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

End of the Line For This Month.

SO we say goodbye to another month in this year of firsts - 2009, you haven't been here long, but already you've changed us and rearranged us.
Tonight the Mister and I attended a surprise birthday party for my brother who turned (secret age here). It was fun to sit around the kitchen table after dinner and birthday cake and each take turns telling "I remember" stories.
Only one of my brothers wasn't there and we missed him. My littlest sister, as usual, brought the best gifts - handmade - a blanket for my birthday brother and a homemade apple pie for the other brother who was hosting the party.
She carries gifts wherever she goes. I know: You all want to send her your address! But me first!
What will March bring? Warmer weather - just a little, I hope. And no more surprise snow showers even if they do give my disintegration project real teeth. The picture above is taken from The Blue Lantern, where Jane showed fashion illustrations and talked about her recent yearning for a new spring outfit. She has such fantastic art on her blog. I don't think I've ever seen anything there I haven't liked.
I am hard at work this weekend cleaning up my art room. This time it's for real. We would like to turn this into a real bedroom again so we can entertain. The Mister plans to give me a nice cozy room in the garage. (Nicer than it sounds.) Good night - femminismo

February is Almost Over.

THE month of groundhogs, valentines and presidents. That's how I think of February.
And *surprise* snow showers! This morning I awoke and walked into the kitchen to grind the Java Rocket coffee beans and goodness gracious! There was a white world outside and the kitchen skylight was covered with snow.
I felt gleeful and kid-like and knew immediately my disintegration project had come through another grand round of weather. Wind, rain and now a second frosting of snow.
I grabbed the camera and a jacket - and, oh yes, some shoes - and took off for the back yard. There were no bird tracks this time, but the wind a couple nights before had nudged the leaves around and the book pages were soaked through and through.
(For anyone just checking in - without having heard the whole idea of this "project" - a group of us are testing the boundaries of disintegration. Some of us are working in parts of the world where winter holds court, and some are in southern climes where they are upside down and it's now their summer.)
I haven't touched my pages since January, so I don't know what they look like underneath, but what fun it's been to just. see. what. happens!
Tiny little *snowflakes ** fell down on my hair as I stood there in the garden hearing the silence ... the birds all quiet wondering what had happened to their happy springlike weather from a couple days ago. (They were chasing each other around the front yard, careening through the magnolia tree, flirting with each other like mad.)
Here you can see our Oregon grape bush draped in snow, with our neighbor's shapely fir tree - elegant, as always.
My "Readers Share Story" project is still ongoing. I offered library card packets, with a part of a story written on each one - to those who wanted to participate. I have five cards left (see photo). Let me know if you would like to be in on this. I write part of a story on each library card, mail them off to participants, they decorate the front of the library card holder and then take a photo of what they've done. They send it to me and then I will post the photos and the entire story I wrote on the cards on the Rendezvous blog site. Think about it and let me know - femminismo

Disintegration Happens When You're Watching ... When You're Not.

HERE are my packets for the Disintegration Project that Seth Apter at The Altered Page inspired.
I am so glad I read his mysterious post and figured out he would be letting books or pages disintegrate over the winter! Yes, it's always been one of my deep-seated goals: having a book rot in my garden.
Now you know!
Actually, it's only recently that I've been able to do anything harmful to a book. Books have always been my salvation. I remember keeping my nose in one at recess so I wouldn't have to play with the other kids because I was so shy. (I know there are people out there gasping at those words! "Shy? She's shy?!? No way! Yeah, right.")
Well, it's true. I still covet books. They are dear to me. I don't know that I could stand to hold a Kindle instead of paper and book board.
Well, feast your eyes on these pics, my pretties.
And one more photo that make me grab my camera and take a picture WHILE I was DRIVING! (Don't tell my kids or the Mister ... or my insurance man.)
Do you think the little cars were in case the price of gas goes up again? I think it must have been Grandma and Grandpa in town buying one of the little cars for the grandkids. I bet there were some excited youngsters in town that day.
You know, if I had one of those - just a little bigger, however - I could drive one to work. OK. Nobody steal that idea. I'm contacting the Patent Office right now - femminismo

Weekend ... And It's Gone!

IT'S the weekend - and then it's gone. Here we are at Sunday night.
Accomplished a couple of things. The most satisfying had to be moving a peony to where it can be enjoyed. It used to be stuck under the heavenly bamboo.
Right now is the time to move things in the garden. Or replace them! I am so sure I will have to shop for a new rosemary plant. I trimmed the one in the garden back, but it looks to be seriously toasted, with no green on the stems at all.
I've read numerous articles on how to prune roses, but each year I do it pretty much the same way. Chop, chop, chop. Cut out dead wood. Cut on an angle. Cross my fingers.
Saw some violets on my way around the back yard. The Lenten roses are blooming and giving us encouragement. The rain we were supposed to get - all day long - didn't happen, so that was a bonus.
The brightest note this weekend was a birthday party for my granddaughter, who just turned 16 yesterday. I will always treasure a special memory of her, when she was only 2 or 3. Her mother had just taken her from the bathtub and she jumped into my towel-draped lap and wrapped her monkey arms around my waist. The smell of her hair and her sweet, warm, wet hug has stayed with me all this time as if it just happened. (There! I felt it happen again as I typed those words!)
Four other granddaughters were also at the party. What a wonderful day.
Then I went to Creative Circle where we played with shrinky dinks and made charms, earrings and whatever else came out of the tiny toaster ovens. Sylvia and Turquoize (above, with her ATC) were our leaders in this adventure. It's always fun to get together once a month and play with this group.
Sylvia and JoAnn both took JoAnn's stash of library book cards and did something with them so we could each have one. We had lots to choose from, since they were super busy with glue and paint. I liked JoAnn's hint to "put food coloring in your bathwater." I think I might tint mine blue and put on exotic music and pretend I'm swimming in tropic waters. And I definitely want to read Sylvia's "Ranch Romance." Sounds/looks like a great book (pretend, but great).
Remember, if you want one of the library cards with its pocket, that is part of my guerrilla art project (read earlier post on this, please) let me know at femminismo@gmail.com. I have five cards left. Each one will have part of a story on it and we'll put them all together. - G'night - femminismo

We Don't Always "Know" What We See.

TRUTH: We sometimes think ideas show up by magic. "Why are my thoughts dwelling on this? Or that? Or the other thing?"
Sometimes we don't see things that are right in front of our eyes until we shift our focus a little bit.
JoAnn, my crafting pal and work colleague, handed out library cards and pockets - you know; the items librarians used to track books with before computerized scanners. She gave them to us at our Creative Circle group to paint, glue, or decorate in whatever way we wanted.
I began painting mine and had no idea what I was going to do with them. Would I write down famous people's names on the library cards? Boring! Draw pictures on them? What, what, what to do?
Then tonight, as I was stamping them with paint, my mind got empty and wandered to the guerrilla valentines I left around that folks have been hesitant to "register" on the other blog - merencontrer - which, as two words, is "me rencontrer" in French and means "meet me." (Or I think it does, anyway.) Meet me, get it? Rendezvous?
So I was stamping these library card pockets with paint and all at once I thought, "What if I wrote a story and put a part of the story on each of these 10 cards and then in order to read the whole story people have to go to the other blog and post their part of the story?" How fun would that be?
But how can we guarantee the whole story will get to the other blog?
Well, I could ask for comments. Those who comment get a card, but where do I send them?
So the best idea is e-mail me - femminismo@gmail.com - and you can give me your address. (I promise you won't start receiving credit card applications in the mail!) I'll spring for the postage, you get something fun in the mail, then we all put our parts of the story together. (I'll keep one card - maybe the one with "The End" on it.) First nine people to send me their address by e-mail get a card.
The price you pay is decorating the front of the library card pocket anyway you like. Then take a photo of it - a jpeg - and send it to my e-mail address so I can post it on the blog!!! Oh! And you will have to type in your part of the story in the "comment section." Don't worry: I will sort them out.
Sound like too much work? Then let someone else get the card and just tell me what a fantastic brainstorm I just had.
Oh, by the way, click on the picture above and turn your head just a little bit to the left and see if you see what was right in front of me before I got the idea about writing a story in pieces and letting readers put it together - femminismo

New Art Journal Page.

ACTUALLY, to be truthful, there's no journaling on this page ... yet.
It may happen. No promises, OK? But I did actually get busy and do some painting on the theme of Sainte Therese, the photocopied image in the guerrilla valentines I left around town.
Then I posted them on my other blog -- set up especially for the people who would come flocking -- and only one has so far. : (
However, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to go ahead and do a journal page so anyone visiting there would know what the heck I was talking about.
Here is what I did with my image and the word "rendezvous." (Aren't those eyes just a little creepy?)
I was trying to keep the two places - blogs - separate, but if you want to go visit and leave a comment so others may feel less threatened by what I've done there, go ahead and click on "visit." And remember clicking on the pictures should enlarge them.
Well, I have a feeling "Lost" may be on and I'm still trying to make sense of that show. Talk at you later - femminismo

Guerrilla Stitch Up: Done.

WELL, I can't help but feel that I've cheated a bit, since it's not on a tree or a pole along the road, but it does make the door handle of our Valley Art Gallery look a little more cozy and "touchable."
The gallery is being completely redone from the ground up and some guerrilla knitting will surely give it a homey touch until April 9 when the grand reopening happens.
If there are local Oregon artists out there, get in touch if you would like to have your work juried for the gallery when it's open again.
I'm planning my ensemble for the gala opening - April 9! It is sure to be fun and a lot of work, but most good things are. - femminismo

Valentine Blog Party ... I'm Here!

KATHRYN Antyr, the moderator of the SoulJournal Yahoo Group, invited everyone to a blog party - complete with party treats. So much fun. I am finally getting around to posting before everyone on the East Coast goes to bed and Valentine's Day is over.
First a valentine for everyone. This comes from a scrapbook my aunt once had. It must be around 60 years old, at least. She saved all her cards and letters. This particular valentine is glued down, but is embossed and colorful, still, after all this time. When you pull on the "to my valentine" part the girl "steps" forward. It's very charming.
Here is the art journal page I did for the blog party. I will post it on the site when I finish here. The theme was "birds of a feather" and included some other ideas to incorporate. I'm not crazy about this, but I did have some happy accidents that I will apply to other pages in my journal. Learning, learning ... all the time learning. Kathryn found the bird templates for us and Martha (the Martha) provided the roses and tea cup. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!
I am going to use this post to catch up on EVERYTHING! On Friday, Feb. 13, at about 11:45 a.m., I opened my new blog - where the finders of guerrilla valentines were told to go - and SOMEONE registered they had found the first one. They left no contact info, but I am hoping others find the valentines soon and decide it's safe (that may be a worry) to comment on the blog. So exciting and I knew you would all want to know what's going on with that.
Then, as if my sanity is not being questioned often enough lately, I am doing the Global Guerrilla Stitch-Up with Grrl+dog in Australia. Here is my knitting which is destined for a tree in an unnamed (as of now) city near me. Don't you think this will keep the skinny little tree cozy until spring is really, honestly, truly here?
Last, but not least, the Disintegration Project with Seth at The Altered Page: My pages are slightly soggy and the title page is covered with a very fragile rotting leaf. The pages got some sunshine today and I got a chance to snap a photo in-between clipping roses and other foliage. Bulbs are sprouting and spring is on its way. Hip Hip Hooray! I was going to snip back my tree peonies, but could not do the deed. The flowers are so lovely I can't live without one of them. Maybe next spring I will do it, but not this year. Not when winter has lasted far too long. Again, Happy Valentines - femminismo

Littlest Sister Of Mine.

SHE is our littlest sister, the fifth child to safely arrive in our family.
I can remember - or think I remember - my other sister counting our baby sister's tiny toes. Lifting up the blanket in her bassinet and counting them. Or maybe it's only an old family story that begins to seem like the truth.
In any event, somehow today and this evening went past and now it's too late to call and wish her a happy birthday. That special day, her birthday, is almost over.
She - and all of us - were so lucky to land, like little birds, in our parents' nest.
Such a wonderful mother and father we had. Somehow we always knew they were the best.
We had clues: Our father with a wink and a gleeful smile, to tell us all that we were safe and things were fine and always would be. Our mother with a tender smile, to let us feel the love and forgiving heart that would be our comfort even when things got tough.
Jen-Jen, here is a copy of the letter that Daddy sent to Mama when he was on his way back from the war. You and I hadn't been thought of at that time. Well, maybe considered a little. Wink, wink! - Your big sister