Sightseeing and more.

 Our nephew and his wife are visiting us from California.  We wish it weren't so hot and humid but we couldn't do much about that so on a very very hot day, we headed up the pike to Washington, D.C.
Here's photo from inside the huge Air and Space Museum.

 The Capitol building was just so picture perfect. My photo looks like a postcard, right? To bad it was so hot that we felt like we were getting heat stroke! We tried to stay indoors for a long time.

 This Merman sculpture was at the National Museum of American Indians, which is a gorgeous building, with fabulous exhibits. We spent a very long time there and learned a lot, plus we ate lunch there, as there's interesting food choices based on various native foods. Lots of vegetarian choices!

 The next day, fully recovered, we went to the Virginia State Capitol building, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson. We took a tour, actually 2, We caught the end of one, and then picked up the start of another, and we learned a lot. This is a sculpture of George Washington, done from life and life sized. 

 Sad news about the dove. Yesterday, I checked on her, and this is what was left: her simple twiggy nest was a mess, and there were some feathers, and that was it. No birds. A hawk? A cat? Who knows, but we're sad she's gone.

 Last night we had a birthday party in our patio for both myself and my honey. We invited our friends, and the neighbors, and asked them to bring food to share. What a feast. All of our friends are very good cooks. There were salads, fruits, cheeses, noodles with peanut sauce, a Turkish dish, a Persian dish, shrimp, chicken and pasta, pork barbeque, and more, plus desserts, and our birthday cakes. We didn't get a good photo of them as we just started to cut them up and eat them. 

 Mine had a curly design and my honey had stripes, like his art work. They were tres leches cakes and quite delicious. We danced a lot, which was fun. AND no one called the police on us. Possibly because   all the neighbors were there. Who's left to complain?

I had to include this little critter. This squirrel was very friendly. He came up to us while we were sitting on a ledge at the Police Memorial in D.C. I think maybe people sit out there at lunch time and share with the squirrels. It was quite used to people. 

Catching up on Mail Art and other stuff

#220

I used a cereal box for the base of #220.

#221

1965!

#219

I went by Gallery 5 for the ending of the Skull Appreciation Day exhibit, and they were having a yard sale there. I scored some 1965 editions of Life and McCall's. I could have gotten more but realized I'd broken my own rule: no more stuff, use what I've got (yes, Jordan, I remembered the rule! But over rode it!)

#219 was done on a base from a cereal box. It would have been enough with the old pansy flower and dots but I really missed using my Washi tape and somehow the gingham fit with the 1959 era flower.   I did another with the torn color paper, which I'm finding very satisfying, but then this morning, I really felt called to alter another card. These Cycladic figure ones are challenging, but I like seeing them as calm, balanced This one I entitled "Nilsa demonstrated her balancing act for the Big O Circus." Fun!
Our dove is still there and now has 3 teeny babies as of 2 days ago. I didn't want to disturb her so I'm staying far back and peeking. No photos for a bit.

Post birthday catching up

 So much has gone on since I last posted. On the 30th, I did a workshop using Mail Art as the medium. I'll post more on that next, but I didn't get to do any posting, then came a busy Friday, then my birthday and wow the days flew, though I did make mail art daily. Amazingly!

This is the new patio arrangement, like a little living room. It's been too hot during the day, but we sat out there a couple of nights, and chatted, just me and my honey.

 This is the cake we were surprised with by Micheal Sparks at a happy hour he called on Friday. He's showing Chuck's photos at his design studio/gallery. We were sooo surprised. The cake was delicious, a tres leches cake. We liked it so much that we're having more for our birthday party fun. We're having a pot luck fiesta!

 Here are two things that I got for my birthday from my son and STBDIL. They think the pen will only last 3 years in my case. I'll let you know how long it actually lasts. The other item, in case you aren't a Dr. Who fan, is a Dalek keychain torch (flashlight.) I'm delighted by both items.

Here's our little dove. She sits there so still and pays no attention to me as I poke my mobile phone into her space. Her next is so flimsy. I hope the eggs hatch and we get to see some of those big dove babies.

#210, Panda news, Dove update, and my asemic book.

 This card went off to a mail artist in Chicago, who has one blog focused on fish. I found that the entry for poisson was still in my old Larousse (that I cut up) and this fish image is from an old drawing (like 1708) of a sturgeon fish that existed in Jamestown, Virginia when it was first settled. The background is an oyster farm in southeast Asia. See Adamandia here.

 Here's Ace with the second to the last Panda Pocket. The last of the 1970's era Panda Pockets was sold and sent to Michigan. That's all folks. I saved a tiny piece to make into a tiny pillow for N. It was the fabric I purchased at his request, to cover his nap mat for school. It's exciting to see people enjoying my Pockets and especially to know that the Panda fabric (made in America, now a piece of our history) is being used. I've put up a few other Pockets in my Fritzi shop.

 I'm participating in an Asemic book project. Here is what I've done for it. I made 8 collages using strips of text cut so that they can't be read, made compositions using flat color grounds on black background. I individually glued down each strip of text, which took more time than I thought it would. I couldn't create 16 books (x 8 pages.) I copied the work two per sheet double side. It's on heavy stock, which worries me as I hope it won't interfere with the binding process. I like the way the compositions turned out. Now I'm added a letter form to each and every collage, so that no two books are the same. Rather none of the books are the same. I'll have the first 8 ready to mail by the end of the week. The rest will be send by the deadline, 22 July. I know this would be a challenge when I took it on, and I felt stretched by it, but that's a good thing. 

Here's our dove, as of yesterday. See her little eye looking at me?

Now back to work on my asemic project.

Some mail art, an eggplant and the dove.

 This adorable little eggplant was at the market last week. Such a beautiful color and I loved the shape. It reminded me of bell-skirt dresses. I didn't buy it, as I'd already chosen a couple of long Asian eggplant.

 A dove is back on our side window ledge. The same one or one of the offspring? We don't know. She is hidden from view, unless you really look. Can you see her eye, there in the center of this photo.

 I think you can see her better in this view. The little black eye. Unblinking, unmoving, she waits. The leaves sometimes are blowing around her, as our air-conditioner is on the ground below the window. She doesn't care about the sound of the machine or the leaves moving.

 I had cut out a bunch of baby heads from an advert in an old National Geographic. I took time on Saturday to find them in one of my many tins full of scraps. You'll be seeing more of Baby in Tiny Town. This one is entitled "Baby Leo was puzzled by Tiny Town's lack of interest in him." I just crack myself up with these.

Today's card, on the 209th day since I started, is an altered Fantin Latour paining of flowers done sometime in the late 1800s. I thought they looked so good in the palm of her hand, though in the painting, they're a table top arrangement. I love making the shift in perception, large & small.

A storm, a dove, and a sunset.

A storm was approaching last night, but we made it home before it hit. Winds over 60mph/96kph were predicted. Luckily, it wasn't that bad at our place.


We have a dove nesting on our sill, behind the little magnolia tree sprouting next to our air conditioner.  The air conditioner makes noise and blows a lot of air when it's on but the dove just sits still, with it's black eye looking out at us when we stop to check on her. I took the photo of her looking left, my son took the photo of her looking to the right a few days before.

Tonight the sunset was gorgeous. I loved the view of the clouds, the sun rays, and the parking lot lamp coming on.