Prayers for the Upcoming Future

 

Well... Happy Martin Luther King's Birthday! It's a lovely cold, sunny day and a good day to remember the lessons of Martin Luther King and all he did for the furtherance of civil rights in our country. The picture above was taken of yours truly at MassMoca (in North Adams Massachusetts) back in November. It seems appropriate that this particular installation was about the Internet as a sort of modern day place of worship. Bob and I made good at the offered shrines.

Bob preaching his heart out at the pulpit, probably praying that the election results were a bad dream...

Anyway, let's all hope we somehow survive the next four years of whatever is in store for us. Heavens help us!!

Ai yi yi yi yi

This posting was supposed to be up the other day but the computer has been... well "peculiar" and probably virally infected (avian flu??). We took it to get repaired and it rewarded us by being exactly the same when we brought it home. Yowzah. And sometimes (like right now) it works fine... I'm taking advantage of that miracle!!

So Bob and I are on the way out to shop and there was a lot of activity at the road's end. Turns out (gasp!!) lil' ol' Jeremy Swamp Road is getting a traffic light at the corner of it and Route 67! Progress comes to our neck of the woods. And although this may signal the urbanization of Jeremy Swamp Road, it's a good thing because when they fixed all that flood damage, they installed a bridge that has so many cross struts and weird accordion uprights that it's very hard to see around. Bob and I were wondering when an accident would occur. So here's another picture on our way back home...

Thar she blows! Swinging in the Jeremy Swamp breeze! It hasn't been hooked up to work yet, but it's there. Hope it works better than our blasted computer and I sure hope it has nothing to do with Frontier!!! Maybe the town officials will have a champagne-fueled installation celebration. Maybe it will help with all the melon-head wannabes that use our road as a short cut. Maybe not!

And how's this for weird?! Looks like a moon-scape. This is occurring on the other end of town. I'm not quite sure why, but there has been a big bi-partison infrastructure project to redo the exit/entrance ramp off the highway. Lots of big dirt piles and large equipment... doing something. They engineered this in such an austere way: huge barren swoops of dirt. I certainly hope the plants some native shrubs or ground covers! (And you will notice hay in the rear view mirror of Bob's truck. We were on our way home form scoring 20 bales when I shot this picture.

And it isn't the loveliest time of year, but its is the Winter Solstice for which we actually received abit of snow. We're celebrating and I hope you are too!

Catch Up!!

 

So much to catch up about! First- and most importantly- it's Robin the Good's Birthday! Hooray for Robin; yes, the bestest doggo on the whole, entire planet.I can't believe she's 10! She looks great and acts like she's still a teenager... even the vet was impressed when he saw her last week (for routine shots). Let's hope to share our world with Robin for many more years!

And as if to celebrate Robin's birthday, nature gave us the first snow of the year. Kind of a heavy, wet snow and the wind is supposed to pick up this afternoon, but it was a charming surprise this morning. Neko's hiding in the barn; my horse definitely hails from a warmer, sunnier climate originally!

Another first! My first headcold (*1) since pre-COVID! I've been gasping and honking and my nose has been sheeding copious amounts of phlegm. I had forgotten just how stupid and unpleasant an old-fashioned rhinovirus is! (*2) 

And finally... I am sure that many things have gotten in the way and prohibited me from posting but let's be honest: The outcome of the last election threw me (and plenty of other sane, reaonable and intelligent human beings) for a big ol' loop. I mean really?!?!!?!?!? And as we count down the days until the orange menace assumes the throne for the second time, I guess we should take stock of all that is important to us- including this illusive thing we call "democracy". Fully one half of our country saw fit to send him back into office (despite all the awful things he's responsible for- like COVID deaths and a dreadful January 6th insurrection (and too many others to mention here!!) because of "the economy" and "the price of eggs". Just you wait; those things will pale in comparison to the disaster about to happen. Ugh.

*1). I tested myself as Bob had been sick a few days previous to my falling ill- although his symptoms were different. We've actually never had COVID! Let's keep it that way!!

*2) But you've gotta love Bob! He saw me photographing my old kleenex in the bathroom waste paper basket and never once questioned why I'd be doing such a thing. Artists understand...

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!