In the nice time

Oh my my May, oh my May.

I have not been taking pictures this month, yet, so I shall be a word girl rather than an image girl. & a few words girl, rather than a many words girl.

I admit it -- I just wanted to blog. May is almost may not & I shall hit the road sooner rather than later. Wiscon. Zach's wedding. The McKnight Artist's Fellowship party. Much fun.

Maybe I shall write again tomorrow.

In the meantime. (Or the nicetime, rather...)

Blog alternative:

233. Think about a great road trip. Where might you go? Check out an atlas.

A-A-A-pril, go she will

April, go she will,

May, she won't stay.

That eternal now keeps on nowing,

keeps on gnawing a path into the new.

I've been reading some Lao Tsu,

which is spelled a bunch of different ways,

but you've all heard his words at one now

or another:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."

"To know another is knowledge;

To know yourself is wisdom."

(That sort of thing.)

Anyway, since April is one of those petite months,

we must bid her adieu & say hey to May.

Blog alternative:

232. Read a philosopher, even if it's just a bumper sticker or a fridge magnet, & think about how to apply it to your own living.

Easter bunny for breakfast. Yummy!

I'm going to do a little time travel & then fastforward into the more recent past.

Imagine that it's easter sunday morning. I have just had a late breakfast. I hesitate to tell you about it, especially you on the east coast. Maybe it was late enough. Maybe the deed was already done. Maybe you got your easter basket full of goodies & were able to find some hidden eggs. I hope so.

I had rabbit stew for breakfast--& very fine it was. Now, if you ask me, "which came first, the rabbit or the egg?" I must answer that it was the egg, for I wrote "egg horror poem" when my boys were nine & a half. Yes, two eggs were harmed in the making of that poem. (It was too long; I had to write "continued on next egg.")

Is there no end to my perfidy?

Now we shall fastforward to earth day, 22 april, which, many of you already know, is my birthday. Yesterday I became laurel version five point three. I am now a full deck with one wild card. (Either a wild card or one of those silly cards that tells you how to order your own personalized poker chips, or the ranking of poker hands...)

We drove down to IKEA in Charlotte for my birthday. I meandered through & saw pretty much everything. (Hah! I defy you to see everything in IKEA in a single visit. By the time I got to the lighting section, which always interests me, I was fried. Err, shocked?) Made it out with less than $20 less in my wallet, which is pretty amazing.

Anyway, a good birthday was had by me & mama earth. She's a bit older than I am, but so frisky & dynamic you'd never know it.

Blog alternative:

231. Play a game of solitaire. With actual cards. Count 'em first, to make sure you won't be "playing solitaire 'til dawn, with a deck of fifty one."

Watching paint dry

Oh, my my my

what a fabulous day.

(We needed a little white space there for emphasis.)

I got up this morning after a great night's sleep & had some coffee & read some Reinventing Fire & jotted & doodled some innovations. Then I took a shower & walked to the post office & looped back to the Castell Gallery to hear Roger Ricco, one of the 2 artists on display this month, speak about photography & painting (he does both) & art in general & the value of constraint. Very inspiring. I came home & started building a box for a photography project, a little set that shall hold my magnifying glass "people." Then I gessoed a canvas & watched paint dry for a while -- I recommend it -- & glued down a couple of my found art supplies on said canvas. (Really it's a canvas board, but who's quibbling?) Plus, while doing that, I soaked my feet in green tea water & had a nice beverage, also containing -- but not limited to -- green tea.

I'm about to get back to doing all of the above, so I bid you adieu. There's a song that's been running through my head today: it's the most wonderful time of the year... So true. You know why? The most wonderful time of the year -- indeed, the only real time -- is now.

In case you want to look up the mentioned folk:

rogerrico.com (doesn't that spelling just give the nicest pronunciation?)

castellphotographygallery.com

Blog alternative:

230. Watch paint dry. Or water boil. In other words, rather than multitasking during a task that requires no further input from you (boil, boil, water! you can do it!) simply be there. Stand or sit & watch the process. Listen, if there's a sound. (I defy you to find the sound of paint drying, but water boiling will give you a nice song.) Be there, in your own body, with the idea that the most important thing to do is just to be there in your own body.

Poet reinvents fire -- will no longer burn books

"Today, class, we learn how to climb DOWN the ladder."

Happy April. Not the cruelest month at all!

We have been having a splendid one, with a great downpouring thunderstorm today & a sweet summery evening last night & some sunny walking weather & some cloudy walking weather & supposed to be cool & stormy for a couple days & then back up to warm. All in all, a perfect spring.

I've been doing a fair amount of healing energy work recently, both scheduled sessions & the occasional poker-buddy-with-a-headache who is skeptical & then pleasantly surprised when the headache is gone sans medication. Lots of fun.

The room is in uber-fabulous shape (& of course can get better). Derrick was so impressed by my WonderFile (as seen on TV) that I picked up one for him as well.

We've also seen a couple stunning -- in ENTIRELY different ways -- movies. The first one was Away We Go, co-written by the brilliant Dave Eggers & his wife, the apparently also brilliant Vendela Vida. I loved the quirky movie & also the special features, including one on green movie making.

The second was Attack the Block, a low budget & completely charming alien invasion in South London, where the young gang members turn out to be the guys you want on your side. We watched with the subtitles on, because the combination of strange slang & the various English accents would have made it unintelligible. Pest was my favorite, but they were all good.

What else? Oh, saw a Scottish tinker wagon made by a guy who's Scottish & Cherokee. Checked out a book called Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era by Amory B. Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (a think-and-do tank). Way awesome, positive, poetic, detailed, practical view of the energy opportunities ahead of us. I've barely started reading & I'm in love.

Oh, yeah, the trumpet shadow photographs. Err, umm, well -- I was so underwhelmed that I've decided not to inflict them on you. One of these sunny days (which would not be today) I will pluck the trumpet from its perch on top of the cello & take some good photos for you.

Blog alternative:

229. Reinvent fire. (just kidding.) (although it could save you billions of dollars.)

229. Have a tea party with an imaginary guest. (This is not a political suggestion, but rather a pretending exercise.) You can use real tea if you'd like, but for sure use real cups. Remember to stick your pinky out. Perhaps wear a hat, or a feather boa, or a bow tie.

Incognito Genie plays catch & release with the stink bugs

a little marker drawing

I did around a blob of paint...

Got the camera back. It's charging now, so I can check it out & show you some pictures, but I think I'll be going to bed before it's done charging & I wanted to blog again, so here I am, trumpet shadow less again. (You are going to be so disappointed after all this build up. Grin.)

In my continuing organization evolution, I have purchased a new product: The WonderFile portable workstation! As Seen On TV. Turns Any Space into an Organized Workspace! (I got the red one. Very cool looking. I shall report on its efficacy. I've actually made great progress with a much more low tech system, which involved organizing things into stacks & then -- instead of just stacking the stacks -- placing each stack into a catalog or magazine so it wouldn't re-mingle with its buddies. Segregation, in a word. & then some new stuff turned up that wasn't in any of the stacks & I just put it away in its proper places. Wow -- what a concept. I should do that more often. Grin.

It is an extremely beautiful week here. I've been walking a lot. Oops, gotta go, a crazed stink bug is flying around the room, bouncing off the mobile. If it stops somewhere I can reach it, I will catch it & give it a little ride in the palm of my hand out to the deck.

Blog alternative:

228. Pick up 3 somethings that are not in appropriate places. Put them where you think they should really go, whether that's the trash or a drawer or a recycling bin. (I even pounded a nail into the bathroom wall & hung a picture that I bought in Black Mountain the day I took the needle felting class.)

Zombie football team takes up needle felting

In case you tuned in specifically to catch a glimpse of my trumpet -- or its shadow -- I say to you "Flee with all haste." My camera is currently in the hands of the geek squad. Or, rather, enroute from wherever the geek squaddies were working on it to the local Best Buy store. Perhaps it is my camera, if it was fixable. Perhaps it is a new one, if it was not. I shall find out soon. Anyway, if you haven't fled yet, Hi!

An oldish picture of my newish closet,

still in the process of being organized

I've been art-ing & finding marvelous free art supplies just lying on the ground. cedar boards, cut into thin strips, near a sawhorse at the side of a local pizza joint called The Mellow Mushroom. I asked if I could have them & the answer was yes. The very same day I was inspired to go into a yarn shop & saw 3 little scraps of yarn on a counter & when I asked if I could have them the guy gave me a purple plastic bag full of little yarn scraps.

This is my second fortuitous visit to a yarn shop. Derrick is taking a clay class in Black Mountain & I rode along with him & meandered the town a few weeks ago. Went into a yarn store & they had a class in needle felting coming up not 2 hours later. I checked in with Derrick & arranged for later transportation (since we'd come together in my car) & signed up for the class. Oh, joy. Needle felting sounds like squirrels nibbling on wood, or perhaps an attack of wild termites, as the uber-sharp barbed needles go through the combed wool & into the foam block & back up again & it's way fun. I have quite a knack for needle felting, it turns out. Later (with the old fixed camera or the new replaced camera) I shall show you.

I just took a Tumbleweed Tiny House work shop in Asheville. Very fun. I learned some things, one of which is that I already know quite a bit, which was fun to confirm. Met some great people. Got rid of someones's headache & helped someone else with some persistent shoulder pain -- she has less pain & more range of motion than she's had in years. Yay, energy!

I've also watched some fun dvds lately. We Are Marshall, about a college football team that crashed & died & the coach who helped rebuild it. (No, not a zombie movie.) If you watch it, check out the great coaches special feature. I think I watched it 3 times!

Blog alternative:

227. Imagine living in a house that's only 120 square feet. (Or 350, if 120 is too small a leap.) What would you for sure have to find space for & what could you begin to let go of?