Library Cards ... Plus One.

A WOMAN of my word, tonight I will produce for you three library cards and one surprise: an epilogue, of sorts.
Dawn decorated her library card pocket, front and back, with a chilling reminder of this disquieting little tale.
She got the very first part of the story and really set the tone for the whole shebang - in my mind, anyway. The kitty footprints on the card's back are also her doing.

The other card I got was from Michelle (Part 2) and I loved it also. Its tin foil heart is perfect for Johnny, the "hero" of the story. These artists have all focused in on elements from the tale and then found just the right words and/or images to put onto the card pockets. I know I've told them all before, but it is really thrilling to see these works and the imaginations bubbling away, turning them into certifiable gems.

Then Nathalie turned hers in, and what fun! There's love in this story and Michelle and Nathalie both illustrate it. Nathalie's working on the jealousy factor. Oh those blushing cheeks!

So what happens, but the other day someone dropped by the newspaper office where I work and left a library card with the receptionist! However, the receptionist didn't get her name and I didn't get a look at the mystery artist and I was left only with my detective skills - which the Mister says are pretty sharp. Here's the card and see if you come up with the same information I did: 1. Has access to a typewriter. 2. Knows the Dewey Decimal System and has classified my "book" under the 700s, "arts and recreation" category. 3. Has access to her own stash of library cards. 4. Knows I've been working on this project. 5. Knows where I work and how I spell my name. 6. Is a creative person.
All deductions, my good Watson, that led me to believe it was CAROL at the Main Library.
And it was!! Oh, I love someone who wants to play my games. (I think I will have to write an epilogue to the story for Carol's card contribution.
NOW, since today is the last day of March, it was the unofficial deadline for the cards - which, to be fair, I did not tell everyone. So JoAnn, my friend at work, marched in this morning with her finished project and it.was.right.on.the.money.
I think all of us felt we might not come up with the "right stuff" and be "good enough," but forget about that. It's been fantastic.
When I get the last of the cards I am going to make a small "publication" and turn it into a portable document file - the story with illustrations. A little digital e-book that I can e-mail out to anyone who wants one. There is a cost however. Comments! Comments will have to be given to the artists. It's only fair - femminismo
p.s. Thanks to everyone who's played. The rest of you know what you have to do now.

Here's The Problem ... There's Too Much To Tell.

INDEED. You let just a couple days go by and so many things have happened - you've experienced such exquisite moments of joy, longing and pure love and now you have to pack them into a post that won't cause those reading to fall asleep or give up before the end. But, then, I'm really writing this for myself. I have to remember that.
Since I last wrote I attended the writing seminar which really should have been stretched into two days, there was so much information. Some good, inspiring information.
My friend, Barb, has been visiting from Michigan, and Saturday night we turned out the lights for an hour - for the good of the earth and its people - and sat in front of the fireplace in the warm glow, listening to the crackle, the faint smell of wood smoke in the air, and just talked. (We are friends for life.)
The Mister said we talk so honestly to each other - Barb and I, that is - and I have to say that about sums it up. There is not much we do not know about each other, since we have been friends since high school.
We went to church together on Sunday morning, to a Baptist church in a nearby town. I knew a few of the people in the crowd - hadn't seen them in a long, long time - and enjoyed singing the hymns. Getting that oxygen in your lungs and then throwing it back out invigorates a person. Singing is good exercise!
We were sitting in the back of the church and it was not crowded that morning. As I looked out over the people I was filled with the sweet sense of how connected we all are, the energy flowing through the woman over there, the child in front of us, the elderly man seated down in front - all the same. I felt such love for everyone in the building and remembered what my mother told my sister: "I just love people. I always have."
I guess I inherited that, for I "just love people" too. Although many times - too many times - it's only "people" in the abstract, at arm's length that I love. Well, I hadn't been to church in a long while, not since Mother's Day about a year before my mom died. Now I feel I would like to visit all sorts of different churches on Sundays and I think I may attend Seder at the All Saints Episcopal in town on Wednesday.
One thing I loved in reading the scripture was this from 2 John 12: "I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete." (Maybe I should have begun this post with these words for I would so enjoy talking with you all face to face.)
After church the Mister and I went up to our property, which is where I found the trillium above. The first one of the spring in my photo album. And don't you love these catkins. I was moving branches and kept seeing "dust" flying around until I realized it was pollen. I like the contrast between the rotting leaves and these fresh, fallen catkins.
This was the first time we've been up there since our December snowstorms and ice. There are several alders down, with one across the bridge, and we had to clear some large branches on the road going in. There is a lot of work to do, much more than can be accomplished in a couple of weekends. We need a work party up there soon.
NOW, on to the Library Card Project. ARE YOU ASLEEP YET? Dawn sent me hers, front and back, and they are awesome. She got the very first part of the story and did a fantastic illustration on both front and back. Love it, love it, love it!
Then I got a library card from Michelle. It combines a couple of elements from the story and made my heart sing! How thrilling to see someone pick up on what you've written and make it "concrete" like this, with substance and heart.
And, someone (a mystery someone) left me a Guerrilla Art Library Card at work today. She didn't leave her name at the front desk so I don't know who it was - but I have my hunches. Tomorrow I will post the library cards - maybe all of them, up to date, so you can see what's happening. One last photo of me and my friend, Barb, for she's leaving on a jet plane tomorrow and I won't see her for a while - femminismo
(Thank you, Ruth, for taking the photo - but it really doesn't look like either of us. haha)

Simple Pleasures Got Tagged.

AHOY THERE! Where are you from and where are you going? Comment me that, if you care to. Seth at The Altered Page is doing a polling of "guests" who pass by. We all wonder who our company is and if they are bloggers (or Web siters too) or just passersby who got off on the wrong track. Leave a comment if you have a moment.
In the meantime, Veronica Funk, Simple Pleasures, got tagged today. I've been thinking about some questions like this. I offered up a couple more, perhaps not quite so ordinary. Let me know if you copy and answer these yourself.
These were some of the questions she had to answer, and a few I've added, replaced with my own answers:

What are you wearing now?

Jeans, black wool socks, green Danskos, green long-sleeved top.

How often do you blog?

5 times a week or more!

Who was the last person you hugged?

My significant other.

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately?

My jeans.

What's for dinner?

Ground turkey meatloaf and pea salad.

What's the last thing you bought?

A lamp and small side table.

What are you listening to right now?

Can't hear it too well, back here in the office, but it's a mix of lots of stuff on the 60-disc spinner.

What is your favorite weather and why?

Warm summer so I'm not cold.

What time do you usually get up?

6.45 am

What is your most challenging goal right now?

Getting my head on "righter."
When have you been happiest?
Coaching girls softball one spring/summer.

If you could have a house-totally paid for, fully furnished-anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?

In the deep, deep Oregon woods.

Favorite vacation spot?

Italy.
Last person you saw crying.
Barb.
Last person you saw laughing hard.
Barb.

What movies can you watch over and over again?

"Groundhog Day," "Pride and Prejudice," "Wonder Boys," "Roman Holiday," "Penny Serenade," "Like Water for Chocolate," "Wings of Desire," "It's a Wonderful Life."

What is your favorite tea?

Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut.

Who are you tagging?
No one. I'll leave them alone for now.
AND this weekend I'll be attending the Oregon Press Women Conference in Troutdale at McMenamin's Edgefield. It will be fun taking a writing workshop from Jessica Page Morrell. She is going to show us how to make our writing *sparkle* - femminismo

Another Library Card ... Another Joyous Celebration.

WHOOPEE! I love you people ... the ones who wonder where they will find the time but go ahead and say "yes" to fun.
Brenda sent me her library card all finished today. (Well, she sent a picture of it, and that's the next best thing.)
I love all of these illustrations because, in my mind, I can see them "happening" in the story I wrote. Thank you, Miss Crafty Chook. You are a sweetheart.
Got home late tonight because I spent the evening out with four fantastic wimmin! All related to me by hook or by crook, we share a lot of history together. There were two mother/daughter pairings and it's so - can I emphasize this too much - nice to sit with your adult offspring and have them openly and willingly forgive you for not being the best mother in the world or always making the perfect decisions.
We have some good wimmin in our family, I'm proud to say. With a catch in my throat and a tear in my eye, I'll say again it was a really special evening out. Even though I missed "Lost" - femminismo

Here's What We Did on Saturday and ... My Library Card Is DONE!

ON Saturday I went to Creative Circle. I've been too busy to share, but now I finally got the pictures sized and saved, so here we go.
I "taught" a class in Art Journaling, but - really - everyone there knew just as much as I did, or more.
I brought some of the books I made in the year I made one book a month, one day at a time, so everyone could see a little of the techniques I tried. We had one table set up for painting journal pages and another space for stamping and then seating so people could sit around and write in their books - or talk and visit, as some wanted to do. This is a neat group and everyone seemed real happy with what they were doing.
TurquoiZe is our "leader," since she makes sure Bodacious Beads is unlocked and ready for us to have our time together. Clarkie, the owner, is so very nice to offer her space every month. Very, very nice!
We painted pages, did some stamping and collage and the time went by much too quickly. Here are some of the great women who came to share the fun. TurquoiZe and Dawn are at right.
Alice's children's book, above left, is filled with sparkles and a token for a wish. Wouldn't that be great?
Sylvia's altered book page, with the lady who has a "map skirt," is looking good. She has a knack for collage and comes up with some of the greatest garage sale finds. I think she must have magic fingers that are all equipped with divining rods that find exquisite junk.
I love the picture of TurquoiZe with the paintbrush clenched in her mouth. (She may not, but I do.) She was so intent on that page, adding color and silver or white stamping. We didn't quite know what she was up to, but soon her "Harlequin Man" took shape. What a jolly sort of fellow he is, with his beard and wings. Fancy pants on this guy!
And here are a couple of my journal pages, without much journaling, but a little writing. Sumi ink drawing, foam stamp we made by heating the blue foam and pressing it onto embossed paper. This is really fun and I could probably do it all night long. It's fun to find different textures, heat the block and then press the block onto the surface you want to duplicate. Forget jewelry, fancy perfumes and luxurious limos - just give me blue foam blocks!
Linda was working away on her project with such dedication that I don't think she even saw me take this picture. In the background is the Bodacious Bead shop, which is full of wonderful sorts of things bead addicts absolutely must have.
AND I did tell you I FINISHED my Library Card Project, so now I must show it!
I finished it on Sunday, but two of my adorable granddaughters came to visit so I'm sure you understand I was busy. It's funny to have the 10th part of the story - THE END - come so soon, before the other parts, but it really doesn't matter. So here you go - femminismo

How Are Things in the Great Beyond?

SO QUIET? What's going on out there in the Great Beyond - Beblog?
I wonder. Did my video clog up my works here? Download time take too long? Download time take forever and folks gave up?
Well, the video's gone now. It wasn't the best anyway, even if Craig Carothers was/is.
More later when my gray mood lifts. Up and down, back and forth. Things are a little crazy in life lately - femminismo

Welcome Spring and Longer Days.

THE earth has made exactly enough revolutions to bring us to this point, where the earth has warmed sufficiently and the days are brighter a bit longer - enough to bring forth the green buds of spring.
Last year I visited this house in our town on the summer solstice, and then the yard was literally crammed with flowers of all kinds. I enjoy thinking of how it will be this summer, again, but right now it's looking pretty forlorn.
All except for one yellow corner, however. That spot is doing just fine. I hope the owners' backs and knees are in good shape for I'm sure they - and all of us - have our work cut out for us in the days ahead.
Today was a really good day for me personally. I hope you had a special one too. There wasn't much different about today. I didn't win the lottery or anything. I did have a couple of deadlines off my back and I was just happier than I have been in several weeks. There are reasons for that, and I know what they are, so there we are ... I'm just happier.
I'd like to say thank you to my friend, JoAnn, for helping me out today. She knows what she did - a small thing to her I'll bet - but I appreciated it.
One fantastic thing sort of like winning the lottery: My friend, Barb, in Michigan, (the person who made me the cool, colorful cloth carry-all bag) is coming to Oregon and we will get to visit. I am very excited and don't even feel sorry for her family to lose her for a while. (Oh, I sound so mean!)
Another thing: Tonight the Mister and I went to see Craig Carothers. Oh, he is so funny and had us laughing and singing along to his songs. Some songs were sad, but he sang a whole lot of them for nearly two hours straight! I bought his CD "Air Mail Blue." It has two songs on it I know I like a whole bunch.
Oops! I didn't even notice, but now it's March 21! Better get to bed - femminismo

This Beats Everything! Another Card!

WHEN I say "beats everything" I mean it in the best way.
Kimmie sent a picture of her card and I don't care what else happens today because this is just the topper.
Susan and Kimmie should become illustrators for all my stories because they've captured them so perfectly.
Here it is for your edification, along with a clip of the story that set Kimmie's imagination soaring.
I told Kimmie that I never imagined this would be so much fun for me. The last two days, with my surprise cards arriving, have been two very special days. Now I know the joys that ATCs can bring and I go "Aha, that's why they do them!"
So I'd better get busy on mine and see if I can't do at least half as good as these two ladies. (Check out Kimmie's garden fairy garden, too, if you get the chance. Follow the link above.) - femminismo

First Library Card Art Comes Home to Mama!

WHOOPEE! Susan Sanford, at Art Spark Theatre, has sent a picture of the library card she decorated. She got a pretty grim little bit of the story and illustrated it beautifully.
Almost my whole entire day was spent sitting in front of the computer working on editing and writing (talk about grim) and then I got her wonderful e-mail and my whole day was worthwhile!
Check it out more closely by clicking on the image.
Oh, Susan, you are a pro!
OK, that's enough exclamation marks. 3rd-Eye Muse sent a comment that she's been thinking about doing something with her library card and I moved mine from the microwave to the kitchen table. So I'm well on my way to illustrating/decorating/doodling on my library card. (haha)
For the other eight people out there who also have library cards: Let's all try and finish by the end of March. Remember you can do whatever you want with it. If you want to connect it to the story like Susan did, feel free. Do your best. Go for it.
AND ... on another note ... did you watch "Lost" tonight? I did and I liked Mr. Tough Guy, Mr. Thinker, Mr. Take Charge. I had stopped caring about the show because it was not interesting, but taking them back into the Dharma Initiative when Ben was a kid? How smart was that?
Well, everyone's got an opinion ... and I think the writers have pulled their bacon out of the fire, but enough for tonight. Gotta' sleep - femminismo

St. Patrick's Day, Irish soda bread and Guinness

THIS might be one answer to the question I've been asking lately: "Where are these pounds coming from?" (click on photo for mouth-watering view)
Lunchtime today was a wonderful treat, with five friends and the Mister at our house for a sit-down to have corned beef, cabbage, turnips, parsnips, potatoes and carrots.
JoAnn made Irish soda bread that is sooooo good, that I had it for dinner tonight with a Guinness. Happy St. Paddy's Day!
Eydie, another friend, made a wonderful salad and I will enjoy the leftovers from that tomorrow. In near-springtime I seem to get cravings for fresh vegetables. I cannot wait until the farmers markets start running again - but first the veggies must grow.
I began a new book yesterday: "Eat, Pray and Love," which I think everybody but me has read. Elizabeth Gilbert is very funny. I think Grrl+dog (the guerrilla knitter) went to visit the man in Bali she talks about. Very "coinkidental." She has been on a great journey recently. If you have time, click on her name and read her blog and drool over her art.
I must go now. I owe myself some down time, reading - femminismo
p.s. Thank you to Christy for my header back. She is wonderful.

What's Happened to My Header?

DON'T know what's going on. Maybe it's the wind outside. Pretty ferocious, so perhaps it's to blame for taking away my header.
New software installed on my computer? Gypsies, fairies? Friday the 13th aftereffects?
Anyway, it's gone and I'm not sure how to put it back up. Christy? Are you there?
Maybe there's a Blogger problem I'm not aware of and everything will be fixed when the "person with all the answers" gets back into the virtual office on Monday.
Who knows?
I am working on gathering elements for a class on Art Journaling I have volunteered to do for our "no pressure" Creative Circle class that's held one Saturday evening a month.
This will be a fun project and I will show some of the past journal pages I have done and maybe reinvigorate myself in the process.
The picture above is of a page done earlier this month. Down below, with "linked brothers," is one I did today. I have been trying to clean up my craft room. Our objective is to turn it into a bedroom so people who want to visit will actually have a room to stay in. What a concept!
Well, I'd best be doing that instead of lingering here, inside the time sucking machine - femminismo

It's Everywhere You Look - Spring!

I CAN smell it in the air and see it amongst the muddy leaf-matted soil: It's the sprouting of green things, with colors of purple and yellow here and there. (Lots of yellow here in the crocus bursting forth in the back yard with an explosion of pollen for the bees, if there are any. Click on the photo to check it out closer.)
On the trees there's a slight hint of color at the tips. The weeping willow down the street is turning a chartreuse shade and buds everywhere are swelling. You can't keep a good man down - of a woman either. (Man! I never thought about how sexy spring sounds.)
Things have been busy here in our neck o' the woods. We had company from out of state - from Minnesota, Georgia and Washington - and it was great fun to have my sister's children and two of mine, plus spouses, get together for dessert one night. I somehow managed to clean up my craft room enough to reveal a floor we haven't seen in some time. It was a perfect place for paper and crayons. After dessert, the small ones went outside in the dark (they're not so very small, so it was OK), with a flashlight, and ran around until one fell down. But you know how that goes. It's par for the course, and the one who fell down healed quickly and wasn't traumatized.
I didn't get to include the artists - they're too quick - but it looks like they had fun, doesn't it? Plus, quite a few of my letter stencils got punched out for me. Small fingers do quick work.
There was a baby visiting too and I got to hold him and do that mouth-blowing-thing-on-the-belly that makes a rude noise and makes kids laugh. (Do you suppose there's a technical term for this action? Guillermo (Gil/Billy) is perfect. He's the baby I wrote another post about because he has blue eyes, just like our mother and his maternal grandfather, for whom he is named. You can google "Gil" using the tool to the left.
Here is our star magnolia ready to pop. "Finally!" it's saying. "I thought the day would never come."
And last, but not least, is the copper embellishment going up around the skylight in the shower. The shower isn't quite ready yet. The tile has to be sealed and a couple other things have to happen, but we're getting closer. And now I guess I've caught you up to date - femminismo

Library Cards Gone to 'Players'

YES, the library cards have gone out to those other "grown-up" players who also like to have silly fun once in a while. Or as often as we can, whichever comes first.
That means I must finish the story, so that is what I will accomplish tonight.
Tomorrow we are having company - several family members, I hope - and I can't wait. I think I must have gotten this from my mother. I like to entertain family. And it doesn't hurt that we all get along. That's the sweetest thing. I can't imagine life any other way and wouldn't want to!
On Monday it snowed here and it bothered me more than I can tell you that I had to go to work and couldn't stay home and wait for more bird feet tracking through the snow onto my Disintegration Project.
However, when I got home that afternoon there was hail raining down - bouncing in an icy hiss on the pavement.
I grabbed the camera and off I went! No, that's not big chunks of salt scattered around. It's really hail among the green leaves coming up. But I know it's almost spring because the star magnolia and flowering cherry are beginning to bloom - femminismo
p.s. Must be honest: I sneaked back in to add two photos. One is X's for Seth - on journal pages in his honor - and the other pic is of the last two library cards and pockets with the END of the story. (My card - hee, hee, hee!)

Maybe There Really Is Hope!

THE VIOLETS are here and the Lenten roses, too - just in time for Lent, despite the freezing temperatures and the snows of December and February.
It's so difficult to believe that the lifeless bushes and leafless trees will ever be green. It's so difficult to believe things turn around as they most certainly always do. The whole world seems just a little uncertain, a little hollow and a bit empty of color and joy right now.
I never really thought much about the word "hope" - not until this election and everyone echoing that one phrase. But now I must say it truly will be the one thing we will all have to believe in the most. And if something as fragile as a slip of a crocus flower can work its way through our Oregon clay soil, then we should be able to keep our heads up too.
HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune - without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm. - Emily Dickinson

April is National Poetry Month and in one of the magazines they are promoting April 30 as "Poem in Your Pocket Day," where you carry around a poem to share or exchange with someone else. Cool idea. I know someone who was thinking of writing a poem a day in April. Might be a good thought! I wonder how many poems have been written about "hope"?

There are many good things going on in the back yard. I thought I saw forsythia flowers along the fence. I'll pick a few branches tomorrow and force them to bloom. That yellow will wake up the meanest spirit.

The Disintegration Project is coming along and if I'm not mistaken it looks like an enthusiastic gardener trod on this page. Well, all's fair in the disintegration process.

One more library card is on its way to Nathalie in Missouri. (There's one left to give away.) I hope she enjoys her portion of the story. It will really be mysterious, however, since the other seven parts of it are spread around the globe! What a thrilling thought. Now if they only come back together. Well, we're going to listen to the Battlefield Band tonight. Cheers - femminismo

There's a Slug Behind the Disintegration!

WELL, there's no slug behind my own *personal* disintegration, but there is a smallish one underneath the pages decaying in the garden.
I didn't take a picture of it this morning (this is an older photo) but I had to go peek - take a quick look - to see what's going on underneath the "project." The pages are sodden. It's been raining quite a bit lately, with some real downpours and then sunshine.
The garden is quite muddy and the weeds and flowers are starting to come up around the paper packets. Under one of the stacks of pages it was really quite dry. Amazing what a little protection from the elements will do. When I lifted up the second packet of book pages (they are tied with string) I found a curled up baby slug.
Now normally I do not let slugs survive. In fact, if I have a motto, it is "No slugs on my watch." I am merciless in applying salt or turning them into slug paste with the back of my small hand shovel.
Can you see me now, dancing in the garden under the full moon, applying slug paste to an effigy of my mortal enemy - the aphid? My hair is flying in the midnight breeze, the stars whirl overhead, the neighbors are coming out and standing in their yard to stare ... oh, what was I saying?
Sorry. Got carried away there for a moment. The Disintegration Project is coming along. Two library cards left to give out. Hurry, hurry, hurry! Talk to you later - femminismo

Getting Tired of Library Cards Yet?

WELL, HERE WE GO one more time with the library cards.
Tonight I made out the envelopes for Susan, Kimmie, Rosie, Brenda, Michelle and Barb. (Note: These names are in random order, not according to favoritism, because I love them all the same for they've joined me in my nutty fun.) Dawn got her library card hand-delivered to her responsible husband, Doug. I am sure he will take good care of it. (Dawn, let me know if there's any problem.)
Each one has a part of a story. Well, I must be absolutely honest and admit that the story isn't quite finished and one card lacks a "story bit" so far. Let me emphasize so far!
I am prepared to stay up until 10:30 p.m. to finish the next installment.
Meanwhile, there are only three cards left. Read the details (rules) below and then quickly let me know if you'd like to get in on this. (Click on the photo to peek at the story line. By the way, has anyone else noticed Blogger photos being blurry? Or is it just my eyes?)
The envelopes are going to many different places and I only wish I could travel with them: One to Alabama; another to Punta Gorda, Florida; another to South Australia; one to Leeds, UK; one to Snohomish, Washington (beautiful, but cool right now); and the last in the mail to Oakland, California. One hand-delivered in Hillsboro, Oregon.
More later, folks! Got to get to work on finishing up my story - femminismo

Stories Anyone? Stories?

I FOUND an old story I decided to use for the library cards and pockets I will be mailing out soon to the WILD and CRAZY folks who decided they wanted to receive one.
The writing group I used to attend had a real writer in it, and by "real" I mean someone who finished her stories and sent them off to publishers and actually saw them in print.
She wrote a story called "The Cat Man" and had it published in Cricket Magazine. Her name is Mary Laufer.
I had forgotten I wrote this story. It was in 2004 and my story was sort of a take off from Mary's story. Her story "The Cat Man" was about a librarian and one of the odd patrons who came into the library. I sat down to write during Writers Group and my words came from the cat man's point of view. I never finished the story. Note: This is my modus operandi.
So now I have to finish it. I have six cards done. Each card has part of the story attached. Hopefully it is a juicy part on each of the cards. And it is a grim story. I don't know where it came from. I sort of hate to imagine which area of my brain was responsible.
However, I think everyone will want to get their card decorated, take a photo of it, then send the photo to me so I can post all the cards and then the story in its entirety.
Well, this will be short tonight. Hope all is well on this first day of March. Our new month came in like a lamb in this neck o' the woods - femminismo