Glad to Be Home

I will be putting pretty things up from my road trip around Ontario (as well as yummy things up on my food blog from the same trip) soon, but wanted to share first the sight for sore and tired eyes that met us on our return: welcome home gifts from Maja, who had been watching our place for us.

Happy Gladiolas nodding gladly (more Maja poetry), and beeswax soap and candle made by Maja and her father from her father's rooftop apiary in Chicago. What a sweetheart.

More Fun Mail

What a lucky mail week! Look at the pretty and exciting thing I got TODAY:



The answer is YES we are coming to beautiful Antigonish, NS, for your wedding, JP and Kathy! Off to mail my response card now. :)

Present in the Mail from Mousse

I don't think there is possibly anything better than getting an unexpected present in the mail. Mousse sent me one of the maps she bought in Iceland that is part of a series of 115. Half of them are mostly water so we were talking about doing map prints of fish we've eaten on them (like this one on the right).

I got lucky #18:


(Sorry, the photos are a little dark, I was eager to post.)



A blank canvas of my favourite ocean. What should I put in it?



Below is the beautiful card that came in the package, from egg press in Portland. I love the texture on the paper that letterpressing makes.



P.S. Mousse, keep your eye out for the postman too, there should be something coming in the mail for you any day now, though it may not have my name on it. :)

Old Taïpeh

These are amazing. Photographs of Old Taipei with French captions. I love how Taipei is spelt, "Taïpeh". A New Zealander friend who I met through teaching English in Taiwan discovered these and posted the link on facebook. Thanks, Noel.



Courtesy of Thomas H. Hahn:

Scans of all 55 plates of Ogawa Kazumasa's outstanding (and now very rare) publication Souvenirs de Formose et des Îles Pescadores (Ogawa, Tokyo 1896).

The sites and scenes depicted here follow roughly the main western transportation artery of Taiwan (Formosa) at the end of the 19th century, i.e., from Taipei in the north towards Kaohsiung in the south via Jiayi and Tainan. Of great interest are the images related to the Pescadore Islands (Penghu 澎湖), and those photographs documenting a foreign (Spanish, British, French) presence on or historical involvement with the island."

For a decent map of Taiwan dated to exactly 1896, see the Map of Taiwan [Formosa] 1896 From the Scottish Geographical Magazine. Published by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and edited by James Geikie and W.A. Taylor. Volume XII, 1896.

Thomas H. Hahn
Ithaca, NY

Istanbul

These pictures of Istanbul just got posted on facebook. I am going in September. I can't wait!

A Corner of My Workspace

I bought a new camera today - Canon Powershot Elph SD1200 in Hot Pink (the last colour they had, which suited me just fine!). I tested it out by taking a couple shots around the house. Thought you might like to see a corner of my workspace in my study where I do most of my work/procrastination. A selection of random books here, not all to do with my thesis, a jar of (dying) wildflowers that I picked from the park across the street a few days ago to inspire me (yes, there are wild roses in my park, lucky me!), and a red stapler in tribute to Office Space.

"A Nice Piece"!

A little break from procrastinating to celebrate some hard work. I handed in the first half of my major paper for my MA degree (which I am hoping to make into a PhD thesis) and my advisor wrote back saying this:

"I enjoyed reading your paper. This is a nice piece of work."

YAY!!! Elation! He liked it!