perilous

I am all wailing voice,
mouth spilling sharp stones.
They strike my feet, cripple me.
I bleed to leave a trace.

Would that peonies and violets
poured from my lips!
How they would carpet my way
with fragrance, stain my feet with joy.

I am all words and dreams
swirling in the darkness.
I balance a planetarium,
tremulous on my small shoulders.

If I fall- slip in blood or blossoms-
I hope I strike my head
and from it there will spill
a thousand brilliant stars.

never surrender...

lighten up...

suburban sunrise

It's a lovely morning in the 'burbs.

font mania

Why, oh why am I addicted to fonts??? I am too ashamed to say how many I have... andI am constantly trolling for more. The right font for a project brings me JOY!!! That being said... Lettering Delights http://www.creativedelights.com/letteringdelights/ is an amazing source. There are almost 1000 fonts and they are CHEAP!!! Now, I need an intervention. Stop me before I buy more!

McLain Castle

Will's room is coming along nicely...

loaded

Loaded

I bear no burden, save the one
of ordinariness that rides my back,
a scrawny crone, her weight
no more than a bundle of dry sticks.
She fills my ear with her raspy complaints.
You never buy me a new dress.
I saw that one with buttons of real bones.
They looked like your teeth,
so white and even.
Take me to the fair.
I want something sweet.
Faster. Slower.
Let’s go to sleep.

When did she climb to her easy perch,
wrap her limbs like rusty wire
around my chest? I must have stopped
along my brilliant arc, rested
too long. Everywhere her sisters crawl
and clack their bones against the spines
of all of us once so bright and true.

I love me some Tim Holtz...

Tim took a look at my pendant (that I made last night!) after the very cool workshop. Laurie and I really enjoyed learning some great new altered art techniques and Tim was an angel! Very inspiring!

must make art...

Off to the workshop!!!!!!!

still cooking...

Tomorrow is the Tim Holtz class and I am stoked!!! Laurie and I are practically salivating in anticipation!!! Oh, delight!!! Still getting the kids ready for school. Poor tykes! So absurd for school to start this early... In other news... I had a poem published on Stirring http://www.sundress.net/stirring/index.html along with a fellow Wilder, L.J. Cohen http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/~ a fine writer and all around great gal. And Will's castle room is underway... well, we bought the paint. ~grins~

yes, I am a pirate...

Ok... I'm back! Got lots done today. Some house stuff... some art stuff. No writing. Oh, well... I played with Photoshop until I felt like killing somebody. I hate things that make me feel like an imbecile. I LOVE Photoshop! Why is it so mean to me??? I will persevere and master it someday. Meanwhile it eats big chunks of my life.

Okay... that's it. I am so done with this frigging lethargy that has desended on me like a hot, wet blanket of stupidity. My art table is strewn with half done projects. I can't write a word. ugh... I quit! I am throwing a glass of ice water at my brain right now! OOO! Much better. Henceforth I will ignore the fact that it is hotter than hell here. I will slap myself around as much as needed to WAKE MY SELF UP! I love summer. I do, but I will not allow it to tranquilize me!
Well,now that that's done... out to the pool...
but I'll try my damnedest to think about something while I'm there. That's better, huh? Hell, yes!

Mercado Juarez

I've talked to Kate several times and the trip is going well. This afternoon she is at the city market. I have her on the lookout for anything Frida. I miss her, but she sounds wonderful! And it is hotter here than in Juarez. Lovely...

Spoke to Kate last night and all is well. She sounded so excited and happy! What a relief! This is where she is... http://proyectoabrigo.org/proyecto/index.htm

We haven't heard from Kate in Juarez. I'm sure she's fine, but I'd love to hear her voice. She is not in the safest place on earth... Hopefully she will call tonight.

Galveston

77777 068
Originally uploaded by seadreamstudiotx.

I am trying out Flickr... pretty cool.

Hot damn! Friday!

The weekend approaches and the heat rises... Too hot to move and I LOVE warm weather. If it is too hot for me then normal folk best beware!
Mark moves into his new office this weekend, so that's a bit of excitement. The transistion will suck, but brighter days await.
Kate leaves for Juarez, Mexico on Sunday morning. I will miss her desperately!
I have too many art projects underway... I MUST focus! I want to do a thousand things!

things really are bigger here inTexas

That's my little Honda huddled under a couple of pin oaks at the in-laws' new lake house. The"little" one is about 100 years old and the big one is approx. 150. The limbs are as big as most trees around here. These are some damn awesome trees. My photo is not too great, but they are really magnificent. There are 4 or 5 more on their property that are the size of the smaller one. No redwoods here, but these are some Texas-sized trees!

I'm working at the shop tomorrow. I hope I remember how! Also hope my kids don't decide to build a nuclear weapon in my absence. They'll be fine... I can't imagine anyone in their right mind wanting to shop in this hideously hot weather, but who knows? Not I. Riveting reading, huh? Sorry... I am nearly asleep. I will try to be more interesting in my next post. That should be easy...

I'm STILL working on the larger collage pieces today. I should be soldering them... I am also working on some pirate pendants and some with tattoo art. I think they will be pretty cool.
Made a new header for this blog. Yes, that's me circa a-long-time-ago. ~grins~
I am so excited about the Tim Holtz class. Less than a month now.

make a wish...

Here's what I made this morning... a paper flag banner. I am making myself stop working on this... though I want to keep adding to it. I have two others in progress.

read this...

Evidence of Things Unseen byMarianne Wiggins. This book will join the ranks of my favorites. It has bioluminescence, starlight, X-rays and characters named Flash, Lightfoot and Opal. What gorgeous writing! Here's a snippet ...

Chapter One: Radiance
On the night that they found Lightfoot, the stars were falling down.
All along the pirate coast the lighthouse keepers cast their practiced eyes into the night, raking dark infinity with expectant scrutiny the way the lighthouse beams combed cones of light over the tillered sea.
Over the Outer Banks, from the eastern constellation Perseus, shooting stars like packet seeds spilled across the sky, tracing transits of escape above the fourteen lighthouses from Kitty Hawk and Bodie Light to Hatteras and Lookout.
It was the yearly August meteor shower and Fos had driven out from Tennessee across the Smokies to the brink of the Atlantic for the celestial show as he'd done each August for the last fifteen years ever since he'd shipped home from France in '19, once the War was over.

Give yourself a gift... read this book.

Will's art

What is quieter than Sunday night? Just Will and I home tonight. I made him breakfast for dinner and he is wearing a big t-shirt, watching a movie. Earlier I let him paint... see above... He has a wonderful eye for color and a light hand. My watercolors always go to mud, but he is very skilled and manages to produce brilliant colors that touch, but do not bleed. Can you tell this thrills me?? He is a happy boy here alone with mom. Kate is with Ryan and Mark and Ian are in San Antonio for a week. So very quiet... aahhh... Made some art today. I have completed 3 of the larger collages. I am loving working on them. Now I am thinking even bigger... this could easily get out of hand. Lonely tonight...

You Are 45% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal...Other things you do are downright strangeYou've got a little of your freak going onBut you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How'>http://www.blogthings.com/hownormalareyouquiz/">How Normal Are You?

beer test... eek!

You Are Corona

You don't drink for the love of beer. You drink to get drunk.You prefer a very light, very smooth beer. A beer that's hardly a beer at all.And while you make not like the taste of beer, you like the feeling of being drunk.You drink early and often. Sometimes with friends. Sometimes alone. All the party needs is you!

What's" Your Beer Personality?

Every time I leave the beach it gets harder. The miles seem longer. I am so grateful for every minute spent by the shore.

what we love in childhood tugs at our hearts evermore

by the sea

beach bound

We're going to take a little run downto Galveston this Friday. Found 2 sweet cottages right next to each other... so we'll head out with our vacation buddies, the Lawrences. I can't wait to hear the surf and get my toes in the sand. Brown sand, but that's okay. I really like funky old Galveston.

and in othernews... The Mavericks got their asses kicked tonight... arg...

AOL polls... a glimmer?

Has your opinion of the president changed in the last year?
No, it's the same
45%
Yes, it's worsened
33%
Yes, it's improved
22%
Total Votes: 92,649


Which party do you think will fare better in the congressional elections?
Democratic
64%
Republican
36%


How do you feel about the situation in Iraq compared to a year ago?
Worse
46%
Better
30%
Unchanged
24%


How would you rate Bush's overall job performance?
Poor
58%
Good
18%
Excellent
17%
Fair
7%

not hell

100 degrees... drought... bring it on. God, I hate cold weather. I NEED the sun. So, maybe Texas is not the worst place on earth for me. I would die in North Dakota... for so many reasons.
Today is a day to thankful for where I am.

shhhh...

Kate and Ian got home last night bearing tales of the road. Kate brought me a beautiful aqua crystal rosary from http://www.lorettochapel.com/. What a treasure. I can't wait to see their photos from SantaFe, Denver, Pike's Peak and other points west. Everyone is asleep still...ahhh, silence.

it appears my ship has come in...

miracles...

Art Walk is tomorrow and I am ready! I have soldered like a wild woman. I always want to just make a few more... 150 will have to do. I am exhausted, but excited that I got so much done.

I am sooooo tired of feeling bad. I am so desperate I am even taking vitamins. I feel like spring is passing me by. Arrrg!
Well, that is one boring subject.
Nan sent me a nice, tall stack of books... including the newest Ann Patchett. Oh, joy! I am reading another first... saving that one for later.
Ian took me to the pond when he, Mark and Will released our turtles. It was time and they should be free. I actually miss the smelly things. The pond is great though and there are lots of other turtles there and plenty of little fishes for them to eat. It makes me happy to think of them free in that little (but immense to them) pond. It even has a fountain and our turtles love moving water. I think they are in a good place.

sea dreams

Monday... too much to do. I need some sand beneath my feet and it looks like the easiest, quickest way is to go stand in the sandbox. hmmmm...

Party at the End of the World

I can't remember how many times I've seen Jimmy Buffett in concert. Do I count the times back in the 70's at The Frog and Nightgown (Raleigh, NC) when the Coral Reefer band was one guy? My friend Betsy (where'd you get to, girl?) and I hoisted a beer or two with Jimmy and his "band" between sets on more than one occasion. I'm sure he's forgotten, but I sure haven't. He was funny, sweet guy and it sort of seemed like he was onto something pretty cool. Who'd a thunk that in 2006 I'd still be listening to some of the same songs... and grinning from ear to ear.
The Party at the End of the World tour rolled into Dallas on April 28 and along with it came grey skies and barrels of rain. Now, keep in mind that we had 100 degree weather earlier in the month. Dallas is famous for droughts. Why did it have to rain on Jimmy? And this concert was at the Smirnoff Center where most of the seating is "under the stars" or clouds in this case. But... guess what? The party gods love Buffett and granted him (and his fans) a break in the weather. Not a drop fell during the concert. Near the end I even saw a star or two.
The set was fantastic... a gorgeous seascape (looked like Tortola, home of Jimmy's famous tire swing, to me) and lots of colorful, beachy props. Radio Margaritaville played until Jimmy took the stage... barefoot, of course. The music was wonderful. Steel drums added to the tropical feeling. Every Buffett fan has their list of favorite songs. If Jimmy played them all in one concert it would last for a very long time, so he will most likely not sing a few you want to hear. I would have had Manana, Southern Cross and several others on my playlist, but it hard to complain when you get to hear One Particular Harbor, Come Monday, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere and Party at the End of the World (from the new album-not yet released). Jimmy covered Willis Alan Ramsey's Northeast Texas Women, which brought lots of smiles. During the short intermission, a trailer for Hoot was shown on the big screens. Looks like a great movie. I bought the soundtrack this week and Jimmy's version of "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is a treat. I also like "Good Guys Win".
The Parrotheads were entertaining as always. I think I'm as big a Buffett fan as there is, but I can't quite bring myself to wear a grass skirt and coconut bra to the concert. Maybe it's because he and I go way back. I figure he knows how much I like him even if I'm only wearing a sparkly skirt with palm trees on it and a raincoat.

frivolity

Well, this one flew out of eBay in a flash. Imagine that!! LOL!

two steps forward...

aaarrg! I am having the awful, bizarre behind the ear pain again! Yikes! I was feeling so much better... Dr. Icaza!! Hello...
Okay~ health chat is just too boring. Tomorrow is Kate's birthday! Just imagine being 17, smart, beautiful... lucky girl. We got her a nice digital camera and a chandelier. Like I said... lucky girl!
I have 63 pendants ready to be soldered. That is about half of what I'd like to have done by the 20th. Fortunately I do not require much sleep.
I must post another edition of book chat as I have read some real gems recenty. Currently I am reading Evidence of Things Unseen- a beautiful, almost poetic book. It is really a delight. I will give it a real review when I'm done... and my legions of readers will be overjoyed, no doubt!
And by the way, I think my neighborhood is going to hell. We have some mucho-nutso neighbors. I could write a book about them... but it would be pretty stupid. Some of them just need to pull their weeds... other's need lobotomies. IMHO, of course.
Ah, well...goodnight fair patrons. Clean sheets beckon.

alive

... and well... mostly. I am much improved. I see the neurologist again tomorrow. Hopefully he will me an A+.

I made some art this weekend. I MUST solder this week. Art Walk is sneaking up on me. I hear its prissy little footsteps.

live your poem

Off to work. I am so glad to FEEL like working. It is a grey day here... but I feel rather sunny myself. Happy to be alive, etc...

Happy Easter

ready to face the day

There was a time
before everything happened.
Do you remember?
Our hands were clean
and open.
We were white sheets
under a cloudless sky.
We thought we heard bees
or waves in the wheat.
It was neither.
It was time
riding a storm.