Mas Mexico y some other memories

Botanical Garden - El Charco

la Parrochia

garden at La Casa del Puesta del Sol

Mural

Mural

Instituto Allende 

In front of the rented casa

 We stayed up above the center of San Miguel de Allende in an area called Los Arcos, which was colonia Atascadero.

It was such a steep walk down, and then up, that I didn't even attempt it, though my honey and daughter did.  We took cabs or called a car. I always jumped in as co-pilota so I could have the "thrill of the ride" like a Montaña Rusa.

I was always able to have conversations with the drivers and learn about the city, the neighborhood, the people. I'm so happy that I can speak Spanish, because de lo contrario, not everyone speaks English there. Even though there's a large ex-pat population, it doesn't feel like it, but it makes it easier for people like my honey who has a small Spanish vocabulary.

Add caption

Now to some older memories - someone posted about a postcard company and they had great cards from my home town. I fell in love with the illustrations. And even though I make my own postcards for Mail Art, I ordered a bunch to send to my family and friends who grew up there, too. There's the theatre that did live shows and I ushered there in high school, and Navy Pier, which is now an amusement park but I went to University on it. We used to say, the only school that could be torpedoed. I think it went out 3/4 of a mile into the lake.
And the El train that I traveled on my whole life, as kids we took the train by ourselves to get to the ice skating arena and go to the beach. Who'd let a kid do that now? It helped us to be independent and comfident, for sure. And the fabulous Art Institute, where we were taken to see the art, even as little children, and my honey went to school there. I can remember the paintings by Seurat, Degas, Renoir, which I think is what drew me to study art. Such memories. The company has other places, too. Check out their website. It's actually a family owned business, which made it extra attractive to support. Click HERE to get there.

Adios, hasta luego, mas fotos de Mexico en el futuro, tal vez.

Like a dream - February in Mexico

A Perfect cactus!

View from the terrace

Terrace view

 We had a wonderful two week vacation in San Miguel de Allende.
 Pasamos dos maravillosas semanas en San Miguel de Allende.

on the terrace

Mail Art on Cactus

 Here are a few photos of the house we rented and some of the Mail Art that I made. I wanted to take that cactus home with me.

La casa que alquilamos fue perfecta para nosotros. Luminoso con luz y una pequeña piscina/alberca climatizada con energía solar para relajarse.

Mail art on cactus

Mail art on cactus

I'm done.

Well, friends, my lovely month long project ended.

I have many First Day Covers left so I'll be writing more letters but not on a daily basis, until some fancy to do so strikes me again.

I've heard from recipients and even gotten a couple letters in return. It's been very satisfying.

Try it, write some letters. Find a pen or two you really enjoy writing with. If cursive isn't your favorite thing, print it, or draw it. Who ever you send it to will be delighted to receive it. Trust me on this.

End of January - the daily project is almost over

 Here are some of this months letters. They are numbered for the day that they were sent out.

In some cases, I found envelopes that corresponded to the dates. When that happened, I was pretty excited.

I'll post more of the envelopes soon as I up load them.

Have you thought about doing a daily project? Have you completed one.

A thirty day project is quite easy to accomplish, I discovered.

This spring, I'm hoping that there'll be another Creative Sprint and if there is, I hope you'll join me in doing it.

January 2018 - my daily project

I started my new project.

I'm writing a letter each day of the month (or more than one) and mailing it out using a vintage First Day Cover.

I was given a lot of these envelopes by a friend who "inherited" them from her husband's family. They collected them and stamps when the husband was young.  They are not valuable except, maybe, to a few people. I researched and found this out. I did find two envelopes with autographs by the person who designed the illustration and one with the illustrator and the Post Master General of that time. They sold for a bit of money and I donated the money to a charity.

So far, I've completed 21 letters. I'll post more of the images soon, but these photos give you a taste of what they look like. Oh, and I have to add current postage stamps.

Have you ever done a daily project? For a month, or longer?

Oh Dear, the year is ending. Good bye 2017!

Needs a caption, right?

The year ends, I did a lot of stuff.
I made mail art continuously though not every day. I did may be 150 + but I made other stuff. Mainly, a lot of knit mitts, because I was buying a lot of cool yarn and knitting was keeping me from getting crazy about politics.

He let everything go to his head!

Map of our favorite beach area

We went to the Outer Banks (OBX) for a holiday at Thanksgiving. We didn't plan on it because of financial constraints then said, oh dang, let's do it, so we did. Three days, the five of us. It was very nice. We walked on the beach, went to the giant dunes (Jockeys Ridge) and cooked and baked.

Bizoo

A sign on the OBX

The Atlantic at the OBX

The GrandGirl and her toy bat

Bizoo misses us when we leave though he's got a come-by care-giver.  He's also having some physical problem that has caused him to not urinate in his box, he uses the bathroom sink. Grrrr. Oh if only I had the patience to teach him to use the toilet, and flush it, too. ha ha



The Grand Girl continues to delight us, even though she's gotten a bit sassy at times.  Normal stuff, which is funny, and, thankfully, easily changed.
She's my cleaner-upper, baking assistant, art studio companion, and all around joy producing little person. She never fails to make us laugh, think, wonder, and feel grateful for her presence in our lives.


Happy New year, Bonne Année, Feliz año nuevo. May the year ahead be better than the last.  See you in 2018.

Be Nice

 A couple images that I was able to pull off my phone. The most recent images don't show up in blogger for me to post. Frustrating, it's just frustrating, but so it goes.

BE NICE is actually a framed tea towel that I saw in a gallery in Paris last month. I didn't note the artist's name and I can't enlarge the photo enough to read the label. Maybe you can.

In any case, I like the admonition. It's especially powerful in our current political climate in the United States.

These legs are from a series that I did at a couple of art exhibits in Paris. I like to sit and watch people and I snap photos of feet. I think that I'll make a book of these, but I never do. I have lots of photos like this that I've taken over the years.

Maybe I'll make a book, someday. or not.

Oh and something very cool to share - My son made a shop where you can buy cool stuff with his cool images on them. Check it out HERE.