Note To Future Self

(image from Amazon UK)

We recently borrowed Alex Higlett’s Egg and Bird.** On first blush it seems like the usual repetitive inanity accompanied by pleasant but underwhelming sketch art. But the conclusion is a pure metaphysical cliffhanger sure to mess with kids’ heads. I love it!

** I understand your keen disappointment at not having a credit-card-stealing Powell’s link. Apparently, this book is only available in righteous Queen-fearing countries. Uh, which means none of you will be able to borrow the book and understand what I’m on about. Bugger.

Almost stepping on a seal is so 2009.

This year the cool kids are stumbling over slumbering sea lions.

No bean sprouts were threatened in the creation of this blog post.

Just a quick update from down south. For once in our lives, we’ve decided to try the stay-in-one-place-with-baby style vacation. We’ve rented a “bach” (say “batch” read “beach house”) on the coast south of Dunedin for a couple of weeks and we’re just chillin’.

If anything exciting happens, we’ll let you know … after we’ve had a bit of a nap.

Okay, we’ve got swimsuits in case it’s nice and down jackets if it’s not, running shoes in case we make any new year’s resolutions, water and snacks for the road, and…

little girl, where’s your other shoe?

oh. here it is.

in the kitchen cupboard. of course.

Time to hit the trails, pardner.

We have a few of these Arum (Aruu? Ari?) in our garden. Anyone care to help with identification?

p.s. Yes, they’re rather poisonous. We’ll collect all the berries if (when) they come up.

Dear diligent NTFS readers,

We’ve sold out. We’ve gone corporate.

We’ve joined the Powell’s Pardner program. I don’t have clue what it’s about, but it apparently involves Powell’s sending us your credit card information, so we can, you know, get ourselves something nice. Go ahead, we deserve it.**

So now you know, every kid’s book we shamelessly flog … straight into our back pocket.

I know we have all of three readers, and you all have local bookstores to support (or hegemonical slavemasters as the case may be), but perhaps in a few dozen years we can get ourselves something interesting to pass the time.

The only thing worse than being affiliated with a corporate pig blog is

having your mom pick your nose when you’re trying to keep it real for your fans.

** p.s. not really, mom. If you follow a link from our page, then order something from Powells in the next 90 days, we get a bit of credit.

We tried to do our part.

Sprouticus had her first go with the camera over the weekend. Dad helped a bit with the shutter, but she did all the framing and composition.

She might be a prodigy. Perhaps she should find better looking models.

Once, long ago, we went to the Selwyn A&P Show and experienced the grandeur of the show life.

We recently took the Grizzly Bear to her first A&P show. The sights were, in a word, identical to two years ago. Sheep, cows, tractors, bad carnie food. And eel petting!

Yes, it’s a tractor pull.

We recently borrowed Tae-Jun Lee and Dong-Sung Kim’s Waiting for Mummy from the library.

Holy cats. Coming from the extended psychotropic sugar high of Seuss, or even the sacchrine high of Milne and Potter, it’s a bit like stumbling out of the latest showing of Terminatatron III into that slightly dusty theatre uptown. You know, subtitles. Five minute slow pans of pigeons and the Vienna skyline. No beginning, no middle and no end. The same.

The first few times I read it, I found the book overwhelmingly melancholy. It seems to just end, without resolution. You can imagine the film version. The child standing stoically in the wan puddle from the streetlight as the snow falls quietly. Just the sound of the wind and the receding streetcar bell. Slow pan of the snow-covered city. Fade to black, roll the credits. Sniff.

Later Anna pointed out the happy ending, but it’s subtle.

The publisher has put the whole book up in PDF form. It doesn’t do it justice.

p.s. I just noticed Waiting for Mummy is actually an Australasian release, and neither Powells nor Amazon have it. Order now at Marburg books, just in time for Christmas!

p.p.s. I should of course mention that the book cover from above came from the 8 comments » | New Zealand