In coming Mail Art, Out going Mail Art (& 2 cuties)

365.3 #150

 Here's they are, milestones of sorts. #300 and #150, these numbers make me feel like I'm getting to my goal. Plus, I really like the way these turned out. They're among my recent favorites. I made them last week. This week isn't going so great so far, in terms of Mail Art. But can't be 100% all the time, right?

365.2 #300

 Awhile ago, I received this very, oh so very, Dean pieces of Mail Art. It's a piece of wood, with rounded corners, that he, no doubt, gleaned from the streets of Paris. What it's original use, I have no idea, but Dean turned it into amazing-ness. He covered the front with  an intricately woven something-or-other and many faces of Olivier.  More on Olivier in a moment.

 Here's the address side. On this side there are wonderful French postage stamps, strips of text cut from posters for Olivier's performance (How to become Parisian in One Hour)

On the card, Dean tells  me that he scored quite a few of the posters while attending the performance. When I got the card, I thought that Dean had written the messages and faked the autographs. ha ha ha, but wait......

 the real story comes out now. Dean sent me this photo of Olivier, mailing this card to me! The autographs are genuine. Wow!

Now the rest of the story.   My Honey and I went to see this show last winter, while in Paris. We loved it, thought it was hilarious, laughed so much. We kept telling people about it. Dean had told us that Olivier is his neighbor. How cool, right?

Then, one evening, my honey and I, plus 3 of our Mail Artist friends went to dinner at Dean & his wife's. We were in the entry foyer, in the dark, because we didn't know where to find the light switch (this is an energy saving custom, no lights on until you turn them on.)All 5 of us were huddled around the door bell panel, trying to find Dean's buzzer, when the outside door opened, and the lights came on.
We turned, I'm laughing as I write this, and there in front of us were Olivier and Claudie. How surprised they must have been, as were we. Oh, my, I'm laughing right now at remembering this moment. I then realized that this was OLIVIER from the performance! I stammered out something about seeing the show, and he said something nice, and then wished us goodnight as he and Claudie disappeared up the stairs. We held ourselves back from getting hysterical laughing. We made it up to Dean's, by squishing into the elevator, with stifled laughter, until we entered his apartment and laughed and laughed, and finally when we calmed down, told Dean and V. the story. This may not be funny when you read it, but picture the situation from each perspective. In the dark, huddled group, lights on, SURPRISE!

And for those of you in London, Olivier is performing his show  there. Go and see it! You won't be sorry you did. 
 

 Now to wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes, and continue. Here's a photo of Bizoo, which I took yesterday. He was on my lap while I was trying to use the computer. He is so lively. He shows us that a paper bag, or a big sheet of crumpled brown paper can be so much fun. What a reminder to take joy in simple things.

And here is our grand! This is Zinn, appearing to be dancing some lively folk dance! This was sent to us from Chicago, the other day, which is a city full of folk dance opportunities. Opa!

CD mail art & a funny story in Paris

 My friend Katerina has inspired me to use old CDs, & ones that come in the mail advertising something, as Mail Art material.  Here I am mailing one yesterday.

 Here's the reverse, me covering address so it'll be a surprise to the recipient, but showing that there's no return address. This is a hint from my friend Dean, who sends wild stuff through the mail. He figures that once there's a stamp on it, and it's in the mail box, the postal service has to deal with it. And indeed it has, Dean sent me sand from Normandy Beach in France in a small plastic bag. I received it.

 Here's the close up of the CD mail art, my second one of what I hope will be many.

 Here's a funny bird that we spotted at Fountain Lake during the past week. We don't know what it is but the gulls and geese didn't mind it's presence. Anyone? Sorry the image is small, I took it with my cell phone from a distance.

Okay, now my funny, to me at least, story.  When we were in Paris, Dean recommended that we see a performance by his neighbor, which was playing at a near by venue. So I went on-line, ordered the tickets, looked up the address on Google-maps, even put the little person on the street and had it look around so I'd not walk past the narrow passage (pah-sahje) leading to the theatre. We're all set for a night of fun. The show is in English, one hour long, and will teach us to be Parisian.  The show was very funny. We laughed a lot and learned how to be Parisian. (check it out here.)I actually put some of the hints into play later that week. No, seriously, I used some of the looks and shoulder shrugs and felt quite good about it.

But here's the funny part, to me. The weekend after seeing the performance was the Mail Art meet-up. After a day of making Mail Art, our little group made it's way to Dean & his wif'e's apartment for dinner. We did the code on the entry, got in, the door closed behind us and we were in the dark, not knowing where the light switch was. Oops. So the three guys with their tiny flashlights/torches aimed them at the panel of names (with the buttons to push for entry into the next set of doors to the elevator.) Suddenly, the outer door opens and the entry light comes on. I turn (everyone does) to face the door and there is a couple. A man and a woman, face to face with yours truly (I was at the back of the little group of flashlight bearers.) I realized in a nano second that it was Olivier, the performer! His eyes were wide in surprise, of course, seeing this huddled mass of people with tiny torches peering at the call box. And I say - "Oh My God, it's you!" at which he is even more wide eyed. I'd used a line from his show, that he said all the time to indicate an American woman. "Oh My God." I had to do it, I had to say it, I couldn't help myself, he triggered it in my brain. I followed it with, "We saw your show." He said thanks, waved at us, said good night, went up the stairs, as we stifled our laughter. We managed to get up to the apartment before we fell to laughing, as I explained what happened. The Mail Art group didn't know who the man was, but the whole thing of what it must have been like for him to see us there in the dark, made us laugh harder.

I'm not sure this is funny, if one wasn't there, but if you are ever in Paris, check and see if this performance is still playing and go see it. It's really funny and maybe you'll get the chance to run into Olivier somewhere in the city, like we did. Just carry a tiny flashlight, in case you need it.