– From a nothing-special supermarket in Paris, some super special grid-lined notebooks.

– From down at the Porte de Vanves Flea Market, a mysterious hand clamp/claw used for reasons so far unknown. We’ve been calling it an Automatic Eyeball Remover.

– A box of 24 macarons for the family who babysit our dog.

– The only real article of clothing I found in France. A pair of, I think, Jil Sander designed Uniqlo pants.

– And a pair of pairs of Great Gatsby styled tennis court socks.

– The prettiest stuffed bird in all of Deyrolle.

– His little I.D. bracelet is my favorite part.

There’s a room where I live that’s turned a little musty and museum-like in its aesthetic. Inside sits an oak-y old grandfather’s clock, a taxidermy partridge, a military trunk, and a tarnished metal desk seemingly salvaged from Ichabod Crane’s first house.

My goal is to gradually mod the place up and propel it into the 21st century (or at least the middle of the 20th) and the shiny slickness of the 1960s Space Race seems a futuristic yet rightly retro reference to start with.

Designer Ross Berens has created a series of science-lab-ish prints for the original nine planets on cotton rag archival paper, available at inPRNT.com.

Mercury, the most heavenly of them all, is orbiting toward my mailbox later this week to rocket my rusty old room into a revolutionary new era.

For over a year I came up empty handed in a number of online auctions for the fancy little 660 calculator from Panasonic.

But one sits smartly on my desk, at last!

I’m thinking of taking it and a thin stack of books on an early Spring stroll and pretending I’m an Algebra-obsessed exchange student in Osaka, circa 1981.

Just seems like the right thing to do.

Incense is for hemped up hippy-dips and candles can get a little soccer mom-ish. The “hot” new way to play with fragranced fire is with Armenia Papers.

Florentine pharmacist Santa Maria Novella offers an abundance of dramatic costume-drama-like cosmetics and tonics, and their frankincense and myrrh-scented Armenia Papers singe away the stagnant staleness of our modern days with a cinematic sense of ceremony.

Sized like a stick of gum, each scented stick is to be folded back and forth like an accordion, set on its side, and set aflame, to fill your room and your soul, once again, with a sense of romance and of warmth.

I wasn’t kind to this little camera when it first presented itself to me.

First off, I scorned its lack of a built-in flash, and being that it arrived without a manual no matter which golden dial I turned or tweaked, I couldn’t even open the blasted thing to load a test roll of film.

The device was demoted unceremoniously to knick-knack status, but since then, it’s become one of my favorite objets décoratifs. Like an opulent little czar it roosts regally near my front door illiciting wide-eyed oohs and ahhs from nearly all who enter.

I tried today once again to unlock its mystifying film chamber but still it refused to budge. I no longer curse its opulent uselessness, however. I’ve plenty of plain and plasticky cameras to get, you know…productive with. My snaky little Leica deserves to just sit about in lazy, good-looking luxury and otherwise not do a thing.

Do you forever become a tool if you even think about using tools like these at your desk?

Cause I have a reputation to uphold. I can’t let posh pens or pencil-refills be my ruin.

Save yourself some grief and don’t even start pining for the prints that are already sold out.

Mark Weaver.

http://mrkwvr.com/

I bought this magnifying glass on-line as a Christmas gift for I wasn’t sure who.

When it arrived in the mail, it wasn’t specifically perfect for anyone I knew. (Except, by default, myself) and so I kept it.

Their label said Beauty Berries, and they were almost $15 for a bunch of three at the expensive grocery store.

They’ve lasted a week already – maybe they’ll stay this bright and happy forever.

In recent months my treasure hunting hadn’t turned up much of any worth. Thankfully my luck turned around this weekend. During a 20 percent off sale at my favorite (secret) store I managed to score:

1. Ashtray in the shape of my semi-great state.
2. French coat rack.
3. Faded Christmas bulbs.
4. Shoemaker’s form…look what it says!
5. Black Hills coin case.
6. 1940s British soap dish.
7. Glass treasure display box.

Old loot especially always seems better when it comes in a lot.

My holiday trees have been going topless the past few years. (So bawdy!) I’d kept my eyes open for a tree topper as life rolled along but I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for until I found this skewed little star.

Its sweet and slightly strange, like Christmas in Whoville, and its only twelve dollars, so it’s as done as deals go.

Hurry Christmas, Hurry Fast!

The Kiosk has unloaded another haul of simple, sweet souvenirs from its adventures around the world – this time from an extended journey to Portugal.

If you’ve been wishing your degreaser, floor wax, and vanilla sugar came in prettier packages, today’s totally your day!

Load up at KioskKiosk.com.