Droplets to Diagrams

It’s been raining all night here at this hotel. From downpours to stray drops, it has been a pleasantly wet night. When I’ve been walking outside I’ve experienced the familiar feeling of being full of life that night rains pass to me. It’s a beautiful feeling. Now, however, my mind is filled with water cycle diagrams from my childhood, which are a different sort of beautiful, an early understanding of connectedness and cyclical change.

I’m facinated by glimpses into the lives of others, whether in the form of found photos, found items or a journal. One of my favourite sources of such glimpses is Post Secret, a blog that collects reader-submitted postcards that reveal secrets in artistic ways. “Each secret can be a regret, hope, belief, experience, fear, betrayal, desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation.” Many of the cards are beautiful and most of them carry secrets that move and facinate.

Though seeing the cards is essential to the impact, I wanted to share a few of my favourites here to give you an idea of what Post Secret holds. Take the time to visit there and I’m sure you’ll find something to capture your imagination.

If you’re at all interested in handmade crafts, zines and similar projects you’ll find something of interest at The Sampler.

The items featured there all look to be of high quality and some of the music samples are fine. The value looks great for the sampler packages so I’d suggest signing up when the next subscription opens.

Through The Sampler I was pointed to Ready Made, “a bi-monthly magazine for people who like to make stuff.” It has some innovative and just plain fun projects, such as “Sprout a Couch” (Lawn Furniture for Literalists) and Spindle Lamp (Give CD Spindles a New Spin). The focus on green projects is especially nice. Inventive reusing is essential.