Train Bird

 

I couldn't resist it.  This bird needed a bird.  Watch for him on a train coming to you soon.

How do they travel?  With a sturdy earth magnet glued on their bottom.  Although, having seen trains bump hard along decrepit tracks lately (Infrastructure, Mr. President, Infrastructure!), I'm thinking there are probably broken birds and sculptures all up and down the tracks around here.

Jill Gets Her Train Ride

Yes, Jill, you finally get your train ride!  Because of all the nearby road construction the trains haven't been stopping very much so it's taken a while to get you a ride. I have been given strict orders to only put my pals on standing trains and not on moving trains, no matter how slow they are. Also, I'm a little worried that when the enclosure walls we are having put around the highway are finished they will keep me from getting to the trains. But for now you get to travel the country.

Who is Jill?  Jill Berry. A terrific artist, an author, and a very smart, funny lady.  Both Susan and I have taken classes from her, learned a lot, and enjoyed the time in her classes. I told her about my Travelers and she thought that was a great idea so the next time I saw a garage sale I looked for a possible Jill.  No, Jill's name wasn't on it, I added that.  So whenever you see a train, look for Jill and wave.

You could also look for Brown Bear (he's on a different train).

What's On Your Bulletin Board?

It's a little different from what I displayed back in February.  If you can't read what the top note is, this is what it says:

Unlike math, art has no wrong answers

I like to pick up stuff I spot on the ground when I'm walking or biking.  I've had little nut-like pods on my shelf for a while and Susan decided one of them needed to go with a little Sweater Child.

The Sweater Children also become Train Children and travel to .... somewhere. They latch onto the trains via a strong magnet glued to their backs so I hope they stay in place at least long enough for someone to spot them.

Shuttlecocks and a Train

A fellow artist told me she liked reading about places we traveled to because she didn't get to travel that much.  So that's why I'm backing up to show you more of stuff we've encountered on our recent trips.  Actually Susan does hours of research to determine the bestest and mostest good stuff to see, so much research that by the time we get ready to go she complains she doesn't need to go.

A 17-foot high shuttlecock on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.  The good thing about this sculpture is that the bird poop doesn't show up. 

The sculptures were very controversial when first proposed, but, as usual, loud protests probably came from people who didn't bother to read the artist statement, here. 

Why were we in Kansas City? To see art, of course.  The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art had a special exhibit of 6 ceramic artists and the Nelson-Atkins had an exhibit of 24 different ceramic artists.  I saw so much inspiring stuff my head exploded. Both museums were within walking distance of each other and that made it nice.  Also nice was good weather so we got to enjoy the outdoor sculptures in a well-designed space.

At first it looked like a tree painted silver, but then we got closer to it.  Somebody did a lot of shopping at Home Depot.

We really liked Kansas City, easy to get around and the grounds at the Nelson-Atkins were a nice break from the heat..  A second reason to go to Kansas City was to see the World War I museum.  We'd been there once before when it just opened but only saw a small portion of the exhibits - we go slow and read all the signs. Hey, it's History!  This time around we still didn't see everything so we'll have an excuse to go back again. 

Watch the trains in your area.  There may not be many more carrying hitchhikers like this because they've quit stopping near where I live probably because of the nearby MoPac-olypse construction (2 years late, zillions over budget.) I'm under strict orders to avoid trying to put anything on a moving train

Nobody Is Super

Arnie thinks Super Tuesday is just another day but then Arnie is suffering from terminal cuteness.

Check the trains going by your area for the latest travelers:

I'd like to put all those yapping political nightmares on a train to nowhere permanently.  Yes, all of them.  But others have said it better than I can:

Mark Twain:  There is no distinctly Native American criminal class, save Congress.

Edward Langley (Artist, 1928-1995):  What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.

Aesop:  We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.

Leviathan

Little birdies, just a little bigger than an inch.

Leviathan? Just about one of the best movies I've ever seen.  Why is it that Hollywood has to make unrealistic James Bond movies when skillful artists can make movies that pose morality questions that are never answered. Or even could be.  The Felony is another close-to-perfect movie.  Neither one of these movies starts out strong but they slowly reel you in and end with a twist in the last minute.

Train Children, maybe heading your way.

It's been raining a lot lately so I haven't had much of a chance to send off Train Children, Train Toys or Train Flowers.  But stay tuned, they may show up in your town someday.

My neighbor, Loma, has a green thumb and can grow anything.  Our apartment balcony is one floor up and one apartment over from hers so we can look down at her balcony full of plants.  I made this pot for her because she took a plant from me that was in an emergency crisis situation -- Susan was going to touch it.  No, no, no! Susan is the kiss-of-death for plants so Loma did the Rescue Plant adoption.

The glaze on the pot is from a soda firing which gave it the blue-to-green appearance (it's not the lighting, its the pot colors).  My friend Yetta made the saucer for the pot because she's a thrower. Me, I'm a hand builder, as you can see from the pot.

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat! Give me candy and give it to me now.  OK, I'll settle for a rum and coke.

Another Train Traveler:

Everything But

Birdies, largest is about 3 inches high.

Susan's new addiction.  You know it has to be good when a person who doesn't like candy bars buys 10 of them and then hides them so I can't eat them.

More train travelers:

More Train Travelers

We had a lot of rain lately but I put these guys up before it started so I hope they traveled somewhere dry.

My friend Hank had his birthday recently and we made sure his cake had the appropriate number of candles.  He has beat the life expectancy statistics and tries his best to be a curmudgeon, which is sort of hard for him because he's basically a nice guy.

Say hello to Emma and Roger.

Train Power!

First it was Train Children.  Then it was Train Flowers. Now it's Train Toys!

They get some minor surgery to insert a long cable tie halfway through their middle so they can be fastened on the train.  No, the train isn't moving when they hitch their ride.  There is a stopping area not too far from where we live and if I'm lucky there might be a train there on the weekend.

Susan just shakes her head and mutters strange things when I come home on Saturdays with a bag full of stuff.  The best toys come from garage sales I find while riding my bike.  At one sale I saw a few and asked the little boy standing there with his mother if he had any more.  He ran back inside and came back with a whole bunch of them.  Of course I bargained the price down but I think his mother was glad to get rid of them.

There are still Train Children.

When I ride my bike now I'm prepared with flowers, toys and Train Children -- just in case a train is sitting.  If you ever see a train, look for them.  Susan yells at me to not look at them if we see them while driving.  She knows that if I ever actually see anything I had put on a train I'd probably wreck the car.

I'm still making birds.

Flower Power

I have a new occupation: Train Florist.  The next time you see a train go by, look for flowers.  I also put some sculptures on them, as well as Train Children.

I like to make my tools happy, too.

Latest Netflix ratings from our viewing:
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:  One star.  It stunk.  Sappy, predictable, formulaic acting.
However, there was this great line from Maggie Smith - "Just because I'm looking at you when you talk doesn't mean I'm interested."
The Judge:  Four stars.  Robert Downey Jr is great, he's responsible for the four.
The Contender: Five Stars. Did not expect that twist at the end.
Closed Circuit: Five Stars.  Started out interesting and wound up being frightening in its cynicism. Frightening in that we can totally believe that can happen here as well as in the U.K.