by the harbor

I can't forget photos from our last day in San Diego. My dad had spied 'pirate-looking' sails in the distance when we were on our way to the Fish Market. Before we left to return home we had to take a look and so we did. The sails ended up belonging to the 'Star of India', the world's oldest active sailing ship. She began her life in the stocks at Ramsey Shipyard in the Isle of Man in 1863. She belongs to the Maritime Museum which features a handful of historic vessels including a couple of submarines and a steamboat.We entered the little shop in the steamboat and had a nice look around. We didn't have time that day to actually enter the museum but vowed that some day we will.































I picked up a few postcards and a book at the shop, Pirates (Usborne True Stories) by Lucy Lethbridge. It's filled with short stories showcasing true pirates. The one I can't wait to read is The Pirate who drank tea which is about Black Bart Roberts who was one of the most ruthless pirates ever.  It will join my starting little collection of pirate books that includes Under the Black Flag which was available in the shop (and I still have to read) and Pirates! An Adventure with Scientists & An Adventure with Ahab. It's actually two books in one and quite an enjoyable and hilarious read. It reminds me that I have to find the rest of the Pirates! An Adventure books as well.

I've been getting into the habit of snapping photos of books I would like to eventually get and read. Here are a couple that I thought might be interesting...






First written in 1858, this thrilling narrative recounts the true story of Fanny Loviot, a wealthy, young French girl who was kidnapped at sea. After setting sail for California in 1855, Fanny's boat was overtaken and she was captured by Chinese pirates who held her hostage and demanded a ransom. This personal account follows her trying time in captivity, as well as her dramatic rescue by British authorities.

Sounds interesting, right? The next two I thought Natalie and I might both like (me right now, her probably when she is a bit older).



Clara Rounds Cape Horn: 
What would it be like to be nine years old and sailing to California in the year 1845? This highly readable fictionalized account, based on primary source material from an actual sea journey, lets readers experience the 15,000-mile, four-month voyage by following inquisitive Clara on her often arduous trip, discovering the people she meets, the ocean animals she encounters, and the yarns she hears.

and...

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle:
On a long, grueling journey from England to Rhode Island in 1802, a 12 year old changes from a prim and proper girl to a swashbuckling mate of a mutinous crew and is accused of murder by the captain. Awash with shipboard activity, intense feelings, and a keen sense of time and place, the story is a throwback to good old-fashioned adventure yarns on the high seas.

Yes, I must put these on my get list :)

nature babies, old books and dresses and thankfulness along the way

Thankful for weekly things such as...





Pine cone babies. From an earlier nature idea from a tiny found pine cone, we set off to make these babies during our movie night. We wrapped the yarn over the 'body' and tied fabric 'scarves' around their little heads. Then, we drew their sleepy eyes...





Thrift scores. An old friend and I went to my favorite local haunt where I gathered some nice lovelies for myself but scored on something Nat has been wanting for awhile. A beautiful emerald Asian dress, like it was absolutely meant to be....





Love for old books. We went to Uptown Whittier for a tiny bit and of course, stopped by the new and used bookstore there. Natalie went straight to the children's area where she quickly picked up several books to show me, a couple of them old hardbacks. She told me since she 'likes old things' she 'would love to have these old books because they are old'. We obliged her one, The Tale of Paddy Muskrat by Arthur Scott Bailey (A Sleepy Time Tale) from 1916. I picked up an old favorite of mine, The Wizard of Oz in a portable paperback to tote around with me as well.

granite and wolves

I took out my graphite pencils the other day and began experimenting. It's been so long since I used them and tried to do something artistic with them. When I have creatures on my mind they are usually of same variety: owls, foxes, bears and wolves. My first graphite drawing in awhile was of the latter two. I couldn't find my shader so I used tissue paper to smudge and shade. I left the edges rough and smudge too instead of cleaning up the lines. I just kind of liked the way it looks like that.

I decided to draw a wolf of the more realistic kind. I pulled out a book I have had since elementary school, Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez. I remember reading straight through this and devouring it all up as a kid. Wolves were one of my first favorite animals. The book has some really neat photos including one of a pup. Natalie loved it and told me to draw that wolf and so I did. I wanted to add a little something so I placed a black ribbon (or scarf, as Nat calls it) around him. I was quite thankful that I had found the shader by the time I started him. Before I was even finished with the drawing, Natalie had already claimed it for herself :)



"The wolf is neither man's competitor nor his enemy. He is a fellow creature with whom the earth must be shared." -L. David Mech

Speak for the wolves...
Support the Endangered Lobo Wolves

ten things

Miss Mathyld has tagged me to share Ten Things That Make Me Happy, so here I go...

one--my daughter and my husband (and my best friend)

two--the long history I have with him (we've been together since I was eighteen and he was nineteen) :)

three--drawing owls, seeing owls, anything pretty much with owls (but of course, you already knew that)!

four--collecting books, reading stories and getting lost in them

five--small gestures of kindness from friends and from unlikely people

six--the mysteries (and inspirations) of nature

seven--the magic of pretending and making memories

eight--letters and parcels in the mail (who doesn't like this?)

nine--learning to become a wee gardener of sorts

ten--many old, vintage things, including houses I can pretend to live in

eleven--a good cup of tea in quiet solitude

Okay, so I snuck in an extra one. But this one goes to eleven (for you Spinal Tap fans). The truth is there are so many things to make one happy. I think I kind of needed this, especially this week, when things have been a bit rough. We need to be reminded of happy things, right?

Well, I think I will not tag anyone formally this time but please, feel free to make your own little list of happy things :)

ah, the new year...

Only a week into the new year but I am certainly feeling good and hopefully about this new decade. Many others have posted their resolutions or the year of 2009 in photos quite prettily. I think I will do neither right now but share what others have done...

• Goodbye, 2009 by home sweet chestnut street
• Reflections on the year passed by Thoughts and Biro Sketches
• You're simply the best by The Girl Who Married A Bear
• title unknown by End of March
• to receive without guilt by fieldguided
• paint you in silver and wrap you in gold by encore petite
• Making resolutions, Resolving to save money and Resolving to get Healthy by New Urban Habitat
• My crafty list of things to do by birch & sycamore
• Okay, I give in, I'll list them...resolutions for the new year by Moonshine Junkyard
• How to build community by Slow Family Living

Other endeavors and such:

• Mama Says Vintage
• The new Violet Folklore site
• The new Astral Boutique blog
• Be out There from Green Hour

I do have some resolutions of my own, it's a bit of a open list. One I have been dedicating myself to even before the first of January, 'stop waiting for others to do things I can just do myself' . Such a simple task but I was just slipping away last year in so many ways. This has really helped me alot.

I also got the book How to Sew A Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew by Erin Bried. I absolutely love it. Very informative, very terse and precise and it speaks of all the little things women use to do that we have seem to lost in the past decade. I have been energized and inspired by this book. It sounds so little and maybe even silly, but I have my favorite black slippers that I was thinking I needed to replace because of one tiny little hole. This book reminded me of things that can be done (and saved) and so I 'mended' my slippers by sewing little pieces of pretty fabric on it. Now my right slipper has a bit of character at the toes (big floral and turquoise polka dots). Very recession friendly too!

So, as the New Year has begun, a few things we have done...

Celebrated Natalie's sixth birthday at Disneyland


Started a sweet herbal oil, a herbal hair rinse and lavender chamomile honey (all which will be ready later on this month)


Made our first soaps together from a super easy soap kit Nat got from her grandma

Looking forward to all the new things (and comforting old ones too) that will come this year...

the shop the shop!

It's monday mid morning, a few things done with more to do as always. I just put a couple of things into the littlebighead shop (and still awaiting the holiday postcards to come)!

Little Hare Asleep, original illustration is up for sale, as well as the five postcard set too..

and my recent illustration, inspired by the short story "The Cannon" found in "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link...

"In winter, ghosts are easy to spot. There are stories about winter ghosts found tangled like lice in their lover's hair..."

Done with my new india inks which I am so in love with.

I also have a few originals on sale: When Summer comes, so do they, Grandfather Bear and Little Pumpkinhead.

Now, to attempt to make a papier mache craft, along with maybe a couple of other holiday themed crafts and then maybe, just maybe, a nap!

where the wild things are

We all have seen the trailer and we all want to see it. Why? Because Where the Wild Things Are was a part of our childhood, for some, a huge part. Maurice Sendak was my first favorite artist, even before Charles Addams, before Edward Gorey, he was my favorite simply because of that book with only ten lines but full of imagination and the magic and realities of childhood.

Now, Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers have put their brilliance together in to realizing this wonderful book into something wonderfully visual and I can't wait to be there to see it. Everytime the commercial comes on and I see and hear it, my inner child grins like the cheshire cat and my creativity begins to swarm inside me.

So, in tribute, here a few works inspired by Where the Wild Things are by myself, by my little girl and by others. It's amazing to see what common ground we all have...

natalie's 'wild thing and me'


my little wild thing


kathleen lolley


oh captain-my caitlin


nan lawson


just another day designs


groene inkt

of course, there are tons more, on flickr, on terrible yellow eyes and everywhere else...