Sisters, Photograph, 2011

Third Prize

Kinda cute to win third prize in the NYSATA exhibit this year. My piece, Boys Will Be Boys, was on exhibit in Tarrytown over the weekend.

Toy Amphora

Can't We Just All Get Along?

Oozing Watermelon

If your watermelon looks like this, don't eat it. When we cut into it, we got the worst sulpher smell. The produce man said "This happens all the time." Who knew?

Port Jervis Sky

Wedding-itis

Four weddings in four and a half months...Two were destination weddings, two had cupcakes, instead of a cake, one was on the beach, another was at a farm and a third was at a lighthouse. I'm very happy for everyone, but am glad it's all over with...

Finally!

My kids got Quarter Collector's Books many years ago from an old boyfriend. So old he's been married for at least 10 years or so. My children were interested in these books for about two minutes--maybe less. The books featured State Quarter slots from both mints--Philadelphia and Denver. Just shoot me! The Denver ones were impossible to get in New York. And I refused to go to a coin store where I cold probably have gotten them all for 30 cents each.

But my recent trip to Chicago yielded the last two--from New Mexico and Alaska--thanks to the hoarding skills of my sister's husband, Keith. After going through a shoebox full of coins, I found the last two and can finally move on with my life.

Space Needle Memories

How weird it is to be back in Seattle after forty years and stranger still, have dinner in the Space Needle after forty-nine years! My family drove out in 1962 and we splurged on a meal up in the needle. It is exactly as I remember it, except for the new elevators. It also moves a little faster than I recall but it is as magical as ever. What a concept: Silently moving while eating and enjoying the panorama of this beautiful city. And the food was really good. A lovely mixed greens salad, very rare and tasty tuna, and a nice Oregon second label wine. Three and one half revolutions later we had an explosive Vesuvian ice cream treat, supposedly the gift of our hotel concierge, Lucy.

Sighting

So I saw my first robin yesterday and I'm making pretend spring is actually on the way. What a brutal winter. What brutal things are going on in education. What brutal things have happened in Japan. What brutal things are going on in the Mideast.

Ice Day

A gift from the cosmic forces... even though I was already up and out of the shower by the time the call came. What a pleasure to read, do the puzzle ("tilt at?"--what kind of answer is that???) and work.

The larder is somewhat bare, but I have coffee, cream and bread. I'll survive. Did some painting (of woodwork) and some drawing (of art) I'm making tiny lines to represent bark and shadows on my cut-down trees. I'm thinking about what bigger pieces I want to make, now that I almost can. Fire/Lava/Elemental Forces/Remainders of things once alive (Reminders of things once alive) are on my mind. It's hard to think about trees that exist for hundreds of years, while we humans come and go.

The city is slowing melting right now and I'm gearing up to go out to Long Island for my evening class. Tonight we introduce ourselves, learn the nuts and bolts of the class and make an exquisite corpse.