you guys are great!

Thank you for the understanding and kind comments from yesterday. I really (really) appreciated them, and they did make me smile and feel better. So back to the happier land of elves and mushrooms (elves like a little extraneous ink- they would not have it any other way). (I like them and haven't packed them up from xmas). The mushrooms are a silkscreen (for fabric) that I was testing on some paper and I just liked how it looked, though it needs a little more work. I'll show you when it's ready for fabric. Thanks again!!!

bummed

These are illustrative of how I feel today- It really shouldn't bother me by now (8+ years of selling cards), BUT- on top of an otherwise crappy day I got a phone call from a bookstore I just sent cards to saying that 2 styles of my cards seem to have a lot of "extraneous ink" on them like "something was wrong in the printing process". Well I am the printing process, each card is hand inked and hand pressed. So some of the carving lines sometimes pick up ink and print too- in my view it is the charm of hand printing and what makes each card truly unique. What should I make of that? Well so I guess I will just call tomorrow and offer to exchange them-as they are a consistant account..... I just hate it, and it makes me not want to hand print anymore- does anyone know about Offset Printing?

some things i like

just a few things that I like (you can see more on my flickr site) now I'll tell you why...the fan I like the shape and the shine of the blades and the light blue of the base. I love tomatillas- not just the taste, but the way they grow is they form a little green paper lantern and the fruit grows inside of it, then it looks like this when it dries out- It looks to me like a little bird cage with the seeds stuck inside like the birds. Then the dried anise I just love the color and the shape of the arms with the little flowers at the end. Oh a note for Shona- I actually packed and moved the dry plants- I'm no magpie (Rick is though), but I seriously packed every little thing and moved them! and okay some things I'm glad I still have, like these. oh and the fan I got for $5 at a yard sale. They had about 10 different old neat fans, but I liked this one the best, though now I wish I'd gotten all of them. $50 for 10 fans, I don't know but.....

why i love rice and hummus...

This is my favorite thing to eat, it is brown basmati rice with hummus. I love it because you can eat it hot or cold, make it on sunday and eat it the rest of the week. Not only that, but with the addition of a little salad it is good for you. Basically beans and rice, but with a little soysauce, oh so much more! Hummus is super easy to make, this is what you do. Rinse a can of garbanzo beans and put them in the blender (or make them like other beans) add a small amount of tahini (1/2 tsp.) add some lemon juice (3T+-) just a splash of olive oil (T) then a ton of garlic (or none if you don't like it) you can add parsley (italian) if you have it, but if not, it will still be okay. also put just a bit of salt-to taste really. Add some water, but slowly and just as you need it to keep the whole thing moving in the blender. the nice thing is if you add to much tahini you just add lemon juice and vice-versa. then just add everything more or less as your taste dictates. Dump some on some brown basmati rice and a splash of soysauce for saltiness and you will see why I love it!!!!