A door opened this week

Gus and I have been walking Stromovka as often as we can. The ice is creeping across the lake and the ducks are huddling in the corners; frosty mornings are now the norm. We have to savor these mornings of silvered trees because they will soon end. Winter will of course linger until May, but after that it could be quite a stretch of hot, welcome years.

Yesterday, P and I accepted jobs back in Singapore. I haven't found my footing yet as to how to explain this to people. There is no short answer. We like it here. We could love it here. I'd return to Prague. There's of course the hassle of snowsuits and cold hands and lost mittens and gray days. But that's not reason to go. And that's what I try to explain to people---there's not reason to leave except that Singapore offers us something that not many other places can in the toddler years of our lives. It offers us festivals and colors and diversity. It offers us monkeys and jungle walks and 365 days a year where we can go outside (granted, often in suffocating heat). It offers us Cambodia and service and travel to places to see things that Gus isn't old enough yet to complain about. I think I better take advantage of the fact that he's too young to gripe about the tuk-tuks and the holidays to places where all we do is wander and not a tv screen is to be found. And then there are the professional gains. And the hope of medical gains. BUT. There is the loss of Prague, and that is a large loss. We chose Europe not as parents and moved here as new ones. We had no idea how parenting would impact where we wanted to work and live (I know. I know. We're the dumbest people on the planet. Believe me. I KNOW.) When Gus is old enough to let me finish my coffee in a cafe or bike beside me on a river path, I'd really like to return. He and I will rip up the trails and sample every offering in the pastry shops. I can't wait.

In the meantime, we'll savor Stromovka and snowfalls and holiday markets and hot candied almonds. We'll get cocoa at every farmer's market and laugh our way through layering up to head outside. 

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This month's sketchbook entry had to be hurried-up since G and I are off to visit the beloved grandparents soon and won't be at the drawing table. The theme of this book was "colors" and I was given black. I sketched up some nocturnal animals hidden behind inked doors. Doors seemed appropriate in this season of Advent. Man, I really love things with doors.

November is ending well

We had a lovely post-Thanksgiving weekend. I baked my first turkey, which we enjoyed with the truly wonderful Rops clan. There were Christmas markets and sunny mornings and gluhwein and chocolate bars and singalongs. Everyone was tolerant of both Gus's runny nose and his hollering. It was good.

Perhaps because of the tryptophan, the good company, Starbucks Christmas espresso blend, the German beers, or the new (and simply glorious) pottery Advent wreath P bought me at the Dejvicka market, this morning we entered the week of Decisions with lighter hearts, which I am also enjoying. 

In the afternoon, I made the Colophon Cafe's African peanut soup with our leftover turkey, which turned out to be a splendid move. It was totally unthanksgiving-dinner-like, and it used up a lot of the bird.

And tonight, I'm packaging cards to sell. 

 

Repeating themes

I'm working on a project at which I'm not very good. It requires repeating patterns and Adobe Illustrator work that this brain just doesn't yet know how to navigate. (and isn't quite convinced it wants to learn)

This workshop showed up in my Google Reader last night just minutes after the email arrived requesting these repetitive designs. Julia Cameron would shout "synchronicity!" and ask why I haven't already enrolled. 

Selling and sketching

If you're going to attempt holiday sales, you should probably get to know my friend K. She took what was a dreadfully boring table and made it look fab:

And then she stayed all day and never ate a single piece of chocolate. I'm not sure what was wrong with her, but she saved my sanity and kept me from shooing away the customers. In the end, she wouldn't even let me give her freebies. What a gal!

I'm not making any more designs for a short bit. Pillarbox has taken my leftovers and now I need to focus on the holiday gifting and a project with Tiny Tales. To tidy up loose ends, I finished sketchbook project #3 today. We're still waiting on Big Decisions and I'm coping with being-very-bad-at-waiting by re-reading Mary Oliver and Jane Kenyon and doodling the best of where we may land.

Happy Birthday, Mama

I'm hoping this card has made its way to my one-year-older mother's mailbox. I wish I was there to take that beloved lady to a high tea or talk her into a pedicure. She's a creative gal that likes yellow and things that are handmade, and so I'm hoping she enjoys her birthday greeting. Happy Birthday, mom. You are missed and loved.

A little of me and a little of letterpress

Two nifty women had birthdays last month:

Belated cards are on their ways. 

In the meantime, drool-worthy letterpress: Morris + Essex.

Unexpected fun

Something happened this week that was more fun than expected. I haven't ever taken on a card commission. I haven't wanted to. I've done more formal drawings and random art pieces, but since someone I really dig asked, and I was already in card-making-mode, and she only wanted a border for a photo card, I took it on. And it was a really lovely experience. It helps that the kind woman ordering up the card was a gem in all regards, but it did get me thinking. There might be a way for me to do this and not pull my hair out and offer affordable cards to folks featuring designs that don't make me feel like a sellout....pondering. Pondering. Pondering. 

The front...

The inside (minus names)...