Post Christmas Wrap Up and a Happy New Year!

They all came for Christmas.  They all came for Christmas!  It was wonderful.  It was joyous.  It was the best, the very best, gift of all, to have the whole family gathered together.

There was lots of sugar consumed....candy, cookies, cheesecakes, pies.....and even a visit to Nama's Candy store, just down the alley and around the corner from Gramma's house.

We all spent Christmas Eve at G.G.'s house (great grandma), as is our tradition.  There were LOTS of us there....aunts, uncles, cousins, friends....There was a delicious dinner and then....wait for it....SANTA came!

Some of us were pensive, wondering if Santa would bring the gift of our heart's yearning.

And some of us got exactly what we had hoped for!

Mothers took joy in seeing their little ones so happy....but maybe worried a bit how to get all the new booty into the car and transported home.  And then, where to put it?

G.G. seemed very happy with her big photo of the 15 of us on Maui during out Family Vacation in August.

And Christmas morning found us gathered at this gramma's house, for our traditional family 'tree' and cinnamon rolls (kindly baked by my Annie this year and transported all the way from Southern California).

This photo is truth in advertising!

Some little boys were very excited to see if Santa had brought the exact, the very Lego set desired....

And he did!

And to finish off a perfect Christmas Day, we gathered for dinner with family and friends and ate our fill, laughed until it hurt and just enjoyed the joy that family brings.

May your 2014 be a year of adventure, excitement, health and "just enough."

Happy New Year!!!

Southern Africa Travel Journal--Part 5

This final installment from my journal is mercifully short.

In the above photo you can see how I stuff the acrylic sheet pockets with ephemera.  They are so
handy!

I had a few rands left over so I pasted them onto one of the very last pages in the journal.

And, finally, the end of the journal.  Thanks for sticking with me for so many posts!

Southern Africa Travel Journal--Part 4

And still more....more and more pages from my travel journal.  You are strong, Dear Reader, if you are still with me!

I put in a one of my reduction prints of an acacia tree.  The print was taken from a photo I took on a previous trip in Kenya.

Penguins in Africa!  I still have trouble wrapping the idea of penguins in Africa around my mind.  There is a rookery near the Cape of Good Hope.

The portrait of Nelson Mandela was done by schoolchildren and hangs in The One and Only Hotel in Cape Town.  I thought it lovely.  Those 8th graders did an amazingly good job.

And only one more installment to go.  Whew!

Southern Africa Travel Journal--Part 3

 And even more pages....it's a BIG journal.  Are you getting bored with all of this yet?

I never thought I would become so addicted to birds, but that's what Africa has done to me.  I looked for them all the time, and was rewarded with so many amazing species.  I am not a birder, but I tried to learn the names of the birds I saw....and failed.  But I do try to learn.

The leopard spotted page is actually a sack that I got from some shop, in the US, and used as a page.  It is quite handy for storing ephemera.

The patterned acrylic sheets make great pockets.  I use them to store supplies (collected vintage postcards, labels, etc.) in the journal while traveling.  I usually have them chuck-a-block with things when I leave home and slowly, over the course of the trip, I use them in the pages.

The wild background on the left hand page is actually a napkin I found at home and just glued onto the page.  I love the feel of it

And, yes, Dear Reader, there is still more coming.

Merry Christmas to All

To each and every one of you, I wish a most wonderful Holiday season.  Peace on earth, good will to men!

Southern Africa Travel Journal--Part 2

I tried doing a little nature printing while working in Africa on this journal.  I had varying results but over all, I like having the immediacy of prints made with just an stamp pad while traveling.  It was fun (if messy!).

The large elephant photo is a tissue paper prints of a photo I took while in East Africa several years ago.  I did three or four of the tissue paper prints in this journal from photos I took on my previous trip.

Taking along a roll or two of washi tape is a great way to add collected ephemera along the way.  Besides the tape, I always have one or two glue sticks with me.

detail of the page above--flap turned so you can see the children dancing

More coming!