Dog Party

Crazy cat ladies do things like have 75 cats. Crazy dog owners dress their dogs in pajamas and drive them to play dates and have birthday parties. I will never order Robin a set of Star Wars themed dog sleepwear, but yes, I did plan a birthday party for her last Saturday.
I had originally projected inviting six dogs (and their respective humans) but three doggos were able to attend, and in retrospect, that was probably plenty. We provided cupcakes and crackers and dip for the humans and I wrapped small treats for the canines. I took the precaution of hiding most of Robin's toys and not offering too much in the way of dog edibles so as to prevent spats and aggression. This was probably smart on my part as Lil Robin seemed to discover that she could growl. In fact, Robin (who had previously met and played with all three of the dogs in attendance) decided she wasn't spectacularly happy with so many dog "frenemies" in her living room! Our friend Mary- who accompanied her dog Izzie- suggested that poor Robin was worried that this pack of dogs was here to stay... in her house!

Here's the guest of honor attempting to escape her collected friends. Here nose looked even longer than usual. It took her most of the afternoon to decide that a birthday party was okay. But the other dogs seemed to have a swell time:

Emily looked quite pleased. She is a delightful peachy pumpkin colored girl and seemed to beam the entire time... at least someone enjoyed themselves! And Emmett- quite dapper in his orange winter suit- liked being the only boy surrounded by lovely lady dogs. (His human, Michelle had fun, too. She made delicious brownies for us humans. We were pretty well behaved- no snapping or growling!)

Emmett appears bigger in this picture than he really is. I think he weighs all of 12 pounds! And our other guest was Izzie, a spunky and entertaining terrier mix who I was unable to get a good picture of. I seem to have taken a few blurry ones, probably because Izzie was always on the move.

That's Izzie (behind Emmett) in the yellow poncho, scarfing up bits of food dropped on the floor. At least I didn't have to vacuum! We attempted a group photo, but quickly abandoned the idea as our assembled guests were unwillingly to sit and stay. But I had a good time! I like to party with a pack!

In addition to turkey legs and wild thing dog jerky and happy birthday bones and assorted treats, I gave Robin an entertaining squeaky snake (squeaks in three places!) after her friends departed. It was a big hit: as we went upstairs to retire for the evening, Robin chose the snake to bring along and has been making quite a happy racket with it ever since. I guess I made a good choice!

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...

The "Other" Life Forms: Molds, Mildews and the Like

This is sort of a "what is it?" I haven't done one of those in a while; in part because we threw away so many things left behind and maybe we're at the end of that era. Except that carpet rectangle above. Looks sort of like the underlying pavement, doesn't it? (Don't look at my awful old garden boots. Very comfortable, but pretty nasty!)
This carpet has some history. We discovered it here (and lord knows what it's story pre-BobnRita was), and until I made the bold decision to throw it away, it seemed inextricably linked to our lives. It "lived" at the base of our chimney for at least the last year; I say "lived" because as you can see, it's covered with it's own carpet of mold in attractive marbleized patterns. For some reason, neither Bob nor I saw fit to discard this disgusting artifact- until today. Unless someone else wishes to rehome it...
And then there is the powdery mildew explosion:

Looks a bit like poinsettia if you squint; the Christmas in August effect. The hot, dry weather has caused quite a bloom. I have a whole garden section of this stuff. It is getting to that time of the late summer when things start to implode and molds, mildews and fungus. Don't mention to me that some road side leaves are beginning to show signs of red and gold.
On a happier note, we have procured the wood for the pressure treated sill of my studio. I'll include an updated picture that features the installed sill, maybe tomorrow. I hate pressure treated wood but there really is a good argument for using it (wood resting on concrete). This the one place we will use it in the construction of my studio.

That was our pathetic little dessert last night. I felt sorry for it as it was reduced and it was the only one like it. Also, it was totally out of season (like fruit!) as I think those are Halloween colors. (Reminds me of the displaced Xmas mildew above). The careless teen-aged grocery bagger let him slide sideways, making his features adhere to the roof of the plastic protective package. By the time I got home, it was doubly pathetic. Tasted good, though.