Russia

This is a photo of a painting in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Its an incredible

museum of Russian art just a few blocks from the Hermitage, another incredible

museum of art from the rest of the world. For me, this image is a nice representation

of the combination of the rich cultural, historical and artistic history of the city and

the stoic nature of the people. (The umbrella is pretty accurate too, if you happen

to visit in November!)

My favorite picture from Rachel's photo's. It looks beautiful and intricate, but also kind

of dreary and stoic - which is about what the whole population of Russia sounds like

from Rachel's stories. I like the juxtaposition of the details against the misty background.

An amazing trip - I wish I had gone along!

Door

Really more of a gate than a door, but beautiful either way.

A pretty door from Montreal. It loses something when you can't see the 20 feet above

the door covered with ivy. Amazing.

Café

This was Sydney's pretty cappuccino in Italy! We had wonderful pastries and coffee at this cafe, and I bought a beautiful bottle of Balsamic Vinegar here, and I still use the little bottle.

Pretty Sydney and her pretty cappuccino at the Singer Cafe.

Church

Mary, Rachel and Syd were in Russia over this week, so I assume all Mary's entries

will be from that trip. Here I've included a couple of mine from other trips and a couple

of Rachel's pictures from St. Petersburg. This is the back of a church in Montreal. It

was a very rustic, weather beaten church for Sailors along the waterfront. I was

moved by it's simplicity and humble grace.

And in stark contrast......the iconic "Church on Spilled Blood" in St. Petersburg.

Statue

We climbed to the bell tower of St. Isaac's at dusk to look out over the city.
Pretty dramatic.

Okay, this is one of the strangest statues I have ever seen. I hope I didn't steal your image

Mary, but I couldn't refuse. Rachel's story was interesting as well. She said the tour guide

told them that this was a very accurate depiction of this guy. I hope he meant just the face!

chycks choice.6

(photo from Minneapolis Star Tribune)

This is a photo of Carl and Bill Larson, ages 95 and 98, eating krumkake and drinking coffee at their family farm.

Their story is like something straight from Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon". They are the epitome

of his "Norwegian Bachelor Farmers". They have lived together on the family farm raising prize-winning

Belgian horses their entire lives except for three years when they served in WWII. Last week Carl (98) died

out working on the farm, and when he didn't return home, Bill (95) went to look for him. He fell

and suffered exposure from spending the night outside, but is fine now. They made me smile and cry!

I had loaded in a snarky picture to illustrate the kind of snarky day I was having, but alas,

all that snarkage for nothing. (and who could be snarky in the presence of Bill and Carl.)

Since my first post this morning, the washing machine has been delivered (and works).

The mammo is over with and was "good to go," and my attitude has improved greatly.

So - a new picture, one from Frost last monday, that I took out in the driveway, in my

jammies, at 7 am. I'm sure the neighbors just shake their heads with wonder at what kind

of strange stuff goes on at "that house across the street."

silk

There really is nothing like it--even in a photo you can tell its the "real deal".

I've had this lovely pile of hand dyed silk ribbon in my studio for about 4 years. I

knew I would finally find something to do with it!! Good thing I kept it. Any idea's for

a gallon container of Beach Sand?

tea

This isn't even close to the little painting I had in mind when I got out my favorite ceramic tea pot this morning. C'est la vie.....

So, in lieu of coming up with my own idea, I have just done a riff on Mary's I've been

trying to learn more about brushes, patterns and masking layers in Photoshop... it

doesn't look like it, but I learned a lot working on this one. All the colors are images of

loose tea... cause you can't really tell on the little image.

Advil

All Hail, Saint Ibuprofen. Our Lady of Perpetual Inflammation.

Amen.

Frost

Frosty leaves are one of the coolest things to take pics of... interesting from every angle.

My "point and shoot" photography skills are really not up to the challenge of capturing the early morning sun sparkling on the frost. But the dog and I had a beautiful walk and my camera hand is nearly thawed out again.

chycks choice.5

I missed using this journal page on "orange" day, so I'll make today orange.2.

Okay, I can do Orange, Too. I love the steam from the tea. Mmmmm.

little

Its not obvious without a point of reference, but this woodcut is just 1"x 1.5" . It

qualifies as "little".

Along those same lines - these guys qualify as little, right up until one jumps out of the

nest toward your face, then you realize they are bigger than you thought. And how in

the world do three of them fit in that nest? So, I guess, it's the nest that qualifies as "little."

shadow

In general, I don't have alot of good things to say about the short, dark days of November (can you say Seasonal Affective Disorder?)--but the low angle of the sun does make for good, dramatic shadows.

Pod

I love the dark smoky colors, the sheen and the twisted shapes in these pods. I wish I had

just reached out and picked them. At least I had the presence of mind to snap a quick pic.

and in stark contrast to the dark smoky colors check out the wild vibrant colors of these

walls

thinking about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I think this one might have a few more than 20 anniversaries under it's belt.

chycks choice.4

Today's creative efforts were spent doing a little logo stamp for a friend.

Today's creative effort for me had much more to do with Closet Bin

Solutions. But seeing Monkey Do, made me remember some of our funny

monkey pictures from Africa. Here's a favorite.

health

An homage to my daily spoonful of cod liver oil. It must be good for me, right?
I mean, come on....oil from a fish's liver? Its best to just toss it back and not
think too much about it.

I had the most beautiful salad for lunch today. It was curly dark green and red lettuces

served in a fluted white dish with raspberry dressing drizzled across the top. Did I

remember to take a picture? NO! I snarfed it down! So here is another take on

living healthfully. (question - is that really what a fishes liver looks like??)

Made in China

I started looking through some piles of papers and clippings for inspiration and came
across this image. I was planning to create something myself, but how could I do
better than this?

I took 43 photo's this morning. Each of something Made In China. Here they all are together.