Day One: Europe Adventure

1. Amsterdam

Etegami for Amsterdam:  Lots of bridges, bicycles and flowers.  The concrete and old cobblestones are rather dingy, most of the bicycles quite old but the beautiful flower-boxes cheer everything up.  I found this quote by Anne Frank who was right there hiding in Amsterdam during the war.

The first day of our adventure started in Houston.  An easy 9 hour flight on United landed us in Amsterdam at around 10 a.m.  Was so happy to see Paulette and Doug right there at the Meeting Place as scheduled.  How wonderful to have a train station right at the airport!!  Off we went to Amsterdam Central where we found our boat docked linked up with two other boats.

Some have  asked so here are the facts.  The boat is 443 feet long with 95 staterooms (ours was one with the windows right at water level).  190 passengers and 50 crew. 

From the moment you step on the boat, you are wined and dined.  Very nice.

Everywhere you go, up and down every street, every single space are bicycles. There are 749,000 people in Amsterdam and 881,000 bicycles.  They do feel like they have the right of way. Not very pleasant if you are where they want to be!

We have no idea how they find their own bicycles at the end of the day!!

Such beautiful old architecture.

The Egyptian goose has never been in this neck of Europe 

but has begun taking up residence due to global warming.

Kind of a neat window scene. What do you suppose he is saying?

No, we didn't see any tulips.  Too late in the summer.

 But beautiful flowers for sale everywhere.

Yes, there is marijuana everywhere. 

You could almost get high just walking up and down the streets. 

The levitating man- street performer in the main square.

In Celebration of Ocean Day

I was intrigued and excited to discover a new (since I've been there) holiday in Japan called "Marine Appreciation Day" or more recently 海の日(Ocean Day). When I lived in Japan (1960-1979), the ocean was quite polluted.  I got to go scuba diving off the Shizuoka beach where it was just cluttered with sunken trash: tires, bicycles, etc.  Really disgusting.  Later, we went scuba diving off the Izu Pennisula which was much better.  But in general, there seemed to be no appreciation of preserving the ocean.  

  Hopefully, that has changed.

I challenged myself to paint 7 etegami in honor of Ocean Day over a 7 day period.  There were so many creatures to choose from!  

Angelfish

のんびり（Nombiri) means relax, just take it easy

And certainly Jacques Cousteau was trapped in it's net of wonder

Sing ray

It always looks like the sting ray is laughing from below.

 That's not even his mouth and eyes but sure looks like it!

This reminded of the Jimmy Durante song..

Nautilus

The nautilus was quite a challenge to paint.   When I was trying to find words to add, I came across a poem by Oliver Wendall Holmes called "The Chambered Nautilus".  This is not the whole poem and you can read the whole thing at the end of this blog. Etegami has led me back to literature and poetry.
  I had forgotten how wonderful some of the old poetry is. Quite delicious!

octopus

I've always loved Ogden Nash and this quote is one of my favorites. I found a photo of an octopus where his tentacles are all a-tangled making one wonder: 

Is those things arms or is they legs?

manta ray

I was looking for a quote that compared manta rays to a soaring bird and came across this wonderful poem by Michael Ault.
I could not fit the whole poem on the postcard so here it is:

Soaring on wings that cannot fly

scouring the sand for life

drifting over beds where treasures lie

living below the worldly strife

The gentle undulation of sturdy wings

in grace beyond mere mortals

the joy of spirit within sings

with this glimpse of other portals

With colors of grey, or blue or green

the angels of the deep

glide stately by when they are seen

giving memories to keep

Kissing fish

And ending with a little humor.  This is what kissing fish look like and this is what kissing fish do.  It's incredibly cute and funny.  Maybe a nice Valentine's Day card???

Finally, Happy Ocean Day!!!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) The Chambered Nautilus

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,         Sails the unshadowed main,—         The venturous bark that flings     On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings     In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,         5         And coral reefs lie bare, Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.     Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;         Wrecked is the ship of pearl!         And every chambered cell,         10     Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,         As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,         Before thee lies revealed,— Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!     Year after year beheld the silent toil         15         That spread his lustrous coil;         Still, as the spiral grew,     He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,         Stole with soft step its shining archway through,         Built up its idle door,         20 Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.     Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,         Child of the wandering sea,         Cast from her lap, forlorn!     From thy dead lips a clearer note is born         25         Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!         While on mine ear it rings, Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—     Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,         As the swift seasons roll!         30         Leave thy low-vaulted past!     Let each new temple, nobler than the last,         Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,         Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894)
The Chambered Nautilus

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,—
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,	5
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,	10
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil	15
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,	20
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born	25
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!	30
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

    THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,

        Sails the unshadowed main,—

        The venturous bark that flings

    On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings

    In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,

        5

        And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

    Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

        Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

        And every chambered cell,

        10

    Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,

        As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,

        Before thee lies revealed,—

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

    Year after year beheld the silent toil

        15

        That spread his lustrous coil;

        Still, as the spiral grew,

    He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,

        Stole with soft step its shining archway through,

        Built up its idle door,

        20

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

    Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,

        Child of the wandering sea,

        Cast from her lap, forlorn!

    From thy dead lips a clearer note is born

        25

        Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!

        While on mine ear it rings,

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—

    Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

        As the swift seasons roll!

        30

        Leave thy low-vaulted past!

    Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

        Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

        Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

Lunch with friends

Lunch With Friends

I have had many opportunities this summer to meet with friends and have lunch.  It is a wonderful thing, indeed, to just be with one other person and share stories, sadness, and joys. I made this etegami to send to a friend that I had lunch with but.. in the end, I had fallen in love with it and couldn't let go of it.  The mice just painted themselves, the eyes in particular.  It is the first time I have decided to keep one for myself but I know I must not make a habit of that. It certainly breaks the spirit of etegami!!

WHO NEEDS HALLMARK?

After taking trips and relying on friends to house us, feed us, drive us, I always like to send some kind of thank you card.  It used to be origami cards but now I am so enjoying thinking up and sending etegami card.  You can personalize them exactly for each friend.

When we arrived in LA, a friend I had not seen in 40 years picked us up from the airport. We recently reunited on Facebook and I had discovered that she lived near the LA airport. I asked if she would pick us up and house us for the night and after an enthusiastic "yes!", I booked our flight to include a night at her house. We had an absolutely wonderful time with Miriam and her husband. Miriam is a 70s troll buff 

so I just had to paint two trolls for her thank you card.

The next day, we needed to get to Anaheim but also hoped to have a short visit with high school friend Grace. Couldn't believe it when Grace offered to drive us to Anaheim through typical LA traffic.  We stopped at Huntington Beach and had a lovely lunch. When I saw the photo of these lemurs, it made perfect sense for a thank you card!

A trip to MN also required an overnight stay and my friend Naomi graciously offered us to stay at her house.  Such a great time talking and laughing! I thought of all the times she has offered "shelter" and this photo captivated me.  Too cute!

Yes, I have been reuniting with SO many high school friends that I went to school with in Japan. Thank you, Facebook.  My friend in New York was a childhood friend and I hadn't seen her in 40 years either.  I found this word on my Facebook feed and just loved it. Our friendship was a rediscovery for sure.

The trip to MN was to visit an old pastor who had a stroke recently.  My friend Dawn and I went to kind of say our good-byes.  There were tears and there was joy.  I thought of the beautiful MN loon who sings such a mournful song at night.  When I went to paint it, I discovered how complexly beautiful it is.  We never did see one so I painted these for her so she will remember our beautiful but mournful trip.

A Mother's Day card for my mom.  She used to take care of me and now I take care of her. We are each other's treasures.

Lastly, and a bit crazy is my Father's Day card. My dad and I have a very contentious relationship which has gotten more difficult as he ages.  I just couldn't paint a lovey dovey card. My dad has always liked jokes and craziness so this was what I came up with.  Inside, it says "just kidding"....  Maybe.

A different kind of birthday card

When it came time to make a birthday card for someone very special, someone who is creative and inventive, I kept thinking of the words "outside the box."  And since she is a "chick", this is what I came up with.  A chick born of a square egg.  Who has stepped out of that square egg and is now "outside of the box."  She loved it.  YEAH!!!

Dogs

When a friend's dalmatian died, she was so sad.  I thought it might be nice to send an etegami to let her know I was thinking of her.  This friend is very spiritual in a non-religious sort of way. I imagined she might think of being reunited with her dog some day.  I thought my doggie turned out kind of cute but a bit awkward. 

 But I decided to send it anyway.   

 She really, really appreciated it 

which made me think that is not the last dog I will paint

And sure enough.  Another friend's German shepherd died. I watched a video online of her howling via Skype and pretty soon he was howling back.  It was a most amazing thing.  She was so very sad when he died. So, I painted this for her.  This one really painted itself.  I got some water into the black ink so it bled a little more than i was planning. I used a regular pen to get the outline of the eyes right and indeed, the eyes are my favorite part.

  Unfortunately, it just got returned in the mail today after 3 weeks (wrong address, I guess) so she has not really seen it yet.  I hope it will be meaningful to her.  Just looking at it makes me want to cry!!!

Furry Chickens

I have a dear friend in Colorado who has started raising chickens.  Not just ordinary chickens but unusual, interesting chickens that I've never even heard of.  Like the frizzle. 

According to Wikipedia:

 The Frizzle is a breed of chicken with characteristic curled or frizzled plumage.

Her sister said of this chicken : I should check my lavender  mop to make sure it's not a chicken.

That just cracked me up and i had to paint an etegami of it!    My friend tells me she laughed out loud in the grocery store when she saw it.  How fun to send laughter in the mail!!

This is Fritz (my model).  He lives in a chicken paradise.  His buddies have this new luxury abode (see below) and he is sure to have fancy lodging as well. Can't wait to see what they look like when they grow up (Japanese Bantaam chickens). I will surely be painting more chickens in the months to come!