New Windows! Yay!

Our new windows were installed last week. What a job! We were really pleased at how fast the old windows were taken out (100 year old windows) and the new ones installed. The guys from Richmond Window Corp (plug plug) were terrific, fast, efficient, neat, and nice, and they're right in my neighborhood. What a great combination. It was painless for us. They set up shop on the sidewalk in front of the house, did the trim to order. We got black trim and love the way it looks. What's really nice is that we can see out of the windows. My studio is all back in order, well, not exactly, because I haven't put away the supplies that I brought back from the Mail Art workshop I did yesterday. I just plopped everything on the table and floor. BUT the new windows, ah, what a sight. C saved 3 of the windows to use the old glass in his art work. Antique glass will definitely have some interesting quality when fired. Our house is 100 years old this year. We're thinking it needs a birthday party before the year is over. What do you think?

In my neighborhood

Here are some of the sweet little front gardens in my neighborhood. As you can see, the spaces are fairly small. The diversity of approaches to landscaping are so nice. Most of the areas are flat, unlike our front garden which is above street level (we think there was a bit of a hill that was cut through when the street was laid out, but have no proof of this except that the houses on both sides of the street require steps to get up to the front doors!) We are also, one of the few rock gardens that I come across in my walks. We've had sufficient rain so everything is green! Hope you've enjoyed the little tour of my neighborhood. (I feel a bit like Mr. Rogers as I write this.)

Moon Landing memory

I found my folder with the newspaper I'd saved from this historic day, Monday, July 21, 1969. The paper is fragile, brown and crisp. I was able to carefully scan a portion of the front cover and an inside page. I don't remember where I was that specific day, I lived in Richmond, Virginia, USA at the time, but the newspaper is from New York, so maybe I was visiting the city at that time. I remember the feeling of unreality and being very anxious for the men, and very excited as it was a dream come true from all of the sci-fi lit I'd read when I was younger (okay, I'll admit it, I still read it.) Why we haven't gone anywhere else since then is interesting to contemplate.

The Chrysler Museum

We drove down to Norfolk, Virginia, to see the Lino Tagliapietro glass exhibit at the Chrysler Museum. Oh it was so amazing. I got overloaded with gorgeous. No photography was allowed, darn! The museum itself is quite nice. In one room, there were lots of marble pieces, like these, beautifully displayed against deep red walls. At the end of the room, was something called the drawing station. On it were white drawing pencils and clip boards with black paper on them. Viewers were invited to make drawings of the marbles. Isn't that a terrific idea?
The entry area was draped with these pieces of art.
After this exhibit, we drove to Hampton, Virginia to the Charles Taylor Art Center, where C got two pieces of his glass work into a show, and got mentioned with honor. Very nice!

More NYC fun, the Whitney Museum and Serendipity

We went to the Whitney on the night that it was pay what you want to enter and guess what? They let us in for FREE! Maybe 'cause we said it was C's birthday? Anyway, we got to see the Claus Oldenburg retrospective (with his wife.) Very nice to see that work again. Downstairs, there was a concert in the cafe with so many people enjoying it. I liked the way the people in the shop seemed not to notice (it was VERY loud) and the people outside on the ground floor level were waiting to enter. I liked all the levels and activity in these images. C went down there to check out the Art-o-Mat to see if I had any work in it. Nope, sold out. Well, yes, I'd just gotten a check for work sold in that machine. It makes me laugh to say that I have work in the Whitney (have I told you this already?) in the basement, by the bathrooms, in a machine! ha ha ha. Afterwards, we headed off to a surprise, SERENDIPITY! It's a great ice cream shop with a sundries store in the front part. A long line of people waited to get in, we waited and it was worth it. Check out the big messy sundae. They make them that way, messy! Their specialty is frozen hot chocolate. How's that for something different? The sundae was reeaally good. I got caramel and it was over very delicious vanilla ice cream.

Some mail art

Though my studio has been somewhat dismantled, I've managed to make a couple of small collages. One went to a person in London who has a site My Real Wall (as opposed to a Facebook wall) and the other went off to a mail art call in Venezuela. Hmmm, I seem to be on a foot theme! Is it because I like shoes a lot? Or because walking is once again pleasurable? The subconscious knows!

Home Again!

Our New York City trip was so much fun. Here's a view from the cab as we drove cross Manhattan on the way to our hotel and here's the view from our great hotel room Looking up West Broadway. Yes, that's the advertisement for the new Harry Potter movie. We got home on Sunday night but have had no time to organize my images from the trip. I had to spend 2 days deconstructing my studio and a small storage area in preparation for new windows. More photos of NYC soon. I want you to see the views from the new High Line and the Staten Island Ferry.

Going to NEW YORK, NEW YORK

I'm off to the BIG city! Listen here. In a few days I'll post some photos from my trip. This image shows the Weather-gram from Found-
Art that I was going to put on the shelf. I attached it to a bench that's in front of a small restaurant located a street away from my house. I hope someone finds it and appreciates it. Well, so long for now.....

The LAST Elflog update

I went out today, to put an item sent to me by Found-Art on the shelf. I stopped; I couldn't believe what I was NOT seeing. NO SHELF. GONE!! The other two images were taken on 6 July and 7 July, and now, 8 July....gone! It had to happen sometime. I began to document the shelf on this blog 3 April of 2007 and have had a very good run with it. I'm thinking maybe I'll put all of the images in a set on Flickr. When/if I do that, I'll let you know. For now: Thanks SHELF and anonymous shelf makers (there were 2 versions of the actual shelf) for 2 plus years of amazement and community sharing. It was super fun.

Elflog and birthday

My son's exhibit, After Life, opened on the evening of my birthday. You can see more about it on my Flickr page and read about it here. After the preview, we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and the chef made a neat dessert for me: a dragon, from a banana. It was delicious!

The shelf hasn't been too active lately. A few items but nothing of note. At least, it's still here, including the basket.