Thursday, August 28, 2014

Japan Vacation: Tokyo

Thanks mom for taking a picture of us headed into the airport! 

After a 13 hour flight and a nap we woke up ridiculous early in Japan and started exploring. 
(Do not feed the fish, Koi, or for that matter anything in any park)

A short walk from our hotel was this sculpture.  Dubbed the "golden poo" by locals.

I was really excited bout food here and after this particular meal, both of us were messed up (gory details if you ask me in person, but thanks Jenny Scroggins for the tip about carrying your own tissue for public bathrooms!)

This is all water behind us with these crazy beautiful huge water plants taking over the water part of the park.

Balcony outside one of the temples.

This picture is completely Lynne Bruning fault. Sewer covers with great detail abound.

So we had breakfast, no coffee. But in Tokyo there's vending drink machines on at least every corner. We were surprised to get a hot drink from vending, like really hot,  hard to hold in your hand. The ones with screw tops are the cold ones.

This doesn't even begin to explain the hub of anime, stores and tech that we were overwhelmed with, seriously, so much tech, dvd, comic, slots & pincho, lights....we were just looking for a coffee shop!

We then headed for the green space on my Google maps. The Gardens of the Imperial Palace. So many fruit trees! Walking up what's left of the original palace, it's a very similar feeling to the fort at St. Augustine in Florida....where we were literally a year ago on Zack birthday, coincidence? Probably. But it's the same era.
This is part of the gardens, but there were a number of birds....definitely a heron, and a few questionables. Which made me drag Zack into a book sto
He didn't believe I could find the bird section....visual I can do, I rarely look at words for anything ever. Japan bookstore bird book? Done and done.  For myself, I couldn't find a defining Sailor Moon manga...I'm a bit embarrassed to ask she trolling the teeny bopper section! I'll be looking into it, the only new Sailor Moon Crystal hype in print was fan fiction.
Umbrellas are a thing, so is bicycling!  The bikes are amazing here, so is the gear. But the classy umbrella holder... <3

This is the train station, also pretty much a mall. It's hard to focus getting through!

Zack's box lunch choice was a win.

And trains abroad are....easier and cleaner and classier, I wish I had bullet trains in the US.

Rice fields from the train, it was going too fast to get the egrets. ..

On to Kyoto!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Artist Residency in the Porcupine Mountains: Part 3

My second week at the Porkies began quite rainy and overcast.

You couldn't see Lake of the Clouds, because, well, it as in a cloud, so I hiked down to the lake:



Lake Superior was quite tumultuous.

But there was still lots to see, especially close-up.

This scenic outlook...still foggy.

I loved the way the fog was sitting in the forest.






Preque Isle was not foggy, definitely easy to hike and see lots!



Lake Superior Sunrise.


Lake of the Clouds later in the week once it cleared up.

As I was packing up to head home, it was still dark and tripped over this little guy.  I took it as nature making sure to see me off!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Artist Residency at the Porcupine Mountains: Part 2

I'm just posting some photos in chronological order at this point....
Bear den program (that's a black bear skull).

Tapestry Weaving progress.

Black bear eating leftovers at Konteka.

Trappers Falls

It was rainy yesterday so I took the opportunity to go to Calumet. I love the Paige Ward Gallery there. Paige invited me to show my work....we'll see what I can do after we get back from Japan.

Lake Superior sunset last night.

Front side of my weaving (you can start to see the transparencies)

Back side this morning... 3.75 inches done.

My shelf of insect repellent...the middle one has the DEET...and it actually works!

Sequin Circle Chain Earrings

Sequin Circle Chain Earrings 1.25W x 2T x .4D When I finished up the blue/purple versions of my original Open Circle Chain Earrings I was o...