the top hand

worth 20 minutes

2010-04-23T10:33:00.001-06:00

bitter? sure she's bitter...

2010-04-19T20:19:00.005-06:00

This weekend we had a little sleep over visitor... Be (aka Kramer) came and stayed with us for 3 nights. Marie was less than amused...She went on a partial hunger strike, she refused to eat her crunchies. Only canned food, that's where she drew the line.

Things were lively over here as they are when Be enters the equation. It's generally a non-stop action packed adventure.

Sparky LOVES him. As far as she's concerned, Be can do whatever he wants...

Marie wants to kick his ass. (to put it bluntly) and by the way, "I'm not eating my crunchies!!!"

Since we didn't seem to get the message with the partial hunger strike, she took matters a step further and shredded a roll of toilet paper... The levels one has to stoop to in order to communicate in this household!!!

2010-04-18T17:59:00.004-06:00

check this out!! Long story short, or more accurately medium... through any number of coincidences and happenstances we ended up getting to see this fantastic display/parade of the mardi gras indians. Now my understanding of all of this is rudimentary at best... but here goes. In the old days black people were not allowed to participate in the mardi gras celebrations/parades. so they had their own celebrations in other parts of the city. To honor the Indian tribes that protected the run away slaves they began to dress up as indians and developed "tribes" and like the 'krews" of the more traditional mardi gras parades had a hierarchy and structure of their own. any hoo...
They don't have a set route for their parades even today, but on st. Joseph's day (after mardi gras) they all gather and have another parade and celebration in a park. This year the traditional St. Joseph's day gathering aka Super Sunday, was postponed because of rain and it happened to be when we were there. It was amazing:

the scenes you see on their fronts and backs are all beaded. The detail is absolutely amazing. It takes a full year to make these costumes and cost thousands in materials not to mentions the time involved.
these people in blue are from the 9th ward.
the head dresses can weigh 150 pounds

there were bands that marched along with the "indians" and you could just go along as part of the parade if you wanted to, or stand on the side and take pic's. I've never in my life seen anything like this. And as it turns out just got to see it as a matter of luck. It couldn't have been planned. what a dang blast this trip to New Orleans was. The whole thing was like this in the sense that just by luck we'd end up in the middle of one exciting event after the next. I keep thinking, perhaps I'm done having to go there... but you know, maybe not....

New Orleans

2010-04-10T21:17:00.007-06:00

I just got back from New Orleans ...again. For some reason I seem to find myself going there again and again this past year. This is the 3rd time. There's something about the feel of the place and how everyone calls me "baby". Ok that does me in. Call me 'baby' and I'm in your power. It's my kryptonite.
This trip there was a parade every day for one reason or another, or no reason at all really. I spilled off the plane and into the pirate parade... the theme was "it takes a pillage"
sorry this is so blurry, but I'm afraid we'd experienced a bit of the local custom of the "go cup" by this time... I got into the pirate parade big time, arrrg matey! ("matey", is almost as good at "baby")We all collected quite a hoard of beads by the end.

Hey, who dat callin me wench??

evidence

2009-07-16T20:20:00.003-06:00

i swear I'm not making this up. I was on foot the other day with Sparky (our hero) for a little walk in the river bed. I see something, but can't quite make it out, or believe there's something that big down the way, and as I got closer I was even more amazed! check it out:

This thing is HUGE, and made out of the boxes you get at the post office, turned inside out and spray painted. There's a cockpit and looks like there's going to be a propeller soon. How the heck did the people get it down there, and what is the message here? Perhaps a statement on what a river landing would look like here...(none too pretty).

Dang, I love this place.

summer necklace

2009-07-05T20:22:00.004-06:00

Here's my summer necklace.( I made it!) I love blue in the summer, don't you? The shadow at the top of the photo is Bad Marie. She likes to help with these things... It's been a rather soggy summer here so far. Amazing and cool. They claim it's going to get hot next week. However, they've been claiming this for some time now...

get up or outfit.... you be the judge

2009-06-30T19:55:00.003-06:00

In my opinion, if you're at the rodeo, it's definitely not a get up. Went to the rodeo the other night. It's a bit corn ball for sure, but dang it, I love seeing people tearing around entirely too fast on the horses. It made me miss roping. However I don't miss the injuries...

employee of the month

2009-06-30T19:32:00.004-06:00

Sparky, security chief! On Friday, I was in hell, otherwise known as the DMV.... when I got home I discovered someone attempted to break into my house! Since I've watched hundreds of detective shows on TV, I'm practically and expert on crime, so with my carefully honed deductive reasoning skills I came to the conclusion that once they opened the sliding glass door, Sparky went into action and scared them off! There was some stuff rearranged in the studio, but nothing missing. And all pets alive and accounted for. Now one has to know that there isn't much to steal over here. My stereo could be called a "hi-fi" it's so old, and the TV is WAY old and has a vcr, no dvd player. so that may have something to do with it too. Never the less there's a happy meal in it for our security system!

Here's why I was at the DMV. I got a NEW CAR! well, ok it's used, but NEW!! to me. It's a toyota matrix. After I got it home I realized there were all these "m's" pasted on the car. It stands for matrix, but anyone who knows my deal knows that M's all over my car just won't do. On the back it said "m theory". who knows what the heck that means. I got the car at Beaver toyota. So I was able to just peel the M's off the thing, but now on the back it says "beaver theory"??? I haven't quite decided how I feel about that, but I will tell you for sure, there aren't many cars that say beaver theory out there, so if you see one, chances are it's me.

art is everywhere

2009-04-25T21:14:00.005-06:00

In the last few weeks on the usual ride, these sculptures have begun to appear. This was one of the first. I don't know if the picture shows it but there is a purple plastic cup at the top which to my way of thinking is the most clever use of a plastic purple cup known to mankind.

Sparky approves.

As time goes along another appears, and more elements are added to them.

This week the artist has out done his or herself. This beauty appeared out of nowhere. It is a round platform mounted on a ceiling fan, mounted on a rolling office chair. There are streamers (designed to scare the heck out of horses no doubt) hanging down, a tiny mirror, a bell. All made up of junk found, dumped out in the arroyos where we ride. The whole thing spins . Keno the horse thought he'd smell it, and bonked it with his nose. The bell rang, the whole thing began to spin, and the streamers flapped...whoo boy, that was WAY more than he bargained for.

The artists identity is a mystery. I've never seen anyone carrying this junk around, or doing anything resembling sculpting... I hope to somehow make contact with this person. I am thinking right now a message in a found bottle and other articles of junk I've picked up out there. The idea is still in the formulation phase.

Brilliant

OK, I LOVE THIS

2009-02-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

FOR ME THE SCREAMING IS THE BEST PART:

New Orleans

2009-01-16T19:42:00.005-07:00

I am back from an all too brief trip to New Orleans. The weather was fab, even HOT!!! and of course the food really really good. The big biennial art show was interesting and some of it was quite delightful. Long story short, it was a great trip, I love New Orleans, and I will be going back there for sure.
One of the take home messages was TALK TO STRANGERS! No one passed on the street without greeting one another. At least a "good morning", and if you lingered even a second they would talk as long as you wanted. I found that to be really comforting somehow. I want to take that up as a habit, even in my own town. Here I am talking to a stranger...well actually it's a statue...

Here's Nancy talking to a stranger, well it's a statue too....

Now here's an actual stranger that we did talk to. His name is James May. He is a street musician and a pretty entertaining guy. He told us of his escape from the city, after Katrina, with his stuff in a boat. He left town in a truck with an "eccentric friend, his pit bull and pot bellied pig" wow. He sang us a song, "Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans" oh yeah.

travel time

2009-01-06T20:01:00.003-07:00

I'm getting ready to go on a trip to New Orleans. As is my custom, I'm asking everyone I know for suggested activities and advice. I've got a couple guide books too. So one thing I keep hearing over and over is that "New Orleans is a dangerous city, BE CAREFUL". One of the guide books had two paragraphs devoted to the safety tip of "avoid wearing beads!!" Now I personally think that may be taking things too far, being that I'm a fan of jewelry. Why, I think most events require beads of some sort. So in addition to reading up on the history and sights of New Orleans I thought I'd better brush up on my Robert Pelton Young while I'm at it.
I'm still very interested in people's suggestions. I'm not leaving til early Thurs morning, so if you've got ideas for me send on!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T14:54:00.002-07:00

I had the best New Year's day. It was sunny and warm and along with a few pals went to Santo Domingo Pueblo for a special lunch and to watch the ceremonial dances. First of all the red chile was either tied with the best I ever had, or maybe even the best. A bit of a bite to it but no too hot, creamy and over meat. The woman who made it made beans in case we didn't eat chile. Couple that with home made bread from the horno OMG the best ever. There weren't that many visitors there. So we were of about a dozen non-natives watching the dances. You can't take pictures so imagine this: There's a block of about 30 or 40 men surrounding the drummer. They are singing mostly what sounded so me like "ah way, ah way" and the beat of the drum is steady like boom boom boom boom and every now and again there's a pause just long enough to be like a long taking of a breath then again the boom boom boom. There are about 200 people dancing. They have bells around their ankles and shells tied to their clothes. The women have on black dresses and turquoise painted head dresses, they are carrying sprigs of evergreens. The men have rattles. so along with the drumming and singing there is the rhythmic pulsing of the bells, shells and the rattles are shaken every now and again. There was a man who held this banner that was probably on an 8 foot pole. the banner had a picture of corn on it, and was long and skinny, topped with a yellow doo dad and red feathers. He waved it around like a blessing on all of us. The dance was held in the plaza between the two kivas, and the sound echo'd off the adobe houses and reverberated inside of my body. I was so ready for this without knowing it before hand really. It was very moving and felt like just the thing to be doing on the first day of the new year. The dances went on all day. We didn't stay that long, but I feel it still ...

Here are some cattle. it has nothing to do with anything except a preview of the year of the ox

bumper sticker etiquette

2008-12-16T21:41:00.005-07:00

On a recent trip to Colorado right after the election I was struck by the lack of bumper stickers. While driving through Colorado Springs, I expected to see McCain Palin big and bold every which where, but no, nothing. really nothing. Later in Boulder I was looking for the Obama stickers everywhere, no, just a few discrete and rather tiny ones at best. Come on people, where's your team spirit??? Here at least two per car, and yard signs in every yard!! We are all about hanging it all out. The sign in the above photo was up the day after the election and it remains to this day, which brings me to the question:

When does one remove the stickers, signs etc once winning the election? I know all too well what to do if you lose, but it's been a long time... I know one doesn't wear white shoes after labor day, same with the straw handbag. But what about the bumper stickers??

I'm thinking maybe after the inauguration? We are having our own inaugural ball here at least amongst my pals. So come on people now, lets show our team spirit! Get out the ball gowns and rhinestones and show your support!

snow day here at rancho de top mano

2008-12-15T15:59:00.005-07:00

Since I'm the boss here, I've declared it a snow day. I did this after attempting to go to work this morning, sliding around school buses, sliding into curbs, narrowly missing death and destruction. So hanging around the house seemed like a better thing to do.
I know it doesn't look like a big deal, this bit of snow on the bench, so here's a sunny day comparison for ya.

For some reason this snowfall made the streets particularly slick. In typical fashion, all city and school officials completely ignored the prediction of this storm and so no snow removal/de-icing activities began until far past time to head out to work and the kids were bussed to school only to have to turn around a get home shortly after arriving when they decided to close the school anyway.(now there's a run on sentence for you)...There were wrecks everywhere. anyway, we're safe and sound.
Sparky hates this staying in business....

Here's the festive tree in the snow. Nice to see from inside the warm house.

since my old computer broke and I lost all my photos, (I know, I should have backed up...) and I'm trying to get used to the new puter and new versions of various software, I've been a blog dilettante. So to get back in the saddle, so to speak, I'm going to be careless with the edit. I'm going to post willy nilly. Bear with me. thank you.

3 dog weekend

2008-11-19T21:43:00.005-07:00

I had my friend's dog "bob" for the weekend, which if you include "be" aka kramer I had 3 border collies... OMG what a circus. I decided to try and get a picture of the three of them sitting together on a bench. Cute idea... but more difficult than you might imagine to execute. First of all Sparky would NOT get on the bench if one or more of the others was up there first. OK fine.

Kramer being young would not sit still for anything, and was forever trying to get some action started with one or both of the others...

Finally I got one shot of the 3 of them, but of course the light wasn't the best and Kramer was on his way out but you can see a great weekend was had by all.

This is it!

2008-11-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'm singing to the choir here, but if you didn't get to the early polls, get going, gidiup over there NOW!!
Tonight I'm going to an election party, we are all required to wear blue. I hope it's over early so I can finally get some rest!
Over and out, be careful out there, and again if you didn't already GO VOTE!!!

saving kittens

2008-10-31T18:53:00.002-06:00

today characterizes my life lately. I have an agenda, things to do, places to go, people to see, phone calls to return ... I had a ride today on my great steed Keno with my friend Sandra. When we got back to the barn, un-saddled, grain given, we had intentions to get on with the day and the many tasks that take up friday afternoon.... oh no, starving abandoned baby kittens crying out in hunger stopped us in our tracks. The mother either abandoned them or else was killed by coyotes, but the up shot is 4 young unweaned kitties sure to die without intervention. Now I'm all about nature taking it course in theory, but in the real life moment with tiny kittens crying out , forget about it. The rest of the afternoon is long gone taken up by mixing up milk replacer and feeding the little cutsters with a tiny little bottle. OMG After their little bellies were full and they were on their way back to a sleep, the task of getting others involved and taking over is at hand. It was not long until easily undone by cuteness gals came along and we were able to pass on for the moment our responsibility.... until tomorrow morning....

It will be OK

2008-10-05T20:30:00.003-06:00

It's a scary time and also a hopeful time. Some of you will recall a mailing from me in 2003 when the Iraq war started and we were all so outraged. The gist was that despite all the hatred and fear, there were millions of acts of love and hope and it was up to us to let our best sides come out no matter what. I think many of us are suffering from outrage fatigue. I am blessed by spending most of my days with people in their 90's. What they tell me over and over is that we've been through bad things before and somehow it all turns out ok. So I say let's choose hope and love and let our best and most creative sides come out now more than ever. Don't forget to vote.Vote for hope and possibility. Vote Obama. Early voting starts here this week!! (on paper ballots!) But of course this is the beginning. We have to stay on our elected officials like stink on poop. Let's get moving on alternative energy, health care for all, and a responsible end to this ridiculous war in Iraq. Meanwhile do what you can to know your neighbors, and participate in making your place in the world better.
OK, I promise I'll get back to less cosmic issues. I've just come back from canvassing the 'hood, so I'm energized and hopeful. I hope it's contagious.

I'm back

2008-09-28T19:25:00.006-06:00

I'm wondering if anyone even checks this blog anymore it's been so long. Ok frankly I've been obsessed with politics. Over the edge obsessed. I watched dang near every minute of both conventions. After the klan like "drill baby drill" thing, I was distraught beyond belief. I have been unable to focus on much of anything. And then in the last several days with the end of the world coming and all.... forget about it. I thought it trite to post about how cute Kramer is, or the process of choosing my stucco color. (I settled on "palomino", a buff color, by the way.) Despite telling others to remain positive, I was worried, deeply worried.
But, somehow I'm getting a grip on myself. After all the queen of the secret law of attraction, Oprah, is no doubt working on it. And damnit Jim, I'm an Occupational Therapist with PSYCHIATRIC training. Occupational Therapist, occupy yourself!! So in the hours I've previously been wandering from room to room aimlessly, I'm now filling with repetitive tasks such as sewing books, and doing dishes. I'm putting that anxiety to work for myself. I have volunteered down at the Obama headquarters going door to door getting people registered to vote and for sure out to the polls. I have some ideas to make art about this too. So take heart, I'm now sure it's all going to be ok. I promise I'll go back to the cute Kramer and Sparky posts, and I'll fill you in on my current run in with the law....

Our newest employee

2008-08-01T13:28:00.003-06:00

One day last week I came home to find I had a new employee... I didn't realize I had a position open but he assures me he's the guy for the job, whatever it is. As it turns out he lives next door and has a full time position as an assistant computer consultant. However he's pleased as punch to moonlight over here as Sparky's deputy. She's thrilled silly to have help tearing up stuff, digging holes, herding birds and barking at the other neighbors' cats. As it turns out the owner is happy to have something else for him to do, so we rigged up a system for opening and closing the hole in the fence so he has access when I can supervise the shenanigans.

His owner is young and wears prayer beads. Nice as pie, but again young and wears prayer beads. The puppy's name is "be". There you have it. But imagine if you will an episode of Seinfeld. The door opens abruptly, in slides Kramer, who immediately has his head in the fridge doing inventory. This is the puppy in a nutshell, (a Nancy Lang observation) so his name over here is "Kramer".

Sparky is no longer acting like an older dog... Life is quite a bit more exciting for us all, with an occasional rest period.

google snaggletooth

2008-07-27T19:35:00.000-06:00

For the last few days I've had my good pal for decades, Nancy Lang here for a visit. OMG we had so much fun. When a person tells their friends they are going to Santa Fe for a visit they are expected to go and do certain things. So Lang felt as though she should be able to report that she went shopping on the plaza, visited museums and art openings, and hiked in the desert..and of course Spanish Market was this weekend. So we did all those things, in a dilettante fashion. We blasted through Site Santa Fe, went to one really cool booth at Spanish Market, shopped at the jewelry supply store and took Sparky for a walk in the river. Then the rest of the time we spent making stuff in the studio. Oh yeah and we went to a few lame garage sales.

We talked about how doing the metal work was so satisfying and the process to intriguing then proceeded to spew expletives as things didn't work out quite how they should and I proceeded to drill into my thumb with the cordless power drill. We discovered the limits and possibilities of the hand held butane torch, including making a silver bezel with it!

It's great how another person in the studio keeps a person going. We're both doing stuff so you keep the commitment to what you're working on, when alone you'd toss it aside and go watch tv.

I think Nancy has the most amazing ability to put things together in a pleasing way. She can take a pile of crap and the next thing you know it's an amazing combo of fun.

There's nothing like an old friend for being able to truly be yourself. We can launch into song or story at the drop of a hat, and despite not seeing each other but a couple times a year can say the same thing simultaneously as if we had a script. I just hate the thought of going back to the work a day world tomorrow....

Heliotown

2008-07-06T19:20:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling rather dull and boring lately. Others tell me of their various ideas, projects and goings on, and I have nothing to add, NOTHING.... so while I'm rotting along with my work a day existence enjoy a bit from yet another excellent art show by Thomas Ashcraft

Not a good day for the animals

2008-07-04T18:26:00.000-06:00

Long story short, or maybe medium.... I was all ready for a nice ride before the fire crackers started this morning, only to find my trusty steed with a quite swollen leg. I'm sure all parents understand this universal law, and any of you who have animals perhaps... if they are going to get sick or injured it will be well after 5PM or on a weekend and better yet on a national holiday! It's the 4th of July and sure enough this was bad enough to call the vet, probably shouldn't wait until monday. He was not in any particular distress, in fact was not even limping on his leg, but that's his nature. He's a stoic. However, a bandage, which I could manage on my own, and antibiotics, which I couldn't procure without the ver, were in order. He was good about being dr'd today which he isn't always, but now that he has the bandage Mr. curiosity is feeling pretty bad. He doesn't want his horse pals seeing him like this and besides that, he's convinced I'm trying to poison him with the bitter stuff I'm putting in his grain.. (antibiotics)
So poor Keno is hiding in his stall full of shame.
In other pet news, Bad Marie, afraid of the non stop fire cracker action, has been hiding under the bed all day..Sparky is glued to my side. Little Peep, the loyal and hard working house cat, is just fine.

Lucky number 7

2008-06-29T08:34:00.000-06:00

ART REVIEW!!
Site Santa Fe is having it's seventh biennial exhibit. Now these things are experiential, experimental and sometimes so modern it's beyond my comprehension. So I went to the public opening with skepticism in my heart. I only skimmed through the various articles written about what it was supposed to be about and came away from the reading with the notion that it's about creating a community. OK, whatever.
I have to tell you, OMG it was so dang fun I can't believe it. I'll be going again and again to try and get more out of the thing. They have built a ramp that winds up and around inside the building so you see the various bits from several different angles, and part of the experience is watching others having the experience. There's this movie of people walking along projected onto this long wall. If you touch one of the people walking they turn and talk to you! (there are a couple that sing) Once you let go they turn back and continue walking. It's so surprising and wild!
OK now to the personality test part... You are winding about along the ramp, way up at the top of the building and you come to a place where a decision has to be made. You can either make a left and go back down a ramp to the floor area, or turn right and jump. Its probably an 8 foot jump onto a stunt pad. A significant drop for sure. In the last couple days I've had a couple women tell me they are going out with a guy and wonder if it's going to be a thing, or not.. so I suggested go straight down to Site Santa Fe do not pass go. Without talking too much about what's about to happen see how the man responds to the various pieces, but especially to the jump.
Does he without hesitation fly off the thing?, Does he offer to hold your belongings while you jump? Does he suggest jumping together? Does he make a quick left and avoid the jump all together? and MOST IMPORTANTLY, how do you feel about his response to the situation? As you can see, you could tell a lot about a person by their response to the jump.
After this experience I have to admit I'm a little bit ruined for the gallery scene, where one is supposed to talk quietly, and look, don't touch the art. I almost got kicked out of a gallery the other night for fooling with the reostat light control. It made the painting look so cool though!!! (the artist was there and into it too, but the owner was less than amused....) I'll get a grip on myself again I'm sure, but now I don't want to just look, I want to experience the thing.

the big one

2008-06-15T16:27:00.000-06:00

So I'm now the big 50. It just seems impossible. However, I was at the bank the other day and thought to myself,"it seems odd all these kids are running the bank..." well, they aren't exactly kids, I'm just older. Think about it, a guy younger than myself might be the president soon (I hope). Holy buckets, that can freak a person out.
We had a huge party in celebration, and in the course of discussing being 50, my friend who is 45, last year diagnosed with brain cancer and a poor prognosis, said simply, "you're lucky". Well that's the truth now isn't it.
Here's what comes to mind in thinking about how lucky I truly am, no particular order and certainly not complete.
1. duh, I have ponies!! How many gals can say that!
2. I have great ponies. well behaved, and talented. and they love me.yay
3. I'm surrounded by fascinating, generous and kind people. These people seem to love me back despite my faults.
4. I get to live in a great town. It is a place where there's room for all sorts. I love that.
5. I have a great job. I love to complain about it, but the fact is, I pretty much dig what I do, and have minimal irritation, few meetings and a flexible schedule.
6. I have always had enough. plenty to eat, a nice place to live, wonderful friends, enough dough to do what I want, but not so much that I take it for granted or get bored. This has been true my whole life, so I feel as though I always will. That's a lucky thing right there.
7. I feel good physically most of the time.
8. OMG, can't forget Sparky, my dog, and the kitties. I just love the kitties. nothing more relaxing than seeing a cat draped over the windowsill. And Sparky is a dang fine dog, with a huge fan club of her own.
I could go on and on, as I lead a charmed life. I know that in seconds it can all change but right now, for this minute, I'm so so fortunate. I'm grateful.

steel, oh yeah

2008-06-10T14:55:00.000-06:00

OMG I discovered I can make black steel earrings with bailing wire. I was so happy to figure this out. I told my pal winslow, the blacksmith about it, and he said the technique I used was rather toxic... (I got it red hot and doused it in liver of sulphur)He went on into a rather lengthy explanation, something about ferrous metal, migration of carbon inside of molecules and lost me in a quick hurry. Kind of a buzz kill. He did say he'd show me a safer way which i'll share with you when I get it. Remember however, this is one of the men who DIDN'T say "oh let me run and get my drill" when my car was in obvious need of manly attention. Anyway, I did blacken steel and lived to tell about it. And dang if it isn't just the look I was going for....

Here we go again....

2008-06-07T09:28:00.000-06:00

I am persistent in my attempts at better photography. I am onto this idea of yucca blossoms lately. This one is not quite right, so I think I'll zoom in a bit. (wait for delay...get the frame just right, although it's hard to see in the screen on a sunny day....

Mr. curiosity wonders why this plant is getting so much attention....

I love this time of year, don't you?

2008-05-31T20:36:00.000-06:00

It's morning and so me, Keno, and the chief of ranch security, Sparky are out for a survey of the kingdom, or queendom as it were. It's glorious out weather wise, but a little dry and dusty. On a side note, Keno, the horse, and Sparky, the dog, have a funny relationship. They both want to be in charge of each other... Sparky is forever running behind Keno and giving him a little nip on the heels. Keno feels he's way too good to be herded by a dang dog so refuses to budge! Later when Sparky is nosing around at god only knows what kind of putrefaction, Keno sneaks up on her and gives her a little nudge with his nose which she finds quite aggravating indeed. anyhoo, back to the dry and dusty , but glorious day...

in the midst of the dry and dusty is a splash of red, lets see what that is, shall we?

Oh man, it's the end of may isn't it!! Hello gorgeous!!

Later that same day, it's time to check out the art... It just so happens that we all want to go. Here is Bee goofing off with outdoor sculpture..

Bonnie and Bee trying to make off with the outdoor sculpture...

Margaret and I have decided to make a point of talking to the featured artist at these things this year. Margaret was quite disconcerted by a series of paintings and sculpture the artist, Greg Lomayesva did of shoes for this show. She thinks it's a trivial and "frivolous" subject for an artist with his obvious talent. Now I frankly disagreed with her and was shocked by this opinion, being a serious fan of shoes and all they represent!! Here she is preparing her question, and how to word it so that she doesn't instantly piss him off...

She got the question out brilliantly, something to the effect of what was the symbolism in the subject of shoes for him? anyway, he had a little line about "the missing", but then revealed that he had a significant other who was obsessed with a particular shoe designer. Greg didn't get it, so decided to paint and sculpt shoes designed by this guy and felt after he did this he understood this designer and his art form. It kind of sounded like he broke up with the significant other however....
All this in one day, what could be better???

Pony Pics

2008-05-28T19:37:00.000-06:00

I am a disaster at photography as you may have noticed. It doesn't help when my subject is less than cooperative. I took this first picture then realized I needed to zoom out a tad.

So while I'm boogering around with the dang camera, Keno gets it in his head that the camera might actually be a piece of peppermint candy, his greatest weakness:

It goes from bad to worse:

She likes it!

2008-05-16T08:01:00.001-06:00

I made this necklace for my pal Kim Nickens. As you can see it's a bit odd,and peculiar too, for that matter.You can't tell from the photo but the bezel is a shotgun shell, and behind the laborodite stone is text from an old book. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about it. But as it turns out she digs it! It was one of those pieces that makes itself and it wanted to look just like it does. You just shouldn't get in the way of the process when it goes like that.
Tonight is art show night and promises to be good at least in the snack department. So stay tuned for the next review.

another art show review

2008-05-04T15:46:00.000-06:00

This week the gallery show night had to be brief as my art show partner had another engagement at 6PM, so we had to have laser like precision in our choices. First we zipped back to the Gold leaf to actually see the art. It was so crowded at the opening no one actually viewed the pieces.It was fun, including a little chat it up with one of the artists about her pieces. Of course her name got lost in the bowels of my sieve like mind. I was rather whiny that night.... I really wanted to see big expressive paintings, lots of color and emotion. This (photo above) was in the paper, and it looked like it might fit the bill. So off to the Vantana Fine Art gallery. This painting and several like it by John Axton were there, but to my surprise and disappointment these were about 5" X 7"!! sheesh. Nice enough, but they would have been way more fun on a huge canvas. Margaret theorizes that it's because people aren't parting with big canvas cash these days. The art in general was again nice enough, but nothing that really grabbed me. Tucked around a corner they were serving refreshments. Holy Buckets! Pay Dirt!!! Shrimp and coctail sauce, crustini with artichoke spread, procutto wrapped cheese, skewers of fresh veggies, plus wine and fizzy water. Now the art is looking much better to me...
Smartly I decided to deal with the refreshments in 2 stages. Food first, then go back for a drink. That way I have one hand free! Oh so clever... however, stupidly, I brought in my large but incredibly attractive purse. While standing and popping a large shrimp into my mouth, my purse goes swinging off my shoulder. Somehow just in the nick of time I saved myself from being the lifetime achievement winner of the BAD MARIE award for destruction in a retail establishment. My purse was headed straight for an expensive sculpture!!
I've now decided that the more attractive the purse, the more difficult it is to control. No more purse on friday night....

finally

2008-04-27T19:01:00.001-06:00

I finally got something in the etsy shop! (see the button on the right side of the blog and it will take you there). It was a huge deal for me to figure out, sheesh. My reputation as the world's worst photographer is not in jeopardy by any stretch of the imagination. Too bad too, since these earrings are really cool. In real life they twist and turn in the light and are so summery and fun.
anyhoo...
In my day job work a day life, I had the annual employee performance review meeting with the assistant manager of rehab services at the hospital. I have to admit my mind wasn't there. I was drifting in and out of consciousness throughout the thing. We got to the usual question which is "what are your goals this year?" I was instantly thinking about the various art and jewelry projects I wanted to get done, the look of my blog and etsy shop,and on and on along those lines. I must have looked confused because he then said "you know, your career objectives, continuing professional enhancement course work..." Oh yeah, my job....frankly I'm so over it.... the big reward in my job is given by management to the people who fill forms out correctly and completely, not the one who helps patients get better. (ok I've said it and I'm glad...)I did come up with some sort of an answer....
anyway, I hope you visit the shop, and I hope I can keep making stuff.

I made the copper "bead" out of a penny

why does art have to be so heavy?

2008-04-20T19:43:00.000-06:00

A little warning here.... This is what my mind has been like since returning from Seattle. Sheesh, I don't know what's going on, although I'm blaming allergies and/or menopause. The scrub pines here are putting out clouds of caustic yellow pollen that is permeating the atmosphere. Since the wind is blowing a constant gale it can't help but clog the synapses. Anyhoo...

This is some of the stuff I packed home from my trip...No wonder that suitcase was so heavy, not to mention smelly.
I went to a GREAT art opening Friday night. Here's the deal on it. In this town whenever money needs to be raised, fund raisers go to the art community and ask for donations, and hold an auction. This has been a very successful way to gather funds for worthy causes. The artist gets no dough, but of course a little free publicity and glam. With the economy like it is right now the artists are not exactly raking it in. When people cut back, paintings and sculpture go to a lower place on the priority list. The artists here have become the needy cause!So, the Goldleaf gallery is having a show of about 40 artists and ALL the proceeds go directly to the artist.(the gallery is not taking a cut.) It's like a benefit for the artists! There are some real art stars represented here, so to have them all together in one place makes for a stupendous show. (Sam Scott, Paul Shapiro, Carol Mothner, Geraldine Fiskus, and the list goes on) The party was packed with people parked blocks away and standing room only as it were. Any locals reading this, the show hangs for a month, so get over there and see the work. It's worth the effort and the parking will be a snap now. Sorry you missed the scene, it was really fun!

actual art from artfest

2008-04-09T20:19:00.001-06:00

I made this necklace in my Nina Bagley class. It has some issues in the structural stability dept, but as I look at it I think I know how to fix it. I'll show you how that turns out. Nina gives a dang good demo I have to say. The idea of the class was to make a necklace out of spare bits and things we found during the time at artfest. Some people brought a lot of stuff from home, but I chose to take the class description seriously and used stuff I found on the beach and some odd bits of chain. I think it turned out kind of cool, don't you?

More tales of Artfest week

2008-04-09T20:02:00.001-06:00

On our way up to Artfest, we stopped into a little antique store in Pulsbo. While looking at all the delicate (and breakable) chochskis Vanessa lost control of her quite uncharacteristically attractive purse (She has been known for carrying the ugliest abomination of a pocketbook in the past) and a glass trophy of some sort came crashing to the ground....The shopkeeper came over and carefully gathered up all the shards in a little dust pan, and began to wrap them up as you know... you break it you buy it. Luckily it was only about $5. It was not 5 minutes later that somehow, and we're not even sure what exactly happened here, but Judy knocked over the rat ugliest pair of bookends you've ever in your life seen. Again here comes the shopkeeper with her little dust pan... She wrapped both of these broken items up like they were treasures to carefully pack in our carry on luggage. As those two were coughing up their cash she asked casually "Do you ladies shop together often?"Thankfully no" we replied. Anyhoo, the above photo is an assemblage of the two broken treasures henceforth known as "the Bad Marie Award". It has a slight resemblance to my cat, Bad Marie. It is given to the most blunderheaded of the bunch, which as it turns out is a tough decision.

I showed the actual Bad Marie the photo of the award. She was not amused.

back from artfest

2008-04-08T19:34:00.000-06:00

As usual Artfest was so fun. I laughed non-stop. One of my friends here at home noted that the people I know from artfest only know the part of me that makes art, not the work a day home health care worker... I'd never thought of it like that, and it makes me think, maybe that's why I'm so comfortable there. anyhoo, I'm short on logic and coherent thought right now. I think it may be due to breakfast withdrawl....
Every day there was a perky young guy handing me a plate with suasage, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. A person gets rather used to this.... Hopefully my mind will come back tomorrow and I'll tell more...

More McGiver

2008-03-23T15:05:00.000-06:00

Cars are a pain in the neck. I'm finished with a tough visit, a visit you just want to get out of there while the gettin's good kind of a deal. In the process of backing out I barely tapped the edge of my car on a wooden retaining wall. (the wall was fine) The entire front of my car fell onto the driveway. It was impressive. I quickly picked up the entire front of my car....and rammed it into place. Luckily I had a roll of duct tape in the trunk and I put a couple pieces on there to hold it and got on with the day. I remembered that my old pal Gene Nix the former race car driver referred to duct tape as "100 mile an hour tape". Since I wasn't planning to drive that fast in the next few days, I figured I'm good for awhile. So during the next 10 days I start with my best dumb incompetent girl act. I show most the men in my life my duct tape handiwork, indicating I don't have the first idea how to go about fixing a thing like this (not entirely true), and I'm sure the guys at the garage would charge me thousands (true) to fix it, OH my what's a girl to do sort of a motif. This was getting me nowhere. In a hurry. So I pulled out the stops and began to ask them if there was black duct tape and if so, where would I get myself some. Nothing, not a one of them said "oh, let me run and get my drill..."
So the only thing left to do is fix it myself. I thought to myself, "what would McGiver do?" (not entirely true) Actually I thought to myself "what would Kieth "no glue" LoBue do?" So long story short, I fashioned a bracket out of some sheet steel I had laying around, drilled the appropriate holes in the car and the bracket, a couple of bolts and badabing badaboom...good to go.

Solo girl strikes again.

The unfortunate part of the deal

2008-03-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Zorro died. This is the bad end of the deal with have with the universe when it comes to having animals in our lives. Chances are you are going to outlive them. Many people choose not to have animals because of this. I think of it like this: it wouldn't suck so much when they die if it wasn't so cool to be with them when they are alive.
anyway here's some cool things about zorro
He was huge. really big, over 16 hands.
He liked nothing more than to wrap his neck around your body and place his big head in your arms.
He was very brave and ready for action.
He loved everyone.
He greeted me with a very vocal whinny every morning when he lived in my backyard.
He had big ears that flopped about as he trotted.
He had big lips he liked to bonk together making a "bop bop bop" sound.
A lot of horses have bundles of fears and neuroses when you get them, not Zorro. He was the poster child for equine mental health.

So I'll miss him. For all those reasons and a few dozen others.
(for those of you who know me , Keno and Amigo are very much alive and well)

Choose Love

2008-02-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

This just in from Nancy Lang. Isn't it cool?? I was going to blab on and on about recent life lessons, and how I'm just not cut out for corporate life, but let's just leave it at this, choosing love is easier said than done sometimes. worth trying though.

is it illegal?

2008-02-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I went out to get the newspaper saturday morning, walking by my car, I noticed there was a giant, and I mean really big,(bigger 'n dallas) phallus drawn in the dirt on the side of my car. At first, I was really freaked out, I mean eeeuuu. Then I remembered i'd been to a bar the night before to see a blues band and so rather than someone creeping around in my driveway drawing on my car, it was more than likely some of the young punks that were out in the parking lot expressing themselves. And for sure they got a powerful point across. Nothing says "wash me" like a giant penis on the drivers side door! It still occurred to me to call the sheriff. (ok I'm in the city limits so I'd really call the police, but it sounds more western to call the "sheriff".) But then I'm wondering is it illegal to draw in the dirt on a persons car? It didn't scratch the paint, a wet rag removes it, and yet, it's objectionable material. Or is that a matter of taste really? I wanted to call the police at least to get a humorous posting in the police blotter of the newspaper. In this town, this topic could start quite a local controversy along the lines of "is it art?". In the end I washed it off with a little 409. I noticed then it was signed, the initials were tucked quietly around the top of my tail light.
The photo is of a necklace I made recently. It says "bless your heart". I'm hopelessly bad at taking photos.... but anyway, I say "bless your heart" to the little burgeoning artist who graced my car with his expression of bad taste.

Politics

2008-02-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

This is a photo I took of the Barack O'Bama rally last night. really. I guess I should have studied my camera manual before attempting a night picture... So use your imagination. It was wild! I decided to go to the rally with my pal Mary, and we left plenty early, but I think just about everyone in town decided to go too! A normally 10 minute drive took an hour and 15 minutes. It was the biggest traffic jam I'd ever seen here. Once we finally got there still an hour or so early, the line outside was way way long, and just kept getting longer. People kept standing in the line even knowing full well we weren't going to get in. It was so dang cold too. amazing. The other thing that was amazing is that they weren't blasting any songs or chants or anything, but never the less the people stayed in line just in case... Mary tried to get people in the spirit by singing "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.." No one could get into it. (including me, frankly) Anyhooski.... There were thousands of people who did get in and thousands of us who didn't, so Barack came out and talked for a couple minutes to the frozen throngs,(see photo above..,use your imagination) and it was great. I hate to put my enthusiasm behind anyone anymore, as it seems if I like a candidate, TV show, etc it's the kiss of death.

This is why I'm supporting my dog Sparky for president. She is hardworking and has strong family values. She's all about recycling (she'll eat anything!) and she's all about "change". More on this to come...

the shadow side...

2008-01-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with anything except that my horse has trouble facing his "shadow side". Note the suspicion in his eye...
I was going to blab on and on about people angsting over whether or not you can call yourself an artist if you don't show in the galleries. (prompted by a panel discussion on "living the creative" life I attended on sat.) But all I have to say about this really is call yourself a sprockethead if you want, and just get in your studio and make stuff!! My horse says, "snort at the dark side".

coming to a mailbox near you

2008-01-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

I opted out of the lunar new year last year since I couldn't quite bring myself to get into the pig... but for god's sake I'm all about lunacy, in fact I've been referred to as a lunatic, so I can't go another year without some sort of recognition of the day of the loons. This year is an homage to Banksy a London graffiti artist. Now, there's a guy who can really capture a rat character eh?

holiday driving....

2007-12-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

It's a regular winter wonderland out there this morning. I think the top hand is going 2 hour delay for work today. Which reminds me of my drive home from colorado on sunday... It was cold cold cold (about 10 degrees), and it had snowed about 6 inches of powder the morning I left. The streets were fine though thanks to the competent road crews. I'm headed out and doing fine. However, the windshield got pretty gross from the sand and general road gunk. I hit the wiper fluid and nothing. The wipers are going just fine, but no cleaning fluid is coming out. So I pulled over and cleaned up with snow. Then after just a brief bit of course I had to do that again. Stop # 3 or 4 I went into an auto parts place and got some more fluid. Then when I checked it, the reservoir is full. OH HELL, the thing is just broken. Off I go again and sure enough I'm pulling over every little bit with my windshield completely occluded. I stopped at a rest stop and a trucker helped me, or I should say tried to help me. We determined that everything was hooked up right and like that, just not working. The final diagnosis was, this sucks. So I thought, "what would McGivor do?" I got a sock out and soaked it with the washer fluid and put it on my windshield wiper. I was pretty proud of this solution, which worked for about 15 minutes, then froze, or dried out, or whatever, stopped working.
So next stop 7-11. I bought a bottle of 409. I practiced in the parking lot, driving and holding my left hand out the window squirting the windshield. Much harder than it sounds especially going 60 mph. That sort of worked enough to clear a 3 inch square of vision. As it turns out 409 is kind of greasy and didn't seem to be working that great. Another stop and I dumped the 409 and filled the bottle with the windshield cleaner. I got pretty good at all this and it included leaving the wipers going on intermittent. Every so often my hand holding the spray bottle would get hit with the wiper and got all scraped up. Remember it's cold as hell out and I'm getting washer fluid all over everywhere. So now I'm bleeding all over the place so I put my scraped up finger in my mouth, eeeuuu. Oh yeah, nothing like the taste of antifreeze. That can kill a dog right? There are dogs that weigh more than I do. I couldn't decide whether I should go to a dr or a veterinarian if I started to show signs of eminent death. I stopped again. Had to wash my hand and guzzle a ton of water to dilute the antifreeze in my system. Now I'm certain that this is plenty of evidence to support the long held theory held by many in my family, that I'm an incompetent nincompoop. I went back to the car and for some reason tried the washers again and eureka, they worked. The sun came out and the mist coming off my tires reflected little rainbows. From my vantage point, there were all kinds of colors coming off the back of the chevy. I knew I was going to make it home.

This is a raven out in my front yard probably saying "just because you made it home and didn't have to go to a veterinarian, doesn't mean you aren't an incompetent nincompoop...."

a loose screw

2007-12-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I was checking out Kieth LoBue's holiday sale page and saw that he was making post earrings out of phillips head screws. These are post earrings with either surgical steel or sterling silver. I don't do that well with posts in the first place and there was no way to specify which you wanted and I'm wildly allergic to the surgical steel. So, I'm thinking, I wonder if I could come up with a french wire version. I found some old screws in the stash of hardware and started to hack away at one. 2 saw blades and no progress later.... OK, gotta hit it with heat. The creme brule torch does the trick.Then how to hang it with wire so that the thing doesn't fall apart . I made the screw into a rivet of sorts And on and on, you get the idea. Next thing you know, hours have passed, I'm still in my jammies but I do have an earring. The piece has some technical and aesthetic issues, but I did make a wire version never the less. The point is, and really this is the point, doing stuff like this keeps a person in the moment now doesn't it? This is perhaps what keeps most of us making "art" really.

just another day at the office

2007-11-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

I often find myself in rural parts during the course of my work day. .. One day I went to see a patient in the middle of nowhere as usual. She is typically in her bedroom hanging out and the deal is, knock and go in. To get to her room I have to cross through a dark living room. I went in and had a good session with the patient. At the end I crossed again through the dark living room and almost stepped on something. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dark and then I saw it... what the hell? sure enough, right there, bigger than Dallas Texas, in the middle of the livingroom floor, was a dead bunny. I looked closer and could see it had been shot in the head and there was a little rivulet of bunny blood coming from it's little head wound. I've seen enough CSI episodes to know that it hadn't been dead long. I didn't linger but went to the kitchen and marked down my next appointment on their calendar. On my way back through the bunny crime scene also known as "the living room" the patient's daughter was there and began to ask me about the patient's progress etc and like that. So now just imagine, there we are having a rather normal conversation while standing next to the dead bunny. Now I wasn't about to mention the bunny but it was all I could do to keep myself focused on the conversation given the fact that one false move and someone was going to step on the dead bunny, or at least in the little pool of blood. ah jeez. I realize that the photo above is a cow. But not only could I not mention the bunny, I couldn't be snappin a picture of either, now could I ???

tin foil

2007-10-28T20:15:00.000-06:00

There's a bit in the Maira Kalman book, THE PRINCIPLES OF UNCERTAINTY, about her demented aunt who tried to pay for a sandwich (I think...) with packets of sweet and low. Interestingly enough this is a common form of currency amongst the nursing home "memory unit" crowd. Which led me to start thinking about how tin foil is a common item used by psychotic people to defend themselves against the entities their delusions lead them to fear. You know, like aliens, microwave radiation, sprocketheads...(Oh forget the sprockethead reference. Everyone knows the only defense against them is a variable speed power drill, preferably cordless with a fully charged battery. )
They put tin foil on their windows, on their heads, in their pockets, anywhere the foe might seep in...
That led me to think, "what did stone age paranoids use to defend themselves? What came before tin foil?"

ambivalence

2007-10-21T09:02:00.000-06:00

so here it is, a year and a half after the big break up... I made it through the survival phase: can I pay the bills??, what do single persons eat for breakfast?, do the rules of gravity still apply to me? . Now into the NOW WHAT? phase. I don't remember feeling like this for a long time, anxious and angst ridden, what to do with my life kind of a thing. I'm trudging along day to day rather bored and unsettled. so of course the opportunity to get myself embroiled in a heartache kind of situation comes up. or at least in MY head it comes up....20 years ago yippie skippy off i'd go, now I'm a little bit more reticent, but still worked up enough to lose sleep over thinking about the possiblility.
I made this piece to channel the energy. It involved power tools, which is always a good release, now isn't it? One side says "no way, stay out, be safe", the other is "well maybe a good jolt is just what the dr. ordered!"

excess and debauchery

2007-10-10T19:41:00.000-06:00

the gal on the left pretty much sums up how I looked all day yesterday after being out at the blues jam on tues night, a school night.... I didn't get home until 10PM!!! and I had a second glass of wine, which turned out to be a BIG MISTAKE. and actually the gal on the left looks quite a bit better than I did yesterday now that I think about it.
the guy on the right with the guitar is Joe Kelleman, maker of fine amplifyers, aka Jo Mama. (www.jomamamusic.com)

the church of equine science

2007-10-08T07:15:00.001-06:00

It's sunday morning and here I am coming home from my ride. There is a brisk touch to the air, and both the horse and the dog were spooky. The coyotes must have been out there somewhere although I didn't see them... When starting out I was headachey, and distracted. I think I was worrying over money, should I get new tires on the car I hate or find myself a good psychotherapist?? personal safety or getting 6 hours closer to self actualization, always a dilemma...In the midst of this pondering, Keno, the horse, stopped abruptly and puts his head in the air, the beginning of a whirl back towards dodge city...
bringing me back to NOW. So that's why I call it church. The rest of the time I'm right there riding the horse, stopping sparky from eating rotting garbage, looking for rusty junk to add to the latest art project, pulling cactus out of sparky's foot, being there. badabing badaboom I'm in the moment, the headache is gone...who needs psychotherapy, I think I'll go ahead and get the damn tires....