I collect stamps. Postage stamps. I KNOW, I know. My nerddom just went up about 10 fold. I don’t care. Stamps are awesome and stamp collecting is one of the world’s most popular hobbies. The extent of my stamp collecting involves buying huge zip-lock bags filled with stamps real collectors didn’t want, and then sorting them out by country. I put them in those little papery envelopes (glassine envelopes, if we’re being technical here). And then… I don’t do much with them. I mostly like looking at them, and sorting them, and knowing I have them, and can appreciate them whenever I want. I collect stamps for reasons other than the traditional collector.

Please allow me to tell you a little about stamps, before you click away.

First of all, stamps can be totally beautiful. It’s a tiny little piece of art, the size of… well, the size of a postage stamp. An artist was commissioned to paint something amazing, then the post office shrunk it down, and now the masses get to enjoy it, though most people don’t even notice. Some stamps are so bright. Some are more subtle. Some have people on them, or animals, or historic events. They’re so varied!

Second, I love thinking about all the places a used stamp has been. Some stamps have crossed continents! They’ve been sent from tiny little villages, or giant bustling cities, or regular, boring towns. They get to see the world! They’ve crossed paths with other stamps, going other places. The life of a stamp is short, but boy, it’s a whirlwind while it lasts. Sorting through my big bags of stamps, I love thinking about the people who mailed the letters the stamps were on. Did they pick a particular stamp because they liked it, or they thought the recipient would like it? I love thinking about these things.

The USPS releases several new stamps every year. Last year, they released one of my all time favorite sets, the Holiday Evergreen Forever stamps, designed by Howard E. Paine of Delaplane, Virginia. I honestly don’t know why I like these so much, but I do. I just went to the post office today and bought two more books of them, because eventually they will run out and will never be available again.

I guess I like them because they remind me of the places I’ve lived – Arizona, Oregon, Washington – places with lots of trees. They also remind me of this coloring book my mom had when she was studying to get her botany degree. I just think they’re beautiful stamps, and they really dress up any envelope. I don’t waste these on bills, these go to special people only, usually for my holiday cards.

I also really like two of the “love” stamps the USPS has put out in the last couple of years. The first that caught my eye was the King and Queen of Hearts from May, 2009, designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, and Jeanne Greco or New York, NY. They are so stylish! I love the unusual colors they use on the clothing and accessories, and I think the looks on their faces say a lot without saying anything. 

The second “love” batch is one I just discovered today, called Garden of Love, designed by art director Derry Noyes, and illustrator Jose Ortega. I love the whimsy in these. I feel like I could look at them ten times and see something new or different every time. Like the white heart, which is actually two birds looking at each other. Or the red heart, which is a strawberry. I got a sheet of 20 of these, though they will probably just sit in my wallet until the perfect letter comes around to be sent.

There are lots of other stamps that the USPS has release that I really like. However, to be honest, my favorite stamps are usually from other countries. I don’t know if the appeal is that they’re unique (to me), or that I feel like they have more character than USPS stamps. Next week I’m going to post some pictures of my favorites from around the world!

A couple days ago I got a burr up my butt and decided I wanted to make a quilt. I was initially struck with the idea when I saw a couple lovely pictures on my new favorite website, which I will write about tomorrow. I have a sewing machine, and I know how to sew (basically) so I decided to see what my options were for getting fabric here in Des Moines.

I know we have a couple standard places, like Jo-Ann’s and a couple lower end places like Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby (lower end in terms of the fabric they carry, which is a very low thread count, and not ideal for quilts). I did, however, find a store called Creekside Quilting, and hustled my way over. And what I found was pretty much heaven. Rows and rows of quilt quality fabric, organized by different textures, and colors and styles. They had so many different fabrics that I wanted, and I had to really practice some restraint.

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in terms of a pattern, or size, so I ended up getting several fat quarters. I got a variety of colors and patterns that I liked, but I didn’t go for a theme or anything. I knew that I wanted it to be a random design, with several squares or triangles of different fabrics. I didn’t think I wanted a boarder, or “filler” rows. But since this is my first quilt, I wasn’t sure where to being looking for a pattern.

When I got home, I was browsing one of my favorite bloggers, The Barefoot Kitchen Witch, and stumbled upon her post here, about a quilt that her grandmother had made. It is a “puff” or “biscuit” style quilt. It is made up of a bunch of small pillows that are then sewn together. I think it’s just lovely, and it was exactly what I was looking for.

Last night and this morning I cut out squares and sewed three sides of several “pockets” as I’m calling them. Right now I don’t have any stuffing (since it’s July 4^th, everywhere is closed), but I’m hoping to get some tomorrow so I can start making the pillows. This is just the beginning. I’m going to need probably hundreds more, and currently I have 19. But I’m excited about it and I was looking for a long term project. 

Every pillow has two different sides. I want the quilt to be completely random and mixed up. So far I like how they’re turning out, and I’m looking forward to getting them stuffed so I can really see how it will look. Here are some pictures.

I also did a couple little sewing projects with some of the scraps from my quilt squares. First I made myself a coaster, since I like to have a drink with me when I’m sewing. It has two different sides, for variety. Inside is a piece of felt, to add some weight and form to the coaster. It works perfectly, even though it’s crooked on the sides.

Next I made a small toy for Arnie. It’s basically a little pillow stuffed with felt and catnip and sewn up tight. I think I put too much catnip in though. He got way more loopy last night than he does when we give him a small pinch of catnip. But needless to say, he loves it, and runs up the attic stairs in front of me when he knows I’m heading up there.

Today at the grocery store I spontaneously decided to get the fruit necessary to make a fruit salad. I got two nectarines, one California peach, one plum, bananas, and strawberries. I would have gotten cherries as well, but they’re so hit or miss in this part of the country, that I decided to skip them. Plus, they’re like, $5.99 a pound, which is kind of nuts. Also, last year I made it with apples, and I ended up not liking the hard texture of the apple with all the soft textures of the other ingredients.

As a side note, what is up with plums these days? I swear, I could have scraped the wax off the plum and made a candle. It was pretty gross. I washed it under warm water with a drop of dish soap when I got home, and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed. Ridiculous. Plums are another hit or miss fruit, here in the middle of the country. Sometimes they’re ripe and flavorful, sometimes they’re hard as rocks, sometimes they’re ripe and tasteless. The one I got was mildly flavorful, but overall kind of a disappointment.

I only used one nectarine. They are my favorite summer fruit, but I didn’t want them to overwhelm everything else. They’re slightly firm, and full of flavor. Firm is hard to eat when you’re trying to gnaw it off the pit, but firm nectarine cut up is perfect. It’s the perfect resistance.

I ended up portioning mine up into 4 smaller containers with lids. Now I can just grab one out of the fridge anytime and enjoy fruit salad.

Perfect Summer Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

Any ripe, available summer fruit. In addition to the fruit I used, I would recommend pears, cherries, apricots, mango, grapes. Like I said, it gets weird when you start adding in “hard” fruit like apples, and… I can’t think of any others.

I used:

1 nectarine

1 peach

1 plum

1 banana

5 strawberries

juice from ½ lemon

2 teaspoons powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Cut it all up into bite sized pieces.

Add lemon juice, stir gently.

For added sweetness and to make it more of a desert, sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons powered sugar.

Are you someone who has several favorites, or just one favorite? I know, “several favorites” is an oxymoron, as favorite is defined as ‘preferred before all others.’ But whatever. I have more than one favorite of things, and I’m okay with this.

One of my favorite books is American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. I only just read this book in January of this year, and the 10^th anniversary edition was just published! I’m late to the game, but oh well. 

I can’t put my finger on exactly why I love this book. The characters are strong, the story is tight, and the writing is fluid. But so are lots of other books, and I don’t love them all. But this one, this one I do.

I haven’t read a lot of books in which there is a character that I both love, and loathe at the same time. Usually it’s pretty clearly one or the other. American Gods has one of those characters for me. Dear Mr. Wednesday. What is it about this guy? He’s so cunning, so convincing. I fall for his charms in the beginning and I feel the deceit at the end. He has so many layers, you don’t know what you’re going to get from one moment to the next. I definitely love him, but a small part of me also hates him.

I also love the reluctant hero, Shadow. His story from start and especially to the end, is so tragic. It’s not hard to hope that he finds peace. He goes through an interesting transformation – I suppose it’s the cornerstone to any hero story. He’s a quiet character, and I like that. He has a steady resolve throughout the book that feels like a rock while you’re reading it, something solid to hold onto, because it’s a pretty crazy ride. 

The combination of ancient myth and current America is great. I have always loved thinking about fantasy and myth being a hidden reality in my world, and this added to that idea. I especially loved the story about Salim and the ifrit in New York City.

I’m hoping to get my hands on a signed copy of the 10^th Anniversary Edition. Right now is one of those times when I’m wishing I didn’t live in Des Moines, Iowa. I wish we lived in Seattle, and could have gotten tickets to the event tour that Mr. Gaiman is on. I would love to see and hear him read from American Gods live. His blog on his website is here. When I look at my Google Reader, it’s usually his that I’m hoping has been updated.

I’m worried about the HBO series, as per Wikipedia. I always worry when they turn one of my favorite written things into a screen version. It loses a little bit of it’s heart and soul, and has to appeal to the masses. And it’s just never as satisfying on screen as it is in your mind when you’re reading something. That’s something that I love so much about fiction – it is so many different things to different people. I hope that the HBO series is responsible and respectful of the book. I just read that: 1. Tom Hanks’ production company is producing it, and 2. He has promised a budget of $40 million per season! That gives it more opportunity to be awesome, but still, I worry. 

What are some of your favorite books?  

The weather has been gray lately. Thunderstorms and rain. And humidity. Today, it has finally cooled off, and the overcast sky is holding back the raindrops – for now.

I wheeled my bike out of the garage today. I haven’t ridden in a couple weeks, and the last couple days I’ve been wanting to go for a little ride. A couple weeks ago, Rob and I walked around the East Village and stopped in at Ichi Bike. The owner’s daughter had a tiny puppy running around the store, and I bought a bell. Today I attached it, and headed out.

My ride today had two purposes, actually. The first was that I just wanted to do it for fun. The second was because I wanted to investigate some road work a couple streets away. I like knowing what’s going on in my ‘hood. I think I get this from my mom, who keeps good tabs on the haps’ in Portland over at Portland Report.

The road two streets away has been closed to thru traffic for at least a week, and lucky us, the detour is onto our street. So, our normally fairly quiet avenue has turned into a freeway for passer-throughs. No me gusta, as I say around here.

As far as I can tell, they’re replacing a length of the sewer, or the water, or something. You can see in the picture (this one taken from my car, not bike) that there are huge cement tubes. I feel bad for the people who live on this part of the street. I don’t know where they’re all parking while their driveways are completely blocked off. It’s at least one side of a city block worth of houses.

I rode by the guys working on the street. I wanted to stop and take a picture, but didn’t. They had a big backhoe and were digging up the road. I hope they’ll get this completed soon, and our street can return to being quiet.

On my way home I stopped to take a picture of a tree on my street. It’s been butchered to allow for the power lines to go through. Poor little tree has only 3 or 4 big limbs left, but it’s not dying. The leaves are bright and the tree lives on.

I understand why they have to do it, but it’s nice to see a tree surviving the way this one has. We’ve had some power outages in the neighborhood lately due to trees and weather, and I’ve seen some pruning being done. Hopefully they are pruning in the best, least destructive way possible.

When I got home, I was greeted by this face. Pretty sweet.