My book club

I was invited to take part in the same book club that my son is in. He thought I'd enjoy it, since they read some interesting books, and though I'm a voracious reader, have never been in a book club.   Neat thing: my club is a book and cake club. My son, however, brings home popped spicy popped corn every time and everyone loves it.  So the special thing about this club, aside from good cakes,  is that we've been able to do some different things. We read A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and we got to speak with the author via speaker phone! My son did her web site. See it here. That was very cool and we learned a lot. Two books later, we read Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler who happens to be a local author, and guess what? Irene actually came to the club meeting to speak with us in person. How sweet is that? See Irene's site here. These two books are so worth reading. Check out some reviews of them, read about the authors, read their books. They're very cool women, and good writers. Next book we're reading is Rat Girl. I'll let you know if we get to speak with the author!

The wedding!

Sara and Carlos got married!

Sara

papel picado and lights

flowers in tins and attendant bouquet

This past Saturday, Sara and Carlos had their wedding. It turned out wonderfully. Sara and Carlos loved their day so much  that they "want to live in their wedding." The children, and there were lots of them, stayed over at the kids table, ate snacks, played, even the couple's darling boy, happily ate his lollipop (he rarely gets them.) The guests participated, joining in the blessing of the rings and singing. The reception was a lot of fun. A pavilion was decorated with papel picado, all cut out by Sara, and table flower arrangements in reproduction vintage tins done by my honey, tiny lights lit up the space. Lots of dancing, good food and drink, happy crowd.  The dress looked fabulous, the bustle ribbons worked!! Sara looked like a Spanish movie star (or what we think that one might look like.) The whole event was magical. Now back to daily life. Oh darn!

What I've been doing instead of writing letters!

tulle

tulle ruffle

I love to write letters and send out postcards, however, my correspondence is piling up on my studio desk while I engage in a labor of love. My young friend, Sara, is getting married and needed a bit of help with her wedding outfit. 

Rather than paying a lot of money to have her gown shortened, we thought a fuller under slip would bouff it out more. SO, I gathered up yards and yards of tulle into a ruffle and sewed it to the slip. It worked! It lifted a bit, just enough to clear the ground.
The next thing that need to be done was to bustle the dress. I went on-line and read lots of articles on how to do this.    I sewed ribbons to the gown in the appropriate places, which I determined while Sara was in the dress.

Adding ribbon for bustle

bustle bow

bustle tied up

After the two ribbons were attached, I could pull them together to capture the dress train and it became the bustle. It works, it works!! whew! When not bustled up, the ribbons are small, inconspicuous bows at the back of the dress. I've never done this before!

An old cook book

I was going through a book shelf in my TV room, where I keep books that I've read and might re-read. I discovered that I still had my first vegetarian cookbook. I received it, in water damaged condition, from a new colleague of ours when he learned that I was new to not eating meat. I gave up meat in 1979, November of that year, to be precise. I remember it clearly because it had to do with a very large turkey that I was preparing to cook and my dog Saffron, who was rolling on his back wanting to be petted. I won't go further with the image but that was the end of my meat eating. Anyway, it was fun to find this old friend. I looked through it but only remember using one bread recipe, and maybe, I used the part about how to sprout things and how to make yogurt, maybe. I'm going to post the bread recipe here.

Recipes

honey cake

vegan tea cake

I made a honey cake, traditional for the Jewish New Year, so that all who eat it can have a sweet year ahead. I posted the recipe for this and the vegan tea cake on my new recipe blog here.http://mim4mail.wordpress.com

We had family visiting us including our little guy from New Jersey. Since he's allergic to eggs the vegan cake is perfect. I laid out the ingredients and he made the cake himself.

One night, we had fish tacos, which everyone loved. Another night, we had salmon and chicken and salad (a feast,) and we dipped apples in honey, which is another tradition for a sweet year.
 

Check out my recipe blog. It's my old VOX blog which has been switched over to WordPress because VOX is shutting down. Now I have to acclimate to a new platform. It's different but I'l get the hang of it soon. Come see me here.

World Without Water

 I got a reminder, via e-mail, about this mail art call from Pascal (who lives in Brittany.) I sent him a piece awhile back but don't think it got to him so sent another one. Here it is. Why don't you do something like this, too. He'd like it.

World Without Water ?

 

Technique: free
Dimension: postcard

 

Deadline: in September 30th, 2010

 

First exhibition during a festival for children

(Thanks for taking into account the targeted public)

 

Snail address:

Pascal Minart - Artotem

43, rue Saint Exupéry
14150 OUISTREHAM
FRANCE

 

 http://wwwater.canalblog.com

A very cool idea! Papergirl San Francisco!

Awhile back I posted about this cool project in San Francisco. Art will be rolled up like a newspaper and tossed from a moving bicycle to random people. Read about it here. It's based on an idea started by a woman in Berlin. Read about the original project here. SO, I made some art and sent it off yesterday. Here's what one piece looks like, except you have to image this image centered on a piece of 8.5 X 11 (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm) I did 6 pieces based on three of my collages. Here's what I did: I copied three collages 2X in black and white on regular copy paper. I added lines with colored pencils with the circular lines representing the art being tossed. I then used my sewing machine to sew on something additional. The pieces can be rolled up easily. What fun to participate in this project.

International Literacy Day

September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place around the world.

Some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 72.1 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

Today, I baked a honey cake, to celebrate the Jewish Holy Days related to the New Year. I was able to read the recipe and am grateful for that. I am a voracious reader, I can't imagine not being able to read books. There's a way to help literacy programs, lots of them, in fact. One way is to buy books through Better World Books here. Another way is here. Another way would be to find someplace in your community that needs books or tutors. If you reading is important to you, like it is to me, take action.

A bit of this and that.

I left Los Angeles last Wednesday. The day started early as I had to catch the 10h30 bus from Van Nuys airport to LAX. The lines for security were long and it's all so tiring!
The flight was full but it was a smaller aircraft than scheduled and 50 volunteers were needed to give up their seats. I wasn't volunteering, I wanted HOME! I had a window seat so was able to get a few images of the departure. I really like looking down a the landscape.

Aloft, leaving L.A.

A marina, notice the wakes of the little boats.

My flight went directly from Los Angeles to Washington DC Dulles airport. 5 hours later, we were on the east coast but my body clock didn't arrive with me. I had an hour wait before my flight to Richmond, a short 30 minute hop. By the time I arrived home it was nearly midnight.  I've been jet lagging, tired, ever since I got home. aaagh, I need to catch up!  I've sooo much to catch up on.

Mom's pink bunny

Here's the last of Mom's stuffed friends. This one sleeps on her bed. It's really big and she really likes it.

Mom's kitty

This little kitty sits outside mom's door. It used to have a plant in it but now it's empty. Mom keeps saying that she's going to do some planting but that's wishful thinking. Nice thinking, however, not happening. 

Found in my mail box

When I got home, I had some nice Mail Art waiting for me from Found-Art, letters from two correspondence friends, and a postcard from Postcrossing from China. So nice to come home to real mail. 

Gorgeous cake pan!

I'd hardly settled in, when I remembered we had to go to a birthday party and I was signed up to bring a cake. So, my trusty gorgeous pan to the rescue, whew, another smashingly interesting chocolate cake! (secret recipe: a box mix! Don't tell anyone, shhhh.)