A Reluctant Bookbinder

The title of my blog today is borrowed from a delightful book by Gwen Diehn, titled The Decorated Journal: Creating Beautifully Expressive Journal Pages. One particular chapter is devoted to the making of one's own journals and I suddenly found myself bitten by the bookbinding bug. After all, who could resist such a thing as a "Three-Minute Pamphlet"? It took me slightly longer than that (but not much) as I needed to scrounge for various tools and supplies around the house. For example, I used brown paper bags for my inner pages; an old manilla folder for the green cover; and dental floss for the sewing - so my mini journal smells rather fresh and minty.


I created a little window in the cover, stuck a picture on the first page, and glued it to the cover. There you have it - my very first home-made notebook/journal. The finished size (closed) is about 8cm x 10.5 cm. I am now looking longingly at the remainder of this chapter, which progresses right through to a section called, "The Two-Hour Extremely Beautiful, Useful, and Sturdy Journal". Well, I can dream, can't I?

A Journal of Sorts

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would elaborate on how I use the larger of my two moleskine notebooks, so here are some pictures of recent pages:

The first is my "Mind Like Water" page. I read somewhere that if keeping a detailed journal is too hard to maintain, you could just create a page around a single phrase or sentence. Since I'd been thinking a lot about how I can achieve a mind like water, this was my way of journaling that concept.



This second picture really appealed to me when I saw it. I journaled a few thoughts around the outer edge and - voilà - there was another page completed. (She is washing dishes, by the way) LOL.



I created this "Tea Time" page because I am trying to establish a habit of having a tea-drinking ritual in the late afternoons. I have a little teapot, an elegant cup and saucer, and wafer-thin ginger and almond biscuits to enjoy with my tea. I am going to trial some different flavours until I find some I really like.


So there you have it - my moleskine arty journal thingy. I don't claim to be a terribly creative person, incidentally, so the notebook is also a way for me to experiment with being a little less artistically inhibited.

Leaving things undone

To balance out my previous blog about "Getting Things Done", here is a quote I came across this week:

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of
leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

- Lin Yutang

SeaWorld

We took the kids to SeaWorld a few weeks ago, and had a really lovely time. Catherine's special treat was to feed the dolphins, while Christopher's was a 5 minute helicopter flight. Both were a success, although I suspect Catherine almost preferred the Flume Ride to the dolphin feed. She would have loved to swim with the dolphins, but that's for older children only. Anyway, here are some pics:

Catherine feeding Miko
In front of the helicopter
Dolphins!

Wheel of Time

I am reading book number 10 of a series called "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. I have been reading this series for a few months - mostly using library books, but on occasion (being unable to wait) buying a copy. It's interesting reading about the same characters over such a long timeframe... at the outset, I really didn't care much for any of them. After the first book I really became hooked, and now I am starting to look forward to seeing the end of the series.


Anyone who has read the series will resonate to the following, which is written into the start of each book of the series:
"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose.... The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time. But it was a beginning."