circus art

I shared this over on Tumblr and Twitter last week but I thought I’d put it over here for good measure.

Illustration of Celia by the amazingly talented Abigail Larson:

celia - abigail larson

Prints are available over here. I already ordered one.

The Night Circus was published 2 years ago this week. It seems like it was just yesterday and so very long ago, both together at the same time. Something about this picture is perfect for how I feel about it lately, moving toward something else but still surrounded by stripes and feathers and magic.

flax-golden tales: lucky

luckylucky

Most patrons assume the name doesn’t actually mean anything, but establishments are not permitted use of the word “Lucky” unless they have approval from the Board of Fortuity.

The Board of Fortuity prefers to keep such things regulated, though the regulations are hardly public knowledge. Often the assessments are performed without the proprietor’s knowledge, but they are always assessed if they dare to use the L-word.

(Venues that do not pass assessment meet with unfortunate ends and are often deemed “unlucky” in headlines reporting their passings with predictable lack of creativity.)

To ensure approval, something provided by the Lucky-monikered establishment must provide legitimate luck. The assessments are quite thorough and only a few pass with colors resembling flying, most barely qualify and many of those will fail future reassessments.

Lucky Cat is the most popular though the only item on the menu that contains a significant amount of luck is the Jungle Bird, rarely ordered and even more rarely imbibed properly.

Once, someone ordered every lucky pastry at The Lucky Fig and managed to cheat death three times on his way home afterward, though he didn’t notice.

The luckiest of Lucky establishments is a Board of Fortuity secret but some suspect it belongs to a jeweler who unknowingly crafts her wares from extremely fortuitous metals, as her supplier has kept this information to himself.

No one will confirm or deny this, but it has not escaped notice that every member of the Board of Fortuity wears at least one piece of Lucky Stars jewelry.

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

home again home again

Returned from the road tripping and now I’m catching up on life, though the catching will likely take awhile.

Had a lovely time at a lovely wedding of a friend of Adam’s (they had a tower of donuts instead of a cake!) and got a lot of reading done and had a lot of delicious food and my first pumpkin spice latte of the season.

Also I had a cotton candy ice cream cone that was very pretty, look:

cotton candy ice cream(It was not as cotton candy-tasting as it could have been, but it was very good. I have had more strongly flavored cotton candy ice cream, but this one was prettier.)

Back in NYC, reveling in the almost-autumn feeling even though I can’t believe it’s September already, getting into full-time work mode and looking forward to my first fall in the city. I’ve never seen the leaves change here, and I am fond of change and leaves.

flax-golden tales: a welcome from the watchers

welcomea welcome from the watchers

Welcome, new neighbor!

We would like to offer you a few reminders about the building.

Outgoing postal mail may be placed in the marked basket in the front hall.

Cardboard and glass recycling is sorted in the basement.

Please do not enter the hallway between the hours of 3:05am to 4:47am, no matter what you may hear.

Never, ever feed the sparrows in the backyard.

And please refrain from doing laundry on days with an “e” in them.

We wish you sunshine and happiness, even when it is raining.

We hope you will enjoy living here.

And we remind you that even though you may never see us, we are always watching.

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

brief psa

Erinland is on the road and not operating as usual this week, though Friday’s flax-golden tale will be posted because of the magic of pre-scheduling things.

(Erinland is not on vacation, per se, just doing stuff that is not occurring in NYC. If all goes according to plan, proper vacationing will occur in October.)

So I will not be properly blogging* for about a week & I will be quieter than usual on Twitter. I will likely keep Tumbling things that I like on Tumblr at the same rate, which is inconsistently.

Here is a picture from the road, complete with my feet floating in the sky through the magic of reflection and light and glass and the fact that Adam doesn’t mind my feet on the dashboard.

dashboard feetWill be back soon.

*this is a sorry excuse for a blog post and mostly just here to have something in between last week’s flaxie and the next one.

flax-golden tales: over land or over water

over land or over waterover land or over water

they make you choose before you depart

you cannot see the paths

they ask only if you prefer to travel over land or over water

(they are considerate enough to ensure that if you choose the water route, you have appropriate footwear)

you will think, as you attempt to navigate the slippery rocks with your rugged yet soggy boots, that those who choose the land route must have it easier and you will be certain that you chose badly, but this is incorrect

those who travel over land will seethe with envy as they remove stones from their boots and curse the birds that swoop down and peck at their ears

even as the fish nip at your heels

the choices are neither good nor bad, they are only choices

you could have chosen not to travel at all, to remain as you were

that wouldn’t get you anywhere.

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.