Ephemera

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. We are now in our sixth round-some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "E".

I've chosen only ONE word this week for our alphabet round (what????). Yes, ONE word. It is: EPHEMERA.

(this image is from Laura's ephemera for sale stash)

The derivation of the word, ephemera is Greek: meaning things lasting no more than a day or a short period of time. It's about transitory matter not intended to be retained or preserved.

There's a woman I and many of the local mixed media artists here in the Northern part of New Mexico know that deals in acquiring and selling ephemera for artists. Her name is Laura and she lives in an area called El Dorado. In a way, she learned her trade from her parents who were antique dealers. She just took it to another level and specializes in ephemera for artists.

These images are some of the examples of what she has.

I found my Brownie Reflex Synchro Model camera here. It was behind this zebra and hippo!

Everything at her place is neatly organized and cataloged, all this ephemera. You are sure to find things here that you can't live without!

This group always brings a big smile to my face.

And for all you artists that like to 'alter dolls', she has a great stash of them. These belong to her private stash, as she too is an artist.

Ephemera glass. It works for me!

This is art that was given to her from one of her 'customers'. The images were tin types. In case you were wondering what is created with all this ephemera! My precious stash of glass negatives were acquired at Laura's. And, no, she is not on the internet. She does not have a computer, she does not have a cell phone. And yet, her record keeping rivals any software program!

And, I shall leave you with one last 'thought'. Remember the song, "In the Jungle" ( the mighty jungle, the Lion sleeps tonight)? Remember that part of the song where it goes: ahweemowep, ahweemowep, ahweemowep, ahweemowep, ahweemowep, etc.? OK, do we have the tune secured in your mind now? Substitute that nonsensical word with 'ephemera'.

Oh, gosh...I'm sooo bad!

: )