Sunday, November 30, 2008

Foliage

30 November 2008, 10 AM
It is exceedingly important that we learn the forms, and not only the foliage, of Love, so that when the dead of winter comes, we can recognize the naked tree for what it is.

The leaves will fall from our tree
out back every year. I was caught
unawares this morning by bare
white branches, but I know
what sort of tree we planted,
budding or dormant in snow.

This is not blind faith.

Even if you fall, you’ll find your feet
again, take my hand,
walk up the stairs behind me,
aware that by your love,
and you by mine,
we walk or run or fall.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

New Sculpture


I am *all* sculpted out for a while, but very pleased with the results of today's work.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

What kind of sandwich are you?

Ruth- I promise I only filled out the questionnaire once. ;-)




You Are a Club Sandwich



You are have a big personality. It's hard for anyone to ignore you!

You dream big. You think big. And you eat big.

Some people consider you high maintenance, but you just know what you want... and when you want it.



Your best friend: The Tuna Fish Sandwich



Your mortal enemy: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Memory of Eden


Inspired by Sting's Desert Rose (read an English translation of the Arabic portions of the lyrics here) and my recent devouring of the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

Have been listening to this song repeatedly as I paint, and in it I hear a lamentation of what was lost in the Fall, and also a search for some shadow of that intimacy in romantic love. His metaphors are poignant, the imagery dances in the mind as he sings--an unmistakably masculine expression of something beautiful and tragic.

One of my favorite images in the song is that of his visions of Paradise being "tied to a horse that will never tire." They are moving swiftly--and ever away from him. The search has no end. But the thing-searched-for is so alluring and provocative that he cannot cease to search.

I have too much time on my hands...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Bizarre clothing

I had the unfortunate experience yesterday of perusing the "aisles", so called, of Burlington [Bizarre Clothing] Factory. I went looking for, go figure, a coat for my daughter.

It took me at least ten minutes to find evidence of a coat section, because it was completely hidden behind the bedlam of "MEN'S FASHIONS", "WOMEN'S FASHIONS" and "BABY OUTLET" signs, and there was no sign whatsoever of organization to these clothing "sections", so-called, until you walked all the way to the back of the store, where the children's clothing is hung haphazardly in aisles, supposedly by size. The children's jackets were against the back wall, also supposedly hung by size, though I had my doubts by the time I left the store in a haze of confusion and psychological turmoil.

It's not just that the items in the store were ill-organized. They were also oddly shaped, leaving me to wonder as I moved from one rack to the next (searching for coats, mind you, and at this point finding none) what manner of human would fit into such a sweater as *this*, or why it was that a designer felt the need further to ruin a completely hideously conceived pair of pleather pants by adorning them with knots of fuchsia faux fur.

I shall never, I repeat *never* darken the door of that horrendous store EVAR AGAIN.

Except for maybe this evening. I need to get my daughter a coat, and I hear it's THE place for that kind of thing. I figure it can't possibly have been as harrowing as I'm remembering it, and I did, eventually, find a couple of coats which might possibly fit the bill for the gril. Wish me luck.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Back at painting...

My work for today. I started this one last night, late, and finished this morning.


After I finished the one above, I sat for about 45 minutes *trying* to paint, and nothing happened. Well, three or four cruddy paintings happened, one on top of another on a single canvas. I finally set that aside and started fresh on a smaller, square canvas, and this is what I came up with. It's about 5 x 5 inches, so the face was quite a challenge.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Mena's Palace, New Orleans French Quarter

I'm in New Orleans with my husband right now, missing our kids but having a pretty good time. Rather than paying $20 each for breakfast this morning at our hotel, we ventured into the French Quarter and found a small establishment on Rue de Chartres (I miss Paris!) called Mena's Palace Restaurant & Bar.

They looked as though they would obviously make the majority of their money in the afternoon and evening, judging from the selection of liquors and beers available. Regardless of when business peaks for them in the course of a day, I am inclined to return for breakfast again sometime this week. The coffee was *very* good, the service was a perfect balance of friendly and unobtrusive, and the food was very tasty and reasonably priced. We cut our expense for breakfast in half and enjoyed a much more interesting and locally flavored environment than we would have in the restaurant at our hotel.

George MacDonald

"Home is ever so far away in the palm of your hand, and how to get there it is of no use to tell you. But you will get there; you must get there; you have to get there. Everybody who is not at home, has to go home."

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