vergangenen tagen - bygone days

It's so interesting when a photo or a smell evoke something from childhood.  The word Leica has a history for me and this image of the child in the straw hat makes me think of the coppertone suntan lotion ad. It's the yellow, I think.

Herman is a master at evoking the past and that malachite green on the left of the collage is 'Herman green' in my mind. It always feels like I am coming home when I get mail art from Herman!

                                                     

One of the things I equate with the olden days is cinched waist skirts.  I wanted on,e but instead of an hourglass figure, I was shaped like a boy and drawing attention to the bit that didn't do what a woman's body was supposed to do would have been silly. I  learned to sew ad sewed some things that looked goodon the pattern but on me fell flat...

It is cherry season in the UK. In fact I baked a cherry pie this weekend. Now they evoke Ukraine for me, though. This is the sleeve in which all that follows is nested.

This ledger page is folded like a book. 

We went to Normandy for our son's 30th BD so this is not only exciting for the beautiful drawings exploring the dysmorphia some of us feel and doodle about but also becaue of the handwritings, the collged images and the FRENCH. The date is also fascinating.

And Herman's fabulous notebook drawings and photos from the past make this a VERY beautiful and generous mailing. Bygone days celebrated! Thank you!

 

Treasure and memories from New York and the Netherlands

When I have many competing demands  (in the nicest possible way) I channel my Peace Corps me and don't engage with the things that aren't in the here and now or that aren't the priority.  So, in December it's things like filling up the flour from the big bags I keep upstairs; it's making pumpkin soup for everyone at lunch; it's writing the 100+ cards I love to write, annually to feel connected to my friends from around the world. Mailart takes a backseat.  That isn't to say I feel good about letting the beautiful envelopes pile up, but thankfully my correspondents know that eventually I will look with care and attention at their offerings, and even, eventually, respond.  

Herman was compassionate about my seasonal plight  and I thank him.  I have wanted to open this russian doll of mailart for weeks.

I say 'Russian Doll' because Herman has multiple envelopes inside of envelopes in this mailing. The first envelope is the white one with the drawings of human heads juxtaposed with bodies of insects.  The stamps echo the envelope and add the winter red of Europe to the palette. 

Inside is the 'Fuller street balloon man', brightening up everyone's socially distanced Covid walks. Herman's marbled paper ties in with the scene. On the flip side are the two scary looking birds, talking to each other, ready to rip the skin from a rodent's frame.

the next envelope is a window onto the postman of the Great Lakes. Are those cubby-holes for post restante or are residents coming soon to collect their mail? The drama of the scene is enhanced, again, by Herman's marbeling.

While the bridges all over America crumble, people wave from the fences.  Welcome!

Also by a fence is this handsome couple taking in the NYC sights. Hello Herman's parents circa 1975! Can you spot the Twin Towers behind?

And finally, more treasures!  Inside ad outside herman's studio.  The last image is a fragment of a collar, perhaps left over from a visit to Markam?

Thank you Herman, beautiful as ever!

 

Don't you dare ask!

Herman may know what this maid is up to, but the only thing I can see when I look into her eyes and notice her hands, disappearing into a metal receptacle is election interference. This ingenue looks like she might mess with ballots. And if you questioned her, good luck to you! 

Amd then again. today marked the day that they validated the ballots. We are turning the page,  in a new chapter. Maybe those are just come hither eyes?

Upon opening the outside envelope, Herman's distinctive style and presentation greet me. The front and back (above) are in a letter shaped folder that was closed and encircled by a folded and taped piece of a map. Unfolded this works as an abstract collage. 

Herman has drawn my attention to the names of the places he has used in his folder.  They look benign, but Herman tells me that 'terrible things happened in Putten', but doesn't know about Ingelton. 

about Putten: One of the biggest Nazi raids held in the Netherlands during World War II took place in Putten. On 1 and 2 October 1944, the majority of the male population was deported from the town and most of them died in concentration camps such as Neuengamme and Birkenau. Following the war, two of the responsible German officers were tried and convicted for this action. The raids were a retaliation for an attack by the local resistance that killed one Wehrmacht officer near Nijkerk. The first and second of October are commemorated every year in Putten. A war memorial at Putten Church and a memorial garden (Vrouwtje van Putten Herdenkingshof) commemorate the event and the loss of life.

Herman has juxtaposed England and the Netherlands.  He asks me whether anything happened in Ingelton.  I look and it seems to have a quiet past.

Wihin the folder I find myself partying without a qualm about social distancing while Herman's mythological creature looks on.

And look who has magic physio fingers? Or perhaps she is dreaming of tattoos? Whatever, beautiful eye candy!

Glad to hear you are very well, Postal voyageur. Here at Nayland Farm, we are well to,o but here's hoping the vaccine is around the corner.  

 

What's on deck?

These three pieces of mail have arrived over the past few days. I am every excited about them but may let them sit by my computer for a few days before I blog them… or even open them. I have a few ideas for a mail art series I want to make and a bunch of people to send mail art to.  But I am trying not to rush things. so THANK YOU Voyageur Postale, Carina and Mike Dyer. 

More soon!