Tuesday 21 April 2009

sense-sational




I have this great friend Sarah Benton, we met at art college. I have to tell you she has impeccable taste, her house is a treasure trove of gorgeous paintings, beautiful pieces of ceramics and shelves full of interesting books and curious objects. She has a great eye for the unusual and the beautiful, you can see it in her photography and all around her home. At birthdays and christmases Sarah's parcels are the ones we have to open first because they are always so special, but the really great thing about my friend is that every so often for no special reason she sends us a parcel of goodies in the post.

We had one today, a pink cashmere scarf for me and the book pictured above for Olivia. "Here Comes Frankie" by Tim Hopgood. It's a story about a quiet little boy, living in a quiet street with his quiet parents and quiet cat and dog... one day he has enough and brings home a trumpet, the sounds translate into colours and smells. The illustrations are gorgeous full of rich colours and patterns with spot varnishes used on all the loud music pages. Frankie turns out to be a synesthete - as does his mum and dad and the rest of the street apparantly!

By some psychic connection we also had our latest issue of Okido magazine through the post and it was all about the senses. Okido is an art and science magazine for children between 2 and 7 years old. It is fantastic, I urge you to check out their website and subscribe immediately. We go through our fair share of magazines, Peppa Pig, CBeebies, Spongebob Squarepants and every so often a picture gets coloured in. But our Okido magazines are another matter all together, every page is devoured over and over, there are games to play, pictures to draw and things to make. The stories are well written and beautifully illustrated. We have made the crafts from each and every issue, Olivia's favourite was the home-made playdough poos from the issue about digestion, ok it was also my favourite. We have played all the games and we come back to our old issues regularly to play and read over. And there is loads to learn and chat to each other about.

x

PS: Check out Sarah's photography on Flickr, here, and see what I mean about her amazing home...

Also we share a blog, here, where we post about lovely and exciting things we have discovered, it's a cheaper way of sharing loveliness than buying it and posting it to each other!

PPS: Alfie did his first smiles this week, he has one dimple!

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