And To All A Good Night!

You've been wondering what I've been doing? Well, I know some of you have because I've been getting emails. You might want to grab a cup of tea...or coffee...or wine because this one is going to be long.

"The Holidays".....you know how busy it is and I don't even do that much....I did take a day off to play tourist in my own town. San Francisco is a great place to do that. Isn't the Palace hotel pretty?

And Chinatown....always a favorite spot of mine. I have been roaming around the streets and alleys there for years but I had never been to this place. I passed it by lots of ties thinking it was a tourist trap and it kind of is BUT it just looks so cool...
The Far East Cafe on Grant Avenue

And I can recommend the wonton/noodles/BBQ pork soup for sure.

Another favorite spot to hang out is my studio. One of my happiest places to be and there is always so much to do there...
and, I like company too, so come on in.

My pal Margarete brought me some great boxes of stamps and I spent quite a lot of time happily sorting them and playing with them...

I wrapped quite a few presents in my studio too...

And I made a bunch of Christmas accordion fold books but having gotten into the holiday spirit too late I still have them all. But the good news is they are all ready for NEXT Christmas. If I can remember where I put them.
I just don't get in the mood for Xmas till about a week before. As I was making things I was thinking what a good blog post it would be to show you but by then it was too late...
DOES THAT HAPPEN TO YOU?

I worked on finishing up my NYC travel journal. I had fun making tabs and then sticking stamps on them..

Don't they look cool? Well, I think so...

I made a very small, almost square altered book for a good friend  who loves Japan.

Also busy making envelopes and sending out some good mail.

Yes, another lunch out - this one in Japantown. 

Spend some nice time by my pretty Christmas tree....read a lot of books, baked a lot of cookies and made pies, took packages to the post office, worked, cooked, went to our mail art group's Xmas party.....
OK, SO here's what I want to know from YOU --
What would you like to see on the blog? What interests you? Just Art? Food? San Francisco?
I need to know if there is enough interest to continue and what you'd like to see more/less of.
And, c'mon  -- you can post anonymous comments easily - I know because I get A LOT of spam comments. You can do it!
Let's start the new year together.

In the meantime, if you are looking for me, I'm having a cocktail.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Very Happy 2109!
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Let's Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is only days away (here in the USA). I think it is my favorite holiday. No gifts, low-key and pie! I mean, really, what's not to like?
Like I said...pie.
What is your favorite kind? I think the holiday also makes us think about loved ones who we have with us and whose who are gone. My beloved mother-in-law taught me how to make pie crust and pies many years ago, After we lost her, I made many an apple pie for my father-in-law who loved apple pie. (He was the 102 year old fire fighter many of you know about).
So, I can't make a pie without thinking of those two.

I made a Thanksgiving altered book this year....and a matching one for my niece, whom I'm spending the holiday with. I think it will be a nice souvenir of our visit.

I used a bunch of old papers for a lot of the pages....and we will add photos and menus and ephemera from the holiday weekend. Looking forward to a little art time after all the eating.
And a nice long walk too.

Don't you wonder what these two girls did for Thanksgiving back in the day? I wonder how many they got to celebrate.
I invited them along to my celebration this year.

Some French pumpkins to add a little international color. But I doubt you could find a turkey in France! OK, maybe a small one...

This page makes me think of my wonderful mom,. Every Thanksgiving she would set out a bowl of walnuts on the coffee table in the living room where they would sit and get dusty and mostly ignored. I have to do the very same thing myself now....(yes, they still get ignored and dusty...)

So, I am hoping all of you out there who celebrate have a lovely day. Be sure to have some pie and think about your loved ones and what you are thankful for.
I'm sure we all have many things to appreciate and be grateful for and celebrate.
How do you all celebrate?
Do you BBQ a turkey? Go to a movie and get Chinese food? Celebrate with a few or many? Go for a walk on the beach and eat crab? 
I'd love to hear.

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Getting Inked

No, not me......but I did go see a really interesting show recently. I had a couple of free passes to the Jewish Museum here in San Francisco and went to see this show about tattooing...

It was interesting to me to see the old school tattoos...when the tattoo artist were doing these in the 40's and 50's the world was a different place and tattooing was not really accepted in mainstream culture.

I think I liked the old signs the best....

Maybe it was seeing the Asian women tattoos (and, of course, it was all women and not men in the drawings) but I suddenly had an udon craving...

Finding a great bowl of udon or ramen in San Francisco is pretty easy and happens at least once  a week for me....

These old gals also got inked -- but in a slightly different way. I rolled out my brayer and used some stencils my pal Margarete lent me and gave a bunch of old cabinet cards some ink!
By the way, Maragrete's blog is listed on my sidebar to the right (on your laptop -- doesn't show on phones) and I recommend taking a look at her last two delightful posts.
I'm just sayin'.

I think the color really livens things up, don't you? They all needed some cheering up.

And, while I was at it, I made some cards too. Always nice to have a stockpile of cards ready to mail out.

I think a lot of us here in California could use some cheering up. There are wild fires in both Northern and Southern California. The air quality here in San Francisco is terrible which serves to remind us of of all the losses people and the wonderful state of California are suffering. There are many people here who won't be having a happy thanksgiving.

Count your blessings.

I already have another blog post in the works so I'll see you guys soon.

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Anybody Miss Me?

I miss you guys. But, it is hard to motivate myself to work on the blog these days. I am on Instagram the most and I really like it.
I don't want to repost here what is on IG but I do know some loyal blog followers are not on IG and miss seeing things...
What to do?
I have a whole new (very old) stash of wonderful papers like these and old, old books and I have so many projects going on you wouldn't believe it.
That's the way I like it -- busy, busy with lots of ideas.

We've had two - count 'em - two - mail art meetings since I last posted and they have been great.
My artistamp passport is really getting filled up too.

For our September meeting, we were very lucky to have Mandy Ross  speak and do a slide show of her fabulous collection of old scrapbooks.
Mandy is @paperofthe past on Instagram and
here is the link to her website
She just happens to live in San Francisco and was nice enough to come and talk to us. You've got to check out her website or IG, you're going to love it.

She loves old paper too.....and she joined out group...

Some scrapbook pages....pretty wonderful, right? I keep thinking (and hoping) someone will collect all the stuff I make one day when I'm gone...

For our October meeting, Deble did a demo of making fan books. She inspired the whole group and I think we all went back to our studios and made them. So easy and so much fun....

You can see why they are called fan books. Very cool.

I went home and made this one for a certain little kid I know! Pretty cool.  You can use them as a birthday greeting and put dollar bills inside for a young child....I can think of lots of themes for them and all those pockets..

And, here's an accordion book I made using airmail envelopes. I like anything with an air mail theme. Those stripes! Those colors! These two book styles are quite similar and both super easy and fun to make.

You can't just make things ALL the time so I invited a couple of pals to lunch on one of these very fine fall days. Fig tart and friends and fun. A nice way to spend an afternoon.
LOTS going on here -- SF Library BIG Book sale coming right up, a couple of trips for me, loads of art projects happening all at once....
I'll post more photos soon.

And just remember --
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Over and out.