Diptych Emporium.

The last frozen mother-made Gingersnap down my gullet followed by tap water the same temperature as the weather outside (almost cold enough to hold snow) shlooked noisily from a Tante Daryl bottle (check the mail) all the way from Thailand. This bottle has been lost and found again more times than I can count. It doesn't have a stopper and it never will. Last February, I lost it at an upstairs Ragpicker's party dead across from my old home on McDermot (the one with the never ending golden wall) and days later when Mitch presented it to me at my doorstep at the start of our very first afternoon Scrabble and vinyl date, I knew he was good for me. And he was. And he is!

Today has been wonderful. Eggs and avocado and a day old sesame bagel, coffee and blankets on Balcony Brick for one, hot laundry in freezing hands hung to dry and a BIKE RIDE up and around town. I ended up at Drawn & Quarterly (which I think is safe to say is both mine and Mitch's favorite discovery since moving--it's a book paradise to say the VERY least) and bought The Elements of Style by M. Kalman, a favorite of mine. Her work is so dainty and brash at the same time. I like it. Her grasp on color is tight tight tight. Her reds and oranges, oh! Coral me wild. I also bought one her her children's books, Fireboat, which is beautiful. Andddd I also bought a plant and flower illustrated directory. I like directories, this will be of good use I think. Then I cycled home with my awkward bags of things and wrote a few letters (James, I am having a heck of a time attempting to scrawl in Mandarin; wish you were here to laugh and guide--but I suppose that would defeat the purpose of correspondence altogether) and scanned bits of things. See below.

Liza, you inspire me in innumerable ways. Today it is the Diptych (thanks to your introduction to such a thing in my life). Therefore, this post is dedicated to you. After a squirrel chase of a customer service encounter at Astral Photo downtown, I took my fat stack of freshly printed photographs sans cd and just scanned them instead. Juxtapositions are nice. Included in this batch are shots from my neighborhood, a slice of sunny Vietnam on my favorite street Bernard, early morning shots from Leo's front steps, mauve things, Old Eyebrows (she arrived! I cruised through the stack so hungrily just to hold her tender face in my hands), floral things in my life, Autumn guests, Mitch's handsome face, prairie fields barely captured through Milky's car window, the faces of some of the women in my family whom I love and admire. I especially the first one of Manitoba crop paraphernalia and my Grandmother's face captured at the height of surprise. She loves surprises, so do I.

Enjoy.