I awoke this morning to the sound of one of the members of the cat posse knocking ever so politely on my door. This is the same member who enjoys all manner of cake batters & frosting. I was going to ignore him, (I mean shouldn’t one sleep later than 7:30 on the 53rd day of their 60 day vacation?) but his claws were clattering against the wooden door and they didn’t have a feed-me quality. Nope, they had more of a there’s-an-intruder-in-the-house-get-out-here-now tempo to them. So I opened the door and looked carefully around expecting to see a man with a stocking mask over his head rifling through my silverware, or at least eating cereal at my table, but instead it was just Wyatt staring up at me. That’s when I saw the reason for his knocking. Suede Buttons and Creme de Cocoa had bloomed at the same time. Not one, but two smokey metallic flowers. You may be thinking, ‘Those flowers look identical.’ No, they don’t. Look… Suede Buttons has a slight purple hue all around the burgundy eye in the center. Even when open completely, her ruffled petals don’t curve outward like Creme de Cocoa’s.
Aside from gazing deeply into the center of my hibiscus while I drank my morning coffee, I also made a fresh batch of mailart. I certainly will not be posting it however. I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun of the recipients. Chicago and Ames keep your eyes open.
Here is some mailart I received recently from Suzanne. I love the giant leaf print that graces the front and back cover of this lovely stiched pamphlet she made for me. Inside, lots of photos and writing on her last trip to San Miguel.
I received these handsome earrings from Debra . I ordered them from her Etsy shop, which you can access from her blog. I think this is the hand’s down best packaging I’ve ever seen an artisan gift arrive in. They came inside this clever little sewn pouch and that was inside of a Hello Kitty plastic bag. I plan to wear them everyday in rain, shine, sickness, or health. They are THAT pretty.
Judy Wise is off to Spain, but unleashed a flurry of great blog posts before she left. Her latest paintings and journal pages are a real feast for the eyes. My page offerings for the day are from a visual journal I made this past autumn. The background on one of those pages is an oilcloth tablecloth I took to Kinkos and threw up on the copy machine. The other background is a ginormous 90 year-old theatre poster I got in one of those cool old iron and glass galleries that link the streets in Paris. It was the buy of the century at 5 Euros. The photos are from my last trip to San Miguel de Allende.
Finally, I wrote down an interview I heard with Mike Herbstritt about his son Jeremy, a Virginia Tech student who was murdered on Monday. I sat there watching the interview and watching this dad clench his fists and speak in his sad, proud, trembling voice. In the end he could barely speak through his tears. And I could barely see through mine.
“It’s hard to lose your son……..on Monday night I was watching some of the newscasters and I don’t think they really understand how hard it is to lose your son. It’s REALLY hard. And it hits you right in your heart….that’s the whole thing, but we have to go on. We gotta celebrate Jeremy’s life for the rest of our life…….the REST of our life is gonna be to CELEBRATE his life. To say what he did GOOD. And to say that Jeremy was a GOOD BOY, a GOOD MAN, and (crying now) We’re gonna love him forever. That’s what we’re gonna do……….love him.”
