The Anatomy of a Soup

OK, so this blog post was supposed to go up over a week ago, and I had all these lovely pics arranged perfectly, but then I started to mess with the html to make everything line up nicely, screwed up my tables, and then accidentally erased everything. A sad emoticon cannot even begin to communicate my frustration and mounting inner rage.

But... I am determined!  I will not let html and blogger combine to defeat me. I will deliver a post with lots of lovely pictures, despite the fact that taking pics is kind of a challenge with my li'l point and shoot and the other fact that writing comes a lot more easily to me than visual aesthetics. To the post!  

<< biking home with fronds of fennel from the SB farmer's market >>

(Warning: very non-vegetarian material ahead)

Literary Love -- Valentine's Day Cards from Old Books

I made a set of Valentine's Day cards for my sister, complete with envelopes, as a gift for her birthday, which is at the end of January. It turns out that I like making cards, but envelopes are a major hassle. It all requires careful detail, with folding and cutting everything just right in order to make it even, and I am not a "measure twice, cut once" sort of person. I think that's why the crafts I am more drawn to are a bit more forgiving human error, such as yoyo-making or braided rag rugs. Braided rags don't have to be perfect, and yoyos are cute no matter how even their little folds are.

It took me days, literally days, to make 10 cards.  But I was determined to make a bunch. The problem with her birthday is that every year it comes at the end of January, when I am totally broke. I am going to suggest she move it to July next year if she wants presents that actually cost money.

I made these cards from some paper I bought at half-price from the art supple store in town, Art Essentials, and cut out the hearts from a copy of Jhumpa Lahiri's short story collection Unaccustomed Earth.