Anno’s Journey, by Mitsumasa Anno, is one of the most delightful picture books I’ve ever read. But actually you don’t read it, since it is an entirely wordless book that tells the story of a foreign traveler and the people and places he sees along the way. The book manages to combine information about traditional European economies, visual jokes on great works of art and literature, and numerous little stories and anecdotes tucked into each picture.

It’s also fun to find Anno in the pictures. He’s the little fellow on the horse wearing a hat.

The book begins with the arrival of Anno at the shores of a country, and trading his boat for a horse.

There are several consecutive stories in the book, including this footrace that continues through several pages.

These little jpgs can’t do it justice of course. A highly recommended book.

A three-piece suit with a knit jacket and skirt and crocheted top, from Good Housekeeping Needlecraft, Fall-Winter 1968-69.

And here’s the pattern:

More knitting patterns

The portraits of the Northern Renaissance are fascinating, and Hans Holbein’s are some of the coolest. They have such a stark objectivity and faithfulness to reality. I especially like the intricate details in the elaborate clothing of his subjects.

More art

Here’s what I did last week.

More photos

From Eight Great Coats from Bernat, published in 1971.

Here’s the pattern:

More knitting patterns

I had a request for more sketches. Here are some drawings of our former home, the beloved old Acme building.

Brought to you by The Chawed Rosin

More at bentobjects.blogspot.com

I’ve scoured the internet looking for an Ingres pencil portrait of himself and his wife that I saw in a book somewhere, but I can’t find it.

I did find some nice Ingres pencil drawings, though.

There are more delightful Ingres pencil drawings here.

Brought to you by The Chawed Rosin.

Rick and I just spent the weekend at Mt. Rainier, and we had a lovely time. Here are some pictures.

We stayed at the Ohanapecosh Campground, on the Ohanapecosh River.

There is also a hotsprings there.

On Friday, we drove to Sunrise Point.

From Sunrise, we hiked the Silver Forest Trail along the ridge overlooking the White River and Shadow Lake.

The meadow was full of tiny red huckleberries. They were delicious.

The bears liked the huckleberries, too. Can you see the two bears in this picture?

On Saturday, we went to the Grove of the Patriarchs, a river island of large old trees.

Then we went to the aptly named Paradise, and walked up to Panorama Point.

I’ve just been having a wonderful time looking at the University of Washington Libraries’ online Digital Collections. A person could spend hours and hours looking at the stuff they have there.

Like their collection of old menus from restaurants in Seattle and other parts of Washington State. There are menus from a lot of restaurants that I’ve eaten in, including beloved landmarks that are now closed, like the Cluod Room.

The Cloud Room was never overpriced, but what bargains they used to have in the 50s!

When I was a teeager and first exploring the city on my own, I used to love to sit with the old ladies at the lunch counters in department stores. There was a sort of smug luxuriousness about spending so much time shopping that you needed to take a rest and have a cup of coffee before continuing. Here’s a 1950 menu from the Crystal Tea Room at the Bon Marché.

This menu from the Dog House is from the mid-1950s, but they used the same graphics just before the place closed in the 1990s. Of course the prices had changed – into the 1990s version of dirt cheap.

Some restaurants that are tourist attractions in themselves had menus that were also little tourist brochures, like this guide to viewpoints from the top of the Space Needle, circa 1962.

Or the jokey orientation to pacific seafood on this 1950 menu at Ivar’s.