Hello friends!
I am back from my trip to LA and trying to re-adjust my internal clock. The trip from door to door takes over 20 hours – taxi from home to pier, ferry to Portsmouth, taxi to Heathrow (hanging about at the airport), direct flight to LA, taxi from LAX to my friend’s house in Hollywood). There is an 8 hour difference and it took me a couple of days to get used to being on the other side of the world. The weather was fantastic but best of all was seeing my friend G to celebrate her 85th birthday. We have been pen friends for over 30 years and have met several times both in the UK and US. G used to travel a lot but now it’s all too exhausting for her so she’s settling down to being a ‘home girl’ from now on. I was there 10 years ago for her 75th birthday and again four years ago.
G organised a gathering of friends and family for a lunch on her birthday and 60 people came from all over the states to be with her that day. She is an amazing woman who has inspired me for most of my adult life. She is funny, feisty, brusk, chatty, interested, opinionated, loving, caring, generous, inclusive, open, sometimes (quite often actually) foul-mouthed, smart – the truth is, she is a ‘diamond’ in my life and I love her. You can see the gift I made for her on my Other projects page.
Having just got used to LA time it was time to come home and now I’m struggling again. Today my husband woke me up today to ask if I was OK. I thought it was a strange question, but he explained that it was well past mid-day! I had no idea, I thought it was about 7am. I usually get up at 6am and today I remember getting up around that time to let the cats out and thinking I would go back and get another hour’s sleep. Well more than 6 extra hours as it turned out! Still I haven’t got to go back to work for a couple of days yet, so I should be back to normal by then.
The image is another spread from my first art journal. I like the colours and I had fun doing it, but the process was definitely more important than the end result… When I was scanning the page I realised that I had used the image of the lady from the cigar box on a previous page and in almost exactly the same position. How strange.
Hope everyone’s good
Big love
AJ
AJ's Art Journaling 
What a fantastic trip!!!!! Love how the blue creates such a great background for your focal pictures. The bits of blue in them go perfectly with your blue background!
Thanks Carolyn, it was a great trip, but it’s so lovely to be back home again too.
Big love
AJ
Thanks Carolyn, My gosh! You’ve been so busy while I’ve been away, I always check you blog first as it’s so colourful and totally inspiring.
Big love
AJ
Welcome back! Glad you had a good trip. Love the blue page.
Thanks Mary, I had a great time and now it’s good to be home and in my art room again.
Big love
AJ
How wonderful for you to spend time with your friend on her 85th birthday! I love the book you made for her, it looks very professional. The pages above are great! Love the mix of blue and green.
Thanks Eileen, it was lovely to be with Gene for her Birthday, she has been such an inspiration to me, I think she liked the book I made for her.
Big love
AJ