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.