All the joys of the season

We're still going about our business-as-usual at NQ HQ, but we will be taking some Christmas time over the next week. So this is the last posting for the year; we'll see you in 2012! In the meantime, enjoy this Kate Rusby song, which is hitting a high note on this season's soundtrack.

(Image: www.paintinghere.com)

Distribution day

Today we'll be making our rounds of the retailers, dropping off caches of NQs hither and yon: Afterwords, Johnny Ruth, the Heritage Shops, The Rocket Bakery. We'll be in the mail to a few spots around the island and up to Labrador, too. Some people come right to the source - our office - and of course we're the ones to contact for your gifts. Three calls as soon as we unlocked the office doors this morning, which gives us that nice, warm, look-at-us-we're-helping-Santa kind of feeling.

(image: bigcartel.com.)

Countdown to Winter Issue

Just three more sleeps and they'll be delivered from the printers. Give us a turnaround day for labels and notes and gift cards, and they'll be on their way to you. Will you love the cover as much as we do? (Still trying to keep it a surprise, although hint hint it's a gorgeous piece by one of our best-known artists.) What about our anchor piece, an extensive interview with - with - but, no, we'll try to keep that under gold-foil-Christmas-paper wraps for now. But we hope you feel as excited holding the new NQ your hands as we did putting it together!

(Image: Count Dracula of Sesame Street, ucsc.edu.)