Spot On

Feeling Van Gogh-y

I've always admired sunflowers but for some unexplicable reason I now want my house covered in them.

Abundance

spring at the best farmers market ever = carrots + leeks + baked goods + jugglers + folk singers + people watching + booth browsing + wines + garden items + hula hooping girls + nice people + happy people + friendly people + gourmet brownies + baguettes + free samples! + little kids + artisan sausages + organic eggs + herbs + spices + loop around for the booths you missed + more folk singers + cheeses, cheeses, cheeses (did I mention the cheeses?) + chocolate + best of all: free hugs!!!

New Post, Old Post

Like the rotary phone, I find it incredible that this form of communication endures. Maybe flyers, posters, and the like will go the way of the empty, deserted phone booths that are dotting the city — I mean, c’mon, these collegiate posting boards are one step removed from The Town Crier.

Ye Olde Flash Mob Information Here.

But there they are, in all their grittiness. Maybe they’ll never go away. Staples upon staples upon staples, rusting away in the moist air. Unlike the Internet, outdated information lingers until it’s tattered, faded, and shredded from exposure or until someone rips it down and posts over it.

I love it. Just love it.

Creatures Comfort

We love our local pet shop and supply store and this place is literally hoppin’ on a Saturday afternoon. Thank goodness we aren’t subjected to going to Petco — and don’t give me that “Corporations are people, too” litter box crap. There is NO comparison.

Don't cha love a business with a sense of humor?

Guinea pigs are our friends.

Hissing hedgehog is hissing.

(Seriously, you would not believe how these things hiss.)

For the love of all things small, holy, and with sad eyes: Adopt one of us.

Sidney meet the Interwebs. Interwebs meet Sidney.

Visitors are welcome, of course.

Yes, sweetheart, I can see that Sidney is indeed a beautiful bird.

I don't even know what the hell this thing is.

No. No. A thousand times, no. I don't care what he said. He is not coming home with us.

And if I don't leave now, one of these might end up in my purse.

They Grow Up So Fast.

 

It's like I'm watching my own kids grow.

Living The Fairy Tale

Classic Tales. We Haz Them.

This Daughter came home this week with a really, really old copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It could possibly be an original Guttenberg printing but then I checked out the copyright date. It was a close guess (1945) with this book having been in circulation since 1951. It’s in surprisingly good shape. The pages feel like rose petals under your fingers but for the most part are intact even after 60 years of middle schoolers pawing through it. Which is why I just LOVE old books. I’m happy that they survive and persist. I find them to be incredible, portable artifacts.*

 
I just randomly opened the book to this illustration and, no, I did not Photoshop the spots on that dog. Seriously. I did not. I swear it was like that.

Part of the fascination for This Daughter checking this copy out has to do with us watching NBC’s Grimm on Friday evenings. We enjoy seeing what they do with the Portland locations since they began filming here last summer. We also watch for friends that show up in the crowd scenes (hey P.J.!). In all truthiness I wasn’t too enamored with the show initially, but after a couple of episodes it’s grown on me like invasive ivy on an old growth fir. I’m sort of over the squishy CG animation (I can’t tell if it’s getting better or I’m just getting used to it) and I love seeing how Silas Weir Mitchell and Reggie Lee develop their characters Monroe, "The Big Bad Wolf" and Officer Wu.

 

From the beginning we have been having fun dissecting the running plot of the show and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale character references. And with our memories exhausted, we started perusing this book with obvious favorites in mind (Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, etc.)… and then we jumped into the random ones.

Like “The Salad.” *snort*   Let me just say, you don’t get a more meandering-going-no-where-tale than “The Salad.” You just sort of let the crazy wash over you. I can’t imagine a literary agent or publishing editor even touching this drivel with a 10-foot pole in this day and age. Of course, I realize that these stories were all from “the oral tradition” but good grief, it’s not hard to see why “Little Red Riding Hood” rose to the top of the collection.

 
Best bedtime story ever, people.

Fairy tales seem to be big stuff having recently pushing out sparkly vampires and wizards for now. We’ve got ABC’s “Once Upon A Time,” Julia Roberts in “Mirror, Mirror,” Disney’s continuous loop of Princesses, “Puss In Boots,” and the list goes on. I’m guessing they’re a safe bet for The Suits in these desperate, copycat times.

Last summer there was a symposium at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Detroit with Dr. Don Haase who is a Professor of German Studies in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Wayne State University. Dr. Hasse not only “studies” fairy tales but the dude has written VOLUMES on it. Out right TOMES. This is serious business and I’m just nerdy enough to find that incredibly cool. I was leaving town right before his presentation (aww, snap!) but I found some of his work online once I got home. I had to go back and reread “The Salad” because clearly I forgot all of my classic literature symbolism education. Thus giving lettuce, donkeys, and giants a whole new meaning,

 
"...and all their library fines were waived. The End."

All Haase's heavy feminist messages aside we are still enjoying Grimm and it’s put us on a whole new literary track. Are there any other people out there that get into this stuff besides us?

That is besides, us and Dr. Haase.

 

*Check out Portland's Attic Journals. They would love to get their hands on this book.

Small Town Saturday

Special Delivery:  Anna's Flowers.

Swirly!

Hey, Pinot lovers, this is where some of your 2012 vintage is starting to grow. The vines are trimmed, wrapped and ready to go. I see this all the time but when I snapped this on a walk the other day I thought perhaps I’d keep you updated on how it looks throughout the year. Hopefully I can document it through to harvest, a type of photographic sommelier of sorts. And while I’m not an oenophile I think this could be an interesting experiment.

Of course after that, then we’d have to wait a few years to see if this crop makes someone’s cuvée or if it’s a disappointing year for the growers here in the Willamette Valley. Stay tuned and send suggestions if you have them.

A Good Sign

I've walked under this sign countless times in twenty odd years. Surely it's been there since the 1970s... and I just now noticed it. (What else am I too busy not noticing? Geesch.) A flood of memories came back in an instant after seeing this graphic though. Does anyone else besides me remember that this was the predecessor to VISA?

Of course, if you do remember, that doesn't mean that you're old or anything. It just means that you have a great memory for logos and marketing.

Cleaning Up Your Act

Dang. I love the products that House Industries puts out — as evident in these nifty kitchen towels.  As an art director/graphic designer I always appreciate their type products and their dedication to the art history behind them, but the fact that they apply it to merch makes it doubly hard for me to resist their charms.

Thanks heavens for great design. It makes my soul happy.