OMG: Election Edition

 

(Yes, I wrote in Harris/Walz as I on the other side of the signs.) Bob and I went shopping on Saturday and Lo! There was a rally at the corner. I thought initially they were all maga lunatics, and yes, the supporters of the twice-impeached felonious orange monster had staked out the corner. But to our delight, they were flanked by Harris/Walz supporters on both sides of the corner!!

We shopped and I drove Bob home as he was not in a socially-engaging frame of mind and I returned to lend my enthusiasm to the Democratic cause. I'm glad I did!! It made me feel happier to see the energy of my fellow lovers of the Constitution and our democracy. Hooray for clear-headed people, unmuddled by the racism/sexism/homophobia/xenophobia/insanity pumped forth by trump and his weird followers. (A little Tucker Carlson, anyone? Don Jr.? JD Vance? Margery Taylor Green? Steve Bannon? Steven Miller?!?!? Oh what a weird list of certified weirdos!!)

Anyway, that's me, hoping crazee incels in big wheel trucks don't decide to pull a Charlottesville and off road all over us!! I made instant best buddies with the people on the Harris/Walz line and we all bonded over our rights and the stakes being as high as they are. We all face-palmed over "undecided voters" and the occasional mis-guided woman driving by giving us the finger. Please!!!

Some good signs and good messages! Happily, there (honestly) were more of US than THEM and I enjoyed the nice weather and nicer people. The maga crew just stood and glowered and generally looked like they had eaten something bad for lunch. (Dogs? Cats? Pets?!) 

I spent a good hour in the company of my fellow patriots and we cheered as people honked at us... although because of where we were positioned, it was hard to tell if they were honking for us or for the nut jobs at the very corner... I'll assume they were cheering us on!

Boy, I hope you can read these signs! The one on the left says, "It's Not Your Body". Well, whose it it then?!? This was the "pro-life" side with a woman carrying a sign reading , "Only Demons Kill Babies". Ay carumba! You make decisions for your body and let others make their own decisions... but I guess they really don't think it's a woman's right to chose even after rape or incest or her physical well-being. Oh don't get me started... 

Even More Venice Drop!!

 

Well this is why we were here! To install our work in this amazing place! A nice picture of me and a fellow artist Carlos Biernnay (he does really beautiful work!) sprawled on the (marble) floors of The Palazzo Pisani-Revedin sorting out what was going where. 

And here's Bob, enjoying the serendipity of his art work (sumi drawings printed on fabric) fitting so perfectly into the doorways, acting like frames. All the work looked terrific in this setting!

And here I am, acting as a human support for one of my pieces!

And the people were are showing with were all so nice: fun to work with and creative about how to hang the work, as we had to be as the floors are marble and the walls were inlaid wood and very old paint. There were only odd wire hanging contraptions so we rigged up attaching the work to wooden poles (actually broom handles!) purchased at a hardware store...

Here's a weird double exposure, looking out the window at the canal below. (Seriously? There are canals and gondolas and boats and views like this EVERYWHERE).

We didn't stick around for the opening as we had arrangements to travel to Florence; goodbye to Venice for now!

It's impossible to describe. This is just a couple of random shots of us on a water bus ("vaporetto") going to the train station.

And to reinforce the whole watery theme, here's what it looks like on the train for the first 20 minutes or so: water!!

The train ride was lovely; nice to see some of the Italian countryside. It looked pretty spectacular and there were lots of solar panels on houses. That was unexpected! Next pictures will be from our Florentine adventures... stay tuned!

Venice (Again): For Art Lovers Only!

 

Truly, there is art everywhere in Venice; it does the hearts of us artists good to know that hundreds of thousands of people travel from all over the world to see art. Sometimes, we feel like we labor in a gigantic vacuum...

Like the above sculpture, and the  one below. These works weren't even part of the official Venice Biennale. They were installed in a small park along The Grand Canal. And there were several of these shady little oases along our walk out to the Biennale. I liked this piece because it was a sleek, blue horse. 

The Biennale itself is pretty hard to describe. It's like a world's fair, but devoted entirely to art. It's set in a huge park and there are permanent pavilions- like a slew of them(!) all in different architectural styles- strewn all over a vast parkland. It was great to have a cover of trees as it was sooooo hot when we were there. (The city of Venice is mostly stone and hard surfaces. It was delightful to have grass and gravel under foot instead of relentless stone!) So in each building, one or two countries have an artist featured. The theme of this year's Biennale was "Foreigners Everywhere" and featured work by artists who have been displaced or marginalized. Some pretty crazy work!! Jeffery Gibson, a gay Native American artist, was chosen to represent The United States. His work really resonated with me as he uses beads (an incredible amount!!) and lots of text to spell out thought-provoking phrases. Here are a couple of (not great) pictures which do not do justice to his amazing work:

Or:

But there was so much variety! And you can only marvel at the resilience and detirmination of some of these artists! Like the image below. An artist originally from Korea is making beautiful and elaborate kimonos... but in Sweden! How different these two countries are! And to try and reconcile these differences in you work...

They were embroidered in lovely mythological ocean images. And in a huge bamboo scaffolding forest! It was pretty spectacular! And you keep staggering from one pavillion to the next... (consuming vast quantities of water along the way. It was HOT!!!)

This may not look like much but somehow, it was very powerful. It was in front of the German pavillion. Grim! (So much of the work was the experience of being there. Very hard to put into words the sensation some of this work inspired.)

And then there were installations like the above: Just lovely colorful, playful environments with electronic music in the background and a kind of jouyous chaos. Quite the variety and contrast.

Some of the best paviliions on offer were the absolute hardest to describe and impossible to photgraph. These works were all from Day 1 at the Biennale. We returned for Day 2 and spent most of at at the second location at a space called The Arsenale where they used to construct big boats. But we went back to the first location as we had missed a few country's offerings. Like the Swiss pavillion!! Oh where to even begin: there was a video on display- on the ceiling that was like being inside a kaliedoscope- tracing all kinds of nefarious doings by the uber rich and big agra and global hegemony. But it was beautiful and swirling and crazeeeeee!!! Oh! my eyes! Oh! my brain!!! Bob and I still can't look at art after our return home...

First Drop: City of Venice

 

It's true: it's almost impossible to take a bad picture in Venice. When I sent a few pictures back to family and friends, my sister Beatrice accused me of using "stock photos". But it really does look like this! Incredible that a city build on trees stood on end (thousands of them) in a lagoon can be real. And so hopelessly picturesque. I know; I'm waxing inarticulate and a mouthful of cliches is rolling out of me...

I wasn't prepared for how much I'd like Venice. I'm actually not that inot water- like beaches and stuff are not my first choice of where to spend a vacation- but Venice was so bizarre. And quiet!! No cars! Obviously crowded with tourists, but quiet...

And it's a silly city! I mean, where else do you spend half your time climbing up stairs and bridges to get to the other side?! What a pleasure to traverse... no dodging cars and taxis. And boats bring everything to the restaurants and stores... and then things are schlepped along on hand carts. They've got it all figured out!

And the architecture is pretty mazing. And no, I am not telling you anything you don't already know, but my mind was sufficiently blown! I probably wandered around with my mouth agape, stymied at how to respond. (Bob was kind enough to allow me to be stupified. I think he was kinda stupified, too!)

I'm so glad we got to go and explore Venice because let's face it, it probably won't be around forever. Climate Change is causing sea levels to rise and Venice apparently suffers crazy flooding every spring. But it's so beautiful! And seemed pretty clean...

Hard to comprehend the space of this square: it's truly vast. I alos have to add that it was really hot when we were there... like REALLY hot. And all the stone buildings and paving just soak up that heat. And obviously, there weren't a lot of trees so the ehat is real. But it's so beautiful... and tehre were small parks and the entire Venice Biennale is in a pretty shady location.

And yes, the canals are chock-a-block with gondolas... and gondoliers! You can't make this stuff up! I took to wondering if there were clumsy godoliers who ran into other boats or occasionally lost their balance and fell into the canals. The water did look pretty green and mucrky!

Bite Me (Or Not)

 Gotta love insects! I was minding my own business,finishing up riding my horse and went to get Neko some hay as a reward for being a good horsey and not killing. (as usual). Also as usual, I clutched the flake of hay to my stomach so as to have a free hand to shut the barn door. ZAP!!!! (*1)

I got stung by something... something really nasty and pain inducing. (*2) I managed to simaltaneously pull up my shirt to see the damage and walk over to deliver the hay to Neko. Then I adjourned to the house where I applied baking soda.

I'm telling you:whatever malevolent little bastard was hiding in the hay was evil. I'm thinking a wasp was the culprit as there's been a small band of wasps attempting to make a nest right outside the hay barn door. I've knocked it down several times, so maybe it was pay back. Whatever.

Approximate size and location of bite. It's big and impressive. It swelled up so there was a big reddish pink blob on my left hand side... and it itched and stung. 

Despite this, I did sleep well and woke up this morning so it didn't totally poison me but it still looked awful, along with being swollen in a weird horizontal ridge. Trust me: even Bob thought it looked odd. But I felt fine except fot the itching.

I had to run an errand today so I stopped at the store to buy an antihistimine. But about an hour later when I went outside, thinking to ride my horse, I wondered why I felt so... funny. Like all tired and dopey. (*3) I should have read the possible side effects! No riding for me as I deem the horse "large machinery" and now know I shouldn't operate it! (*4)

(*5) AND a fucking update that when I went to feed Neko her dinner ANOTHER wasp dropped out of the sky like a SKUD missile and bit me in the arm!!!! I was just strolling by, not bthering anyone! 

(*1) It got red and swelled up pretty fast. And boy was it brilliant last night. But I also suggest it's very hard to photograph your own abdomen- tough angle!

(*2) Wasn't it enough I got bit in the arm by a bee while picking flowers last week?! I got mad because I grow these flowers and the bees (and yellow jacket and hornets and wasps and who ever) are more than welcome to sip nectar and benefit from my gardening. So why bite me?!?!!?

(*3) Okay, dopier than usual!!

(*4) Hahhahahaha! Typing this was really hard! I kept making spelling errors and losing my train of thought. I guess computers are heavy equipment, too!

(*5) This is a commission I did for a friend. Not sure if this was the sort of biting he had in mind...

House Work vs Yard Work

Right off the bat, I'm going to admit that the pictures here are for aesthetic purposes only. I could not bring myself to photograph dust bunnies (or in our case, dust puppies as 85% of what we vacuum up is dog hair) and tiny piles of grass clippings and hay. Our filth is to remain private. I have also determined that if you fill your house with lovely arrangements of flowers in thoughtfully chosen vases, most people will overlook the dirt. 

The central arguement of this blog posting will not be lost on friends and family. It is no surprise when I tell you that in a decision to do house work or yard work, the great outdoors wins every time. Vacuum or mow? Mow. Scrub the bathroom sink or water the flowers? Water... you get the idea.

I think I enjoy a clean house, once the work is done, but it never seems to be done all at once. If I clean the downstairs bathroom, the upstairs one reminds me that it, too, needs cleaning. If I vacuum the stairs, ten minutes later Bob and I and Robin the Good have once again applied a brand new layer of mud or worse. I'd rather be in my studio where the general mayhem is so overpowwered by my creative genius that no one would ever dare to suggest cleaning. I do sweep the floor on occasion...

So acquaintences marvel at our lovely gardens... and rightly so. But they look good because I do spend my time outside, not inside. Who wants to be "dusting" (*1) when it's so pleasant and sunny outside? And not to belabor the point, but it's a hopelessly boring routine doomed to be repeated over and over and over again. So as a friend once remarked: Embrace the Dust! (*2)

(*1) Not even sure what "dusting" is. 

(*2) Our good friend Louise once exclaimed this while living in Santa Fe where dust is just a part of life. 

Notes From a Childless Dog and Pony Lady

 

Oh Lordy! Another political post from a "miserable" (NOT!!) Democrat "lady". (*1) You will note the date- I was an early supporter of Kamala Harris (along with Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders... I even have an Andrew Yang tee shirt. I collected the whole set!) And as far as "childless"... yes, I am that and very happily so! I can offer no explanations for why people want spawn; they cause so many complications and cost lots of money and are (apparently) frequently "ungrateful".(*2) (*3)

So much has happened in the last two or so weeks and my head is spinning. I am cautiously hopeful despite understanding that fully half of this country is crazy and will happily (?!?!!?) endorse and support a convicted criminal and the electoral college renders the popular vote incidental. Does this make sense? How about that "one person, one vote" thing? Alas...

But I'm sure that you're as thrilled as I am that the orange menace chose a sofa-humping faux hillbilly as a running mate. He is apparently the least-liked vice presidential pick... in history? Hahahahha! And why the party (read "cult") of trump thinks it's a good idea to send half the population of the United States back to the Stone Age is truly beyond me. Big mistake- YUGE!- to pick Vance. Huuzzah.

At least we have the Olympics to detract our few remaining brain cells from constant political insanity. We signed up for yet another streaming service so as to be able to watch the Olympics in all their glory. We enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies featuring some entirely odd and entertaining tableaus: like Drag Queen Last Suppers and Blue Men on Heaps of Fruit. Bob watched boring swimming and terrifying tennis on the Big TV while I repaired to the office to watch hours of equestrian events on the computer. I saw the Dressage and Cross country parts of the Eventing Competition and was so inspired that the last two times I rode Neko, we had fun (*4) playing Olympic contenders. 

Here's Neko training for the sport she excels at: eating.Gold medal for this pony! 

I think I'm offering a gentle suggestion that we temper our political enthusiasms with spasms of other interests... like the Olympics. We've been so exhausted and stressed by wondering what was/is going to happen to American democracy that sometimes even I need a break. Let's hear it for athletics and good, wholesome exercise!

(*1) Not sure anyone would ever mistaken me for a "lady". Although, I have been "ma'am'd" at the store occasionally which also blows my mind...

(*2) With the exception of exceptional children like myself, who were always (ALWAYS!!) exceptionally good and smart and well-behaved. (Except for not being "lady-like".)

(*3) And children smell strangely. And they're terrifying. And the world's going to end because of rethuglican policies and general greed and environmental disasters so having children is nihilist and cruel.

(*4) Well I had fun and Neko tolerated my antics. She's a good sport to put up with me and my endless narration of all the obstacles and trials I put her through.