Today

Today was one of those gorgeous, perfect days.  It started with a trip to the farmers’ market, which meant homemade chocolate covered caramel for the kids and a visit with a women who was spinning beautiful yarn from her hand-dyed roving for me.  I am so sorry I didn’t have my camera with me!

On the way home we stopped at a couple of yard sales.  I usually limit my purchases to old books or photos, and other ephemera that I use in my collage work.  But I was stunned to find this very cool looking bag today.

Something about it immediately caught my eye.   Is it the quirky little  flight attendant meets Stephen Colbert drawings?

It is funny and kitschy all at that same time, and I guess that’s what got me.  It had almost  a Zakka feeling to it.  It had a couple of little smudgey places on the outside, but they looked easy  enough to clean off, so I took it home.

It was very easy to wipe the two or three little smudges off, and I was stunned to discover that the interior and the front pocket were both pristine.  Clearly, my little bag had never been used.  But what was it?  This was my only clue.

A little bit of research revealed that "Transversion" bags were made/sold by a company called NYC Loop.  They were sought after, expensive, & almost impossible to get one’s hands on.  There was even a similar print one, in a style I didn’t like nearly as much as mine, on Ebay.  Not bad for a $5 investment.  Now I’m torn between keeping it and selling it on Ebay.  But I really want to keep it.

Next up on the day was a visit with my dear art friend Kathy McElroy.  Kathy was my first roomate at an art retreat, a fellow member of the Altered Art Divas, and one of the sweetest people I know.  She brought her son and his fiancee and another son’s children to lunch.  The Judge made burgers and they were gooood!  Kathy’s grandchildren were the perfect age to play with my littles.  By the end of the day, I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible to get the kids to separate!  We spent the afternoon at the zoo.

We saw the flamingos

and this sweet little fellow who wandered past our table in the water play area, looking for food.

Kathy’s kids and grandkids are all wonderful.  We were tired but really sorry to leave them.  The final success in our day of small, happy events was this.

This is She-Mootah.  She-Mootah is Ellie’s companion for Ollie’s Mootah.  She-Mootah is made from some fabric that I dyed, painted, and stamped on.  There is just a bit of hand-embroidery (mostly because I don’t remember much, although I was apparently pretty good at it as a child) and eyes made from my favorite buttons.  Ellie seems very happy.  She has dressed She-Mootah up in a piece of old lace and is taking her everywhere.