Noyau de Prune

Radiogram #11

Four Zero

Eh oui, your friend and humble narrator turned 40 a couple of days ago. Spoiled as usual and even more than usual. My mailbox was bulging with sweetness and I just wanted to show you some of it.

Des conseils, des placements, de l'action, hahaha, yes exactly what I needed! :-))

Artist Insane Dean sent a very special package full of goodies. But that's fine, as he had nothing else to do the whole month. The highly suspicious Love Hotel card refers to a certain radiogram he recently got. The Q-tips are inspired by this amazing piece of art you might remember. These are the first building blocks for my own tea ceremony room! It's funny, last week I got two business opportunities. One was cleaning fish in Bergen, Norway, and the other one is starting my own tea ceremony room. I'm still torn. The good thing is I can fill out my own pay check! I'll be fine...

Leaving cheap discounted price tags is a well seated tradition by now :-))

Et la pièce de résistance...

As I went through surgery to get Dean a special birthday present earlier this year he felt that he too had to show thoughtfulness and generosity. OMG!! An original wild bone taken from…. I don't know, was that part of your ribcage Dean? Are you feeling better now? Oh dear I'm already having a cold sweat thinking that next year I might have to give up a kidney to up the game!! :-o

The package also came with an original barcode art piece, of which I am an avid collector as you know. With a real sink drain hole! One of his best (again) I reckon. How much work and patience for those amazing pieces!!

This one arrived a few days earlier and made me laugh out loud. Look at that angelic smile :-)) I think you all remember the Spray Video. Well I'm really happy I didn't have to go through that spraying session in vain, as it inspired this fantastic interactive self-portrait. This was sent without an envelope as per usual, and not a resistor seems to be missing. I haven't pressed start yet, a bit scared of getting sprayed again…

The Great-But-Nonetheless-Humble Grigori Antonin also sends his best wishes, along with an original polaroid artwork by himself in a beautiful visual poetic frame, and a mysterious black and white photo. I love it, Grigori, thank you for always remembering my B-day!

And you recognise Carette of Finland's whimsical packages. I sure drunk up!

Carina sent MANY beauties, I can only show a few of them here but I thought you would enjoy the Finish Art Machine and Rabbit In The Landscape (closely followed by Mini Rabbit Can't Make It, I'm laughing, Carina).

And I am the proud owner of a beautiful handmade box with special boekie inside. Very special, as Carina knows I was living in Stockholm a few years back (well, make it a decade). She also knows I like old maps a lot. Love the erased graphite on opposite pages too! Thank you so much Caruba, you made an old lady very happy :-))

I also got tons of stuff from my dear people back home, too much for one photo, really, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone!
* And delighted to see that I was born the same year as 50 Cent. Lucky him :-))

Cloclo

I watched this biopic of Claude François last week on TV, and for the WHOLE week (until now included and ongoing) I have his songs in my head, NON STOP, no kidding, almost day and night. Heeeeeeelp! How do I stop this? I think that posting some videos here might alleviate the symptoms, so here you go :-))

(confession: I also kind of like them. Oh dear… I think it's nostalgia of some sort)

Are you hooked yet? :-))
(PS, yes he is the author of the song My Way. Before Sinatra and before Paul Anka)

At the Kameido shrine

It's wisteria blossom time at the Kameido shrine downtown Tokyo, and since Kameido is all about wisteria it is also the best time for a yearly festival.

This is the shrine in winter time (photo downloaded from internet). The gate, two beautiful red arched bridges leading to the shrine itself further down the path, large ponds where tortoises swim around. Wisteria trees are underneath the grids which will support the flowers in spring. The design of the shrine is quite ingenuous with the crisscross of alleys, bridges, ponds, trees, all crammed into a tiny space.

I visited Kameido a few years back and I knew it would be that crowded. It's a classic Tokyo festival moment, you need to be prepared to face the crowd, there is just no way around it.

Wisteria lucky charms.

Attempting to cross the first bridge. Needless to say, VERY slowly.

From the top of the bridge, the Tokyo Skytree, newest and tallest icon in the landscape surrounding the shrine. Can you see the tortoises sunbathing?

Looking back…

Looking forward….

The flowers were beautiful of course, very fragrant too, but starting to bloom out. The best viewing time must have been last week.

Patting the holy cow :-)) 

(that guy made his dog pat the cow too, I don't know what that was all about)

The second, smaller bridge.

And you already know what's missing. Food stands! Too many to take pictures of everything.

Gathering for a performance. Of what, I don't know, I left the premises before it started. This was a very nice afternoon out.

Radiogram #8