Author: Chandler
-
First blush
And just like that, the season turns. I don’t know what that Punxsutawney Phil guy thinks he knows, but his predictions rarely apply here. Spring comes early in the Northwest, and yesterday I spied this little harbinger of good things to come. I’ll take the predictions of the trees over any prognosticating rodent. The sun’s…
-
Snowy silence
I’m not the only one who’s housebound today. Winter finally remembered us, and for the last four days the snow has been swirling. Today we woke up to a proper blanketing. So all over town, people are staying home, and watching through their windows—just like I am. Thank you to everybody who commented, emailed, called,…
-
Car: 1 Pedestrian: 0
Well, Happy New Year indeed. This is how I’m kicking off 2012 (not actually kicking anything for some time, methinks); nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, I guess. I was out walking Jessica’s dog Brown in my neighborhood yesterday, when I got hit by a car. It happened at one of those double-T intersections where the…
-
Snow falling on cedars
I love it when a journey is required to bring Christmas home. Hoping yours is holly-jolly, merry and bright.
-
Leaves through the Looking Glass
The three days Nicole and I spent in Victoria were star-studded with beauty and color, but nothing was quite so breathtaking as the Butchart Gardens, just a few minutes north of the city. Now a Canadian National Historic Site, the Gardens were the private grounds surrounding the home of Robert and Jennie Butchart. So the…
-
Tea for two
No stay at the Empress is complete without sitting down to Afternoon Tea. Now, I love a good cuppa no matter where I am, but leaning back in a squashy chair and gazing upward at something like this makes every sip a little more special. The Empress has been pouring tea every afternoon since it…
-
Oh, Canada!
Yeah, I know. It’s a week before Christmas, and Hanukkah starts tomorrow. Our tree is up, and we even had our mega-huge holiday party last night (62 people—a new record!). But somehow, my mind is occupied with red-gold maples, not flocked evergreens. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone’s lawns are at their greenest at this…
-
A rare treat
The Tailor and I were talking today about holiday traditions. In his family, it’s standard fare to find an orange in one’s stocking on Christmas morning. He’s originally from Kansas, where the tradition hearkens back to the days when citrus fruit was an exotic luxury. I remember my grandmother telling me a similar story about…
-
Illuminated e-manuscript
This fall my alma mater asked me to illustrate the cover of its alumni magazine. Since the issue’s theme was the spectrum that books occupy these days (from hand-bound artist books to e-readers), it was right up my alley. As usual (see above, I’m nuts), everything is completely hand-drawn, including the magazine’s masthead. (Major thanks…
-
Festive flock
Hot off the press and just in time for this year’s holiday season, I’m proud to present a mini flock of letterpress bird ornaments! Just like the larger prints in my Flock series, each one of these is printed from a hand-carved linoleum block. Then each was individually hand-painted with watercolor (which, I’m not afraid…