This is what I do. Often.

A friend was having trouble folding paper without getting weird little creases. Words failing, (as they often do) I offered this as a suggestion.

It is a mirror image. It is so weird watching your hands do what they so often are doing.

what?

Gullywasher.

Snails in rain, courtesy aliette via Etsy.

It has been raining like mad all day today, and I even heard thunder last night, which is a rarity in Los Angeles. (Although my upstairs neighbors might have been dropping bowling balls on the floor again, like they do sometimes in my dreams...)

I blame the rain for my sleeping in later than planned, and it also kept me from going farmers market-ing. Ah boo. But I did take a walk today...

A walk in the rain? Yes, a lot of a walk in a LOT of rain. Maybe it is corny, or eccentric, or sort of masochistic, but I love walking in the rain. In Los Angeles months and months pass with only the slightest changes of temperature, so something different, (whether a singing-in-the-rain kind of rainstorm, a sudden drop down to a chilly 58 degrees, or even a sudden heatwave when all I can stand to eat is frozen grapes and sparkling water...) um, it is something different, so something worth noting and experiencing.

I can't wait to live where there is real weather!

So I put on my ol' $8 goodwill trenchcoat, some boots that I swear used to be waterproof, and took my black-and-white polkadot umbrella down the road, over the fast-moving LA river, to the Village Bakery. I bought sourdough bread, coffee, and a cookie for later. It was a wonderful adventure 'til the wind picked up and started threatening my umbrella, and my boots became soggy inside. I swear, they were fine in the West Virginia snow, but couldn't cope with LA rain.

Lame.

Jody Alexander

This morning I woke up to a tree-cleaning Los Angeles rainstorm, and a link from my friend and mentor, Bonnie Stahlecker, which I'll gladly pass along to you.

Jody Alexander, based in Santa Cruz, over here in California. Books. Bookish objects. Bookish spaces. That's what most interests me about her work.

Yum.

Even better good news.

I found out on Monday that I will be doing a month-long residency at Jentel in the fall! Okay...let's say winter. Mid-November to mid-December. Chilly.

I am so excited. I have heard wonderful things about Jentel from my pals Maranda and Shane. I think I've only been to Wyoming once or twice: passing through the state with my family, a teenager in the back seat reading science fiction novels.

I'm so glad. Daydreaming about plans, picture-books, and adventures.

It is better.

(The picture above was taken from the Jentel website.)

Try Harder, Michelle.

May 7th and 8th I'll have a table at the Unique LA Spring Show. Yay! I had a booth at the 2009 Holiday Show, at the end of one of the worst sinusy-headcolds ever. I will not be sick for this one.

For those keeping count: yes, this is a mere two weeks before Renegade in Austin.

I need to get up earlier and stay up later and make more books.

Stand back, world.

Well.

Well. Here we are well into March. Well, well, well.

I have been working hard: teaching, making books, printing, drawing, and going through everything I own. My home has been in a crazy sort of disarray lately. I keep the windows covered quite often, so no one will see in and think a crazy, reclusive, card-board-box collecting book binder lives there.....


ehem.

I will be relocating in a few months. Good. Exciting. Scary. I have a little fit of anxiety every weekend. Although I have a lot on my mind, and a lot of variables contributing to bizarre dreams, I'm actually coping really well. Rather than dealing with my anxiety and nervous energy by eating, or sleeping too much, or just freaking out in every direction, I am channeling my energy into obsessive, efficient book binding. I'm very excited about the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin.

I've also been taking many long walks around Los Feliz and Atwater.

For now, here are a few more things I have been considering: