may, 9th - where the wild things were....

day 822:

RIP Maurice Sendak.

Where the Wild Things Are is a favourite book in this house......we frequently roar our terrible roars, gnash our terrible teeth, roll our terrible eyes and show our terrible claws......but mostly we do plenty of  'wild rumpusing' across the couches.

and Limi's favourite part:

“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go - we’ll eat you up - we love you so!”
And Max said, “No!”

the 'No' is always shouted with all seriousness and a waggling finger....she could definitely whip some Wild Things into shape.

feb, 8th - word of mouth....

day 367:

word of mouth is a wonderful thing.....i love finding out about some extraordinary thing through talking to a friend.....and of course with the power of the internet you get to hear about so much more.....my early Hipstamatic addiction (see day 115) was through a friend of a friend posting some incredible pics on fb......

and today, on reflecting that this blog is now just over 1 year old (my very first post on day -1)....i thought about how many other inspiring blogs i have found through 'word-of-mouth' blog posts along the way (many through my favourite blog that i mentioned on day 282)

this blog takes my breath away.....i literally sigh when i open up the page......Pia Jane Bijkerk's photos are unbelievably beautiful. she's also created these so-my-kind-of-thing-sourcing-beautiful-things-from-out-of-the-way-places books for amsterdam and paris....

and the Amsterdam Made By Hand is  Limi's favourite book this week......well who wouldn't love looking at this special picture book.

jan, 25th - that dandy wolf...

day 346:

another book that we picked up in Oz was this Little Golden Book classic of 

The Three Little Pigs

love the illustrations....

especially the wolf in that seventies suit!

jan, 20th - musty books.....

day 341:

books....i love books (see day 215) and Limi loves books...she is slightly obsessed! hopefully she's inherited a love for the feel, the covers, turning pages and will also get a real feeling of loss when she comes to the end of a good novel.

anyway, we're always on the lookout for interesting books for Limi and Australia has wonderful second-hand book stores. during our trip, we visited the quaint town of Maleny (no pics unfortunately because it was pouring whole buckets of rain on our heads) but whilst dashing from one doorway to another...we took shelter in a musky, damp, second-hand book store (the best kind)

we were on the look-out for Australian classics and found this gem........

Kookaburra - a bird of many parts

it starts with:

Kookaburra was very proud, very dignified and very angry which is why he had decided to become a swan.

He had made this decision on the previous day. sitting high in the wattle, Kookaburra had been practising Laughter.

Kookaburra took the art of Laughing very seriously. He had been third in the class when he had gone to Laughing School. Kookaburra began with Friendly Laughter, a warm jolly sound he used for his friends. Then he passed on to Nasty Laughter, a favourite of his when Wild Duck ate too much and had a stomach ache. Kookaburra had received nine out of ten for Nastiness at Laughing School and he thought he had improved a great deal since then. No one had such a good Nasty Laugh as he did, thought Kookaburra.

Satisfied, he began Long Distance Laughter and was moving on to Sad Laughter, Green Cheese Laughter and Pickled Mouse Laughter.....

with that intro.....who could resist

and it has the most incredible imagery.

amazing book!

nov, 29th - books....

day 289:

Limi absolutely loves her books.....and it has got to the point where she says bububu after dinner for us to read a book to her.

favourites for her to read herself are:

• I like bugs (link) - beautiful, graphic, collage illustration by Lorena Siminovich and touch and feel
• I like fruit (link) - by the same author
• touch and feel FARM (link) - clean and simple graphics by Dwell Studio
• Little Duck: Finger Puppet Book (link) - she LOVES this book and gets excited EVERYTIME the duck puppet appears

more books are definitely on the Christmas list.

oct, 25th - hansel and gretel....

day 256:

i fell in love with an astoundingly beautiful, pop-up book a couple of months ago (see day 215), so when i read that the same brilliant illustrator, Louise Rowe, was bringing out her second story, Hansel and Gretel, i had to have it. for Limi. well for me. but for Limi. okay really for me. 

it's another magical interpretation of a well known story filled with children, wicked women, sweets and dark forests.

it arrived this week and i was once again blown away by the incredible detail....

it now sits side by side with Red Riding Hood waiting for the rest of the Louise Rowe collection and as they say in the stories.....

and together they lived happily ever after.....

...........

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sep, 19th - cricket smicket....

day 219:

last cricket game for the season....

which means that Summer is officially over!!

although one spectator was more interested in her book!

sep, 15th - red riding hood....

day 215:

i fell in love with the most beautiful pop-up book this week by the genius illustrator, Louise Rowe. it got me thinking about the vivid memories that i still have of all the covers of my favourite childhood books especially, the huge fairy story album that my uncle gave me. i treasured that book.

from this album, in my mind...my Goldilocks will always be wearing a yellow dress, my Three Little Pigs will be dashing in polka-dot bow ties and Sleeping Beauty will look a lot like my old school friend, Alice. of all childhood memories, it seems that the covers, stories and images in books are things that made a huge impression on me.....

so, it's fair to say that i am conscious of the books that i buy Limi as these will form her patchwork memory of images to look back on one day (although sadly, her Goldilocks will probably be wearing a gluten intolerant bracelet)....but when i found this pop-up version of Red Riding Hood in the Whitechapel Gallery shop (day 209) all conscious thought went out the window....it is the most astoundingly beautiful pop-up book that i have ever seen.

as a result, Limi should have some wonderfully detailed memories of the forest, the house and the mean wolf....

but it also means that her Red Riding Hood will always be sepia-toned rather than a startling-coloured story...i hope she forgives me this subdued but magical interpretation of one of my favourite stories....that's if i actually ever let her touch this work of art....

of course i will....maybe!