More from Mexico

We took an architecture tour of San Miguel de Allende, led by our friend Barry Zaid, who now resides in SMA. It was very interesting, of course.

Patterns, tiles, colors, good memories.

Can you make out the sign? Yes, that's a Starbuck's, right in the center of SMA.

Catching the sunset from the balcony, from the house on Terraplen calle. Does that tree look like a monster to you?

Dotty mail art & a memory

 It's quiet today. The streets are quiet. No cars going past. The sky is gray, but the sun is a brightness showing through like a thin haze. Very odd light.
I decided that I needed some color, so I dug out the Color-Aid paper and played with layers and dots.

 The substrate is cut from some scrap cardboard with angles at the corners.

This is the loveliest tree we'd ever seen. It was nearby and we'd go to see it night after night. I was decorated like this for 2 or maybe 3 years. We just loved seeing it. Now it's only a memory, revisited in photos.

The owners of the house & tree gave us such a lovely gift. I hope they knew that; I think they knew that. I'm glad I have photos of it.

It reminds me of something I read this morning in the latest issue of The Sun magazine; Sy, the editor, was reminded of the Buddha saying "Remember we're not here forever. Every moment is precious."
I'm grateful for all  my precious moment.
And grateful for you, my friends!

a surprise visit

 My little neighbors surprised me this afternoon with 4 eggs from their chickens. They told me that one of these was the 2nd egg produced. They were so sweet to share with me. Aren't these lovely?

 This is our Art-o-Mat machine. On Wednesday, 30 November, it'll get filled with our tiny artwork, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of it's being in Richmond.  Now to finish my tiny landscapes!

 Day 357's mail art. My title -  "Mama said: Pay attention to what makes sense."

This is the view from my studio window this morning. There's a "hole" in the holly tree and I can see the red leaves on the tree across the street. It was a gray day, it drizzled off and on, however, the people in the market seemed pretty upbeat as they shopped for their day of giving thanks meal fixings.  

Mail art and a "contest"

#273a

 Tip toe across the icy rocks: Whose idea was this?

#273

I've enjoyed finding heads to put on these landscapes and come up with captions. They're for the 365 day mail art project, of course. I've gotten some funny comments on them, which I enjoy.

I have a few more of the postcards, but they're going to be more challenging to alter.

#274

Yesterday, I went back to my minimal collage idea. Three pieces of collage material and a stripe. I cut the Washi tape thinner.   I used titles from the math book for this one and the next.

This morning, I stayed with the minimal theme, again cutting a thin stripe of Washi tape as the unifier.

#275

Tree A - long seed pods

 THE CONTEST! Name these trees. 

I was wondering what these trees were. Maybe one of you can help me. If you can identify these (send me a link to some reference) I'll send you a prize. Be sure to leave some way for me to contact you.  First 3 people to get them correct get the prize/s.

Tree B - seed pods from tree that fell over

Tree C - Very pointy spikes on this seed pod

The seed pods are in a cluster. This cluster is about 6" long (15cm)













The tree is filled with these, sometimes in clusters. They look soft and fluffy but aren't. They've got mean spikes on them.

Tree B - knocked down by Irene!

Some New York pix

A tree in Chelsea Market made of CDs

 We had a really nice time in NYC. We strolled through Chelsea Market, which is a great place to get out of bad weather. This tree made of CDs catches the tiny lights, twinkles a lot. Good re-use, right?

Keith's exhibit at OK Harris Gallery in SoHo

 We walked lots and until Sunday, the weather was relatively mild. We were so happily surprised.    This shop in SoHo has 800 old sewing machines on display in the window and inside the shop.

A clothing shop & lots of old sewing machines.

Waverly Diner

Sunday the weather was awful. It rained really heavily. We met up with our daughter and had breakfast at the Waverly Diner in the west village where I managed to leave a book that I'd registered on BookCrossing. I hope someone found it. 

MoMA -  Barnett Newman

We went up to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Abstract Expressionist show. Here's my honey and our daughter in front of a BIG red painting.  We also saw an amazing Anselm Keifer show at Gagosian Gallery, twice, we liked it so much.

MoMA

 People in the museum were looking down watching a performance piece. It's was pretty strange. A man playing Ode to Joy, backwards and upside down. Why? Because he was inside of a piano, a hole cut into it, he was popped up in the middle, leaning over playing. Very strange!

Monday night, it was very cold. We met up with our daughter and had dinner at Pala (yummy pizza) and afterwards went to a small cafe/coffee shop for dessert. A wonderful vegan chocolate layer cake! The window lights reflected on the table top looked so festive to me.

Coffee shop window.

Our train ride back to Virginia was very relaxing. We got to see things so differently than when we'd drive. This bridge was in New Jersey, just after we'd left New York City.  It looked so peaceful, and unused.

By the time we reached home, it was dark and time for dinner.  .  

An assortment of things

My REAL WALL

Wire sketches

Letter openers

Studio view

where I've been spending lots of time

I decided to show you my REAL WALL, which is a term that my IUOMA friend, Andytgeezer, uses to show his postcards. You won't believe how his blog looks like a certain social network site. Check it out here.Such a clever guy! Anyway, my wall is such a jumble these days. Andy's recent Mail Art in on the wall, among other items.

I spend a lot of time at my sewing machine these days in preparation for the Bizarre Market holiday shop. I love the view out my window, nothing but sky and a giant holly tree, and sometimes birds. On the window ledge, I have lots of my small wire sketches.  I collect the wire bindings from old calendars, paper sample books, and others items before the paper part gets tossed into the recycling bin. I make "action sketches" out of the wire.

I've been wanting a letter opener for a long time. I saw one on-line that I wanted but it's no longer available, a very modern metal one by Montblanc (of pen fame.) I went onto eBay and found these two, one a plastic replica of an ivory item and the other a vintage plastic opener. They were each less than a USD. I'm quite happy with both of them. They work!! No more ripping open mail with my fingers, I can nicely neatly slice it open.   I write and receive lots of real mail, and felt badly about wrecking the envelopes. Okay, I know, I could use a knife, but a special opener is cool.

Now back to my studio!

about a scary night

So last Saturday, I was helping mom get ready for bed, when she felt faint and weak on her left side. She was very frightened, of course, We called emergency and had her taken to the emergency room of the hospital,which is very close to where she lives. My sister and I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning in the ER. Mom was admitted at 4 a.m. finally and my sister and I went back to her place and were so hungry that we ate part of the noodle pudding (kugel) that I'd made for mom's Sunday celebration. We were so tired! Mom only stayed over night. We brought her home in time for her celebration. Yay! This is a photo of a tree by the hospital parking area and a view of the mountains from her room. Here is the kugel, and the recipe is here. Mom is now back to making covers for pillows. These are two that she made while I've been here. I crocheted the parts together for her. In the background is one of the many afghans she made, but now can't remember how to do the pattern. She made one for pratically everyone in the family. They are our treasures, next to mom herself!

Salad, FRBs and a nice view

The other night, I made a really nice salad and had to share the image of it. It was so good with different textures and flavors. It was the entire meal with some bread and butter.

Today, while driving home from my Spanish class, I went through Byrd Park and saw this gorgeous tree.

After lunch, I packed up the two Flat Rate Boxes that I'd finished filling to send to soldiers in Afghanistan. I'm an official volunteer with Books for Soldiers. Please consider joining this group or sending a donation to keep the site up and running. You can become a friend of this group on Facebook, too, but it's best to actually join and send packages or letters or postcards. It's very rewarding!