Hello, back to it after a week-long break so as to get things in order.

So, I unearthed this lovely tray in the unpacking process. I like its plainness. And its age. In general I find enamelware irresistible. Something about its cheapness, but ultimate durability, that gets me every time. This company makes enameled kitchenware, but it’s still not available here in the US. Dang it.

While we’re on the subject of candy, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite mints — Choward’s — that until this very moment I always believed to be called Howard’s. I don’t really like the taste of these, even the much-adored violet ones (I think they taste like dish soap), but I am enamored of the chalky embossing and the subtle pastel colors. I was actually on a quest for another type of mint, with an even better shape and history, but have come up empty-handed on every front. Never pondered it deeply, but just imagine how much fun it would be to design candy. Oh the possibilities.

Moving is the pits, but there is an upside to all the dusting and wrapping and packing: unearthing forgotten treasures — things you thought were lost or disposed of in the last move — and remembering the history behind those objects. Here are three little packets of pure pigments I bought many years ago on a stopover trip to South Korea. I remember going into that little art shop with the ulterior motive of asking where I could find a good lunch spot. I speak no Korean and the store owner spoke no English. But, somehow, I managed to convey my request. Before I knew it, he had summoned his boyish assistant and, in a lengthy description, instructed him on where to take me. What ensued was a scene out of a film: running down long alleys, in and out of tunnels, up and down stairwells. At one point we even passed through a store, front entrance to rear exit. Finally, thrillingly, I ended up in a tiny, windowless, wood-paneled restaurant. Few meals have been better than that one.

Not too long ago, my friend Theresa, a graphic designer, took a class in the art of the pointed pen style of calligraphy. Copperplate, to be specific. While I am impressed by proficiency and dexterity (both of which she possesses in the extreme), I am always more captivated by the process. The practice pages she showed to me one night over dinner won my heart. She very generously lent them to me. I hate to have cropped them, but the format here on Mrs. Easton isn’t well-suited to the landscape image.

All week long (really, it’s two weeks long, but we’ll confine it to one) it’s Chinese New Year. In honor of said holiday, I dug these beauties out of my files. I wish I could find the companion postcards to these two images. They were published by Quantity Postcards out of San Francisco, but way back in the eighties. I found this link and this link to the site (you have to scroll down to find the images), but I wish there were more.