Market day

Another slow day at the Market today, so I got to take photos of the wood worker's beautiful products. I'm definitely going to treat myself to something before the season's over. His studio is Wildwood Carver.
I popped a tiny red pepper into one of the bowls, but it doesn't show scale. The really like the tiny bowls with the tiny spoons. I had to show you the eggplant that looked like a graceful bird to me. Isn't it lovely?

Car-cupine?

Can you believe this? I couldn't! I didn't have my camera so I took a picture with my telephone, just in case it wasn't there when I had my camera. Smitty and I rushed home to get the camera...whew, made it back in time to capture these images. What a visual treat! You can decide what this is all about and let me know what you think.

Moments of Joy

My friend/neighbor Jan
created a list of moments of joy on her blog. She got me to thinking about those things that bring joy to my life. Here are a few of them.
Seeing Irises in bloom takes me back to my childhood, when I'd pick them out of neighbors yards on my walk home from elementary school, so I could present them to my mother, who LOVED irises. I feel joy when I see them. The neighbors probably weren't so joyful seeing how many of their Iris blooms were gone.
Playing the piano brings me such joy, even if I'm just playing Hanon exercises. Getting a new piece of music, and being able to play it pretty well right off, brings me joy. Yes, I can play Besame Mucho! Getting land mail from my mail art friends is pretty joyful. Sitting in my chair by the back window upstairs, reading a book, seeing birds in the tree just inches from my window, that's pretty great, too. Just writing about this is making me all warm and gushy. More to come...

More from the market

Patrick, of Paradise Farm, has a stand at the Market, too, and he has such interesting veggies. I had to buy the long skinny string beans...so like string~The photo of them coming out of my purse gives you the sense of how long they were. You can see from this photo why eggplants are so named. The bumpy things are melons. They didn't appeal to me as an edible but they sure were interesting to photograph.

At the market

Last Thursday was a slow day at the Farmers' Market, so I had the chance to visit with some other vendors, who are near us. I'd been looking at Bonny Rike's tie dye goods and decided to buy a couple as baby presents. She does a really nice job and they make me feel all warm and fuzzy about the 70s, when I used to tie dye clothes for my kids. Amy of Amy's Organic Garden had edamame on the stalk, which I'd never seen before. It was some chore to cut the pods off the stems, but they cooked up nicely with salt. Amy has lovely colorful flowers, too.

Elflog update

Yesterday the shelf was almost bare. Three little stones, the paper clip with the two buttons, a round magnet on a nail way up high on the pole, and a very bedraggled mermaid...what a sorry state of affairs at the shelf. I brought the mermaid home. she looks like she was caught in a gale or a fishing net. Her hair is disheveled, her companion fish is gone, and her tail was twisted...we'll never know what happened! Today, I moved the magnet closer to the shelf, added some word stones, and a rubbery coin purse with a quote on paper inside. The coin purse was in the swag bag we got at the swap meet in Winston-Salem. It says "keshwaukee," or something like that, on it. Won't someone just love to have that!!??

Art-o-mat gathering

Our trip to Winston-Salem,NC for the Art-o-mat reunion and swap meet was amazingly wonderful. We had a fabulous time. We met about 50 artists and felt honored to be a part of this great project. I traded with maybe 35 people and was sorry to have missed out on the other artists. Besides the meet up, there were two exhibits. One included archival artworks and machine face plates, among other things. Clark and his friends did a wonderful job. Thanks Clark! (images by deftgurl, Miss Mary K and Mim)

Tiny Collages

These are two of the small collages that I created for the Art-o-mat. I finished the edition of 70, have them boxed up and am now putting the cellophane wrappers on them. See previous post for more on this, including size. I feel very excited about this. I didn't think I could reach my goal. Each of these collages takes as much time as my larger ones, and is actually more time consuming because, as I mentioned, I have to use a tweezer some of time to handle the pieces of collage material. I've had fun with it and like the way they turned out. All pieces are signed and numbered. I boxed these two before I wrote down their numbers to identify them here, ooops.

The Art-o-Mat

This Saturday, we're going to Winston-Salem, NC, for the Art-o-mat reunion and swap meet. We'll be taking with our tiny art to swap. SO I decided to make miniature versions of my larger collages. So far, I have 64 finished with a goal of 70, I'm almost there! The boxes are ready and waiting to be filled with tiny art. I've framed one of the pieces to show how it can be displayed. The size: 2" x 3" (5cm x 7.5cm) I've been using a tweezer! Noah is doing skulls and Chuck is doing glass. Both of their series are going to be big hits, or should I say "small" hits.

Compassion

My thought for today....
Compassion in Action

Compassion can be practised anywhere: at airports, on beaches or in shops, whenever we are together with other people. Try this five-step exercise around friends and strangers. Do it discreetly and try to do all the steps with the same person.

With your attention geared to the other person, tell yourself:

◦ Step 1 "Just like me, this person is seeking happiness in his/her life."

◦ Step 2 "Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life."

◦ Step 3 "Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness and despair."

◦ Step 4 "Just like me, this person is seeking to fill his/her needs."

◦ Step 5 "Just like me, this person is learning about life."

Source: Resurfacing: Techniques for Exploring Consciousness by Harry Palmer. And ODE magazine, June 2007

The farmers' market

I've been enjoying working at the Farmers' Market on Thursdays. I really get into selling the produce, which is an easy sell in that it's local and organic and everyone wants it, but I love telling people about the CSA Sprout, how it works and all. I love talking about our farmer, Charlie (Victory Farms of Hanover) and how he grows great produce. I love talking to people who love food and share recipes with me. We have many chefs who stop by and one Saturday, the chef from the restaurant across the street came and bought all the French melons. We knew what would be on the menu that night! This past Thursday was monstrously hot, we drank lots of iced water and stood in the misting tent once. There were fewer customers at the market but our share holders came as early as they could. By the time I'd been there for 4 and a half hours, I was pretty giddy, and was so happy I was headed home. Here are some of the images I took that day, basil, arugula, red onions, German stripe heirloom and Roma tomatoes. Charlie grows all of these lovelies on a small amount of land in Hanover county, Virginia. I'm loving photographing his veggies.

Elflog

I awoke early this morning when Chuck said " You might want to walk the dog now" as he headed off to walk his 5 miles on the track, " it's already 80°f/26°c and only 6a.m." I was out of the house in 15 minutes! I checked on the shelf and found it looking very shrine-like, reminding me of those tributes I've seen at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. "Wire-writer" had placed a mermaid with a fish on a "line" and moved the word "summer" to create a little tableau on the pole above the shelf. I posted two images, hoping that you'd be able to see the fish. The small items on the shelf had been rearranged, a dry magnolia leaf, a cloth "ghost, " a tiny metal train, all seeming to be symbolic. This is so special, I hope that no one takes it down, I dread the day that I approach the corner and it won't be there. Then I think, all is transient, so I'll keep documenting and sending you the Elflog.

New Music

I'm so excited! Yesterday, I went to Antique Village with chuck, and while he was browsing for his stuff, I looked through music and found these! I played some last night and it was such fun..I was able to sight read better than I expected. The songs were so familiar to me because they were favorites of my parents. "Besame Mucho!" I love it!

Elflog

The wire writer left us two new pieces. "Be Here Now" and "summer" were on the pole, along with a magnet. The shelf had a group of things that made a smiley face, a water colored piece of paper with a fake purple flower attached to it, a clam shell, and stones. Our little cuz colored a rock and place it on the shelf. For awhile, the shelf was getting crowded with all sorts of bits, chunks of clear glass, pebbles, flowers, looking like a frenzy of activity had taken place. I just love this little shelf and wish I could thank the person who put it up. They mystery remains.