Inspirational Designs, Transportation in Rome

Cars are one of my many obsessions. I should not just say cars because the obsession caries over to many forms of transportation. The catch is, they have to be appealing or well designed. This bus met our plane at the airport in Rome and carried us to the terminal. It isn't really special in the looks department, but it is a very cool vehicle. It kneels to allow passengers on and off. Why can't our buses do that? You could push a wheel chair right up on it with no problem.
You may have heard me go on about vehicles before. If so, you know that Volkswagens have a special place in my heart (even with their nutty electrical systems) vans most of all. I spotted this little custom model in a shop window. Isn't it adorable?

I still have lots of photos from of cats in Rome and I promise to do another post just for them.
This post is all about things with wheels. A few days before we were to return home, we stumbled upon a Roman Car Show. There was a street fair to encourage "Green Living" and tourism amongst other things. The car show was part of it. Look at the face on this one, it is hard to say who is smiling more the car or the driver. Don't you just expect Sean Connery to jump in and take off?

This tiny little car is smaller than the an old VW Bug. It is cute and the sun roof is well designed, just roll it down, snap it tight and your ready to go.

Spring is the time for "Fashion" and the Romans take it seriously. Many of the cars had models in period fashions as passengers, here are a couple of the more unique ones. The lady in white and black has zippers all over, even the hat is covered! One of the galleries was partially closed off for a few hours for some sort of fashion show. We got to wander among the mannequins when they were done.

Who doesn't love a gleaming red sports car?

Doors open backwards on this one. I can see where that would be helpful in tight parking situations. Parking and driving in Rome looks like a nightmare. We did not even try and as our hotel was wonderfully located, we did not need too.

This is from my teen years. It is one of my favorites. Sleek!

A bit older, but adorable. This one is also on the small side.

You can't talk about Rome and transportation without mentioning the Vespas. Note the side car on one and vintage costumes for both. The design had changed a bit over the years but they still look like fun. (I don't think I want to try to learn to drive one in Rome traffic though, Yikes)

Did I mention that parking in Rome is an art form in itself? These two cars are "Smart" but are their drivers? Notice how they are parked pointing out in a parallel spot. We saw this a lot, neat trick. Somehow I don't think my Tacoma will fit quite the same.

Vroom,

Kat

Mid October Inspiration

This little kitty's name is Akashia. Her heart is warm. Actually, all of her innards are warm. She has a cloth bag full of rice as stuffing in her trunk. This adds stability. It also makes her warm and cozy when you stick her in the microwave. When she comes out, I wrap her around my neck and she feels great. I got the idea from "Auntie Stress Annie" at http://dollmakersjourney.com/newsletter/auntie.html
I made the first doll exactly as shown (OK the pattern on the fabric was different, but you get what I mean). A couple of cat loving friends liked it so I came up with the kitty pattern. After a few winters of hard work, poor "Annie" split a seam, the fabric just gave way. Sad, but all good things..... Anyway, I did not plan on making mine a cat till I saw this cute fabric. What do you think? (Hint, if you are going to make one, use plain white rice. The more flavorful varieties will smell every time you warm them up).
While I was working on it, as you can guess, there were plenty of little stringy bits floating around and
the youngest member of the household got very interested. As I had plenty of fabric, I made her a toy too. It is stuffed with catnip, has a long tail to chase and has whiskers. Since it is head shaped instead of round, it wobbles when it rolls. She likes it (she is currently purring and keeping my lap warm).
Fall temperatures and colors inspire me. I want to make things! I am not the only one. Laura of "Gypsea Tree" http://lauragrace7.wordpress.com/ has been busy and my Sweet Hubby has been turning out all sorts of delights (as I showed you on the preview, this is a Guacamole Omelet). I have several ideas and supplies for more jewelry as well as cards I want to work on. Lots of my creative energy last week went

into a project for school, we had to make an instructive slide show. Isn't it nice when you can make homework into something interesting?

Fall is still tip toeing in slowly around here. The dogwood this week shows more red, but not much. These vines with berries are growing next to the Old Summer Kitchen. I don't know what they are but they are lovely. It is hard to stay in the house and work right now. The temperature keeps dipping into cold then back to mild. Our projected high today is 76 Fahrenheit, that is about 24 Celsius. There is a light breeze so some leaves are falling.

When we were kids, falling leaves meant fun. We would gladly help rake up the front lawn if we could jump and play in the pile. Our neighbor had a "Horse Chestnut Tree". It was big and provided shade for both houses. It also provided a supply of Horse Chestnuts each fall. Horse chestnuts look pretty much just like the lovely confections we used to buy in newspaper from the man on the corner in London or at the Big Christmas Market in Lincoln (chestnuts, mulled wine, music, mmmm!) then carry around to warm our hands and finally, when they were cool enough, eat. However, Horse Chestnuts are not edible. As a kid, I had no idea how good real chestnuts
are so I did not miss them. Horse Chestnuts come off the tree in green spiky balls. This stage is fun to throw. The spikes are just sharp enough to encourage caution, but not really sharp enough to do much damage. Crafty children could carefully peal off the outer spiky layer to reveal the nut in side. With the help of an old nail, you could easily put a hole through the middle to string for necklaces. We spent hours at it.
The "Horse Chestnut Tree" also supplied a lot of big soft leaves. Once the spiky green balls were collected, we used to pile the leaves near the porch and jump off the side into the pile (how did we survive

our childhoods?).
Back here in the South, Fall isn't just about the leaves. Summer is ending here too. This little Cicada exoskeleton looks as if he has curled up to for a winter's nap and the tiny little red bug looks as if he is wearing a tie for the Pumpkin Ball. Mushrooms are popping up all over and my camera stays busy.
I promised to share more photos of our Halloween decorations and here they are. As usual at my house, a mixture of old and new. The spiders came from children's parties from years ago, now they grace the pulls for the light each year. The kitty with the pumpkin glows with a soft orange light when you plug it in. It is vintage 1960's.
The treat bucket in the same photo is from the early 1990's (when will that count as vintage) and the irresistibly cute kitty pillow was 75% off on an after Halloween sale a few years back.

A vintage metal treat bucket from the 1950's shares the mantle with a glowing pair of Italian ceramic Jack O Lanterns.

I would like to leave you with a bit more inspiration.

You can watch Bugs Bunny and Witch Hazel in "A Witches Tangled Hare" at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8459036700047862929#

Bugs Bunny and an Interesting Monster in "Primus"
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOWgZW3di7w

Walt Disney's "Lonesome Ghosts" at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVF5QK2uPMk&feature=related

and a Donald Duck cartoon from 1954 titled "Trick or Treat" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skdVouumMk4
These cartoons were big excitement for this little kid. If you are not familiar with them, enjoy and be sure to let me know what you think.

Kat

Inspiration

What inspires me? All sorts of things! Nature provides a constant source of inspiration. Going for a walk outside always improves my outlook on life. One of my favorite books is "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard. She has the most wonderful way with words and she loves the out of doors. (That is the only book I took to Lackland AF Base for Basic Training.) Another great source of nature inspiration when the weather doesn't cooperate it the "Planet Earth" Series from BBC. We rented it from Net Flix. The photography is amazing. I would not mind

re watching it over and over. The series is also full of good information on the condition of our planet, (without preaching.) The armor on my dress form, gets dressed up for Christmas. The hat and beads have been put away for next year, but I still have to smile every time I look up at it. Airplanes and clouds inspire me too. My Father actually took this photo of a propeller in flight. It is one of his old slides that I scanned. I love it. The photo not only shows the propeller and the clouds, looking at it makes me feel like I am part of another era. I will probably have to
have this one printed to hang on a wall. I just love it.

The moon and moonlight inspire me too. There is
a peaceful quality to moonlight, as well as an expectancy, anything might happen. This photo was taken early in the evening and I like the colors.

The photo of the stream was taken in between rain showers. It has a very different color scheme. The light sparkles on the water and some of the branches seem to glow.
Misty mornings inspire me.
The tree looks great year round. It is home to several squirrels. (Bashful Squirrels, they disappear whenever the camera comes out.)
The church is one we drive by regularly. I am not even sure what denomination it is. The other day when we drove past, the clouds parted just above the steeple, and I had my camera ready. I really like the composition of this photo and it was pure luck. I took it with my trusty digital, from inside the car with the window up while we were driving by. (Another thing I love about digital, the fact that you can easily delete anything you don't like without
printing it or even wasting film, makes me braver.) I guess you could say my camera inspires me too.

What inspires you?