Things and Stuff

At a little less than a month to go until my birthday, I am already buying myself presents. I took an order up to GREER on North Wells in Chicago this weekend, and I made the mistake of looking around. It is a very lovely store. You can tell the owner really loves her products and what she does. I really loved how she used old library card catalogs [think the Dewey decimal system] to store and display ribbon. It was also nice to see not only 16 Sparrows products on display in a retail setting, but also my own handmade envelopes were on sale.

There were a zillion things I wanted, but I restrained myself to a couple of envelopes pre-stamped with vintage postage the equivalent of a first class letter. This means that there are at least 4 stamps per envelope, all artfully arranged. I can’t wait to use them. I’m a sucker for all things postal. Recently, friend told me that he described me to someone as a “postal pervert.”

I’ve also pre-ordered myself a signed, numbered, hard-back, slipcover edition of The Ladies of Grace, Adieu, a new story collection by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess. It cost far too much than I should have paid, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have such a lovely collectable. There are some drawings up from the book here, on Charles Vess’ blog, and they certainly do not disappoint. Since it’s on pre-order and shipping from England, I do not expect I will see it any time soon. In fact, I pessimistically fear it will be lost forever in the mail.

[As an aside, I severely dislike the word “blog,” I much prefer “journal” which is why I always refer to this as a journal and not a blog.]