bulletproof in black

Lily of the valley by Kawarazaki Shodo (1899-1973)

I'm almost done with my largest crochet project, so here's a couple details from behind the scenes 🌿🌙

ocean books 🌊📘🐟

Like, I understand that sometimes $1usd is the same value as $1.50cad (right now its $1usd to $1.38cad), but other times the exchange rate is even or leaning the other direction (ex. Nov 2007 when $1cad was $1.10usd) and the suggested retail prices of books stay the same. Living so close to the border there are some things that we rarely buy in Canada, and instead just buy lots of when we go to the States every few months, and books are one of those things, because even with the exchange rate usually leaning in your favor, $8usd is typically closer to $10cad than it is to the $13cad that a book would be priced at. Last night I was looking at some kids books that in the States are going for $30usd for the (paperback) boxed set but in Canada that same set is going for $56cad/$41usd. Like, I understand that the claims for some of the price disparity is due to import fees and such, but import fees on books are only 5% and only apply to things over $20cad in the first place which would only account for a couple dollars even on a nice hardcover. And then most bookstores here will sell the books for even higher than the cover price, so a book listed at $8usd somehow ends up costing $20cad/$15usd.

SOPHIE NÉLISSE Photographed by Sacha Cohen for Clin d’œil Magazine, March 2026

source: theagilerat.com (click right to see all four photos!)