Postage Stamps of the Week- Antarctica & New Zealand

Hubdude is heading back to Antarctica today where he'll spend the next couple of months hanging out with researchers and writing about them.  He gets to fly to Christchurch, New Zealand to spend a few days gearing up first, one of my favorite cities in the world, and then it's off to the ice.  So today I have a couple of Antarctica and a few New Zealand stamps from my collection for you.

It's a Mystery

Mysterious old photos always grab my attention and I couldn't resist bringing a few home when I found a full suitcase of them in a vintage shop during my trip to Portland last week. 

Who did this little boy grow up to be?  Is that old couple standing in the snow field just finishing up the burying of a body?  Did the guy who could be in Caracas have anything to do with it?  What do you think that farmer grows? Where are those girls going on that train?  And why are they wearing matching plaid dresses?  Who abandoned the boat, or is waiting to make their getaway on it?  I'd like to know the answers. Of course I'll never know the answers, but I now have a lifetime to spend pondering these photos.

West Coast Crush II

Still in Portland and still loving it.  Today I made it to the Chinese Garden and Washington Park, though did not go into the Japanese garden there because it was so close to closing.  It's really cold here right now- I think it was in the 20's today.  I wasn't expecting the weather to be this cold here so I neglected to bring enough cold weather gear. 

Nonetheless, I did brave the Chinese Garden but it was so cold that a lot of the plants were wrapped in plastic which was a little disappointing.  There were a few persimmons left (frozen solid like ice cubes!) and a handful of frozen flowers.  Thanksgiving is my last day here and we're going to see the gorge since I don't care about holidays.  Hopefully it will be a little warmer... 

Some photos from the garden...

West Coast Crush

I'm visiting Portland this week on an exploratory trip.  I was here as a youngster with my family on the road trips we made annually from San Francisco but I don't really remember Portland, I only remember the coast.

Maybe you already know but Portland is an amazing moss covered, brilliant green, bike friendly city.  A place I could easily live.  It's been a little chilly, putting a slight damper on my plans to visit all the different gardens, but perusing bookstores, drinking coffee and wandering the old neighborhoods is a perfect alternative.  It's cold today so what better day to go to the coast and walk on the beach?

 

Infrared Photos

This is one of my favorite photographic techniques because of the different perspective on things that it gives you.  My favorites are the other-worldly looking ones.  I can imagine a world where the colors are a bit topsy turvey and always delicate like winter- my favorite season. 

Seannaber

Iragerich

Karendalziel

Jared

Paul (dex)

Digitalpimp

Yoga-photowork

zainiabdullahpjk

Postage Stamps of the Week- Rich Colors

I love these stamps for their bold, rich colors and the fun pictures too.

TtV Favorites

As I've mentioned before, I'm newly enamored with TtV photography.  These are a few of my favorites from around the web.  Sit back, relax and enjoy the Friday view.

Gothicrow

Kat

Crowolf

Urbanwoodchuck

Elgarboart

Luckycandace

Beautifuldarklight

Fixit Manifesto

I saw this poster yesterday on this site and thought it was really great.  Not only the idea of it, but they're compiling online DIY repair manuals for lots of things like computers, phones, cars, cameras- you name it!  And if you're handy with repairing things, you can add to the online guide too.

In a disposable age where planned obsolescence reigns supreme, repairing and reusing just aren't that fashionable, but they should be.  We can only keep making new things for so long before we run out resources.  I've been thinking about this a lot lately and making a concerted effort to learn to do more things for myself- like repairing our 'stuff'.

Recently I tore apart this old camera that I just bought- something I've never done before- to clean the lenses and mirror.  It was so much easier than I thought it would be!  And now I have a much better understanding of how these twin-lens reflex cameras work too.

This trunk is one of hubdude's latest repair/upcycle projects.  We found this old trunk a few years ago and brought it home but it hasn't been that useful because it's so heavy and hard to move.  We've been using it as an end table and we don't have room for a coffee table so we bought some big rubber wheels and attached them to the trunk so that we could roll it in front of the couch when we want an insta-coffee table.  Voila!  Coffee table problem solved, heavy/hardtomove problem solved!  I don't know why we don't do more things like this.

My next repair adventure is to try to repair and tune a 60 yr old sewing machine that I recently bought.  I found a copy of the repair manual on eBay (a great place to find repair manuals for older items!) and thought I would give it a whirl....  What's the worst that can happen?  (Perhaps you shouldn't answer that....)  What have you repaired lately?

Vintage Surprises

I frequently find little 'extras' that shake out of the vintage items I procure for my vintage shop and it's always a pleasant surprise to find these random little oddities.  These are a few of the things that have popped up just over the last 6 weeks or so. 

At some point I'd really like to get these rolls of film developed and see what interesting things they might contain.  If this is your missing library card from 1980 by any chance, let me know.  I'd be happy to return it...

Oddly enough, all of the keys were found in old jewelry boxes.  I really with the typewriter key had come with the typewriter too...  If anyone wants the little silver cross necklace, leave a note for me in the comments.  I'd be happy to send it to you.

I've also found a few little books, maps and other ephemera stashed away in pockets and hidden corners of some things I've gotten.  I'll post those another day.

Water Series Update

Work on this piece has been a little slow, but it's coming along.  Here's an update on the piece.  I was hoping to finish it this weekend, but it doesn't look like that's quite going to happen but I'm still hoping to finish the series of 3 by the end of the year.

Postage Stamps of the Week- Reds & Blues

Some recent finds in reds & blues.  I'm not normally a big fan of the color red but for some reason when it's on paper, particularly old, yellowing paper, I find it really pleasing.  As I do these stamps.  Enjoy!

Monoprints

It's been a busy day, but I did manage to pull a couple of monoprints this morning.

Day 4 of Polaroid Week

Day 4 photos for Polaroid Week.  You can see all the awesome entries in this pool on flickr.

Day 3 of Polaroid Week

It's Day 3 and the fabulous polaroids are rolling in to the 'Roid Week flickr pool.  You can check out my favorites from the week here.

These are my 2 entries for today.  A vibrant rainbow victorian house in my neighborhood that came out with delicate colors and a sculpture from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

In other news, my first mixed media piece from my new water series is nearly done and I'll try to post it this weekend if it's completed.  It's taken me many many MANY more hours than I anticipated to do it, but it's coming along.

My plan is to do three smaller pieces as a test run but my original vision was to do one large canvas with all three forms in it.  A much larger undertaking than I had initially planned given how long it's taking me to do one very small piece, but I'm still hoping to do it.  At this rate, I anticipate that the large piece will be done sometime late next year.

Day 2 of Polaroid Week

My Day 2 shots for 'Roid Week.  You can see many fabulous shots by people from all over right here.

This first one is the big blue bear that looks into the Denver Convention Center.  The second one is our voting location.  

Day 1 of Polaroid Week

It's Day 1 of  'Roid Week on flickr.  You can post 2 photos a day, so these are the ones I posted today.

This is PX-70 color shade film from The Impossible Project taken on a Polaroid SX-70 camera.  I love the dreamy quality of it.

For more polaroid fantasticness- check out the whole group on flickr here.