April Flying Carpet 2014

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,” 

says the Flying Carpet. 

The friends and strangers in April in Chicago 

were exponentially kind.

They welcomed The Carpet into their “believe it or not” homes... 

Other friends sleep under a wall sized painting by Henry Darger 

of The Vivian Girls and their never ending escapades. 

The Carpet wonders if it impacts their dreams. 

Outlandish juxtapositions of made and found... 

beasties and beings... 

the quintessential eye... 

the roads converging...

Other friends live in a white church... 

the arched paintings ascending over cozy... 

the kitchen aromas are incense... 

the pillows are appliquéd with souvenir patches from everywhere... 

a great team

She spied some decoys made out of tin cans. 

“If you don’t sell them to me, I’ll steal them!” 

says this bejeweled maximilist... 

an Emery Blagdon healing machine whirling over her head...

uncountable Adam and Eves

The Birthday Girl with her superb sense of design 

permeating everything her hand touches... 

passion and intensity... 

and her friend of wisdom writing memoirs of long ago Shanghai... 

simplicity and depth...

A pilgrimage to Intuit...
to the reconstruction of Henry Darger’s one room home.
It felt like a shrine to loneliness...
the translator of The Realms of the Unreal...

 The city... an exquisite geometry on a grey day...

celebrating the joy of birthdays and “Last Suppers”
and delicious long friendships
gratitude

March Flying Carpet 2014

The air was filled with snowbirds

prickles

and the scent of orange blossoms
when the flying carpet flew to Tucson in March

Enigmatic juxtapositions

and

Flaming sunsets

Then flashing onward to

funkadelic

Silver City, New Mexico

and undulating low and slow 

homeward through the flowering apricots

February Flying Carpet 2014

             Amidst all the zooming and twirling, Flying Carpet must rest.
A contemplative cup of tea can stop the world.

                                                                                             

Some of you may remember gathering our exquisite tea cups
after matcha a long time ago...

 In Tea the expression ichigo ichie is often heard.

 It means “one time, one meeting.”

“Each tea gathering is an opportunity for an experience

that will never occur again in one’s life.”

In this spirit of the celebration of each unique moment, 

may I share TEA JOURNAL with you?

Each page records a time of drinking tea.

                    constants: 1 sheet of handmade paper from Gallery Kei in Kyoto

                                         1 drawn rectangle

                                         rubbing of texture

                                         signatures (real or invented) of companions

                                         date & sometimes location

                                         tea stain (sometimes coffee) (or wine only in France)

Tea can also make us mindful of

“...the evanescense of all things and the unchanging in the changing”

                                                       TEA TIME CUMULUS  is
                                                       a cumulus of tea bags
                                  from September 1, 2013 to February 27, 2014

 

So relax and enjoy a cup of tea and spill a little on the Flying Carpet

Special thanks to Soshitsu Sen XV for quotes from his book Tea Life, Tea Mind

January Flying Carpet 2014

At the end of January,
the Flying Carpet sends you a pre-emptive valentine:

If your love is

on the rebound

If your love is

    not in the cards

 If your love is
    full of tempations

If your love is

needing to be recycled

If your love is 

sailing the stormy seas

If your love is

too transparent

...but I hope your love is

clear and light

Special thanks to all the Valentiners over the years 

who have come out to play with me

and also to Sialia

for collaborating on the Sailor's Valentine (#5)

Love from The Flying Carpet

December Flying Carpet 2013

In December The Flying Carpet 

hovered over Santa Fe 
to revel in Holy Days

the waning light  in the disappearing afternoon

 

Grandma’s menorah shines in the window for the world to see

Jake’s farolitos light the way

 
 Zack’s ikebana Chistmas Tree floats above the gifts

Dr. Furoshiki’s wrapping fanaticism astounds himself
(perhaps no one else)

and we move with requisite glitz
into the New Year

November Flying Carpet 2013

What do Flying carpets do in the winter time?
They lay around in front of fireplaces
catching stray cookie crumbs
and splashes of hot chocolate

and recollect images of Paris windows...

the indirect... the unexpected glance
the iconic becomes mysterious...
Sacre Coeur

random juxtapositions
found paintings

Institut Du Monde Arabe
light streaming through lens apertures

a million captured prisms
ubiquitous chandeliers

the genius of Rodin and Camille Claudel
in the filtered light of the quintessential Hotel Biron

and coming full circle
to the erector set image
of the Eiffel Tower

Grateful   Grateful   Grateful