Bluebird's Chalet

December 11

2008-12-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

December 7

2008-12-07T15:54:00.001-07:00

A couple of years ago we visited Pella, Iowa to see the
Christmas decorations, this is a photo I made that day.

December 6

2008-12-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

2008-12-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a worship service at Women of the Well, a Methodist church within Mitchellville, Iowa Prison for Women. It was an eye-opening experience and made me feel more grateful than ever for all that I have been given. Please pray for these women, young and old, abused, addicted, and grieving.

December 4

2008-12-04T10:05:00.001-07:00

December 3

2008-12-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

December 2

2008-12-02T10:56:00.004-07:00

Indeed it did snow Sunday in Iowa. There is still plenty on the ground, nicely hiding all the leaves we didn't get raked up.

Advent Calendar December 1, 2008

2008-12-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

2005-11-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

On the Road Again. The left page features Jasper, our granddog who is now at the bridge. It was moving day and he knew something was up. He got in the car and wouldn't get out. The right page features Yoki and Tioga from California in their goggles, ready for a ride.

Puppy Play!

2005-11-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Another spread from the book for PALS. The left spread features my grand dog Bibi when she was a puppy. She was a lot of fun and a holy terror when it came to her sharp little puppy teeth. In the upper photo she is pulling on her Mom's jeans while Wilbur the cat watched. In the lower photo she is going thru my suitcase when I was visiting. The right side features Simon and Allie from Indiana andin the center: 2 rescue puppies in Texas.

2005-11-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is a spread from the altered book that I am doing for the PALS rescue group in Grinnell, Iowa. It will be an entry in an art show and silent auction in December. This spread features Xena and Boof at the Beach in Pawstralia

2005-10-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Altered photograph I did for a swap. It is supposed to represent fire and light for calling up the goddess Brigid

2005-10-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

First page of a spread in a Round robin book, featuring Las Vegas, New Mexico

2005-10-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Second page of the Which Las Vegas spread

2005-10-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

Miles age 2 and a half months

2005-10-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

The mission church at San Augustine

2005-10-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ruins at LaLandrie a ghost town on the Gallinas

2005-10-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

Another village on the Gallinas River in northern New Mexico

2005-10-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Fall in northern New Mexico. This is the little village of San Augustin, in the Gallinas River canyon

2005-10-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall Ya'll

What was I thinking?

2005-09-15T16:55:00.000-06:00

When I did my recent posts, I suddenly realized that in my haste to take off to Iowa in June, I neglected to finish the Japan trip photos. I had left off our wonderful visit to Yokosuka. Chihiro and I have been e-penpals for 7 years and we had not met until this May. We stayed at a magnificent hotel right on the water where we could see the ships entering Tokyo Bay. One day Chihiro and Osama took us on a driving tour to a Temple and to the aquarium. They also took us to the train in Yokohama so we could get to Narita airport. What a great ending to a really special trip.

2005-09-15T16:51:00.000-06:00

Chihiro, Shoma and the hostess at the restaurant

2005-09-15T16:50:00.000-06:00

Fishing boat off of Yokosuka

2005-09-15T16:48:00.000-06:00

Osama, Chihiro, Shoma with the McIntyres

2005-09-15T16:45:00.000-06:00

JM and his buddy Shoma at Chihiro's apartment

2005-09-15T16:39:00.000-06:00

Tribal shield of the Suoma tribe, made for a swap.

2005-09-15T16:36:00.000-06:00

Visual journal page about the flood

New Orleans

2005-09-15T16:27:00.000-06:00

I have been so sad about what happened to and in New Orleans. The last time that I was there I stayed near the Superdome and walked all the way to the River Walk one day. I also rode the trolley through the St. Charles District. I can't seem to find the photos that I made on that trip, but I am still looking for them.

2005-08-29T14:08:00.000-06:00

Wild flowers at CERA. Read more about CERA at http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/biology/cera/about/

2005-08-29T14:00:00.000-06:00

Here I am right next to Andy Goldsworthy's sculpture.

Andy Goldsworthy Cairn near Grinnell, Iowa

2005-08-29T13:36:00.000-06:00

This Cairn is part of a project by Andy Goldsworthy. It is on the Conard Environmental Research Area which is a part of the Prairie studies center at Grinnell College in Iowa.

From a review by Ann Wilson Lloyd in the New York Times: July 21, 2002
"Within singeing distance of a wind-whipped prairie fire in the spring, the Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy huddled over camera and tripod, shooting frame after frame of his fieldstone sculpture. The pine-cone-shaped form, called a cairn, was engulfed by flame and smoke and left standing on stark, blackened ground. Afterward, he described — with glee, it seemed — how the camera had become hot enough to burn his fingers. Mr. Goldsworthy's cairn was built deliberately in the path of a prairie burn conducted by Grinnell College."

"Mr. Goldsworthy started the project in 2000 by building three smaller, temporary cairns. "I wanted the first layer of the project to develop the connections," he said. Built of local, uncut stones, the temporary cairns served as a way to mentally and physically sketch in the bigger project. The cairns on the coasts were built on beaches on Long Island Sound and at La Jolla, Calif. He worked during the three or so hours between tides, and then left the cairns to be destroyed by incoming waves. On the Iowa prairie, however, the temporary cairn remains, relatively unscathed by the prairie fire."

You can read more about the cairn project at: http://www.roxie.com/NYTSun.html

2005-08-25T15:05:00.000-06:00

The view from the porch of the Granary at Life O Riley

2005-08-25T15:03:00.000-06:00

Here is a painting that I did of the Granary front porch at Life O Riley Guesthouse

Leading the Life O Riley

2005-08-25T14:42:00.000-06:00

When I was in Wisconsin I stayed at the Life O Riley Farm and Guesthouse. What a great place to get away from everything and just relax! Mike and Jean are wonderful hosts and saw that I had plenty to eat, not just breakfast. Jean's bread and cinnamon rolls are too delicious for words. I also had fresh eggs, fresh dug potatoes and beets, all the berries I could pick and tender porkchops.

While I was there I worked on an ATC (artist trading card) project for a swap. I was doing collage with a lot of different papers and what a mess I had. I think Jean was afraid that I would not be able to get it all together before time to leave. But I did.

I loved listening all day to Wisconsin Public Radio's talk network. I must say I learned more interesting things from those broadcasts.

Life O Riley's webpage is: http://www.bbonline.com/wi/lifeoriley/index.html

2005-08-25T14:41:00.000-06:00

A reconstructed page based on a tree of life symbol.

2005-08-25T14:39:00.000-06:00

Another reconstructed page

2005-08-25T14:34:00.000-06:00

A Reconstructed page in my journal.

Mandala Journal page

2005-08-25T14:05:00.000-06:00

The assignment was to draw a mandala on two pages. Then list all the colors in your mandala. Finally we were to write about each color and what it meant to the artist for at least 10 minutes.

A workshop with Juliana Coles

2005-08-16T14:24:00.000-06:00

I drove up to Southwest Wisconsin to take an altered book workshop with Juliana Coles. The class was called : Reconstruction Era: Rebuilding the Self through Shadow

You can see pictures from our workshop at http://www.valleyridgeartstudio.com/albums/070905/index.html

and learn more about Valley Ridge Studio at http://www.valleyridgeartstudio.com/

The Sex Life of Corn

2005-08-16T14:16:00.000-06:00

One of the things I learned this summer was about the sex life of corn. Eric and Guinnie's farm is surrounded by seed corn fields. They are farmed by different people, but most of the corn goes to Monsanto for seed. I learned about corn de tasseling on ideabox.debatenation.com/

Corn detasseling is the crucial last step in producing hybrid corn seed. It involves removing the pollen-producing top part of the plant, the tassel, so the corn can't pollinate itself. Instead, pollen from another variety of corn grown in the same field is carried by the wind, pollinating the detasseled corn. The result is corn that bears the genetic characteristics of both varieties and can produce healthier crops with higher yields. Despite technological advances in agriculture, detasseling is still a task that for the most part is done by hand.The detasseling season lasts only about 20 days beginning in mid-July and, because it's usually minimum-wage work, it doesn't attract many migrant workers. But teenagers are drawn to the fast cash they can make, sometimes $4,000 a season. About 100,000 teenagers in the U.S. do this work each summer, according to estimates by seed companies and detasseling contractors.

Learn more at http://www.teamcorn.com/aboutdetasseling.shtml

2005-08-16T13:58:00.000-06:00

Now this is the life!

2005-08-16T13:56:00.000-06:00

Hey! What happened, how did I get here with all these bright lights? What happened to that warm dark place where I could hear my mommy's heart beat all the time? Oh well it was getting very tight in there, guess it was time to come face to face with my family.

2005-08-16T13:53:00.000-06:00

Paw Paw and Oma with Miles and Pippy the puppy.

2005-08-16T13:51:00.000-06:00

The Proud parents, Eric and Guinevere.

2005-08-16T13:50:00.000-06:00

Miles' official hospital photo, 2 days old.

What I did this summer

2005-08-16T13:40:00.000-06:00

Here I am back again after a long absence. I can't wait to tell you what all I did this summer, but first ......as they say on tv..... The big news is that I am now Oma for real.

Miles Wallace McIntyre was born on August 4, 2005. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 11 oz. and is 21 1/2 inches tall. Both of his parents are tall so he is bound to be a big guy. His father, Eric says he is going to be a line backer. Everyone is doing well and the sleepless nights will pass soon. (everyone hopes)

2005-06-12T14:47:00.001-06:00

Flat Friends getting to pose with the Maori warrior in front of the New Zealand pavilion

2005-06-12T14:47:00.000-06:00

In the Lao pavilion, this Japanese lady asked us to sign her book and made a picture of us, we asked her to do the same.

2005-06-12T14:43:00.000-06:00

On May 9th we sadly said goodbye to David and Osaka. What a wonderful 12 days we had there together. But we headed off for more adventures. First stop: Expo 2005 Aichi. We avoided lines by visiting the smaller pavilions and some that we could get into without much of a wait.

Nara

2005-06-12T14:39:00.000-06:00

Mother's Day 2005, we went to Nara, the historical capital of Japan. The guys went to the museum while I wandered in the ancient forest looking for birds. David gave me some little watermelon jellies because he knew I would love the design on the wrappers. I did. The jellies were delicious.

2005-06-12T14:36:00.000-06:00

It poured rain the day we went to the Maritime Museum, but we were high and dry inside the big dome.

2005-06-12T14:33:00.000-06:00

Forrest Gump's Bench outside Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. cafe

2005-06-12T14:28:00.000-06:00

David introduced the flat friends to Marilyn

USJ

2005-06-12T14:27:00.000-06:00

Oh Lucy, the flat friends and I have been walking around USJ all day long. We have had our photo made with the "Blue's brothers", and even "Marilyn Monroe". We are so hungry! Do you want to join us at Bubba Gumps?

2005-06-12T14:24:00.000-06:00

May 5, a day spent at Universal Studios Japan and dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

2005-06-12T14:22:00.000-06:00

May 4th, a visit to the Osaka museum of Science and dinner at the Osaka Hard Rock cafe.

2005-06-12T14:19:00.000-06:00

May 3 page in my paste book journal

Bricolage! Another form of altered art?

2005-06-12T14:05:00.000-06:00

May 3.
Bricolage: Construction or something constructed by using whatever materials happen to be available.

At the site of Osaka Expo 1970, we visited the museum of ethnology. The whole museum became a part of the exhibit, which was called "More Happy Everyday". It was based on the subject of Bricolage.

The English guide to the exhibit explains, "What we try to describe by an unfamiliar word, ‘bricolage art’ , are expressive activities in our daily life and artistic works produced through these activities."...

"A can for beer exists to be filled with beer. When the can becomes empty, it will be thrown out. On the other hand, performers of bricolage create hats, bags, and children's toys from those cans. Amazed by the unexpected outcome, we see possibility of a beer can and artistic power of the creator in it. "

"What constitute the exhibition hall are widely available materials, such as tube and coupler scaffolding and corrugated fiberboard. It presupposes that these materials will be returned to the distribution after the exhibition."

For more about the exhibition see
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/exhibitions/special/brico/

2005-06-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

Each day I made a little journal page of found papers that I collected during the day. This is the one for April 30.

April 30, 2005

2005-06-12T13:24:00.000-06:00

April 30th.
Early this morning I visited Tokyu Hands, an 8 floor version of Michaels or Hobby Lobby. In addition to craft and art supplies and decorative items they had accessories, and all kinds of do it yourself supplies. I spent my entire two hours on the top two floors: stationary, office supplies, scrapbooking and paper. We met David for lunch at the Namba Parks mall. An unusual mutilevel shopping mall with little outdoor parks on each level.
In the afternoon we all went to the Osaka history museum where some friendly volunteer docents helped me to dress up in the costume of the Imperial Fan Bearer. It is a wonderful museum, most of the captions were in Japanese with only a few English words thrown in now and then. From the windows we could see Osaka Castle below. Later we walked around the castle grounds in the cool of the evening.
I carried a small blank book with me to get it stamped wherever we went, attractions, train stations etc. In the history museum I got my book stamped at several different stations as we moved through.

2005-06-12T13:22:00.000-06:00

On the first day of Golden week, lots of families were enjoying a day at the park. It was hot and the children were having fun wading in the little stream.

Tennoji Park

2005-06-12T13:17:00.000-06:00

The first Holiday of Golden Week. We join the families having picnics in the park at Tennoji. Teenage dance groups are performing Hip Hop on the stage in the noon day sun. Little kids are wading in a small stream. We get a close up view of the Koalas at the zoo (my reason for wanting to go to the park). Late in the afternoon we walk down to the Tsutenkaku Tower, where we queue up for the elevator to the top. Great views of the city in all directions. I pat the belly of the Billiken for good luck. I think it worked. Everything seemed to work out smoothly for the entire trip.
To learn more:
Billiken
http://www.e-z-smith.com/Billycan/
About the tower:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/RI/kansai/osaka/shinsekai/shinsekai.html
Tennoji:
http://www.tourism.city.osaka.jp/en/area_osaka/tennoji/attraction/

2005-05-17T21:05:00.000-06:00

David in his classroom at ECC

2005-05-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

At a campus of ECC we observed two of David's classes. The first class of four year olds were learning colors and names of fruits, excitedly giving David "five" when they got the right answer. The 2nd grade girls (admittedly David's favorite group this semester) are cute, experienced students. They were learning days of the week and months of the year. They enjoyed a rowdy game of "fruit basket turn over". Meanwhile across the hall a tall young man fearlessly did the hokey pokey with a class of 2 and 3 year olds and their mothers. Outside in the hall several mothers came by to say hello to us in halting English.

for more information on ECC Kids see:

http://www.ecc.co.jp/htm/english/index.html

2005-05-17T21:03:00.000-06:00

School children planting flowers along the street where we were staying

2005-05-17T21:02:00.000-06:00

Patting the Billiken for good luck

2005-05-17T20:47:00.000-06:00

Tsutenkaku Tower

2005-05-17T20:29:00.000-06:00

The first Holiday of Golden Week. We join the families having picnics in the park at Tennoji. Teenage dance groups are performing Hip Hop on the stage in the noon day sun. Little kids are wading in a small stream. We get a close up view of the Koalas at the zoo (my reason for wanting to go to the park). Late in the afternoon we walk down to the Tsutenkaku Tower, where we queue up for the elevator to the top. Great views of the city in all directions. I pat the belly of the Billiken for good luck. I think it worked. Everything seemed to work out smoothly for the entire trip.

To learn more:
Billiken
http://www.e-z-smith.com/Billycan/

About the tower:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/RI/kansai/osaka/shinsekai/shinsekai.html

Tennoji:
http://www.tourism.city.osaka.jp/en/area_osaka/tennoji/attraction/

Flat Friends On the Road

2005-05-17T20:15:00.000-06:00

My blog posts from the Japanese keyboard on the hotel computer came across like squares. It has something to do with the way the browser reads them. Son, David put up some posts on his blog: www.Osakadavesjapan.blogspot.com He was enthusiastic about the flat friends and made sure they got to take part in every event.

I am now updating this one with pictures and descriptions of our adventures.

Fasten your seatbelts we are ready for take off.

Off to Japan

2005-04-24T14:00:00.000-06:00

We leave tomorrow for Japan. The day is finally here. We will spend tomorrow night in LA and fly out to Osaka on Tuesday afternoon. When we get off that 747 we will have lost a whole day and arrived in a new world.

Watch this spot for any updates.

2005-04-13T19:19:00.000-06:00

Altering photos is a fun way to use old photographs. For this one, I used two photos that I made several years ago of a sheet of music and my son, Eric's French Horn.

2005-04-13T16:05:00.000-06:00

A local gallery had a Boot and Shoe show last year. I took an old pair of baby shoes belonging to son David and built paper mache tops. I then collaged on a lot of postage stamps and postmarks. It is called Oh the Places you'll go, in honor of David's world travels.

2005-04-13T16:01:00.000-06:00

This is my Flat Friends on the Road tote bag. I ironed on pictures of my flat friends and a few others who want to join me on a trip. Our first trip was by Amtrak to Iowa.

2005-04-13T15:54:00.000-06:00

A bright spring picture painted during winter to cheer me up.

2005-04-10T10:12:00.000-06:00

Last Summer I made my first altered book in response to the "Red" theme in Somerset Studio. It just came home unpublished, but it started me on a new path in my art--altered everything!

2005-04-10T10:01:00.000-06:00

The theme for my "red" book was "Live Your Best Life". This page is called Life's Blood.

2005-04-09T20:59:00.000-06:00

Here is my flatself.

An Altered Journey

2005-04-09T20:15:00.000-06:00

A group of friends from a Yahoo group have decided to visit each other as flat selves and learn about where their friends live and what exciting things they do. We each created a flat self (some created more than one) and an altered book to use as a travel journal.