Saturday, May 31, 2014

May Flying Carpet 2014

By the end of May, the competition was fierce 
for The Flying Carpet’s Semi-Annual 
Most Unforgettable Passenger award.
The Mad Hatter hopped aboard on Easter Sunday at Penland 
and we headed for 
Wonderland.
 
 
Leonardo da Vinci made a cameo appearance 
in Chicago in April 
long enough to paint The Last Supper 
despite heavy turbulence 
(and you know what a perfectionist he can be) 
(Thanks to Eugenie for this photo)

 
The competition picked up 
when we picked up Javier Cortés 
at the corner of Filomeno Mata & Madero 
in Mexico City in May. 
He deftly loaded his assemblage shoe shine stand 
and polished everyone’s shoes to boot.
 

Freda and Diego also joined us briefly in Mexico City in May 
but Freda could not stand 
wearing the same outfit for more than 1/2 hour, 
so the Flying Carpet had to take them home.
 

Saint’s Day at Yanhuitlàn, Oaxaca upped the ante in May 
with its Dancing Devils, twirling Señoritas and engraved tuba.
 
 
Diana The Huntress tried to board, 
but there was not enough uplift 
and she had to remain 
at the Laguila Flea Market in Mexico City
 
 
Whew! How exhausting!



Special thanks to Frances Miller, 
my indefatigable Mexico Companion, 
whose “Up close and personal” photographic style 
inspired many of these photos. 
Thanks also for this "unforgettable"
Dances With Devils photo.
 


Wednesday, April 30, 2014

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

Monday, March 31, 2014

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




Friday, February 28, 2014

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


Friday, January 31, 2014

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