This is the third installment of my brother’s ongoing to do lists. He and his partner were visiting yesterday and over lunch they handed me a white envelope containing these ten pages. In the digital world these are so incredibly analog. Yeah!!! My brother asked me why I would ever want to post these. I don’t believe they need an explanation.

Who DOESN’T love Kiosk!?? Owner Alisa Grifo curates small collections of everyday items that she finds on her travels around the world (and from here at home) and sells them in her NYC shop. These miniature stencils from Mexico will mean that you always have some lettering skills at the ready.

It’s state fair season. And so it’s also the time of year when 4H clubs compete with the giant squash, and Aunt Bertie’s cherry pie and, best of all, the butter sculpture. You heard right. Up until today I had never thought about such things, but as I was going through a stack of old NYT, my eye caught a headline in the June 28th obits: Norma Lyon, Sculptured Butter at Fairs. Well gosh be darned. There she is, astride a life-size butter bull!!! She was known simply as The Butter Cow Lady. She looks pretty happy in all these photos. Just goes to show you… RIP Norma.

Full disclosure: when I was in college and working late at night, my default meal was either a tin of sardines, triscuits and cheese, or a bag of oreos and a can of coke. Yum. And it was more likely the latter. I only wish that I had thought to occupy myself with making cameo portraits out of the creme filling. Thankfully, Judith G. Klausner has! The whole notion of a portrait sculpted out of something as ephemeral as a cookie, is deeply satisfying, and just very very funny. Thank you Erica for sending this my way. Photos by Steve Pomeroy.

For reasons that I don’t need to explain, France has been in the news a lot as of late. And so, with Francophilia on my mind, I thought I would share some images of my many many French stamps.