We did our Millcreek hike on Friday about 4:00 this week–but the light was already looking like evening, not afternoon.
And THEN on Sunday, look what was outside Trader Joes:
It’s Decorative Gourd Season again.
Friday Links
1. Speaking of illustrated mail, how about The Postcards That Picasso Illustrated and Sent to Jean Cocteau, Apollinaire & Gertrude Stein? I love how the messages sound exactly like how friends text: “I don’t see you anymore. Are you dead?”
2. I just learned about the GERMAN FORKLIFT CHAMPIONSHIPS?!
3. Who knew Edo fish could convey so much? (I’m #3.)
Which Edo fish distressed by current events are you?
— Dr. Paula R. Curtis (@paularcurtis.bsky.social) Aug 3, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Dilettante Catnip
I was browsing Pinterest the other night and saw some vintage examples of letter art–decorated envelopes where the address is part of the design. That pulled up some modern examples and then I found The Graceful Envelope contest, which “was created in 1995 by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, which administered it until delegating responsibility to the Washington Calligraphers Guild in 2001.”
This is literally everything I loved as a teen/want to dabble in again: sending things in the mail, fancy lettering (and a CALLIGRAPHERS GUILD!), cool stamps, and little paintings. You can see the current winners here and past winners here and you’d better believe I looked at them all.
We Tried
For our last hurrah of summer, I had the idea to take the new pack up to the same trail that nearly killed us and do it again, this time prepared for every eventuality. It started out so well–look at that pack stuffed full of gear!
But there is no such thing as lightning gear. We made it to the first lake and then the clouds started coming in fast and the thunder started getting louder. We were above the treeline in a thunderstorm the last time we tried this hike; the trail was about to climb; and we looked at each other and said, “NOPE.”
But before the clouds rolled in, the first lake was doing its best Bob Ross impression. (There’s about 10 minutes between the last pic and this one, that’s how fast things changed.)
We got off the trail of doom, the weather changed again, and we went over to Mirror Lake to eat our lunch:
And then we hit Provo Falls on the way home, even though it was cloudy again. Things are looking a little autumnal up at altitude–that willow is turning and there were one or two maples on the mountainsides going orange.
But the water was still pretty warm so we Got In. It was a good adventure.
Long Weekend Links
Monday is, of course, US Labor Day and I”ll also be gone Tuesday (Doc’s usual day off) to go have one last adventure of the summer. See you Wednesday!
1. Japanese bathhouse cutaway illustrations? That’s a combo of words that I will immediately click on. Check out Isometric Drawings of Sento, Kissaten and other Japanese Establishments by Honami Enya.
2. Herman Melville probably worked as a pinsetter in a bowling alley in Honolulu? This 2019 NY Review article gives the evidence and a lot of the history of bowling. (Archived link to get around their paywall.)
3. I can’t stop watching this:
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Toy Ephemera
I went down a rabbit hole of 80s toy images the other day. Looking at the toy lines as an adult, you can see how it was all just a big money grab for the companies–“Oh, they love the ponies? How about WINGED ponies? And BABY ponies? And SEA ponies? And a special version of each with different accessories??”–but I detoured into packaging and ephemera and wow, core memories. I remember just gazing at all of these, reading the words over and over, getting lost in the art.
I’m pretty sure this wrapping paper was the foundation of my entire adult aesthetic:
I clearly remember this being my first exposure to the word “pizzazz.” (Also PONY ROLLER SKATES.)
The 80s meets Art Nouveau (also that car was the coolest; thank you, coked-out toy designer for saying, “This doll needs…a Hispanio-Suiza, but if it were a rose! With a rumble seat!!”).
A deep cut but the art style of that fruit has stayed with me for forty years:
This is absolutely where I got my love of involved backstories about any item from. (And I am still perplexed how the jeans fit into the botanicals.)
And the OG, the art from the Sanrio paper bags of the early 80s. I know going to a Sanrio store and smelling the plastic and buying some erasers to surreptitiously gnaw on later and getting it all put in a bag like this would fix everything in my life.
Wednesday Essay: Future Medieval
This essay about the rise of the “Future Medieval” design trend probably explains why I’m seeing medieval games and beat machines popping up. It’s an interesting read, design-focused but accessible, with lots of examples (including the images I used here) and links to what the author is talking about. Check it out: Heralding the ancient and otherworldly charm of Future Medieval graphics
Future Medieval is a collective acknowledgment of the messiness of our current reality: an era marked by chaos, uncertainty and deep societal divides. It’s no surprise that the aesthetic language has shifted accordingly. The dense, esoteric forms of Future Medieval reflect a world grappling with upheaval, much like the original medieval period, a time of both the Black Plague and a stark divide between the haves and the have-nots (how different is a feudal landowner from a 21st-century tech billionaire, really?).
[…] When I asked illustrator Maddie Fischer why she’s so inspired by the Middle Ages, she agreed with this personal angle. “I think medieval art is a fascinating portal into an era of human history that sometimes seems so ancient and so distant, and yet is ultimately not that far in the past,” she said. “Life, alone, in that era is so wild to imagine — and how anyone managed to be an artist on top of it all blows my mind.”
Tuesday Project Planning: Block Print Dress
We took our friend to brunch a couple weeks ago and saw a lady wearing a blue floral block print dress and it seemed like the most ideal thing–soft and loose but also polished, long sleeves so you stay covered/warm but also cool for hot afternoons. Have I made or worn a dress in the last five years? No. Did that stop me from finding inspo on Etsy and looking for fabrics? Of course not!
To be clear, you can buy one of the above ready-made dress off Esty for under $50…but where’s the fun in that, especially when Daughter Judy just released a new shirt/dress pattern?
Besides, you can’t know the quality of your Etsy dress, nor can you get it in blue tigers or PINK AND ORANGE STRIPES:
I actually have a trial dress cut out in an assortment of shirting fabrics I had on hand, which totally makes buying NEW fabric for ANOTHER dress justifiable, right?
“this is the one we have”
I had a hard time being alone again Saturday while Doc was at work–where was our little outing? what about the spontaneous trips to the mountains?? why is it getting dark so early now?! Then I found that Adrienne Rich poem and it helped snap me back to what is versus what was.
What the present looked like over the weekend: Birthday pies for my dad, time with family, late summer sewing, and poems that hit just right.
Friday Links
1. More Costco: This NYT piece (gift link) is full of staggering facts, such as “Costco sells half the world’s cashews” and “It has been estimated that Costco sells some $200 million in gold [bars] a month.” Also has a brief history of Costco and an analysis of their market perception (positive!).
2. This is fun: live streams of watering holes in the Namibian desert. If it’s dark when you check it, you can always rewind.
3. This is mesmerizing: a circular sock machine in action. I immediately looked up the manufacturer but the machines are a mortgage payment. Guess it’s hand-knitting for me!
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