Pasta and the Gogoons - Marie Wintzer

Marie has created a whimsical hilarious game boekie that is for people without short-term memory deficit. 

Beginning on page 3 you are in Kapalumpa and which is in dire danger, a hectapus, of course, is about to swallow it. You have two choices.  I chose 11, because I'm brave. Well, sort of.  I would choose a last drink 'before leaving Kapalumpa so that's 94. Clearly I am invigorated, I would never set foot in a gym and hate treadmills. So I end up in front of the 'giant mushroom tagliatella' (66) All of these options could work.  I love the picture of cutting off a chunk and gobbling it up. 

And the game goes on! 

I like the idea of growing mushrooms.  I'm like that, intriqued and then I take a little detour.  But this detour takes me to a dead end.  BUT I DO HAVE GREEN THUMBS.  So I go back.

There is every temptation to cheat and find the perfect path through and I did find myself turning back and forth through pages, juggling double-digit numbers in my head and then in the end I read it straight through, imagining how Marie composed this.  Did it require a map? The images are perfect for the words.  It is the height of silliness, yet tells us so much about how we construct narrative.  This is a little gem!

Dave the Rave - happy to be home in Blighty

My first question when I see the postcard is why are mostly purple clouds gathering over Istanbul?  Purple rain? Did it rain on Dave's holiday? Was there some interesting solar event?  Did they give Dave Crayons at the hotel?  

The next thing I notice is that it's a little difficult to read Dave's postcard because he's layered (and used plastic) to include and obscure what he'd written.  Is he afraid of being tracked down in his hotel room? 

Those of you who saw the haul of mail art I got over the holiday period know I am achingly behind in my blogging and this card from Dave required even more attention that most, pealing the plastic without removing the words took careful effort. So Dave's card languished in the pile, got lost for a while with Taidgh's and Mary's and has reappeared, ready for analysis. 

If I were a betting woman, I'd wager Dave isn't going back to Istanbul. I won't askhim to dog sit either...