Borrowed from a Friend :)

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Check in

T-Minus five days and counting. Trying my dead level best to pack in two weeks what it took a month to unpack ...it makes for an interesting experience. STILL Not smoking..which is a miracle considering the stress I'm dealing with currently. Luckily, I have many more reasons to be grateful than to be bitter. This too shall pass.

Non-Smoking Update

324 Days since I quit smoking. Almost a year, amazing to contemplate. I can add that even though there have been days smoking seemed like the solution, I haven't forgotten the folks who have encouraged and supported this, and never even wavered. I have found the process of quitting way too hard to consider doing it more than once.

You can do this Bammy. I have complete faith in you. You've already survived way worse than this.

Saving to Remember..

"You have always been a source of inspiration, and never lose sight of yourself as a talented, fantastic woman of great courage."

Sometimes little things are said and done in life that make all the difference. It is easy to overlook these small things, and today I am putting this recent quote from a friend here to remind myself. Little words from far away, typed in an email that found their way to me when I most needed them.
Just as most of life goes on while we make other plans, I find my living situation once again in flux. So, once again, I find I am like the Indigo Girls lyric I have always related to..."We own nothing, nothing is ours. Not even love so fierce it burns like baby stars. But this poverty is our greatest gift. The weightlessness of us as things around begin to shift."

This too shall pass.

45 Days...and still no ARK

It flooded in my neighborhood today. This picture is the cross street directly in front of the house. I live in the Houston Heights, so named because it is the highest point of land in Houston. It has rained here continually for forty-five days, and we are still not assured of a dry day in the next seven. There was even a water spout that turned into a tornado on Galveston Island yesterday... which has never happened before.
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My car parked on the street curb. About an hour after this picture was taken the water reached the bottom of my front bumper. Luckily it did not float down the street, a few of my neighbors were not so lucky. In the middle of all this, Wade blew a fuse in the house and there was really no way to get anywhere to replace it for several hours. Fun, fun, fun.

I'm just saying, if there is anyone building an Ark out there, and you are picking two lesbians for the ride, I volunteer to be one of them. Really.

Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption

Plastic Pop Bottles, 2007

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Detail : Pop Bottles

Plastic Bags, 2007
Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds.


Detail: Plastic Bags

Cigarettes, 2007
Depicts 65,000 cigarettes, equal to the number of American teenagers under age eighteen who become addicted to cigarettes every month.



Detail: Cigarettes

Cell Phones, 2007

Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.

Detail: Cell Phones

This photographic series by Chris Jordon is fascinating to me, and I thought I would share it. Please view other works in this series (as well as his series on the aftermath of Katrina, a signed edition I received on my birthday) on his website

chris jordan photography

What I fround Digging Around in the Back Yard

Fig Trees! One on the side of the house, one in the back yard. Both so full of baby fig fruits we'll have tons of them by mid-summer. I looked up recipes today for fig jam, fig cake, and fig muffins to try and use some of them. I have always loved gardening and foods you go just go outside and pick to eat. I have fond memories of picking nice warm figs off the tree in my Aunt's House in Galveston and biting into the swishy fruit. YUM! If anybody out there has good ideas for using them up, please email me.
Dreamed of an idea for an art show last night, and started seriously thinking about it today. Even started looking on EBAY for one of the special materials. It has been very rainy in Houston, and just the perfect weather for dreaming and planning today. So things are percolating here, and I wanted to share my delight in the simple fig :)

And Speaking of "Art"...(LOL)

Who needs a trouser dropping mechanical Santa Claus when you could have this? One of the benefits of being around Wade (and there are many) is that he does have the best toys around. This is the brand new Pole Dancer Doll that will be available on store shelves by Christmas. You actually plug her into your MP3 Player and she dances to your very own music with flashing lights around her stage. Now, to really make her authentic they should have included teeny tiny twenty dollar bills to really get her going. Now this is ART baby! (LOL) I include this especially for a few special readers, you know who you are :) Enjoy

Damien Hirst's "For the Love of God"

In Britain, artist Damien Hirst's personal and professional reputation is well-established. The most famous and infamous of the Young British Artists (YBAs), he is best known for his Natural History series - dead animals, such as a shark, a sheep or a cow, preserved in formaldehyde.
Hirst enthusiasts say his work is bold and ground-breaking, that it sets the standard for contemporary art in the early part of the 21st century. But his numerous detractors, including respected figures in the art world as well as the tabloid press, argue that there is little more to Hirst's work than hype. He has been accused of being derivative and being an artistic con-artist.
Whatever the critics say, there is no doubt that his work has had a huge impact on the art scene, particularly in England, and has brought contemporary art into the full glare of media attention. Damien Hirst continues to explore his fascination with death, medicine, belief and faith with his new piece entitled "For the Love of God," a diamond-encrusted human skull worth £50m - said to be the most expensive piece of contemporary art currently available. The 18th Century skull is entirely covered in 8,601 jewels, while new teeth were made for the artwork at a cost of £14m. The centrepiece of the 41-year-old's creation is a pear-shaped pink diamond, set in the skull's forehead. The skull, which was bought from a shop in Islington, north London, is thought to belong to a 35-year-old European who lived between 1720 and 1810.

Well, I'll give him credit where it is due. It is very thought provoking and fascinating work on a lot of levels, even if i find it personally in somewhat dubious taste. It is rather "tabloid" art in my opinion, but who could fault Hirst with that in our increasingly "tabloid" society? I have no doubt someone will step up to the plate and buy this, and I guess that old pinback button we all wore in art school is indeed true..."Art is anything you can get away with."

Puddles is right!

Well, after days of heated angst and anticipation (with electricians crawling all over and much drilling, etc) I am pleased to announce the opening of ...>>ta-dah<<>new air conditioner!!! Today not only did I purchase it, I also installed it (with Wade's help). Yipppeeeee!! I know it isn't a big red thing that makes lots of noise like Bammy's toy, but I don't think I could be more thrilled with anything, even a Cartier diamond. There is a point in heat exhaustion that it is too much trouble to even think, much less type, so I predict more blogging will ensue. But today I am just doing a happy "new airconditioner"dance. cha-cha-cha...
P.S. Thanks Judy, for everything :)

And for those interested

285 Days since my last cigarette. Hard to believe, but true. There have been days this was hard to maintain for sure, but I am determined. Watching my Mother in her dying days hooked to an oxygen tank after years of smoking Bel-Airs is enough visualization anyone could ever need. My sense of smell has returned, skin tone drastically improved, and overall I feel a sense of compassion for anyone who finds themselves in the throes of an addiction. But for 285 days I have proven, to myself at least, that it is possible. Now to quit nicotine replacement is the final step for me.

HOUSTON, we have Ignition...

And so I sit in Houston this morning, after a harrowing move that felt more like the "floating of Noah's arc" than driving. (LOL) It rained so heavily all the way down Monday it popped one of my van's windshield wipers off.... twice... and by the time I reached Houston I found myself laughing hysterically while driving 15 miles an hour through downtown expressways with zero visibility. Never let it be said I don't have a sense of humor in a crisis. But I am here to report I actually made it here, unpacked the van, and now I sit comfortably reconstructing my life today.
Having everything you own in boxes certainly will make you acutely aware of what you actually need in life and what you "think" you need. Luckily, I have always been a pretty good packer so finding absolute essentials went pretty quickly. Got the computer up and running much faster than I expected, but haven't made a dent setting up the studio desk yet. But all is well here. I did want to thank the group of marvelous people that helped in no small way to make this a good transition for me. So thanks to Roger, Patty, Wade, Lori, Judy, and Genie. And thank you Genie for being so kind to me especially, I miss you already.

Another Inspirational Horoscope

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): "There can be no transformation of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion," wrote psychologist Carl Jung. That should be your motto in the coming week, Libra. Clear thinking and impeccable logic will not be sufficient to guide you to your next great adventure. You need the driving force of succulent emotion rising up in your solar plexus, the lush power of raw sensitivity piercing your heart. Feel as deep as you dare.

Guess What I am Doing?

Packing, PacKing, PacKing

... and so on. I never like moving, but packing to move is a great way clear out what is needed and what needs to be discarded in life. Even though I don't have much stuff here in Texas, packing is still a chore. Just bear with me my friends as my life is currently under construction. :)

Had lunch with Bammy yesterday, and met her brand new red toy. Some people would call it an air compressor, and claim it is a much needed tool. But I am here to claim any big enameled, shiny metal thing that has a flip switch and a certain noise level is a toy, especially if it is RED. (LOL) It's OK Bammy, I think there may be a twelve step program for that. If not some femme out there should create one. In any case her house renovations are pretty impressive, with or without her new red toy. Thanks for a fun lunch and driving me around, it was a pleasure.

The First of the Season

Today I saw a firefly. In a dusky half-light, driving down the street I saw one then another dancing across the lush lawns. My heart just lept into my throat with a little squeaky sound...weeeee! In a flash I was seeing fireflies as I did in hazy early summer months as a child, with the same intense delight.
When I moved to Alaska from Texas... oh, how I missed these little bugs. Long after I learned just how they were able to blink complicated messages to each other in lights, what processes they used, and the scientific facts of their short lives I still prefer seeing the magic of them. The delight found in the beauty of the unexplained, and tonight in some way this image like no other reminds me of what the core of faith is. Not to be caught in a complicated web of intellect and words, but to be experienced straight from the heart.

Runescape Addiction Update

This last weekend I made my goal of 50+ in every discipline on Runescape. No real new goals around playing the game now, the other "blissfully ignorant" goal I set in the beginning was really too much work. I find myself attracted to the crafting, magic, and cooking aspects more than any of the others as can be seen in my scores at this point. It has been suggested I sell my character on Ebay to some player wanting a leg up in the game. The thought of her being played by someone other than me feels kinda weird so it is very doubtful I would do that. Just a nice, solid little Runescape character for those days slaying dragons seems like a good idea :)

Boing, Boing........SPRING

Nothing beats the flowers available in Springtime. Thank you so much R for the beautiful reminder of this. Stargazer Lillies have always been a favorite, and these were particularly full and beautiful. :)

Busily packing and preparing for my move. The weather has been so stormy, cloudy almost every day with thunderstorms likely in the evenings. This was what Spring was like when I was a child in Texas, but the tornado action has been a little excessive this year. It is green and beautiful outside, but like a sauna about mid-day. But even at it's hottest, I am grateful for the rain. I remember last year, when everything looked and felt like an asphalt parking lot. No complaints from me this year.

Found a fabulous group of vintage beads for new bracelets in Illinois during my trip. So yesterday I cut them apart and started sorting them for new projects. Especially important since all my bracelets went to Seattle two weeks ago, and I always feel the need to make art when I'm in transition. In a way complicated, detail oriented work has always kept me focused.. ( I know Judy will remember the FIMO buttons so long ago in Alaska :) ) I am feeling a burst of creative vision, and I welcome it back. Spring has SPRUNG.

Two Tapping Terveen Jazz Babies

And if all the excitement of preparing for the prom wasn't enough, the very same night I was treated to the dance sensation of Amber and Ashley in their competition dance group. I tried to take pictures of the performance, but must leave that to the professionals as the sisters twirled and tap danced too fast for this aunt to catch on film. (LOL) I must say today as I upload all these beautiful, talented, and smart nieces how truly blessed I am to have such a collection. My sisters done good.>>wink<<

Let There be PROM

My favorite pictures of great High School events tend to be the candid shots taken before the "official" portraits begin. Here are two (and one half if you count the weenier dog Princess) of my favorite Beckmans as Maryssa posed in full prom regalia with Lauren. This was for her boyfriend's Junior Prom, her first. It was also her first strapless dress, a glorious red beaded satin, and she was adorable in it.

Of course Puggy Beckman had to have his picture taken with the prom dress too. :) Such a sweet and smart young woman, I am so very proud of her.

Last Soccer Game of the Season 0-0

I attended Crystal's last indoor soccer match of the season while in Illinois, and here she is in full glory. They played their hearts out, and the only near miss goal of the night was Crystal's. It is funny to experience a group of people chanting for her to score every time she has possession of the ball. I guess her reputation and general attitude of "Soccer Players Eat Their Dead" proceeds her. She is a pretty tough little goalie too, which really surprised me. It is a co-ed team, and the boys generally seem to steer clear of her most times. Very smart.(LOL) I love this kid!