I spent an intense Sunday putting together my six pages for a collaborative color journal. Some of us, who were also members of the Sensual Journal group decided to continue on with the collaborative idea and we have now begun our work on Color. Green was our first assignment. I am leaving for a visit to my dear friend Bee on Wednesday so I had to get my pages done now and mailed off as I won't have time to do them once I return from Nantucket.
I carved two rubber stamps to use on the pages. One just says "green" and the other is a set of three leaves.
I drew a pear onto a transparency and once I got it to suit me I copied it onto five more transparencies to save time.
I cut out leaf shapes that were printed with my "green" rubber stamp to use on the 9 by 12-inch layout and just printed the "green" stamp onto a tag to use for my cover page.
I am pretty happy with the final result. I'm very eager to see what the other members of this collaborative dream up for their pages. It should be a very interesting journal once it is completed.
I would like to publicly thank Catherine Anderson for being the hostess of this collaboration. Cathy is also the hostess for my Photojournal group. I don't know where she finds the time, but she does the most amazing covers for our photo books and keeps us all on task in the most gentle way. Thank you, Catherine, for every lovely thing you do for us all.
EFA09_SwimStart_Upperdeck from Rick Gaston on Vimeo.
And she really is my daughter. Who would have thought it?
Dear Reader, I have been off the "map" lately as we are gearing up for the Edmonds Arts Festival. Yesterday and today we took in the pieces of art that have been juried into our show. Tomorrow is the President's Reception for the juried artists. I am editing the program, helping the volunteer director with last minute chores. I work at all of these things and they are taking up all my time---time I would otherwise be using to upload more of my Caribbean photos. Please be patient. I am fully booked through the 22nd with Festival chores. I will be back. I promise!
Both photos are of last year's Festival.
No, silly, not that HUGE white thing, but off to the left, that one! The one with the three masts. YES! That one! That's the Caledonia, my home for two blissful weeks. She's not very big (compared to a big cruise ship), but big enough to house more fun than I thought possible.
The SV Caledonia is the best ship on which I have ever traveled. From the Captain and the crew, the accommodations, the daily special afternoon cocktail and the food, the itinerary, and the sheer joy of a sailing ship beating downwind with you aboard, the wind singing in the rigging, it was a non-stop perfect trip from start to finish. There were great shore excursions. On board you had the opportunity to learn a bit about sailing from the boson, there were talks about islands we would be visiting, we enjoyed several musical nights (reggae and ska)and for the bold, you were allowed to climb up into the rigging as far as your nerve would let you.
Nonie and I both climbed up to the first yardarm, but being short, we were sort of stymied at that point as old knees and legs don't like to make the convolutions required to climb higher. It was much easier to climb out into the nets on either side of the bow sprint. What an amazing way to travel-----the waves breaking at the bow, the wind, the view! We were even blessed with dolphins riding out bow wake while we were in the nets. Magical! 
Nonie, my traveling buddy.
The above photos are of what is known in my family as God Light. I love the way the beams of sunlight stream down through the clouds. It's dramatic. Very diva-ish. "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. de Mille."
Then we have the sunset section. The Caribbean does offer up some truly spectacular sunsets. I found the the deck of a three masted sailing ship was the perfect place to appreciate the varied sunsets in all their glory. I even saw the green flash three times in two weeks! That's my personal best. Three times!
And then, the lovely nights when the moon was visible. Most nights the moon shone brightly on the Caribbean waters. It was heaven to see stars and the moon and clear skies after months of the Pacific Northwest gloom and gray and wet.
