Magic that comes from within and without
Jun. 16th, 2010 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kambrielI'd originally planned to be out of state this past week, but ended up being home instead & I'm so glad, because a box filled with magic was delivered here the very day I'd have otherwise left:
Included within was a veritable treasure of books from Neil Gaiman, each of which he inscribed with a gracious eloquence and kindness. These are such a tribute to the artistry of words, and the creation of art itself. I was rendered speechless whilst taking the time to pour over hand-stitched editions, cloth covers, wood blocked pages... Such care was put into these that they can't help but remind one that even in this digital age of glowing screens and instant communication, there still remains a very deep place within us which calls out for the texture of a page and a more personal connection with the words and art upon them.
This inscription was written within a release I'd been interested in, but didn't feign to think a copy would even be available of, so I certainly never asked... how this was intuited, I know not, but somehow this makes it all the more special:
Also included were two generous specimens of the sweetly resulting labours of his award-winning honey bees! If only I could thank them personally for all of the work they put into creating such a gift. There's something enchanting about honey if you think about it... an amber elixir that was even found in Egyptian pyramids dating back thousands of years, in a still perfectly edible state. How can I help but to admire the bees that are able to work together so closely to create something to be enjoyed and consumed, but which never spoils or fades?
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Though it's been intensely hot outside, it's still quite lovely out and everything's growing with wild abandon. For instance, this baby rabbit who spent about an hour by the miniature roses:
Peppermint ~ at this rate, I should probably break my age-long habit of buying peppermint tea and begin making my own:
Rosemary:
Whereupon I tend to spot neighborhood fauna... The stained glass triptych is based on a photograph C took of me and two friends on Cape Ann some years ago:
with love,
~ Kambriel
Included within was a veritable treasure of books from Neil Gaiman, each of which he inscribed with a gracious eloquence and kindness. These are such a tribute to the artistry of words, and the creation of art itself. I was rendered speechless whilst taking the time to pour over hand-stitched editions, cloth covers, wood blocked pages... Such care was put into these that they can't help but remind one that even in this digital age of glowing screens and instant communication, there still remains a very deep place within us which calls out for the texture of a page and a more personal connection with the words and art upon them.
This inscription was written within a release I'd been interested in, but didn't feign to think a copy would even be available of, so I certainly never asked... how this was intuited, I know not, but somehow this makes it all the more special:
Also included were two generous specimens of the sweetly resulting labours of his award-winning honey bees! If only I could thank them personally for all of the work they put into creating such a gift. There's something enchanting about honey if you think about it... an amber elixir that was even found in Egyptian pyramids dating back thousands of years, in a still perfectly edible state. How can I help but to admire the bees that are able to work together so closely to create something to be enjoyed and consumed, but which never spoils or fades?
*****************************
Though it's been intensely hot outside, it's still quite lovely out and everything's growing with wild abandon. For instance, this baby rabbit who spent about an hour by the miniature roses:
Peppermint ~ at this rate, I should probably break my age-long habit of buying peppermint tea and begin making my own:
Rosemary:
Whereupon I tend to spot neighborhood fauna... The stained glass triptych is based on a photograph C took of me and two friends on Cape Ann some years ago:
with love,
~ Kambriel
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:00 pm (UTC)And your garden is lovely! My front yard has lots of mint as well, I should probably make tea with it too!
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:04 pm (UTC)Sorry we missed getting to see you this past weekend, but C. and I hope you are much improved [and no doubt with THAT kind of surprise you are LOL].
Those pictures are lovely. Makes me wish I was home in my own garden and flowerbeds rather than stuck in an office.
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:05 pm (UTC)Bunny!!
Oh, and the honey... my grandpa used to keep bees, and there's nothing quite like it.
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:13 pm (UTC)This comment is all full of 8 different kinds of envy!! :D What a wonderful gift, for a wonderful person! :)
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:14 pm (UTC)Oh, and I think I can smell your rosemary through the screen.
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:16 pm (UTC)I'm guessing for the tea, I could just make some simple unbleached muslin bags for it, or get some coffee filters to cinch up into little pouches? I do have an old Japanese tea pot with a strainer before the spout... I've always bought my tea pre-bagged before, so this will be a first, but it certainly does seem to make sense to use what's growing in such abundance right outside the door!
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:27 pm (UTC)Thank you so much for the well-wishes; you're right that the package really did help to lift my mood. Actually, here's a picture of the cake we'd made for the picnic (the infamous cake we had to turn back for). As you can imagine, a fair bit of it's missing now though ;)
You'll be home soon!
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:37 pm (UTC)(Sorry, I get excited about baby bunnies.)
What a wonderful, magical gift! Neil is one of the kindest people I know, as are you, so that makes this even MORE wonderful to read about.
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:41 pm (UTC)I'm thinking whenever I go to visit friends, I should start getting in the habit of breaking off a few twigs of it as gifts. We'd actually worried it might have died off this past Winter with all the below-freezing weather, but with a bit of patience and not giving up on it quite yet, you can see it came back to thrive and seems to have no problem replenishing itself...
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:43 pm (UTC)hehehehe, you and your Red Velvet Cakes!!!
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:48 pm (UTC)your garden is too lovely for words.
Thank you ~ though I don't think I can take much credit for the garden. Nature itself seems to provide most all that's needed with the exception of a bit of watering and trimming :)
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:54 pm (UTC)My mother keeps a healthy little cluster of both in her front garden, next to a cherry tomato plant with serious superiority issues (it invariably ends up swallowing up half of the driveway by late summer). A staple of my childhood summers, and one that I continue now, is to always have a large clump of fresh spearmint steeping in a bowl of hot water. It's soothing, hot or cold. I love to transfer some of it to a glass jug to put in the fridge. Once it's gotten nice and cold, I slice some cucumber into the water, too- SO refreshing!
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:54 pm (UTC)My heart did skip a few beats the other evening though, when a giant hawk flew at full speed not more than a foot away from my arm! That ranked far less highly on the desirability scale of heart-stopping occurrences...
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Date: 2010-06-16 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 06:58 pm (UTC)Though I am contemplating mixing dried cranberries in with the next one... red on red!
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Date: 2010-06-16 07:01 pm (UTC)