Sepia Saturday- Easter

I didn't think I had anything for Sepia Saturday today. Then I remembered my great uncle's post card scrapbooks. They were full of Easter cards. Most of them not too interesting.

  

This one is slightly funny.

It says "A Happy Eastertide". 

It should have a P.S. " I hope you don't find a bug in your Easter egg!"

To see more Sepia Saturday click here. http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

The hedgehog tree

Did you know hedgehogs grew on trees?

We saw these on our noon- day walk. 

Sepia Saturday- Camels, politicians....

When my sister, Nancy, saw the Sepia Saturday photo and theme this week -Camels, politicians, etc...(President Roosevelt riding a camel) she said "you've got the perfect camel photo".
And, indeed, I have.

(Sorry, it's not sepia)

 You would assume that this photo of me might have been taken at a "photo op" in Egypt. But if you look closely you can see The Great Wall in the background. I didn't know they had camels in China. I suppose they do in the dessert but that's not where this was. This was not too far from Beijing.

So there's the photo of me riding a camel and here's one of me and a politician (two of the possible themes):

 These were taken in about 1985 (before The Tianamen Protests of 1989).

We were there on a business trip. A sort of strange business trip. Our business at the time was needlework kits and books. Making things with doilies was popular at the time. We had several kits and books on the subject. So we imported doilies through an importer in San Francisco. He was the main (and at the time, only) importer of doilies from China. He was called "The Doily King". He took us with him on one of his buying trips. It wasn't a fun trip but it sure was interesting.

There weren't many foreigners in China at the time, so we often attracted attention.

Here's Nancy and I strolling on The Great Wall. 

It was actually quite steep, at least at this point and not at all good for strolling. More like climbing, and very exhausting.

To see more Sepia Saturday click here. 

Zentangle weekly challenge #16 Mooka

I put this on Sepia Saturday by mistake. #28 on Mr. Linky is the right one. I'll bet you Sepia Saturday people are wondering "What the heck is a Zentangle. Well now you have a slight idea. If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll tell you more about it.

And you Zentangle folks are probably wondering what Sepia Saturday is.


Maria Thomas (who, along with her husband, Rick, developed Zentangles)  designed and named this "tangle" after Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) the great Art Nouveau artist. You can read more about it here and see how to do it  (The official Zentagle Newsletter- Mooka).
He's one of my favorite artists. When you think Art Nouveau you think Mucha.

 The face is a (slightly doctored) rubber stamp.

 There's just a little bit of "Mooka" on the butterfly's antenna.

To see more go to The Diva's Weekly Challenge

The Ladies Who Lunch- at Connie's La Jolla house

 Connie in front of her pretty house in La Jolla.

She served us a wonderful lunch, starting with hors d'oeuvres.

Three different salads and homemade pumpkin rolls.

Nancy and Jean dig in.

We then took a walk along the shore watching the pelicans fly by.

We walked through the beautiful neighborhood full of charming houses.

 with lush gardens.

 wonderful details.

It's a very dog-friendly neighborhood.

A painter captures the ocean... and poses for my camera. The colors of his shirt exactly match his painting.

We tried to walk down to the beach but the recent big waves (from the Japanese tsunami) had washed away so much sand that the last step was way too steep.

 It was a wonderful day full of good food, good conversation and a great walk along the shore and through the beautiful neighborhood. Connie is such a good hostess.

Zentangle weekly challenge #15- Curves

 

Zentangle weekly challenge #14- I'll walk the line.

The challenge is to do a zentangle using only straight lines.

 To see more go to Diva's weekly challenge

Shepard Fairey and Martin Usborne Art Openings

Megan's friend, Martin, has a photography show in Santa Monica. His opening and Shephard Fairey's (the graffiti artist famous for the Obama poster) were on the same night at the fabulous Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Martin is a fantastic photographer. His show was called:

Here's a couple of his wonderful photos. I've always loved the image of a dog in a car, especially when they're in the driver's seat. Martin finds it sad. I'm only upset when it's a hot day. Then I go crazy trying to find the owner or putting mean notes on the window.

A lot of people brought their dogs, which seemed appropriate.

 Part of the fun was seeing the fashions.

These girls were in the very long line to get into the Shephard Fairey show.

His artwork was all done as if they were record album covers. I particularly liked that since designing album covers was one of my first jobs.

Here's the buffet table:

Here's the entertainment:

They were a wonderfully costumed heavy metal/mariachi band. I love mariachis, hate heavy metal, but I must admit I liked them. And I love the creativity of the combination.

We could have gotten our pictures taken with them like this guy did. I've been regretting that we didn't ever since.  I would have treasured that picture!

 Before the show we were wandering around and I saw a guy sneak up to a pole and stick a sticker on it. I recognized him...it was Shephard Fairey! I said HI! He turned around and in a really cute sweet voice said HI! and then disappeared, just as he does when he's doing his graffiti. What a thrill.

Here he is posing for pictures and signing autographs. He's so cute and looks about 14 years old.

We had a wonderful time.

Bottoms Up- Pub songs for Sepia Saturday

A book of drinking songs from 1933 with drink recipes and toasts. These should come in handy for your next party. Sorry, I don't have room to show you all the songs. I just chose a couple of the funnier ones.

At the bottom of the page it says: The yodel refrain may be omitted, ad lib. In the verse, experts in hiccoughs can insert a "hic" after each phrase, if desired.

To see more Sepia Saturdays click here.