cut and fold

i cut into my "new to me" book of a few posts ago with the cute map of france on the end papers.  a major breakthrough for me  for such a cute old book to go under the knife.  but i am so happy i did because it made two cute little folded paper boxes for an order of acorn pouches i shipped today.  i should have taken a picture but often when i am in the mode of creating i forget to capture it.  next time.  such sweet drawings in that old book with limited writing too and what is written is children's rhymes and whimsy:)  

buns

thought i would try another batch of steamed chicken buns today.  this will be my 4th go at such a thing and mostly because my family dearly loves a sweet doughy bun with chinese bbq chicken within.  it is sweet and savory perfection.

many layers of work probably taking 5 hours from start to finish and that is only if your chicken thighs are not frozen...mine are frozen.  dinner will be late:)
also hoping to put to good use a completely stainless steel (gasp...teflon free!) electric wok(i found at a thrift store) for steaming them.  it means i can cook out of doors and let the steam be free in the wind instead of on my kitchen windows.  

records

today i am listening to a stack of hawaiian music my mom wanted me to try.  it feels very restful to do so on this sunday.  my mind is so many places today except in this moment.  trying to get back here to this moment but my brain snatches at curiosities and can't break free.

pictured is a lucky recent thrift store find though not in such good shape.  i love it's scritchy scratchy ways in sound and the fact that the liner inside the cover still exists...oh and the red color of the vinyl...but why did they make it red? 

small

truly trying to expand into larger creative things but i get stuck in the small.  ever since the autumn i have not yet had the willingness in me to get back into things measuring more than 5 inches. i do love miniatures but i feel as if i am trapped within a small space within me i can't find my way out of. beginning a larger project means spreading out into multiple spaces and for the time being i am into small corners for my creative work.

i took my dress up skirt fabrics out yesterday to look and see if the inspiration was there. but i felt nothing.  bummer. wishing it felt okay to force the creative process. i made a list though of possibilities. 

perhaps i need to finish my home school year with the kids to find larger spaces in my day.  small creative space in my day seems the perfect match though for the scale of my work at the moment:) pictured is a tiny bouquet of handmade paper flowers in a cloud of lichen and acorn cap bowl. 

books

the friends of the library book sale was today.  i am always seeking old books to take apart into papers for boxing our tiny etsy items.  i found this today but i will probably fall too deeply in love with it to let it go to knife scissors and folds.  it happens all too often.  i have so many.

i love that this book says "my travelship" on it's cover for that is how i feel of each book and all it's detail.  written words with end papers, cloth coverings, spine, density and smell.  such transportation:)

walking

i used to walk the neighborhood streets for exercise with it's hard concrete, car exhaust and vented laundry smells and all the sounds of city life...but now i am so blessed to get to this open space, only minutes away by car. a new regional park we visit most days.  the trails are more like lawn at times.  and the uphill climbs expand my lungs like no other exercise.  heaven sent.  i needed this. 

i think a lot on my creative ideas, and here, in this green space, everything feels possible.

kombucha

it has been too long:) so i will start with today.  today i began another batch of kombucha...which i love.  i was given a small kombucha colony from my neighbor a few months ago and that colony and i, whom i call "betty galaxy", have become fast friends.  she makes the most delicious elixir and better with each new batch.  she started out so small, my little betty, and soon grew into this world of tiny bubbles and spots and strange cloudlike formations.  she looked like a little galaxy and thus.... the galaxy part of her name.  betty was my daughter's addition.

my son and i are the only ones who like to drink what betty hath made.  everyone else who i have offered a taste declines.  i feel a little sad when that happens because i feel so excited about it.  i find it completely refreshing and a little like the flavor of sparkling cider or hard cider in it's bright happy flavors and tiny bubbles.

i would have photographed betty today but she is really the least photogenic of anything in my home:)