Studio Progress, Early Spring Style

Oh boy! I couldn't be happier! Bob, with a tiny bit of lifting help from Sheldon and yours truly, got my actual, official studio windows in place this last week. Doesn't that look great? All it takes is a few days of cooperative weather and above freezing temperatures, and the universe smiles down on us and windows are installed. No more plastic for me! (I took the liberty of tweaking out a few stray dead branches that were obstructing the beauty of the above photo. Don't you just love Photoshop?)
Here's an interior shot:

The windows are hinged on the tops and will push out from the bottom. Bob is investigating appropriate hardware. This resumption of the studio project has made me ecstatic. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (no, I am not departing this mortal coil!) and the reality that soon I will take up occupancy. Hooray!
Sheldon and Louise are still with us and I can't say it enough: they're the best house guests. We have put them through all kinds of tests and adventures (Like last night we had a tremendous downpour. Sheldon reported to us this morning that he had a drip on his face... ooops! We seem to have a bit of a ceiling leak; that would happen above a guest's bed. Yuck yuck yuck.) But other than that, we're encouraging them to use a bit of their East Coast time to look for real estate. Remember how much fun we had last week?

Uber Busy

So, no we didn't decide blogging was beneath us or that life had become simply too rich in irony to continue. The dumb fact for my silence is being so busy as to make one's (smiley faced) head spin and explode. To whit:
I have been producing like crazy for several studio projects. The "Blue America" (upside down black and blue and backwards...) has continued and is about to erupt into a full blown World Atlas. Yes! What a great idea... Also, my "Better Guns and Gardens" (produced in cahoots with and underwriting by Artspace's CT Bound/Unbound project) is underway and pretty entertaining. (So far, basic outline of articles and themes, several collages, including the cover. This is a good one!)
Also, I spent a day photographing for Artspace's annual fundraiser (more on that later). I probably bit off more than I should have been chewing on recently. Chomp, chomp, chomp.
We are also (gasp) house hunting... not for us, thankfully! But for our dear friends Sheldon and Louise, up from the great SouthWest. (They are here, staying with us, because of unfortunate family circumstances. But Bob and I are more than happy to provide for them as they have so graciously provided for us in the past).

Now, I'll be the first to admit that if you house hunt for others, it's kinda fun. And Bob and I felt right at home in the A frame just up the road from the BauHaus Chicken Coop. Look at those exposed wires dangling from the lower level ceiling! Makes me feel right at home. (Actually, we keep telling Sheldon and Louise that we saw way worse abodes when we were looking. As Bob has pointed out, all the mechanicals look pretty updated.)

Oh! See? We also saw plenty of this sort of action in our pursuit of the perfect home. Needs some cosmetics, (as well as work) but it's a suitable house for an artist, and in a great location. (Like I said, right up the road and around the bend from us. Doesn't get better than that.)

But here's one of the better shots. The living room has a very high, dramatic cathedral ceiling and there is a loft and a interesting confluence of spaces. We also took Sheldon and Louise to look at an empty very old church building that was possibly beyond salvage. Gaping holes in the foundation, collapsing cupola and in a generally disintegrating state. But like I say, Bob and I saw some awful places, so we took that in stride. (Sheldon and Louise deigned to alight from the car...)
Lastly, Bob got another one of my studio windows inn place. Hot dog! Now that the weather has decided to become somewhat springlike (despite the threat of snow tonight), we can resume construction. Bye bye plastic!

The Land of Unintended Consequences

I have a whole conceptual category of things that "you couldn't do if you tried". Like hooking your coat on the doorknob on the way out of the house and having your hat fall into the dog's water bowl as a result. I don't know about anyone else, but I excel at these things.
The other day, I was playing with Jules in the backyard. I was multi-tasking, (a not untypical exercise and possibly one of the reasons that my actions often have "unintended consequences") by carrying a bucket of water out to Maggie the Mexican pony, but pausing along the way to chuck an ice lump or two for Jules to chase. Somehow I managed to hit the one remaining plant that I have growing in an elevated container. (If I had tried to take aim and hit it, I most certainly would have missed it.) As a result, I managed to have one section of the plant fall off and land on the snow. This, I realized in split second decision mode, was a tragedy waiting to happen as Jules would no doubt be all over that plant section and have it in his mouth in a flash. So I swooped down and grabbed that plant section up. The punchline here is that the plant in question was a prickly pear cactus. This would have been terrible for Jules' mouth but instead my entire mitten and hand were immediately pierced by fifty or so very sharp quills.

I like prickly pear cactus (Opuntia). They are native (who knew?) and look like Mickey Mouse when young, having upright rounded ears. They look dead and deflated like shriveled balloons all winter and then inflate and revive come spring. They also surprise you by flowering . I really like quite a few nasty prickly plants. I like Eryngium and yucca and milk thistle. (I don't like holly or barberry so go figure.) Bob thinks I'm nuts; he points out that I have what he calls "watery skin" that it is easily pierced and so it's ultra counter intuitive that I like spiky plants. But I think they're interesting. A few years back, I did a Southwest themed window box. I planted the whole thing with little cacti and arranged rocks and a fake rattlesnake in it. Very effective and low maintenance. Once every week or so, I'd hose it down briefly simulating a sudden desert down pour. But planting it was dangerous as I wound up with quite a few thorns in my wrists (I wore leather gloves).
I finally got all the thorns out of my hand, but does anyone have any clever ideas for removing cactus spines from knitwear? Please forward to me if you do. I already lost one glove from another pair and am lucky that the winter may soon (hopefully) be at an end as my other two pairs now have holes in them.
(The above picture really has little to do with this post. But I guess it was yet another "unintended consequence". Bob used the snow blower to remove the snow in two grand avenues out to the barn and his studio. But then it refroze as double rivers of ice and made for treacherous footing. But huzzah! The ice has now departed and there is actual grass showing!)

An Inconvenient truth

That's Bob and me celebrating Fat Tuesday with a King Cake. Are we the only people we know who buy- and consume- King Cake for Mardi Gras? We get ours at Shop Rite, as it seems to be the only local venue that trucks in such things. You can order them on line, but they're like $60 (plus shipping! Cheaper to take a trip to new Orleans!)
But the good news is that I made it back (alive) from my walk this morning. This is a complicated and crazy story. You know how I'm always saying that I like my neighbors and everyone is really friendly? Well...
It all started several months back. Jules the Dog and I would walk up the road like clockwork every morning. And what with the time change and my need to go to work earlier, Jules and I started running into this guy Mike and his small son, Dylan waiting for the school bus. They have been waiting in Mike's SUV (no doubt because of the cold) but every morning- like clockwork- Dylan jumps out of the SUV with the broadest grin on his face (and he is a cute little kid) and runs down the end of the driveway because he adores Jules. And Jules loves Dylan; truly they're both thrilled to see one another and roll on the ground and slobber on one another. Very cute and heart warming.
So Mike and I exchange bland pleasantries and talk gardening- neighborly things- and then Jules and I proceed on our walk. I don't even remember when our conversation took a turn, but turn it did. I think one morning one of us hazarded the banal observation that it was exceptionally cold. And then Mike said (I'm pretty sure it was him) something about the weather was only going to keep getting weirder (but here's the punchline) I think I mentioned the dread words, "Climate Change" and Mike countered with something about how I couldn't possibly believe that we had anything to do with the weather, it was all naturally occurring cycles... you can see where this is going. It became a back and forth about "Do the research" and both sides became a bit heated, but it was cold and probably warmed us up a bit. But nothing too drastic. Until the next day.
Then Mike became more aggressive and rolled his window down (while Jules and Dylan indulged in a nonpartisan love fest) and said, "You know what I hate? Ignorance! Check the facts! We have nothing to do with changing the planet! C02 has nothing to do with the weather... and your pal Al Gore is all wrong!" I retaliated with, "Forget Al Gore* Read some of what James Hansen is saying... 90% (I actually think it's more) of scientists agree we've messed up the environment and it may be too late to fix it!" Mike yelled something about me "and my liberal friends". I responded, "You have a right to your opinion". To which he said, "It's not my opinion; I'm right and you're wrong". I did say something about, "And you probably believe God made the world in 5 days". (Oops- that should have been 7 days!) I was walking away up the road at this point calling, "Have a nice day!" I felt bad that this had all digressed into stupidity but I wasn't too concerned.

Look: I have several people that I work with- even a couple of tea baggers (Koch Suckers?* Hahahahaha) that harbor some pretty wacky views, and I know they think the same of me. But we bait each other and then laugh and go on with other things because we do all have a right to see the world differently (as long as we don't kill each other) and we need to get along. And life is short.
Mike doesn't see it that way. Yesterday, when I was coming back from my walk, I saw him waiting for the school bus, engine running but it was like 5 degrees out and I had to go to work, so instead of hanging out or taking a longer walk, I walked back up the road. Dylan jumped out of the car, grinning and Jules bounded over; at least they were enjoying themselves. Mike started right in. He spat out, "Look- you're an idiot! You refuse to see the facts!" I made some response, still trying to be good natured. I mean, I could see he was really mad- like emphatic and red faced and cords in his neck mad. I just pulled Jules away and walked off but not quick enough so that I heard him yell that I was an "atheist pig*".
I know my religious or spiritual views may be unorthodox and not even fully formed, but I sure think that even God thinks we're doing a fine job of screwing up the planet. I even googled Pope Francis and HIS views on Climate Change and I have to say it, but the Pope and I seem to be in agreement. And you know what? I guess my final argument is this: maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the world won't get totally destroyed- at our hands- and maybe everything will go back to just as it was. Maybe Super Storms will all be an unpleasant memory. But we'll have solar energy and wind power and at least we can feel we made a positive change in our behaviors.
But if Mike is wrong, and we go on as we are now and the climate keeps changing and we accelerate the melting of the polar caps and most habitable land becomes uninhabitable, then we all die. His son will be doomed to inherit a world too awful to contemplate, with wars over the tiny islands of arable soil and food shortages and skin cancer.. I know where I'd rather stand.
This morning, I walked slightly later to make sure I didn't encounter Mike and his son. I know that Jules missed Dylan (and I'm certain that Dylan missed Jules) but at least Dylan didn't have to watch his father spew vitriol at me and teach a lesson of hate and intolerance. Or watch me get shot or something!
I am hoping to call a detente, a truce. I will say to Mike, "Let's simply agree to disagree. Look at how nicely your son and my dog get along".  I really don't want battles with my neighbors and hostilities. But I also know that climate change is real.

* Why do all these people hate Al Gore so much? He isn't really even in the news anymore. It's weird. And they often preface comments about him with the adjective "that fat" Al Gore. As if his weight somehow affected their ability to listen to him.
* Atheist? not sure... Pig? Maybe he had a point as I have been overeating this winter. It does all come down to one's weight after all. (See above A. Gore reference.)
* As in the Koch Brothers...

Better Be Seen to Be Believed

No, this blog posting isn't about the Russians invading Ukraine (and a week after the homophobic, dog killing Olympics!) although that's pretty depressing and on my mind. This is simply a posting about random weirdness. Like the above photo.
I have been enjoying re-photographing (Appropriation! Oh my!) things that I have (unfortunately) seen on the Internet. All kinds of stuff is out there; I don't even want to know. Take this photo- please.
We see a dog that looks for all the world like a Muppet, sitting in a bathtub surrounded by mirrors and a lady with a child... and PINK assault weapon of some sort??!?!? No, just tell me where these people live so that Bob and I never accidentally move in near them. But once you've seen something like this, it's very hard to un-see.
Suffice it to say that I'm at work on an artist's book entitled, "Better Guns and Gardens". One of my favorite things about a new project is immersing myself in disturbing and bizarre worlds. Like when I was working on my "A Salty Psalter", I got to purchase strange pornography to illustrate my work.  I had to visit back rooms at magazine shops, where I ineffectively tried to convince the proprietor that I was an artist doing research... no, really! My friend John T. helped out with a hefty donation (Thank you John) of his gently used collection of gay magazines. But for the world of guns, I'm on my own.
It was therefore a bit astonishing that I didn't even need to visit a specialty store to purchase copies of titillating titles like "Power Guns Monthly" and "Your Magnum Force". I simply went to the magazine section of my local Stop and Shop, and believe me, there were several selections to chose from. Does this strike anyone else as a problem?
Of course, this is one of the reasons I'm doing this project. I am trying to come to terms with our nation's fascination with guns. After Sandy Hook and the ineffectual inability of "lawmakers" to pass meaningful legislation on banning assault weapons, setting up gun registry lists or more stringent background checks, I despair. Somehow, Second Amendment wackos (who don't think they're mentally ill; I KNOW they are!) trump common sense and we are left with no real protections. I suspect it's easier to buy a gun than to adopt a dog from a rescue group. Those people run all kinds of investigations on you and visit your home, not to mention you have to fill out piles of paperwork and explain why you want a pet. And they won't give you one the first time you walk into a shelter. But a gun? It's your friggin' constitutional right!