little things

the days are so short now that winter is here, and it gets dark outside before you even get a chance to have a decent late afternoon lunch. I am one of those people who needs sunlight.  When it gets dark early I just want to stay inside and watch a movie, read a book in my bed, or bake something...

When Ashlee and I were in Belgium, it would start getting dark around 4:00 PM, and we wouldn't realize how early it was. I would say to Ashlee, "it seems pretty late, we should probably start heading back", and she would say, "yeah, what time is it anyway?"

oh...

it's 3:45....

I guess we can stay out a while longer.

I had a long day of printing. I love printing, but it's hard to do it for more than a couple of hours, so it was so nice to have my little sister Melissa, help me tonight. Unfortunately my hands get very tired so she assisted me (i had the inky hands and she had the clean ones).  She helped by cleaning the press bed, drying the paper, placing it on the plate, and cranking the press. It was nice to talk with her, and also to teach her about printmaking. I explained to her that because she assisted in 50% of the printing, and since printers who print for artists receive 10% of the edition, that she would receive a printers proof (that's what gets written in the corner of the print: t/p, a/p, p/p, bat, 1 of whatever). Since the edition is limited to 20 prints she will receive half of ten percent, which is one print. She was actually really excited about that, and is now considering being an art major so she can be a printer. That made me really happy.

I had been working since about 5 and got home at 11:30, a little while later I realized that someone had brought in the mail. I saw one thing for me and I was so excited, but then I started to look through everything, and I realized that I didn't just have one piece of mail, but everything there, sans the K-mart ad, was for me! I love mail! Not only that, but it was all great stuff: a wedding announcement of one of my friends, the new Anthropologie catalog, a catalog from one of my favorite type firms Emigre, and the very best of all a letter from one of my dearest friends serving a mission in Korea. I think it is so interesting how someone can be so heavy on your mind all day, and they were just waiting for you on your kitchen counter.

It just goes to show, that the little things add up, and become big things that make for a beautiful day regardless of what time it gets dark. In my opinion those are tender mercies.