Across the Bay

northern california coast!

Between tour schedules and work and plans and all, our out-of town anniversary adventure had to be condensed to 2 days so we didn't go too far.  Lucklity we live in the Bay Area and you don't have to go far.  We took BART to San Francisco for breakfast, then rode our Oakland-city bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands.  It was hard to beat the crescent moon over the hills in view of the Pacific Ocean, within walking distance of the Nike Missile site. No swimming but we still managed to get sunburns. A perfect little vacation.

beachy spring!

harbor seals!

coyote!

Five Ways to Fun

on the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo

In Oslo, in June, the days are long with light. Even the rainy days. I can't get used to it. Instead, I just think of it as a great chance to do things. Like walk around the Botanical Gardens. Or take a ferry to the Viking Ship Museum in the rain. No swimming and I don't have photos yet from Oslo so I will spend today's extra daylight catching up.

I only made it to one museum in Barcelona, the Joan Miro Institute. The audio guide drowned out the tour groups and I spent a while looking at fun colorful abstracted art. And I mailed Keep Writing number 42. I need to post images of the last two postcards and these are the last ones sent from Europe. I'm on real vacation now (with some worrying about the future for good measure)so I am taking next month off. Expect number 43 when I get home in August. Before I move again.

paris

I wish I had photos of the smoke machines at Hellfest watching my friends on stage under strobe lights but we barely slept and suddenly Andy and I were in Paris, 8 floors up looking at the spires of Notre Dame. We walked circles around cafes, ate fancy vegan food, drank expensive drinks and left to meet up with other friends.

Berlin, again was a quiet whirl of leisurely meals, long talks over drinks and bike rides. Our last day, we went to Templehof Park, a former airport. I meant to go last time I visited and never made it. We sat the garden spaces there and watched windsurfers leap into the air.

don't do it lil bird!

North! To Copenhagen, diverse city of fancy old buildings and elaborate squats. Also, I realized there is little I know about Danish history and could not refute a tour guide's claims that Denmark brought fear and terror to the shores of Europe. What do I really know about the Vikings? Nothing like a totally foreign place to remind you of all the things there are to know. Like not to eat boxes labelled "corrosive". Oh little birdy.

Lil'Road Trip

The pre-classes crazies are settling in here and the weather has returned to something akin to being inside something's mouth while it opens an oven and inhales. It is August in South Louisiana! So A. and I went on a little road trip to see places we have not seen. We drove over a few bridges. This first one was on the way home, the I-10 bridge over the Mississippi. We mostly stayed off the highway.



We did follow the signs to Avery Island, not an island at all but a salt dome. I'll have to get back to you on how that works. We paid for the walking and driving tour at Jungle Gardens. Not much of a jungle. I did not see an alligator, but I did see a lot of birds, egrets, a blue heron and a few ibis. Partially a bird sanctuary, partially a drive-though forest and garden. Odd but a chance to walk in the shade in the afternoon and enjoy the quiet. We drove all the way to Morgan City before deciding to attempt to navigate a path home. Easier said than done in a landscape that is more water than land and road. We did it, and made it home in time for dinner. Now back to fretting about school.

Sneak Peak

Lots of good things going in the mail lately. This is corner of one side of my print for the Current Event Print Exchange hosted by Walker Mettling and Emmy Bright in Providence. I am excited to show them off but it is no fair to show you before the other exchangees get theirs. Also, I realized after they were all packaged up that I think mine is crooked, maybe the paper isn't cut straight.


Today 120 postcards went in the mail, Keep Writing Number 32. Again, you only get to see a little to the patient folks get theirs the old fashioned way. Meanwhile, school starts in two weeks. I thought I was ready until I realized all the things I still want to do.

"My Guys Don't Do Arts and Crafts"

Some screen printing dudes sent this comment to my friend when he asked if they would cut down the patches they screened for him or if he had too. My friend was going to cut all three hundred with scissors, but I do "do arts and crafts" without shame or apology, so I borrowed the rotary cutter and a few grumpy hours later, done. I know this is some offhand comment by some guy who is too busy and fine, you don't have to demean yourself to this level. But the secret is, not all arts and crafts are crap.

For example, yesterday I made these tags for the jars of homemade treats I made fro a friend's wedding gift. You can talk down arts and crafts and I will eat half-sour tomatoes while analyzing your comments and moving on.


Also, as part of a response to Keep Writing number 29 I got this scrap of a t-shirt with hand painted birds. Merci, Claire!


Oh, and I finally took a good photo of the print I made about bicycling in Baton Rouge. You can buy one on Etsy, and $10 of it will go to the New Orleans Community Print Shop, but you have to wait until I return from vacation. Vacation!

Swimming Leo Lion

Andy G. might not like the beach as much as I do but he is willing to drive to Florida AGAIN because 1) its almost my birthday, 2)we have friends in Gainesville and 3) he knows that any road trip with me is planned around where we can eat. We will leave our lovely blooming zinnia and follow the heatwave east.


Before we go, in about five days, I will finish my print for the Current Event Print Exchange, even if my only photo so far is of the plans in my notebook. I am about to head to the studio to add two layers of letterpress.


Also, now that most folks should have received there new postcard, I can post this photo of Keep Writing number 31. Also before we leave Sunday, I will set all the type for a text heavy number 32. I can't wait.

Homemade Everything

One of the best things about summer (when I am not in school, anyway) is time to cook. I made these nut burgers last week and didn't have any buns for them to rest upon. And so I stayed home, made some bread and ate an exquisite dinner. Too bad I have to go to work sometimes.

Oh yeah, that is saurkraut made from garden cabbage, too.

A Little Time Off

Visiting family is great and going out every night is fun too. But there are ten days till school starts, the house is quiet and I haven't made it to the studio this week. Since A. is out of town I have fully taken over the house, moving the sewing machine to the kitchen table for now. It turns out that these little books are too thick for my machine but I mended a shirt and made a peek-a-boo postcard for Ella. Today I ignored all the to-do lists, slept in a little, watched a movie in bed, drove around a little, and actually accidentally did a few things on the list. Home is good.

Louisiana in December

This is my favorite month here for sure. It might be too hot to grow anything in August but the week before Christmas, the garden is flourishing. I left the studio early the other day to check on the cabbage and cauliflower and walk around.
I also picked some of the last of the greens which I cooked up this morning with grits and seitan. Time to go go to school and print.

Where ever you go...

I walked across the Williamsburg Bridge yesterday just because you can. Half way across I spotted familiar graffiti. It is not just the internet that makes the world feel smaller.

I might be on vacation but I am still working. But I am not doing this one alone. I want you to write about your home town. Tell me why you stayed, why you left, what is different or the same and most importantly, how this affects you. Tell me about what you love about where you live and how it relates to where you grew up. Don't just tell me about your stifling small town and how you love New Orleans, tell me about your neighbors and neighborhood. Don't redefine "home" or "community" but tell me where you are from and how that makes you who you are. Send it to me by August 1st and don't forget to include a photo or drawing of the place you are writing about. This will be part of the second Where You From zine and it should be out in the early fall. So get to work. Leave a comment here and I will let you know where to send it. Now I'm going to sit in a coffee shop in Brooklyn for a while.

You Thought I Was Joking

No messing around. I still get up at seven a.m. but while in the grocery store this morning I remembered a little bit of leftover winter whiskey. I got myself a bottle of ginger ale and my afternoon turned out right nice. Yes, this glass sits on a lovely letterpressed coaster given to me by Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress. I will be joining her next week at the National Stationary Show in New York City.

But first, there is this meal to acknowledge. One of my favorite things about having a little down time is cooking up fantastic meals. I sipped on my ginger ale while kneeding pizza dough and talking to my dad about my inability to remember important numbers. He says he has the same problem. If I could cook for dad next week when I visit, I would. It seems like I may not be doing a lot of cooking in the next two months so I have made up for it with this:


Summertime is all about home made pizza in our house. Yes and it is all vegan. A little more processed food than I always like, but it was a special occasion. Vegi-chicken, and soy mozzarella, with pesto, roasted eggplant, roma tomatoes. I picked a bowl full of salad greens and grated some beet in it too. One of my favorite salad dressings is sesame oil and lemon juice with a little Tabasco, a recipe lifted from my first job in a vegan deli.

I didn't get to make the orange linen paper I hoped to for another collaboration post card but do not fear, even on vacation I will find plenty to do.

Why, what do you do on your day off?

Yesterday was my last day of classes so of course when I got home I busted out the vacuum that has been in the storage shed since we moved in on New Year's and removed most of the cat hair from the only rug. I swept, re-arranged, went out for drinks with a friend, and then got up early this morning to bake 12 little cinnamon rolls. One is not pictured. It is in the fridge for the kind friend who will feed the cat while I am in Florida this weekend. I should be tired, sleeping, resting. Instead, I am binding a new sketchbook for the summer. And I am about to go eat one of those sweets. It isn't just the coffee.