lisachap

I'm staying home (Philadelphia area) full-time with my 3-year old son, and raising him along Montessori principles. I joined Swap-Bot hoping to exchange postcards and other cultural items with people in other states and countries.

For postcard swaps, it will be especially nice if you address them to Tristan (+ my last name). In print, so he can read it. For now I'm hoping to provide him with basic information about different places and people. So if there are animals, plants, monuments or art forms that are unique or defining to your home country/state/city, we'd love to see postcards with that. I realize a kangaroo or the Eiffel Tower might be boring to an Australian or Parisian, but they are the stuff of dreams to us! Cards with any educational value are great for us.

If you are interested in a private swap of cultural objects--miniature monuments, music cds, recipes, small toys, etc. I'd love to hear from you.

I carefully read every swap partner profile, and strive to find something to make you smile.

We are a mostly eco-friendly, organic, non-religious family...but not rigid about anything!

I collect statues of Buddha, stuff made from and/or to look like tree trunks, original art by European street artists, and oddball stuff (cowbells, a meditating frog, etc.) to hide along the trail we have in the woods around our house.

I love to plant terrariums, make bento box lunches, play around with original recipes for our family meals, and make developmental toys for my son. I actually enjoy organizing drawers and closets, and am really good at puzzles, especially the NY Times crossword and the Rubik's cube. I am incapable of driving past a thrift store without popping in to see what children's books they might have. Before baby I was always studying something interesting like Esperanto or 19th century philosophies, but now am mostly reading only parenting and Montessori books. I put off children as long as possible, and am shocked at how much I love being a mom. This is the best time of my life!

We generally don't watch television, wear visible status labels or consume much popular culture...but again, we don't try to be too "pure" or anything like that. I consider plastic a necessary evil, and only use it when there aren't more natural alternatives.

I have a lot of plants, and love warm, natural colors. Warm orange is my favorite color. The only color I don't like is blue. I guess I don't really care for cutesy stuff, but I sure do like cutesy-stuff people.

Thanks for considering me as a swap partner!

We mostly listen to jazz, blues, classical and standards, but are focusing more on multicultural children's music for my son. And we are using the Suzuki method of music education (piano), so have a lot of that going on. I love bossa nova, thomas dolby, pearl jam, 80s dance music, ray lamontagne, brandi shearer.

19th century Russian novels: all Dostoyevsky, most of Tolstoy.

Virginia Woolfe, James Joyce, William Faulkner, etc.

"The Double Flame" by Octavio Paz.

"Pale Fire" - by Nabokov

Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, about an Irish woman who became a respected Zen monk

Rebecca (Hitchcock's rendering of DuMaurier's novel - so intense!)

Dr. Zhivago

Harold and Maude

Don't watch it much, except occasionally Jeopardy, PBS's Frontline, and (don't laugh, it's really good and not snooty in the least) Masterpiece Theater.

I've been making a lot of educational toys - felt boards, tangram sets, matching games - for my toddler son. Can't sew, don't understand what scrapping is about, and have only a rudimentary knowledge of tools, but I do love to make things - and have somehow been amassing buckets of crafting supplies lately! : )