Rain rain go away.

Summer has deserted us and La Nina, that wet, cyclic weather phenomenon has us in her thrall. The garden is sullen and prematurely aged, leaves have fallen in anticipation of an autumn which should not happen for a couple of months yet. Closets are musty, shoes sprout gardens of fungus, fruits and vegetables refuse to ripen, all in all a rather dreary season. There may yet be a burst of Indian summer which will give the coup de grace to the plants and cause a stampede to the beaches to refresh pallid people before the winter chill.
At Casa chaos, house guests have departed leaving mountains of laundry to be got dry in between downpours, clothes dryers having been shocked into silence by the receipt of our last electricity account. Even the solar cells on our roof are not enjoying the weather, production is down by at least 25%.
Thus a suitably gloomy etegami, the words are a ditty chanted by children, petulant at not being able to go out to play, I know how they feel.

A sense of wonder.

There are Monarch butterflies in our garden at the moment, frantically fueling up for their migration north for the winter. While not undertaking the epic four generation migration of their North American cousins, these butterflies in Australia  are not compelled by freezing temperatures to overwinter in the tropics, they do however appear to seek the warmer temperatures of Queensland when temperatures drop. Curiously Monarchs were not seen, or rather noted, by Europeans until sightings in Brisbane in the 1870's when it was thought they had been blown here from  Vanuatu during a cyclone (thank you Wikipedia).
Apart from their beauty, the distances they travel, propelled by a heart the size of a dot on the page inspires me to wonder at the world and it's creatures and the amazing variety in it.

A heartfelt Valentine.

This one is for the Prof. He is the one who has always taken the responsibility for providing a nest for us and he  has done a great job. I just want to remind him that the love and tolerance he has shown have been the most important things in 'feathering' our nest in our 48 and a half years together. Aaaaw!

BTW, I expect chocolates!

Cherry ripe

Cherry Ripe is the name of a well known candy bar here in Oz, rumour has it that it is actually made from cherry flavoured pumpkin, cocoanut and chocolate ! Nevertheless, it tastes good and is probably as bad for you as any chocolate bar. Seeing one the other day made me think of cherries (real ones) and, wandering down the old synapses and ganglia, I stumbled over a favourite quote from a very funny lady Erma Bombeck who had a very quick wit. That led to the following etegami...Phew!, took a while but I got from there to here!

 

I am enjoying carving stamps at the moment and they suit the type of blank etegami cards I have (no nijimi). I still have not been able to get hold of a waterproof ink stamp pad so rather than paint them I am using coloured pencils. Shungo's lovely bamboo pen that he carved for me works very well on them too.
Don't you love the smug little smiles on those cherries?

Cheerfulness..

Sometimes it is hard to remain cheerful, your dog dies, your husband  takes a long business trip leaving all the domestic dross for you to sort out, not to mention the dire state of the world (can't do much about that beyond a token) but some things do cheer me up.
In my 'cabinet of curiosities' I have a tiny wooden skittles set which makes me smile every time I pass by it. My granddaughter found the set at a jumble sale and after heavy negotiating (not to say haggling) she agreed to sell it to me. She has similar tastes to me for the obscure and downright bizarre and it was quite a wrench for her to let it go. However, it's mine now (evil laugh) and I really do enjoy it more so now that I have made this stamped etegami.

The set would only originally have cost a couple of dollars but let me tell you I paid a premium to get my hands on it, that child will go far!

Unaccountable this matter of taste, something I have pondered often, thank goodness we don't all share the same likings, if so perhaps the world price of chocolate would go up, oh wait, it has!

What else can I say, "just keep smiling!"

Sticking my neck out.

I am trying to  practice what this card preaches and not get bogged down in day to day worries (also, any excuse to paint a giraffe!)

Life goes on here after the demise of my dear old dog...oh I know I had threatened him harm on days when his demented barking  would not let us rest but I was pleased to see him go so easily. A sudden heart attack and four hours later he was gone. There was a witness to the attack so no foul play can be alleged. He seemed otherwise in good health and spirits right up to the end, I kind of envied him really. He was overly pampered and I vow not to make the same mistake with our remaining dog.
The Prof is in India and apart from a case of Delhi Belly is enjoying his work reviewing scientific programs on the subcontinent. It is about his millionth and one overseas trip of our married life and he has vowed this will be the last! (I have heard this before, but, wave an airline ticket in front of him and all you see is a cloud of dust!) Of course this is sour grapes on my part as traveling is so difficult for me but now we are no longer looking after a disabled dog I am seriously planning a trip to Singapore to see the family, it could happen.

Choo Choo Train etegami.

I have been busy today making a couple of etegami to send to Japan to be included in a 'traveling' exhibition. My friend Shungo passed on an invitation to send three etegami which will be displayed in a commuter train in Gunma prefecture. I am thrilled!
My very first native Japanese correspondent, Hatsue Chiba was the organizer of this event in past years but sadly she fell ill and now it has passed into other hands.

I have decided to make one rather 'cheezy' Aussie one featuring my favourite kangaroo mailperson (she has a pouch!), hoping it will appeal to the commuters and another with my favourite summer flower the frangipani, hoping to cheer them in the cold weather. The third one is an etegami I made some time ago of an emu, a cheeky,pugnacious and inquisitive Australian animal with a very direct gaze, maybe he will shock the travelers out of their morning sleepiness.

Are we there yet?

Much as I deplore the commercialization of our holidays and the 'celebration creep' that sees  Valentine's day  merchandise displayed almost immediately after Christmas only to be followed  by fluffy bunnies heralding Easter, I have been moved to make a couple of etegami to send to friends even though it is  weeks away. I could argue that a handmade card is non-commercial but I have to admit that I am just as sucked in as most people by the hype. Another excuse also to make a stamp.
I was a bit dismayed that the new stamp pad I purchased with the assurance that I could paint over it is a complete failure, one drop of paint and the stamped image bleeds so I have resorted to pastels to colour the image.
Another reason to make a Valentine this year is that Debbie has put out a call for cards on her mailart gallery HERE which will be posted next month.

The quote on the second card I found in a book,"People of the Book" by an Australian author Geraldine Brooks,an author who came to fiction through her many experiences as an overseas correspondent. In an interview she was asked where the quote came from but was unable to attribute it, I am sure it is a pearl of wisdom from a wise person. The Prof liked the card (he usually just grunts when shown them) for the wheat stamp, he being a plant geneticist who has been very involved with the wheat industry. As I type I am listening to a book called "Wheat Belly" which trashes wheat as a food and blames all of the ills of modern man on the 'nasty' grain which has been meddled with by scientists! He is not amused! Don't even get me started on "Gluten Free".

"Green grow the persimmons Oh"

Checking on the fruit on the persimmon tree in the front garden has become a daily ritual. I am looking for the first blush of colour that will tell me that I must gird my loins to take up the fight against the pests who would deprive me of this luscious fruit.
Sadly the only blush to be seen so far has been on my own cheek when I see some of the misshapen fruit  the tree has produced this year (see previous entry).
It always surprises me when someone says they don't  like persimmons but I suspect their aversion is due to "mouth feel". "mouth feel" is a technical term used in the food industry to describe the feel of food in your mouth (imaginative little beggars aren't they?)  Some people describe the flesh as slimy but to me it is manna and I am marking the weeks 'till they are luscious and rosy orange and melt in your mouth.
Until then dear reader I will content myself with my fantasies and a kind of etegami countdown (and an admonition to myself)!

Just a little Willendorf moment

One of my most prized possessions is the persimmon tree in my front garden, every year it produces masses of fruit which is shared between the fruit bats, the fruit fly and us.
One of the really delightful things about this tree is that it occasionally goes a little crazy and produces fruits like this, a perfect replica of the Venus of Willendorf. I could not wait until it ripened to a fleshly hue as those aforementioned pests may carry her off prematurely and that would be a shame.

The original venus looks like this...

 

I have had a delightful day, a visit from son and granddaughters, the weather is cool, the man came about the nasty smell of sewage permeating the house (it was a blocked drain in the street)...ahhh, I love civilization! Then I spent a lovely afternoon carving a Scotch thistle stamp and making an etegami to wish my Scottish friends a good trip.
I have as usual mangled the words of the poet and I apologize to the shades of the great Robbie Burns.