the star odyssey

Hi all! As some of you may have noticed thanks to LiveJournal's handy birthday reminders, the star odyssey turns two today. I apologize for the lack of updates, I've been doing my best to wrangle the stars that are still out in the world.

The purple star spent some time in Auckland, New Zealand with Caren who says:

Auckland is known as the "City of Sails" and the star is featured against some of Auckland's architectual landmarks - Harbour Bridge, Marina and Sky Tower(below). My fave is the "Dreamchaser" as it embodies the essence of people who are Aucklanders!


7/11/07 Marina with Sky Tower in background, Auckland, New Zealand

After it returned back here to Salem my husband and I took it on a trip to Boston to see Tori Amos in concert.


10/18/07 Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA

I also snapped a few photos from the Charles St Inn, this one from the window overlooking Charles St and this one by a mirror that will give you a glimpse of what the back of the stars look like.


So right now I have 3 of 6 stars returned. The red star seems to have become very fond of the arctic circle and hasn't made its way home yet. The yellow star appears to be lost in the mail for good.

The black&white star is hanging out in NYC:



And will hopefully be on its way back here sometime soon.

So there might be a few more welcome home star posts, but for the most part this is the end of the odyssey. I want to thank you all once again for watching and participating and believing in the project.

There are currently 204 photos in the star odyssey photostream which is rather impressive.

So Happy Birthday star_odyssey & Thank You Everybody!

Best wishes,
Erin

6/17/07 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts

We promised the orange star an ice cream cone, and while there are many lovely places to get ice cream in Boston, we decided to take the star on a stroll down Newbury Street to go to JP Licks. They have fabulous ice cream, perfect for hot summer days like the ones we had over the weekend. I am rather partial to the Cake Batter ice cream, myself.

We took some shots around scenic Newbury Street on our way, you can see them in the star odyssey photostream, including the shot outside the gargoyle store. You really can buy anything on Newbury St.

The orange star is now sitting on my bookshelf with the green star, they're keeping each other company while they wait for the rest of the stars to get back.

6/8/07 Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada

And the Furthest North Award goes to the red star, which is enjoying the 24-hour daylight in the Arctic Circle with Marnie. She says:

The star is posed by: the commemorative statue in front of Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, in Jim Koe Park, which commemorates the (current) terminus of the Dempster Highway, the northernmost all-weather road on the continent. The Inukshuk statue [above], by David Ruben stands in front of the Mackenzie Hotel, and Our Lady of Victory -better known as the ''Igloo Church" is right across the street from there. Unfortunately, the church is far too large to decent shot of the star with it, so its rather funky and weatherbeaten sign had to suffice as a stand-in.

These are so cool, no pun intended. Links to photos in the star odyssey photostream, of course. The red star will be on its way back to Boston soon.

6/3/07 Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA

The green star returned to a very rainy Boston over the weekend, but we did manage to get a few welcome home photos in between downpours.

For each official welcome home star photos we'll be taking each star to someplace quintessentially Bostonian. The green star got to go to Faneuil Hall.

The photo above shows the statue of Samuel Adams, though the star got a much closer view of the Red Auerbach statue. It sat outside the Gap for awhile, which happens to have a rather lovely view though I think its favorite spot was the Boston Harbor shoreline, circa 1630. It's now only a few yards away from Sam Adams.

Orange star official welcome home photos coming soon! We promised it an ice cream cone but then the weather was uncooperative. And there are still 3 stars out in the world that should be reporting in with photos before they start meandering home.

5/26/07, Salem, Massachusetts

So the orange star hasn't been heard from in awhile, it got waylaid in New York for a rather long time with nothing to show for it, and finally I had it sent back here.

But I had decided that the first star to get back should get an extra bonus stop, so I told my husband Peter that he could take it wherever he wanted and he chose Salem. He says:

The orange star spent a gorgeous Saturday sightseeing around historic Salem, Mass. First, the star visited Derby Wharf in the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. There docks a functioning replica of the 18th century merchant trade ship the Friendship, which was out at sea on this particular day. The star relaxed on the rock seawall [above] and watched a kite caught in the high wind. It then climbed some old stairs to nowhere, enraptured by the sailboats lazily circling around the harbor.

The star passed numerous museums on its journey downtown from the waterfront: the New England Pirate Museum, the Salem Wax Museum, the North Shore Children's Museum, and the impressive Peabody Essex Museum. But no trip to Salem is complete without a trip to the Salem Witch Museum. The star was amused by the stone architecture of the museum, but prefers the Yin Yu Tang house at the PEM.

The star's day ended at Salem Common, where it nestled itself along the cast iron fencing to watch the dogs out for their afternoon stroll.

Links to more photos in the star odyssey photostream, with extra bonus links to the Peabody Essex Museum, which is really truly gorgeous and I highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

The Salem photos are extra appropriate since Peter and I are planning on moving there at the end of the summer. I snapped a few photos of the star on our way back into Boston, including this one in which you can see the Custom House tower in the background, which you can also see here, back where it all began.

There should be more stars headed back here as well, each one will get proper welcome home photos as they arrive. The orange star, though it didn't manage to stop that many places, did make its way entirely around the world, from Boston to Chicago to Viet Nam to France and then Salem. That's pretty darned impressive.

2/21/07 Atascadero, California

After its Ireland adventures, the green star landed with Ellie in California. She says:

When I received the star I tried to think where I should take the star. What was important to me and what would show something about my location? So I finally settled on a place, In-N-Out Burger #98 in Atascadero, California. I’ve worked there for almost a year and I’ve mostly loved every minute of it. It may not be something super special but it seems so Californian that you know immediately its location. For those who have never heard of In-N-Out here’s a quick link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger

Being a life-long East Coaster I have only ever heard stories of In-N-Out Burger, so I'm glad the star got to experience it in person. Ellie has several more shots from the trip, they can be seen on the star odyssey photostream.

The green star is on its way back here now, we'll see if it's first to return...

***

For those of you itching for traveling objects now that the star odyssey is winding down, you might want to check out The Jewelry Journey, a project that my dear friend Kythryne of Wearable Sculpture has just launched. I have one of the pendants now, actually, and will be sending it to Texas later this week.

I really can't believe that it was one year ago today that this project began. It's been amazing, really. I certainly didn't think when it started that stars would end up in Japan and Egypt and on Platform 9 and 3/4 and so many other wonderful places, but they have and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who has participated, and everyone who has watched with me as the stars traveled.

Though today is technically the end date of the star odyssey, there will still be more to see here. I'm awaiting photographs from a few more locations, and then the stars should be on there way back here to Boston where they will have Welcome Back photos taken. After that I'll be organizing the community info and the Flickr photostream for optimum viewing, with sections for each star and possibly maps if I'm feeling cartographic.

Thank you all, again. I know I say it a lot, but I mean it.

This anniversary post brought to you by the Poor Lost Blue Star, that never got to go anywhere because it was lost in the mail en route to Chicago. Wherever it is, I hope it's having an adventure. Maybe it'll run into the Poor Lost Yellow Star eventually.


Christopher Columbus Park, Boston, MA 4/30/06

3/28/07, Austin, Texas


The black & white star gets a local history lesson in Austin with Scarletwench, who says:


The first three pictures were taken in March of 2007 at the Driskill Hotel, in Austin Texas. The mirrors featured are the famous Carlotta's Mirrors. Austin is known for its weird, quirky things and Texans tend to be proud of their history.

Here's the story of the mirrors:

1864: When Mexican conservatives negotiated with Napoleon III to found a Mexican empire, Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was persuaded to accept the crown. He and his wife, Carlotta, left their palace and sailed to Mexico. At that time, Maximilian ordered eight beautifully crafted gold leafed mirrors from Europe to decorate their new Latin-American palace. Each mirror has the likeness of Carlotta adorned at the top

But Mexican revolutionaries, eager to overthrow the foreign leader and install an indigenous government, made Maximilian's stay uncomfortable from the outset. Maximilian's tenure rested solely on French soldiers, which were withdrawn by Napoleon III in 1866. As the forces of Mexican independence conquered increasing swaths of the country, Carlotta fled for Europe to beg Napoleon and the Pope to save her husband's reign. Maximilian, in desperation, assumed personal command of his forces. In 1867 he was captured and executed by firing squad. Carlotta never saw her husband again. She returned to her Castle in Austria, where she slowly went mad, spending the next 60 years as a recluse.

No one knows how the mirrors ended up in a San Antonio antique shop, but in 1930 they were discovered and purchased by The Driskill Hotel in Austin. Some say that the spirit of Carlotta still lives within the beautiful mirrors now decorating the walls of the Maximilian room. And the Driskill is considered to be one of the most haunted places in Texas. To this day, people report strange occurrences of lights going on and off, chandeliers swinging without any draft or breeze, and some have even reported seeing the face of a distraught Carlotta when gazing into the 143 year old mirrors.


Tree, Water Fall and Green Belt were photographed in April 2007. Besides entertainment and quirkiness, Austin is also known for its hills and lush green belts. While houses and shopping malls go up, the city still plans to preserve much of the green belt here. This is a very green city.

The "Green Building" was also photographed in April 2007 and happens to be our house. It was built about a year and a half ago. Some features of green building are the concrete slab which is also the flooring material, hardi plank instead of wood, small windows facing east and large windows facing west. The house has good insulation and is a small single story which is easy to heat and cool. Our electricity bills are unbelievably low. We have an aerobic septic system which recycles the gray water and waters our lawn.

I love the story about the mirrors, I will never get sick of tree photos, and I kind of want to move to Austin and live in a green house now. Links to the pictures in the star_odyssey photostream.

***

Quick note and apologies for being slightly missing in action for a bit:

My hard drive died recently and I lost about half my files, so I've been a rather crazy busy bunny trying to get things back up & running but everything seems to be in order now and I've sent out e-mails checking on all the remaining stars, which should be heading back to Boston in the next month or so. How did it get to be almost May already?

3/25/07 Los Angeles, California

Liz brings the purple star on a visit to Mississippi, and takes it around L.A. as well. Two locations in one, with lots of photos! She says:

The purple star came to me right before I went to visit my family for the first time in two years, so I thought it would be appropriate for it to accompany me on my journey to Mississippi.

Photo 1, photo 2, & photo 3: At my parents' house, it spent most of its time hanging out in the yard, enjoying the sunshine. The star took a particular interest in the fountain, and the rather shapely statue that used to sit atop it. [Her name is Joan, because my parents enjoy old movies and bad puns.]

Photo 4: At my grandmother's, I introduced it to the magnolia tree that my cousins and I, and our parents before us, used to play in before an ice storm broke many of its lower branches. The knot hole on the lower left is where a very low, long, benchlike branch once grew.

Photo 5: Back in Los Angeles, the star enjoys the sunshine and a day without smog.

Photo 6: Standing on the corner of 6th, as in the Old 97's song "Designs On You". This really is the "corner of 6th" in the song, where frontman Rhett Miller used to live. This is my favorite "famous" location in a city full of them; some of my favorite songs were written here.

Photo 7 [above]: We also went to visit the star's astronomical brethren on Hollywood and Vine. The purple star is ready for its close-up, Mr. De Mille.

Photo 8 & Photo 9: The biggest celebrities on the Walk of Fame, and they don't even have official stars. ;)

Photo 10: After its adventure, the purple star chills on my homemade quilt with my stuffed animals, including Harvey Wallbanger the monkey, who is seen here taking a rare break from his job in corporate finance to welcome our globe-trotting guest.

Links to each photo in the star odyssey photostream, of course.

I'd put this off until now, and I'm glad I did, because this is not the announcement I'd been planning on making.

I had decided in late January to extend the star odyssey for another year. It seemed the best thing to do, given the rate that the stars are currently moving. But I wanted to wait until mid-March to make it official, in part to see how that month and a half went. Obviously, it hasn't gone well.

I am 99.9% sure the yellow star is lost somewhere in the US postal service. I do not know definitively because the last person to have it has consistently not responded to my inquiries about it, but for all intents and purposes it is gone.

At least two of the other stars that haven't been heard from in awhile are having legitimate holdups, whether technical or personal. Which is fine, but the combination of this with the missing yellow star has made me realize that I can't do this for another year.

Most of it has been great, and I LOVE getting new star photos. I don't love having to constantly check up on potentially missing stars and having my e-mails go ignored and unanswered. I worry about these stars, I care about where they are and I have found it extremely frustrating trying to keep track of them.

So, the star odyssey will be ending, as planned, in May 2007. I'm hoping that there will be at least a few more star photos to show before then. I will not be replacing the yellow star, it just doesn't make sense to send out a new one this close to the end.

Again, I would like to thank everyone for following along and for being so enthusiastic about the project. It has really meant a lot to me. This whole thing was an experiment, and while I don't want to consider it failed in any way, I do think of this as version 1.0 and I know it can likely be improved. I'm already working on ideas about how to make it run more smoothly.

I do intend to do a sequel project of some sort, details yet to be determined, and when I get that up & running (likely late '07 or early '08) I will post about it here.

Thanks so much to everyone, and if you have any questions or comments please leave them here or feel free to e-mail me at the.star.odyssey at gmail dot com.

2/1/07 Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

The purple star made its way back home to Boston, and I had no idea! It had a marvelous visit with Alexis, who says:

The star paid a visit to my alma mater, Wellesley College (above).
It toured the beautiful campus and particularly enjoyed seeing Lake Waban and the
columns from the original main college building.

The star also went to the library at Wellesley and saw one of my
favorite places in the world, the Book Arts Lab. I've always loved
books and paper and even the smell of printing ink and this is where I
spent massive amounts of time while I was in college.
(Book Arts Lab Photo 1 and Photo 2.)

The star also wanted to see other stars, so it went to see the
observatory at Wellesley.

In Boston, the star went to the Boston Public Library. Here it sits on
a bench in the courtyard, where I've spent many a hot summer day away
from the bustle of the city.

The star also joined my knitting group for one evening, playing with
the pretty yarn and joining in the gossip and banter.

Links to photos in the photostream. The last photo makes me want to brave the cold for a latte. Maybe.

1/20/07 Morriscastle Beach, Wexford, Ireland

The green star is totally winning at 2007. It continues its Ireland adventure in Wexford with Emma and Jonathan, Emma sent lots of wonderful photos and commentary for all of them:

Old Mill Cottage, front door
This is our home. It is a thatched cottage in north Co Wexford in south-east Ireland and we have lived here for over a year now. It is on the edge of a small village and quite near to the East coast. It's about 250 years old and has to be rethatched every 15-20 years. Its on about one third of an acre, so a large garden to grow lots of plants and vegetables. It is named after a mill that was across the road but is long since gone. It is quite a rural location and there are open fields at the back of the house, with only one building in sight. I grew up in southern Wexford, lived in London and Dublin and find it interesting that I have settled back where I come from. After living in cities for a long time I had forgotten simple things, such as how infinite the stars are at night, you just don't get that the same in the city.

Old Mill Cottage, Gable End
I put the star here for two reasons. Firstly this upstairs room has magical light in the morning and secondly there is a seat underneath where we often sit in summer as it gets full sun from noon till 3 or 4 o'clock. I love the way the thatch sits around the window.

Morriscastle (above)
This beach is 4 miles from our house, and we get there as much as we can. I work from home 3 days a week and its great to come down here after work. It is fantastic in all weathers but I think I prefer it when its windy (its often windy) as the sea gets very wild, or when there is a full moon. In recent years coastel erosion has increased, so the beach get closer every day ...In the summer its great fun for swimming, but can get quite crowded. I like this picture because two dogs, a large sheepdog and a tiny terrier are playing in the water, 2 adults and 2 children have just come running up to see the commotion.

Windfarm
As I said, the East coast of Ireland gets alot of wind, so there are windfarms at several point along the coast. At Carnsore, the most south-easterly point there are some more windmills. To alot of people they are ugly but to my eyes they are beautiful and hypnotic. I like the fact that the state wanted to put Irelands only nuclear power plant at Carnsore over 20 years ago, but people kept it out, and now it has a windfarm which produces energy in different way.

Studio
I am a graphic designer and an artist and 5 year ago I built a studio. Its on my parents land which is about 45 minutes by car. Even though it looks like chaos, everything does have its place! The left hand side is dry materials, so I store paper and finished pieces (storage rack) inks and paint, I work on dry drawings etc. The centre table has wet materials, so this is where I paint, make printing plates and sometimes make paint when I have the energy ... At the end of this table the star is perched on my printing press. I saved for an age to buy this. This place is very rural and great to work in because there are no distractions, as there really isn't much else to do. There is a large painting wall and sink (out of view)

Studio Stove
This is important because in the winter it gets very cold, for ages it had no heating, so this stove is a big deal! I burn turf in it which is cut from a bog and then dried over several months. It keeps me nice and toastie! I don't have lots of money so everything is second hand (the stove) or made. The hood is made from an old copper boiler, which my father made, Copper sustains the heat and keeps the room warm, it may not be to everyones taste but I like its colour and it functions brilliantly. The saucepan on the ground contains wax for encaustic painting.

Sculpture circle (2 pics)
To the front of the studio there is a small stone circle which I have built around a Portland stone slab.The stone slab was part of my final year project in art college in Central Saint Martin's in London, it was attributed to an architect of churches in London. Standing stones are commonly found in Ireland and Celtic places, these ones were dug up from my uncles farm, nearby and have no Celtic or Spiritual significance. I wanted to make something of them and link them to the portland stone, which faces east to catch the morning sun. I used 7 of them as there are many mythological and astronomical associations with this number, as there are with the number 5(like the points of the star). I am not a believer in pagan ideology, but I liked the idea of it. When it was constructed my parents neighbours wanted to know was I going to perform pagan rites at the winter and summer solstice and did I need an animal for sacrifice... this is known as Irish humour ...

Links go to the appropriate photo in the star odyssey photostream. Click on them, the photos are all fabulous.

I've been avoiding actually saying something about this, but I want 2007 to start off on the right foot and do what I can to make sure the last few months of the project go better than the previous ones.

So, a few points:

If you receive a star and you do not have the time to participate or are not interested in participating please pass the star along to someone else as soon as possible. I have had people hold on to stars for months before deciding that they just don't have time. Also, if you have a star please check with the person you are giving/sending it to to make sure they actually want it. This has been a problem multiple times as well.

If you do participate and send in photos, please understand that your responsibility to the project does not end there. The only way I have to track down each star is to e-mail the last person to send in photos of that particular star. Please do not send me photos from an e-mail account you do not check on a regular basis, as I will be e-mailing to check up on your star if I do not hear anything about it for an extended period of time. There are currently multiple stars that I am having difficulty tracking down, after multiple e-mails to the last people to have them. In some cases I've had to resort to commenting on lj accounts just to get a response.

At this point I'm spending more time trying to track down stars than I am actually posting photos.

I had hoped that this would be easier to manage, but there's only so many e-mails I can send when I'm not getting any responses. I don't want to declare these stars missing as technically they aren't, but it's driving me a bit nutty that there are stars I don't have photos from since October or September or August, and there's nothing I can really do about it.

I was considering doing another project after this one is completed, but unless things really improve over the next few months I don't think I can do it.

I would really like to thank everyone who has been excited about this project, everyone who has sent in photos so far and everyone who has followed faithfully along despite the lulls. It means a lot to me.

11/12/06, Dublin, Ireland

Turns out the green star was having Dublin adventures at the end of 2006 as well! This prequel to the previously posted photos comes from Anna, who says:


1. In the first photo, the star is relaxing in my sitting room in
suburban Dublin. It's lounging in a chair which was my 30th birthday
present from my boyfriend Patsington. I absolutely love this chair -
it's so 1920s and it's incredibly comfortable - a sort of ideal chair.
It's the nicest present I've ever received. I really like the cushion
too; it was a present from my friend barsine (who posted the
last photos of the star's adventures!).

2. The star was taken for a walk by P and me in the park near our house.
The park is the former grounds of an 18th century mansion which had been
landscaped back then in a fabulously romantic style. I worked from home
as a freelance journalist for three years - it's an isolating, stressful
life, but a daily walk in this park kept me sane. I started a fulltime
editorial job in the summer, and I really miss walking in the park. The
star posed in my favourite spot - the trees in this grove have
apparently been growing horizontally for quite a while. They form a sort
of natural cave.

3. We live in a residential suburb, but on the other side of the park is
a road that could be in the middle of the countryside. It's surrounded
by fields (and a few very posh big houses) and at the very end are a
pair of ancient Celtic crosses. One is at the top of a pillar - the star
took a closer look and had a nice view across the fields.

4. The star finished its walk by the other cross, which is in the middle
of a corn field. It looks very wild and rural even though it isn't really.

5. And it stopped for a rest by the hedgerow on the way home. The end!

Definitely click the links to see all the photos, especially the trees. Very cool.

1/1/07 Dublin, Ireland

Our first star_odyssey photos for 2007 come from Eoin and Helen in Dublin, who say:

We took the star to our local park, St. Anne's in
north-east Dublin, Ireland. We've just bought our
first house near the park and we're delighted to have
such a nice park near us. St. Anne's is a huge public
park, it used to be the gardens and estates of a
mansion belonging to the Guinness family, but has been
a public park since the 1940s.

The park is great, it's huge with tree-lined avenues
and open green spaces. People play soccer and Gaelic
sports there, walk their dogs, feed the ducks, have
picnics in the summer. I learned to ride my bike on
the main avenue as a five-year-old. We often visit the
Rose Gardens, which are amazing in the summer, and
there's now a farmers' market in the courtyard of the
old stables every Saturday. Our photos are of our
favourite places in the park:

1) Arboretum. The star is sitting in a crook of
a tree on the main avenue, with the Millennium
Arboretum, which has a range of different trees, just
visible behind it.

2) Bench. The star is resting on a bench on the
main avenue. It's a mile-long, straight avenue, so the
benches are very welcome for a little sit down!

3) Graffiti: the graffiti is not our favourite
thing, though the star does look quite gritty and
urban leaning on it. However, it is on the outside
wall of this cool little walled garden that's only
ever open when we're at work. We've been in to it ONCE
when it was open for a festival, but we're always
peering in plaintively wishing it was open.

4) Rose garden. The rose gardens look and smell
fantastic in the summer. Even in the winter there's a
nice range of colours.

5) Clock tower. [above] This is the clock tower at the
end of the walled garden. We think it's very cool
looking with its cherubs.

I think it's very cool looking as well, and I'm very pleased the year is off to such a good start for the green star. Hopefully some of the missing in action stars will turn up soon and I'd like to thank everyone for continuing to follow along. Happy New Year!

12/17/06, Vacaville, California

The red star makes its way across the Pacific from Japan to California. Photo from Race Ulfson who says:

My partner and I grew up in Vacaville, California. The local icon was The Nut Tree, a restaurant/shopping center famous locally for its airport and mini railroad. The place closed down in the early 1990's but reopened October 2006. They brought back the train!

I was at a folk festival (Folk Rhythm and Life, Eldorado, Australia) and I saw this, in the combi van next to mine.

Thought of you guys.

10/8/06 Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

The black & white star has a San Francisco adventure with Lynn, who sends lots of photos and commentary. Links to photos on Flickr:

Living in such a great city I decided to take the star on a tour of all the major spots San Francisco has to offer. We decided to take advantage of the wonderful October (10/8 to be exact) weather and take the star on a tour via motorcycle.

1) We started our ride in the Berkeley Hills. Here we are on the campus of UC Berkeley overlooking San Francisco

2) This, of course, is the Golden Gate Bridge. It made for a great picture just as the fog started to roll in

3) From pretty much the same spot the GG bridge photo was taken, we turned to get this shot of Alcatraz.

4) After that we headed on to the Palace of Fine Arts. You can see the tiny white star in the lower center of the picture.

5) At the palace of fine arts we ended up crashing a cute couple taking wedding photos. It was too perfect to pass up the opportunity!

6) As the sun was setting we headed back over the Bay Bridge to the East Bay. We stopped at Treasure Isle on the way, which is ½ way across the bridge. This pic was taken from Treasure Isle looking to the waterfront of San Francisco. You can barely make out the Ferry Building on the far left, Trans America is very prominent in the middle and Coit Tower is pretty clear on the right.

7) As we were traipsing around the island, we found this spot. I think technically it was Yerba Buena which I've never been clear if that's a whole different isle or what. They seem connected when you're out there. We perched the star up high on a fence to get this sunset picture overlooking the Bay Bridge. With the wind I was worried he'd fall.

8) And, in fact, he did. I was panic struck thinking I'd have to write you that I had lost the poor little black & white star. But my boyfriend made the triumphant effort to climb the fence and rescue him (in motorcycle boots no less!)

So there you have the day in the life of the little black & white star in San Francisco.

I love these photos, especially the Golden Gate Bridge one in the fog. And I'm very glad the star was rescued! I'm always afraid they'll be lost in the mail but I'd forgotten that they could be lost in other ways as well.

***

Mod note:

I'll be away from December 2nd through the 8th but I will post any star photos as soon as I get back.

There are several stars that aren't quite "missing" yet but are definitely "status unknown" including one that I haven't heard anything from in over two months. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about it if people don't return my e-mails. I've sent inquiries to the last person to have each star, so hopefully I'll hear back soon.

If you know anyone who currently has a star, please ask them to send in photos as soon as possible, I'd love to have one more stop per star before the holidays.

10/20/06 Kuki, Saitama, Japan

The red star visits Ami in Japan, and gets its photo taken outside a nearby cemetery. Ami says:

The reason why I chose this place is because it makes me feel safe. I've been seeing ghosts since I was a child and living near a cemetery made me, let's say, a little uncomfortable. Sometimes, the ghosts call out to me and it's hard not to go - a bit like the siren calls of the Iliad. And the first time it happened since i moved here, I was drawn in too strongly and couldn't resist... until I reached those statues that guard either side of the entrance to the cemetery. And then, I stopped. It was like an invisible wall, something keeping me out, telling me I had to leave, NOW. My feet still wanted to move forward and go in, but I just couldn't. It was physically impossible; the wall invisible but as solid as made of concrete. Since then, I've felt a lot safer when going home after work in the dark and passing the cemetery. You're free to disregard the story entirely, but that's the truth of it. For me, those are the guardians keeping me from insanity. They make me feel safe, and that is why I took the picture there.

10/16/06 Ventura Harbor, California

The purple star goes cross-country from North Carolina to California, where it got to hang out in Ventura with Monica. She says:

There weren't any tall ships for the star to steer in Ventura, only
sailboats, which my family and I saw earlier from the freeway. They
were sailing from the harbor to the pier, their sails full and curved,
all of them perfect and picturesque. Ventura is a favorite spot of
ours - we go to the beach in the summer and walk along the pier and
shop downtown when the air outside turns colder. I've lived away from
home for ten years now, so I don't see Ventura, or my family, as much
as I would like. But it seemed like the best place to find that
perfect spot for the star on this last trip home, even if there wasn't
a tall ship to be found.