Tote

I'm so happy when I make a tote! A friend gave me some really nice fabric and I made this bag, which Chuck said reminded him of the south of France. It's so chilly here in Richmond, VA, that we're thinking of sunny south of France right now. You can see another view of this bag on Fritzi, my etsy shop.
My neighbor just gave me big box of fabric to go through. Oh, fun, lots of great fabric to make totes from. I'd forgotten how much I LOVE fabric. Both of my sisters and I have this thing about fabric, which we come by directly from MOM!! We grew up watching her cut patterns from newspaper, to make our clothing. We cut our teeth making doll clothes. In high school, she'd make me these way sophisticated Vogue pattern dresses. Wish I still had them. Okay, not really, I haven't worn a dress in years, but it'd be fun to see them again.

Real Small Art and the Elflog

I'm now a member of the Real Small Art League.
Today, I put two small photos on the shelf as my first real small art labeled as such. We'll be able to see Tiffany's project at her Real Small Art blog. The little tin of tiny beads and other stuff is still on the shelf, but it seems that there is less in it.

High Up

Rarely do I get the chance to go above a second floor these days. Last week, I had lunch on the 21st floor of a downtown building. I loved seeing the reflections in the windows and the view of the James River.

Soup Time

My three vegetable soup (plus onion and garlic) came about because that's all I had in the way of veggies a few weeks ago. It turned out really tasty, sweet and rich. Even Chuck liked it and he doesn't like two of the three ingredients. Here's the recipe: One Acorn Squash. One sweet potato. One white onion. a couple garlic cloves. olive oil. A box of french onion soup or 4 cups of water, soy milk. Process: Cut an acorn squash in half and put on a greased baking sheet. Poke some holed in a sweet potato and put on the baking sheet, too. Bake until soft. Meanwhile, steam a white potato until softened. When all these are ready, you can start the soup, or put them into the refrigerator until you're ready to make the soup! Next day, day after next. When ready, Saute some onions in olive oil, add minced garlic. When onions are translucent, add the "meat" of the veggies (compost the skins and seeds if you can.) Mix the veggies into the pan until all mixed up in the onions then add the onion soup














or water. Bring to a boil then lower heat, cover pot, and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool for a bit, then puree in a blender adding about a cup of soy milk, gradually. This turns out to be nicely sweet. You can season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, or other seasonings you like. I didn't add any. Let me know if you try this and how you like it. Brrr, it's getting really cold here, soup time!
¡Que aproveche!

Elflog and vicinity

On Saturday last, the shelf was a bit enpty, but on Monday!! Oh, so interestingly, someone had put a tinful of little beads, old buttons, odds and ends of shiny things on it. Today, some of the little sparklies were on the sidewalk. My guess, a little person (my 3 year old neighbor maybe?) had taken a peek in the box and spilled a few bits.

On the pole, new wire writing! Yay!

I took a couple fotos related to children--a couple of little girls were playing with chalk last week, and left this behind.

Poor little monkey, someone lost him. This is how I found him. I left him there.

It was a cold and windy day....

Sunday, it was very cold and very windy here in Richmond, VA. I was having one of my barometric headaches, or is it a sinus headache? In any case, I was lying about all day waiting for it to go away. About 430 in the afternoon, I heard a loud, dull crash, thud, which shook the house. I thought maybe Chuck dropped a bunch of artwork in his studio. He came into the little room I was in, thinking I'd fallen off the couch. (Wait a minute, I wouldn't have made such a thud or shake!!) We couldn't find anything wrong. I said that the wind probably blew our chimney down, ha ha ha. About an hour and a half later, the house felt really cold, like no heat. I got under the covers. Chuck went down to make something, came up to tell me that he smelled gas and the stove wouldn't light. I said "Call the gas company." He did. He came back and said "We have to leave the house." Out into the cold we went with the dog. Police came, a firetruck came, all very loud, sirens blaring. Five firefighters with an axe went into the house. In the end, it turned out the the wind had blown an old pipe off the side of the house and it crashed into the gas meter, knocking the gas pipe off. So we had no gas coming into the house. We were without heat until 11 a.m. Monday on the coldest night we've had in a long time. 18 degrees F. Could have been worse. The house could have blown up! See the big, old, heavy pipe, see the new gas meter. Today, we have a new pipe, it's plastic.

Elflog and a sign

What a surprise today. There is a wonderful looking paper piece hanging on the pole by the shelf. It's not as windy as it was on Sunday so maybe this will stay awhile. The rock on the shelf says "don't panic" and "stay calm."

Our delightful little neighbor at the end of the alley, made her own yard sign.

Prints Tokyo 2007

I just got a letter from the Japan Print Association, that the print I submitted to the print show last year, will be housed at the Sakimi Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan. How cool is that!? Now if I could only find an image of the print I sent. Hmmm. Which one did I send?

Crafty!

If you're in the Richmond, VA area this Sunday, head over to The Camel, 1621 W. Broad St. and join in the I "heart" Crafts social from 4 to 6. The Richmond Craft Mafia and Etsy street team will be there. I'm pretty excited about meeting some of the Etsy folks.

Here's my Muppy hat. I'll be posting this at, or is it on?, my Etsy shop.

MiM

Several years ago, my friend Tommy White spotted this graffiti somewhere and sent it to me (Where was that?) Recently, Julien sent me three photos with Mim. Two are from his home town of Istanbul and one is from Paris. I stood in front of that very shop in Paris and had a guard tell me that I couldn't have my photo taken there. I said, but that's my name (Je suis Mim!)

A request: if you spot a "mim" anywhere, take a photo and sent it to me. I'd love that.

Me & Ira Glass, This American LIfe

Last night, I got to hear and SEE Ira Glass. It was so terrific. He started his show in the dark, so we heard him like we do on the radio. The audience was silent, we listened as a group, as if we were in our cars or kitchens. It was so cool. He said that he'd requested no lights for the entire show but that was, well, when the lights came on, we were so excited and clapped enthusiastically.
Most everyone in the audience was familiar with This American Life, but a few people had no clue. What an experience. In an hour and a half, we laughed, we learned how to structure a story, and we learned that Ira Glass has an amazing way of bringing people to him. He showed a few minutes of an upcoming show for TAL on ShowTime, which caused a bit of buzz about SHOWTIME .
I'd taken my CD and a Sharpie, just in case Ira would come out and do some autographs, but he'd done two shows in one day, so was understandably tired. Happily, Chuck bought me the two additional CDs that were available; and I did get a picture of.....me with Ira.