Now where were we? What's going on in my neighborhood?

 At the end of October, while the weather was still warm, we took the grand-girl for a walk to the museum. She pulled "pull-dog" to but fro she needed a lift in her stroller. The pull toy is a Keith Herring wolf sent to me by a friend in Germany a couple years ago. The grand really likes it a lot. She's wearing her favorite spider socks in her starry shoes, by the way.

The weather has changed dramatically due to the Polar something and we are not liking it. We don't have proper clothing for these temps, or shoes.

We're staying indoors this morning, not just because of the cold but because we are hemmed into our neighborhood by the annual Richmond Marathon!! I can walk a block or two in any direction and see people running.

My African Violets are in bloom. Lovely to see them in this chilly weather. A reminder of spring.

I received a box of yarn from my niece M for my birthday. I've been making finger-less mitts and caps out of it. Nice colors! I've been production knitting. I have a dozen pair in my favorite little gift shop NEST, and am participating in a one day pop-up shop mid-December. My wrists will need a rest after this.

 I received this leaf from NSW, Australia. It's an alteration of one of the cards in my Installation last month at the Nowra River Festival. So far, only this card has been returned to me.  We're planning another installation there in May with triple the number of postcards.

These are the cards that I made for Banana recognition day, which is this coming Monday. I'm not sure it's a real "holiday" but my buddies in the IUOMA celebrate by sending cards. This is my second year of participating.

It's fun to have a theme, right?


So this is what's going on these days since we last met up.


Oh and we can't end without a photo of our cat, Bizoo, right?

My new collages

I was inspired by a collage by Robert Motherwell that I came across in a book. I put it up in my studio and kept looking at it and loving it. I just had to create some pieces with COLOR! After all, I do teach a color class, though rarely use much color in my work. In fact, I haven't used this much color since I gave up painting on canvas a looong time ago. I am so happy with the results of these pieces. They're small, roughly 4" X 4" (10cm x 10cm) and have been mounted and framed as a single piece. Chuck's idea and he did the framing for me. They'll be in the 1708 Gallery small works show to which I was invited. I'll be interested in the public reaction to them. Oh wait, I won't be there for the show. I'll be at the Cite again. So what do you think? Colorful, eh?

Elflog - this morning

This morning, my little cousin and I put a pink ribbon on the shelf for his mom. We were really excited to see the new things. "Peace" in wire writing and a yellow flower on a stick. The little beads and things on the shelf itself had been rearranged. What a treat to see this shelf!

KootSacs, cool sacs!

I got some really cool nylon sacs to use for bulk food at the market. I'm so excited about using these that I just had to share them with you. I found them on Etsy at KootSac.
I used a large one for a couple ears of corn, the red one has an "oriental snack mix" in it, the yellow one is candied ginger, and the little purple one has crushed red pepper in it. When you get your goodies home, you transfer them to containers, then rinse out your sacs and hang to dry. I tie them off with rubber bands and write the item code on my shopping list - for example: red bag 20184, and I give the check-out clerk the code. It works well, though a twist tie works, too, I just didn't want to bring any of those home with me. SO, be more colorful when you shop while using less plastic. Yay! Thanks, Morgan!

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!!

In the neighborhood, pole news

An amazing item appeared on the pole where the shelf used to be. It's an assemblage on cardboard. Pretty wonderful. Also, some flowers and gift ribbon adorn the pole. I'm so intrigued by the continuation of community art making/shrine keeping. Neat!! I wanted to share with you some of the flowers from my neighbor's yard. She does wonderful rose bushes and these two were such sweet looking blooms, kind of old fashioned looking. Her hydrangea bush is quite large and bull of blossoms. It's in full sun, while mine are in the shade and haven't bloomed yet.

Spring in Richmond

My dog and I enjoyed seeing all the flowers on our walk the other day. Huge purple irises planted by an apartment building, a single yellow tulip in my neighbors' yard, big pink blooms on the...oops, forgot the name of the flower, on the bush at the end of the alley, my deep fuschia azalea bush in the back yard, which I trimmed back a lot last fall and now has bigger blossoms, though I'm not sure I did the pruning correctly. It's raining really hard today, with thunder and lightening earlier, I think the blossoms will either be very bruised or even better looking next time I'm out on a walk.