Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The Man Behind the Traveling Tote

It'll be nearly two years this spring since I joined the Traveling Totes Tribe, the origin of which began here. I should have known what magic a purse could deliver among friends, as I collect antique purses and am an active member of like-minded friends in the Antique Purse Collectors Society. What I didn't realize was how much fun - both physical and virtual - these traveling totes would deliver! Better still, I had no idea there'd be involvement from Mr. P., the Man Behind the Traveling Tote.
Within approximately one year into having the tote and strategically placing it for photo opportunities on travels, big or small, Mr. P. started offering unsolicited help. In airports, "do you want me to hold that while you go?", or "here, let me put that on my suitcase", or "yes, I'll watch it", etc. Sometimes I'd turn around and slyly snap pictures with both he and Miss Luna C (see above).
When we took our Great American Road Trip last summer, Mr. P. took his role to new heights. He started being my Prop Master - again, unsolicited. This first happened at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (see above - the photo I cropped and posted, and below, what my camera actually captured with him in the frame).
We went inside the arch and took a tram to the top in a space capsule-like enclosure that struck us both as hilariously funny. I knew I wanted to use the photo op for my tote (Miss Charley C), but I also caught Mr. P. in a few candid shots too. :)
Little did I know Mr. P. would create my personal favorite entry yet of the Traveling Tote photo diary when he suggested and acted as prop for Miss Charley C at Mt. Rushmore (below). He actually directed this one, lol, hiding behind the stone column and telling me how to take the picture.
By fall of 2016, every time we traveled, Mr. P. was helping me concoct new stagings for creative ways to share how my totes - Miss Luna C and Miss Charley C - galavant along with us. As seen below, Mr. P. happily stood below a spacecraft mock-up in the Johnson Space Center in Houston. This was one of the few photos where he actually posed vs. being caught candidly (or hiding in a staged picture). I liked this one because it appeared he was about to be crushed by the leg of the spacecraft - unbeknownst to him.
Throughout the space center, he kept seeing opportunities that I would have totally missed, like in the mock-up vehicle center (below)....
....or in the Rocket Park, where a Saturn 5 is housed.
Very often, when I'm out and about without Mr. P., I overlook photo ops by simply being caught up in the moment. One thing's for sure, the man behind the tote has certainly made the Tales of the Traveling Tote even more fun. The friendship among my tote friends has gone well beyond blogging, and for that I am truly surprised, yet ever appreciative.
I don't know where my totes will go in 2017, but it's bound to be a fun time. If you'd like to catch up on these adventures, I have a separate menu tab just for it, or you can search by the labels on my sidebar. I always keep a preview gadget on my sidebar so you'll know when the next installment is coming (March 1), and it typically links to my most recent post.

Take a peek and meet a few of the "other men behind the totes" in the links below.
These totes have taken on a life of their own, I tell ya! You know a purse is famous when you find yourself in a grocery store (early December), and someone who you've never met before calls out, "I'd know that tote anywhere". She was a local reader of my blog and, even though I'd never met her, she knew my mother from days of carpooling her kids while my mom carpooled my brother's kids. That was fun!

Speaking of life, Mr. P. just celebrated what would be considered a milestone birthday (it's a biggie, and divides evenly by a primary number, just sayin'). Here's hoping we celebrate many more. Maybe I should have bought him his own tote?!

As always, your visit today is welcome and appreciated, and so are your comments.
Rita C. at Panoply

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