Each week Nerd in the Brain does a Three Things Thursday post – “three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude” and invites others to play along as well.
- Today is International Typewriter Day which marks the 148th anniversary of the patent granted to Christopher Latham Sholes, aka “father of the typewriter.” While I don’t actually have a typewriter (I would totally get behind one of those vintage turquoise models if it just happened to appear on my desk!), I do love typewriters and all they represent.
Isn’t this vintage photo fabulous? I absolutely want a furry assistant to help with my typing.
I can totally see myself pounding out my great American mystery novel on a typewriter. Except for the fact I don’t actually want to write a mystery. But still…
I DO love to write, and I do have several books planned, some in various stages of development. I have no doubt my writing efforts are aided by the fact I have a typewriter-headed angel keeping watch over things.
A couple years ago I had a fabulous dream about typewriters which I still think about even to this day. You can have a peek at it here.
- The second thing I’m delighting in is an early birthday present. My birthday isn’t until next month, but if you know me, I hardly let the actual day interfere with opportunities to celebrate. And I’m most definitely celebrating this early gift – a copy of the recently published book My Portfolio by Swedish artist and fashion designer Gudrun Sjödén. It’s a bit of history about her philosophy and company, with lots of photos of fashion shoots, and plenty of images of her iconic patterns and designs, which tend to be whimsical, folkloric and very nature-based. As a matter of fact, I took the photo of the typewriter angel above on a page in the book. I love her work and wear her clothes, and I’m looking forward to using this book as a bit of inspiration “board” as I undertake a flower-based project in my studio this summer. Fun!
- My clematis is blooming in overdrive! Isn’t it gorgeous?
One of the meanings of clematis in floriography, the Victorian language of flowers, is “mental beauty.” We don’t often compliment people on their mental beauty, but wouldn’t it be lovely if we did? What if we made a practice of having beautiful thoughts and celebrated them?
That’s what’s delighting me today. What about you? Celebrating typewriters? Had any quirky (or perhaps that should be QWERTY) dreams? Have anything on your inspiration board that’s delighting you? Have a beautiful thought to share? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
I hadn’t realized it was typewriter day. I grew up with one. My dad was a writer, so I remember the sound of the keys and crumpling of paper. I learned to type on one, white tape and all for corrections. The keys were kind of hard to press, so I never got very fast.
We have wild clematis – white and purple. They don’t last long, but oh so mentally beautiful for a few days.
Thanks for sending out gratitude vibes. I love them.
Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. I have had 2 months of nightmarish technological problems that haven’t quit yet. Grrr. Not so very grateful about that. Oh well.
Have a wonderful weekend, celebrating your birthday early. I like to celebrate mine for at least a month! 🙂
Mary
Oh Mary, I’m sorry to hear of your tech problems – I hope things get sorted out and settled soon. When I was thinking about typewriters and typing, I remembered how we often used onion skin paper. I couldn’t remember why and wondered if perhaps it was an idiosyncrasy of my mother as I remember she had a huge box of it which she doled out like it was precious gold. Thanks to Goggle (yay for technology that works!) I found it was used rather widely as it both offered textured which made erasing easier and it was used when typing with carbon paper for a lighter-weight copy. Of course when typing with carbon, erasing was always at a maximum. 🙂 But in any case, I suspect that may be where my love of paper – in all its various weights and textures and fabulousness got firmly established.
Thanks for the early b-day wishes – I, too, am a believer in celebrating for month, although lately I’ve begun thinking perhaps a season isn’t entirely too much. What do you think?