Street cats

I always loved animals and I always will. I guess that's why I always feel worry for street animals. I know some cats can be happy outside and you see them having fun and all that. But three weeks ago I saw a cat outside and he didn't look happy, not at all.

I saw him when I was on my way to get the train. It was quiet and nobody was around, he was half asleep and I thought maybe he was hanging out and then he'll come back home. When I came back, one week later, I saw him again. He looked scared and nervous and looking for some water inside a fountain. My first thought was: if he had a home he wouldn't be looking for water. So I put some milk in the fire and then went outside with the hot milk. He was really scared but I just left the milk and sat five metres away. He drank almost all the milk and then hide under a car. Then I bought some cat's food and treats and, during a week, I fed him. He meowed when he saw me and he got closer, but never too close.

Last Sunday it was a kind of festival and they arrange some firecrackers. As it was just one man with all the sand and stuff, the cat got closer to the sand, the man scared him because he didn't want the cat near the fire. But the cat got into a strange ventilation shaft. He was there until they set all on fire and all the firecrakers exploded just next to the cat's hideout. I hate firecrakers. It's like shots, I don't see the fun in small, but still dangerous, explosions.

It's been four days without see him.

Work in progess

I've been thinking about opening an Etsy shop for a while and last week, at last, I made some notebooks. But I'm not very sure about Etsy or Dawanda. In Dawanda you don't have to pay anything, and I don't know about the shipping costs with Etsy. Do you know about the details of Etsy shopping? I didn't buy anything yet, but I'll buy some books before Christmas.

These are the notebooks. I did my best with the photos... but I know they're not good enough by now. Any tip about how to arrange things?

I didn't want to sell them for too much, so I didn't make the notebooks, I just decorated them. I made just one for a pen pal but it's too much time for selling with a razonable price. This is my favourite, I love the result and I enjoyed SO MUCH painting it.

All the other are hand stamped with my hand carved stamps. I just made four and I'll look for other black notebooks in other sizes. I love how colours stand out with the black background.

All them are lined notebooks, but the lines are grey. I adore when they are not too dark, so you can also draw and it looks great. Well, I love notebooks, what else could I say? 

Books for falling in love

Did you know that I love comic books? Despite of it, I just have Demeter, Ghost World and all the Blacksad  volumes. I saw a Blacksad cartoon for the first time in my Spanish book in secondary school. I don't remember if it was the same year, but for the Book Day they did a kind of exhibition of book and comic books. And there it was, Blacksad. Since then, for almost 10 years, I've been re-reading every volume and waiting patiently for the next one. This year I'll have the 5th volume for the Three Wise Man day.

If you read me for a long you already know I'm in love with beautiful illustrations. I'm going to add this book on my letter for the Three Wise Man. Well, I also like this other. Don't you want to have a bookcase plenty of beatiful books? I'd drink my tea througout the year while reading and enjoying books like this.

I've been looking for a beautiful bird book, but they're so ugly and there's no magic emerging from them. I knew I wouldn't find something as pretty as Whitney's book (by the way, the film that she recommends is incredible, I enjoyed it so much. The reality is I couldn't find even one book about birds from my place. I saw they have great birding books in Waterstones, where I used to go when I was in UK. Conclusion: I have to move to other country.

After the fiasco  with my birding book, I found this. It's truly amazing how nature can create artwork pieces. Too expensive for me now, but maybe one day I'll be looking inside it with fear (remember my phobia about worms?) and admiration.

And the third book I'd add to my wish list is this one. I couldn't find it in English, the title is La pregunta del elefante (The Elephant's Question). Its question is "How can you know if you love someone?". So it's a beautiful book about love with beautiful illustrations. I always like books about different kinds of love and different ways to show it. 

This is getting long, so, the last one -for now- will be a children's book. I think I love children's books so much because my parents didn't get me good ones. I just remember two books from my childhood that I'm fond of. But my parents didn't keep any of them. One is Little Tiger, get well soon, I prefer the title in Spanish, it says "I'll take care of you, said the Little Bear". I always read it when I'm ill (and watch Ponyo) I'm trying to get all Janosch books, he's one of my favourite artists and his world is amazing. Sadly I don't remember the name of the other book. I tried to find it because I remember the story and the main character, but nothing.

I think it's enough for one day. What would you prefer for the next book wish list? I have craft books, Japanese craft books or more and more children's books. Oh, there's not novels because it could be eternal, but my ever favourite author is Gabriel García Márquez.