Road Trip With Paper

Perks of Travel
I love to travel -- planes, cars, trains -- you name it and I'm in!
Recently I took a road trip to the LA area. I'm not very used to freeways.
Especially seven lane versions of freeways.
But there were postcards to cheer me up.

Highway 5
The main roue between SF and LA is Highway 5. I can't tell you the number of times I have been up and down Highway 5.
I have to think of things to do to keep me amused in the car.
Taking photos out the windows is one thing.
And then there is In & Out Burger.

This trip we had six hours of the most incredibly beautiful and dramatic skies
 which really helped to keep us entertained.

And then there is California Agriculture -- just like the postcard says. There are grapevines
and citrus trees for mile after mile on 5.
Lemons, oranges, tangerines...
And nut trees -- almonds and pistachios. The trees look different in every season.
I like looking for birds nests in the bare branches.

POST BOX
This time I managed to get my sweetie to stop in Bakersfield, CA so I could hit a
farm stand.
Score! Postcards and avocados and nuts and lemons....

I love that CALIFORNIA RAISINS postcard...
wonder who will get that one?

Menus from Musso and Franks and Canters
Another perk of travel is picking up maps and menus which can then be made into
all kinds of mail art...

LA Origami booklets

Mail art like these origami booklets that I stuffed with California postcards..
and I made collage postcards and envelopes too. I wonder if
Planet Susannia
has received hers yet? Mail can be slow this time of year.

OUTSIDE THE HOLLYWOOD POST OFFICE

They say everyone in Hollywood is skinny -- well, not this big fella.
People must be feeding him a lot of mail!

That's So LA

This is my 199th (?) post -- I guess 200 is sort of a milestone so I'll have to think
of something interesting to write about and photograph.
I have some ideas.
I thought a random LA travel post might be fun because personally I am tired
of holidays.
I want to get back into the studio and catch up on mail and collage.

I hope everyone has been having fun celebrating various things.
Happy New Year to All
and see you soon for Number 200.
Thanks for all the comments and support and good mail.

                             

Making My List

Making my list and checking it twice...
Were you naughty or nice?

I always get in the holiday spirit a lot later than most people.
I'm starting to feel it....
Got the Christmas tree...got out the vintage cards...

SF Co-Op Holiday Party

I went to the SF Correspondence Co-Op Holiday party on Friday night
and that certainly helped with the holiday spirit.
I bought a whole lot of these raffle tickets....

Because I really, really wanted to win this Postal Vending Machine...

The lovely Miss Red Letter Day herself sold the raffle tickets but unfortunately I didn't win.

Typewriter Wine

Oh well, lots of fun anyway and some Typewriter wine to tide me over.

Making photo cards for a certain someone (hope she doesn't see this - I don't think she reads my blog). Photos of Italy and Istanbul on greeting cards ready to be wrapped and mailed off.

The traditional daily organizer - 2013 version to be made for me and another pal.
They start off kind of ugly and....

2013 Daily Planners

Viola - they look cool now...complete with rubber stamped decorations inside.
I use one to keep track of mail sent/received. Not too late to make some if you are so inclined.

Planners
I have them going back several years and they are fun mail diaries.

2012 Holiday Card-Making

Time to get cranking out those holiday cards. Yesterday in SF it was cold and rainy and a perfect afternoon to work on my cards.
Almost done.

Took me longer to figure out which combo of vintage stamps to use to get the correct postage than it took to make the cards.
Hope the folks who get these like them.

OUTGOING MAIL

SANTA

I hope I get lots of holiday mail-art too. And I don't know about all of you out there (in the USA) but the Postal Service here in SF is really trying this year -- I have had two mail
deliveries every day last week. My wonderful letter carrier, Anna, delivers mail and packages once during the day and she has been back every evening, about 6PM, to deliver any packages that came to the sorting room after the first mail delivery.
How's that for great Postal service?

What are you doing for your letter carrier this year?

Dear Santa:
I would like lots of mail for Christmas. And maybe some vintage office supplies and old air mail envelopes. I wouldn't mind some old correspondence that you might find in an attic.
I was very good.
Cappuccino & Art

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

Red and What Goes With It

RED & WHITE & BLUE
I know many folks out there are thinking of RED & GREEN but lately I've been on a red, white  and blue kick. I don't know why but these things just happen sometimes.
I've really been working on a lot of mail art the last few weeks, trying to
catch up after having been away. Twice. After Turkey and Italy I went to LA.
There's an LA post coming up too....

OUTGOING
Having fun with vellum envelopes lately -- did you know vellum requires extra postage?
Now I know too....
That bottom envelope has a coffee theme for a certain person with the initials M.W. who loves a good cup of coffee. Or two.

OUTGOING
Another vellum going out -- and a cheesy envelope for a certain cheese-lover I know.
It's fun to customize envelopes to appeal to people's taste.
I like postal-themed envelopes in case you wondered.

OUTGOING

OUTGOING

Jon already gave a shout-out for the plane collage  

OUTGOING
This origami booklet went out...

OUTGOING

And something out to Planet Susannia -- who sent me the most fabulous mail art booklet --click here and take a look.

VINTAGE SUPPLIES
I think I'll start with some red and green now....got out the vintage Xmas stuff.....

Checking those vintage cards to see if the somewhat odd shape requires any extra postage..
(I hope not because I am sending an awful lots of stamps these days)

Got out the box of holiday rubber stamps....

I've been wrapping.....

...and boxing things up.....

Planning on standing in line at my favorite Post Office this week....maybe I'll bring some cookies..
for the postal clerks, not for me..
Actually, maybe I should bring some cookies to hand out to the usually grumpy folks waiting in line to spread a little cheer. And maybe they won't sigh too much when I get to the counter.
Because I have a lot to send.

INCOMING

The "Send Mail to Get Mail" rule still stands. I got some great mail this week --
from Planet Susannia (see above) and fabulous artistamps from Jack at
Cascadia Artpost and a tiny accordion booklet of photos of Turkey from a friend who also took a trip there..

LIKE MONEY IN THE BANK
The more mail you deposit the more mail you are likely to get!

Buddha's Hand infused vodka

Another little project I am working on...you can't do mail art ALL the time, or can you?

I know it is a crazy time of the year but have fun out there people!

Temptation in Turkey

Cappuccino in Istanbul -- this does NOT look like cappuccino to me. And I am an expert
on Cappuccino....

That could be because tea is very popular in Turkey...I loved seeing those charming little tea cups everywhere...

There was pick up and delivery tea service everywhere we went. and the spice market was filled with teas. I tried pomegranate tea, rose tea, flowering jasmine and apple...
delicious! I will never give up cappuccino but an afternoon tea is quite nice too.

For me, a lot of fun of travel is just walking all over and looking at ordinary things, away from the tourist circuit...like these stationery shops.

I found some delightful notecards....

and bookmarks that look like little Turkish rugs and of course the ever-watchful
evil eye charms.

Turkish mailboxes for sale?

I believe so....and now I am wondering why I didn't buy one..
Oh yes-because I can only fit so much into my suitcase.

This looks like an Italian mailbox. In fact, it IS Italian but there is was in Istanbul, sitting proudly outside a Turkish cafe.

SPECIAL DELIVERY
I had a mail art assignment to take care of. Mail artist and SF Correspondence Co-Op member
Alice S. made a set of wonderful zines from her recent trip to
Istanbul. This guy was featured and my job was to deliver. As you can see, he was
absolutely delighted with the zines...

and the photos of himself inside. I have no Turkish and he had no English but mail art  needs no translation.

My friend Alice is a rubber stamp fanatic opps I mean fan and he made stamping motions with his hand to show he remembered Alice and her love for rubber stamps, especially this big one.
It wasn't for sale but he whipped open the door to this cabinet and --

all these were for sale. Of course I had to follow in Alice's footsteps and buy a few rubber stamps too.
That was really a fun delivery.

OK, some of you (and you know who you are) have been saying "What? No food photos??"
So, here are just a few of the many I took...don't encourage me or I may have to do a FOOD only post.
Women sitting in restaurant windows making fresh flatbreads was quite common.

So, of course, I had to try some of the bread, which just happened to be filled with two kinds of cheese and grilled...and served with the delicious manti (small Turkish ravioli).
This was really too delicious.

And did I mention the Pudding Shops? Something we don't have here in the USA.
Shops with tea and coffee and all kinds of puddings and baklava. Yes, I believe I will stop in every afternoon for a treat.

This is JUST what I need to see after all that tempting Turkish food -- I think I'll skip this.
Maybe I could just user it to weigh my mail? Or my suitcase?

I hope you aren't getting tired of the travel posts. I have been so busy trying to catch up on all my mail that I haven't even had time to photograph everything I've been sending out.
And I've been sending out A LOT.

I have one more Turkish post and then on to OUTGOING mail, incoming mail and
wouldn't you know, holiday mail. And the travel journal, photo album project and travel collages.
And more!

What are you all up to?

SEND A LETTER -- GET A LETTER