More of the usual plus the unusual

#213

#63

 Monday, I switched direction away from my minimals. I wanted to try out my new Cavallini rubber stamps. Oh I do like them, having to do with postal things. Even those waving lines to cancel faux postage.

#64

#214

I used a nice gray card board, the backing for the stamps that I receive in the mail, and tore up a 2010 estimate for ridding our house of termites. Turned out that we didn't have any. Hah! Used postage stamps from Finland and tiny cut out squares from some other project came in handy.






Here are two more in this series.
Fun with stamps. These are from a different Cavallini set that my honey got for me awhile ago.









And the rubber stamps on this one are from my collection of postal franks and immigration stamps.

 Here's our surprise yesterday -  ususual, snow falling! We didn't get a lot but it was cold and very windy. The valley region to the west and north of us got LOTS of snow. I heard some places got 30".  Wow, memories of my childhood.

Here's another unusual thing - a snapping turtle that we saw at the Maymont nature center last week. It was so prehistoric looking. One of the staff told us that mature one's spend all their time in the water, but when it was less-mature (I guess) they used to have a ramp in the tank so it could climb up out of the water. One day, they came into the center and found this guy taking a stroll!
What a surprise for them!

Saturday, Mail Art catch up continuing

#59

 The two pieces of mail art that I completed on Thursday used my default - circles! I was tight with time, having house guests so the default was a perfect solution. The use of the black background always make the color stand out nicely. I really like the way these quickly done pieces look.

#209

#210

#60

 Friday, I found perfect bits to add to the Chuck Scalin assemblage cards. Especially the two seated women. They are a perfect foil for the serious faces in the background.

I like that I added only the small image between the hands to #60. A simple solution that changes the card immensely.

#211

#61

 Here we go on Saturday - altered cards again. I gave myself a big smile by putting this Bollywood dancer onto the street at Times Square. He added such life to the black and white photo. I could almost hear the music playing with the tabla percussion.








This turned out to be a rather sweet image. I'm always stymied by the bouquet of flowers card. I think this is the last of them that I purchased at the big VMFA sale a couple years ago. The little Victorian scrap worked out okay.

On Friday afternoon, we managed to pop into the Nature Center at Maymont Park. The otters, Neptune and Pandora, were asleep, but a helpful staff member woke them for us. They came down to a lower level, where Pandora proceeded to entertain us by swimming acrobatically in the water. Neptune slept and didn't even awake when his partner kept nudging him. They are so much fun to visit. I recommend otter watching to make you feel uplifted.

Walk to the Park.

A new day in Los Angeles, but too chilly to take mom for a walk, so we are indoors keeping ourselves busy. Here are a few images from a week ago today. We went on a long walk with the family. We passed fountain lake in Byrd Park, and continued on to Maymont Park, which was filled with families. We didn't know that it was an activity day there. The weather was perfect for being outdoors. There was an artist working on a painting of the little lake.



This is Fountain Lake, where there are paddle boats in the summer.
The tulips were in the front garden of a house that faced Shields Lake,