Travel journal

I made a new travel journal for an upcoming trip. Love the process of making a new book and playing with all the supplies - paper, wallpaper samples, fabric samples, thread. I really liked Teesha Moore's Amazing 16 page journal idea, and decided to bind five of these into a book with hard covers. I used smaller sheets to start with, so my book is about 4.5 x 6 inches. To keep the book closed, I stamped a piece of elastic and create a loop. Cannot wait to fill it up.

Beauty

Beauty is where you find it. I found this at the marina gate. Simply fab.

Recent Reads

Happy Autumnal Equinox. One of two days each year with equal light and dark. Something quite auspicious about that no?

1. Sara Midda's South of France
Delightful gem of a little book. Read it again to inspire me for an upcoming trip.

2. The Confident Creative
There are a lot of good ideas and reflections in this book. However I found the way the author writes to be annoying.

3. The Illustrated Life
A book I never tire looking at. It is on my nightstand - always there when I am in the mood to be delighted.

4. When Wanderers Cease to Roam
This is an illustrated journal with a section for each month a year. Loved it.

5. The Kill Artist
First book I've read by the author, and first in the Gabriel Allon series. An old style thriller - while not fantastic is a good read. I am currently reading the next book in the series.

6. The Beat of Urban Art
Stumbled across this graffiti artist while browsing my local library shelves and love, love his style.

New Journal

I like to vary the size of my journals. I finished making this one today - about 4.5 x 6 inches. Outside cover is scrapbook paper, the inside cover is wallpaper samples and the pages are watercolor paper. I used the coptic stitch - can never quite make it look the way I expect. I think the thread I used is too thin to really show the coptic chain. Cannot wait to play in it.

Bag-o-phile

You know me, you know I gotta thing for bags. Don't know what it is. Maybe I need to be ready for a quick escape. Love bags. Never met a bag I did not like. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. So much fun. I've been giving some of my bags away - to good homes. I mean why tote things around in one of those horrible plastic shopping bags when you could use a fun bag instead? I do not own the bags drawn below. I saw a stamp that had bags and was inspired to capture some of the fun of bags.

Specs

You might recall that I bought my first pair of reading glasses last year in Thailand. Actually bought them to read The Mosquito Coast which was printed in this tiny horrible print, though I loved the book. Since then, have not really needed them. This summer I started reading on my nook, and could simply change font size - so was lulled into this false sense of being able to see just fine. Umm, am here to report that I've been using my reading glasses for the past week and actually need them. Even more interesting is that I had them on while eating breakfast one morning and could actually see details of my meal that I could not before. Wonder how much we don't actually see and don't even realize. Fascinating.

Faces are tough to draw - there are always emotions tied to a human face.

Masks

The prompt I had given my art journal group was to create pages using masks or stencils. At the meeting today, it was fun to see what others had created. So many good ideas to explore further. What fun.

Here are my pages. For this one which I had posted earlier, I used the image from a magazine as my mask. For the pages below, I used pics of my nephews that they had given me recently. I also decided to capture some thoughts about them at this age. Each line of text starts with their current age - so Luke's all start with @ seven, and Jonah's @ five. For the background I used a couple of Tim Holtz masks and my own stencils. You'd be surprised at what you can do with that netting that comes with a box of clementines. Love how these turned out.

Clocks

At our latitude, sunset is getting earlier and earlier. At this point we have lost about one and a half hours of daylight. And it will only get worse before it gets better. My animal body wants to do as all the other animals and go to bed when it gets dark out. Realized yesterday that it was only 7:00pm when that occurred. Time to retrain my internal clock.

This is one of my fave buildings in the Navy yard.

Time flies

Can you believe how fast the hours, days, months are flying by? It is all I can do to hang on for dear life.

Had the boys over yesterday - a school night, so homework was on the menu. My nephew Jonah, age 5, and I continue to have deep philosophical discussions about god. You know. GOD!!! (imagine little fists pumping the air). Here is a sample from yesterday:

Jonah: God made the sun
Susan: What if it wasn't God who made the sun?
Jonah: Then it would be dark!

Gotta love that kid.

Bua

There is something to be said about simply browsing the library stacks with no real intention. I stumbled across a book by Justin Bua and love this work. I used his book to experiment with his style - love it.

Recent Reads

1. Foreign Affairs
My book club selection for the month starts out slowly but is quite an interesting read. I especially like that the story is told from the point of view of a man and a woman who do not end up together - that is refreshing in itself. Also liked how the characters actually say things that we often think, but do not say out loud. The story explores the sense of self at home and abroad. Quite good.

2. The Host
Summer reading indeed. I'm been on a Greek gods, vampires and now aliens kick - oh my! This was a perfect read for a sailing cruise. Why are post apocalyptic novels so popular again?

3. The Art of Travel
Have been slowly reading, savoring and reflecting my way through this gem of a book. Having finished it last night, I can tell you that I am not the same person I was prior to reading it. And maybe best of all it has set me on new paths to explore. Fantastic.

Reading with kids

1. When Sophie Gets Angry
One of the books we read with the boys on our camping trip. How do you handle anger? Sophie calms herself in nature. A good way to have a discussion about what we get angry about and how we handle that emotion.

2. The Brand New Kid
The story of a new kid that looks different and how he is treated by his classmates. "The kids are so mean to him", said Jonah. One girl reaches out to the stranger, and her actions change everything. Jonah said that he is the same way - he makes friends with everyone no matter who they are or what they look like. Love this kid.

3. Flotsam
I love this book - no words. You get to use your imagination to create your own story. Very cool.

4. Mirror Mirror
This cool book of poetry can be read two ways - forward and backward - and the story changes dramatically. The boys had fun creating their own verses that made sense in both directions.

September

And here is September. Kiddies are all back in school. The neighborhood is so quiet. Time flies by so very fast.

Sailing

This has been a good summer for outdoor activities, especially sailing. Hurricane Earl passed on by and was downgraded enough not to cause any damage at the marina. Where to head for the next cruise? So many options.

Here is a page I created while at a mooring in Scituate harbor.

Art Journal

I like how this collage turned out.

Ephemera

These pages are always fun to create and a wonderful visual reminder of a place and time.

Fragile (2)

Here is a page I created yesterday. See earlier post for details.

Fragile

I often think that people should have a sticker on them that says Fragile: Handle with Care.

Am reminded again of how really fragile is our hold on life. My cousin Thomas was killed in a hit and run in Kerala a couple of days ago. And just like that his life is over. He did not even get to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. I've been holding in my thoughts his wife, mother, father, brother, sister and all his cousins, uncles, aunts, friends who loved him.

Give someone you love a hug today.