A Century of Blogging

100th post! Yay me!  Exciting times.

An exciting day yesterday also.  Firstly, many people think that once you're in the Bad Back Hotel, you can check out, but you can never leave.  But I have been given ticket out:

A Ticket to Healthy Back City

by my yoga teacher's sister, who is a neighbour of ours.  With the help of this book, my yoga teacher Lynn and some bolsters I will one day check out of The Bad Back Hotel.

Secondly, there are exciting developments with the first book about Fleams.  I have completed 11 illustrations, planned the other 15, and written the rhyming scheme.  Intriguing, hey?

Going back to the first point for a moment, I have often wondered if you can statistically measure the artiness of a town by the number of yoga teachers per head.  I think it works like this.  Yoga teachers and hippies moved into towns in the 1970s where cheap accommodation was available.  Cheap accommodation is also a draw for artists.  Ergo, number of yoga teachers per head high = arty town.

See you in the next century!

p.s.

Just discovered an exciting new chapter to the chapbook story, thanks to Rima Staines blog.  In Russia, this style of book is called a lubok.  To quote Wikipedia:

A lubok (plural Lubki,) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives  derived from literature, religious stories and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, then engravings or etchings were typical, and from the mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the modern comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which mostly consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature.   Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki. The Russian word lubok derives from lub - a special type of board that pictures were printed on.  Very very interesting and an exciting discovery for me.  I know you already knew about them.

p.p.s.

More exciting things happening!  Master Aimson came home with an antique mandolin he had bought.  It is very knackered and very gorgeous.  Very shabby chic, or Shabby Cheek, if you go to the Treacle Market.  I like Mr Shabby Cheek.  One day when I am as rich as JK Rowling promised me, I will wear Shabby Cheek jewellery.  One day...