I guess the holidays are officially done? It’s Sunday, January 4 at five something p.m.
We’re just back from tea ceremony with a delicious bento and enough Matcha to levitate and here are a few projects I did in the last few weeks besides the new year cards (that I always talk about)
1) “McKenzie Fraser Downie” a spoken word poetic soundscape made with words from postcards & ephemera from Matt “Lazy” (also known as dapper hat rockin singer in The Matinée)
2) 100 things, a video story time recap in the year in no particular order, allegedly a Hungarian tradition – settle in
3) 10+ one items, a written narrative/photo round up of remarkable things from the year (spoiler Ryoko becoming a tree doctor was number one)
4) New year card, because we didn’t send as many this year (2026), put a DIY downloadable PDF with crop marks to make your own, even the individual elements to remix
{memo: the reason the cards are so important to me is because I spend so much time at hospitals with occasional preschool activities and tucked away in coffee shops so these dispatches are my way of letting the world know “I care about you and I’m still here and I’m still making things with scissors and glue”}
Bonus: Since we’re here talking about New Year cards, a quick run through of a few years past
and a note that I started a new bamboo paper calendar with a blank page saying “what do I want?” at the top (but snappy stickers on the cover)
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And because I’m back to the normal routine of hospitals and preschools tomorrow, a few flashes of what we got up to over the last couple weeks with: a sweet Austrian boiled wool sweater; Lego camper van build with diorama & Ichiro making a New Year’s wreath & “storming the castle”; cooking or not cooking but definitely eating with dear parents (who are otherwise playing table tennis); visiting a wee mountain top shrine on New Year’s Day (dropping in previous years talisman and artifacts for burning); stopping by the cemetery to light incense and talk to the ancestors
Onwards: I hope to keep my hands loosely on the reins and feet comfortably in the stirrup as we go on – truth is always hopeful but always anxious due to pain and sleeplessness but you are riding alongside after all, so all will be fine, I’m quite sure of it – after all
fondly, dvo
