histories of intentional and random interactions between humans and animals. The narratives are set in and around Matamoras, a small town in Northeast Pennsylvania that borders a state forest." See them for yourself here.

** Thanks, Maditi.

Falling softly to the ground below, two new cards returned from the printers.

In several brown cardboard boxes sit our two new greeting cards, fresh from the printers and ready to be shared with you. The boxes sit in the lounge room in loose tower formation and on the side of each, labelled in chunky black texta capitals, THE GIRLS. I am, for two reasons, keen to unpack them. I am keen to sit and put each card with matching white envelope in a clear plastic sleeve as I listen to a talking book (for I love a cosy production line), and I am keen to see these cardboard boxes folded empty in the recycling bin (for they are sweet in sentiment but not all that attractive).

I am also keen to share them with you, should they catch your eye, take your fancy and (hopefully) steal your heart.

You can find them in both our online stores, here and here, it just depends upon if you prefer to shop in US or Australian dollars, either way, your card/s will come wrapped in tissue and tied with ribbon, and often with a little something extra, too.

I do hope you like them… and I also hope that all those who purchased a Three in the Kitchen and What Do You Think? zine are enjoying them. May they have afforded you a good read, a grin and maybe even a slight chuckle. I’ve yet to try Shari’s recipes but I am sure those who have will have found them a cracking good eat. Should you attempt them, please consider forwarding a photograph my way.

Two side notes, the car zine is taking shape and ought to be done in a few days time, and, for those who haven't yet seen, both Fanja (le train fantôme) and Abigail have recently updated their stores, too. More soon, but for now it is off to slumber... it is late and I am eager to return to a new book whose charms I can resist no longer.

Hot days and reading.

{All very ordered and as you'd expect. (Please click to see a little bigger.)}

Two baking warm days in a row (and a flurry of postal orders), Monday and Tuesday have afforded me a peek at the summer that lies ahead. Curtains and blinds drawn three-quarters closed allowing only a crack of white light through, three wilted cats lying in the hottest parts of the house, droopy leaves on my sole tomato plant, a sundress on which reminds me of those little tunics worn in the 70s when I was a child, and fruit for breakfast, it seems summer not officially here on the seasonal calendar has other ideas.

Long, light filled days and fruit aside, I am not all that keen on summer, unless of course it is the idyll summer day that grants me hour upon hour to read outdoors, lying in the shade. Recently I have read, though not under the canopy of the olive tree so loved by the white-tipped ringtail possum, Two Caravans by the author of A short history of tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka. Reading of strawberry picking in Kent with Andriy Palenko and Irina, and working in a slaughterhouse with Yola, Tomasz and Marta, proved a brilliant read though I doubt I shall ever be able to eat chicken again.

Read a little more on this book...
Interview with the author in The Guardian
Interview with the author in The Age

{All were in their place. (Please click to see a little bigger.)}

Late this week, should all go to plan, two new zines (yes, two) and two new greeting cards shall I have for you. For now you shall have to wait.

Okay, here’s a little slice of what you can expect…

{A Polar bear with lights in Antarctica. By Louise (Please click to see this handsome soul a little larger, it's well worth it.)}

{And Falling softly to the ground below. By me (Please click, also, to see this a little larger.)}

Thank-you for all your interest in Three in the Kitchen and What Do You Think?... it’s been swell wrapping up all of your zine orders to post and I hope you enjoy receiving them shortly.

Finally, for those seeking a little Tuesday inspiration...
Lilli Carre's hand-drawn animation For The Birds
Irina Troitskaya's Birdie & Bear Masks.
New and old growth (from ug-'s photos).
A closer look at new screenprints from Camilla.

Scissors, paper, thread.

{Three in the Kitchen all done and dusted with spices.}

A warm Thursday evening and as promised, our zine, Three in the Kitchen, is now available.

Shari, Louise and I have been tinkering on this zine for some time now. At one point, early in the piece, we considered making a collaborative zine on the seasons. At another, a zine about morning and evening was bandied about (we may still get to that one). This zine has changed in theme, page length and layout. Initially earmarked as a sixteen-page number it ballooned, as all things culinary can, to the twenty-page zine you see before you now.

It’s been a little while in the making and, were money of no object, we would have loved to photocopy a few pages in colour. As it is you shall have to imagine the orange-red glow of the tomato in Tom’s hand, and you will have to picture the green patterned trim on the plate in another of Shari’s photographs of her most enviable and seemingly idyllic North Carolina life.

So, here is our zine, all finished and waiting to be loved. Inside you’ll find a recipe or two, a handful of collages and various inky drawings. I, we, hope it fits the bill and was worth the wait.

Find it on etsy here.
Find it on our online store here.

{What Do You Think? (Misha and Dixie seem to approve.)}

Also making its debut, What Do You Think?, a new twenty page zine by me. It makes no reference to kitchens and savoury eats but I hope it, too, will amuse you.

Find it on etsy here.
Find it on our online store here.

Now before I flee for the advent of daylight savings time here has somehow aligned itself with more work to do, please check out the good machinery also on etsy. I think her work is wonderful and I ought to know for one of her Sketchbook Stories has just arrived by post.

And please remember, if you hanker to show me your wheels you have until the 15th to send me or email me your photo or image or drawing. I do hope you’ll play along. Actually, lets extend it to Sunday evening… I’d hate for anyone to miss out and I’m ever so curious, don’t you know?

Green morning daydreams.

{To collect any number of things.(On a postcard from Andrea.)}

This morning I got up early and in doing so I have discovered what it is that all you early risers like so very much; it is calm and quiet much like it is after midnight, with little chance of interruption. I may always be a natural night owl but this morning being up early suited me just fine. It also meant that I had enough time to hammer in with 5 inch galvanised nails, twelve fence palings in the places where the gaps afforded me the feeling of little privacy along the fence to the side of our terrace house.

{In their cave, the seals ensured no treasure went unfound.(On a postcard from Andrea.)}

Hammering, sweeping, trimming and done by 10 o’clock. We worked in harmony with the builders two doors down working on a renovation though we were less noisy and our patch-up job isn’t as professional.

I am sure the neighbour sandwiched in between our house and the one being gutted will thank us with more of his 1am-time-to-play-guitar-woefully activities. He has yet to master a whole song despite sporadic early morning practice and I am very glad that the fence between us is now more of a barricade.

The green fortress is almost complete and it is ready for the sitting, the lolling and all manner of general daydreaming.

From daydreams come zines, don't you know?

Three in the Kitchen is now finished and you will find it in both our etsy and online store this coming Thursday (morning for those in the Northern hemisphere and late evening in the Southern). It is ready for release and so, too, is What Do You Think? with its spine now dry.

{Three in the Kitchen.}

{What Do You Think?}

Until then, allow me to take you to the zoo. Past Lemur Island it is off to the Japanese Garden with the greenest of green grass and three fetching feathered inhabitants.

With an Indian Blue Peacock that accompanied us everywhere.

Curled up in an enviable bed, a little coati.

~~~ Feeling very loved.

A little time spent at the photocopier.

{From a soon to be new zine What Do You Think?}

I have been in a zine flurry these past two days and I have put together a whole new and unexpected, on my behalf, zine as the sun warmed my fingers on the keyboard and mouse in the morning, and as the cats slept soundly in the evening. I cast aside other to-dos and tasks, and settled down to tinker on a new zine called What Do You Think? Working on Three in the Kitchen, an oft talked about forthcoming zine by Louise, Shari and myself, clearly opened the door to the room in my head allocated to such things. I had intended to put the finishing touches on Three in the Kitchen and then head back to other things but that was not to be, and so, a new zine, in addition to Have Wheels, Will Go, is also calling to be completed and subsequently released into the wilderness. November is shaping up to be a three zine month and I couldn’t be happier.

I have returned from photocopying the A4 pages and I am hoping to eke out a little time to, with Louise, guillotine, assemble, glue and edition my new zine. It lies in a recycled box in the hallway just inside the front door and it is hankering to be completed. It sits in readiness alongside Three in the Kitchen; two neat blue boxes filled to capacity and ready to be transformed into folded, readable, distributed zines. Not quite Geppetto the woodcarver’s bench but exciting to me nonetheless.

Of greater excitement has been the arrival of what could only be described as a most generous parcel of delights from Andrea (Scout); one parcel strained to its papery seams containing a bounty so very overwhelming and very well timed.

Sitting just shy of the front door, I grinned from ear to ear as I opened this parcel. Cross-legged and surrounded by a haul of things recently carried inside and promptly dumped; a bag of new fabric Thelma’s stuffies from my Mum, a box of green to ripe mangoes, various grocery items in a yellow enviro sax bag and dvd returns; I sat and poured over the items one by one. Such treasures!

Included in the haul (for an itemised list is by far the easiest way to do it all justice) a handsome bundle of postcards including a Californian sea lion family, the winter herd in watery cave, a magnificent yellow chrysanthemum in full bloom, glorious tall trees in black and white, and a giant cactus too; Bestmaid needles replete with two kittens up to kitteny wrong doings in the sewing room, 100 assorted gold and silver eye needles with threader and all on coloured foil papers patterned with spider webs; a book of poems I have yet to read encased in its own beautiful hand-sewn book pocket abundant with birds high up in the treetops; magazines for when I have had my fill of Given Poems by Wendell Berry; fabric pieces tied up in ribbon; two notebooks, one olive the other white; Sukie sticky notes featuring woodland friends from squirrels to red foxes; and an alphabet card of a kite (awaiting a clear sky day).

A super and generous parcel of hoarded gems, wouldn’t you agree? Thank-you, once again, Andrea (xo).

And, one more before I head back to what it is I ought be doing (more on that later). From Hannah, my order of splendid gems which I thought you may also wish to see. They arrived sometime ago now but that polar bear and owl still make for a Friday afternoon showing. Today, according to my tee, I am a squirrel.

Zines and new collages I'll have for you over the weekend, I 'm sure. And should you feel like a wander, Louise & I have just finished our work on the new Imp gallery site... peruse it at your leisure here.

Happy Friday to you...

*** A little big favour to ask... ***

A lone carnivore with a prehensile tail

{Inky mice scribbles on the page, I.}

Over the course of the long weekend I shall be making a path to the Royal Melbourne Zoo to celebrate the birthday of a dear chum, surrounded by roaring lions, pacing tigers, elephants in wading pools and meerkats ever on the lookout. We will no doubt have our lunch with the seals and our sweet eats with the otters and perhaps our beverages with the shaggy-haired Orang-utans. We shall spend time with all inhabitants save for the recent escapee, an Asian bearcat (binturong) with a fondness for climbing trees. From an open-topped enclosure that previously housed those devilishly handsome otters, the bearcat slipped. A slightly grazed paw a small price to pay for an evening stroll. Don’t you, too, sometimes hanker for a prehensile bushy tail? Did you know that it can rotate its hind legs in such a way so that its claws still have a grip when climbing down a tree head first.. it sounds perfect for sticky scrapes, doesn’t it?

Now in quarantine for a spell, we shall nod knowingly in the direction of his enclosure.

{Inky mice scribbles on the page, II.}

And now I must away and eat a mango in the garden before the sun all but disappears. A box of 12 mangoes picked up today at the Vic Market and split three ways between my Mum, Louise and myself - how wonderful. Mangoes, pineapple, watermelon… I am loving my fruit feasts all day long.

Incidentally the bearcat was given a banana and mango for breakfast. Ah, so very like my own breakfast though I prefer a hairy-skinned kiwi fruit post ripe mango.

{Inky mice scribbles on the page, III.}

See the bearcat news footage here.

And it seems another animal, this time a local possum is also causing a great deal of fuss and heartache knocking over mannequins and breaking glassware at the Moruya and Historical Society's museum (in New South Wales). Read a little more here.

{A recent collage soon to feature in that oft talked about food zine.}

(So happy to know that many of you are keen Charlie Chan fans, and that you enjoyed seeing two of our three posters in action on the rail system and reading the words of the always-clever-wordsmith, EZB. I've had little chance to reply in the comments section these last two posts so I shall thank you all briefly here instead; it's been a busy week what with hoping to spot a bearcat in the dense garden growth. Oh, I do wish he had come and visited me, that black-haired binturong, if only for the shortest of times. Here's to a wonderful weekend all, g xo)