Sunday - Mail Art and more

 I really enjoy having coffee at the cafe at VMFA. It's mostly quiet there.

 I was looking down at my back garden, from our bedroom window. Looks like a dolls garden, with tiny furniture.

 The Azalea planted along the side of our house have bloomed. They look great this year.

365.2 #259

365.3 #109

These two card on cardboard substrate are done with just 3 bits. Some tear off of an old French receipt, a scrap from a paper sample book, and a punched out circle.








I really do find minimal compositions satisfying. You've read this before so this is not news to you, about my preferences.

365.2 #260

I'm going to get a kitten. Finally, the house has felt bereft of a pet since our dog died 2.5 year ago. We used to have cats, as well as dogs, so this isn't new for us, but it's been awhile.


I'm feeling very cat mood now. Our friend took in a stray cat, which happened to be pregnant. 5 kittens were born - and after awhile, hearing about them from our friends, talking about them with M, who's
been

365.3 #110

 encouraging me to do this, I decided to put my name on one of the kitties. "The calmest one," I told my friend.

I've chosen to name it "Neblina." It'll come to live with us after May 9th.

You'll see plenty of photos of it on this blog.

So what do you think the cats are saying?

365.2 #261

365.3 #111

#261 is going to Seville, Spain for a Mail Art call for blue mail art.











#111 is going to Sicily, Italy, for a Mail Art request for an exhibit and book in honor of Gerardo Sangiorgio, who was a poet and humanitarian. He resisted the Nazis in Italy, spent years in a prison camp, was freed and returned to Sicily. This is what I can make out with my poor knowledge of the Italian language. In any case, I'm pleased to honor him with this collage.

Mail Art, chickens, and Mom

#919

 I'm moving slowly forward towards my 1000 cards since 1 Dec. 2010. Slowly, for some reason, not wanting to rush my experience. The base for this one is a cracker box. I like the crackers appearing over a horizon. This is part of a continuing series of "poetry" cards.

 The plant in the foreground is an azalea bush. My honey thought he was buying a gardenia bush, didn't read the tag, just saw three big white blossom. He was surprised when he got home. But it's a nice plant, and my honey's arrangement of potted greenery looks nice. This is a very homey corner of the back garden/patio. We like to sit out here.

 These cement chickens have been part of our life for a long time. I just decided that they had to live by the steps so I could spot the edge at night. They look good here, don't they?  Which reminds me to tell you about this-------

 Here's an adorable note from my neighbor girls. They brought us eggs from their chickens. The chickens are in danger from a neighbor, who's complained to the city about them. There had appeared to be an allowance for people to have a small number of chickens, no roosters, in the city so I don't know the details of the complaint. The girls have taken around a petition. They're fighting the complaint. I give the chickens my organic veggie scraps. They're beautiful birds. The girls are very sad. I'll see if I can get some nice photos of the hens to show you.

 Here's Mom doing another of the things she likes to do, read the daily newspaper. She can read it four times during the day, each time, like it's new news. She'll read aloud items she finds particularly interesting.

In the neighborhood

I can't believe it's almost a week since I posted anything. What happened? It got very hot all of a sudden. Right now, at 22h39 (10:30 pm) it's 80F/28C and very very moist! The air is very moist!! It's left us feeling so lethargic we can barely move around, let alone take a walk in the neighborhood.

Here are a couple photos from earlier in the week when I was noticing the tops of some neighborhood buildings. They are really nice. One reminds me of Holland (well sort of) and the other two of some little village somewhere.

The azalea bushes in our back garden (all two of them) have bloomed nicely. I'd cut them back pretty drastically the year before last and that really helped them bloom better. Who knew I'd be such a capable gardener.

On Tuesday evening, I attended a lecture by a professor from the University of Texas at Dallas who is the expert on Impressionism. He did a lecture on Alfred Sisley whose work I really really like. I like his snowy scenes especially. The prof was terrific, very funny and real, he kept us engaged and it was all over too soon. He showed lots of slides. When I got home, I got out the book I'd bought when I went to see the Sisley show in Baltimore in 1993. It was a gorgeous and eye-opening show. Oh to paint landscapes like Sisley. No, really, I do wish I could do that.