End of Year Resolutions- Bah!!

Hey! Looks like we're about to resolve to make resolutions!
That unfortunate man (above) is my latest acquisition for my "bad painting" collection. I know; it's sort of trendy circa 1989 to collect bad art, but I'm an artist and I can do whatever I want. In any event, this poor wonker looks like he's got syphilis and bug bites and a co-worker suggested he looks like he's stuck in the outhouse, so he's got all KINDS of trouble. My year hasn't been that bad...
So, do I really make resolutions? Do I keep those resolutions that I make? I try.
For the umpteenth million time, I resolve to make more money. Not loads more, just MORE whatever that is. (Rule #1: Set the bar realistically low, then you can actually accomplish the goal. Like if I resolve to generate a million zillion dollars this upcoming year, I expect I'll fail. But if I vow to make a few measly thousand dollars more than this waning year, I have a good chance of success. That's the name of the game).
But ouch! that shows where my values lie, if money is Numero Uno resolution. Hmm... how about being nicer and more compassionate to my fellow (thoroughly awful, despicable, gun-toting) men and women kinds? (Whoa! What did I just say about realistic, achievable goals?)
Okay, maybe I'll settle for the hackneyed (but do-able) ideal of loosing a few of those jiggly pounds and maybe drinking a tad less at social functions? THAT I think I can manage...
That's enough for me! I'm going downstairs and join my beloved Bob for a glass of some kind of bubbly and what looks to be a really nice meal. To hell with resolutions tonight!

Are We Ready For This?

Yes, that is what you think it is... a large pile of fluffy white stuff that has been pushed through elaborate mechanical means to a heap at the end of the driveway. And we pay people to do this!  I can think of all sorts of things I'd rather be spending money on right now: vacations in the south of anywhere warm, saving towards my eventual studio, even that crown I so badly need on a left rear molar. But instead we must pay to rearrange frozen water molecules that given a few months would melt on their own.
I am sorry; I'm still crabby and not enjoying this foray into winter. Where is Climate Change when you want it? The weather did serve to keep my indoors where I played (quite happily, it must be admitted) in my studio where I made several collages. I think I'll post a couple tomorrow; I have been exploring that irksome fiscal cliff and all the implications for us 99%ers. You'll see!
Meanwhile, I am confessing that I wanted to do nothing more than ride my splendid steed through snow banks, large and small. It was just too damned cold- and windy- to even be considered. Maggie looked bored and stood with her butt to the wind all afternoon. There was the constant drone of snow mobiles from next door as our neighbor and his son circled their house endlessly, dreaming of Arctic conquest. In short, a day at the end of the year!

A Ramblin' Endish O' Yearish Postish

So I can't report that I have much to report, but the weather is so blasted awful that I thought it would serve us all right if I posted a cranky end of December post. (That, by the way, is a fuzzy flower computer drawing to make us all forget about the ice and snow that persists outside...)
We missed what was no doubt a lovely Boxing Day party last night at our good friend John's house. I'm sorry to have not be available to chat up close friends and hear tales of their Xmas day festivities, but I must admit that staying in due to inclement weather offered it's own low key charms. For example, I didn't consume (further) vast quantities of rich and/or sauced, cheesed, seasoned, oozing food stuffs. I think I am swelling in this end of year binge-i-ness. Like many others, I regret my extreme lack of self control!
However, soon enough the Christmas cookies (remember those?) and the chocolates and the dips and snacks will have vanished like yesterdays snows.... or so we can hope!
I expect to sign on to the old New Year's Resolution band wagon and vow not to let anything more digestively strenuous than water and thin gruel pass my lips for at least a fortnight. But in the next couple of days, Bob and I seem to be finishing off that box of chocolates that we were given...
What else? Can someone please remind me to take my camera with me when I think of doing interesting stuff? Like yesterday I had a wonderful time riding Maggie in the snow and today on my morning ramble with Jules, we saw the neighborhood bobcat, up close and personal. Woulda made great pictures! Maybe that's my New Year's Resolution: bring the camera along!

So Hungry I could Eat A...

Ooops! Sorry Maggie; only kidding! (She doesn't look amused at my lame joke!) I am happy to report
 that- just in time for consuming loads and loads of Christmas goodies (and baddies) I am cured and feel fine. My appetite has returned, along with my usual high spirits. It was a weird "bug" and I subsisted on a diet of (boxed) mashed potatoes and white meat chicken, and a bit of Bob's bread and apple sauce; you will notice the entirely beige complexion of the food I ingested. But whatever! It worked and I am anticipating our trip to Byron and Dan's for a lovely Christmas Eve celebration.
Last year, Byron and Dan regaled us with a multi-course epicurean escapade with fish and cheese and fruit and wine and cordials and nuts and roots and tubers and berries and things in bowls and on trays. It was really wonderful. Fortunately, we didn't embarrass ourselves badly enough that they saw fit to invite others to dine in our stead... Good friends for the holidays!
Now I am off to my studio to try and complete a collage, again about financial mayhem in our present peering over that dang-nabbed cliff. I say give them a good push!
Then I must prepare for tonight's repast. I will probably wear my new leggings:

I got so excited! I loved this print and they had them in the grey in my size, which I bought. The red was equally fabulous, but only in large and extra large. So I contacted my sister Beatrice and she scored them for me at her local (get this) KMart... and they were on sale! The things we worry about in the holiday season. God bless us, everyone!

In Which The World Does Not End and I Take Sick

So I begin to experience symptoms that I first attribute to the consumption of too much cookie dough while preparing greasy lumps of sugar for the Cookie Exchange at work. And as a true Lover of All Kinds of Cookies, you can only imagine my despair at being unable to attend and swap out my Ornamented Sugar Cookies with Colored Sugar and Creme de Menthe Chocolate Chip Cookies for equally elaborate and delightful extravagances. (I must be very ill indeed; I'm playing with needless formatting!)
Anyway, the feelings that I was feeling did not abate after a reasonable time, but worsened. I became seriously nauseous and started getting chills. Bob and Jules and I attempted to watch a movie, but I bagged and simply lay in bed freezing and wishing for the deliverance that a mighty hurl would bring.
We slept for hours, and upon awakening, I felt no better, nay worse. My head is killing me and I continue shivering and dizzy. I forced myself to consume a piece of Bob's bread simply to enable my ingesting Ibuprofen in an effort to rein in the thundering headache.
It doesn't help that the weather is abominable- worthy of the end of the Mayan calendar. It is pouring rain, driving wind and general unpleasantness. As with the hurricane last year, the odd direction of the wind has forced rain backwards through the door in my studio and there is a major puddle on the floor beneath our Christmas tree. Even poor Jules, despondent that we are unable to take our daily walk, seems less than enthusiastic about a trip outside.
Bob has been dispatched to our local supermarket to procure provisions should I live. I figured some external corroboration that the world had indeed not ended was in order. Although I did call in sick to work and someone who sounded remarkably like my co-worker Erica (and not a Mayan deity) answered. Alas! All those lovely cookies beyond my grasp!

The Two Things of Christmas, Maybe Three

Okay, repeat after me (I sound like a broken record), "The two things that make me feel anything remotely Xmas-y are the 1.) Christmas Cookies, and 2.) The Tree." As you can see, the first batch of Christmas Thing #1 is pictured above. I have now consumed so much dough that I feel vaguely bilious, but that's a good thing! There's a second batch on the way.
And look! What to my wondering eye should appear:

Away in a corner, surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags, no less! So now I do (kinda) feel a bit Christmas-y. And I'm finishing up our Annual Christmas Card Extravaganza. That takes time and energy as we still insist on hand-making all the cards. But they're all small creations and that's a good thing to send off into the universe. I believe that the influence exerted by making and sending something carefully hand made is priceless (like those credit card ads!). I really (mostly) enjoy making the cards; maybe once every five years or so, we grumble and "take a vacation" and purchase a box of pre-mades. This was definitely not one
of those years!
Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, and, apparently, the last day of life on earth. Or the end of the world... something big! We'll see! Our friend Joe is coming by to celebrate darkness and doom with us. At least we'll go out in style!

Cheer Me Up, Batman

Yes, this is supposed to be a happy time of year. Various holidays occur, we are permitted to overindulge and there are pretty lights and even some presents. But what with things like mass shootings and general craziness, sometimes it's hard to feel good.
Silliness is an important antidote. Jules is supremely good at silliness. Witness these (sorta out of focus) pictures (well, he wouldn't hold still and was showing off!).

Jules is very jealous now that Maggie the Horse is here. He knows I like her, even though I point out that she has to live outside and he comes in and sleeps in the bedroom with us. So every time I go to the store to buy horsey food, I come home with another bag of tennis balls for Jules. The back yard is riddled with them, as is the house. He guards them like a little dragon, that's why he's rolling around.

Just look at him! Making a selection or counting them. And believe me, that's a pathetic fraction of the thirty plus balls he now has. I should take a detail of the ones that Jules has deconstructed.
They look like dinosaur eggs, gathered together into a nest.

At least he's cheerful and he keeps our spirits up. Don't tell Jules, but I got him more balls for Christmas!

Future Xmas Trees

We still have no Christmas tree! As I've mentioned several hundred times, there are only two requirements for me to be assured of a holly, jolly Christmas: cookies (and lots of them, carefully decorated) and a tree. I'm beginning to work on Phase 1 (cookies) as we're having a cookie exchange at work and I need an assortment for giving and eating. (All that dough! A bizarre gift to myself!)
As far a Phase 2, I wandered the property yesterday late morning potentially thinking maybe I'd stumble upon the perfect- yet easily sacrificed- tree. All I found were ones like above, or below:

Like perfect for a hundred years from now! So Bob is going to try and fell a tall tree that's dead all the way up until five or six feet from the top. That way we get fence posts AND a Christmas tree. Believe me, we won't miss the tree in question; it's sort of hidden in a bunch of other scraggly spruces.
In the meantime, here's a pretty picture of our small pond, freezing over in the chilly morning.

Hard to think of such things now, but due to the generosity of a few friends, there are irises planted in the "mucka" (Bob's word) at the edge of the pond. Next spring should be very pretty!

A Long Way Down

Here's what it looks like if you're lucky enough (or crazy enough!) to get on a horse. Maggie is listening to me as I had to take the camera out of the case and change the settings and then take a picture. But she's very good! Really quiet and sane... not like certain other equines whose name we will not mention. Ahem.
And on that note, I had what no doubt would have been a major disaster had I not been riding a real good little horse like Maggie. As I mosey-ed up the driveway, our neighbor's enthusiastic LARGE chocolate Lab spotted me and Maggie and decided that we were too weird to pass up and he came bounding through the hole in the fence barking vociferously. A less experienced horse would (possibly) have freaked but Maggie stood her ground, not liking Chops the Dog's attentions particularly, but not (over) reacting. What a good girl; she earned her carrots!
I am making my way back to the position that riding is really fun. Crispin (Oops! Don't think I was naming names) was a tad spooky (I'm being polite). I got scared a few two many times by his spookiness and began anticipating... which does not make for relaxed riding.  After my eye injury, I was told by one of my surgeons that I'd be crazy to ever ride again but Hell! I can't go around avoiding things I love. It worked out in terms of a good reason to avoid the riding of a horse that shied at everything; that would have been just looking for trouble! So trading seems an inspired answer. I'm still waiting for a vet check (this Thursday) of Maggie to make sure everything's in the right place and working correctly. Until then, despite the chilly wet weather I'm having a really good time!
And yes, even on a small horse, the ground looks like a long way down!

Artist's Rendering

Here is an artist's rendering of our new horse, Maggie. I pointed to my beloved Bob that he probably never expected to have even one horse in his life time, and here he is, onto a second horse! And for someone who never thought to have dogs, Bob is well onto what? his fourth dog. (That doesn't count Archie who was my dog in college and beyond and accompanied us to Bridgewater. He died there, after a year at age 16 or 17!)
So Bob is becoming quite the animal expert; next thing, he'll be begging us to get a cat. Or chickens. Or that alpaca...
So until that vet check on the 12th of December, I'm happy with Maggie. I am trusting the vet does not turn up any really awful unanticipated surprises. I was told she was around 15, but I suspect she's a but older, which is okay. I did some research on the web and here's an interesting fact about determining a horse's age by their teeth. Of course, I've always heard that was a semi-reliable way to tell but I thought there was a bit of voodoo or something involved, in which horse whisperers and other sages were able to read teeth like tea leaves. But there is actually a formation called Galvyne's Groove that helps to give a somewhat accurate read. (Boy I love the Internet!) This groove appears on the side of a horse's teeth at about age ten. By 15, the groove is half way down the tooth. At about age 20, the groove is all the way down. After 20, the top line of the tooth is clear and the groove is only present in the lower half of the tooth. In very advanced old age, the groove disappears entirely. Now you can impress all your friend's with a morsel of horse knowledge. So I'm guess-timating that Maggie is about 17 or 18 by the length of her Galvyne's Groove. (She wasn't super cooperative about my looking in her mouth but I managed!)
Maggie is great fun to ride but she isn't the easiest horse to catch! She's smart and on to my tricks. If I get the saddle and bridle out, she walks very purposefully away, down into the field and will allow you to approach- but not too close. She has this figured out. So I tried a bucket (empty) a carrot extended. Boy did she stretch and reach for that carrot, but I couldn't get the lead rope over her neck. Finally, I pretended to lose interest and I got the wheelbarrow and started cleaning up the field. The she got all nosy; she never suspected that I had the halter in the wheelbarrow! And she's fine about tacking up after you get her, and even seems to enjoy the ride. I'm certain we'll come to an understanding.

Head First Over the (gasp!) Fiscal Cliff!

As I mentioned to all of my Facebook-abiding friends, I love phrases like "The Fiscal Cliff". Someone dreams up these slogans for some dire event on our horizon and that's all you here for a few weeks or maybe months. Like "credit default swaps". Or "QE2" (which I initially thought was that big cruise ship). As quickly as they spiral into virality, they flame out and no one ever utters them again. When was the last time the phrase "zombie bank" crossed your lips?
So it is my (self appointed) role as Guardian of Today's Meaningless Phrase to immortalize these terms in works of art. (See the detail above; I'm in the middle of this piece and I'm psyched! I could use a week or so off from work to complete it). Other works are to follow and are in process on my studio tables. "Sequestration" is next up! (Who invented that? I was on the Internet checking on how to spell such a monstrosity!)
I am certain we all appreciate that these disasters, financial and otherwise, are all cooked up by Congress people with nothing better to do than create games of brinksmanship. All are zero-sum exercises that neither this side nor that will "win". I just hope that President Obama holds his line, does not capitulate (as he was far too willing to due during his first term) and drives those crazy republicans over the edge. Why is it that people with the least money and the most to lose seem inspired to believe the lies and self-serving policies of the greediest rich? At present, the republicans want to raise the age of social security, raise taxes on all of us (underachievers!), eliminate things like mortgage deductions and doom us all to penury so that they (who never need rely on social security or medicare) can keep more of their filthy lucre. Now why there hasn't been a revolution is beyond me; I suppose Fox News, TV in general and shopping at the malls for Xmas has trumped any real concern for "our future".
But hey! At least it gives me fodder for my artistic mill. Now I need to go check the spelling on "sequestration".

What's For Supper?

This is what happens when you send me to the store! I return with Evil Donuts! (And to make them even evil-er, they were marked down! Well, at least I'm not crazy enough to pay full price for food nonsense!)
I am hungry and I am wondering what we will eat as Bob isn't home yet and he is the Master Chef. As we have covered in previous postings, I eat and wash dishes; Bob pretty much cooks serious food offerings. I can be counted on to provide, yes, comic relief and non-regulation delicacies such as cookies, cakes, muffins and fruit. I can prepare fruit!
In any event, it was a nice day and I finally got warm after several days of bone chilling dampness that made me want to overeat something fierce. Made me want to eat... evil donuts. (We did put the donuts in the oven and they were far better slightly warm.)
So Maggie the Horse has eaten, Jules the Dog has eaten. What's for supper?!!
A footnote: (several hours later): I actually made dinner and we had (canned) vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Sounds like grade school!

New Horse, Old Joke

Welcome to maggie the Horse! Not a great picture, but what a sweet little horse! Just what the doctors ordered! Maggie is so much the opposite of Crispin: small(er), dark (almost black), a mare (vs. a gelding) and cheerful. Crispin seemed grouchy- or at least preoccupied- much of the time. And he wasn't happy on his own here, always pacing and looking for a friend (other than me). He was uneasy being ridden "in the wild" and as I don't have a riding ring, Crispin and I had an awkward and unsatisfactory arrangement. Like a bad relationship! Neither party is terrible, just wrong for each other. I am assured that he's happier now, back in a "stable" environment.
Maggie on the other hand, is quiet and sane and thinks things over before reacting. I have to seriously consider my safety while doing bizarre things like climbing on the back of a 800 plus pound animal and galloping off into the sunset. I don't have an extra eye and I'm not looking for pyrotechnics and extreme sporting events... just a mosey up the trail and the occasional joyous canter. I think I've found a partner.
Fortunately, my tack fit Maggie just fine. She's smaller than Crispin, but not that much so Crispin's girth is simply up a billet hole or two. The bridle was funny, though. Maggie has a very long face so I actually had to drop the caveson and check straps down for her. But the bit fit fine. (Reminds one of the old joke about a horse walking into the bar...)
The vet is coming to check her in a week or so and we're hoping for a clean bill of health. In the meantime, I wish the weather would cooperate and give me a couple of warm(er), sunny days. It's been darned chilly riding the last couple of weeks!

Hi! Where Have I Been?

Only at BobnRita's BauHaus Chicken Coop will you see something like this! I am lucky (you don't know HOW lucky) that Bob bakes fresh homemade bread every week. The house smells wonderful and nothing beats pulling a fresh French stick apart and spreading butter that melts as it's being applied... Sorry Wonderbread!
Sometimes in chilly weather, the dough is reluctant and doesn't rise well. Bob then searches for the warmer parts of our house, in this case my studio as the wood stove is there. (You can see my table oozing bits of collage material). The pedestal was optional, but it made for a better picture and freed me to use my table.
But it's been busy what with Thanksgiving and work and studio work and the arrival of the New Horse, aka Maggie. More on her in a later posting.
So good intentions aside, we've been involved in the business of preparing for winter. I planted tulips bulbs (including some exotic red parrot forms that I have never tried before. Damn I hate waiting for spring!) and weatherizing the windows and getting fire wood. Cold weather and drizzly days drive me indoors to other projects. Hopefully I'll be a bit more diligent in my bloggery...

Creativity is Flowing

I partly attribute my recent spurt of studio enthusiasm to my participation in New Haven's annual City Wide Open Studios. There's something about involvement with hundreds of other artists- many friends- and the attendance by loads of willing audience (almost 1000 on Sunday!) that just plain feels good. Where else can you get so much contact and feedback? I rarely sell anything and even less frequently get asked to show because of random curators, critics and kunst- hustlers that happen to hustle through, but hey! It's good clean aesthetic fun.
On a happy note, though, I seem to have broken through or somehow overcome my past years inability to make collages. Let's face it: my eye injury is major and traumatic and my vision has resolved into a very odd mash-up of scratchiness and blurriness and imperfection. But it's mine! And I can remarkably do a weird variety of things. Until a few weeks ago, collage wasn't one of them.
But then I started pestering whatever part of us creative people that creates. I have a persistent urge towards a particular subject and look of that subject. Just had to do it! And it's working out splendidly.
I certainly don't see any better than I did a while ago, but somehow I'm working around and through that obstacle course that is my present sight and I am able to cut up small pieces of paper into meaningful shapes.  So stay tuned. A new book is in the offing and it looks great. The above shape fell onto the corner of my table and I immortalized it as a flake of creation.

All the Things to be Thankful For

I made a wreath to bring to Mommy's house for Thanksgiving. I hardly think I'm jumping the gun as too many neighbors already sport Santas and reindeer and lights, lights, lights for that pre-mature Xmas feel. And, yes, I acknowledge my wreath is lopsided and not one of those perfect circular items available at LL Bean. In fact, it could be referred to as "artistic" as anything vaguely lumpy or irregular is!
My list! of things to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving Day:
Barack Obama is still president. Hoorah! (That's a big one!)
My horse trade seems to have gone well. Just got a report that Crispin has a "girlfriend" and the kids like his rocking chair canter. (It was his best asset!) And Maggie the Horse? Just what the doctor ordered: small dark and very quiet. She's a good little horse.
Bob and I are happy and healthy and semi-solvent.
Jules. He's such a good dog- even when he's bad!
My mother (aka Mommy) still is able to live at home and be there for Thanksgiving.
My sisters and friends are good people and not some crazy tea party nut jobs.
The weather's nice; not sleet and shit falling from the heavens.
I didn't eat too much today...

Pink Sky at Night...

I am posting several beautiful pictures- taken as you might guess, a week past when we had that brief dalliance with a Nor'Easter. There was snow! And a lovely sky... I went outside to play with Jules and we were leaping around, tossing snow balls and facing east. I turned back towards the house and was totally blown away by the color of the sky. Fortunately, the miracle that is digital photography did it justice.

Our house looks covered in raspberry jam!
This posting is a way for me to chill out and cool down as there is smoke (the very color of that sky) billowing out of both ears. I feel so frustrated and my circuits feel overwhelmed.
Work has been tough; another auction squeezed in and lots of time constraints. My sisters and I trying to deal with the continuing dilemma of our aging mother (aka Mommy). The endless horse saga and my wondering why on earth it's taken so long to swap them out. And the general feeling of no time just for myself...

And so I get off the phone a while ago,  my lunch gone cold and I reach to pull the shade down as the afternoon sun was in my eyes. The shade leaps off it's bracket and crashes square onto the dining table- how it didn't hit Bob or I is a miracle! And as if that wasn't enough, I missed my chair when I sat back down and landed right on Jules (who was asleep under my chair). He cushioned my fall, for which I am grateful, and he sprang to his feet unhurt, but I scared him (and Bob and myself). No harm done! And I think it forced some of the days bad energy out into the cosmos.

Still Celebrating!

We're still celebrating and I certainly think the planet and people of many stripes are also. Sanity has prevailed and that bottle of champagne that has lingered in the back of our refrigerator- a gift from my boss at our End of Summer party- proved just the libation.
I'm not much of a white wine or champagne drinker as we all know. Red's my preferred swill, but when presented with a better bottle of the bubbly than I'll spring for, I'm game. Especially when concluding the recent endless slog through red herrings, mud slinging, turd blossoming Season in Hell that was
Election 2012. Republicans are doing their every-several-year hand wringing and wound- licking wondering what they did wrong. I can tell them. Hell, we can ALL tell them. Everything!
As I'm preaching to the (unaffiliated, non-Mormon tabernacle) choir, I'll skip the exegesis and just say I'm available as an inebriated consultant (at a reasonable rate) to the regrouping, non-Karl-Roving GOP. I have loads of swell ideas! Cheap!
Two fun images to leave you with are as follows: George W. Bush (and I sure hope this is true!) ostensibly went into his polling place way down there in Texas and accidentally voted for Barack Obama. And then argued loudly with poll workers that he wanted to change his vote, which of course, he wasn't allowed to do... still stoopid after all these years!
And damn! I just can't remember the second one; there are just too many things that float to the surface and then run away- like dreams. But we never (hopefully) will ever again see a "Linda" sign on anyone's lawn. That in itself is a blessing.
I know! I know! I remember what that other truly awful (not really funny) image is: Mitt Romney's canceling all the credit cards of the people who traveled and worked and put out for him. So when they went to pay their hotel and restaurant bills, the cards provided by the campaign were declined. How pathetic!!!

A Great Day in America

Looking out the kitchen window at the first snow and WE COULDN'T BE HAPPIER. The snow is incidental, in fact most friends know I'm not a huge fan of the fluffy white stuff. BUT we are relieved and delighted and excited that sanity and hope prevailed and Barack Obama was re-elected. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
I'd have to admit we will all be sleeping more soundly here after the favorable election outcome. I had soem trouble sleeping soundly, worrying about what would happen to all of us (that's ALL of us) if that Romnesiac had been elected. Please. How about huge tax cuts and more moolah for the uber rich? (who most assuredly wouldn't trickle that to us any time soon. Didn't happen in the past, wouldn't happen now!) No health care, war with Iran, drill baby drill and frack baby frack. Yeeesh. And let's pause to consider that Republican war on women.
But the campaign did provide some remarkable moments of levity. Several times, when I could not sleep, I sought comfort on the Internet, there discovering some truly outrageous and hysterical bits by concerned citizens. A few nights, Bob actually got woken up by my peals of laughter at 3:00 a.m. Parodies of Dr. Seuess (One Mitt, Two Mitt, Red Mitt, Blue Mitt), "Romney Style" videos and my very favorite, Dogs Against Romney. Dogs Against Romney sought to educate people about Mitt's treatment of their then-dog Seamus. It is true that he was ensconced in a pet crate and strapped to the roof of the Romney car for a 12 hour trip to Canada. Can you imagine? And Mitt thought he was fit for the presidency?  Of course, Mitt wasn't concerned about the so-called "47%", of which I guess (as an artist) I am very happily a member.
Anyway, enough! Congratulations to President Obama and his great family! Thank goodness that "Linda" didn't win after 90 million dollars (couldn't spend it on something classier than trying to buy votes?) A good day all around, even with snow.

A Job "Well" Done

Or is that "All's Well That Ends Well"? Either way, the new pump works and we have water. I couldn't be happier...
On Tuesday afternoon, after the mayhem of Sandy the SuperStorm had blown by, the Pump Crew reconvened and the new pump (see above photo) was connected and ready to be sent back down, all 250 plus feet into obscurity. You spend hundreds of dollars for a part that you'll hopefully never see again... Not like conspicuous consumption!
Anyway, feeding the pipe back down was easier as you're not hauling the pump up, but the pipe had to be cleaned so that the well isn't contaminated with leaves and boogers and junk. Dumping a bottle of chlorine in helps, too.

That's Bob laughing at my attempts at "photo ops". I was yelling from my position as caboose to "hold the line" as I ran into the house to get the camera. But this picture does give some sense of scale. This is a good 7/8 of the way through the threading the pipe back down. Fortunately, no disaster like kinking pipe or frayed wiring occurred.
About an hour later, after refilling the tank with air and testing, we had water. It smelled like chlorine and I can't say I'd drink it or cook with it yet, but flushing the toilet was sheer joy.

What to do in Event of a Hurricane

There we are (I'm on photos) preparing to hoist the pump approximately 250 feet out of the ground. The day is stormy but not totally woolly yet; winds picking up with light rain. More blustery than actual hurricane.
Time is certainly of the essence as our power is still on and there's not much sense in fixing the pump if we can't even test to see if it works!

Here's a small section of what the pipe looks like. We hauled and hauled and I was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the end of our driveway, lugging the very end. Bob and Joe were closer to the well head and Andy pulled the pump up from the ground. The pipe is only like three inches around but over 260 feet long with several wires running down to the pump. How this stuff works to bring us water is beyond me!

Here's Joe in the carport (my future studio) cleaning out the pump housing. The pump is indeed shot- it's old and tired! But as luck would have it, Andy called the plumbing supply place and they were just closing. But the highway was being closed, too, so we would never have gotten there in time anyway. 

We're on track to complete the project today as the weather has held off, Sandy seems to have spun herself away from us and there are actually patches of blue sky!

Storm Surge

Ironically, the buckets to flush the toilet are not due to Sandy but that stupid blown well pump. Despite major efforts to rectify the pump's demise yesterday in the face of the burgeoning hurricane, closures of plumbing supply houses and highways prevented completion of pump replacement. But we never lost electric power...
The wind sang and shrieked and pushed and pulled and threw assorted sticks, branches and other leavings. I'm sure we all experienced some aspects of that hilarity! But we played Scrabble and sipped gins and tonics and slept like babes. I had some truly peculiar dream about James Taylor proposing marriage to me and saying how he had wanted to marry me since the first time he saw me (when I was like 12 years old). I kept suggesting reasons why this was just not feasible (like I have been committed to Bob for over 20 years and I never liked folk music in the first place and James Taylor liked cats and I liked dogs...) Plus James Taylor kept trying to serve me odd milky drinks in strangely shaped plastic cups. Weird.
Anyway, we're on course to repair the pump today. Wish us luck.
The next posting will begin the saga of pump repair. Stay tuned..

Smell-O-Vision

I'm seriously tempted to paint a white stripe up Jules' back. It's Day 2 with no water and both Bob and I woke up in the middle of the night smelling skunk. Our friend Joe said that the bag that Bob gave him a loaf of bread in smelled. too. I just came back from the store and can't imagine what others think! God bless anal gland expressions!
Jules and I  took a truncated walk this a.m. Up to and bit down the dirt road, but no heroics as the wind was started to swirl and tear pretty powerfully.
So this is a preamble to the valiant postings to follow. Our afore-mentioned friend Joe and his friend Andy have come over to help in replacing our well pump. Such valor! We're just hoping that the plumbing parts store is still open. And that no one gets blown away. Repair efforts will be suspended if the storm gets suddenly worse today. So far, not too much rain, just that constant tug of wind.
Another thing that stinks is the "perfect storm" that reporters are brewing about the possibility of an electoral college tie. How can this be? How can there be so many stupid, hateful; people? Maybe they're just drumming up worst case scenarios to keep the the populace interested. Can it really be that close? And I've heard so many things leading to the conclusion that it's almost impossible to have a clean election anyway. Mitt Romney's son owns part of a voting machine company. Didn't we go through this last time?? How come we can't fix this situation? We try and bring democratic elections to third world countries and monitor their results, and here we subscribe to a different set of rules!

A Big Fat Milestone

This is officially my 200th blog posting. How can that be? A milestone! A blog that began on a whim- to document Bob and I on our householding/homemaking adventure- and here I am creating my 200th posting!
The bridge above, which spans our little stream, seems an apt metaphor for the crossing of so many bridges in this going-on-two-year journey. It has been such a great time!
But I will admit that today erupted with less than stellar events. First, Bob and I woke even earlier than usual as we were really hungry. We'd attended an opening last night (good show!) and never really ate dinner; just picked at appetizers. So we had coffee at 5:00 am and when I took Jules out, it was 6:00 and still totally dark. I turned on the back light and crossed the yard to talk to Crisco the Stallion, who always greets Jules and I.
But then I realized the yard smelled truly awful, like a chemical dump had occurred on the nearby highway.  I saw Jules rolling and Hey Presto! he had been sprayed by an accommodating skunk. Oh hell!!
I bathed Jules as best I could in tomato juice that Bob had whirred in the blender and then hosed him off. (Jules, not Bob). But by now, the whole house and Bob and I smelled less than sweetly. I guess I'd never smelled brand spanking new skunk spray, as it has a different note than the regular octane. The good news is that after a few minutes of being surrounded by the odor, you kind of don't notice any more. But if you
go away and come back, you just can't miss it... Bob went to help a friend batten down the hatches in preparation for our annual October Weather Event and our friend Joe assured Bob he did indeed
smell ripely.
And then, what with the already frenzied frenzy that has been whipped up around the arrival of Hurricane Sandy ( united in unholy union with not one but TWO other weather patterns), I'm feeling jittery and stinky and I finish washing the dishes and go to fill a bucket to sponge mop the kitchen floor (thinking to make the house smell more wholesome) and there's suddenly no water.
Of course, I first suspect power outage as our kindly utility has sponsored robo-calls to pre-announce wide spread power failures, in advance of the storm but it dawns on me that the lights still on. So a friend confirms later in the day that the pump on our well has blown. Perfect timing!
Tomorrow, in the face of 75 mile an hour wind and torrential rain the pump is due to be hauled out of the well head and replaced by heroic heroes (me included). Anyone care to join us for fun and games?

And yet the stream looked lovely today. Peaceful and serene and awaiting true havoc and chaos in the form of Storm Sandy.

Another lovely microvision to leave you with, before all hell breaks out in the morning...

Road Side Archeology

Often when I take my morning walk with Jules, my eye is drawn to something; a rock or a very colorful feather or even a random bit of plastic. It's remarkable only in that of all the hundred million leaves, rocks, twigs, birds, and discarded fast food bags that I encounter on my walk, one thing will have that major impact on me to stop and examine the cause.
Today's find was the above stone that looks like the fore finger of a statue. See the fingernail and even the slight cant to the right? Bob thought so, too. Maybe tomorrow, Jules and I will find the rest of the hand.

Ah! Domesticity!

In our household, we fortunately share a rather comfortable- and somewhat organic- delegation of domestic chores. In the kitchen, Bob rules and does 90% of the actual cooking, preparing the "real food"; things like vegetables and meats and things that don't automatically come in cans. Generally, I do more baking, embracing our sweet teeth, preparing the unnecessary but anticipated desserts. Never met a cookie I didn't like! Bob does bake seriously, though, as his bread is justifiably famous. Just ask anyone who has been the lucky recipient of a loaf or stick.
So, I may not cook much, but I do most of the dishes and gladly! Bob is a swell cook and it seems a more than happy trade off. But I am particular when  it comes to washing. For one thing, I never mix silverware and plates or cups. Hate it! I detest the feel of cold metal things that have been sitting and soaking in nasty, greasy cold water. First thing is to separate all the flatware from everything else. I always do plates first, then cups then glasses, then silverware, the pots and pans. Hmmm. This makes me sound sort of neurotic and anal (which lord knows I'm not!) but I guess it simply makes it easier and far more pleasant. And hey! If I don't mind doing dishes, who cares if I have rules and organizational oddities?

This is what inspired me to post this particular blog. I really liked the shades of blue and the subtle layering of patterns. They pleased my eye- despite the fact that they're dirty dishes from breakfast- and I don't dread doing them. Now drying and replacing them in the cupboard is another whole story...

Seasons End But New Beginnings

Last of the flowers! Gigantic dahlias that just started coming into their own- in time for that famous first frost. I picked them the night it was going to freeze so that at least we can enjoy them while we dine.
Beneath the dahlias is Bob's new bumper sticker. I really like the fact that what was originally a pejorative- "Obamacare"- became a positive label. And I believe that Obama does care... more than that odious and mean Mitt Romany and his evil sidekick Paul Ryan.
Another reason that I am putting up this particular posting is that my blog seemed be be altogether too beige and monochrome. It needed some real color. This particular arrangement is pretty primary but better than off white and endless drabness and beige beige beige (enough of that to come now that it's fall into winter...).
Here's a great thing about this time of year: garden centers are all offering truly remarkable discounts so that they can off load left over nursery stock. Just this week, I purchased a Sambucus nigra at 75% off and with my remaining grubstake, I was able to buy a really chunky White New Dawn climbing rose for (gasp) $4.25! (Okay, with tax it came to like $4.53...) Now to find the time to plant.
And get an eyefull of this find:

That's the real color! Need I add that that was love at first gander; got a good buy on this shrub, too. I was so impressed with this "Amethyst Beauty" Callicarpa and I chortled happily to myself about being the first kid on my block to have one of these in my garden. Then I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts to use the bathroom and there was one planted in front of the drive through. Ha! Looks better at out house and our coffee is
better, too.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Oh boy! It's Bob n Rita's 24th anniversary! Hard to believe we've been alive that long, let alone TOGETHER for 24 years! And as many of you may know, there is the Legend of the First Frost to celebrate.
It is tradition that we leave a basil plant in the garden when doing fall clean up so that we know exactly when our anniversary occurs. See, the first time that Bob and I "hooked up", we were going to make pesto, but it got cold and the basil froze and no pesto, but heap big whoopie anyway, if you get my drift. .
So despite not being married (and believe you me, many of our married friends have been divorced waaaaaaaaaaaaay before their 24th anniversary) we actually celebrate on a rotating calendar, because the frost happens on a different day every year. It's so appropriate that Bob and I, as two dedicated gardeners, acknowledge our relationship in an organic way. Some years, we celebrate several times, as we expect frost, but the basil doesn't die. This year was a slam-dunk sure thing as we were hit hard by a frost last night.
So happy anniversary to us! And many more...

Other Life Forms and Us

Because we're all friends here. I will share the following portfolio of images. Due to extenuating circumstances- such as work, crazy scheduling that allows little "free time", multiple time-intensive art projects and the like, Bob and I have done very little cleaning of late. This means we have "interesting" environments being created by other species in nooks and corners. If cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness, then Bob and I are fast speeding our way to Hell.
As I was describing to my sister Beatrice this morning, I have a size imperative when it comes to insects cohabiting in our humble abode. Small spiders and Daddy Long Legs' are more than welcome but when they approach (or exceed) the quarter-pounder rule, it's them or me. I just cannot sleep think they may decide to share the bed with us. The spider that resides behind the washing machine is a good example.
Bob has apparently struck up quite a friendship with this bug. When he first introduced me to the fact that we had a large arachnid living near the washing machine, I sort of brushed it off. It's not near anything that I spend quality time doing (such as in the bathroom or my studio), so I thought, live and let live. But then one day, as I vacuumed the downstairs bathroom and hallway (that had to have been pre-party as I have bee remiss of late as referenced above), I felt as if I had company. It's a coy spider, though, and it kept ducking behind the machine preventing me from getting a good look. But I have now encountered this spider a few times late at night, and I need to tell you that he/she is rapidly nearing critical mass. I admit that they're eating other bugs and doing good, but this puppy is getting BIG.

Oh boy. Here's another (equally filthy) corner, directly above Jules' place mat where he eats his meals. I think the some what spider-like decoration in the lower middle inspired a spider to move in. That thing dangling in the web isn't the resident spider, but it's meal for the next month or so. Seems the little spider that lives there snared a much larger spider.

Here's a close up. As you can see, I have no shame what so ever and am  more than happy to share our less than stellar house keeping with you. Remember that the next time we invite you to dinner!

No Skeletons in MY Closet!

There's no skeletons in my closet because they're all sitting around in my studio... and the living room. And hanging around in the carport! I also have bags of heads and random body parts stashed in once empty corners. What, you might ask, are they all doing here?
They have emerged from storage- some in our horse barn, some in the attic, some previously exiled to a friend's factory building- to become newly re-animated. And they're all excited to know that a "pod" awaits them in Hartford...
I have been asked to do an installation at the Envisionfest on Saturday. Five other artists and myself were chosen by the artist David Borawski to create a work in one of those storage units that get plunked down in people's driveways when moving or renovating. A great idea! Hit and run pop-up art projects. I'm pleased to have been asked as my history of showing in Hartford has been limited to a distant association with the now defunct Artworks Gallery. The skeleton extravaganza- loosely titled "The Down Town Bone Shop" is my resurrection of a project I started several years back that was only seen in a limited capacity in New Haven during an Open Artist Studio. I thought it called for a closer viewing...
The motivation behind this project came from a student I had long ago in a mixed media class. She spied a skeleton (real human I presume) in the corner of our classroom and mentioned how cool it would be to have one. I replied, "Let's make our own!"
Of course, I'm not one to make one piece and move on: no, I made several complete skeletons, experimenting with different papers and tapes. (Cheap Staples mailing tape is the best and I now exclusively use New Yorker magazines for "content" although I toyed with craft paper and newsprint). Then I made heads. The skulls were fun because they inadvertently looked like different stages of human evolution. I made a Cro-Magnan and a Homo Habilis and Neandertal... and a few "ancestors" that we probably never knew existed; they are the missing links!

Here are my exquisitely well-behaved and compliant skeletons ensconced in their temporary home. The event was a success as weather held off and people came out for food, fun and festivities. For a first-time event, I felt like everything was nicely planned and executed.
Here's a last shot. I love the expression on the young art appreciator's face. (I also approve of her purple togs). My skeletons had a lovely time. They are now available for Halloween appearances... got a party in your future?