cabinet of curiosities

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I need to visit this library, the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It completely fills all my allusions towards neomedievalism and "fantasy" (not to totally geek out, but, you know...).

I'm so enamoured with the aesthetic of books, particularly old battered ones. A couple of my friends in Manchester study Design & Art Direction and their tutor, Sue Platt has done some wonderful things with books.



















I adore handmade notepads (I'm so particular about writing only on brown paper though! Anything else has to endure a nice long bath in tea or coffee...). I take my notepads everywhere with me, I'd be lost without them. I'm forever whipping it out to jot down thoughts or note down things to remember or look up. People always ask at this point to have a gander through it, but to me that'd be like them having a little insight right into my brain. No thanks.

Cloudberries, Michael Longley

You give me cloudberry jam from Lapland,
Bog amber, snow-line tidbits, scrumptious
Cloudberries sweetened slowly by the cold,
And costly enough for cloudberry wars
(Diplomatic wars, my dear).

Imagine us
Among the harvesters, keeping our distance
In sphagnum fields on the longest day
When dawn and dusk like frustrated lovers
Can kiss, legend has it, once a year. Ah,
Kisses at our age, cloudberry kisses.

I have had the best day, separately, with two people who mean very much to me. The latter especially. We played pool for hours, talked about our ambitions, Rome, whilst I read his poetry.

It's such a shame I have to go back to Manchester on Saturday. I'm looking forward to spending my summer in Belfast more than ever.