The generous Mr Bär

[FinnBadger]

One of the (many) things I like about mail art is chance encounters, which may turn into nothing. Or they may turn into something. Or they may turn into more than something.

I participated in a mail art call titled 'Le Labyrinthe', which my mail friend Jean let me know about.

The organizers sent out a catalog afterwards, and Laurence Gillot took my address from there and sent me a beautiful artist card.

I responded with one of my triangles, which Laurence blogged about.

And the esteemed Erni Bär favorited her blog post.

So I sent him a triangle. Which he blogged about, and let Edmund wear as a hat. And he informed me he was sending me something.

The something arrived in an envelope that is trademark Erni on the front...

...and the back.

The insides... something wrapped...

An intriguing collage - I like Erni's word for it: 'gluepic' - in a lovely wooden frame. Currently sitting on my bookshelf at work.

And that was not all, because the wrapping turned out to be a poster Erni liberated from a wall in Hamburg and altered a little.

I am astonished at how generous Erni is in this mail he sent - and all because of a long list of incidents. Or coincidences. Or coincidents.

Thank you again, Erni, and a big hoch 5 right back. Unless of course you don't high five in Germany.

PS I find it hard to type Erni's name without adding an 'e', to make it English. If any stray 'e's are found in my mail or blog posts, please do not feed them, as they will only multiply and make life difficult for everyone.

[FinnBadger]

Gimme five can mean give me a high five or a low five - low five is just the hands at more normal height. I am not a high fiver (or low fiver) by nature, however it is fun with little kids who are shy or you haven't met before to see if they will give you a high five and then a low five - they almost all do this, even if they won't say hello or look at you.

Then of course there are the complex handshakes - I only know one, taught to me by my academic advisor years ago - he's a strong guy, and it usually ended up with my knuckles bruised and him laughing... but I still did it every time.

[FinnBadger]

To the 10 as in 10/10 as in 10 is the maximum... to the max. "He always exercised to the max".

At first I thought maybe Hoch 10 meant high ten, as in 'double high five' (as you would indeed be slapping all 10 fingers at once), since you referenced high 5 on the envelope, so I am glad you explained it.

[FinnBadger]

Hi, Momkat. I will try hard to keep your picture in mind when typing Erni. And what a nice orange surprise. Have you created anything with the ribbons yet?

Hi, Petrolpetal. Thank you. Currently you are the only one who received a triangle in a  special package, all the others (as far as I know) arrived naked and intact.

Hi, Erni. Thank you again, your mail art was a very special package. Thanks for adding the title of the glue pic, I had forgotten to include that in my post. And thanks also for explaining Hoch 10. I think in English we might say 'To the max', but that wouldn't look as good on the slogan. I like the slogan on its own as well as the poster - like a teaser advert on TV a few days before the full length version.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Erni (without e) sent the above out in-the-mail with the ORANGE ribbons to Greece?

How nice!

[Petrolpetal]

Great blog!

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

That's ERNI :-) ...no "e"