My Man

What a weekend it was.

Lady

I've been drawing a lot lately. Mostly dots, but some figures too.

Last night's dinner

Cooking


Eat

Relax
(D bought a surf board yesterday)

Memories

We're in Michigan for the long weekend and I lived my dream today:
Played the guitar
Worked on a drawing
Sewed in the sun
Ran along the Great Lake
Read on the grass (a Woody Guthrie Biography, so good)
Drank wine on the stoop while me and D (D and I) practiced our guitar lesson
Homemade surf and turf barbecue
Life is good.


We also made a new friend. This sweet pup (Cali) strolled into our yard so we found a # on her tags and called her owners.

She and Woody were fast friends

Schnoodle Firsts

It's been a day of firsts for the Schnoodle today.
First cab ride AND first road race! (David ran in a road race downtown so we went to cheer him on!)

S A L E !!!!!!!!!

I am having a HUGE sale over at my Etsy shop to move some merchandise!!
Most of my clutches are 40% off and my fringe headbands are 50% off! Head over to the shop to take advantage of the sales while supplies last! (Most of the items are one-of-a-kind!)

Tuesday Poetry Post-Emily Dickinson: I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
by Emily Dickinson


I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb –

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here –

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down –
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then –

*photo by flightlessxbird

Utah

I just finished "Utah." The print is now available in my Etsy shop!

Dreams

One of my charms is featured over on I Dreamed I Saw's blog today!

Funny man

This made me laugh out loud. (It's from a 2002 interview with Conan from the NY Observer article)

"What used to freak me out," he said, "is in 1994, I'd go see a therapist and I'd say, I think people think I'm a fraud and that I'm no good at what I do. And the therapist would say, 'Trust me, that's a voice in your head. It's not reality. It's not what anybody thinks.' And I'd say, 'Really? Then how come it says so in USA Today ?" His eyes crinkled and he began to laugh.

"I actually enjoyed that," Conan O'Brien said. "Not many people can produce clippings that back up their paranoid fantasies."

Friday Music Muse: Nick Drake-Black Eyed Dog

Because it's been the kind of week when you just want to listen to Nick Drake all day long.


A black eyed dog he called at my door
The black eyed dog he called for more
A black eyed dog he knew my name
A black eyed dog he knew my name
A black eyed dog
A black eyed dog.

I'm growing old and I wanna go home
I'm growiing old and I don't wanna know
I'm growing old and I wanna go home.

A black eyed dog he called at my door
A black eyed dog he called for more.

Team Coco

Last night we went to see Conan O'Brien at The Chicago Theater and he was HILARIOUS.
I haven't laughed like that in a really long time, and I needed it.

Lavender Everywhere

Ever have one of those days when you wish you were just lying in a field of lavender in Provence with a blanket to rest on and a bottle (or two) of wine and cheese and French bread and a schnoodle and a Davey?

Since that isn't happening for me today, instead I have been closing my eyes and spraying myself in the face with the most wonderful lavender water my sister-in-law gave me.
It's from Bonny Doon Farm and it's spectacular.
Maybe I should have a loaf of bread and cheese for lunch.

*Gorgeous photo is from here

Tuesday Poetry Post: Anne Sexton: Courage

Courage
by Anne Sexton

It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.

Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.

Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.

*photo by flightless xbird

Paintings

Take a look at Cindy Bernhard's beautiful work over on etsy!

Chris and Don

If you want to watch a documentary about a beautiful love story, Chris & Don: A Love Story is a must see. This is the second time I watched it but D had never seen it and was a great film to see on our anniversary. It's the lovely story of Chris Isherwood and Don Bachardy's life and love together. If you liked A Single Man (which I blogged about here) you might find this story interesting. Chris of course was a famous writer, and wrote the novel A Single Man, and Don is an accomplished artist. He painted and drew Ishwerwood every single day while he was dying of cancer. It's a tear jerker I must say.



*images from Cheim&Read

Baby Bro

Happy 26th Birthday Baby Brother Adam. Love and miss you.

c o l o r s

Blue and yellow nails for today.

When the wind takes you it takes me too

Five years ago today, I went on a first date with a handsome, blond, tall drink of water who walked into the gallery I worked at and bought a photograph from me. Five years later, we are married, more in love than ever, and proud parents to an 18 pound raggedy schoodle. Life is good.
Love you Davey.
(Photo above is from our celebration last night at Sushi Samba Rio, where we had our first date. I wear the same dress every year that I wore that first date. (A pretty little yellow number) We sort of had a third wheel on our date, that gigantic kick a$! necklace as big as my head I got from the lovely hostess at Gilt Bar (Sarah). She just opened an etsy shop with her friend Meghan and they have some beautiful and interesting things. Check it out!)

Friday Music Muse:Iron and Wine Upward Over the Mountain

Mother don't worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
Mother don't worry, I've got some money I saved for the weekend
Mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me
Mother remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying upwards over the mountain

Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison
Mother I lost it all of the fear of the Lord I was given
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
Mother forgive me I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons can be birds taken broken up to the mountain

Mother don't worry I've got a coat and some friends on the corner
Mother don't worry she's got a garden we're it planting together
Mother remember the night that the dog had her pups in the pantry
Blood on the floor and the fleas in their paws
And you cried 'til the morning

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying always over the mountain

*photo from docman

Meal time

Last night's dinner had so many pretty colors in it I had to take a photo. It tasted as good as it looked.

Is New York Crying or Raning?

I just finished this painting/drawing/collage today. I consider it a self-portrait even though that's not a drawing of me. It represents my longing to live in New York City.
The raindrops are individual pieces of wood that I colored and glued onto the the maple panel.

The original painting is available here for $70 and the giclee print is available here for $25.
Sigh, I HEART NY.

Underlined:Zelda: A Biography by Nancy Milford

I'm almost finished reading a biography about Zelda Fitzgerald, F.Scott's wife. The story of her life is awfully tragic and makes me sad for anyone and everyone who has struggled with mental illness, especially for those who dealt with it while there were still asylums and before there were helpful psychotropic meds. Zelda and Scott had a tumultous relationship, but their love was strong. The passage below is from a portion of a letter he wrote to her when she was at the point of no return, and it absolutely broke my heart.

"You and I have been happy ; we haven't been happy just once, we've been happy a thousand times. The chances that the spring, that's for everyone, like in the popular songs, may belong to us too-the chances are pretty bright at this time because as usual, I can carry most of contemporary literary opinion, liquidated, in the hollow of my hand--and when I do, I see the swan floating on it and--I find it to be you and you only. But, Swan, float lightly because you are a swan, because by the exquisite curve of your neck the gods gave you some special favor, and it healed and you sailed onward. Forget the past--what you can of it, and turn about and swim back home to me, to your haven for ever and ever--even though it may seem a dark cave at times and lit with torches of fury; it is the best refuge for you--turn gently in the waters through which you move and sail back."

New Art

I am now selling archival 8x10 inch Giclee prints of my 50 States Project for only $25!

ABOUT THE PAPER:
It's gorgeous! It's called Hahnemühle Bamboo 290 and it is the first Fine Art inkjet archival paper to be made of approx 90% highly renewable bamboo fibers, thereby helping to conserve valuable resources. Hahnemühle will donate a fixed amount from the sale of each Bamboo paper product towards environmental projects!

ABOUT THE INK:
They were professionally printed with Epson Ultrachrome pigmented inks that have been rated for lightfastness to approximately 80 years, under good conditions. (In other words, it's top notch ink!)
You can purchase them on my other etsy website here!
(I'm about 1/3 of the way through the United States)