Does this even work?

Mail Coming and Going

I've updated my mail art site with some of the mail I've received and sent. Here's a taste:

What can happen when I'm allowed out in public unsupervised

I drove out to Syracuse, New York this past weekend for a friend's wedding. My husband couldn't go because of business travel, so it was just me. In addition to the bride and groom, I knew only two people at the celebration. It was kind of a cool way to go to a wedding - almost anonymously.

At the reception I was a little fidgety so I went off and started taking pictures, remembering how much I loved receiving candid snapshots after my own wedding (way back in the day). I took over 200 photos - many were traditional candids, some were "my kind" of photos: half-eaten cake, the empty buffet trays, disassembled, ready for washing - stuff they would never have noticed.

In the process I began asking every man there if I could photograph his tie. Many raised eyebrows later, I got them all, including the DJ and the photographer. I've put all the photos together in an iPhoto book called Family Ties that's being produced by Apple. The plan is to have it waiting for the newlyweds when they return from their honeymoon. Jan & Chris will have the fun of trying to identify all the ties that were at their wedding. Since I am also creating a larger keepsake book of more "traditional" photos, they will have plenty of photos to which they can refer to confirm their answers.

Dumb as it seems it was a great way for me to spend the time - I got to talk to a lot of people I might not have otherwise. And I know Jan, and Jan knows me - I think she's going to like it. A lot.

The whole book can be viewed as a PDF file

The Latest

Flummox U

I've finally gotten around to creating some designs that have been in my head for a long time. These shirts don't mean a damn thing, but somehow you get them...and now the people are getting them! I started selling them as t-shirts and they're beginning to get attention which only proves what I've long suspected--I am not the only oddball who thinks this way. I can prove there are at least four others!

I've made several as postcards that I sent out to a handful of mail art friends...


There are more designs on my mail art site, and still more here...

Oh My Yo!

Some time ago there was a girl who said "Oh My God!" all the time.

She said it whenever she saw something she couldn't believe or describe. Shocking things. Funny things. Idiotic things.

One day she figured out she didn't really mean "Oh My God!"

More likely she meant "Holy *#&@!"

While most people wouldn't care about such details, for her it posed quite a dilemma.

She didn't even believe in god. Why was she calling out to one? And some of the people she hung out with did believe in God (note the Capital G).

She wondered if they ever got offended that she called out the name of their higher power when something stupid or unexpected happened - like the time her friend said "I dare a bird to fly by and [poop] in my hand right now." and when she stuck out her palm a sparrow on a power line above crapped right in it. True story. Honest to yo!

Anyway no one seemed to care if she said "Oh my God" or not (most of them said it too), but still she decided she didn't want to say it anymore and tried to come up with something new. But it was such a versatile phrase! How would she ever replace it?

She tried the usuals: Oh my goodness! Oh my gosh! Oh my word!

Nope. Let's be reasonable.

Then she tried oddball stuff: Oh my thalamus! Oh my throw rug! Oh my taxidermist!

Right. You see the problem. Friends feared she was having a breakdown.

One day, quite by accident, something happened, something private, all the words in her mouth got mixed together and "Oh My Yo!" sputtered out.

It stuck. She started saying it. No one even asked what she meant. They just knew.

Before long her friends were saying it too.

No one really knows what it means, or what it is. But they do.

"Oh My Yo!"

You just know when you've got it.

Click here to get it.