Olympia (and Neighborhood Night Out photos)

 

It's Friday the 13th and I'm back joining my friend Neet at Hickydorums, our host this month at Art Journal Journey who has chosen Type as her theme.   I'm sure this is my lucky day!

Let's look at a typewriter with which I was not originally familiar.  This is a 1934 Olympia.  It was made in Germany.  Some of the letters on the typewriter are not the same as the QWERTY layout.  Believe it or not, this is a portable typewriter.  According to the Classic Vintage Typewriter web site:

Olympia story begins in 1903, Berlin. Under the direction of Dr. Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck, European General Electric developed Olympia manual typewriters. In 1921, the first successful Olympia Model 3 rolled into market. Two years later, the company set up shop in Erfurt, Germany. During 1930's, Olympia Simplex, Model 7 and Model 8 gained popularity worldwide.

By 1943, World War II raged over European skies. Allied Forces bombed the city of Erfurt and severely damaged the Olympia Factory. In April 1945, eleven remaining employees survived the capture by Soviet Forces. The East German government seized the Olympia Factory and renamed it "Optima." Several employees fled to West Germany and set up shop in Wilhelmshaven.

From late 1940's onward, Olympia enjoyed worldwide success. By 1961, half of all typewriters in West Germany were built by Olympia: Simplex, Progress, Elite, SM and SF Portables.

Olympia machines ("Mercedes Benz" of typewriters) are legendary for their craftsmanship, eye-catching design and exceptional reliability. These machines were favored by authors Woody Allen, Patricia Highsmith, Stan Laurel, Robert Penn Warren, James Michener, Evan S. Connell and Carson McCullers. Olympia Typewriters are perfect for enthusiasts who wish to own an aesthetically pleasing object but also want to type to their heart's content.

 

After learning all this information,

I had to use one of these typewriters in a journal entry.

I'm actually trying to keep it simple today with the help of a paper doll and computer generated text.

The background showed through nicely, which I was hoping for.

For this page, I began by combining two colors of Staz-on reinkers with 91% isopropyl alcohol that I brushed on the page.  Once dry, I ran the page through my laser printer and added the Olympia typewriter.  To that I added the paper doll and the words for him to stand on.

Thank you ever so much for dropping by today.  Bleubeard, and I are delighted you joined us and hope to see you soon at Art Journal Journey with your own take on Type.  We hope Friday the 13th is lucky for you, too.

 

But wait!  I promised Neighborhood Night Out photos.

 

Community policing officer Jesus Soto leads the way to what I will laughingly call the "party."  I had to lighten the photo considerably, or you would not have been able to see any faces.  The sun had backlit the Community Officers' faces.

From left are Officer J.M. (Jennifer) Helwi of the Field Services Division, Officer Kasey Weidner, another Community Police Officer, and Officer Jesus Soto, our Community Police Officer.  Also present was my foodie friend and neighbor, Sally, who I conned into joining me.  According to Sally, this may have been the worst idea I've had in my life.

I hate static photos where people are standing at attention.  I always like to show people in action, not standing in a line.  Note the small fire engine in the background.

However, when I actually remembered to get my camera out, everyone lined up for a photo shoot.  I swear this has never happened before but I have always had others in the neighborhood join the party.  This time, Sally and I were the party!

From left are Cindy Claycomb, our District VI representative, Officer Soto, Firefighter Mason, Firefighter Jones, Officer Helwi, and Officer Weidner.

Because I couldn't get everyone in a single shot, the very tall gentleman on the right is Charles (Charlie) Claycomb, Cindy's husband.

Since Cindy represents all of District VI, she asked about 

our clean-up.  I told her it was very successful.

I thought I would show Cindy all the bamboo and brush I was able to have removed free of charge!

That's why I thought it was a very successful clean-up!  I also have to thank Claire Willenberg for all the help she provided and for all the hard work she personally put in so all of North Riverside, myself included, could call the clean-up a success.

Back to the "party."  I had requested the Horse Unit, but when they didn't arrive by 6:45, I believed they weren't coming, which was probably for the better.  I knew it would take a long time for the horses to be removed from their trailer and I had stated in my application the party was from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.  I've been having these block parties for years, but this is the first year no one joined us except the police, fire, and city official.  All in all, I had a great time and was able to interact with these people which I have never been able to do before.  As many of my blogger friends know, I'm the one always too busy taking photos and not joining the conversation.  I hope you weren't too disappointed that the block party wasn't what I normally share.  You have to remember, the 'feels like' temperature right before the party was 108 F (42,2 C).  Officer Soto checked his "watch" (maybe a fitbit?) while he was there and said it was 97 F (36,1 C).  I'm sure that had something to do with people staying inside their air conditioned homes.  There was also no large firetruck this year because of Covid precautions.  BTW, I was the only one wearing a mask!