Mail Art +

#78

 I didn't go minimal or maximal, I altered a vintage card again. I couldn't help myself. These tap shoe feet had to be used. I love the idea of a giant tap dancing on an empty road with an Indian dancer looking on. As usual, I amused myself.

 More from the Chihuly exhibit. These pieces are called Persians and they're in the ceiling of a short corridor. I wanted to lay down on the floor and look up, but too many people to do that. So beautiful.

 Sarah L. was traveling in Vienna and came across this gallery. Pretty fun to see my family name in BIG letters on a gallery.

Here I am with the REAL HiMonkey. I was so happily surprised by his arrival at the launch of The Alternative Speakers bureau last month in New York City. I had no idea that he'd be there. Wow, what a treat!

Yogurt cake, Mail Art, and some more NYC

#63

 I did the background for this then let it dry. Then I tried to make trees. ha ha ha ha! I cracked myself up. Nope, not trees!  I ended up doing some sewing on top and decided that this looked like something from a fantasy sci-fi story. Some aliens under an alien sky?

#64

This watercolor pieces is kind of wimpy. I did it, let it dry, then added some details. Nothing is bold enough. I'm being tense about this. I probably should have sewn on top of it, but instead, I'm sending it out as is. I'll keep practicing.

I decided to make the Yogurt cake recipe that Kristin Espinasse had on her blog - French Word-a-day. I posted it on my recipe blog. HERE.  It turned out really deliciously! It'll be a perfect treat tomorrow, when the weather turns cold. I'll sit with a cup of tea, a book, and some yogurt cake. hmmm, perfect.

Here's Yvette Ho of Panade in NYC, with Monkey of HiMonkey fame. I forgot that I had taken this while a "formal" photo was being taken for Monkey's blog.

 Another kind of monkey is on the "billboard" next to MoMA. Oh, yes, PLAY! That's important for toy monkey's and for all of us.

This church is on the corner of Essex and Henry St. It's what we saw when we walked out of the apartment we were staying in, in Chinatown. This view, for me, looks like we're in a small city, not Manhattan. It was a very cozy corner of a busy, big city.

We're HERE!!

 Finally, on our way!
We left Richmond, VA yesterday later than expected. Scheduled departure: 4h30, actual departure 5h15! Why? We start to taxi out to the runway, then the pilot comes on saying that there is a problem with a passenger being buckled in and we have to return to the gate. !!! Turns out some woman couldn't get her child to buckle up! They were in the back of the plane, we were closer to the front. The child was screaming hysterically. We were thinking maybe it was sick and thinking if the child does this all the way to Atlanta the other passengers are going to be going crazy!The flight attendant finally called the pilot and told him what was going on and he made the decision to put them off the plane. We were late into Atlanta and some people were going to miss their connection. But people were so relieved that they didn't have to listen to shrieking the whole way. Luckily, we had plenty of time for our continuing flight to Paris.

 We did get to see some gorgeous sunset at the airport while waiting to take off.

 I shot this out of the window as we were landing in Atlanta. It's so festive!

 Here's all of the mail waiting for us at the Cite when we arrived. We were at reception, filling out the paperwork, and they handed us this. I think they were pretty awed by it! Mail from Katerina, Val, Mary, Emmy, Kerri, & Annie. Wow, we are so fortunate - to be in Paris and to get so much wonderful mail.




After we set up the studio, which is a living and working in space. We went to sleep for a couple hours. We got up and went shopping for dinner. Here are some of the things we bought and there is Traveling HiMonkey in the midst of the dinner fixings.

Packed & ready - ish

 I'm packed! Unless I decided to take some things out of the suitcase, I'm ready.
This is what I packed for art supplies, except I eliminated the roller tape (don't ask why.)
HiMonkey aka "traveling monkey" will be with me again.

Here's what I'm taking. The Blue suitcase is a 22" one. I'm not taking my water bottle, it's just for scale. The bright pink duffle isn't stuffed but is carrying the bag of chargers, and a change of clothing in case the suitcase is misplaced, and a little plastic bag with liquids/gels (my tiny toothpaste, my Rescue Remedy, and some lotion.)
The colorful bag on top is my "purse/tote" which holds my REAL purse, Kindle, laptop, and the folder with eTickets, etc.

Whew. I did it.

My trip, coming soon.

I've decided to pull out my traveling HiMonkey, who was a lovely companion on previous trips abroad.

Here he is, on a background of postcards that I received from him. He's small so he's no trouble to pack, and he's flat. I put him on a new sturdy backing and trimmed him up a bit to refresh him.

When I return, or when I get to a cyber cafe, you'll see him enjoying some new views. To learn more about the REAL HiMonkey, visit here.
and here. 
Monkey is also on Facebook as Moi LeSinge.

Do you ever travel with a non-human companion? What is it?

On our way & we're here!

We left Richmond, VA, USA on Sunday afternoon for a connection flight in Detroit to the City of Lights. In the terminal, there was this cool tram. See the tram rail above us? See the speedy red tram going by? Very quiet and fast.
We are here again, see archives of fall 2006 and 2007 for details of the studio at the Cite International des Arts. I'll post some images of the studio space as we have it set up this time. Here is HiMonkey on studio table. I'll be taking pix of H.M. to send to his home & show on my blog occassionally. We are very tired, we are in fact quite sleep deprived, but happy to be back, and ready for new adventures. Tomorrow is a holiday, Armistice day, so many things will be closed, but we'll do some grocery shopping early while the shop is still open (the sign said open from 9 to 2 at the Franprix market.) So bon nuit from Paris!