House Party- BobnRita

C-C-C-limate Ch-Ch-Changes

2012-03-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised that we have any horse left! Because the weather has turned warmer (well, maybe not tonight but it is supposed to up to 60 degreess by Wednesday!) Crispin started to shed his impressive winter coat- with a vengence. I began to casually curry him on Sunday and 45 minutes later, I was still coming up with clumps like the one above. I left wads of horse hair around for birds to use as nest making materials. I am certain that Crispin enjoyed getting a lengthy grooming session as I'll bet all that departing fur is itchy. He was less crabby for a little while.
Has anyone else noticed that there are a great deal of spring birds singing already? We even have ducks on our mini-pond. Last year, they had to be satisfied with swimming on the stream as the pond was frozen solid and under snow. And they're back so early!
On a particularly warm day a few weeks back, I spied a snake on the dirt road. Talk about bad luck! Not only does the snake come out on a 60 degree February day, but then he gets run over by one of the two or three cars that travel down that road on a typical day. I returned the next day, armed with my camera, but the snake was long gone. No doubt someone else's lunch.
I had to go back and read my several previous blog entries as I couldn't remember if I posted about the snake or not. I've told a few friends the snake anecdote and let's face it; the weather this winter has been super or scary depending on which side of the bed you wake up on. A friend reported on blooming crocuses and we've heard stories of all kinds of other anomolous spring appearances. I saw a forsythia bush blooming on the way to my mother's house. I'm glad to embrace an early spring (despite groundhog prognostications) but I'll be the first to admit that it also alarms me that everything is a month or so too soon.
And then a friend reminded me that they're changing the time this weekend. Am I crazy? Didn't that used to happen a month later too???

The Woman Who Mistook the Laundry Pile for Her Dog

2012-02-26T14:52:00.003-08:00

Isn't that cool? When Jules and I are out on our morning walk, we like to jump on the frozen puddles and break the ice. (It makes both Jules and I very silly to do this). But as we approached this particular puddle, I was drawn up short and pushed Jules out of the way because it formed a perfect ice spiral. Of course, I had neglected to bring my camera and I had to return about an hour later to shoot this picture. Bob observed that it looked almost like the rings in the center of a tree. I pointed this out to a couple walking their dog and they were suitably intrigued by it, too. Luckily no one had smashed the ice!
Getting back to the title of this posting, however: I sing to Jules fairly frequently (between you and me, Jules is a saint because I'm no great singer). So because of my messed up left eye and the habit I now have of taking my right contact lens out when I'm in the house I see in a corrupted and odd way. I was changing my clothes in the bedroom and I glanced over to Bob's closet and saw (what I took to be) Jules. I started into some (truly stupid) song about going for a walk with my dog and I was going on for quite a while while I tied my boots and simultaneously realized that the large black shape was really a laundry pile and my dog was just then entering the bedroom, wondering for whom I was ululating. Jules looked embarrassed for me but I think our dirty socks enjoyed it. Maybe I should take the laundry on our walk tomorrow.
Here's another shot, but including my feet for scale (shod in my new hiking boots).

Sick O" Single Socks

2012-02-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

The equivalent of airing one's dirty linen in public is exposing the alarmingly disorganized contents of one's sock drawer on the Internet. But I'm nothing if not brave.
Bob says (correctly) that whenever he washes the laundry, he winds up with a fistful of singleton socks.... and they're all mine! I have no idea where they have all fled to; they're probably seeking sock asylum , longing to reunited someday with their straying mate. I just bought five new pairs of socks and do you think I can locate half of them already?
I suspect Jules (who's father was a thief) swipes some of them. I have spied him slipping down the stairs with head tucked low to his chest, slobbering over one of my socks. If only he'd take the whole pair!
I haev vowed to spend a rainy afternoon sorting and discarding those socks who have been orphaned for too long- or maybe I'll just resort to furtively wearing mismatched hose.

A (Free) Chicken in Every Pot

2012-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Bob and I were told, by a Stop and Shop check out person no less, that if there were no rotisserie chickens done when you arrived starving and impatient for rotisserie chicken, you are to be given one free. This started a free rotisserie chicken avalanche of sorts. For the last month and a half, I have arrived at somewhere between 4:30 and 6:00 and I have procured a free chicken on every Friday except one. We have had at least four (and I think five) free chickens. The poor young woman who mans the courtesy desk sees me coming and has a free coupon ready Maybe it seems like sort of a scam, but they guarantee the readiness of their birds.
Now it's become a game of sorts; will dinner be free? Or will we finally have break down and pay the already reduced price of $5.00? And the chicken is consistently delicious, too.
It was even weirder tonight as I left the Stop and Shop after being told that the chicken wouldn't be ready for another 35 minutes and went to KMart to "kill time". I selected a (highly reduced) pair of really outrageous rainbow woodgrain tights (that were all of $1.00 after discounts). A message promptly came on the intercom, "Attention KMart shoppers..." Apparantly, there was a cosmic glitch and none of the cash registers were functioning and absolutely nothing in the store could be sold. We were told that we either could come back in an hour or return tommorrow. Do they want to sell us this stuff or not???
Following a lovely- and free- meal I have an appointment with destiny to obtain those thrilling leggings...
Lucky me!

I Dunno... Is It Me?

2012-02-12T11:05:00.001-08:00

Maybe it's that spell of winter (even if we've barely had a winter) that is highlighted by president's birthdays and apocryphal ground hogs (that do or don't see certain shadows), but there is sure is a lull that kicks in about this time of year that makes it hard to get going. Today was (unexpectedly) cold and windy and drove me running indoors with an unattractive red dribbly nose and no urge to visit the great outdoors. So I cast about the homestead- interior style- for a likely subject to photograph. See, I've even had a tough time posting a blog entry...
Bob and I are enjoying the gentler pursuits of serious studio time, so househole projects be damned! (Plus we've had no money to really buy and install raw materials.) But come this spring, there a few things coming down the pike. Like planting the gardens: only this year, the beds are dug and there is manure a-plenty so we're expecting a bigger, more managed harvest. Also, the top o' the stairs is slated to become Rita's clothing closet and I just cannot wait. I spend major amounts of time running up and down the stairs gathering elements of my wardrobe from several far-flung closets and dressers. We'll also be slathering stucco and quartz rocks on the face of the chimney and making it a worthy and artistic statement. And recreating the outside seating area (loathe to call it a terrace; sounds too grand!) in cement and stone instead of rotting wood. I'm tired already.
The only photo I succeeded in concocting today was Jules's fishnet pantyhose laying on my studio floor and resembling a dancing frog... or is that me? I think we all suffer just a bit form darkeness and cabin fever.

I Seemingly Have Fewer Fingers (A Good Thing!)

2012-01-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

I should have said that I SEE fewer fingers, which is really a good thing! I am constantly trying to explain to family and friends just how it is that I see since my eye disaster. The weirdest aspect of this whole thing is that it's bizarrely selective; I can see some odd details really clearly and other bigger picture items not at all.
So the other day it occurs to me that I am seeing fewer fingers. If I close my right eye, my left (badly damaged eye) was seeing a fuzzy sort of hand approximation. I was essentially seeing three fingers for every one. (Lots of "ghosting" and haloes.) But recently when I close the right eye, my left eye has made a great leap forward. My left eye is resolving in some fashion, and now I see two fingers for every one. That's a major improvement! There' a lot less visual static and I can detect details, like seams on my winter gloves.
The piece above is an illustration of that fabled hand/eye collaboration. I should try making a piece that expresses the multiplicity of fingers!

The Well-Dressed Beast

2012-01-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

I broke out Crispin's raincoat the other day as unpleasant (albeit not freezing) rain was scheduled. I'm not much on blanketing horses, but after my previous blog posting lamenting Crispin's insisting on standing around and getting wet, I thought to dress him up. He didn't care.
At least I got Crispin a bright red and black housecoat; you should have seen some of the horses at the barn! There is no end to people's bizarre ideas of what a horse should wear. Decked out like pink plaid tea cozies and peculiar high neckline horse hoodies, the unfortunate beasts made to wear these costumes resemble galloping sofas. Recent studies have proven the superiority of a horses natural defense: the woolly winter coat. (But of course, you don't have to buy anything so how can it work?? There is no lack of money to be made selling horse owners crazy merchandise...) On the other hand, that heavy winter coat gets wet and the horse could take a chill. But like I said to Bob the other day about Crispin, "Well, we haven't killed him yet!" so we must be doing something right!
A final and ironic note, however is that Crispin's rain jacket seems to have lost it's waterproofness so when I removed it the next day, he was soaked through underneath. It was probably worse than if I had done nothing.
Okay, I found a lovely selection. And this poor horse, mind you, was out on a sunny warm day dressed (as someone so aptly described it) in a hybrid between lingerie and armor!

Richard Serra Comes to Breakfast!

2012-01-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

While enjoying the toasted version of Bob's bread for breakfast, I realized that the available slices laying on the plate reminded me of something... modern sculpture. When upended and set at (approximate) right angles, Bob and I discovered that there was a distinct echo of some of Richard Serra's monumental sculptures. (The plastic baby (from a previous year's Mardi Gras King Cake) adds scale). Funny how art winds up appearing where you least expect it!

Whoops! Almost Forgot to Blog!

2012-01-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy that I almost forgot to blog! And I think my one year blog anniversary is rapidly approaching... I'll have to do something really special like put up more pictures of our deranged dog. (See above photo. Sometimes, Bob wonders why we allow these truly weird animals with sharp fangs to live in our houses with us... And Jules wasn't even growling; he was sleeping upside down.)

So it's been busy around here because both Bob and I applied for grants for art making and boy howdy would it be nice if at least one of us got a grant this year. Make it both of us and I be REALLY overjoyed). Filling out grant applications is an odd process as the people who "create" the forms are so obviously not artists or even vaguely right brained. (I think right brain is the right one right?) Anyway, the on-line forms suck and have all these crazy pitfalls, like concealed slide bars and areas that you can't cut and paste words. You have to type them all out. It's archaic and arcane. And not at all interesting. But there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

And Mommy isn't doing really well. My mother is 91 years old and I keep saying her batteries are wearing out. She's had a good long run but I suspect that old quality of life issue is beginning to raise it's ugly head. Mommy is at present in a convalescent facilty and not too happy about it. I'm really not sure what to do...

Jules just woke up so I need to take him outside. I promise to post a more insightful blog tommorrow. That's if I don't barf listening to rabid republicans yattering away about how much money they make. Screw them!

At Play in the Fields of the Horse

2012-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

So Crispin may be going through a tough few days, but he excels in manure production! We obtain at least a wheelbarrow full every day. I have been joking that Bob and I fight about who's going to clean up the pasture every morning; it's actually a very pleasant way to spend a quiet 15 or 20 minutes with Crispin. Most mornings Bob beats me to the task while I'm away on my walk with Jules.
And we truly mean this: anyone who wants some manure...C'mon down! It's easy to get as we truck it up to the vegetable garden which is right next to the driveway. Take it home and compost it or layer it directly onto your garden beds and by spring it will be all broken down and good to go. Your garden will thank you!

Miserable Horse

2012-01-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Crispin has had a couple of rough days. And doesn't he just look it? Nothing like a wet horse! Yesterday, the wind spooked him and he ran straight into something and scratched his nose. He wasn't going to die and I cleaned it off and put a bit of antibiotic on it but he felt sort of sorry for himself. (And I couldn't ride him because the noseband of his bridle would have crossed right on top of his cut. It was such a nice warm sunny day, too!) Anyway, I gave him extra hay and some carrots and fluffed up his bedding as I heard it was going to rain or sleet or snow overnight.
This morning? Crispin is running aorund, eyes all wild and soaking wet; his hay in the barn is untouched. Obviously the something that spooked him yesterday is near the barn. Poor Crispin is miserable and agitated and the wind isn't helping. I carried a pile of his hay out to the field so that he can temporarily avoid the stall. I don't know; I think I'd be inside today, trying to avoid that drowned rat look. But then, I'm not a horse.
Hey! The weather is unpleasant today: chilly and windy and loads of rain. But I still say, at least it's not snow! Here it is mid-January and we're feeling like March... No complaints.

Product Placement Before 9 am!

2012-01-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning found me musing on whether we could establish some kind of product placement in this blog, ala Morgan Spurlock. I was confronted first with Ajax dish detergent and then...

And finally:

Why, this Sunday serendipity could result in all kinds of lucrative advertising. Or at least a year's supply of dog biscuits. Anyone have a connnection to Proctor and Gamble?
On other notes, today Bob felled a few of the scrappy little trees left over by our vegetable garden. The weather continued nice (especially for early January) but a couple of these trees proved pretty darned tough to topple. Bob resorted to several come-alongs and I retreated indoors. One tree produced a tremendously evil noise as it scraped past the carport (otherwise known as my future studio...) but managed to miss it's mark and fall rather precisely between the remaining trees, the carport and the propane tanks. Alls well that ends well. It also porvides fuel for next year's burning. I guess you can't start preparing too soon.

Let's Build a Stairway to the Stars!

2012-01-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

A fine example of things that go flap in the night! Bob and I are laying in bed and it's 9 or 10 degrees outside with the wind picking up and howling. And there's that crash-crash-crash noise again as a swell of wind lofts the louvered door on our whole house fan. Neither Bob nor I had remembered that this had been an issue the last time a stern wind blew... and there goes the heat in the house.
The whole house fan trap door is, of course, inconvieniently located above the stairway where the ceiling is at its highest. The ever intrepid Bob had to wedge the ladder across the hall and out over the stairs... it looks just awful but I'll take his word that it's safe. But I'm an expert at bizzare household accidents so maybe I'll just go hide when he ascends to the heavens.
And speaking of freak accidents I had a lulu the other day. After visiting Mommy (who is in a convalescent facility) I stopped to get a cup of coffee. I walked all of ten feet from my car to the door and maybe another twelve feet to the counter, where I tried to order a cup of French Roast, but settled for regular. I walked back to my car and attempted to locate my keys. After and exciting hour of turning the car and every article of my clothing inside out, I felt as if I had entered the Twilight Zone. I even borrowed a pair of plastic gloves from the counter teenagers and went through three giant garbage cans, thinking maybe in a pre-occupied moment I had emptied my pockets and teh keys into the trash. They weren't there and it was a hideous enterprise and very much a piece of bad performance art.
Finally, I admitted defeat and called everyone I know who lives (somewhat) locally. No one was imediately home, but my sister Beatrice and her sidekick/life partner John valiantly agreed to drive down and rescue me, if not my car. I finally connected with Bob who was instructed to meet us at Baetrice and John's house. In the meantime, a phone call comes in to Dunkin Donuts and I hear the counter teenager saying that I was still there. Apparently a man who was in line behind me picked up my keys and drove home (an hour away!) with them. At least he realized his error and was gallant enough to drive them all the way back to East haddam and the Dunkin Donuts. Along with two bottles of wine and some really good homemade biscotti. He felt that bad!
Alls well that ends well but never stop in East Haddam for anything as there has to be some bad energy there. This is not the first time odd things have happened to Bob and I at that intersection...

Staying In and Chowing Down

2012-01-01T17:23:00.000-08:00

Look at this! Bob really outdid himself. I think it was one of the best dinners Bob has ever put together, and that's saying something as he's a superb cook. The salmon was wonderful, broiled and delicately marinated in a tablespoon or so of soy sauce... skin side up. Then garnished with lime slices and capersand parsley. Boy was that good!
It was accompanied by homemade macaroni and cheese and escarole cooked with garlic and a bit of asparagus and these tiny shivers of shredded carrots for color and contrast then sauteed. It was such an amazing combination with a terrific balance of sweet to savory to bitter. Perfection!

We had leftovers for dinner tonight and it was every bit as good.
As a matter of fact, how could you improve on the day? It was sunny and over fifty degrees. I beg to compare it to last year, when the second of January already featured several feet of snow and biting cold... stay tuned for how we celebrate the first anniversary of our January 3rd real estate closing.

Carrots and Sticks in the New Year

2011-12-31T17:22:00.001-08:00

That's Crispin talking (straight) out of both sides of his mouth: "I will be a good horse", "I will be a bad horse". A fine way to begin the New Year!
As is typical of many a person, I begin the New Year utterly thankful that 2011 is done, over finito. And making lists... that's a traditional way to start off the new year. Here goes:
*I will eat more salad in the New Year.
*I will get more exercise. (How mundane can I be?!!???)
*I will be nicer to Republicans and Tea Baggers and Conservatives in the New Year. (Well, you have to
include a few things that you won't actually do, but they sound open-minded and possible!)
*I will spend more time making art this year. What with our moving (which seemed like it would never be
completed) and my eye injury, I didn't get the studio time I needed and wanted. And I typically have such
a good track record of studio application!
*I will try to worry less about money. I guess I could tie that to generating more money, but even worrying
less would be a big step! And making more money is very problematic in this economy.
*I will prioritize even more effectively than I already do. (I think that sentence was guilty of some pretty
awful grammar but you get my drift.) I already spend plenty of time with my dog in the great out of doors,
but I'll spend more time... that good, well used time. I refuse to spend one second more than is absolutely
essential on the phone arguing over bureaucratic details...
*I will cure cancer, eliminate prejudice and inequality, give everyone a raise, stop wars, pick up litter, feed
the hungery and reverse global warming. And that's just the first week of January. (And so, we return to
Janus, and that pesky habit of speaking out of both sides of the mouth).
That's it for now.

Seasonal Disconnects But Happy Endings

2011-12-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

It has been a terribly mixed up holiday season thus far. Unfortunately, the matriarch of our clan (aka "Mommy") was in the hospital for Christmas. She was not up for visitors and was having a tough time of it. It was decided that as we had been elected to prepare the meat course of the main dinner, the feast would be moved to our humble domicile. As it was our first Xmas at home and our tree was especially dramatic we agreed that ours doors were open and the festivities would happen here.
The blurry photo above attests to the remarkably cheerful scene, despite Mommy's absence. (I think it's blurry as I was trying to hurry up and take a photo before everyone ducked or turned their heads away from the camera). Anyway, we all ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much and had a really nice time.
We spent the last several days visiting Mommy in the hospital and she seems in much better spirits today, as she is discharged to a convalescent facility for a few weeks. Let's hope she's on the mend!
To much food was the theme this year, as Bob and I staggered from groaning board to groaning board. Two good friends were gracious enough to invite us to Christmas Eve at their house where the fed us at least 23 courses of amazing diverse and delicious food stuffs (thanks to Byron and Dan!). Boxing Day saw us gathered at the home of another good friend (thanks John! Ever the host sublime... makes it look so easy, too!) So now I feel as if I need a month of fasting and pilates or Zumba (what is that anyway?)
And here's someone else who was charmed by Christmas. We gave Jules (our beloved doggy who is trying to climb on my lap even as I write this) a huge chew bone. I think he was scared of it initially. Now he's carrying it around and banging into tables and doorways.

And even better is that some Secret Santa left Jules (who is very good) a doggy bag with a chew toy and a stuffed animal on our doorstep- anonymously! Jules is VERY HAPPY!!!

Feels Like Spring! End of Year Bloggery

2011-12-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

It's the Winter Solstice and it's 53 degrees... thank goodness for Climate Change and Global Warming! The funguses are all aglow and the grass hummocks in our swamp are gree. The horse is still grazing (in preference to hay) and friends report forsythia is in bloom. Egads! But I'll still take it over snow any day...

So I stumbled around our big and over to our "island" and snapped pictures in defiance of December. I know, I know; it could change tomorrow.

So could so many other things. Like Mommy is not in such great shape and she is 91 years old. I have been having sleeplessness and anxiety about her death. We all know it will happen sooner than later but you can still never be too prepared even if you are a follower of Nature and accept that everyone/ everything will die. Contemplating lovely saprovores (is that spelled correctly?) that help break down the dead things are a good place to consider life's cycles. Winter should be a tiime of sleeping beauty and there is a splndid confusion in these bright colors and almost "vernal awakening" images. But they're helping me get through these shortest days of the year...

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

2011-12-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Last year, as Bob and Jules and I resided in a "borrowed" home for the holidays, it just never seemed like the Christmas season. Two things make Christmas seem like Christmas were missing- the tree and the Christmas cookies. The tree was missing as we were living in a temporary house that was full of the previous inhabitant's possessions and there really wasn't space for a tree and tragically, the oven on the stove didn't work. We were so deep in the delirious doldrums wondering if we'd ever get our house that Christmas seemed extraneous.
This year, however, we were blessed with the gift of a spruce tree top that was busted in that fluke October snow storm. Bob thought to put the tree- fully ten feet tall- in our stream and it survived just fine. Erected in my studio, which has the very tall ceiling, it looks really spectacular, entirely making up for the lack of tree last year.
I have yet to bake any cookies, but we had a small dinner party last night and we all gathered in my studio around the woodstove and the tree. It was quite magical!

Horse-y Hilton

2011-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

This is an interior shot of our little horse barn. It's a very misleading barn as from the outside, it appears about half the size it really is. Bob did a bangup job of tearing up the floor and finishing the walls so that there are no edges or nails to get cut on. (Note the "handle with care" graffitti!) The addition of the chandelier was my touch!
Crispin has downright luxurious and commodious acommodations, seeing as he was living in a herd of seven or eight mixed ponies and horses with a run in shed and round bales of hay to squabble over. I was so afraid that he'd miss his pals. But instead, I think he's sighing an equine sigh of relief. He seems so relaxed and nonchalant. Who knew? Maybe he wanted a home like this forever...

From the outside, we erected a windbreak as the barn was positioned with the doorway to the north. We wanted Crispin to have 24/7 access so that he can stroll out at midnight and enjoy the full moon and a nightcap of hay and water, but still have protection from the wind. It seems to work just fine and he is savoring his freedom.

The electric fence seem to be working fine. Don't get me going on how complicated that was! Ten minutes before the horse was delivered, Bob and I were still not sure whether we had it rigged right. But no escapees means it's working, and Crispin doesn't seem to mind his incarceration in a glamourous prison system!

My Christmas Pony

2011-12-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

In truly remarkable contrast to my greatest fears- that poor lonely only Crispin would spend his first TWO WEEKS running around the paddock like a pony with his head missing, trumpeting and pitifully whinnying for all of his absent friends- Crispin has out done himself in expressing poise and equine composure. He has been peacefully grazing and engaing in such horsey exercises as sleeping standing in the sun. I apologize for having doubted his "equine-nimity". Maybe he finally feels (correctly!) that it's a pleasure to not have to fight for every bit of grain, or every flake of hay. And he seems to be enjoying the company of Bob's sculpture, too.
He seems to like his new house; Bob spied Crispin with his head sticking out of the stall, watching for human activity early this morning. So far so good! Here's another picture of the contented and relaxed horse. He made funny little snuffle-y whuffle-y nickers at me this morning. Just in time for Christmas... what more could a girl want??

Musical Interlude Number 156788

2011-12-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

At least someone is having a good time! The irrepressible Jules is all smiles as he has a favorite ball (or twenty) thrown into a freshly raked pile of leaves. He's so agreeable and willing to just get on and have a good time... something that has been in short supply lately as Bob and Rita have encountered especially tough times in the household project department. Nothing at all has worked or been easy.

But Jules is a charmer and doesn't let anything get him down.

Thank goodness for dogs!

The Wild Kingdom

2011-12-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

The Gods of Completed Electrical Circuits and Bringing the Equine Home must be sour on Bob n' Rita as we have had nothing but really egregiously hard times since we embarked on this last major project of 2011. We spent several days stringing electric line (wires and tape) (and humming Glen Campbell's iconic rhapsody "I am a Line Man for the County...) and have yet to determine why we can't get a shock out of the system. The box clicks and the red light pulses. Bob got shocked (accidentally) when one of his smaller sculptures touched the postive and ground terminals so the box must be okay. I called Tractor Supply and received what seemed like good intelligence; we had neglected to complete a part of the system and still no go. Then I discovered a wire touching a post and we worked that out and it STILL didn't work. Baffled and defeated, we turned to ripping the floor boards out and finishing the stall. I'm outside and Bob is ripping the boards when he erupts from the building... turns out there's a skunk under the floor he just removed. I mean, we have been noisy as all get out. Skill saw running, we're moving wood and stomping around; you'd have to be deaf not to be disturbed and this partcular skunk is asleep? Just our luck.
We went next door and borrowed a HavaHeart trap and procured cat food to bait it and our older trap with. But we can't really complete our floor removal until skunk removal is done. This project is progressing too slowly! Bob actually turned to me and exploded wtih "Maybe we SHOULD eat the horse!!"
I know how he feels.

Unique Continuity of Jules in Space

2011-12-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

Jules, who was asleep at the top of the stairs, didn't know I took his picture and fooled around with it on the computer. He was laying on our nasty stained carpet at the top of the stairs, so I gave him a more fanciful crash site. He's tired as he ran around all afternoon, chasing balls and barreling at full tilt into the carefully raked piles of leaves that I'd assembled, ready to cart off to mulch the blueberry plants.
Bob and I are really tired, too, as we spent all (of a rather lovely day for the third of December!) day outside, finishing the horse fence and erecting several serious metal gates that Bob constructed. Tomorrow we have to pull up the floor in half the small barn and make a suitable stall for Crispin. There are so many details and odd its of things to prepare for The Big Day, when Crispin is actually delivered and can begin a new chapter in his life. Crispin doesn't know that he is to be re-incarnated as an art project. Yes!! First the dog and now the horse! Is there no rest for the animals of the BobnRita ranch?? Pressed without consent into becoming fodder for oddball practises and projects! Secretly, I think animals enjoy this sort of thing. It takes them out of the humdrum existence that is the fate of most critters. Crispin will have his own chandelier in the barn... how's that for falling into the lap of luxury?
Life here is never dull. But we could use a million days off (with pay, thank you). I'm so tired I can't even blog. But stay tuned as The Big Day approaches and we (no doubt) encounter all sorts of interesting mishaps and adventures once the horse arrives.

Beige Bloggery

2011-12-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

I never use these colors!! Or lack of color... sort of subdued beige and browns. But I liked the look of this chair (on the way to the dump) when it was seated on the fallen leaves. It gained a composure and dignity that it sure never had at our house.
Odds and bloggish ends: my eye was newly messed up by several doctors (no doubt well-intentioned!) attempts to fit me with a corrective contact lens. A mere three hours of wearing the lens one day and I swore I saw worse than I had previously. The next morning I called the office to complain of this and they had me re-insert the lens to see if the fogginess cleared. Well, it didn't so I had to high tail it back to Yale and have the lens evicted from my eye and life. I think we're supposed to try again with a different lens, but I'm sort of gun shy as my vision is worse (without the lens) than it was before. To be honest, I've been sort of excited that I could see the random thing with my left eye; very erratic but I'd be able to read the digital clock in the car, or see some lettering very clearly. I was starting to pick out individual leaves on the ground on my walks. And now? It's all sort of hazier than it was; almost like it was sanded with very fine sand paper so that it's blurry on a micro-level. I suppose that makes no sense to anyone. But it sucks!! I have two more eye appointments early this week; wish me luck.

More of What Artists Do in Their "Free" Time

2011-11-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

(And exactly what is "free time", anyway? Bob and I seem to specialize in lurching from one major project to the next. I admit to lying about all that free time we'd have after the chimney.) Here it is the end of November and we're still finishing up the horse fence. Which involved plenty of digging and driving in of all kind of fence posts. Remember us digging holes, several months back? Lots of holes as previously announced in another blog posting, in almost another life time...
So far, it resembles a mini Christo (and Jean Claude) project. We have hundreds of feet of electric poly-tape horse fence festooning the "back forty" awaiting final connection to the posts. As we are using several varieties of posts- mixed metal and wood- we need different insulators. Those are the plastic devices that afix the tape and wire conductor materials to the posts. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the company that sells you poly fencing doesn't sell all the various shape of connectors needed... thank goodness yet again that Bob and I are clever and capable and will create our own insulators and adapt those that are available. Bob thought to use those little plastic electrical tapes that are used to bundle wires. We found them at Home Depot in exciting neon colors (they were out of black)and it made the job that much more festive and entertaining. I think The Horse will likewise be amused at our sense of playfulness:

I am being ironic here, as it was a pretty miserable day to be doing this relatively lightweight job. It was drizzling and chilly and we were chilled to the bone.
Oh and an aside to all of our tasteful friends who no doubt will shudder when they see the screaming white plastic fence bisecting our property: we will replace the white tape with nearly invisible wire in the future. We are also sensitive to the graphicness of this tape fence, BUT as it offers superior visiblity, The Horse will see it and not try and run through it. It's a temporary fix to get Crispin home and carefully contained.

Catching Up and Thanksgiving Fragments

2011-11-19T16:45:00.000-08:00

This delightful chunk of carpentry derring-do is direct from the roofline of our BauHaus Chicken Coop. Bob removed this and a few other similar artifacts while tying the chimney into the roofline. Pretty punky wood and a surfeit of nails made for an interesting photo, but let's just say that I am glad to have this particular section replaced by sounder ingredients!
Anyway, I feel like I've been a tad remiss in the entry department of late and that is partially due to a last spasm of household projects inspired by the waning days of fall and the advent of true winter. We, as mentioned previously finshed the chimney and woodstove installation in the house- and haven't turned on the blasted blast furnace since! Also, Bob is enjoying the warmth of his own studio woodstove, again installed with the help of our good friend Joe.
Today we made impressive progress on the erecting of electric horse fencing. Some elements were already in place, including the electric box in the "equine facility". We fortunately inherited a good quantity of metal fence posts which we will install tommorrow. Today we dug holes and put in the heavier-duty cedar posts that will anchor the pasture. The Horse, aka "Crispin", had better respect the fence and appreciate what we have done for him. He will dwell in a superior (albeit small) barn which he will be able to access and exit 24/7 whenever he pleases. He has a nice view and expansive and commodious grazing areas... no complaints please.
Best of all is that Bob and Rita are free once that fence is complete!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

October Nor'Easter and Plenty of It

2011-11-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here we are in October, all ready for that first now of the season... Not! I'm certain I'm not alone in lamenting the apparent passing of this year's Halloween. So much for tricks vs. treats!

I know, I know; it LOOOKS beautiful but you can have it! Thnak goodness the snow saw fit to go and melt away. The last few days have been almost balmy: in the seventies and nice.

The newly finished chimney is emitting a fine dribble of smoke. We cooked and heated water for washing dishes and stayed warm. Bob just finished installing the woodstove in his studio so we feel somewhat prepared (hahahahahahaha) for winter.

What Day Is It Anyway?

2011-11-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hey! I know what day it is! It's 11-11-11 and this is the very first posting I've been able to do since thw famous Power Outtage of 2011. It's like "How many days were you out for?" We all get badges of Courage and Honor and Triumph in the Face of Adversity. We had no juice for eight days and struggled with schlepping buckets of stream water to flush and tossing out endless refrigerator re-stockings (after the losses due to Irene waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in September...) and figuring out how and what to eat for the next meal and wear to shower...
But it had it's lovely momnets such as the interior of my windshield. I sat in the car and collected swell images painted by Master Illuminator Jack Frost himself.
Here'sa few more:

I guess I should rejoice that I can still discover beauty in cold and ice as it seems last winter never left...

Thank goodness that the wood stove was finished only five days before we lost power! At least we were nice and warm. Don't get me started on the perfidy and lies of Connecticut Light and Power caused by their greed and deregulation! To hear them yatter on about how they could never have predicted a freak storm or the severity of snow on leaf-laden trees made me crazy. Never heard of underground line? I heard today that they will try and pass on the cost of restoring energy to we, the consumers. We already pay the highest cost for enegy in the country... Revolution, anyone???

Form and Function

2011-10-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

We are very fond of Blue Hubbard squash and were going to grow it in the vegetable garden this year but we ran late and it's not easy to procure the seed from any but secialty seed companies. So Bob bought this individual from a local farm stand and not only will we enjoy eating it for several meals, but he's drying the seed for planting next spring.
Thisone is ideal because it's a slightly smaller variety. A former neighbor gave us a specimen several years back that was so huge that it lasted for months. It rested on a pedestal in the living room as edible sculpture and then got sliced into four or five sizeable chunks that were then baked individually. Here's what last night's dinner consisted of:

Sort of resembles a vessel from an ancestral culture! Bob put a little local honey (from the same farm stand) in the cavity and roasted it for over an hour and a half. I just love the color throughout the whole process.

2011-10-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

My studio is undergoing yet another upheaval! With the construction of the chimney to accomodate the woodstove, multiple things (including boxes and the infamous flatfile) had to be shifted again. I am still able to work in the midst of all this chaos; the importance is to keep the table free of flotsam and jetsum. Behind the chair is a new addition to my studio furniture- and a welcome one! It's a plug-ugly chest of drawers in which I can store all of my fabric remnants. Until today, they were crammed into several very inconvienient large cardboard boxes in the corner, stacked tree high. Once the dresser arrived, it took me all of an hour to unload the boxes and completely fill it.

Yes, there's a woodstove under all that bedlam. (And no, it's not hooked up yet so there is no danger of a fire from flammables being placed on top of it...)
I will collapse into a contented mound of productive artistry once the pieces are all in place and I know the permanent layout of the studio land. Bob and I really underestimated how hard it would be to move. We've done pretty well, but we do need to get our studio practices in gear. I don't know what the pilgrims or pioneers did about making art; all that moving around and physical hardship must have been hell on their concentration. (I jest). Wake me up when it's all over...

How Green Was My Pond Scum

2011-10-24T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is a posting entirely dedicated to relief from all the grey of the chimney construction. That is not a swath of green lawn in the above photo. It's actually a pond in the field where my horse lives.That's the product of run off from concentrated horse byproducts... heavy on the nitrogen and urea! It looks solid enough to walk on.
I thought the perfection of those puffy billowing clouds in configuration with that eerie green looked almost artificial. I've wanted to photograph this pond for ages and kept forgetting my camera. I have never seen the water in this pond but I've witnessed ponies standing neck deep and the emerging coated with a brilliant green patina so I know there's liquid in there somewhere! Just hope my horse never gets the idea to go for a dip as he's white and would probably be eternally dyed green like one of those unfortunate easter chicks!
I still can't quite figure out what's going to happen with Crispin the horse...

How the Pyramids Were Won

2011-10-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

So this is our sophisticated system for hoisting the 100 pound blocks skyward... just don't stand underneath it! It's worked like a charm. Personally, I can't wait for Joe and Bob to be done with this aerial phase of the proceedings... I think my stomach got wonky this afternoon, witnessing them working so high up. I'm not a fan of heights!
Here's a (slightly doctored) picture of Bob and Joe hard at work. See if you can tell what I moved from one picture to another.

(Well, I am a collage artist and I didn't muck around too much with reality!) Today while i was at work, the chimney finally crested the roofline... only one more session left and tehn we can light a fire. (I suspect it will coincide nicely with our aniversary date.)

Slow and Steady as She Goes!

2011-10-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

(Actually, I should have labelled this posting "Steady as He Goes" as chimneys are (obviously) phallic and therefore more male than female in implication).

This was a pleasant way to spend Saturday morning. Bob scored the blocks that we were using to make the higher courses of the chimney and I malleted and chiselled off the extra ends. (I was, of course, wearing my fashionable new safety glasses!) We did quite a few of them and then it was decided that we'd use the bigger blocks after all. But it was fun while it lasted, and I got to take this picture which could show mason's tools from hundreds of years ago. One of those things that don't change...

Our friend Joe came by to assist Bob with the loftier altitudes to be attained by our chimney. (I'm not at my best on ladders and with my impaired vision, I think sitting astride a low bench is more my style anyway). I am happy to provide food and drink! So they managed to put several layers on. Look at this progress:

Later the same day:

See? The chimney had crested that plywood sheathing and is creeping skyward. I am editing and omitting the many trials and trevails that ensued to get to this point, including the fact that Bob removed a course of the re-sized blocks and has rethought our construction technique. It's all a learning experience (don't you simply detest that phrase?) and as our neighbor reminded me, "You only have to do it once!" (Thank heavens!)

Progress! And a Relentless Brush Pile...

2011-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here is what you'll see at the side of our house. Bob concocted this stone face from a rock in our stream and (you guessed it!) a couple of quartz rocks. The quartz border continues it's way, winding around the house...

And I'm happy to report that Fred the Stone Mason came by today to help punch a hole in the wall to connect the wood stove through the famous thimble into the flue. The chimney is progressing quite nicely. And not a minute too soon: you can feel the chill in the air.

Strolling around the perimeter of our "back forty" (well, back 4.36 acres...) I can't help but being drawn up short by this sight:

Another project! To remove this crazy brushpile that has been residing at the end of the puppy pen/ flower garden since this spring. I suppose it has blocked a bit of the view of the "Thomas Kincaid House" next door, but it's hardly a lovely sight. On a cheerier note, at least a family of two of chipmunks has found a home in the pile. At least someone has found a use for our pile of sticks!

Late Season Poignancy... or Laziness

2011-10-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

The amberness of the afternoon sun got me to musing, while laying on the sun-warmed picnic table, about October light and the fleeting feeling that always visits me at the end of the gardening season. You want to quote Miss Peggy Lee and ponder, "Is that all there is?"
It also afforded me the guilty pleasure of avoiding doing anything at all. Believe me, laziness and the absence of activity and work is a rare novelty for Bob and I this year! Bob wasn't home so the two of us weren't egging each other on to acheive all those householed tasks that demand performance. Even posting a blog entry sometimes becomes work; hence the relative silence in my recent blog history...
But we have accomplished an awful lot at the house. I've earned the right to bask in this comfort as Jules runs full tilt after a wrecked basket ball.
Of course, an hour and a half later, I finished an art piece and weeded half the vegetable garden. But I needed that few minutes of nothing. Or realtive nothing, glancing over my shoulder for the apparent rabid raccoon that is terrorizing southern Southbury...
We are supposed to break through the house wall and install the wood stove "thimble" that attaches the stove to the flue tomorrow; a stone mason friend is coming to make sure we do it right the first time around. We have learned some really fun facts: like chimney bricks come in all sorts of sizes, but inexplicably, none of the fit together in any meaningful way. We thought we had become brilliant and instead of one giant block that weighs 100 pounds (not kidding!!) we decided to get smaller ones and assemble them to the same rectangular specifications. But it sort of can't be done and I guess Bob and I are glad that we're going to stucco the outside of the chimney in an attractive and- forgiving- manner next spring. Save it for the spring!
(The photo above is what happened when I tried to photograph autumn color. There isn't a whole lot of fall foliage spectacle this year so I settled for tiny animal foot prints down by our stream.)

Morning Glory- Finally!

2011-10-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

Here it is: October 1st and we finally have blooms on the morning glories we planted on the vegetable garden fence. In the background are the remains of our tomato crop. The vines look terrible, all saggy, rotting leaves from cool nights, but a few slowly ripening fruits hanging on. How I miss tomatoes when they're gone!! On the other hand, I congratulate Bob and I on a successful garden despite a hectic year and a series of bizarre episodes... including my famous eye injury. We are eating delicious peppers and squash still; I think the basil is still alive although not so pretty.
And speaking of basil, we're awaiting that first frost that signals our anniversary! It's nice to have a floating holiday to celebrate but some years we get antsy and celebrate six or seven times...

Filling the Pit

2011-10-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here's Bob standing in the hole that we had to dig for that footing. It was fully four feet deep this morning. Filling it in was an odd exercise: sort of the punchline to a perverse joke as it feels like we just dug it all out. We debated filling the hole in exactly the way that the rocks and sand were originally striated... sort of environmentally sensitive, returning the earth to it's proper layers.
But of course we didn't do that. We just shovelled it all back in, willy-nilly. The piles we had lived with for a week or so vanished.

That's what it looked like at the end of the day, letting it set up overnight. Tomorrow we stack another few courses on. (Bear in mind that each of these blocks weighs 100 pounds.) Mixing the cement and mortar was fun; Bob and I agree it smells good. I also remember helping my mother build front steps at our house in Durham; the smell brought that back to me. (Plus the fun fact that we lived without real steps for years...) We're tired but satisfied that we've accomplished this much. I can help Bob until we get about chest high. Then a bigger, stronger friend is arriving- with scaffolding!- to help ascend to the roofline fifteen feet heavenwards. Thank goodness for crazy friends that don't mind hard work.
Here's another shot, down into the block which we filled with rocks and concrete.

It's a bit grey and beige, isn't it?

Jules and the Rocks

2011-09-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Jules decided that the pile of rocks generated by our chimney foundation work was just too much fun. He also detirmined that the rock in the very center, under about twenty other rocks was the one he had to have.

He's very persistent!

Still looking! (Doesn't Jules have a lovely tail?) I know; I'm boring everyone to tears, but I adore Jules.

What Artists Do For Fun in Their Spare Time

2011-09-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

Thta's right: we dig deep holes. Deep, deep holes below the frost line. No wonder we were tired last week when attempting to entertain! Two days of climbing in and out of a four foot hole, lifting sand, rocks and gravel over your shoulders makes for sore and achey artists. But it paid off; we're on to phase two of "the big dig".
Another interesting aspect was the strata of all those millions of years of compacted layers laid bare for us to see. I don't know if that photo above does justice, but it was fascinating to see the different sandwiched levels... certain ones provided waaaaaaaaaay easier digging, no question!
Here's another activity that we engaged in. When one of us was down in the hole, the other was sifting the sand from the rocks. Bob has a screen that has has used for this purpose for years; differentiating between soil and rocks or compost and sticks. It works great... and it's sorta fun.

Another Kind of Eye Candy

2011-09-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, I have been making eyes and eye-obsessive work in my studio. (Thank god I making anything in my studio!!) Sewing and beading are (inexplicably) possible under my visually challenged circumstances; in fact I seem to be plowing ahead just fine. I have seven or eight pieces underway. They will be collated together into some sort of a book, as photocopies of fabric pieces work quite nicely. (I started researching photocopying directly onto fabric but it seems expensive. But the effect is nice).
I have to mention that being the subject of an upcoming fundraiser (to help defray some medically indicated financial obligations... like a hefty deductible) have made me feel awkward. Let's face it: I need the help (thanks to all who have donated thus far!) and as an artist, I love being the center of attention. But there is the peculiar sense of having been turned into one of "Jerry's kids". (Remember he of telethon fame? The one weird fact I know about Jerry Lewis is that he wears a new pair of socks everyday and donates his used ones. Whether washed or not, I can't say. And the French love him...) I really don't want to feel at a disadvantage or that the work I'm producing is entirely therapeutic.
On some level, the making of all these beaded eyes (beady eyes) is a way of working out my preoccupation with sight and that makes sense. I guess I hope that this whole experience makes me a "better" artist in that I'm more in tune with my vision (all kinds) and more fully able to express it in whatever means I have available. I am putting some of my work up, on display at the fundraiser as a way of gently reminding supporters that I have done a huge body of work over the years (some good, some odd and some down right weird!)
I sure hope that people will attend my benefit and have fun, first and foremost. I am really touched by all the work and effort that are being done on my behalf. Family and friends are very generous!

Eye Candy- the Wholesome Kind

2011-09-16T22:44:00.000-07:00

I have to say that we didn't do too badly for a very crazy, hectic first year garden! Here's a small offering of all the bounty that is available... and with only a cursory effort. We have been so busy- and derailed!- with larger house projects (roof, fencing, chimney, island etc etc) (not to mention injuries...) that I sometimes feel a tad guilty. I actually tossed a bunch of festering tomatoes on the compost pile yesterday. (They are rewarding to throw, however, as they make a nice smooshy splat when they land). The peppers did exceedingly well; I especially like the black ones- very sophisticated and dramatic!

We still have beans coming as well as squash. Let's make that monuntains of squash as Bob planted the seeds directly on the compost pile... Stop by, we'll give you a few (hundred).

Next year, we are hoping to return to the rigors of staged and sequenced lettuce production and tidy rows of garlic. We only actively cultivated perhaps a third of our enclosed vegetable garden. We have lots of room for future experimentation and at a significantly more leisurely pace.

Master Blaster Asters!!

2011-09-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a great back yard? I didn't plant- and can no credit for!- this aster display, other than to say that we didn't mow them down. This spring, I thought I recognized woodland asters by the foliage and it gave us less acerage to mow, so let them grow! And we have been wonderfully rewarded. It looks like Fairy Land.
Here's another shot; they go all the way back to Bob's studio. It has been a long lasting display, too. They just keep blooming. As this is very dry and thin soil (not to mention lots of competition from chunky spruce roots) I'd be hard pressed to plant anything else there. They didn't even require watering or weeding. Best of all is that asters are amoung my very favorite flowers.

Not Horsin' Around

2011-09-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

Who knew it would be so hard to sell a horse? Not just any horse, but MY horse? Because of my eye, because of the kind of riding I'll be doing at our house (trail vs ring-riding) because of too many reasons to list, it is important that I sell Crispin. He's a good horse- a NICE horse (although we've had a checkered relationship...).
I decided a few months back that I'd list him on several equine sites, put up flyers at tack shops, stop by lesson barns... in short, do all the right things. But due to the economy or unpredictable weather events and who knows? perhaps unfavorable astrological omens, I haven't had any response to my attempts to recycle Crispin.
So today, I'll do what I do several times a week. Pack up my grooming supplies in the car and go visit the horse. This is inconvienient and makes me feel guilty as poor Crispin probably feels neglected and unloved. (Actually, he's hanging with his horse buddies and is very contented to eat all day and gives me a very pointed, "What are YOU doing here?" look when I climb over the fence into his pasture.) He has no idea.
I have only a couple of options, none of them perfect. I can give Crispin away, which seems crazy and counter productive. Apparently, many people are doing this as they cannot afford the upkeep but I just can't consider that seriously... would I ever get another horse? Would Crispin get a good home?
Or, we can find a way (in the midst of everything else we're trying to do) to put up a fence and secure some decent hay for the winter and bring him home. But I suspect that Crispin is very "herd bound" and wouldn't relish living alone. Some horses do just fine on their own, but not our boy! Additionally, as I need further eye surgery, Bob would be elected to do most barn chores for several months, in the middle of winter, with little direct benefit as he doesn't ride. (The manure is nice and there's plenty of it!) I suppose I can hope he suddenly develops "horse fever" and longs to gallop off into the sunset.
The last option is to eat him. As I haven't been able to ride for several months, I'm sure his muscle tone is slack and he's probably nice and tender. I've heard the French love horse meat so Bob could find some tasty recipes and we'd eat for free all winter. Even Jules would benefit! Our freezer is empty after Huricane Irene so this idea is gathering steam...

Not Untouched by Irene

2011-09-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the placement of the several buckets, we did not escape entirely unscathed from the wetness that was Irene. We are supposing that the extreme southern dierction of all that woolly wind made the sliding door in my studio a leak factory. I'm glad that it happened in an "unimproved" area of the house; we haven't finished the framework around the outside of this doorway. That's on the list with the chimney as they are right next to each other. The floor here is already stained so no real harm was done. Can't wait to fix it, though!

Shadow Play

2011-09-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! I didn't get to blog all week because crazy Irene pre-empted/ and co-opted everything. But the other night, these oily lamps caught our flowers in a jar and it looked marvelous. I'm glad I had the presence of mind to take a picture as the oil in the lamp gives me a nasty headache, kind of like the variety I get if I'm behind a diesel engine for too long. Not to mention the moise from the generator next door...
Anyway, power's on and cleanup neighborhood wide is underway.
(And to any one who attempted to read this blog posting yesterday, all I can say is that the computer crashed three times (God bless dial up!) and it got posted before I was done writing and editing and it made no sense! Nice. Hahahahaha.)

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

2011-09-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

First blog post Post- Irene! Bob and I lost power for four days and it felt like forever. All that food we bought to stock up in case of disaster and shortages? Thrown away! Lots of half-melted slimy berries and vegetables ladled from the "freezer". Pathetic.
It amazes me just how fast I become a sniveling wretch, unable to bear to be without a shower or a hot cup of coffee. The ever resourceful Bob managed to boil water on the gas grill but then of course there was no where to keep the milk. We schlepped buckets of water from our stream to flush the toilet so at least that aspect of life wasn't too disgusting. But all the dishes and laundry that piles up makes you wonder how people in "the old days" ever made art or did anything even vaguely interesting.
I think I took the above picture during the hurricane; it looks like things blowing by. I'm just glad the power- and my wits!- were restored!

As Above, So Below and Somewhere Inbetween

2011-08-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was worried when we looked at this house to buy, as it's very near a small (but apparently growing) airport. I'd have to say in general we haven't been too preoccupied by overhead phenomenom although the picture makes the point that things do fly by frequently. That's nice when the "thing" in question is a bat or a blue heron and less so when it's a jumbo jet liner. I find the noise of the occassional helicopter to be more disruptive than the airplanes but then I find the motorcycles that scramble mufflerlessly up the road even more annoying. But it's always going to be something...

Like the earthquake that hit us yesterday. I was at work photographing $12,000 worth of Tiffany flatware and the wall started shimmying. Not to mention my knees felt wonky and there was a truly odd sound. I thought a delivery truck had backed into the auction house but of course it turned out to be the earthquake. Is anyone else interested in the acceleration of incidents of odd weather? It seems every time we turn around, there's a tsunami or a category 5 hurricane or a flood or a drought...

Garden Highlights: Seeing Red

2011-08-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

I may be impatient to have my garden up and running nad looking like it's always been there (got the first year garden blues...) but there are some tasty moments occurring and they seem to favor red. This "Fireball" hibiscus was a birthday present from Bob and it's dynamite. This was right after a really heavy thunderstorm; the drops of rain are still visible. Some disrespectful beetle has gnawed a few of the leaves, but you can't have everything go well. Hell, this is gardening afterall!
Another showstopper was a birthday gift from my sister Beatrice. She got this Mandevilla (spelled wrong? It sounds like some Pontiac from the 1960's) at a Stop and Shop on clearance for (get this) $2. And this plant just keeps blooming and blooming...

Island Life

2011-08-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

This is so cool. Bob and I discussed just how badly we needed an island in the kitchen and I spied this odd cabinet at work at the auction house. It was super cheap and oddly sized; it was only 22 inches high and no one seemed to know exactly what it was (labelled as "Dog Bed?" complete with question mark.) I got it for $12 (and it's made from actual wood! No fiber board!) and Bob added a bottom layer to make it counter height. He also put in a shelf and added doors. Even better was the fact that he ghad a slab of stone that a friend gave to him... and it fit perfectly. (What are the chances of THAT happening?) Here's a view of the other side. It's already been a big hit; we can't begin to imagine what we did before the island. It changed traffic flow in the kitchen in a good way; serves to keep me and Jules out of the way when Bob is cooking... only kidding!

So Bob will be preturbed; he wanted to repaint it before I posted this, but I was eager to share the results. I think it looks just great.

Life's Dark and Seamy Side- Problems in Paradise

2011-08-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

So there is a downside to all that fine gardening we've been doing. The inside of our abode has been a bit abandoned and there are selected areas that have been, well... ignored and neglected. I suppose we do keep repeating the mantra, "We can't do EVERYTHING" and there is truth in this somewhat comforting thought.
Many sagacious friends have advised that a moving box left unopened often never gets opened. I guess that's why we have run around physically opening boxes and then leaving them where they were. At least they're not all closed up and the contents are free to sort themselves out and find a new home on a shelf or in a closet. We have books aplenty...
Unfortunately, that wierd household law of physics seems to apply here with a vengence: despite moving from a far smaller house with way less storage space (where our things fit comfortably) into more commodious digs, our possessions seem to have multiplied exponentially in transit. Go figure!
Here's another choice corner.

This blog posting is my attempt to remind myself that there will be plenty of stuff to attend to once the snows fly. Soon enough!

A New Member of the Family

2011-08-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

I seem to have a birthday that keeps on giving. My mother gave mea check for my birthday, and she'd be proud of all the things I managed to procure (on sale!!) with her generous gift. The two most wonderful were a door for my studio (yay! We have yet to install it, but it's here). And this delightful Dr. Suess-esque Blue Atlas Cedar. He has quite the personality!
I have always played with an area of the garden thta I call the Blue Border, in which I try to include only (or mostly) plants with blue foliage or blue flowers. This little guy will provide a good basic skeleton for the Blue Border. Bob keeps warning me that this tree will get BIG but I assume that's probably not anytime soon.
All in all, I received all kinds of great gifts- mostly plants but art making items as well!!- and I've been thoroughly enjoying them. Thanks to generous family and friends the garden and our place is stating to look almost resonable.

Just Like the Great Wall of China!

2011-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of like the Great Wall of China. I mean, you can see the Great Wall from outer space but WE can see our new garden bed from upstairs! We have this really kickin' aerial view...
But of course, all good gardening stories have their vast dilemmas. In my case, I got a wonderful variety of interesting plants from family 'n' friends for my recent birthday. I promptly de-sodded and began digging in this really long straight bed along the side of the path that we take down to Bob's studio. It's the major axis in the back yard; our version of the Champs Elysees (another allusion to a historical, monumental site!) So I'm happily arranging plants in their containers when it dawns on me that in order to plant this one where I really want to see it, I need to move that one waaaaaaaaaaaaay back over in the older section. And then it strikes me how much like making art gardening is. Sometimes, it's all a very roundabout route to get results. I believe I heard someone refer to this need to see something in a specific place as "the genius of place". And that is really true. I'll lie awake all night if I don't put that plant exactly where I imagined it, even if I have to move three or four other things to put it there.
And that's not to mention that I need to move a section of fence in order to plant. The new bed is (inconvieniently!) bisected by our fence and we all know my recent history of fences and eyeballs. So I'm going back into my studio instead!!!

New and Improved Projects

2011-08-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

This side of the house is in for a treat. First, we're going to remove that scabby plywood and see what sort of evil lurks underneath. Then we're going to tackle the chimney (or in this case, the lack of chimney. The former owner removed the apparently perfectly functional chimney and interior fireplace for reasons unknown...). The way I figure it, if my parents constructed a chimney of heroic proportions (along with an entire house!) then Bob and I can certainly make a chimney and hook up the woodstove and provide some additional heat this winter. We have to first excavate and make a new footing for the chimney. We'd better hurry up and do that as every time Bob and I discuss the foundation, he maintains we have to dig deeper. It used to be three feet; now it's four. Soon, it will be a twenty foot hole filled with boulders and mortar and it will take us the rest of our lives and never be deep enough...
Just look at the roofline and see another piece of the project. Where the lack of chimney meets the roof, there is a serious languague problem: peeled back flashing meets partially hacked shingles and dissected wood siding. A mini mess!

Underfoot lingers another less onerous affair; in fact, I think it could be fun. We're going to replace the wooden deck with a stone terrace. (Have you noticed that no one refers to terraces as "patios" anymore? Remember patios?) We sit outside pretty often and deserve a nice place to view the garden from. It's relatively flat by the house and it shouldn't be too hard to make a usuable terrace. Famous last words!
See the below photo to reference that there are actual weeds and grass growing up through the boards.

Hey! Even if we don't get to this this year- or even next!- it's still a nice place to sit outside.

The Middle Aged Business Man Sings Second Childhood Blues and Then Some

2011-08-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

I was outside on Sanday morning, having a whale of a time "personalizing" our garden by adding those quirky touchs that make it ours, as seen in the above photo. I planted a prickly pear cactus (salvaged from our previous garden) in a cement container perched on a tall metal pedastal. Nice! You don't think to meet a cactus eye to eye. The air was warm, the morning was flawless...
And suddenly our neighbor to the southwest did what he sometimes does: he introduced the entire community to his idea of bliss. The stereo- apparently hooked up outdoors- was cranked and we were awash in "L.A. Woman". It dawned on me as the music careened through several different Doors greatest hits, that this wasn't even Jim Morrison and company but some Doors cover band. I can only imagine our neighbor flailing away, swinging some invisible microphone, lariat-style over his head as he plangently crowed about loving him two times. Heaven help us. I sure hope he was wearing leather pants This is surely mid-life crisis writ large.
I don't know why these individuals who wish to share their great good taste never treat our ears to Brahms or Prokofiev or Bartok and turn the neighborhood into a mini-Tanglewood. Typically, their selections run to songs and bands popular when we were teenagers, and I for one have had enough of The Doors. The morning ran straight down hill, however, as The Doors were followed by The Allman Brothers.
Despite the aural assault, I completed my garden chores and was quite happy with the results. I am considering hooking up a feed to my studio stereo and blasting my idea of auditory nirvana Shostakovich string quartets followed by Alban Berg piano miniatures with a goodly dose of, yes, Kurt Cobain. Rock on, little brother!

No Comment (Breakfast)

2011-07-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

What do you do at breakfast if your bread has large holes in it? In our household, we stick our fingers thorugh it and take a picture. Then it winds up on the blog. I guess it was a hot day.

The worst of it was that it wasn't even Bob's bread. It was some store-bought stuff that I wasn't super impressed with.

A Brookside Surprise

2011-07-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Bob discovered this healthy clump of lobelia one afternoon- it might have been on my birthday. I wish I could have captured the hummingbird that was alight on it when Bob first took me down by the bridge where this lobelia is growing in muck in the middle of the stream. Spectacular!
We are so lucky to keep having an amazing range of wildflowers and birds appearing in our backyard. Turkeys, bluebirds, the bats we saw the other night. And we know we have deer, but they've been incredibly well behaved thus far and haven't (yet!) dared to eat my unprotected hostas. I realize I am tempting fate by having this veritable deer salad bar unfenced...
I'm trying to concentrate on the interesting and beautiful things that I can (sort of) see with my one eye. I am aware that many people walk around like this their whole lives so I suppose I shouldn't complain if I exist in a visually impaired state for a few months. (And let's face it: I'm opting for optimism about what my sight will be like after the cornea transplant. Doctors love to boost the best possible outcome and I'm imaging it will accomplish nothing but to bum me out if I consider that my vision will never be the same as it was...) Anyway sometimes when watching bats and birds and the flowers filling in in my garden, I can almost forget that I can't see well. That's a good thing!

Tiny Bubbles

2011-07-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

This morning when I took Jules out to pee, I saw this curious accumulation of tiny bubbles at the base of several of our fence posts (this was before Jules peed so it had nothing to do with his actions!) Thye looked like crystals: very pretty! It was also so nice to have relatively cool temperatures and a bit of wetness after all that heat.
Also, in the midst of the dying poison ivy, there were a few of those fairy cobwebs that sometimes form. A couple of years ago, when walking in the woods with Frank the Dog, I came on a place in a hemlock grove where there were hundreds of little cobweb macrame-like cat cradles all glistening with dew. Spectacular! But of course, I had no camera with me. In contrast, this was a modest show, but still pretty...

I think I liked the dryness of the expiring poison ivy coupled with the condensation lingering on the twigs and leaves.

Too Hot to Blog

2011-07-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! You can tell from that last post that it's been too hot to blog. At a certain point, one's proteins begin to denature and the brain stops functioning and nothing of value is produced. Our computer is upstairs, in one of the hotter rooms in the house. I am therefore behind in emails as well as ideas! Don't make me do anything! And I usually pride myself on taking the heat better than some people...
We came back from work yesterday to discover the clock in our bedroom read 92 degrees. We spent the last two nights sleeping on the floor of my studio. A bit hard but lots cooler. There is a sliding door that allowed as much cool air in as was possible. Jules approved of our low lying attitude.
Here's a picture of the fan that Bob constructed from an old fan housed in an air compressor (another piece of equipment that coame wiith the house). It fit into our extremely narrow (only 15") windows which will not accommodate air conditioners... and it worked famously! The temperature in the bedroom was significantly lowered after the fan was turned on. Unfortunately, not much worked after two straight weeks of extraordinary temperatures. Bob has faith in this gigantic whole house fan mounted on the roof. I think it makes and impressive ammount of noise and fury, but signifies- and cools off- nothing!

Non Stop Fun With the Neighbors

2011-07-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

That's our neighbor dog Hurley. He has discovered that we don't bite and now comes by to play several times a day. Jules thinks it's just great to have a new friend. Hurley is something of a Gracie the Dog replacement (although no one can ever replace Gracie!).
I think Hurley is old and he has many odd bumps and barnacles and is not much to look at, but he's a good guy. I don't always pretend to understand the enjoyment that dogs recieve from body slamming one another, but he keeps coming back so I guess that it's fun.

An Eye for An I

2011-07-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am generally leery of employing my art work for "therapeutic" ends. I've had therapist in the past who advised me to work issues out by making interpretive drawings and the like. Somehow, this never seemed comfortable or "natural" to me; it often felt forced or sort of hokey. It is therefore ironic that I am contemplating making some pieces about my eye...

Maybe it's because it's not even metaphoric. It's actual and literal that my eye (the primary organ by which I make art!) was damaged. That a part of the "Mighty Three" (hand/ eye/ brain) was directly involved is profound. If I had lost hearing in one ear, it would be tragic as I love music, but it would have been no where as terrible as this eye involvement. Still, I sort of roll my eyes (yes, it stilll rolls even if I don't see so well) and wonder what on earth I'll accomplish by making a million pictures of eyeballs.
And, of course, I return to the fact that I really don't care ultimately what I or anyone else thinks. Making art is entirely motivated by the urge to, well, make art. Therefore, whether it commences as a form of therapy or an exercise in seeing, it really is about simply doing it and being committed to that act. It doesn't matter where art starts. It's where it goes that gets interesting. Sometimes, I think too much about making art. I'm happier and "more productive" (whatever that means!) when humming away in my studio, despite the results.

Instant Garden- Just Add Water!

2011-07-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sort of "instant garden" anyway! I have many perennials that I brought from our previous garden and they have spent the spring and early summer vacationing in the vegetable garden. Now I'm busy translpanting them but there are still eight million rocks and roots and all kinds of "junque" to remove before the instant part can happen. There are some happy combinations occurring; some I lifted wholesale from my old borders- like the "Gold Mound" spirea and small deep red day lily.

I had a rude awakening on Sunday when I went to Bob's mother's house to retreive the other half of my perennials from her vegetable garden where I had healed them in. Apparently, despite a fence and gate, the deer snuck in or over or through the fence and ate all of my plants. I mean I stood there for several profoundly awful minutes wondering just where all those plants were. Then I started to find stumpy bits of phlox and rudbeckia and hostas. But the Cimicifuga and other good friends have vanished. So I transplanted what I could locate and have healed them into a hospital ward in our vegetable garden, where I hope they will revive and regenerate for next spring...

Here's another view of my in-process borders:

Look at all that empty space! It's so wierd because I'm one of those "fill it up" gardeners who likes to see plenty of plants and very little raw dirt. I realize it's all part of the moving process and soon enough the beds will be full (and need dividing!). But it looks so empty.

Sleep Disturbances

2011-07-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Following up on the subject of learning to nap, I suppose it's a good time to pursue a conversation about my apparent insomnia. For the last year or so, I am one of those who awakens at 1 or 2 in the morning, unable to return to sleep. Very annoying.
Sometimes, it's caused by hyper anxiety about things like money, being an artist in such an odd world (that undervalues art and overvalues everything else- like sports, celebrity, stupid collectibles etc etc.) or the Fukishima nuclear reactors in Japan. Sometimes, like tonight, it's not even anything specific. I simply wake up and can't fall back to sleep. And hell, I'm tired. I moved a lot of perennials today!
I have been subscribing to the practice that it's better to get up and do something (like work on one's blog!) than to toss, turn, fidget and castigate one's self for being unable to sleep. Here I am...
Obviously, napping has become a nice trick to obviate the effects of sleeplessness. At least I can catch up during the day on the rest that alludes me at night. But isn't it different sleep? It seems like it is.
I used to sleep soundly. I suspect the last year with all of the major transitions and uncertainties that we endured caused some malfunction in my sleep curcuitry. But I'm more than ready to return to more continuous pattern of sleep.

Catching some ZZZZZZZZZs

2011-07-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

One good thing that has come out of this weird dream-time state hailing from my eye injury is that I have finally learned how to nap. All through college and beyond, I envied those of my frinds who were able to nap effectively. They emerged from their afternoon slumbers refreshed and recharged. I would occasionally attempt to nap if I had a head cold or was required to rise early... but to no avail. I could lay in a darkened room, but sleep? Forget it.
But the powerful combination of bodily trauma and medications and two surgeries made me really sleepy for several weeks. I found myself lying down on our bed and miraculously, I would actually fall asleep. Sometimes it was only for twenty minutes or so, but it worked.
As pictured in the photo above, Jules is a big advocate of napping; I think most dogs are. He often joins me when I recline and whole heartedly approves of my new found ability.
This morning after Jules and I returned from our morning walk, I put some of my eye drops in and lay down. The next thing I knew, I was awakening form a strange little dream about tripping and falling up some stairs. An hour had passed and I felt great. I think I'm a napping prefessional now!

You Won't catch Me Up There Anytime Soon

2011-07-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is some of the exciting debris generated by the work that Bob and our good friend Don and his son Nigel did on our roof. A month or so back, Don was generous enough to volunteer his (and Nigels!) talents in the aerial repairs department. Of course, luck would decree that the days they decided to do the much needed re-flashing of our dormer were incredibly hot and unpleasant. But fortunately, what they budgeted three days for completion took only several hours...
I had forbidden Bob from going up on the roof. Maybe I'm nuts, but just think of the fate of Glenn Seator (did I spell his name correctly?) A Brooklyn based artist that fell to his untimely death while performing roof repairs! And after my peculiar foray into the "household accident" department, I am none too sanguine about displays of derring-do.
But the necessary work was done and we can breath easier when it rains. We can also begin some of the interior repairs that were linked to a dormer leak. (Remember that moldy blog entry several lifetimes ago?)
Here's another detail of the attractive camo tarp that was a feature of our roof. Good riddance!

Thanks again to Don and Nigel. We owe them a return on the favor, but you won't catch me offering to help with roof issues. (I am really afraid of heights.) The carport roof is as far as I venture and even that felt too high by half.

Remember Me? An Almost Normal Posting...

2011-07-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

We actually managed to complete the digging of the new flower beds. This excites me as there are many things I con't do really well at present due to eye-ball adventures and mishaps. Alas!
But I did relate that I was able to de-sod the above area and in the final stretch, Bob pitched in and with Jules barking at rocks, the three of us made light work of finishing the basic initial layout. This makes me happy because it rained (finally) and I can transplant in some of my perennials. Interestingly, I often garden with many annuals and this year will present a reversal. I haven't been able to start things from seed and then have been too preoccupied to purchase annuals to edge and fill in (plus I would have had to babysit them in six packs) and now it's the beginning of June and what's left at the garden centers???!!
Gardening is always like that...
The other interesting factor in laying out these first beds is that I chose to make them really geometric. We'll see if I go wiggly in the future. But somehow, as there was nothing "organic" to start with- no trees, or walls, or walkways or pre-existing gardens- no nothing!- it seemed to me I needed to preordain a bit of strict order. I'm sure they will evolve from here!

Last in an Interminable String of Hallucinations!

2011-06-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

And then I dreamt that I was a little girl, about seven or eight in a really remote Southern outback. There was a clearing, ringed all around by a vast swmp (the Everglades?) And in the middle of the clearing was a broken down rusted out pick up truck and a very ramshackle tower that was barely standing. It was made of scraps of plywood and particle board and it was open on a couple sides. there was a ladder in the interior; I think this structure was used as a lookout for hunting or to see if anyone was coming. I was all alone and sort of trying to entertain myself, humming and picking up sticks. I was pretty lonely and aware of that. I looked out one of the openings and I saw a bear. I was scared so I began to call out, hoping someone would hear and schase the bear off. A few minutes went by and then I realized I wasn't alone; there was a young man, (somewhere between 15 to 20 years old?) but he wasn't helping. He looked disgusted and was talking under his breath like it really plagued him thta he had to take care of me or watch me. I was as afraid of him as I was of the bear.

The next thing I knew, someone was hustling me into a car and I was being driven away to a foster home. It had been decided that my family couldn't-or wouldn't- take care of me. I was strangely relieved and yet still frightened as I had no idea where I was going. (I guess I was feeling that no where could have been worse! But they let me take my dog with me; I guess it was the only family member that mattered. She was a large hound type dog.

Remember when my blog was about household fix up? I promise that will return soon. I actually mowed part of the lawn this afternoon. That felt great! Except for drawing a little on the computer, I really can't see well enough to make images in my studio. Let's hope for a speedy eye resolution! (Although, oddly, I feel like I'm seeing a bit better today. Go figure.)

Hallucination #3 (How often do You think about Paul Bunyan?)

2011-06-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

(Okay! You can skip this postng if you think other peopl'e s dreams are boring! But you're not stopping me. You have to indulge the wounded warrior! But I think drug/me inspired dreams are different.)
I dreamed thta I went to look at a studio for rent. The buiding itself wasn't any great shakes, but the studio was cheap and had clean sheet-rocked walls with windows up high. In short, it was okay and seemed private. I think there were three or four other spaces available in the same building.
So I went outside with the woman who was showing me the studio and althought it was night time (in my dream as well as "real" time) the sky was all sort of lit up and a funny yellowish color; the way it sometimes looks if it's going to snow and it was cold. We were standing in a space between the studio building and a two story colonial looking house.
I asked the woman, "Are there any spooks or ghosts in this building>" She said, "No but Paul Bunyan does hang out here often". I looked up past the roof of the house and there was a man- no doubt Paul Bunyan!- about sixty feet tal and leaning on the roof of the house. He was wearing a big plaid shirt and a gigantic dark blue knit hat. (He llooked like the guy on the "Brawny" paper towel package before they "redid" him.)
He looked friendly enough, sort of smiling and leaning on crossed forearms; I'm not sure if I rented the studio or not.

More Visions!

2011-06-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

The dreams just kept coming! I had this equally detailed dream the next night that I was friends with a Marie Antoinette-type person; a totally debauched, teenaged wealthy and/or royally connected young woman. We were all dressed in the height of fashion (for the eighteenth century) with sumptuous velvet and embridered gowns- no! creations. We were laced and corsetted and draped and arranged such that we could barely move throughout the apartments, but boy were we dressed! The rooms in my dream were very tall- like 15 foot ceilings, but not wide across so that alot of the space was narrowly vertical. The walls and giant doorways were adorned as much as us: there were elaborate burgundy and pumpking colored tapestries and woodwork. It was like living in a wedding cake.
We were apparently bored and stoned and we were looking for trouble. We had brought goats and large birds (some kind of emus or ostriches) indoors and we watching them try to climb on the furniture, which we had piled up on top of each other. And on top of these piles of animals and chairs and tables, we had placed some children of the "hired help". We were making the children into lamps by forcing them to hold candles and light bulbs in theire hands and on their heads. It was pretty splendid and really terrible!

Visual Interlude #1 (and Hallucinatory Story #1)

2011-06-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

(I've decided that I need some sort of creative outlet while my eye heals. I can't really focus close up (or far away!) so maybe drawing on the computer is the answer. So here's offering #1. (I think I was influenced by that Tommy Bahama shower curtain we have, featured in a previos blog post).
Anyway, some fortunate combination of eye drops, pills, pain killers and anesthesia gases has prompted some very deep sleeps and some very odd "dreams". It started with the dream that looked like an early sixties French film...
I was at the beach, but in France in the early sixties. Somehow I was both watching this dream, and in it at the same time. Many people were walking on the boardwalk, all dressed in very stylish knee skimming skirts with large polka dots and lots of giant Jackie-O sunglasses with chiffon scraves in ice cream colors. Handbags on short strpas draped over forearms but with those elbow length gloves that ladies used to wear. The men were wearing fedoras and suits (remember: we're at the beach) with slim legged suit pants and their lapels were edged in contrasting colors. In brief, ebveryone was dressed to the nines. Large cars with fins were gliding past. There was an odd slowness to the way people were moving, sort of like we were all moving through a kind of medium, like the air was made of vaseline or jello. (Could be I'm seeing blurry...)
And then there was a man who somehow stopped time. He made a gesture or blinked his eyes and everyone was frozen in place except for him... and me. I somehow saw him and what he was doing. He wasn't aware of me observing him so he created miniature disasters, like knocking people's drinks over so they spilled on their perfectly confected clothes. He took several eggs and scrambled them together slightly and poured them on a woman's table so that her arm was coated in yolk. He kept performing tiny destuctive acts and then the affected people would wake up to these small transgressions, utterly unsure of what had happened and how. I guess I was like an overarching conscience, observing but not judging. The dream just looked great: so classically stylish and modern, in the best sense of the word.

Pah-Thetic (Puh-Thetic?) Any Guesses on Spelling?

2011-06-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

All is not lost! I have discovered one thing that I can do that isn't too reliant upon good eye sight! I am able to sit on the ground and carefully peel away the sod from where I want flower beds. I don't exert any actual physical effort (I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than ten pounds), I don't actually move the sods or rocks- just sort of leave them in demi-mounds to be carted away by others (Bob and Jules) and I don't even have to look carefully at what I'm removing as it's just grass. I've been a bit stir crazy and there are so many things I CAN'T do that locating one wholesome activity has saved me. And don't you worry. I have on an eye patch along with safety glasses!! But this picture is sort of pathetic, no? It's gardening for third world nomads on the steppes of Russia...

For Those That Are Interested

2011-06-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

For those that are interested, this is what my right eye is seeing:

And this is what my left eye is seeing:

(I tried to get the two images to register on the same line, but I couldn't get the blog to understand what I wanted, so they're stacked!)

Anyway, you get the idea. Try looking out of the two very different views at once. No wonder my brain is a bit confused! I guess this should be "interesting" to me because I'm an artist and used to "seeing differently". Actually, it's a pain in the ass.

Death of a Favorite Coffee Cup

2011-06-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

As if I haven't had enough foul luck. Bob and I were on our way to one of my many doctors visits and I absentmindedly set my coffee cup on the roof of the car and I think you can guess the rest. The worst part was that it smashed to its untimely death right at the end of our road where I cross to the dirt road. This necessitates my passing its pathetic shattered corpse every morning while walking Jules. (Or more honestly: while following the shape in front of me that I think are Bob and Jules as I'm still not seeing all that clearly).

So this morning, I picked up a large-ish shard to photograph and preserve as history. I really liked my Tony the Tiger "Hold that Tiger!" coffee cup. Rest in peace!

The Whole Grizzly Tale... Stop Me if You've Heard This Before

2011-06-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

So what happens when you think you’re doing something good and you perform an action that should have a positive outcome? Chances are, something stupid happens and you have an ACCIDENT.

I had just such an unexpected occurrence last Sunday. Bob had tripped over a section of wire fencing that we were assembling to make a garden/dog fence (because it was lying on the ground) so I thought to prevent further possible injuries by rolling up said fence and moving it aside. Hahahahaha. The coiled fence sprang back and hit me full in the left eye.

I guess the initial best thing that can be said is that my right eye is my dominant one, so thank goodness for that! Bob rushed me to Waterbury hospital, where (again thanks goodness) they realized that my need for care was greater than their ability to provide and they transferred me to Yale New Haven hospital where a bunch of eye specialists were ready to jump to action.

And they did. I had emergency surgery to suture the great gaping hole I had created in my eye. I kept reminding everyone that I am an artist and that eyes are important but to me my eye is VERY VERY IMPORTANT. I needed ten stitches. (I have only once before had surgery- to remove my wisdom teeth waaaaaaaaay back when I was 11). We went home and fell into a very deep sleep.

The next day, I had a follow up visit, all looked good and they were already telling me that I could return to work and drive. Just take it easy, no heavy lifting but I’d be okay. And the prognosis was great: no talk of loosing my eye or loosing my eye sight permanently, in fact I was told I might have better vision as they were going to have to insert a artificial lens in my eye. This was to be several months off. (Of course, I’m wondering how I’m supposed to cope with/ adapt when I felt like I was looking through mayonnaise with light blotches in my left eye…)

But Tuesday night saw the left side of my face erupt into pain blossoms and I thought of three possibilities. Either I was having an allergic reaction to one of my (many) medications, or I had an infection in my eye or something totally (ironically) painful but unassociated (like a toothache) had decided that now was the time to explode.

It turns out (as far as I understand) a cataract that formed from the trauma to my eye was displacing fluid that then in turn pushed everything in my eye forward and it all expanded. Instant intense pain of a magnitude I cannot even begin to relate or comprehend. I spent from 8 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon at the doctor’s office, doubled over moaning as they gave me pills and drops and finally succeeded in reducing the pressure in my eye. I took codeine and fell into a profound sleep.

Because of this incident, they moved my second surgery up from a couple of months to Friday morning. That went well, and I now have some bionic lens that will outlast me (never need to worry about cataracts again… at least in that eye!). I am not in pain, am anticipating being able to see (better) and am shuffling around in a one-contact lens in non-stereoscopic world, but I’m having righteous and bounteous dreams (more on that in another blog).

I do keep falling asleep and I suppose that part of this moribund state can be attributed to drugs, eye drops, pills, and my body recovering from an initial trauma and subsequent two surgeries under general anesthesia. (Again, I don’t really “do” medical stuff.)

I’m exhausted just telling this. I’m going to take a nap. Oh, and what have you been up to anyway?

Don't worry! That artist-made super hero eye patch is all mine! Yale New Haven doctors are off the hook on that one... but I did think I looked a little like a member of KISS!

Don't Try This At Home

2011-06-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Here I am ready to take a shower for the first time after my Great Eye Disaster I won't go into all the grisly details, but suffice to to say that a brief but tragic encounter between my left eye and a piece of wire fencing made for a bad combination. I was actually ambulanced to Yale New Haven hospital for emergency eye surgery. Eight stitches to close a gaping hole torn in my lens... I will need a lens replacement surgery some two months from now. Oh and of course I essentially cannot see a f%$*ing thing with my left eye, except general movements and light. This really is awful beyond description!
So at least I'm clean (after that long delayed shower) and wearing my brand new eye patch, hoping that I look somewhat mysterious and dashing. But I feel like running around after everyone else and screaming, "Are you crazy? You're opening that box of oatmeal without eye protection??!?! Where are your safety goggles!" Let's hope this works out okay. It will cost a fortune and be a pretty circumscribed existence until
I get further treatment. They cannot, of course, guarantee that I'll ever have perfect vision (or even bad vision!). I am thinking of contacting Dale Chihuly and starting a club for one-eyed artists.

I'm not squinting in that picture- my eye (after trauma and surgery) was all purple and swollen shut. Today it's pink and red.

Artistic Blockage of the Worst Sort

2011-06-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

I knew that moving was going to disrupt the artistic process of both Bob and myself but I had no idea just how monstrously! We spent so much time disassembling and boxing not only our house, but the contents of two studios (and those extensive gardens...) Then we camped out- sans studio space- in the dead of winter. Not to belabor the obvious, as laid out in excruciating detail in my previous blog postings, but moving is and has been hell. It also unseated a deep seated stability or sense of place so important to artists like us.
Some artists are paripatetic and seem to be able to create work on the fly. I hear about these artists, but perhaps they're like yetis or Big Foot- makes for a good story but they don't actually exist. I think a sense of place and a studio home base are essential ingredients for many artists.
So I'm kind of blocked. This has only occurred a few tragic times in my adult life. I realize with the deepest part of my being that this is a temporary blip in the bigger picture, but it sucks. The other day, I was feeling so strung out and melodramatic...
But I had a revelation or an epiphany, and I know that it probably seems obvious to anyone else, but we have to re-invent that sense of place here. So I got busy, not with emptying the thousandth box but with planting our garden. Quite literally for me, it's all about digging in the dirt and creating our environment.
I'm feeling so much better now; tired in that truly filthy, dirt under the fingernails, muscles aching from shovels impacting rocks way. But better.
By the way, that picture is of our main mixed border back at the old address. I guess we have a long way to go as that photo is of a garden that's been under cultivation for eighteen years! But I'm psyched,

What Is It? (Number Five)

2011-06-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

We haven't played "What is it?" in quite some time, and that's not because we stopped locating mysteries around the house. On the contrary, household mysteries keep turning up or they quietly reassert themselves. Like todays puzzle: this curious double switch is right in the middle of the kitchen counter.

Periodically, I wonder what it does or more saliently, what it did as it is not connected or attached to any function in our house. It announces itself as a "Nutone" and it has a dial that has numbers which would signify a certain precise application.
Perhaps when we switch it from one position to another, a garage door miraculously opens in Peoria. Or the lights dim dramatically in a dining room in upstate New York. Anyone ever see anything like it?

Dogs and Gardens- Part 1 (Excavations Anyone?)

2011-06-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

This bit of lunar terrain is compliments of Jules, our accomplished canine sub-contactor. He has so many uncategorizable talents!
Jules discovered the tip of a rock. That led to some serious digging and a volley of rapturous barking: either he was attempting to shout the rock out of the ground, or he was singing some dog rah-rah cheerleading song to bouy his spirits during the hard work of destroying our back yard. He's been pretty mum about his rationale. In any event he managed to isolate this particular stone and he now guards it as if it is very special indeed. And this is not the first or only stone to so capture his affections. Ah! The inscrutability of the dog mind!
Bob has come up with a clever plan that we will test out today. We are going to have Jules focus on digging where we're clearing sods and planning a perennial border. (This is chain-gang type labor as documented in a previous posting as the rock population is legendary). Jules should be in seventh heaven and we'll have double dug beds... or we'll experiment with that low maintainence lunar theme when the blasted yard is laid to waste.

Not for the Faint of Heart- (Vermin Alert)

2011-05-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

That delightful trio of grubs is a tiny reminder of the legion of Biblical plagues besetting the hapless gardener. (Maybe it was my recent allusion to the non-rapture, but Job does spring to mind.) We have a lot of grubs- millions of them. They all seem to live in the area designated "The Agricultural Triangle"... doesn't that just figure? So every time we turn over a shovelful of soil, there's got to be a dozen grubs. Squishing them is tedious and disgusting but terminal!
And that leads to a less noxious pest- the simple small rock.

Okay, so rocks aren't gross outs like grubs, but there's more of them. For every grub, we have six rocks. And they're not pretty or glittery; these are the "garden variety" (hahahaha) lumpy little brown things.
And as far as dangerous plant life goes, check out the poison ivy. It's everywhere! Both Bob and I have succumbed to itchy, oozey skin eruptions.

The vines ascending the pine trees are like thick hairy legs. They have these amazing trunks and are actually intimidating. We've been carefully lopping them off so that the vines die, but they seem to sprout more. We are not inclined to resort to poisons...

Games People Play

2011-05-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

We've been working, we've been working REALLY hard on the house and property. Sometimes, we just need to unwind. That's when we play computer games.
It has been suggested by several philistines that only pimply faced adolescent boys play computer games. Ha! I suggess that there is a thriving middle-aged gaming population.
I'm hooked- completely and irrevocably addicted to Zuma. That's a shot of the screen above. I'm on the ninth level (and really stuck there). I'm sure there are eight year olds that have blown me out of the water, but I've played long and hard to get to this stage.
And in response to my sister Beatrice's asking how well we've done at Bejeweled, Bob's the better player there. Here's the screen proof:

Hey! Sometimes the "escapism" of computer games beats the reality of leaks and varmints and work,

work, work!

The Rapture-Less Saturday

2011-05-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

I guess we can all thank our lucky celestial bodies that the world didn't end on Saturday! And although I've started complaing about all the mother f&^%ing rainy days we've had, the above picture is a grim reminder that it could be snow- the frozen equivalent!
Today I was informed that there is a new date set for the end of the world- October 12th or maybe it was the 21st? I was also assured that anyone who died on Saturday or before went to heaven and the rest of us are screwed... we're going to hell. So go ahead and have fun!

Gardens Away

2011-05-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you move a garden. I suppose a brief aside is called for in addressing the "perfect universe" idea of how to move 20 years worth of plants. I thought I was so smart; I was going to hold a "Garden Tag Sale" and sell of many of my perennials and with the amassed proceeds, I would purchase a whole garden's worth of flowers and shrubs! Ha! As we all know, Bob and I moved in January so that was out of the question.
In the meantime, our truck was out of commission (don't even ask- another long story) so we were unable to move the plants until now. (In the midst of pouring rain and mud, but I guess the upside is there's no need to water!). Bob was a good sport and helped despite it being one of the top ten unpleasant days to do it on. Now we have to heal them all into that virgin vegetable patch as we don't really have perennial beds laid out.
But anyone who has gardened for any length of time knows that a favorite plant (or twenty) are like good friends and you don't just abandon them. Additonally, perennials aren't cheap and many hard to find ones are even more expensive so replacing them is a costly enterprise. (Have I mentione dtaht we have a million other things to spend filthy lucre on?)
I will also admit to a tinge of sadness on seeing my old gardens. The new tenant has apparantly had no interest in maintaining our gardens or starting new ones. The property looked abandoned and unloved. I was very happy to rescue as many plants as I could. They deserved better!!!

On a postive and potentially humourous note, however, I can attest to the antics a drenched woman in a clown suit as being a real conversation starter for our new neighbors (their house in above photo). I have an embarrassing plastic rain coat that did little to camoflage my being adorned from head to foot in mud.

Leave it to Bob

2011-05-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's an ingeneous use of a broken broom. Bob fashioned a boot scrape from it, and mounted on a metal footing right by the side/front door. (We're still not sure of our orientation...) Our feet are always muddy so this will work like a charm.
You can see in the back a bit of that white quartz rock border that I started to ring the foundation. Back when I posted that entry, it seemed like it would take ages to complete, but it's coming along nicely. Here's the long view:

It's getting there! This is a fine reminder that a project that seems like it will take an eternity simply needs persistence. I fill my pockets (or, if I'm feeling ambitious, I bring along a bag) with white quartz when I go for a walk or go riding (there are white rocks in abundance at the horse farm). It pays off. Bob now wants it to continue all the way around the house. I think I will take that bag with me tomorrow!

Many Headed Hydras

2011-05-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Our friends are so generous! Thanks to their largesse, we will have a garden.
We planted the three hydrangeas that our good friend John gave us around our well head. (See John? We didn't kill them). Bob and I figure they'll grow about five to six feet tall and fill in and provide an understory transition between the lawn and the very tall evergreens behind. We're not sure what variety they are so John? If you read this, let us know.
I think Bob's going to make a cover for the well and plant a sculpture on top of that. It would be nice to camoflage that not-so-attractive well cover. Our friend Claudine is a big inspiration in the wonderful covers she made- ceramic heads, no less!- for some pipes that stuck up out of her yard. Decorative and fun.

What's for Supper?

2011-05-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, we are pressured to arrive at a food solution on short notice, like this night last week when there was no dessert in the house to be had. I remembered there were a few frozen blueberry muffins left over from a batch I had made, but they seemed a bit plain for dessert. So I concocted a blue frosting to complement the blueberries. Add a blue plate (very special) and success is ours. A blue hallucination.

A Rude Awakening

2011-05-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

I can think of few more calamitous events to encounter first thing in the morning than no electricity. This is because with no electricity comes no coffee. Bob went down stairs to make our morning brew and was greeted by the apparent death of Mr. Coffee and then realized we had no power. I went outside to relieve Jules and happened to encounter our neighbor Meagan. She was also out of power (which at least answered the question of whether it was a blown fuse or neighborhood-wide). But she saved our lives by providing an already made 1/2 carafe of coffee. Yay! Hoorah for neighbors.
We in turn assisted her by schlepping buckets of water from our stream so that she could flush their toilet. (She has four children to prepare for school; I just can't imagine). Of course, after hauling seven or eight buckets of water, the power was restored. I'm not going to complain about that.
But, sadly, our Mr Coffee did die; the timing of his demise was simply a peculiar coincidence.

Springtime Flowers

2011-05-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

Another advantage to my morning walk is the quantity and variety of wild flowers in bloom that I get to see. And the nicest thing is that all of these flowers are on our property, down near our stream. The trillium pictured above is an especially happy discovery; there are plenty of them here!
There is a single marsh marigold blooming quite contentedly at the side of the water. From afar I thought it was simply a dandelion, but I was surprised to see this scene below. Our old residence was mostly very dry woods and we had a whole different sampling of wild flowers.

Another flower in abundance are the anemones. They're very delicate and there are handsome colonies of them, again on the "almost island" that is across the stream.

Happy Birthday to Jules!

2011-05-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Jules! He's one year old on the 8th of May and he's the best dog (even when he chews the sofa cushions and steals our socks).
This particularly flattering photo of the Birthday Boy occurred because he lays on his back and was trying to gnaw on my shoe. It serves his right as he's now immortalized as a trully deranged being. I was fortunate that the camera was at hand.
Here's another picture- more complimentary- of Jules and I on our morning walk. Contrary to appearances, he is not a St Bernard but doing what comes naturally. Being a retreiver mix, he will pick up and carry anything, in his case beer. Not being a beer drinker, I informed him that I'd prefer he find and carry a nice Pinot Noir or Bordeaux.

Oh! The Things You'll See... or Smell

2011-05-07T00:59:00.000-07:00

I have been going for a walk every day for years. Generally these walks take place after breakfast and before I do anything else (like work in my studio, go riding, go to work etc). This is such an ingrained habit that if I occasionally can't go early, I spend all day anticipating my walk. I feel it in very fiber of my being.
This winter was a peculiar exception. We had (obviously!) just moved and it snowed what seemed like every day. I wasn't sure where the local hiking trails were located and in any event there was so much snow (as in over my knees) that walking was almost impossible. It was more like wading. To boot, the road was treacherous as it had been plowed so often that it was dangerously narrow and the banks were too high. (People are terminal speeders...)
So I'm happy that the eventual thaw allowed a return to my 14+ year morning ritual. Jules and I have discovered really wonderful places to walk- like at the very end of our road where it turns to dirt and just keeps going. Besides the great exercise, I get to see all kinds of stuff.
Last week I was accosted by the smell of a very dead thing indeed. I am lucky that I interceded before Jules decided to roll in- our taste! the superbly rotting snapping turtle.

What's For Dinner?

2011-05-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Often when we have friends over to dinner, all hell breaks loose and they start seeing things. For example, our friend Joe stopped by for a chicken dinner and he pronounced the chicken's internal cavity to look like a grotto and the next thing we know, the Babee Jeesus has appeared. Thank the goddess for digital cameras that allow us to document such modern day miracles!

Fascinating Faucet Symmetry

2011-05-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

I notice one day that the bathroom faucet downstairs looks like the bathroom faucet upstairs. Well of course I always find a million other things to do so I never empirically compare them by taking a picture of the one, than the other. but I keep wondering. Just one of those weird quandries to keep the brain working!
In the meantime, I like where the corner of the sink meets the mirrors and keeps repeating. Makes a trip to the bathroom fascinating!

Fruitful Gifts

2011-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows that one of my primary reasons for owning a house was my constant chant of "I want fruit trees! I want berry bushes!" And so we have begun the vegetable garden and started to lay out beds and borders...
The other day I spied a UPS package in a very vertical shape and checked to see if it had been mis-addressed as we hadn't ordered anything. Lo and behold, it was a simply wonderful gift from my friend Laurie in the form of a peach tree- and not just any peach, but a "Belle of Georgia". We were thrilled as we can begin our orchard. What a great gift because everytime you pick and enjoy fruit, you can remember the thoughfulness of a friend. The peach tree has been planted and guy-wired (as seen in above picture) in our "agricultural triangle".
My sister Beatrice and her partner John gave us some raspberry shoots from their yard, so we're off to a flying start. We are still at work erecting the perimeter fence.

Wildlife A-Go-Go

2011-04-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

Bob and I were having coffee at around 3:00 after attempting to erect fence posts around the vegetable garden. (I say "attempting" because what with the wind and being two partially geometrically challenged artists, squaring the garden proved nearly impossible. Don't ask!) Anyway, we were taking a break when Bob says, Wow, that's the biggest cat I've ever seen" and I look out the kitchen window and see a bobcat casually sauntering directly across our yard. Yikes! I think I was expecting a neighbor's tabby...
I ran upstairs to grab the camera but of course, when I return, the bobcat has disappeared into the swamp. I swear it was wagging its (very stubby) tail.
I've been curious to see exactly what kind of wildlife we have here as many animals are moving back into Connecticut. When I was growing up, we only saw a deer occasionally and a fox rarely. Nowadays deer are absurdly common as are turkeys, coyotes, and bear (even panther sightings are rumored). I have sincerely mixed feelings about all these visitors... I think we have to acknowledge an uneasy co-existence.

The Aliens Have Landed

2011-04-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

So I forgot to mention that our stairway is a portal to another dimension. Hey! At 2:30 in the morning, everything looks like a cosmic gateway.
(This special effect on the hallway is courtesy of our lattice work security panel at the top of the stairs.)

Midnight Confession

2011-04-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

It's really almost 2:30 in the morning and I can't sleep- probably because of the major rain and wind storm gallumphing across our yard and through our trees. Anyway, it's a really good time for a show and tell post.
This is our hallway:

Pretty bad, right? I don't just share this sort of mess with anyone. Let's face it moving has been a bitch and we have a slew of unopened boxes, unfinished business. I confess that we have been keeping this door shut; out of sight and all that... The rationale is the old, "Gotta build shelves to put the books on which are in the boxes so why open the boxes" but I know that blasted winter jacket of mine is also in there somewhere. Sharing the trove of boxes has prompted many a friend to remark that they have- after ten years!- at least one unopened box somewhere in their house. Guess we can be allowed four months.

Rock Fest

2011-04-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of maybe the fourth or fifth wheel barrow load of stones we carted off- and we had just begun to rototill the vegetable garden. (You can see the strip that's turned over is only four feet wide). Every few inches yielded another rock, most sort of small and annoying. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky that we didn't hit ledge. I know, I know; we're gardening in New England and they're a fact or nature.
Here's part of our late afternoon haul: we carted them away for use as fill behind Bob's studio.

The Vegetable Garden Takes Shape

2011-04-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here I am breaking the sod on our vegetable garden. All kidding aside, I have tremendous renewed respect for our pioneer foremothers and fathers who moved westward and plowed the plains. That and a renewed appreciation for the "Spinal Tap" song "Sex Farm Woman" which I had stuck in my head the whole time we rototilled. (You'd have to go back and watch that again...)
Okay, so I was naive and thought the rototilling would take like two hours and then we'd go around the back of the house and rototill the flower borders. Hahahahahahaha. We worked on this garden for 9:30 in the morning until after 5:30 (by the time we dumped the rocks.) We're exhausted. Don't ask us how big it is; we forgot to measure. But it's plenty big.

Using a rototiller proved to be much harder than I expected. The machine bucked and snorted and coughed rocks all the way around. See my next post for evidence!!

The Ol' "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" Tactic

2011-04-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

We're so happy. We've started our equivalent of the Great Wall of China, albeit a stockade version that is probably not visible form the Moon. I adore fences as I confessed to Bob today. To state the obvious, they do all these amazing things: they cut down on noise and allow you to walk outside wearing terrible, dirty gardening clothing and not have to worry about an immediate critique from the neighbors. You can have coffee at your kitchen table and not feel like you're on display. It helps to keep varmints like deer and coyotes out and varmints like your dog in. The funny thing is that we like the people who live on this side of our house. They're really nice and their kids are great but Bob and I are sometimes in need of space. So we build a fence. We're trying to assure our neighbors that it's not because of them I think tehy understand!
The fence will be another ongoing project. We "inherited" almost 90 feet (of which you see only 32 feet in the photo) and will be adding to it as we can afford to purchase more. Today being a wonderful warm sunny day, we worked at putting up another four sections. We're already reveling in the privacy.

Picture of fence sections that we moved from near Bob's studio.

Fun with Bedding

2011-04-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

What to do with that full sized mattress found festering behind the studio building? Jules and I wasted no time in turning it into an impromtu trampoline. It's a foam mattress so it proved especially springy and resilient. Of course, all mattresses when taken out of contrast will eternally remind me of my art installation "Be ReBorn Thru Art" which you may recall featured a mattress repurposed as a big vagina. What fun that was!
Discarded objects (and let's face it: we have a bumper crop of them!) keep appearing. Things like broken cinder blocks and bits of wood and other materials that will decompose are finding their way into the strip of land behind Bob's studio where they become fill. Bob wants to build up the ground level there and make an outside work area.
Other objects- like mattresses and plaid recliners- prove more problematic and have to be chopped up into smaller pieces and stuffed in (millions of) garbage bags and hauled to the dump. It's exhausting just how much stuff was left behind: piles and piles of roof shingles (all bearing exposed nails) and many square miles of carpeting that I offered in a previous posting. (No takers yet!)
I am constantly amazed at how terribly people use their land. Here we live on a truly beautiful piece of earth and essentially it has been treated like a waste heap. I can't help but feel the ground is heaving multiple sighs of relieve that we are cleaning up.

Velvet Rocks

2011-04-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

This picture is from several weeks back, but it was so pretty (despite the remains of snow!) that I wanted to put it on our blog. Out behind Bob's studio is an especially broad stretch of our stream where the water slows down and interacts with the moss covered rocks. It feels private and very removed from suburbia. Bob is excited by the different qualities of the rocks; some have odd holes and depressions in them. I'm sure he'll find a beautiful way to use them in at least one sculpture.

Bob says "Looks Huge"

2011-04-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

So looking back up at the house from the other side of the stream it really does seem as if we have about thirty acres. Our property continues to amaze me in all its variety. We have an "upland" dry area (where the house is sited), a meadow (or field depending on my mood), a swamp, a stream and the land across the stream that seems to be almost an island. This piece has such a different feel to it: removed, secret, distant. The previous owner left it quite a mess... lots of have sawn trees and sticks lying around. We've begun piling and stacking the downed trees and it will develop into quite a private sanctuary. We have plans to construct a rustic "tea house" in the grove of evergreens.