We CAN!

 

Thank YOU, Gracias, Danke, Grazie, Mercie Arigato

To all of the people who are on the front lines during this time of the plague. To the medical personnel, and to the people who clean up at the medical facilities, to the food service people, the grocery store clerks and stocking people, to the bus drivers, and the delivery people, the farm workers, to those choosing to do the hard work, the scary work, and those not being able to make a choice about it, for whatever reason, THANK YOU.

And to those stepping up to figure out how to make face shields, volunteers who sew cloth masks, volunteers who use their laser cutters, and 3D printers to figure out how to make protective gear. To the Researchers who are working tirelessly to come up with a vaccine. To the people who volunteered to have antibodies tested on them. To so many more, THANK YOU.

(thanks for ChristopherArndtPostcards.com for this cool postcard)

Some recent Mail Art, my cat, my grand, and my mom!

#8 - 2015

 My husband did another Artists Coloring Book project and I made a collage for it.

Pages from the book were printed and posted during the exhibit and viewers were encouraged to color on the prints.

After the exhibit came down, I got the colored on prints which I promptly cut up to postcard size (did that with C.s print, too.)

Here are a couple of them. I added some color and mailed them out, encouraging the recipients to add more color.

#9 - 2015

 Here's BIZOO! He's getting Bigger and bigger. He still loves to lounge on this scratching pad.

 Here's our grand-girl, Z, on one of our trips to the museum. We found a lovely, quiet spot to hang-out and eat a pretzel or two, with a nice view of the Boulevard. She's wearing a huge sweater, her choice, with the sleeves rolled up. It's dark gray with a black skull on the front. She's making a fashion statement!

Estelle at 18.

And here's Mom! She celebrated her 101st birthday on the 19th. She lives nearly 3000 miles away from me, but nearby family celebrated with her and she enjoyed the attention.

What do you think about living to be over 100 years old?

Mail Art and knitting and SPRING!

 I've had this Gettysburg, PA battlefield postcard for awhile. It's got a message on the back and was originally mailed in 1941. How to alter a postcard of the bloodiest battlefield in the U.S.?
It felt good to put the little musician (or big by scale in this case) there to play a commemorative tune. One day, I'm planning to take a road trip to Gettysburg. Have you been there?

 In my knitting group, I'm challenging myself to learn new things. I wanted to learn to follow a color change pattern.

I made the small hat, or rather it turned out child sized, first. I made the color changes too tightly, but Zinn looks great in this hat and she liked it.


I plotted out a pattern on graph paper and using only two colors, made this slouch hat. It's worked on a round needle. I'm pleased with the results and, Voila! It fits an adult head!

My next challenge is to learn to use double pointed needles. I've found an easy fingerless glove pattern to work with.

Did I show you these cute little baby hats that my sister makes? I put them in my Etsy shop.

I sent my sister the slouch hat pattern and the circular needle. I'm excited to have her try something new, too. I hope she's excited about that.

Spring is here! These Star of Bethlehem plants always make me happy. I dug up some of the plants several years ago from a nearby alley way and planted them in our front garden. They spring up amongst the rocks and look so friendly.

 Okay, so I spoil him by not immediately chasing him away from the laptop. It's sort of my way of seeing how BIG he's getting. Still growing, oh my.









Yesterday was drizzly and chilly, so I decided it was Lentil Soup time again. This is a fabulous recipe, which I've posted before. it's from the cookbook Veganomicon. Even if you're not a vegan or even a vegetarian, you'll enjoy this recipe. It can be found on my recipe blog HERE.

Enjoy!
    Let me know if you make the soup.

Mail Art +

#78

 I didn't go minimal or maximal, I altered a vintage card again. I couldn't help myself. These tap shoe feet had to be used. I love the idea of a giant tap dancing on an empty road with an Indian dancer looking on. As usual, I amused myself.

 More from the Chihuly exhibit. These pieces are called Persians and they're in the ceiling of a short corridor. I wanted to lay down on the floor and look up, but too many people to do that. So beautiful.

 Sarah L. was traveling in Vienna and came across this gallery. Pretty fun to see my family name in BIG letters on a gallery.

Here I am with the REAL HiMonkey. I was so happily surprised by his arrival at the launch of The Alternative Speakers bureau last month in New York City. I had no idea that he'd be there. Wow, what a treat!

Writing postcards.

When my niece's mother-in-law died, my niece presented me with a smallish cardboard box covered in gold paper. Maybe stationery had come in it, maybe candy, there was no indication of it's original usage, but inside it was an assortment of old postcards. Some were those linen surface ones, some were hand tinted, many were quite boring and left me wondering "who would want a postcard of a parking lot in rural North Carolina?" Some were in multiples, like the apartment complex in Tidewater, Virginia, or the Observatory in Chesapeake, Virginia. I'm so happy to have these cards. Tonight, I wrote 8 of them to service people on support mission in Haiti, one to PostMuse, and one to my daughter (which showed a photo of the place she went to school.) I like thinking of what to write on each card that relates to the image. In most cases, the cards are from locations I've never been to, or ever will be, like Luray Caverns. No cavern for me, thank you. One visit to the catacombs in Paris was enough subterranean for me for a lifetime.

The studio, the wall, and penmanship

Today, I decided to put my studio in order (again) and was having such fun, seriously, finding bits and pieces of things I wanted to put into collages, that I had to stop and make a postcard to send to Katerina in Thessaloniki! Then I put new stuff on my wall, my REAL wall, then I thought of Andy in the U.K., who is doing the same (This photo is for you, Andy.) A good day in the studio! I got a really nice gift from a friend....a pen set. It's a reproduction kind of thing. A cool box holding pens, one is glass, pen points, and ink. She must have known that I'd actually use it. I added some additional Speedball points that I had. My penmanship needs improvement, which will happen with this set as it requires that I slow down when I write. Okay, so here's to better penmanship in 2010.

Elflog

Yesterday I posted one of the items I received from Andrea of Found-Art. It's her weather gram 28. I hope someone finds it and makes an entry for it. The shelf had on it only the two little stones I'd placed there the other day and a postcard on the pole. As I was walking away, I saw a neighbor and we started talking about the shelf history. She thinks she might have a photo of it that she took before my first post (29 March 2007.) It turns out that she's been caring for the shelf, too, and photographing it. She placed the post card, one of several she's posted, from the Tate Museum in London. We both agreed that this shelf was a bright spot in our lives. She was happy to learn that people in other places commented on it, too.

Elflog update, Postcard 103

This afternoon, I saw that the previous item I'd hung on the post had been taken. It was a "found-art Weathergram." SO this evening, I placed Postcard 103 on the shelf. Can you see how the sun was setting and giving such a nice light to the pole? The shelf is a riot of tiny beads, jewelry making fittings, a U.S. penny, a U.K. coin, the "art matters" stone and the shell are still in place. It's all very festive.

Elflog + a new venue

My friend Andrea sent me some of her "found-art" to post on the shelf. This morning, I put her Weathergram (#112?) on the pole. Doesn't it look good? I love it on there and can't wait to see how long before someone finds it, and hopefully, checks out her site Found Art.
I put a second piece in my new venue. The other day, walking my dog on our usual route which takes us past a "field" in the middle of a block, I noticed something new. The "field" is enclosed by a chain link fence with pointy things at the top. It's been this way for years. Nothing much happens within this area. Well, the other day, there was a yellow sign attached to the fence - "POSTED no hunting, fishing, etc." Huh? In the next section of fence was an empty plastic sleeve/pocket secured with plastic lock ties. I went back there on my evening walk and, into the pocket, inserted a quick pencil drawing and a quote, just for the fun of it. This morning, I added one of Andrea's "postcards." Sorry, Andrea, I forgot to write down the number. I hope you have a record of the ones you sent. I have two more items, another "postcard 103" and a "book." I can't wait to see what happens with the "Pocket Gallery!" Watch this blog for more developments. For those of you in the area, the Pocket Gallery is in the alley behind Doctors' offices on Grove Ave. That's the clue. I'm smiling as I write this!!