MERRY CHRISTMAS HO HO HO

Santa Alfie

Photography by Jack Bierschenk

There are many ways of giving.

Consider the gift of time. Say you were single and had
young friends with a child. As a Christmas present, you
might offer to take care of the kid or kids on a particular
evening so parents can go out for a night on the town. Write
down your gift proposal on best card stock paper and
wrap a pretty ribbon around it for maximum effect.

Food, especially sweets like cookies or a loaf of bread, makes
great gifts for young and old alike, more so if the goodies
are baked by you. An earthy soup presented in a tall glass
jar (you can find them at Marshall's for under $10) is sure
to be a welcome present for a workaholic friend, or working
couple. It can be stored in a fridge for a few days to be enjoyed
at the end of a long, post-holiday work day.  It will take
some of your precious time to confection these culinary
delights but think how much more meaningful is a gift
made with your own hands.

Not that there is anything wrong with storebought gifts,
though in this day and age of conscientious consumerism
it would be well to discard anything that smacks as being
profligate or not environmentally friendly.

A comeback for turbans

Recycled goods offer nifty gift options and the store
Len.T.Juela is a good stop over for vintage clothing and accessories. Among the items that caught our attention were colorful turbans (prices range from $12 to $20)
designed by Tahira for her brand Designs LalaLala
and a black vintage leather bag with lucite handles ($35) propped on a back shelf of this delightful store off Loiza St. (come next February, Len.T.Juela is moving to a nearby larger space directly on Loiza St.).

The vintage jewelry section -- notice the way shop owner Valeria Bosch uses a lampshade too show off her selection of decorative pins -- also includes contemporary designs like the pretty hand painted shrink plastic pins, earrings and necklaces handmade 
by London artist Victorija featuring famous personalities like Coco
Chanel and Marilyn Monroe and cute animals, like cats and panda bears.

Handmade brooches by London artist Victorija

You can play with blocks at any age.

At Love Is You And Me (The Concept Store) on Parque St., owner Carolina Leonidas has an unerring knack for finding imaginative products that beguile the senses of sight and touch, like the Balancing (wooden) Blocks produced by the New York-based contemporary design studio of Fort Standard. These blocks ($52) come in white or in colors and are sure to turn any adult or child into an architect or sculptor. Puzzlehead, a ($45) toy by artist Richard McGuire, looks like great fun to play, and CubeBot ($20; $30) is an intriguing puzzle that starts off as a cube and ends with  "a playful personality."

Artist Richard McGuire's Puzzlehead
started out as a doodle.

Len.T.Juela #1820 Jefferson St.
Telephone: 787. 408. 7111   11 am to 6 pm

Love Is You And Me #110 Parque St.
Telephone: 787. 503. 3003   Tue-Sat 11 am to 7 pm

Artwork by Lorraine Blasor

Life begets life.
Energy creates energy.
It is by spending oneself
that one becomes rich.
Sarah Bernhardt

A SIMPLE TIP: A chopping block is probably one of the most
used items in a kitchen and the best way to disinfect it is simply
to use a lemon.

Rub the lemon across the block and let it sit for 10 minutes,
then wipe.

Photography by Juliette Blasor

And at night I love to listen to the stars.
It is like five hundred million
little bells.

"The Little Prince"
Antoine de Saint Exupery

Photography by Juliette Blasor

"You give but little when you give
of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself
that you truly give."

Kahlil Gibran

©2013 Lorraine Blasor All Rights Reserved