Two days ago, I got a little package in the mail. The box was meticulously made out of an instant oatmeal box, the inside filled with shredded newspaper, and there, within the shreds was this amazing "flying eyeball." Since my friend has limited supplies at his disposal, I was even more amazed by the perfectly crafted gift. Is this amazing or what!? Muchas gracias, Michael.
The Wire Artist has added some really cool writing to the Elflog. I am so crazy about "enjoy!." The beaded exclamation point is fabulous. "Namaste" appeared long enough for me to document it but by afternoon it was gone. Enjoy , indeed! My enjoyment of this shelf increases. My thanks to the unknown shelf maker. I hope that he or she knows how much this has meant to a lot of us.
As I'm about to go off to work at the Farmers' Market, I looked out my kitchen window into my yard and appreciated the peaceful view. A Billy Scott CD is playing, I'm feeling so relaxed, ready to face the bustle of the market. Here are some of my peaceful views for you this morning. Next posts, I'll update you on the turtle and the Elflog. Keep watching this space! 
On Thursday, one of our Sprout, CSA share holders brought a great huge basket for her share, then kindly arranged the veggies for my photo, which I posted on our Sprout site. We get so much produce, which means we have to cook a lot. Today, on my stove are three pots, beets, turnips, and rutabaga. I'm going to make pickled beets, mashed turnips, and heck if I know what I'll do with the rutabaga. Maybe a spicy spread of some kind. This is a very new veggie for me, though some of our share holders are very excited that we have it. Any ideas for me of what to do with a rutabaga?
I was going out of town for a few days and was worried about the shelf being bare. The day before I'd left, it was pretty bare. Only a few little stones. I made sure that it was a little more lively before we took off. When I came home, things had been changed, and then on Wed. a tile reappeared, along with a the word Alloha (a sticker?) and a piece of interesting exotic stone. More wire words have appeared, too. I've put a couple of magnets that I made on the pole. They stick nicely to the hammered in nails. But here's the BIG NEWS!! On Thursday, while I was working at the Farmers' Market, a dear friend came up to me and said, " I know who you are. Do you know who i am?" Well, yes! I thought, what's this? She was holding up a wire figure! Oh mi oh mi. She said "I'm the wire lady." She's the person who's been putting up the wire words, the wonderful wire writing. She found out I was the stone "elf" from a neighbor. That neighbor has been adding the little flowers. Then today, in the grocery store, I saw another neighbor who lives on the shelf street. I asked her daughter if she'd noticed the shelf. She had, and she had put things on it. She said that her grandfather had put the little piece of paper with the word "Peace" written on it on the shelf. I told her that we were shelf elves. We still don't know who put the shelf up on the pole in the first place. The mystery remains. Isn't the wire person terrific!? (that's Smitty, my dog, waiting patiently to cross the street.)
When I returned home I was anxious to check the shelf but waited until my morning walk. It had rained and I wondered if that effected anything on the shelf. I found an assortment of stones, including the tiny one in the bottle cap and a small game card. Yesterday morning, I added the small rubber duck (which someone in my spanish class had given out to all of us.) You can see that the card and bottle cap are gone. This morning, the duck is still there, but stones have been taken. The mornings have been so sunny, check out how the background is so white. I've had several suggestions about what to call the shelf log, see previous posting, and am still not settled on a name. What do you think of ..'elflog? Too cute? I'm open to more suggestions.
While in New York City, we saw two plays and a one-woman show. In a small theatre, we saw the Atlantic Theatre production of 10 Million Miles. The set was terrific, dominated by a pickup truck as the main set piece, with the water towers and power lines well done. It was very enjoyable and I got Mare Winningham's autograph. Fun! On Broadway, we saw Spring Awakening, which actually started at the Atlantic Theatre. We liked it, except I didn't like the choreography very much. (Sorry Bill T. Jones) The set was spare and each night 35 audience members had seats on stage. Hmm, don't know if I'd like being within the action. The music in both of these shows was good, and we have new CDs to buy now. The other show we saw, and loved, was Eliza Skinner is Shameless! at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. If you find out that Eliza is performing in your area...see her! Wow! We'd see her show again. And the people we were with were seeing it for a second time. Check her out. I'm pluggin' Eliza shamelessly.
We enjoy going to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, MOMA. The Richard Serra show was up and open for member preview. We loved it, but alas, no photos allowed. What a powerful experience, tho somewhat dizzy-making at times being among the tall, sloping walls of steel. In the large room, people were looking at a wall full of cartoon like images. I'll post a link to the artist soon as I can remember who it is. We all said that it must have been fun to draw directly on that huge wall.
I was asked when I started doing Mailart. Good question. Like many artists, I was making and mailing art without even knowing it had a name ...
