I deal the 9 of hares

I came across this collection of round playing cards on a blog and ventured over to the British Museum's website to take a look. The set of cards has five different types: parrots, hares, carnations, columbines and roses and there are ten numbers and four people: king, queen, knave and valet. They were made by the mysterious PW, a monogrammist of Cologne in around 1500. The British Museum has 39 cards of the set.

The Nine of Hares (from here)

Is that hare at the bottom about to lick his paw?

The King of Parrots (from here)

Valiant and brave, the king with his faithful parrot at his side!

The Ace of Roses (from here)

The latin inscription reads " PEPVLIT VIRES CASVS AIO Q TULIT EQVO" and says something about defeating or overthrowing your enemies with vigour and receiving a horse! Yes, this is my bad translation from a latin dictionary.

The Ten of Parrots (from here)

I like how the parrots are depicted in realistic poses such as preening their outstretched wings and biting their tail feathers.

Comic Relief

My national newspaper stopped running Bizarro quite some time ago, which is pity. But I have discovered I can read it online. Cartoons are wonderful encapsulations of daily life. Everything that is going on in the world turns up in the comics. My favourite comics like Bizarro, Big Top (which concluded 2 years ago) and Get Fuzzy (still in my daily paper) even manage to include a little philosophical enquiry now and then. Bizarro is great because it is so clever, so political and sometimes just nicely silly. Big Top has the sarcasm that makes me smile. Get Fuzzy has the best characters and the most philosophical of questions coming from the very unlikely philosopher Satchel Pooch.

These are some of my favourites.

When did we stop drawing?

I stumbled upon Mo Willems and his mission to get adults drawing again and I'm inspired. I used to draw all the time, every day. I drew everything from trees and birds (mostly birds!) to animals, scenes and people. I drew buildings and streets and maps. Now I tend to draw squares and circles and triangles in patterns when I'm stuck in an interminably long meeting and my life is being sucked away. I enjoy drawing and I love pencils, so why aren't I drawing more often? Have I too been hit with the curse of the mature adult that Mo talks about - drawing is for kids only?



Ps: Mo draws birds too - check out his Pigeon it is incredibly gorgeous and wonderful. I also have the urge to print out this flock of birds on really large paper for my wall. I'm off to the library now to see if they have his books!