Lost Aussie on the loose

Challenge - what would you do with this?

Over on NOT MASS PRODUCED'S  blog -  This Disordered Life there was a lovely little challenge posted.....
And I quote:

wHat wOuLd yOu do wiTh thiS?

One of the things that most fascinates me about art is how you can have a group of about thirty people give them the same task and they all come up with something different. It's amazing.

This is a collage and paint background i created. I was about to work over it but then i wondered what other people would do with it. So if you have the time, download this image and work your magic with it. Just remember to show us what you do!

So I duly downloaded the challenge pic and "had at it" in Photoshop!  and here's what I came up with...

Very FUN...thanks for the creative prod!

Sew "Green"

Lately I have been having a love affair with painting and printing on magazine pages - a vain attempt to re-cycle some of the paper that passes through this house but one that my Husband tells me is largely forgone by the time I have sprayed fixative and matt or gloss coating all over them, thereby trashing the ozone...oh well, a girl can try!

What to do with all of these delightful and intriguing papers?  Well this lot got sandwiched together with some fabric, free motion quilted and stitched.  A couple of eyelets were hammered in to hold a rather loose signature of mixed papers that I had lying around on the desk.  Add a little ribbon to hold it all together, a few beads for good measure....and there you have it.......... another JUNQUE Journal!....which although appears quite RED, was at least an honest attempt at "Green" art!

A Little Dose of Brooklyn

 Before I go any further, I'd just like to say thanks to all of you who posted and emailed good wishes for DH's and my Wedding Anniversary.  We had a lovely celebration, I was duly spoiled and royally treated and it was a wonderful time...........thank you!

The remainder of the weekend was no less lovely, a trip to the movies, some chores done together and today we hopped on the train and went to explore the Brooklyn Flea Market.
I think it's about a year or more since we last went and now they have moved the Sunday venue to Dumbo, under the Bridge itself.

Lots of fun stuff to see, touch and take pictures of, as well as a few treasures that found their way into the backpack and back out to Long Island, including some funky antique tickets, a beautifully painted antique Japanese Tea Pot, some vintage fabric, a very "kewl" anatomical display and some very lovely Australian Pot Pourri - whodathunk to find that there???

I'll leave you with a few snaps and perhaps some more that will find there way here in a few days time...
Ciao for now

10 for 10

 Today dawns as the 10th anniversary of being married to a most wonderful man, who I am gladdened to count as my husband, my friend and my partner.  He is also the best Father I know to four boys, two of his own sons and two of mine that he has taken into his heart and parents better than most men I know.

I count him as my
lover
friend
companion
partner
father
mentor
critic
supporter
playmate
tower of strength

I would not be who I am or where I am today without him, and that is pretty wonderful!

Thank You My Love!

Things I Miss

#1 Son has just returned from a ski trip to New Zealand and for "Odd" reasons - don't ask me why, I was compelled to call and chat to my Uber best friend Mandy in Perth ...at 2:30am, which is usually a good time to catch her at work.  Today however, the conversation goes like this:
Hi - it's me
OMG how are you? where are you?
Well I'm in New York and have lots to chat about...
Err. well it's not a good time, I'm just about to go and do a Craniotomy and we won't be finished for another couple of hours...so call me back at home tonight!
Ok..I said, for sure, I'll call you when I wake up!
Good, we should be done by then........talk to you later!
Click

So don't get me wrong, I love creating art.....I surely do, but there are some days when I would give anything to snap on a pair of gloves, put a mask over my nose and be there with Mandy, doing what we both used to do very well...putting people back together again!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sunshine, Fun and Friends

New York has put on her best summer dress for the past few days and it has been perfect!  Not too hot, not too cold, but just right, which was kind of nice as we have had lots to do, people to meet and places to go!

Over the weekend I met up with my long-time friend, Catherine Anderson.  She was up in NYC visiting her daughter who is here for Summer School.  It has been several years since I last saw Cathy - at Artfest I think?  We used to live just around the corner from each other in Charlotte and seeing her this weekend served to reinforce just how much I have missed her sparkling conversation, creative mind and loving soul.  Our time together was short but sweet and we parted with promises to catch up again, much sooner rather than later and I hope that works out!

Also over the weekend we had visitors from Texas, in the form of #2 BIG son and his girlfriend.  Last time Josh was here it was just after we moved to Long Island.  Lots has changed here in the interim and it was nice to meet his girlfriend Kinsey.  We spent a relaxing day cruising up and down the touristy bits of the City before heading across to Central Park where we enjoyed a long slow meander through parts of the Park that we had not seen much of before.

Part and parcel of most visitor's 'must do' list when they visit NYC is of course a Broadway Show.  So on Sunday night we took the "kids" to see Rock of Ages - which I have to say was very very good.  Music is a common love for all of us and so the "toones" appealed to both generations and it was easy to get caught up in the rock and roll, along with the rest of the audience....a highly recommended experience!

And to close............a few snaps of the weekend that was.....

ciao for now

Illustration Friday - Tango

it's more than just a dance
it's capture and surrender
on a hot steamy night
when a dress all flimsy and light
clings to curves
and beckons you
to hold on tight
to flip and to twirl
to race the cobblestones beneath your feet

it's more than just a dance
as the music and the beat
steal your heart
fill your head
and you dance your dizzy steps
with a passionate frenzy
irresistible and wild
the music of the Tango leads you on
marie otero

Buried Treasure

In his usual inimitable style, Seth over at the Altered Page has come along with yet another 'blogworld must-do'....ergo to dig back into your old blog posts and find something that really floats your boat and is worth re-visiting. 

Hmmm ... since I have been blogging since August 2005, have posted 703 entries, had 3,169 comments and 50,161 visitors.......trolling back through that lot is no mean feat, however I given that I am off to have my increasingly blurry eyesight tested (again) on Saturday - I figured the following post which was featured a couple of months ago in Artful Blogging might be rather apropos!

January 14, 2008
As my birthday looms and I get towards the end of the "40" something digits I find that I am getting more comfortable with my 'older' self - in most ways at any rate. Inside there will always be the teenager who liked to flirt with the cute boy at the front of the Physics class and who snuck off to the locker room to hike up her gym slip just a bit further than Mother allowed..the twenty something girl who thought the world was her oyster and traveled and partied hard, the thirty person who "thought"? she had it all figured out enough to have a couple of children and be totally grown-up and self-sufficient and then the 40'ish gal, all sophisticated and sorted out (ha!)... So mentally I am comfortable with all that has been going on, what I did not count on was that the "machine" might fail along the way, and in places that I had not imagined! I'm ok with the laughter lines and shopping for bras that have more ah-hem 'support', what I CANNOT deal with is not being able to SEE properly! I woke up about a year ago and was quite unable to read the phone book...oh hell and darn, so a pair of flash new spectacles was the only solution. But even a year later I find it to be the most frustrating deterioration of what has been a perfectly good bod' up until now. How do you read the tiny fine print on the back of the bottle of goop you have bought for your hair, sopping wet in the shower? and I never remember to take the 'specs' shopping, so in the book store today all I can do is look at the pretty pictures and heave a sigh of relief when it's time to go elsewhere. So frustrating! Eyeeyeeye...if only to have 20-something eyes again!

Thanks Seth - for yet another fun and interesting challenge and I look forward to reading the rest of the buried treasure that is linked to The Altered Page!

Local Attractions

The sun has finally arrived in Long Island!  I can't really say that it's very summery as the temps are still hovering in the bare 80's (read 25C if that works better!) and my pool remains UNswum in as it needs a good few weeks of HOT weather before it becomes remotely friendly.  My pal Carla has suggested that I get a wetsuit! ..and I have to say that I am seriously contemplating it....either that or filling said pool with waterlilies and letting the frogs have at it!

Anyway, it was warm enough this weekend to get out and about.  We visited the southern beaches down by Firefly Island on Saturday and on Sunday tripped out to the North Fork and made it all the way to Orient Point, which is as far as you can go without needling the sort of submergible car that James Bond drives!

We stopped off at Greenport along the way and perused a local "antique" fair - overpriced flea market might have been a better description, but it was fun to browse all the same.

We then checked out a few of the other local stores and people watched for a bit, but to be honest I was rather turned off by the 'noveau riche' lobsters tanning on the decks of their "Ferarri Style" stink boats - mounds of "store bought" breasts billowing out over under-lipp'oed bellies!  Ick!

I am sure if the local constabulary had had the forsight to install a breathalizer machine at the marina they could have written up enough tickets to make up the NY state deficit in one afternoon!

Anyway, we mosied on along, took the small roads home and closed our day with the scent of lavender in the car and sunkisses on our noses....not too bad at all!

The Hurt Locker

Tonight we went to see a movie called  "The Hurt Locker" - a much awaited event as it was based upon some of our oldest son Ryan's experiences as an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) technician with the Air Force in Iraq.

 I don't know that I would classify it as a 'movie' as such - it's not exactly fun couch potato sort of thing but more like a docu-drama where you know that there is an enormous amount of fact and reality based material, yet there are actors involved.

The film focuses on the reality of repetitious events for an EOD Company that would seem horrendous to the average person, but become common place to the soldiers as part of their everyday "job" and shows us in no small way that the horrors of war can be overlooked by the perpetrators without a second thought!

I don’t know that I can actually say that Ienjoyed’  The Hurt Locker. I was entranced and appalled by it.  It was a very powerful experience - particularly given the closeness to the subject matter (on a family level) and it is definitely a worthy commentary on the world that we live in, unfortunately just not the parts that we see very often (on the news here!).

I'd highly recommend seeing it.....not just because of my personal connection to the story ( as I know someone who wears a Bomb Suit like that) but the emotional and personal messages will reach many people on a lot of levels and the generosity of spirit from ALL the soldiers out there (from many nations) is to be commended!