Life on a platter

In a book “Ihmisen osa” (Human’s part – if I’m attempting a crude translation) by Finnish writer Kari Hotakainen, a 80 year old woman meets a writer on a book fair. They start talking, and since the writer is going through a creative drought and the woman desperately needs money although she hates literature by principle as nothing but silly lies, they come up with a deal – the writer buys her life story from her for €7000.

The book is witty and touching, it handles social change and the failure of people to live up to the new demands, which may be unreasonable in the first place. The tragedy of life. We also learn why the woman needed money and that it will be put to good use enabling her eldest child, her dear daughter, to recover from the tragedies of life we eventually learn about in the book.

Yesterday evening I met a woman, soon to turn 83, while waiting for a bus. She was one of those old people who become almost maniacally talkative and once we had exchanged a few casual words she basically poured out the main points of her life’s story during a 15 minute bus ride, and I immediately thought of this book. Here it was, another person’s life, liberated by the age and loneliness of the speaker. Her forced deportation to Siberia as a young girl, lifetime of work as a physical education teacher, two husbands, a bright and smart son that died due a lymphoma when in middle school, around the time she met her second husband. A scene where the man, she had once met due work, came back to look for her the second time, asking for her to marry him. And how the other ladies in the office told her that a man had been looking for her, and her (flattered in hindsight) confusion and general commotion among women over one being looking for her even if there were men left in her life.

I learned about her apartment and how there’s no place to keep the apples now that the house has been renovated. I learned about a piece of metalwork her son had made in school when he was in the 5th grade, still displayed in the front hall of her apartment. I heard about the loneliness after her second husband died just recently, and how she lives the most active of lives, as her home, the lonely and silent apartment filled with shadows of dead people, has become a place to escape from instead of a place to escape to.

So here it was, a life on a platter, for free.

How often it is that we feel awkward and uncomfortable when an elderly person having no-one left to talk to starts pouring out the minutest details of their mundane on a random street corner. I wonder, if we’d feel differently if we had to purchase these stories €7000 apiece. I also wonder if that lady would feel cheated somehow, if she were to read this here, and realise, that what she told of her life so freely has become a blog post.

Passage of time

It’s baffling how subjective it is. Sometimes I can’t help but feel as if there really was no such thing as time. Surely it has not been more than half a year since the last time anything was posted here? In my perception it hasn’t even been a break, as such, I’ve merely been either otherwise occupied or not in the mood or tired or late for bed, and so I’ve been postponing the next post a day or two. Okay, maybe a week or two, but definitely not for months. On the other hand – in terms of internet-time, 6 months is pretty much an eternity, no? And if that is so, Google search is our time-machine – I keep finding all the time threads that no-one has posted in for years when shouting out my questions into the search box. It’s all there, and yet it’s not, as no matter how many replies I were to post – no-one would hear or return to a discussion long lost and abandoned.

In any case, it is spring now, and we can happily skip the all the darkness and cold. Although, this would also mean skipping all the magical snow-scapes, and that wonderful feeling when you have trudge through darkness and bone-freezing cold (so grateful that you were born a warm-blooded creature, and as long as you keep moving, you’ll be okay even if the moisture on your nose-hair freezes with every incoming breath and melts with ever outgoing one), illuminated by the beauty and utter loneliness of a starlit sky, and then you finally get THERE, you step into a place that is warm and lit and has people who smile at you for they were waiting for you. In the winter, illuminated windows are like magic beacons.

Today, however, there are puddles all over the half-thawed land, there are snowdrops, snowflakes (the photosynthesising kind), crocuses and the skin-cancer dangerous blessing of the sun.

Not Right In the Mind

The business at our little Etsy shop has been slow, as usual, but very pleasant (as usual). Just recently I ended up sending a customer links to other Etsy shops selling similar products just after they had made a purchase and an additional custom purchase from us, while being very happy about it all. Doesn’t sound like a very sane thing to do, but the thing was – it turned out that they are on a rather tight schedule, and although it is theoretically possible for a parcel to travel to it’s destination in the US within two weeks, it is not something I would count on myself, if time was of essence. And that’s what I told the buyer.

Now I have an experience of cancelling orders. Actually, this experience is still pending, as the order cancellation is still pending. The Etsy website says, that it takes 48 hours for cancellations to process.

Speaking of 2 weeks delivery time – another customer left a very kind and warm message about receiving their parcel just 13 days after being posted. It’s such a pleasant thing, when the global postal service does a quick and efficient job! Nevertheless – it’s never something that can be counted on with absolute certainty.

If we were an actual business sending out hundreds or thousands of parcels each day, we could have DHL deliver our products with much better certainty of speed and the price of regular postal service. Alas, fur a mere mortal (read: private person), with two shipments a month, the price for express delivery is rather astronomical (more at least 8 times the regular postal service).

Another recent discovery is the imminent proximity of Christmas (the holiday season). I know, again, for a regular normal human being this sounds very awkward, but from a commercial perspective it’s pretty much the time all preparations on holiday products should be well over with. I, on the other hand, while painfully aware of that, am only starting to think of any potential holiday decorations and cards. Too late, I know, but I’m not letting it frustrate me much – there’s always the next Christmas, you know? 🙂

And in the mean while I’m having some lovely ideas regarding birds. Birds as wonderful, lovely, loyal and caring feathery friends. Also, speaking of FURRY friends now, if you haven’t seen it yet, but like dogs (and children) (and cross-species relationships)* you may want to google “dog jumping on mattress video”.

-Maarja

*please, just in case, don’t google any of that other stuff.

Latest Creations

The September rain is mercilessly pelting down my window as I’m doing a quick shop inventory. I’m surprised to find that even the thinner-shelled European Acorn earrings and necklace (which have been up at our shop for over a year now) are still in perfect condition. Many photos at the shop could use re-doing, as some of them are hasty shots with poor lighting, I will have to add that to the list of things that need to be done, and then, if I happen to have a spare moment when the sun comes, it may just be the right moment for this. I still need to re-make and list these beauties (more of these below).

Yesterday we had some sun briefly, between clouds and rain and thunder. I took this chance to photograph some acorn caps.

I’m testing whether there’s any demand for size-sorted caps. It kind of makes sense to me, that people who are crafting with natural acorn caps could sometimes use a set of the same size. As I don’t have the space to pick and dry large quantities of caps, I’m trying to focus on small batches and carefully selected sets. Today’s new listings are caps sorted by size, a selection of quadruplets (for caps attached to one twig) and a set of triplets. Also some simpler listings of twigged singles and twins. I used to have mainly 50 pcs listings, this time I’m trying out 100 pcs and more too.

In the mean while some new acorn jewellery has also been made – I added an extra ring to the earring design and used a different type of box. These sets went to a local handicraft shop, though.

I am now kind of torn between the two types of box design. The corrugated one with a bow on top looks kind of neater and is simpler. The old design involves drawing an oak leaf by hand each time. Which is kind of nice too, but a bit more time-consuming, and sometimes the leaf doesn’t come out as nicely as I’d like. I was already about to prepare for dropping this design entirely, but then I messed up a little the last time I drew an oak leaf on a box, which resulted in a spider and some other playful elements, and it looked like there would be some fun design potentials there.

Sorry, these last photos are quick snapshots in poor lighting with my phone, just so I’d remember what this particular box looked like.

I hope your Autumn (or Spring) is starting up nicely!

-Maarja

Natural Gardening

Have you noticed how beautiful wild flowers can be? A meadow in the summertime, buzzing bees and butterflies. This image should bring lots of lovely flowers to one’s mind by default, and with a good reason. Of course not every wild plant is particularly good to look at – not that there’s anything wrong with them, but we humans do have (flower) gardens for a reason.
And that’s why it totally baffles me why we keep sowing the monotonous green lawn everywhere – at least that’s what they do where I live, there might be more progressive thinking towns and/or countries in the world (and in some places the lawn is really not an issue – you get dust and trees).

Thankfully the air is full of all kinds of seeds, and given enough time the parks, where the grass is cut twice or thrice a year, tiny patches of beautiful flowers begin to appear, and it is marvellous. Of course, there is a downside to that – sometimes when the “lawn” is damaged or the seeds sown on a fresh batch of untouched soil after reconstruction, etc. the not so pleasant to look at weeds take hold, which is less marvellous. I’ve been thinking, that it would be a really good idea to collect a bagful of seeds from beautiful wild flowers and go about throwing them on the ground wherever there is a fresh batch of soil. The lawn does make sense in some places, of course – it’s pleasant to sit on or do sports on, and if you have a proper garden area with well taken care of cultivars, it is better to surround it with the neutral green, but everywhere else – let the wild flowers rock!

Here are some examples taken at nearby parks:

Midsummer’s Eve and the 9 types of Flowers

 

<1. May Lily (Maianthemum bifolium), 2. Lingonberry (Vaccinium bitis-idaea)>

The day before yesterday was the Midsummer’s Eve. The night of mystery, huge bonfires, magic, the search for unreal (like flowering ferns), lightest night of the year, the tradition of picking 9 different kinds of flowers so one could stuff them under one’s pillow when she finally sleeps and see their future spouse in their dreams. A special festive night, the true start of summer, big expectations and anticipation.

<3. Arctic Starflower (Trientalis europaea), Chanterelle (Chantarellus cibarius)>

To be quite honest, I don’t think much of the particular day any longer. Staying up all night only means being tired and groggy the next day. Consuming (large amounts of) alcohol has very little appeal for similar reasons, and also for the reason of not being able to enjoy the night properly in the first place, while being intoxicated. And to top it all off – it’s not really the beginning of summer or the real solstice in the first place. Like Christmas, the real astronomic event takes place days earlier. [4. Cow Wheat (Melampyrum pratense), 5. White Nettle (Lamium album L.)]

[6, Red Campion (Silene dioica), 7. White Clover (Trifolium repens)] Nevertheless, there’s still a sort of tingle inside when the day approaches. SOMETHING should be done. And I do love bonfires. And picking flowers.

 

>

Thus we had our own little private adventure on moss, wet grass, beaches by the Baltic Sea and in the back yard. [8. Sweet Clover (Melilotus), 9. Eastern Galega (Galega orientalis)]

My apologies for the pictures being of poor quality. I guess they are fine for night-time photography, though.

One of my favourite sounds in the world …

is the sound of leaves rustling in the wind!

This photo is not the actual thing, though. It’s a promise instead. Fresh new leaves emerging on a quiet sunny day a month ago. Today is the day of deliverance – the trees are fully leafed and we are having a very windy day.

There have been two highlights today, so far:
1) the moment we – me and my four year old companion (who also happens to be my son) sat on the balcony with windows almost closed, and quietly put together a puzzle to the sound of the wind toying with trees.
2) right now, the day-nap coffee break in the glorious peace of solitude.
___

You may have noticed some items at the shop are currently marked as TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE. It’s because my dear sister is currently taking a break due some health problems. We are unsure as of cause at this moment, and hence everything is on hold for the moment. It’s like the time before a thunder storm. The tension and the uncertainty and the feel of impending doom. Some of her items are still up, though, because I have them at my place and and they are ready to be shipped.

___

Aside from that and the wind, the lilacs and horse chestnuts are in full bloom all over the town. But we, we have a secret garden of our own as well. Petunias smell wonderful. We got them by happen-stance, but they are now welcome to stay. Their scent reminds me of horse sweat, at times. But I do happen to like how horses smell, so I don’t mind at all.

Did you know that dandelions in French are called pissenlit, which means piss in bed? It’s a herb with diuretic properties. In Estonian their name translates as “butter flower”, however. Yellow as butter.

People also make dandelion-honey, or dandelion syrup. This is dandelion petals boiled in water, drained and the remaining liquid made into golden syrup. I’ve never made it, but I’ve heard that it smells divine.

If this was a parenting blog, the pictures above and on the right might as well illustrate “projects to do with children”. If this was a lifestyle blog one might call them “simple things to enjoy profoundly”.

-Maarja

This lovely month of May

The wonder of buds opening and fresh new leaves shooting out is still an absolute wonder each year. Always, ALWAYS, it seems like it’s eventually happening just too fast and I end up feeling like I’ve somehow missed something. For days and weeks the spring hangs in the air and and the buds seem to be swelling just a little with a speed agonizingly slow. And then, the next minute you know it’s fresh new greenery everywhere and the leaves seem to be getting bigger by the minute and lawn mowers are out and only moments later you realise that the thing that just hit your nostrils, tugging on some pleasant memories and creating odd sensations, was the smell of freshly cut grass – first time this spring.

The spring, is also about (splitting) and piling firewood to dry over the summer for the next winter:

And occasionally it may happen that your friends have really great ideas for birthday celebration. I absolutely love sunday birthday parties that begin early, take place somewhere in the wilderness and include pancakes baked on a tiny portable gas stove, fresh coffee brewed in a proper coffee press and a real bonfire – among other things. Here’s one with my teacup waiting on the bench.

The forest was littered with millions of flowers – hepatica nobilis or liverleaf:

and beautiful Pulsatilla Patens or Eastern pasqueflower to name a few:

The views were glorious as was our hike as we had packed with the plan of camping straight next to the car. In reality, as it appeared, the camping/fire building sites were some 3 kilometres from the parking lot. So we went, carrying pots and kettles, a full litre of milk to lighten some coffees, selection of 3-4 different kinds of jams in case people had different preferences for their pancakes, a small portable grill, etc. Reminded me of the time when in the TV series “The Persuaders!”, where Lord Sinclaire’s idea of camping included a pavilion, proper china, table and chairs, etc. while Danny had nothing but a sleeping bag. Of course, there is also an entire tradition of clamping, with a special new word coined for it and all. Not sure if we really qualified for that, though – after all, we had forgotten to bring the honey, 3 litre bottle of apple juice and there were no blankets and pillows available…

-Maarja

Reviews and Feedback

First of all – we are so, so grateful for each and every review. It really makes one’s day to know that the person who received an item was happy with it. But, I’m also as grateful to anyone who has made a purchase and has not left a review. Because reviews are a bonus – both, fur us and for the person writing it. I absolutely don’t expect everyone to bother. If it makes you feel good to leave a review – it totally makes us jump up and down from glee, but if it feels like a tedious task, then simply enjoying your item as much as you can is the best thing – even if we won’t know it! 🙂

There was tiny review related discussion at one of the teams Facebook page we are part of. I’ve always thought that as a customer I personally would not like to have an extra reminder about leaving reviews after I’ve made the purchase. But as it turns out – some people actually do like if they are contacted later on and asked about how they liked their product, because that makes them feel important and gives them a feeling that their opinion is important and matters.

This one is obviously a very good point! Plus – any suggestions and feedback on what people liked, what they didn’t and why and what would they improve, sounds more valuable than gold.

Still, the problem for me is, how to obtain it without bothering people too much? Maybe it’d be a good idea for Etsy to work out some sort of separate, private suggestions and feedback system? Because eventually – receiving critique can be extremely valuable, but it does not always necessarily go well with the review/stars system. You can receive a perfect item – exactly what you saw on pictures, and be totally happy with it and still have some suggestions for improvement or critique. It would be good to have a tiny fill in box for private feedback, for further thoughts and suggestions.

I think I’ll try to make it a standard line in a shipping notification to point out how welcome and appreciated any suggestions and critique would be. Although, I suspect it would be definitely a bad idea if it came out like “please try and find flaws with the thing you just bought and look for reasons why you hate it”. This kind of message would no t do good for anyone. I know, that I am prone to post-purchase regrets as a customer myself. So, after a purchase I am more in the need of hearing and focusing on why the thing I just paid money for is actually a good one, not being encouraged to think of more reasons why it might have been a grave mistake instead.

Oh, and and at some point just recently we had a moment when we could congratulate each other for the 100th sale of our shop. Congratulations, ISE Paper And Craft for the first 100 sales!

– Maarja

PS: If you are about to throw into recycling the small paper box your acorn earrings or necklace came in you might also want to take a peek at the bottom and rescue the tiny pebble used as weight first! (Natural habitat above)

Sending out mail, candy and Thank you cards,

I really love shipping out things.
I love putting things into their tiny pretty boxes. I love hand-decorating said boxes. I love adding tiny extras like dried flowers or leaves or candy. And then I like to add some extra drawing on the outer box as well. Sometimes I’ve made a quick drawing of a squirrel, when it’s acorn related stuff. Sometimes I just add some whimsical flowers. Once I drew a tiny (disproportionate) map of New Zealand.

I also love to make and write thank you cards. Every thank you card design I use I’ve whipped up real quickly right before shipping something out. I’ve been packaging an item and then when it’s time to add a card I realize that I don’t really have one at hand that would feel appropriate. So, I begin drafting a new card to fit the theme. It’s fun to make a new card for a specific occasion and person.

The unfortunate downside is the time-cost, obviously.
Couldn’t really do it that way exactly, if I was an actual business sending out tens of packages each day. But then, of course, I could put to use that packaging station tip and save time by having everything at hand all the time. And I would probably design appropriate thank you cards in advance, whenever a new type of product gets listed. And I would have an actual stock of candy for the sole purpose of trying to put at least a tiny bit of extra smile on the person’s face who’s opening the package. Right now I usually have to go out and buy a new pack each time, because an open pack of candy tends to diminish and disappear (only candy wraps remain) by the time I have a need to send out next shipment. Of course, with candy, there’s also the possibility of the receiver having allergies, avoiding sugar, not even liking sweet things. But I hope it’s still better to receive one than not to receive one. I mean, you can always give it to someone who can it it? Right? Although, if I were sending out tens of shipments daily, I would probably find one brand to stick to and print additional ingredient labels, if this brand would not have these listed on every individual piece (sometimes they have ingredients only on the outer package).

Here’s a collage shot of some thank you cards I had at hand one moment and a shot of some candy:

I try to be reasonably eco-friendly too, with all the packaging. I recycle newspapers, whenever possible. And if I have any leftover (gift) wrap at home, it gets used. Sometimes I opt for using new clean paper too, because sometimes newspaper seems just a little too much. And I don’t always have them at hand anyway as I usually read them electronically.

-Maarja