prime number / gifts some 47-year-olds might enjoy

A hat from Wombhouse Books (Jamaica Kincaid forever and ever).

Grayson Perry's magical thinking tote, decorated with assorted delusions (reason, capitalism, the internet, etc.)

Eyes ex-voto, because "eyes can be a gentle protest against the moral and emotional blindness in the world. We see you."

Uusi's latest tarot deck, inspired by winter light.

Golden kicks, for chasing step goals.

New work from an ever-vital poet, age 87.

A box of rocks. 

A lovely twisted wood shoe horn by Emura Woodworking Studio, because I might finally, finally be old enough to stop stomping in the heels of my shoes when I put them on.

Garnet bows. 

A 19th-century French architectural model of spinning doors, because every birthday is a revolution.

circling the sun / birthday gifts some 46-year-olds might enjoy

Wearable October color: Anntian woolskirt in print C. Styled by Judith with a Studio Nicholson Gomes sweater and Caron Callahan Margaret platforms.

Iitala Taiko Sato dinnerplates, designed by Klaus Haapaniemi and Heikki Orvola.

A table-top reflecting pool: Debbie Carlos pond vase.

Shaker-style glasses box.

Adalbert Stifter, The Solar Eclipse of July 8th, 1842, handset and printed by Brother in Elysium.

Mints infused with blessed water. (I will take all the blessings I can find.)

A recording of Charles Ives' "Universe Symphony," "Orchestral Set 2.," and "The Unanswered Question."

Eatable of Many Orders Tin bag.

A wearable, seasonless garden by Kathryn Bentley.

A handful of swallow patches, to give something a little worn new life.

Asparagus candles. (The hazelnut cake with concord grape jam buttercream and filling that I spent the last two days making was a total bust BUT I am still gonna blow out some candles tonight!)

Bumper sticker by Nate Hooper for Working Loose, because to live is to spiral.

birthday gifts some 44-year-olds might enjoy

In a digression at the end of The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog trains his cameras on a group of albino crocodiles basking in pools of runoff from a nuclear power plant and muses on crocodiles staring into the abyss of time. For this reason, the image of mortality in my mind is a white crocodile, and the crocodile of time feels very near at my birthday, when I wonder if this is the year it eats me. And maybe because I have spent past few weeks thinking of ghost crocodiles, I misread a sign the other day as "ghost lobsters" and suddenly had a hilarious and terrifying vision of what it would be like to be visited by the ghosts of all the lobsters I have ever ate, hearing the ghost-rattle of their exoskeletons, their ghost eye-stalks observing me, an army of the crustacean dead trailing ghost butter and clouds of steam. And then I half-remembered hearing Edna O'Brien describe a bad experience with LSD, which seemed to involve years of seeing her phone as a lobster, and apparently Jean-Paul Sartre, too, was plagued with visions of lobsters. He kept seeing three or four at a time after a mescaline trip, knew they were not real, but saw them there just the same. So maybe the lobsters are waiting in my psyche with the crocodile.

Fortunately, I forgot all of this on my actual birthday and had an uncommonly nice time. 

Some gifts:

A tool for measuring the blue of the sky, based on blue skies in Ukraine.

Monogrammed rose-scented lip balm by Officine Universelle Buly. 

A matching Sayaka Davis scarf and sweater.

A book out of print: Sam Stephenson's Love and Work: Lyric Research on Jason Molina.

A Marcie McGoldrick ring that doubles as a family portrait.

A butterfly hair claw (or a cloud barrette).

Bright Himukashi wool socks.

A pleasingly wobbly hairbrush by Y.S. Park.

Ithell Colquhoun's Color as Taro.

Porcelain lady apples.

The complete Virago Modern Classic Collection and the most beautiful bookshelf to hold them, made by Sara Levitas Design Studio.

Perfect gold shoes by Avril Gau, just right for stepping into another year.

Money to send to women fighting to live life on their own terms in the U.S. and in Iran.

birthday gifts some 43-year-olds might enjoy

A truly magical piece of furniture: Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel's Oak bench with virgin tiger moths and snails, 2021.

An intricately patterned shift dress from byTiMo.

A twisty Il Buco candle.

A vintage "philosophers" transferware bowl. 

The golden thread of life: "An essential sewing kit comprised of a pair of 24 karat gold-plated scissors, a 24 karat gold-plated thimble, a spool of golden thread, and a golden-eyed needle."

A hand pin after Bronzino by Gabriella Kiss.

Every issue of Weird Walk: a zine "framed in the hinterland between bucolic and eerie" that's "abundant with vibes."

Stompy shoes by Naguisa for extra-long ambles. 

A spot to organize the ever-growing to-be-read pile: Christine Espinal's Mesa Tres / Three Table.

A four-in-one Stalogy editor's pen for notes in the margins.

Republic playing cards by Uusi for prettier games of rummy.

A gift certificate by Set Editions, good for one escape.

And, of course, cake (plus the last Le Carré and an uninterrupted afternoon to read it). Happy birthday to me!

birthday gifts some 42-year-olds might enjoy

Sofia Lind reading poster at Fine Little Day.

Samantha Pleet harvest opera gloves.

Reproduction whaleboat deck prisms at Detroit Garden Works.

Wild golden chanterelles from Mikuni Wild Harvest.

L'Envers handknit undyed wool balaclava.

Romantic Things by Mary Jacobus: an exploration of "the world of objects and phenomena in nature as expressed in Romantic poetry alongside the theme of sentience and sensory deprivation in literature and art." Includes a chapter titled "Senseless Rocks."

Caron Callahan Ellie Mary Janes in green.

Santa Maria Novella hand sanitizer.

Curly sheepskin waterbottle cover.

Stone tangram at Casa Shop.

Erie Basin marine hoops.

Dust to Digital's Harry Smith B-sides boxed set, compiling "the flip-side of 78-rpm records that [Smith] selected for the original Anthology of American Folk Music."

Also: cake. (Happy birthday to meeeeeee.)