joe and i met friends in williamsburg yesterday evening for pre-valentine's-day bowling. the gathering was casual, but there were stakes: the night's big winner (joe) took home a bit of cash, and the loser (our friend sarah) has one week to get herself photographed in front of south korea's permanent mission to the united nations with my glittery pink bowling ball* (absurd wagers are popular in our crowd). when we got home, my blog swap valentine was waiting at our door; i opened it this morning with steve's assistance.**
amanda's platonic matchmaking skillz are as sharp as ever: she passed my address to lisa (of - privilege).
lisa tissue-papered every last one of these tiles, and (like steve) probably has more dye in her system at this point than a red velvet cupcake does. in the language of craft, they're a six-page letter from home on that whisper-thin air mail stationery with the red-and-blue-bordered envelopes. they make you feel that someone is tending to you.
as do the chocolate chip cookies she baked for me - after tricking me into telling her what sort i liked. we've been chatting about our valentines all week, actually, and i hadn't the faintest idea that she was baking and gluing her fingers together on my behalf.
as does this 1942 edition of the yearling, illustrated by n.c. wyeth. the valentine tiles' background material, i should explain, is printed-out bits of my posts on losing our little cat last year and adopting steve. in lieu of walking you through the particulars of how this package hit me this morning, let me say that women like lisa and amanda are a big part of why i can't be wholly cynical about valentine's day, and why i keep on loving this dirty old internet.
*her name is brunhilda. she is extremely heavy.
**a noble tradition established in san diego.
I made all this with exactly these future photos as a hope. And a desire to tend, which, as a mother, is tough to uproot. Thank you for showing me your bookshelf. What a good home. And, box is a house for a kitten, as we have seen. Yay. Big yay. Just so glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteSTEVE NASH STOP IT. When I saw this, this convo followed.
ReplyDeletenice work lpc.
also I can't believe you had the restraint to wait until morning to open.
ReplyDeleteLPC, you're henry james in lilly pulitzer over there. you nailed my motivations perfectly.
ReplyDeletejamie, it wasn't easy; i anticipated steve's reaction, though, so i was waiting for morning light. these bloggers and their incessant photography, i tell you. (also, bowling was...festive.)on the writings of steve and mannie, i think we're safe as long as we don't start making up hard-core baby talk and misspelling things on purpose. bearing in mind that my rhetorical position isn't the strongest, people who blog exclusively as their cats give me pause.
intentional misspelling as a general proposition is alright, mind you. as long as one isn't impersonating a cat at the same time.
ReplyDeleteWell Valentine's Day is supposed to bring lovers of all sorts together. Felines not excluded. BTW, I have never actually worn Lilly Pulitzer, only written about it. Some people imagine trips to India while living in patterned trousers. I got it backwards.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have that edition of The Yearling. Love, must re-read.