A Journey Through the Seasons - A Calendar Mosaic


This is my 100th book registered here at bookcrossing and I wanted it to be special. I've been intrigued by some of the creative journals that I've read about here and have decided that, to celebrate this milestone, I'd like to start a journal bookring, so that it will eventually (hopefully!) find its way back to me!

Nature has always been a powerful influence and had a strong effect on me. There is a connection there that touches me deeply and transcends just about anything else. For this journal, I am thinking mostly about the elements and the seasons. Here's my idea:


This is a *4 Seasons* journal. I have a lovely book of blank pages (handmade paper, not mine, this time, but still, lovely), and have divided it into 4 separate sections, one for each season.


I'll be asking each person who signs up to choose a season and take a page or 2 in that section (depends ultimately on how many people sign up; I'll make sure I specify before the book starts its journey). On your page(s), you might put a poem, a quote, an original piece of art, a photo, a favourite holiday recipe perhaps, a symbol or token of that particular season. It could be associated with a specific holiday of that season, or with the weather, the climate where you live, a special memory of an event, a song, a card, some personal musings, whatever. Please don't be intimidated into thinking you have to be *artistic*, goodness knows, I'm not. Your contribution can be as simple as a childhood (or adult!) photo of you at a Halloween party, a pressed flower or autumn leaf, a handmade paper snowflake, even a postage stamp from someplace tropical (for winter *dreaming*), just about anything goes, as long as it has a *seasonal* connection...I'm sure people will think of tons more ideas than I am coming up with off the top of my head right now.


There is such a wealth of creativity out there throughout our worldwide bookcrossing community, I'm really excited about the possibilities this journal will bring home to me.

Thanks to all who will be part of this great adventure!

Ok, here is the final list. I am closing it here, at this point, in order to ensure 2 pages per person. If anyone sees a better, more efficient route, wants/needs to be moved to a different spot, or in any other way sees a need for tweaking, please PM me and I will do my best to adjust it. Some people have put in a request for a specific season; I will note that inside the book itself. I also ask, since it will take quite a bit of time for this journey, that you try to think about your ideas a bit before you get it, so that once it arrives, you keep it only about a week (I hope this isn't too short a time; I have no experience with this sort of thing, so I may have to be more flexible here, I realize). Even so, it will take at least 6 months for its full journey.

(I will keep this list current and updated with every journal entry as it goes along)

Final list (edited, Sept.3, to add one last person. Just before I sent it on its way, I found I had an extra 3 pages at the end, so now, this list is REALLY final!) :

1) SerenityBlue - Toronto, Ontario
2) Vibrant-art - Kingston, Ontario

3) Miss-R - England
4) caffcaff - Kent, UK
5) jellycat - Germany
6) matindautomne - France

7) chivers - Brazil

8) ceili - New York
9) Spedbug - Delaware
10) wordyone - Wisconsin
11) bodesoda - N Carolina
12) hotflash - Arizona
13) JDT - Pleasanton, California
14) booknhand - San Jose, California
15) Antof9 - Colorado
16) oi-reader - Ohio
17) Thursday5 - Ohio
18) aine-eireann - Halifax, Nova Scotia


HOME SWEET HOME!!

Well, it's finally on its way, out the door and into the big world! I met with SerenityBlue today at "High Noon" to hand over my firstborn...er, my 4 Seasons Journal. Eek! My own contribution to it is the title page for each of the 4 seasons sections. I admit, I was obsessing - probably too much - which is why it's taken me this long to get it done. But I am happy to say that I am finally pleased with how it looks. My only disappointment is that I had hoped to be able to use one of the new bookplate labels I'd ordered from the bc supply store weeks ago, as the registration label. But they simply have yet to arrive in my mailbox. Soooo..... I made my own label (so to speak) with a rather feeble attempt at a little limerick... Anyhow, out into the world it goes.... (I scanned and saved pictures of the cover and each of the 4 title pages, so just in case (heaven forbid) it should go missing, I will still have a record of what it looked like. I am hoping that people more computer-savvy than I am will be able to post pictures in their journal entries as it goes along, so I can see how it looks...I am still excited about this project and am looking forward to watching the journey unfold!

Happy trails, little journal.......

Picked this wonderful journal up at a delightful meeting with Jessibud on Friday. She sure worked hard on it.
I have filled my autumn and winter pages and put red ribbon to separate the seasons. I chose Autumn and Winter. Will be mailed to vibrant art on Monday.

Looks like this will be a fantastic journal!

I received this a few days ago and have already done my two pages--one Spring and one Winter. They were fun to do....

I'll ship this on to the next on the list and add some photos when I can figure out how to do that!

I have now sent the journal off to England....I am posting pics of the entries I did--one winter and one spring.

Looks great! i'm going to do spring and summer. I'll put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with something fabulous...

I'm really sorry I've not passed this on yet, I just haven't had time to do it. I'm going to pass it on without filling it in, as I'm too distracted at the moment to do it-I'm busy trying to raise £3000 for a sponsored trek in Nepal that I'm doing next year and that's taking up all my time!
Again, I'm very, very sorry for holding this up.
Off to CaffCaff now...

Oh, this journal is sooooo lovely! I'm going to do a page on Autumn (as here in the UK that's what it is at the moment). Thanks jessibud for doing this. It's going to look lovely when it's full up. Will PM jellycat in Germany for an addy so i can send this journal on it's way at the beginning of next week. Now, what to put in it.........

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to jellycat in Germany

Thanks jessibud for letting me contribute :o)

The journal arrived in Germany today. It looks great! I already have some ideas for my pages, I'll do them this weekend.

I took a creative break this afternoon and did two summer pages. It was fun, thank you for letting me participate :)
I already have matindautomne's address and I will send her the journal on Monday.

Something I noticed when I looked at the summer title page... the postcard was written in German! Kiel is a city in Germany, and I could make out "Viele Grüße von Eurem" (many greetings from your).

The journal is now in France. Look at what the other bookcrossers have already done with it. It is so lovely and I mean it! I'll do my autumn pages with a lot of dedication!

Sorry it took me twice as long as it should have, but I am finally done with my little autumn contribution. I am now ready to send it all the way to Brazil. Farewell dear little journal!

i received tis book right before christmas, but forgot to journal!!!! sorry!!!! i'll send this as soon as this holiday frenzy ends, cause i don't want it to get lost in transit.

i'm sorry that i kept this book for soooo long, but i'm finally ready to send it (will post a picture soon). i'm contacting the next in the list and going to mail this right after carnaval (everything is closed till wednesday at noon, this country simply stops this time of the year :/)
thanks jessibud for letting me participate and for your patience :)

Today this little journal arrived in New York State and I am having so much fun looking at what has been created on it's journey by so many talented BookCrossers. I should be able to put to good use all that "stuff" I have been collecting for so long!

Update June 18: Finally! I have made my contribution. I haven't done any kind of collage since I was about 13 and this was great fun. Jessibud, there is a little something for you between my two pages :-)

Unfortunately, my digital camera is out of order (thanks to my dear husband who managed to drop it on the ground!) and my scanner is packed away. I wanted to leave a picture here but it just isn't happening!

This lovely book is on it's way to SpedBug.

I received this lovely little journal in the mail, this afternoon. I'm looking forward to browsing through it, over coffee, later this evening. I can honestly say I won't have it long as I have too much going on, right now, to tarry over it. :)

I PMed bodesoda to say the journal was prepared to come him/her but haven't gotten a reply, as of yet, with his/her snail mail address. Once I get that, I'll mail it out.
I had to make another journal entry because I have two images to put in. I cut out and glued onto one page a folded piece of parchment paper that I did calligraphy on. So, in reality, I made my two pages into three (I'm such a cheater)!

The journal is absolutely gorgeous. As Mike Meyer (of Saturday Night Live) used to say, "It's like buttah!"

RELEASE NOTES:

I mailed this off to Wordyone (the first person, on the list of people under me, to reply to my PM). If bodesoda or indymomto2 contact me, in the interim, I'll have them PM Wordyone to get back in the shuffle. :)
Delivery Confirmation Reciept#03041560000282113280 (in case you want to track the journal's progress) :)

I received this today. Fascinating... beautiful... I hope I can do it justice.

My offerings are done! Not as artistic as most in the book, perhaps, but I'm not a crafty kind of person, lol. Thanks, Jessibud, for letting me be a part of it!

7/5 - It's on its way to bodesoda!

Came in the mail today, and all I can say is WOW!!! It is beautiful, I'm worried that what I'm going to add just won't measure up to the beautiful stuff that is already in there...but I'll try.

Just a note to update anyone looking to see why this journal isn't moving. I am rather heartbroken that it seems to be *stuck* or stalled. The last person has stopped replying to my PMs and even though I sent a polite and considerate snail mail note, she has chosen not to reply.


As you can see, this is not a book that can be replaced; it is a unique work of love and creativity and it truly makes me sad to see it tossed aside like this, without a word of explanation. I apologize to those who have been waiting for so long and thank you anyhow, for your interest in being part of this labour of love. And thanks especially to all those who have contributed to it so far. However, I don't intend to try to start and send out another one. I wouldn't want to be this disappointed again.

The Lost Book Island is also saddened that this wonderful journal has ceased to gain journal entries in more than 6 months. This book is welcomed to our shores and will be allowed to run and play with the other books here.

Hopefully this book will remain safe and sound in its current location and will quickly get the chance to resume its travels to collect more journal entries both here on the website and within its pages.

I was saddened to receive a journal update e-mail indicating that this gorgeous bookring has stalled. It was an honor to have this beautiful compilation of creativity in my hands back in June. Not only was I awed by the hard work and inspiration of those who went before me, I really enjoyed breathing life to my own seasonal vision. It gladdened my heart to imagine it full and brimming with beauty when it made its way home to jessibud, in the end.

That's why it's incredibly sad that jessibud's vision, this child of her creative heart, may never make it home. I can fully sympathize with the frustration she's experiencing over this as I, too, have a creative type journal ring out there in the "big, bad" world. This sort of ring is unlike "normal" bookrings; these journals are personal. There is an emotional investment in them not just by the owner but by those who participated.

I don't understand what goes on in the mind of those people who sign up for a ring and then hold on to it for months and, then, don't reply to the concerned PMs of the owner. My conscience won't allow me to hold on to a ring longer than three weeks and, when I make a promise, my word is my honor. If I've signed up for a ring, I'd have to be comatose to allow it to stall with me. Yes, life gets busy and, yes, sometimes events in one's life make fufilling promises difficult but, in the end, it's following through during those times in our life that prove our true character.

I'm hoping and praying this ring does move again and that jessibud's vision is fufilled, completed and one day safe in her bookcase to be pulled out and gazed at with joy. Best wishes, jessibud, and thank you for having trusted me with this lovely bit of seasonal beauty.

PICTURE: PAGES DONE BY WORDYONE
(will try to make a couple more entries with pictures)

The package had no return address - couldn't remember being PM'd for a recent address for a ring or trade - Cutting open one edge,I wondered what the plain brown wrapper would reveal: Jessibud's "The 4 Seasons Journal". JOYOUS HAPPY DANCE. Yes, Yes ! I was so excited !! Took pictures of the pages so far. Check back later for photo uploads.
This will be with me for awhile. I really have to spend some time thinking and planning to even begin to come up with an entry to do this lovely journal justice. Great job everyone !!!!

HERE'S A PHOTO OF THE PAGES BY BODESODA !!

PAGES BY CEILI. LOVELY

SERENITY BLUE'S WINTER PAGES. AREN'T THESE GREAT ?!

PAGES DONE BY CHIVERS IN BRAZIL

This is great news! So there is still hope for all those lost journals, isn't there?

I just want to step in here to say thank you! To bodesoda for renewing my hope for this journal and sending it on, to hotflash for scanning the pages we had not yet seen, so that I can continue to be awed by the talent and passion of my fellow bookcrossers, and to everyone who has breathed life into it so far. I am still stunned and amazed by its beauty and can't wait to see it in person.

I have asked hotflash to hold it until we meet in Charleston in April, at the convention, where I will once again hold it in my hands. It will continue its journey eventually, but for now, I want to actually see it first.

Again, thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me that this journal is once again alive and well.


(matindautomne, email to follow!)

Finally completed my entry. Will upload photos in two journal entries. My entry depicts a fifth season: monsoon season. It's not necessarily my favorite, but it is certainly the most dramatic.

Here are my two pages ( the first was sort of an intro page for this "season" (a very real and separate time of year here in southern Arizona).
The journal will now either go straight to jessibud in Toronto -- and she will then send it on -- or I will hand-carry to her at the BC Convention in Charleston in April. (mailed to jessibud on 28 Feb)

....for those prior to me, who are interested in following the journal entries but probably won't get to see it again, here is the text from my entry:

The humidity begins to build in early July. The air softens. Huge, white and grey cloudbanks drift in over the mountains, tantalizing the desert dwellers with the promise of rain. Suddenly… gunshot lightening, microbursts of wind, fallen trees, the smell of ozone, grey sheets of rain obscuring the mountains from view. Finally, a reason to have a weather report – a change from the monotony of clear skies and endless hours of searing , blazing sun .
The monsoons have arrived – at last.

Grey curtains of rain hurl against the windows; there is no direction to the wind - first from the north, now the east – swirling and hammering, vibrating the glass The beat of rainfall quickens, drowning my thoughts as well as the landscape. I open the door to watch the water pour off the roof. Trees thrash under darkened skies. Cats, wide-eyed come to me for comfort. Explosions of thunder – even I jump – the cat’s claws cling.

The hard-baked desert soil can’t absorb the runoff fast enough – the backyard floods. It will stay that way for hours, long after the storm has worn itself out – a temporary, fishless pond.

I can hear the roar and loamy smell of a flash flood. The road, the usually dry wash, has been overcome with a torrent of black, fast-moving water, racing down from the mountains. Cars are trapped. Tourists stop laughing at the “Do Not Enter When Flooded Signs”. Our own, unique ‘stupid motorist law’ costs many incautious drivers a sizeable fine… and… sometimes… their lives.

World-renown lightening creates a vertical shaft, sizzling through the steely sky and connecting hard. The power goes out – lines are down again. The rain pounds on in darkness. We try to sleep – hot, sticky, more than a bit unsettled.

I wake to the sharp, sagey smell of Salvia Clevelandii – the purple flowers give off their after-the-rain pungent scent. The ground, still soaked, is littered
with mesquite beans. Hooray – the tree is still standing.
Life thrusts forward, shaken out of its struggle to survive the baking heat of June and early July. The desert is almost lush. Quail come out of hiding. Tarantulas leave their underground lairs (I wonder how they avoid drowning ?) The Mexican Primrose glows yellow and orange. The cassia bush flaunts bright yellow blooms. The Texas rangers break out in a fury of purples and blues.

For a few minutes, just before sunset, we get “The “Glow”: the setting sun’s rays reflecting off layers of water-filled clouds. Everything is washed in a warm, other-worldly peachy-rose glow. Desert browns flush with a gold-pink light.
And, yes, there it is, the storm’s final gift: a rainbow.

Oops! I was so awestruck by the beauty within these pages, that I forgot to journal my own book, now that it is home!!

Hotflash mailed this back to me. It arrived last week and I can't even begin to tell you all how many times I have leafed through this book. You are all so very creative and talented.

I hope to continue this book's tour but not just yet. I need to hold on to it just a bit longer...

Stay tuned. I hope there will be many more pages of love and beauty to come.

Thanks again to everyone!

Thank you for thinking of me Jessibud and meeting up with me today to show me this wonderful journal that will soon be on it's way again. It was just beautiful and it was just lovely to see the creativity in it from the members. I cross my fingers it doesn't get lost again and I am happy you are going to photocopy the pages before you send it on it's travels once more but it was wonderful of hotflash to show the photos on her journal entries too. BTW the first winter page was yours not mine so I can't claim kudo's for it:)
And enjoy the convention in Charleston and give bc hugs all round for me:)

And it's on its way, once again! Mailed on May 6 to JDT.

Travel safely, little book!

What a gift in my mailbox today!

This well-travelled journal is so beautiful!!
I'm looking forward to savoring everyone's pages, adding my own (I will not feel intimidated by everyone's creativity, I will not feel intimidated...), then passing it on.

Thanks, jessibud, and everyone before me.

Continuing the journey of this beautiful, creative, special journal of seasons!

Added 2 pages on my favorite season: spring - and sending on to booknhand (we're practically neighbors!)

Felt honored to participate. Enjoy!

Received in the mail today.

Since the holiday weekend is coming up, I hope to do my pages at that time and have it back on the road by next week.

Although with work right now, it might have to stay with me a bit longer. If it does I will keep everyone posted as I know it was MIA for a while and I don't want to be the one that makes that happen again.

Thanks for sharing and what is in it already is AMAZING!!! I don't know how I will live up to the wonderful work already there, but I will try :)

What fun I had doing my two pages (Spring and Winter) and yet what a challenge I had sticking to one page each - LOL. Sorry my digital camara is dead right now so I can't add a picture to this entry. Maybe some future BCer will be kind enough to take a picture and post it for me like hotflash did with the previous pages.

I have included a special SPRING bookmark for jessibud that I made with some leftover spring supplies from my spring page. This way she can have a glimpse and reminder of this book while reading others.

The work in it already is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL and very inspiring. What a talented group of bookcrossers we have in our midsts!!!!

I will PM Suefitz for an address, although, I have PMed her recently about other things and haven't gotten a response, so I will simulatenously do an ISO in the forums and if I don't hear back from her in a week's time, I will move on to the next person.

Thanks for including me in such a wonderful work of art. It was an honor to add my touch of seasonal favorites.

RELEASE NOTES:

FINALLY this journal is out of my hands.

The summer has been one obligation and unexpected thing after another and even though I have had this journal wrapped and ready to go for at least a month now, I never seemed to get to the post office to actually mail it.

I mailed it priority as it was aonly a bit over a dollar more to do that then send it media mail.

I feel so relieved that I finally got it traveling again.

SO SORRY for the delay and VERY appreciative of everyone's patience.

I'm very happy to hear that the little treasure of yours will continue it's journey in the near future. We are all like mom's with out journals aren't we? Have a wonderful day everyone:)

This lovely journal arrived safely here today. I'm still at odds as to what seasons to do...perhaps spring and summer?? With yet more snow here today (total 13 inches just this week alone) I'm so darn tired of winter right now! thanks for allowing me to participate jessibud! I'll get it on its way soon :)

On its way to Thursday5. I admit I was hesitant to add my pages as I have never done anything like this before. Hope it continues to be enjoyed :)

The book arrived yesterday here in Ohio on a warm spring like day with the melting remains of a wintry 20 inch (51 cm) snowfall we had just a few days ago still under the mailbox. The book looks beautiful. I'll try to add my pages this weekend.

What a lovely book.
I filled my pages with a poem I wrote a few years ago about the trail on which I regularly run, roller blade, and bicycle. This trail goes through rural woods and farms near my home. When you run instead of drive, the pace is slower and you notice more, and the seasons have a gentle rhythm. You notice all the subtle changes from day to day-the flooded fields full of melted snow are plowed then planted. You watch the corn poke out of the ground, grow into a shoulder high sea of green by the 4th of July, and finally begin to turn brown and dry at harvest time. You cut your run short as the air is filled with the dust raised by the combine as it harvests the corn and then for the next month watch the crows pick the kernels that were left. The is field is covered with snow and it drifts against the barn and fences.

You notice the birds-in the warm spring the red wing black birds arrive for a few weeks and then leave, the song birds arrive but spring still teases you with a few cold days, and then when it is summer for real, the goldfinches and butterflies make their appearance and summer is really here. Caterpillars, bees, grasshoppers, and even gnats have their seasons and the runners and the bicylist knows them intimately.

In the spring multitudes of baby bunnies munch tender grass on the trail's edge and then bunnies of both sides of the trail dart for the cover of the brush when the runner or roller blader gets too close (you feel like you are parting the Red Sea)--and then they finally disappear altogether from the trail in autumn. My friend the fox shows himself often in the early spring, is more wary in the summer when the trail is full of people, and leaves his footprints in the snow in winter.

Here is the poem I put in the book:
Autumn
by Thursday 5

The warmth of summer
has given way to the crisp air of autumn
on the familiar trail.

The trail is colorful
and framed with leaves of yellow, orange, red, and brown
that swirl in the wind as I run by.

The trail is quiet
without the songbirds of summer
and the buzz of a million insects.

The trail is still
without the goldfinches flitting from branch to branch
and the butterflies fluttering in the tall weeds.

The trail is lonely
without the baby rabbits who jump into the brush
when they hear your approach.

My friend the fox
pokes his head out from the underbrush and I wonder
if he knows that the trail awaits the snows of winter.

**The pictures are taken from pictures of my 2 favorite trails.


I will PM the next person and get the book sent on as soon as I get the mailing address.
Thanks Jessibud for letting me be a part of this bookring.

It's home!!!

Thank you soooo much, EVERYONE! This journal is just beautiful! I can't stop smiling and saying, "OH!!!" out loud, as I turn every page!

:-)

aine-eireann is still in but because she is not at home at the moment (travelling), I will send it on to her myself once she returns home. In the meantime, again, I thank every single one of you from the bottom of my heart for your creativity, for your time (and every single page involved MUCH time and thought, it's very clear to see) and for your commitment to helping make this little journal of mine a real treasure. I love that it has travelled to 6 countries and been lovingly cared for by so many loving hands.


Shelley