Going to Montmarte

I didn't think we would ever reach Sacre Couer!  We just kept climbing stairs!  When we would get to the top of that set, another one awaited us!

As close as this looks, there are still hundreds of steps to climb.

A little fun at the flea market...

Judi had seen this purse at one of the vendors just outside the Puces St. Ouen and the man tried to sell it to her for 15euros.  She put it back and we went to mail our postcards.  When we came back, she looked at it again.  He was not at the table when we walked up, but saw her from another booth.  He came running up and said, "Ah, you came back!"   She began to haggle with him, trying to get him down to 10euros.  Finally he said, "Oh, poor African man" and Judi said, "Oh, poor American woman"!  He finally gave in and let her have it for 10euros.  ")

Jan had been looking for a beret and found this at one of the vendors outside the market.  She had fun trying on the hats.

Letters home.......................

Judi and I mailed our postcards home on Monday before we left Clignancourt.  I have a thing about postcards and gone a little crazy buying them..... some to send home and some to put in my collection.  I think I ended up writing and sending about 40 postcards (2 to my honey ").  That was a lot of writing!   But I love to write and was writing in my travel journal every night, too.

Notice the graffiti on the post box. 

More from Puces St. Ouen flea market (Clignancourt)

We had lunch at the flea market.  We had been told that there might be gypsies entertaining us at this cafe.  (The guide book I used also had that bit of information.)  Our floor show was  this lady who crooned away while we ate our lunch and then tried to hawk her CDs while we were finishing up.  ")

Clignancourt flea market..............

Barb took this photo of Jan and I digging through these trays of brass charms.  Our hands were black when we finished!  We did learn very quickly though to read the difference in centimes and euros!  We thought many of these were 50cents and they were 5euro apiece!   So we had to go back through everything we thought we wanted and dwindle down our haul.  We found some really nice bicycle and fan charms.  I ended up with a beautiful clown face.....can't remember who found that one  (Judi or Jan?).  These were some of the greatest times we had......digging through boxes or piles of items to find things to add to our artwork.  ")

Clignancourt......the largest flea market in Paris...............

Jan, Judi, Barb and Pat at the stalls in the flea market.  We actually walked past several vendors set up on the sidewalk outside the flea market.  This is actually one row after another of storage units......some have even installed glass fronts to make their stall look like a little store.  These rows are not in military order...........they are haphazard and the alley ways between them are numbers to keep you from getting lost.  There is also a map for you to use.  ")

Here Judi, Jan and Barb are searching the little boxes for any treasures they can find.  Lots of goodies here, but most were very expensive.

I thought this little row of Donald Ducks was so colorful.........and the cycle bands were a perfect color to pair with them.

The Antique Books market

This antique book market was held at a park (Brassens?).....it was under two separate covered areas with a space in between where people came to sit and watch their children play and ride bikes.  This is another market that we visited twice.  The first time I found two small books:  Van Gogh (not too old....1950) and a postcard book of the art of Toulouse-Lautrec (C.1990).....not antique books, but little treasure for me.  ")

The Flea Market at Vanves

We rode the Metro and then walked several blocks to get to the Vanves flea market.  It was basically up and down both sides of a sidewalk........a very long sidewalk.  ")  We saw everything there....and it is not nearly as large as Clignancourt.  We visited this flea market twice and ended up with such a variety of goods.  The first trip we found a lady selling really old postcards (and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE postcards......postcards were the bulk of my purchases in Paris.....old and new postcards).  I passed up buyin an old book of poetry and some of the others passed up things that we all later wished we had bought.  Thus, the second trip.  ")

Here we are waiting at the corner for Jan and Barb who are taking our photo.  (Fiddle!  I thought you could see the street sign pointing to the Vanves flea market :(        ).     It was HOT standing out there in that sun!  LOL   The humidity was horrible while we were there......most days were "two-shower days".   ")

The Metro.....

On the Metro to the flea market!  We had visited a flea market nearby the day before at Maubert.  Sunday we took off on the Metro to Vanves.  We also wanted to go to the old book market in that area.  Pat looked like the mother duck getting us all through the metro station and gates.  ")  But, we all made it through.....some of us after two tries at the gate.  ")

Dining out

This was our first sidewalk cafe dining experience.  Susan was the only one not present.  We had done so much walking on our first day that her ankle was really giving her a lot of pain.  She decided to stay in her room and rest it.  (She has had surgery on it a few times and has to be very careful with it.)

Hotel Des Grande Ecoles From the Street

This is the street in front of the Hotel Des Grande Ecoles........as you can see from the hotel sign.  It is uphill all the way! 

After entering the gates, a cobblestone drive leads you up to the top where you encounter the garden and to the left is the main hotel lobby and office.  To the right is the Garden Bldg.  (I never heard what they called the two buildings that flank the drive.)

This is one of the gates (doors) that are closed at night.  To get back in one has to put the device attached to the room key up to the electronic reader next to the gate.  When it buzzes you can open the door and get in.  These doors are massive.  Notice the keypad and key reader to the right of the door.   Also the handle on the door.

Jan and Barb's room......

Jan and Barb had a room on the top floor.  It was a long narrow room and their window opened out over the garden.  Their room came with a fan because there was definitely no "flow through" of a breeze up there.  I show you their room because after the first day or two our maid did not put the bedspreads on again.......because we took them off every night and folded them up and placed them in our chairs.  No sense in putting them on if we were only to take them off again, huh?  ")  The beds look very pretty with the spreads on, but they were crocheted and those little knots drove us nuts when we wanted to sit on our beds.  Look how neat those girls were!

(Photos courtesy Barb Wenkel)

In the Garden..........

This is another view of the garden at the hotel.  This area is to the left of the door at the front of the hotel.  I believe the hotel has 50 rooms, so you can see they have lots of seating outside.  There is also a dining room inside.  The weather was so nice in the mornings and the evenings that we always sat outside.....breakfast in the mornings, supper or just visiting in the evenings.

Here is Pat coming over from the Garden Bldg.  Her room was on the top floor and Susan's room was down one floor directly under Pat's room.  (Doesn't she look ready to lead her little duckies on a tour?!  We threatened several times to make her a little flag to hold up as she led us around Paris.  ")  What would we have done without her?......not as well, I think!  Thank you, Pat, for putting up with us!  Love you!)

The windows in our room (Judi and Sharon) were very tall skinny windows......OPEN all the time because there it was very hot and stuffy......no air conditioning.   About 2AM it would cool down and we could sleep under a cover.  ")  Sometimes we even opened the door to our room to encourage a draft or draw of air through the windows and the room.  It was such a surprise to some of neighbors in the adjoing room.  LOL   But, all in all, they would just smile and say good day or Bonjour.    (We never left it open at night, of course!)  The view from the window was across a private drive into the apartments you can see.  We had some interesting views from this window.  Every morning an old man would come out on his patio and draw or proof read a manuscript (well, that's our story, anyway!  LOL).  On school days the sounds of children skipping, laughing and talking would draw us to the window to see them being escorted by fathers/mothers down the drive and through the gate.  The school was close by for we could hear the children in the day time playing on the grounds and also hear the school bell ring.   Late at night we could hear the revelers from the local pubs/resteraunts as they laughed, talked and sometimes argued on the street just outside the drive gate.

  

Our room number was 106 and we had a very short hallway with a door to close it off......which we always left open.  Occasionally one of our neighbors would close it, but not often.

This is the man on the patio to the left of our window.  He was there every morning....very diligent on his work.

Hotel Des Grande Ecoles

Susan, Jan and Barb waiting in the garden for everyone else to be ready to go out for another fabulous walk or adventure on the Metro.  Below is a view of the front of the hotel.  The office is just inside the door.  Judi and I were on the second floor and Jan and Barb were on the top floor of this building.  Susan and Pat were across the garden in the Garden Building.  (The apartments you can see in the background just over Barb and Jan's heads were actually across a private drive that was under the window in our room (Judi and Sharon).

Looking at journals.............

In the evenings, we would gather

in the garden at the hotel and look at journals, visit and sometimes eat.  ")  This night we were looking at the journals everyone made to bring with them.  Some (like mine) were very simple with pockets for stashing little goodies (like used Metro tickets, receipts, business cards and tags from clothing, scarves, shoes, etc).  I also had enough pages to write a little recap of our day before going to bed each night.  Pat had a rather elegant one with a material covering.  She was adding pictures and ephemera each day.  It was great to sit and discuss the different styles we had used and also to discuss what projects we might launch into in the coming year. 

Photographer at work.....

Judi was trying to get a good shot of Notre Dame from this side of the river.  We found that we could get a great picture of Notre Dame if we were standing near the bookstalls.  You can see Barb's back as she searches the bookstalls for something to catch her eye........and not the pocket book!  ")

Treasure found!

Here is Pat showing off her treasure that she purchased at the bookstalls.  She is the Queen of Unburied Treasures!  (Of course, it might helps to know exactly what you're looking for!)  I think I was so excited to actually be in Paris that I was trying to look at everything at once and not focusing on a particular item.  It took me a few days to settle down to some idea of what I really wanted to find at bookstalls/flea markets.  And, then, there were so many shops to look into!  I was sad we were only going to have 9 days to wander through the streets to discover buried treasures.

Bookstalls on the Bridge

These bookstalls have been on the bridge for centuries.  Some families have been renting the same one for 100yrs or longer.  There are some very pricey books, papers, prints, etc., but there are also bargains to be found.  And, of course, there are the usual touristy trinkets among the treasures, too.  You can see Jan's back as she looks over the wares of the sellers.

Notre Dame

This reknowned church needs no introduction......and it was within blocks of our hotel.  It was amazing how many times we viewed it from other locations.  The architecture is mind boggling.  I was fascinated by those flying buttresses and the beautiful rosette window.  (You will see a better photo of the window when I post our photos from the River Seine boat trip.)  This is another place that I saw only from the outside.  I kept thinking I could return to places.....and this would have been the easiest to return to........but it just seemed as though our time in Paris passed much too quickly.  (dreaming of a return trip "). 

Shakespeare in Paris?

              Judi is standing in front of one of the first "sights" that we visited in Paris.  There were so many people inside and I was so jet-lagged that I just could not make myself go inside.  This English language bookstore was opened about 1937 in tribute to one in the 6th arrondissement.  It is also a reading library.  This location  had an appearance in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" movie.  I really thought I'd come back later in the week and take a peek.......but with so many other plans daily, it just didn't happen.                                                                                                                                       

Arrived in Paris at last!

At last we are in Paris!  Our dear friend Susan Wilkin (in center) was also on our flight, but the customs and baggage situation separated us and we ended up taking separate taxis to the hotel.  Waiting for us there was our "online" friend, Pat Rogerson (left) who is part of our art group.  This was our first time to meet face to face!  It felt as though she had been right next door all these years.  (6yrs)  ")   We landed about 9:30AM and could not check into our rooms until after 1:00PM.  So we hauled all our luggage into the office and hallway and took off on a tour of the neighborhood, led by our new friend, Pat.  We were to be a part of this little neighborhood known as the Latin Quarter in the fifth arrondissement for the next nine days.

More travel companions.............

Jan White (on the right) met us at the Tulsa airport and we flew to Chicago for our next connection.  Barb Wenkel (2nd from the right) flew in from St. Louis to join us.  We were awaiting the arrival of Susan Wilkin.  Susan's plane from OkCity landed just minutes before we were to take off.  She entered the plane, they shut the doors and we were ready to taxi down the runway for take-off!  It was hard to believe we were actually on our way to Paris!.......and with our wonderful friends!

I have a copy of MINGLE.......

......that I am dying to give away!!!   I will be counting the

comments and whose friends have signed in on Oct. 28!

Contact those friends.......................

The Trip Begins!

Judi and I awaiting our plane at the airport.  This is the lady that introduced me to rubberstamping in 1994.  At first I just used it with the PreK-4 class that I taught.  In 1997 I decided to make my own Christmas cards and really became addicted to those little rubber creations.  I left teaching in Dec. of 1998, and in Jan 1999, Judi and I joined a group of artists in Collinsville.  We learned many techniques and styles of art as we collaborated with these ladies each month and worked on group projects.  When our leader moved away, we tried to stay connected, but after several months it was obvious that we were going in different directions.
After a few years of belonging to other art groups, one of our original group who had become "StampDiva" with an online store, invited us to join her online group.  The group going to Paris together is part of that group.  Even though a few faces have changed over the past, the nucleus is still the same:  Susan (StampDiva), Pat, Sara, Jan, Barb, Judi, Minori and myself.  We had never met Pat face to face as she lives in England, nor Minori, who lives in Japan........that's the great thing about having an online group!  ")  There would be six of us together in Paris:  Susan, Pat, Judi, Sharon, Jan and Barb (who lives in St. Louis).

I am seeing RED!.........

.....a peek inside the new MINGLE magazine!  I hope these fabulous photos entice you to get this magazine before you hostess another event!  The tagline under the title of this newest publication from Stampington & Co. accurately describes this magazine:  Creative ideas for unique gatherings!

Want a chance to win a copy of this new publication?  Just have all your friends visit this blog...... remember to have the leave a comment and who invited them so I'll have your name when I count the visits.  ")

THE CONTEST

                                      

The person to have the most friends visit my blog will win a FREE copy of MINGLE!  How will I know who had the most friends visit my blog?  Each friend that visits my blog must enter a comment and state who has invited them to visit.  I will be announce the winner at the end of October.

This magazine has some of most wonderful ideas for all those events that you want to celebrate.  If you want your next celebration to be extra special, this magazine is a must read.  Also, if you are that person that loves to plan and hostess special events: take photos, do a write-up of your event and send it in to Stampington......you just might get published.  So, be one of the first to get this magazine and see what the guidelines are for submitting.  I will highlight some of the articles later.

Get those friends visiting for a chance to win!

Home again, home again!

Bonjour!  It is good to be home.  I had a marvelous time with friends in Paris.  Notre Dame was the focal point of our neighborhood.  We had many nights in the garden of our hotel to discuss art adventures for the coming year.  It was great to see our friend from England, Pat Rogerson, face to face.  We have traded art with her for 12 yrs, but had never had an actual meeting.  Others in our group were Susan Wilkin (the StampDiva!), Judi Ringgold, Jan White, and Barb Wenkel. 

(More postings on the trip and our MINGLE-time together later.  Next post will be a reminder of the contest going on here for a free copy of Stamptington's newest publication:  MINGLE.)

WIN A FREE COPY OF STAMPINGTON'S NEWEST MAGAZINE!

HOW? you say........the person who invites the most friends to view my blog will win a free copy of Stampington's newest magazine:  MINGLE.  (I am leaving Friday for Paris for a little "mingle" myself!
What a great time for me to get to review this magazine. )   In case of a tie, I will have my four year old
grandson, Jacob, draw the winning name.  OK...... email, tweet, twitter, facebook, text, ...................oh, yeah, or use a telephone and call your friends!  Best of luck to everyone............

(I will post photos of my Paris trip some time in October.  "). 

Oh, yeah........................

........and a contest for all my followers for a FREE copy of this new publication!  Tell your friends they need to watch this site!  ")

Have you heard??????!!!!!

STAMPINTON & CO is publishing a new magazine entitled:  MINGLE.    Watch this site for a review of the new magazine from "moi"...........(just a little hint where I'm headed next week!)  ")    There will be many articles from artists MINGLE-ing with one another and being inspired by one another!  Notice the new "badge" on the right......................more to come later......................

Statue of Liberty

This is my 14yr old grandson, Dillon.  I thought the Statue of Liberty I stenciled on boxes for our Vacation Bible School was a tall tower until my 6'1" grandson stood next to it!  I made three of these statues:  one for the art room, one for the stage, and small one for the preschool class to use as a puzzle.  Great fun!

Back of Minori's page

I covered the back of Minori's page with red cardstock.  I stamped, colored and cut out Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Mad Hatter and glued them to the lower part of the page.  I cut out the Queen of Hearts from my TJDesigns clip art.  The top sentiment is from Graphic45 and I used Microsoft Word to type and print out the other sentiment.  I used the white/red ribbon for trim and added the star rhinestones.  I hope Minori is happy with her Christmas pages.  ")

BUSY SUMMER!

Wow!  Can't believe it has been so long since I have posted!  What a busy summer.......grandchildren here most days.  With working mothers, it's a necessity for us to have them here during that time.  We have such adventures!   and great memories!  Hopefully, now that school is in full swing, I'll be able to post more of my work and other things going on in my life.    (Like a trip to Paris!!!  yes, leaving the in a few weeks with friends in my art group and meeting another group there.....will definitely post my journal when I get back and many, many photos).  ")

Photo:  Mason, Jake, and Emma headed to the river with Papaw.

My page for Minori

This is the house that Jack built.....................ooops!  wrong story!  LOL   Actually, this is the house that Sharon built for Minori.  This is the continuing round robin of Alice in Wonderland books for our art group.  Minori LOVES Christmas and asked for Alice in Wonderland at Christmas time.  Therefore, the tag reads:  Merry Christmas from Alice & Co.  I free cut a Christmas tree with "Alice" peeking from behind and added a bow.  I also tied a bow around the house to tie in the front.  I have some Alice in Wonderland cards and cut the sentiment from one of those plus the numbers and suites that I added along the bottom.  The December 25 square is from Graphic45.  I added a star brad with red rhinestone to top of the chimney.

Final set

Here's the final set with the "painters" group that helped me!  :)  The curtains behind the set were "cityscape" shower curtains that I found at Target.  Not a Broadway stage set, but I thought we made a good try.  The kids were so excited to see it put together and set up.  After VBS we donated it to another church to use in their VBS.

Mason & Jacob painting

Artwork is Artwork

Pretty scarey, huh?!   I had all this gear on and my windows and patio door open to give a nice flow of air through the room.  I really had no idea that all my shortness of breath was going to end up being COPD.  and, I guess I had never had a chest x-ray before this visit to the Dr.  I remember having "walking pneumonia" about 20yrs ago, but the dr did not take a chest x-ray...........just listened to my lungs.  Certainly has changed the way I'm living............where I go and how close I stand to anyone that has a cigarette in their hand.

Anyway, the boxes I am painting in this photo ended up being "marques" on buildings to represent Time Square.  Lots of trial and error with all those markers...........not many proved to be all they were advertised to be............"bright" colors soon faded and "wide" tips fell short of the mark.  ")

VBS..............a l-o-n-n-n-g journey!

I can't believe it's been so long since I was on my blog!  Starting in March, we started preparing for our Vacation Bible School.  I was asked to do the set for the worship rally center and to head up crafts.  I'm so thankful for the three ladies that helped me with the crafts................Judi, Faye and Becky.  What a marvelous time we had!  (not only with one another, but with all those children............such diverse personalities and talents.  ").    I started collecting cardboard boxes...........from large (ones that had contained couches) to small (the ones that come in the mail and contain meds, etc.)   Soon there was hardly room to move in my house!  It began to rain and had eventually rained out every "work day" that I had planned at church.............you know, those days that you're hoping to have all that wonderful "child labor"?!!!   LOL   PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME AND LECTURE ME ON MY ARCHAIC PARENTING SKILLS..................THIS IS AN ATTEMPT AT HUMOR!   I only say that because a friend of mine tried to add some humor to her blog and was inundated with emails raking her over the coals.............nope, not going to mention what that was all about!  LOL   OK, back to the topic at hand, VBS............after gathering cardboard for a month, I began to beg, borrow and buy paint.  Our main decorating theme was a cityscape..............NYC Adventure (emphasis on inner-city missions).   So, one.......and I do mean ONE, sunshiny day, I gathered my grandchildren out in the yard and handed each one a paint brush/roller.  I had them to paint my background color on large sheets of cardboard for me.  (I had just gone to my Dr to see if I had pneumonia and found out that I have COPD, and she did not think I needed to be painting anything...............but, hey, time was running out.........we were getting close to the end of May.  I donned apron, gloves and mask and added detail to the "buildings" I cut out of the cardboard.  I even had my dear husband to photograph me in my attire.  ")   (and I also submitted it for the slide show we had of our VBS............great opening picture!)