More adventures with Dean Stockwell

This is a quickie as I am sleepy and must go to bed, but
I had some more time with Dean and I wanted to share.
Really I don't feel I can tell you much as the people
involved may not appreciate it. I will tell you this: I got to know
him a bit more. He is a very funny and shy man. Also very smart.
He made me laugh several times and he did some things I
had never seen him do, even in the movies. He made this very
odd sound at one point and I said "Dean, what in the world was
that?" and he said "Oh, that's just something I do" :-). I adore
the man is all I can say. He is a gem. I wish I could tell you
more, but I think I may be becoming friends with Dean and
I honor my friend's privacy. In any event it was a lovely
afternoon and I feel very lucky to have been included.
Hope you all had a good Wednesday. XoXo

e.e.cummings' Tuesday

I realized it has been two weeks since I posted a poem

by e.e.cummings. I have not been reading much as I

have been spending my time being social or working with

the clay(I can't get enough :-) and so I forgot my goal of

posting one a week. I picked this one randomly and I love it :-).

but if a living dance upon dead minds

why, it is love; but at the earliest spear

of sun perfectly should disappear

moon's utmost magic, or stones speak or one

name control more incredible splendor than

our merely universe, love's also there:

and being here imprisoned, tortured here

love everywhere exploding maims and blinds

(but surely does not forget, perish, sleep

cannot be photographed, measured;disdains

the trivial labelling of punctual brains...

-who wields a poem huger than the grave?

from only whom shall time no refuge keep

through all the weird worlds must be opened?

) Love

Beautiful moon photo by Geraint Smith. Have a

wonderful Tuesday.

Thank you M.Kate!

The lovely M.Kate sent me a package all the way from Malaysia.

This is my very first gift from a fellow blogger :-). I have heard

of this, but never thought I would ever receive anything. M.Kate

has one of the most beautiful blogs in blogland. Here is my cat

Max admiring all my gifts. Missing is a hand painted book marker

that was hiding in the envelope when I took the photos. The word on the

handkerchief means "Double Happiness" the potpourri box has the words

Ai which means love. :-)

I adore them all, but I took a close up of my favorite gift-the hand painted

lotus with my name. I think it is lovely and will always remind me of what

a special, sweet woman M.Kate is :-). Big hugs always! Happy Monday.

For the love of clay :-)

This bowl was my favorite and one I just finished, I made it too thin and a piece broke off, so I broke all the edges to see if I could use it anyway.
I don't think it works.
This is a cream and sugar set,
I am not sure about them, they
look a little Fred Flintstone to me,
but they make me smile.

This one is the first coil method

bowl I made, it took forever!

Here are a few badly done photos of some of my clay work.

It is in its raw state and has yet to be fired. I have other pieces,

but most of them I won't bother to fire, they were just for play

and to get a feel for the clay and how it works. These pieces here

will be fired and if they make it through that process, I will then

glaze them(an art in its self) and then fire them again.

I have just finished a few other pieces not photographed yet

that will also be fired. I love working with the clay so much

I have done nothing else, so while I wait for these to dry and

be ready for firing I am going to work on the large painting

I started many moons ago and abandoned. I may even work

on the book :-) which I really need to rewrite. I hope you are

all having a great weekend. XOXO

Be Brave

First Jessie inspired me when she did the Be Brave project and now Kelly is doing it and Jessie is doing it for a second time, so I decided I would join them this time around as I would be in good company. I started yesterday, but today it is official :-). You make up your own rules as to how long you do this, but basically you do one brave thing a day for however long you commit. I am not sure how long I will do it, but I commit for at least one month. I may go longer. When I started thinking about this project I realized I have been doing brave things for a long time. Like the time I moved here without any money, a job or knowing anyone except a sales person I met on a vacation here, she ended up leaving town very soon after I arrived. That was pretty brave. It is really the small brave acts that I force myself to do that make the most difference I think. I won't be telling you the day by day, but you will hear about the highlights :-). I saw how this project changed Jessie's life and I am excited to begin this new adventure. Starting this project is today's brave thing :-). Join me if you like, the more the merrier. XOXOXO

A question for my friends...

Okay, the story goes like this: A long while ago I
was getting DVDs from a cool DVD place and a fellow
worked there. He was cute, and young and most
importantly he was smart. We used to talk a bit
about movies and I felt he was a kind of kindred
spirit. I had this thought that he liked me, but I
talked myself out of it because he looked so young.
I mean YOUNG. Then he quit working at the DVD
place and a few months have went by. I thought
of him from time to time. Then last weekend I heard
my name called and I turned and it was him and we stood
in the parking lot and talked for 2 hours. He is 27. He
is darling and I am certain he does like me. You know, like
boys like girls kind of like. I think I told him a zillion times
that I was 52 years old. It did not seem to faze him.
I don't know what will happen with this, but I am pretty
sure I can't go there. He is 27! I do like him as a person very
much and if I was even 10 years younger I may be tempted.
A 25 year spread is a bit too much don't you think? He is very
mature for his age though :-). What do you all think? I need
some help here as I find myself actually thinking about him.
Also this post is my first act of bravery for the Be Brave project
I am starting any day. I guess I started today :-). It is a bit scary
to put this post out there because he is a computer guy and
will likely Google my name and find this. Help me people, what
would you do? XOXO

Art Monday

This is a painting I did in the last 2 years. This one is

a bit smaller than the others I have shared with you

before. Mixed media on canvas, 18"x 18", and the title is

"Sea Glass". Like usual the color is off and there is a glare

in this photo. My new friend L is an art photographer and

we are going to do a trade and he is going to take photos

of my work. I can't wait to get new photos! However, until

then I am stuck with these. This painting is for sale :-). If

any of you are interested you can email me, but mostly

I just like sharing my work with you. Have a wonderful

Monday. XOXO

Thank you, Kelly.

The lovely Kelly gave me this award and also Sukipoet (Suki gave me the award as part of a group give away, but I just learned from Kelly how to put the award on my blog :-). Now I will give this award to 7 bloggers, but I can't choose just seven, so I am giving the award to all the bloggers on my blog roll, I know many of you already have this award :-) and it is well deserved. I will however, pick out 7 blogs I am really loving and will link to those blogs as per instructions :-):

1) Put the logo on your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on yours.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Yoli, Pia , Robin and Maryam-Your blogs are so beautiful and lovely, I am always cheered by them.
Willowtree , Neil and em, you never fail to make me laugh.
I love you all. Have a most wonderful Sunday.

A recipe for you

Dinner was lovely. My friends,B,P and J came over.

I am so grateful for all my wonderful friends. I am

a very lucky woman to have such GREAT ones.

I fixed an asparagus/pasta dish and salad. My

non blogging friends thought it was very funny

that I wanted a to take a photo of the food for my

blog :-). They just don't get it at all. What is interesting

is that B and P are in their thirties and you would think

they would be in on this blogging thing by now :-).

I actually don't have one friend in my off web life that

blogs. Sorry, my photo is not the greatest, but I did my

best. There was not a morsel of food left, so I think it

was a hit. However, I am adding a bit to the recipe

because I found for four people there was not enough asparagus

in the dish. I am also simplifying it a lot.

Ingredients: for four people

2 bundles of asparagus

1 large red chili (put in 2 if you like it hot)

2 cloves garlic

1 half onion(get Spring onions if available)

1 inch ginger root

Basil

1/2 cup plain peanuts

1 Tbsp Sesame oil

3 Tbsp Thai peanut sauce

1 16 oz package of fettuccine pasta

First, clean and chop up all the veggies and ginger, very fine.

In the a wok or sauce pan heat the sesame oil and add the garlic, chili, ginger and onions.

Let simmer.

Start heating the water for the pasta.

Chop up the peanuts, very fine

as the pasta is cooking, add the asparagus and peanut sauce to the garlic, ginger, onions and chili and turn the heat down on the sauce. You don't want to cook the asparagus too much.

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse and put back in the pot you cooked it in. Add the sauce

and mix well, garnish the top of each plate with basil and peanuts. I served this with fresh salad from the Saturday market and cucumbers. Dessert was Mango sorbet. Let me know if any of you try this recipe. I am off to play with clay :-). I promise to post photos of my efforts soon.

XOXO

What I love about today...

This is a photo I took in my yard this morning.

I am on the run this morning as I have much to do and friends

coming for dinner. I am making a recipe I have never made before.

If it turns out I may post it for those of you that cook. I thought

today I would make a list of things I am really loving about my

life and perhaps, if you want to, you could leave a comment about

what you love.

1. All four of my animal boys, they make my life so much richer

than if they were not here.

2. The rain and thunder in the afternoon, cools everything off

and gives everything a drink.

3. My wonderful family, who I love very much.

4. All my beautiful friends here, and around the world.

5. The fact that I have today off! And tomorrow!

6. e.e.cummings

7. Werner Erhard, he is a newly discovered hero and I will post about him

soon. He means more to me everyday and his lessons are life changing.

8. The birds who come to eat and sing in my yard.

9. Art, in every form!

Have a most wonderful Thursday! OXOX

Life

This is a photo of 3 of my boys on their couch. Me, I am

well trained and never go near the couch :-). A lot has

happened for me this week. Many trials and things I would

rather not have occurred, but they did and now that I am on

the other side, I see that just as I suspect, things happen for

a reason. I respect that many of you do not believe that, but

in my life, for me, it is a powerful truth. Through events of

the week I now have a huge fire burning under me to make

my dream of doing art and writing full time a reality. I can't

go into the details because some of the people involved read

my blog, but I will say it was a hurtful thing. The good part is

that I am on the up side of things and I feel better than ever.

I have a question to ask all of you. I have a bunch of older

paintings, in a style I no longer do, that I would love to sell,

for much cheaper than my new work. Would any of you be

interested in seeing this work? If so let me know in comments

and I will post one from time to time. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

e.e. cummings' Monday

Happy Monday everyone. It's that time again, time for a

lovely poem from my beloved e.e. cummings. For those

of you who could care less about poetry, I am sorry, but

I will have a post for you in the next couple days. This

poem is one of my favorites:

love is the every only god

who spoke this earth so glad and big

even a thing all small and sad

man, may his mighty briefness dig

for love beginning means return

seas who could sing so deep and strong

one queerying wave will whitely yearn

from each last shore and home come young

so truly perfectly the skies

by merciful love whispered were,

complete its brightness with your eyes

any illimitable star

Sweet photo by the very talented Geraint Smith.

OXOX

Double tagged

This meme came from melanie:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your Summer.
well, first, I must tell you what I listen to the most is silence. Sounds weird to most of you, I know.
The thing is, I lived, ate, and breathed rock and roll until I was in my late thirties and I can
hardly listen to it anymore. Oh, I still listen to my old favorites from time to time, but mostly
I just have silence playing in the background and birdsong :-). However, there are a few songs
that have meant something to me this week.
One is "London Calling" by the Clash. They were one of my favorite bands. Last night I
rented "The Future is Unwritten" the Joe Strummer story. I did not really like the film that much, but loved seeing Joe sing his heart out and "London Calling" has been going on in my head
all day. The other song was also from a movie I saw last week called "CharlieBartlett". The film was just okay, but they kept singing a song and I have no idea what it is called: it has lyrics that go
, If you feel high, feel high, if you feel low, feel low...Any of you older people know this song?
It is driving me crazy :-). Anyway, that is it for me, sorry I can't do seven. If you feel to play, tag yourself and say I did it :-). P.S. Have you noticed I don't play by the rules? :-).

Tagged

I got tagged by Julie for this one. Disclaimers. I think it
sounds fun, so here goes:
1. Even though I hate it, I am still afraid of being disliked.
2. This one is for Willowtree: my last few cryptic posts are
all about my new obsession and dare I say love for Werner
Erhard of est fame(if you are making a face right now, stop it :-).
I am gearing up for a post about him, so get ready :-).
3. I love carbs :-).
4. Some days in the Summer, when I go for a run, I walk instead because I hate running when I get hot!
5. On my days off I sometimes sleep until 9(I usually get up at 6).
6. Like Julie, I am obsessive/compulsive, but I have it under control :-). No medication needed.
7. I believe in miracles.
8. Once in a while I forget to feed my poor dog dinner, I always remember sooner or later, but sometimes it is later(I hang my head in shame).
9. On my day off, sometimes I stay in my jammies all day :-).
That is the last one, there were no rules for how many, so I picked 9 as it is my favorite #.
Consider yourself tagged, if you want to be :-).

Drawing

Today, I thought I would share with you one of my drawings.

This one is called "Intermediaries" and it is 22"x 30".

Graphite and colored pencil on paper. I love to draw almost as

much as I love to paint. It has a whole different feel to it.

As you may have guessed if you have been reading this blog for

long, I am a bit obsessed with circles :-). I can't really explain why,

it started about 3 years ago. I can hardly stand a square these days :-).

Simply can't even look at one without making a face :-).

That's it for today. Love you. OXOX

On my mind...

Tonight I found myself reading other's blogs and avoiding

writing my own. I have many things on my mind, but I am

not sure how to share them with you. I decided like I often

do, to just sit down and start writing. What I most want to

write about is happiness. I know for sure that nothing makes

you happy. No thing, place or person can make you happy.

You have to choose to be happy, and then take that happiness

with you. Some days it is easier than others :-). Remembering

is the hard part for me. Just like living in the moment, I have

to remember to do it, it does not come naturally. Why is that

I wonder? Perhaps it comes more naturally to some and to others

like myself it is sometimes a struggle. I would like to hear what you

think about happiness? Are you happy? Do you think it's a choice?

Have a lovely Monday! Photo taken from my yard last week.

e.e.cummings' day!

I think this e.e. cummings' poem is most fitting for the week I have had :-). I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Moon photo by Geraint Smith. *Again Blogger mushed the poem all together. Can anyone tell me why it does this?*

here's to opening and upward, to leaf and to sap

and to your(in my arms flowering so new)

self whose eyes smell of the sound of rain

and here's to silent certainly mountains; and to

a disappearing poet of always, snow

and to morning; and to morning's beautiful friend

twilight(and a first dream called ocean) and

let must or if be damned with whomever's afraid

down with ought with because with every brain

which thinks it thinks, nor dares to feel(but up

with joy; and up with laughing and drunkenness)

here's to one undiscoverable guess

of whose mad skill each world of blood is made

(whose fatal songs are moving in the moon

My Magical day with Dean Stockwell...

This is Dean Stockwell the actor. I have loved

him my whole life. This evening I and a couple

of my friends spent four hours at his house sharing

art. How did this all come about? My friend J met

a new friend L and he knows Dean. J and I spent

the day with L. First, we went to a new, lovely gallery

in town, met the owners who were wonderful and spent

the afternoon visiting with them. Then we went to J's

for drinks. That is when our new friend L said "would

you two like to go to Dean's house with me?" We said

"yes"! I will not tell you any of Dean's secrets, even though

I know a few :-), but I will say that he is a lovely, sweet man.

Just as I always knew he would be. We met a bunch of other

people there and they were all sweet too. We shared our art

with him and he shared his art with us (he does wonderful

collage pieces). I just returned home and being too wired

from the day decided I might as well post a blog about it.

Some days are just perfect and this was one of those days :-).

No credit was given for this photo, but I got it here.

Random thoughts...

I wanted to write, but then when I am sitting in front of my
computer my mind goes blank. I think if I just start writing
something will come, or not. I have a whole lot on my mind,
but a lot of it I find hard to share here on the blog. This being
a public place and me still trying for some privacy. I know some
of you let it all out, but while I want to be real and honest here,
I feel I have to hold some things back. This week I have been
on a journey of the mind and spirit and I find myself unable to
share most of it with you right now, but I will say this: Life
is FULL of surprises and just when you think nothing new
is ever going to happen, it does and it blows your whole view
of the world out of the water. I love that life is like that, don't you?
Sometimes it is uncomfortable, but so worth it. I am happy
that I can still be surprised and that people and ideas can still
shake me and wake me up. I am fully awake right now and
it is a joy. I am sparked. What sparks you? What new things
have you learned lately? OXOXOX