Mail and projects

Tonight when I got home from work, there was a fat envelope addressed to me on the dining room table. The handwriting looked a little like an old friend's, but not quite and the return address on the back of the envelope was actually my address. I couldn't make out the postmark. Hmmmm.... Turns out, it was a charming note and little gifts from my Funky Scarf Swap Secret Pal.

Thank you for the great pick-me-up, pal! (The card with the german shepherd puppies, daisy sticky notes and keychain calendar are from her.) I laughed out loud when I read the warning on the back of the calendar, "keychain clip not suitable for climbing." I wonder if I'll find such warnings on things in Vienna. Is it just an American thing to fear litigation so much?

I also ran a couple of errands this evening. I voted - not so much an "errand" but definitely an important "to do." Then, I went to Wet Paint to get some sample papers to try for my Vienna journals. My Paris journals had a paper that is not being made anymore so I'm on a quest for a good replacement. Vera (Wet Paint's paper manager) recommended a couple to me and helped me check grain directions. As always, she was incredibly helpful, even though I'm pretty sure I caught her at the very end of her shift. I bought one sheet of each and tore them down as soon as I got home (that's the resulting signatures stacked up in the photo). I need to bind them into books and give them a good workout in the next month or so. By then, I should have the studio back in shape and ready to serve as a bindery. I think I'll rent time on the board shears at MCBA to cut that much book board, but the rest of the cutting, gluing, weighting etc. will happen here.