Getting ready +

 I needed a new suitcase for our trip. I wanted something very light weight and lucky for me, someone did a lot of research and I happened on it. She bought three suitcases and reviewed them on a web site (wish I could remember which one.) She had certain criteria - like it won't tip over! a good one.  She did all the research and I used it. My suitcase arrived today. It's an Eagle Creek Hovercraft 2, 22" (no one is paying me to write this!)  I'm pleased. Thank you, Lady, whoever you are.

My friend Anke in Germany, sent out a holiday greeting which included this drawing by her son Lars. I love it! I just had to share it with you.

The geese are still in the park. I took that route home from Spanish class today, as usual, so I could check on them. I had to navigate my turn slowly, as several geese were crossing the road. I'm happy to see them there. A lot of people complain about them, but I'm thrilled to see wildlife, like this, just a few blocks from my house in the city.




Here are a couple of my African Violet plants. They are blooming beautifully. I've arranged for them to be cared for while I'm away. I'm very fond of them and have had them for awhile.

 Here are two pages from the booklet that I'm working on. I think the fan, with the piece of a photo I took in Venice, works really nicely.

 On this double-page spread, I adhered a small envelope that is transparent and put some scraps in it.  For the line that continues across all of the pages, I'm using an ink brush pen.

 Yesterday, I received mail from my friend Andrea in the U.K. You might remember her and her friend Beanie, whom I met while in London last spring. She used some kind of holographic tinsely pen, which I like a lot, and which doesn't show up on this scan. boo hoo. The musical holiday greeting is from Roberto in P.R.

I played around with watercolors today and made some mail art with it. I sent it unscanned and un-numbered!

Wednesday update and some more Tiny Town!

 We had some small pie pumpkins out in our garden as decorations for the halloween party that didn't happen (it was cold and rainy that night.) A couple of squirrels  have been very happy, they are looking mighty healthy! It's been fun to watch them tackle these.

 Driving home from Spanish class, I stopped to look at the geese on Fountain Lake (an tiny artificial lake.) They were very quiet.  See what a gray day it was today? It's been raining but it's warm. Very odd, it's December!

 Here's our stash of holiday cards that my honey pulled out of the drawer. The green ones in the center were a gift from a letter writing friend who scored a 90% off sale on cards. So nice of her to share. And we will mail these off as we want to support our postal system as much as possible, as well as wish everyone some cheer.

 Here's some shadow play from Saturday in D.C. The sun was so bright that we got some nice crisp outlines.

 Even though my Mail Art 365 project has ended, I'm still sending out Mail Art and Tiny Town is still going. Today's cards show the amazing news: open-faced sandwiches appeared from a courtyard.

Tiny Town residents were confounded by this, and the mystery of who made them remains to this day!

A foggy day in the park and mail art

 Go back two post and you'll see the difference. We drove to the walking trail but had my honey stop the car so I could snap this photo. Amazing difference from the past couple of days.  The geese had moved further into the park beside the walking trail. There were few people out there this morning. Here are a few images for you to see.

 Today's series, #344, was all made from scraps from the little box. Again, I limited myself to 4 pieces of paper. Fortunately, I had some really cool images to use, which gave a nice consistency.

 I have no titles for these, as I'm hoping someone will come up with some good ones. I think there's a nice narrative going on. All I could think of was "Don't look at the shoes" or "feet." ha ha ha

 I did nothing to the bits as I pulled them from my scrap box, except clean up some of the edges on the heads or legs.

 I couldn't believe how I had enough of each part and, also, the speckled or dotty paper.

Here's my work table this morning. There's the box of scraps and the cards in progress. I'm going to try to work out of this box for the next few days. Few, indeed, as I'm coming close to the end of my year long project. Unbelievable!

Mail Art in and out & the lake

 The lake look so beautiful, I just had to share another photo of it.

 Yesterday was so bright, the leaves with their changing colors were so wonderful.

 The shadows against the wall were crisp. This was yesterday. Today, a whole different look which you'll see in my next post.










This is yesterday's mail art. I chose 4 pieces from the little box of scraps as a limitation on myself. I like the result.

#343

I am so far behind on scanning and posting my received mail art. Lots of wonderful mail arrived at my house the past couple weeks, from all over the world. Lucky me!

Back to "normal?"

 We walked to the vita trail this morning and the geese weren't at the little fountain lake, except for maybe 2 or 3. Where were they? Further along, there they were, grazing in the grassy areas. There's my honey walking ahead as the geese cross the roadway unperturbed by a person's presence.

 I snapped this as we walked back. How serene the little lake, with just a few geese near it. I took lots of photos or this scene, with the clear reflection on the still water. The sky really was so blue today. Even my old school flip phone captured it.

 I borrowed an eReader from the library and took it to the park. While my honey continued on for a couple more miles, I sat and read The Greater Journey by David McCollough. I'm getting used to reading on the little reader in preparation for our travels.

Today's mail art, on day 342 of my 365 project (can't believe it's almost a year.) I went back to one of my boxes of scraps that I'd used early on in the project and pulled out color paper. I didn't change up anything, shapes or sizes, just arranged them on the postcard blank. It looks so retro. I'm thinking of this week as sort of a retrospective of earlier output.

Mail art update, other stuff, and some geese

 This was such a cool image to me. As M and I walked behind VMFA yesterday, after having been to the Virginia Historical Society to see a terrific exhibit, we saw these painters. They were the same color as the building and, to me, looked like a Georg Segal sculpture. Cool, right?   We were headed to the post office, with a stop for the ribbon cutting at our newly refurbished branch library. Fun!

 Mail art #286 makes me laugh. I used the back end of an illustration of a prehistoric fish that lived back when Jamestown was settled (1607-ish.) My comment had to do with the residents thinking this was something from M. Melies studio, like a big hot air balloon.

 This one is 286a. A pensive looking boy, gazing at the tiny men on tiny horses following tiny dogs.

 We scored some tiny (yes, that word again) alphabet stamp sets at the craft store on Monday. Only $1, which is a good deal, indeed. I was playing around with the stamps and decided to use the bits for collage.

 Every time I get back to some minimal cards, I feel satisfied. Something about the LESS-ness of them, satisfies me. A couple three scraps, a bit of Washi tape, et voila, minimal mail art.

 This morning was the first day of our new year of Spanish class. On the way home, I took the short cut through Byrd park and...there were birds there. Geese were all over the place. I put my phone out the window and snagged a couple of images.

Fortunately, there were no cars behind me so I could stop. They weren't making a sound. Must be the stop over on the way south, right?