Bridges to No Where

Next year is already chock-a-block with interesting possible projects and plans. Like our two bridges that cross the stream at the bottom of our property. At present, they are "constructed" of two aluminum ladders with planks on them; serviceable, yes, but hardly interesting or (dare I use the word?) artistic.
They could be so cool! Bob and I are toying with various ideas like rock pilings and then metal understructure with cement covering it... or maybe wood. Don't know but it'll be fun!

This is the second location, a bit further upstream. Actually, they aren't really bridges to nowhere (unless some one wants to fund us!) They do a lovely job of delivering us from one shore to the next. At this time of year, the stream is so low that we could probably safely walk across from rock to rock, that that certainly wouldn't be stylish!

Here's a closer view of the second bridge. isn't that Lobelia next to the bridge lovely? There are loads of wild flower varieties growing nearby! It's a wonderful environment. And will only be lovelier still if we commit to another idea that's hatching...

What's this?!!? A new batch of busted plates! I just started saving more plates because Bob and I had a great idea to make another walkway of mosaic- but on the other side of the stream! It would be narrow and sort of informal and windy and lead from one bridge to the next. Wouldn't that be cool!?!?!? We could cover the whole world in mosaic! WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWhhhhheeeeeeeee!!!!!

A Truly Peculiar World- Road Trip Edition

I remembered to bring my camera along to document... Gas Station TV?? Who thinks these (post)modern things up? And where have I been? The gas station on the way to the highway entrance I use when traveling to my mother's house is conveniently located, but features the above inanity. It's as if we can't stand quietly or entertain ourselves for the five minutes it takes to fill up. No, we have to be assaulted with ads for Snickers and Chevy and inane "Gas Station TV jocks" who blather at us. And obviously. we're a captive audience. At least if there were something good on. (Strangely, I caught possibly the one useful moment; they were offering a weather map. The light was terrible- reflecting off the screen and several of my shots of other Gas Station TV offerings didn't show up.) Additionally annoying is that the TV screen takes up all the space and the input buttons for payment options are positively hidden. Very, very annoying!

And here's another annoying thing: people who drive Audis. I swear, and I know I've mentioned this before, if a person is tail-gaiting you and swerving all over the road while on their cell phones, they're driving an Audi. Or if they speed up to hit you and your dog (hi Jules!) on your morning rambles, guess what they're driving? Yup. An Audi. They are positively the worst drivers going and they must feel that superior German engineering makes up for atrocious driving habits.
In any event, the above Juniper is soooooooooooooo cool and Bob and I passed it on our way to Mommy's house. We decided to snap a photo of it on the way back by. So I slow down and Bob hands me the camera- all ready to go and I start to photograph that lovely "sky needle" and the douche bag behind me starts honking and riding up our rear end. I'll give you one guess as to what he's driving. Somehow I did get a pretty good shot, through a dirty windshield and all. The pink house in the back ground is pretty fun, too.
Hey! Guess what I want for my next birthday? (And no, it's not an Audi!)

Leprosy and Sundries

Well, I may not have Ebola but I have developed a lovely collection of poison ivy buboes. (Technically not buboes; turns out that refers specifically to lymph inflammation in the armpit or groin... as in bubonic plague. But you get the idea.) Therefore I have disgusting poison ivy blisters, the above cluster is on my left knee. So with that as a reference point, I submit the following:

• Aside from the above bumbles, we seem to be pretty healthy.
• Mommy's still "with us"; meaning she hasn't departed yet. You get the point.
• Bob and I have been alternately very busy socially and wishing to be hermetic. We both have shows that are a lot closer (time-wise) than it would seem. Bob's show is in September 2015 in New Bedford at the ColoColo Gallery. His work looks terrific. Maybe I'll have him do a "guest post".
• I have the show at Artspace in conjunction with Yale this coming November. The book I'm working on- Better Guns and Gardens- is coming along nicely. A steady stream of images and puns and silliness. Who knew guns could cause such weird art ideas?
• I have a show in (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!) Brooklyn in January, tentatively entitled, "Pay to Play". It will be at Odetta Gallery and Ellen Hackl Fagan, artist, friend and now gallerist- is doing things right. I think she's onto something. Lots of research about what works and how to approach showing art in an effective way. Wish me luck! (I'll be showing with two other artists).
• The Dog and Pony are fine. Still fussy, but that just comes with being spoiled. 
• I really wanted to use bulleted lists, probably from working on Better Guns and Gardens. (Get it? "Bulleted Lists"?)
• That pesky Tilda Swinton keeps popping up at our house!
  

I don't actually remember why Tilda Swinton became such an issue at our house, Possibly simply because she's a bit weird. I mean, look at her. And does she look like she's ever eaten a cup cake in her life? So she wound up in the cupcake box, admiring (gasp!) all that FROSTING! And it's blue!! I really like that particular strain of frosting, as my sister's and family in general well know. I was denied frosting for my birthday so I vowed to score a cake or cupcakes resplendent in decadent mounds of sugary bliss. Boy are they good!!
Okay, not the smartest posting but I'm tired. I took almost 700 photos of weird porcelain monkeys (some with light fixtures in their heads), endless dish services (and it was all I could do to stop from smashing the plates so as to add them to our walkway), and endless stiff little Staffordshire people and their dogs and sheep. All in a days work!
Signing off...

Tuesday

I visited my mother (aka Mommy) on Saturday. She falls asleep a lot and is generally not all there because she's so very tired, old and frail. Mommy is still "with it" in terms of knowing who you are and asking "appropriate" questions, like how Bob and Jules are etc. She was also genuinely pleased when I told her that I have a couple of shows coming up late this year.
But out of the blue, Mommy turns to me after a quiet time in our visit and she says (apropos of nothing), "Tuesday."
"Tuesday?", I respond, thinking maybe she's going to say she had a visit form a friend or a nurse on Tuesday- whatever. Instead, she blows me away by saying, "I'm going to die on Tuesday."
I had to ask, "This Tuesday?" to which she responded, "I'm not sure, but a Tuesday." We then had a brief, but straight forward discussion about death and the length of ones life versus when your time is up.
I mean, we all know, Mommy's ready to go and that's not a bad thing. Sad, as we'll miss her and she's a really nice person and presence on this planet, but she's so unable to do things... it's just TIME.
Of course, Monday night, I had trouble sleeping and kept thinking, "Gee, that was probably the last time I'll see Mommy alive"... cheerful middle of the night thoughts like that.
But Tuesday rolled around and I went to work and expected a phone call. Which never came. Mommy is still with us- probably much to her consternation as well as ours! I don't want to hustle her off to Heaven or anything (and don't get me started: I have no idea what I think happens or where we go. Fuck if I know!) So so much for premonitions; maybe it was merely wishful thinking.