Winter Wonders

In between Christmas and New Year's I spent a lot of time snug as a bug in a rug, watching snow storms and winter days from the comfort of my neighborhood. Inside I baked bread in my new bread maker (a wonderful gift from Algernon). I organized my records alphabetically according to the year they were released (a serious undertaking). I started Crime and Punishment (and stopped reading Crime and Punishment... I'll leave that one to Magnus).

And for fresh air outside my home, Yvette and I took lots of walks together. We walked through the park across the street and we walked up and down city streets. In the still mornings we felt snow from the trees above lightly drift down onto our heads and beaks as we passed below. In the frosty evenings we felt the salt on the sidewalks crunch underneath our boots and we navigated across icy spots with only once or twice almost-slipping. We cleared my walkway noticing our breath in the great white puffs and at all hours we could hear snow truck shovels scrapping snow off the roads.

I think it is more work to exist in the winter then it is in the warmer months, but it can be such invigorating work if you let it.

I hope you let it.

-rfb

Download: September Bookplates

With school in swing and tree-leaves turning, we thought a few bookplates (or Ex Libris if you want to be fancy) would fit nicely in with end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall reading. Inspired by Brother Hildebrand Brandenburg of Biberach, we'd like to give you a few, jolly, downloadable bookplates. Here's what you do:

1. Purchase labels. We wanted a nice, hearty sticker so we purchased Avery® 3-1/3" x 4" white shipping labels (product 8164) from Office Depot. Keep the blank stickers you don't use because we will find more excuses for them in the future.

2. Download templates. Avery provides templates for your labels. Search for product 8164. Follow instructions for your particular computer (Mac & PC are different).

3. Safe images to desktop. Click on the images below or drag them to your desktop.

4. Load images to template. Open up your Avery application. Select "blank" template. Click on the label you want to put an image on. Click the "browse" button and find the images on the desktop. Adjust the image to fill the space of the sticker (you will need to rotate it 90º - look for the rotating tool).

5. Print.

Of course, if you don't want to use stickers, simply open the images in a preview-type of application and print them. You'll need to cut them out yourself, as well as glue them to your book. Either way, it's a great way to make the Jolly Troop stick to your reading.

-rfb

A Pigeon in Paris

Yvette asked me to post these images from her summer jaunt to Paris. I'm always curious who she gets to take the pictures... probably one of her many Parisian boyfriends. From what we can see, it looks like she covered a lot of ground: flying over the Seine (one of her favorite things to do in all the world), bathing with the locals (the French are very open about this kind of thing), her favorite café-haunts, the Eiffel Tower (of course), the Louvre (she pays homage to Winged Victory of Samothrace every time, spending hours; her favorite piece), Sainte Chapelle (she likes being dazzled by the sunlight through the stained glass), the Paris Opera House, Notre Dame and a shot of her own balcony. I'll say that again: her own balcony. I'm not exactly sure how long she's had it, but we're glad she does. She's going to have a feeder installed this coming year, making our upcoming trip a breeze!

Meet Yvette Garamouche

She's The Jolly Troop's "love bird." And no, it's not coincidence that she is being introduced a few days following Valentines. Although she can be complex, there is actually one word that describes her to a T. Paris. Yvette loves Paris and I think it's safe to say that Paris loves Yvette. Any and everything about the place coos to her. She's a real free spirit and goes where the wind takes her (which conveniently — 8 out of 10 times — ends up in France). She loves art, the Seine, and drifts to things on the fringe or edge. She likes things that are obtuse... like mixing plaids with polka-dots. Oh... she also has a budding interest in Alcatraz (you'll need to ask her; I have no idea). She has some of the most unique feet of all The Jolly Troop and she is not ashamed to let you know that (see the photo below for a closer look). When she loves, she loves deeply and fiercely but never lets you know where her heart is. Except when it's next to the Eiffel Tower.