Oh, my days, as my friend John H. from the northwest of England says. What rain we’re having in Britain. And what cold. It’s really not necessary to pack away your woolens for the winter here as you do in most of the USA. In a fit of tidiness and an anti-moth campaign, I packed away my woolen sweaters and I’ve now had to dip into them because of the un-summer we are having. It’s also said that if you don’t like the weather in Britain, wait ten minutes; today is sunny and hot. I am becoming very British by starting my letter with the weather since it is the first topic of choice on this island. Perhaps, this is because next week I take my “Life in the UK” exam which, should I pass (70% of people fail), gives me the privilege of applying for “indefinite leave to remain” in the UK.
This will complete a five year journey of a married person’s red tape and a lot of money spent to satisfy the Home Office that I am worthy to live here. So, I won’t tarry long in this letter since I need to keep hitting the books and get clear my Charles I versus Charles II, and Sheriff’s Court versus Crown Court.
I rarely do talk about the books I’ve read on here because books are such idiosyncratic and personal things in the end. It’s so awkward when someone you really like recommends a book to you and you think it’s awful. So, I refrain from recommending books for the most part. But, recently I finish H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald and a particular paragraph in her book which has nothing to do with buttons – the book is about training a goshawk – reminded me of how I feel about buttons, buttons and many many other things I collect and treasure.
This is all of a piece with how I feel about ancestors, unknown forbears, and the electric soul of inanimate objects. I talk about this in my last letter which you can read here.
Just a few days after I read the special paragraph in Macdonald’s book, my friend Shan stopped by my house and brought me two tins of buttons. I am very pleased that my friends think of me as a good custodian of buttons. I’ve been given so many nice tins of them (thank you,
). I sort them, wash them, dry them, organize them, and pay homage to them in photos and arrangements, and I find uses for them.
I decided to make a button video. My videos, whether musical, crafty, esoteric, or teddy bear related, NEVER go viral anywhere. Somewhere between ten and 400 people might watch one of my Instagram reels. But, strangely, an hour after I posted my button video, Instagram sent me a message to say it had been watched 1000 times. That’s about as viral as I’m going to get (I think). Now, it’s peaked at 1.826 views. Who knew buttons could be so interesting to others!
I hope you enjoy my button movie. (There should be two arrows pointing away from each other in the top lefthand corner of the “box” if you click below. Touching the arrows should make the video bigger.)
How did you like it? Please let me know in the comments.
Now, I do have to apologize because that Lancashire reel being played in the background while I’m speaking is LOVELY, but I cannot remember the name of the band. It’s on one of the obscure vinyl records given to me by my friend John H. who says “Oh, my days!” When I get back to Lancashire, I will report back on the name of the band.
When I was in high school, college, and grad school, I was obsessed with my Mom and Dad’s Super 8 movie camera and projector. This was at a time when it was too late for Super 8 supplies and developing to be a normal thing and it was too early for the analog revival. So, there was literally one place in the USA that could sell me the film and develop it all at considerable expense. But, I persevered and incorporated Super 8 movies into as many performance art pieces as possible. The other day, it hit me that the funny little reel-making programs on Instagram and Facebook are a version of this in my phone! And, the crazy thing is, ALL of MY MUSIC is in their database. Which means that I can make little movies with my own songs. What a quirky outcome.
Actually, I jest because some of my lockdown albums weren’t in that music cloud world, so I set about clicking buttons, uploading tracks and album art, and in a week, my entire published music catalog could be put to pictures on a phone. (See more about this below! They’re all on Spotify, iTunes, etc, now, too). I do think I get a portion of a 100th of a cent when I use my own music as a soundtrack. But the abysmal fiscal reality of it shall not tarnish my wonder at creating quasi-music videos on the fly. I should note that my mini-movies are circumscribed by the vagaries of Meta time limits and their buggy programs which drop captions and voice-overs at whim (this is how I lost the name of the Lancashire reel band in my button movie). So, my artistic control is by no means assured.
Still, I can hardly contain my joy at what might be possible. And I am also very careful to limit my time making them, as I do have a tendency to get over-excited.
I hope that you find a leaf that makes an irresistible shadow or you spy a cat asleep in a window. I am making an eye mask from a pattern by Amy Butler because I suddenly seem sensitive to light in the mornings after years of not being bothered. And yesterday, I found a book on teddy-bear-making which recreates Steiff bears. So, I have patterns to cut out and ponder. I’m also working on a new song that needs finessing.
I wish you kindness, always. It’s not so easy to have a light heart right now, is it? I hope you can find a button that makes you smile today.
Love,
Jeni
You can now find these Jeni Hankins albums on Spotify, iTunes, etc. Just search for my name and/or their titles or click the links below.
I Fell Into the Fire (Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music)
A Body is a Delicate House (Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music)
The word on the street is that if you put any of my songs on your playlists in the Spotify/Apple Music/Prime worlds, it somehow raises my music in the esteem of the mighty algorithm. This is nothing compared to how happy it makes me that you’re listening to my music, but we may as well give the bots something to consider. So, I do hope that, if you make playlists in these worlds, you’ll consider adding a Jeni Hankins or Jeni & Billy song to them!
If you talk with Alexa, Siri, or their pals, they will also play my music to you. This used to tickle my Aunt Edith no end. She’d ask Alexa to play “Tazewell Beauty Queen” several times a day. I didn’t know I had a relationship with Siri until I asked her to play Jeni Hankins music just now and she played “You Disappear” from my The Oxygen Girl record. Who knew?
I had the shock of my life when someone kindly ordered a real CD from me this week. Since CD players have largely disappeared from homes and cars, I do not sell actual objects very often anymore. But, today, I sent one to Nevada! Thank you, Denise. If like me and Denise, you still have a CD player, I have at least fourteen different titles over in my shop. All available digitally as well, of course! Many of the physical versions have beautifully elaborate booklets designed by my late father and me or me.
Well, I’ve sufficiently procrastinated studying for my exam. Thank you for helping me avoid the inevitable for a little while. But, I must get back to remembering which king hid in a tree – very useful when hiding from all of the rain or the intense sun, wait ten minutes for the next season!
I’m usually up to things and I post my adventures on Facebook and Instagram.
My shop is here. I have t-shirts, tote bags, and postcards, too.
I am always grateful for tips for my writing and music. PayPal or Ko-fi are my tip jars.
You can see what I’ve been making lately, here:
Makery Diary (June 2024)
Hello friends! I hope you enjoyed my newsletter celebrating sixteen years since I wrote my best loved song “Tazewell Beauty Queen.” Today, I thought I’d share some of my making with you. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved working with my hands. I remember spending long hours with my
Confession. I am besotted with pearly buttons and have amassed satisfying numbers of them, though I once gave away a dress that was heavily embellished with them to a person who couldn’t afford it and (if I am honest) my bowerbird heart does have the occasional twinge of regret. I don’t remember the person but I hope she still likes it.
I can see why that button video went Jeni-viral. It's lovely. And I'm SO excited that I can listen to your music on my Alexa. (Or whatever it's called--I don't know it's real name anymore!) I am sending strong study and focus vibes your way for the test. I have a feeling you're going to do well on it.