tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61492239511829911452023-11-16T07:43:40.734-05:00Sending Pages Out to Drythe inside of my head. the outcome of my pencil, brush, keyboard and pen.Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.comBlogger338125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-22205001277707872032014-02-13T18:39:00.003-05:002014-02-13T18:39:53.094-05:00Making a new kind of book...for meAs someone with the time to investigate variations on a theme (thanks to a broken foot), I've found myself staying up late watching craft tutorials by women who make what are called mini-albums.<br />
They're called mini because they're so much smaller in dimension than regular sized scrapbooks, which all seem to be 12by12 inches. The minis are almost any size and seem to come in all dimensions.<br />
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I have a lot of paper, both commercial and painted...and handmade and I'm looking for ways to tell stories visually with really economical real estate. High-rise sort of things. In fact, I've been working badly on a scrapbook version of my MFA thesis with little success or interest primarily because I'm not using the material in any innovative way, not really. Also, my scrapbooking skills are crap. Who knew one could have scrapbooking skills?<br />
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Of course, a good page is all about design: main focal point, harmonic colors, interesting composition, etc., but I'd been slopping paint on the large (12by12) pages with so much speed I had to wonder if I wasn't afraid of taking my time.<br />
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So when I stumbled across the mini-albums and realized just how much material: photos and writing and patterning, etc., one could get into a relatively small place, I was hooked.<br />
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I guess it's been almost two months (synchs well with broken foot) since I started the process of learning such things as the "hidden hinge" vs. the "stacked deck" binding approaches --- both are pretty cool--- and how to put together a three and four-page album (stick with coordinated paper) plus discovering which youtube tutorials are worth watching and re-watching, I'm turning into a reasonable student of the art.<br />
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Putting together "pages" (which I'd think of as signatures) requires a lot of thinking ahead, as does how the one page might work with the two or three others.<br />
It's very easy to screw up as well, and there goes a whole set of nice paper. My first one wound up with so many mistakes, I had to take most of it apart for recycling. The second one was structuring correct, though very messy. I'd used the ugliest scrapbooking paper from my stash of not much paper and turned out quite an ugly little book. But by then I was busy figuring out the binding mechanism, so beauty didn't matter.<br />
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This week I finished an album with photos of dog, Lille and sister and brother-in-law, who helped me through the foot surgery. If I can wheel the package downstairs, I can get it in the mail!<br />
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I have one photo and here it is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_2J9jFAW-paieSBWsb29-PEhXg3mfO0ZY2_sq9H9hIt6FaJWHnm6bSxUEE6h9g84evC27a7KwSokheYm4GvR_JUVaGqVBQSAJAAjAY0absMFQBnZ-jkQUlycosOjtwClbajChmyR1MtS/s1600/2014-01-11+09.00.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_2J9jFAW-paieSBWsb29-PEhXg3mfO0ZY2_sq9H9hIt6FaJWHnm6bSxUEE6h9g84evC27a7KwSokheYm4GvR_JUVaGqVBQSAJAAjAY0absMFQBnZ-jkQUlycosOjtwClbajChmyR1MtS/s1600/2014-01-11+09.00.07.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a> and my foot!</div>
<br />Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-82803819696534937912013-12-29T14:10:00.004-05:002013-12-29T14:10:50.702-05:00Take back the blogHave you ever been stalked by an ex-beau? Someone from so long ago and from a relationship that should have been pleasantly transient but which ended, at least for me, with a sour taste and a sense of embarrassment? The kind of affair you really don't want to revisit much less rekindle?<br />
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Well, I have and it ended, I hope, when the jerk started lurking on this blog, leaving the kinds of comments that made me think I had a really insightful reader. So insightful that at one point, I wrote back to ask "Do I know you?" Well, yes, I had and the worst of my suspicions were confirmed. What a double disappointment. There was no one new reading me and this self-centered and dishonest salesman had reappeared...again. in new media. So I quit blogging.<br />
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Well, I posted new work and brief announcements, but the comfort and confidence I'd enjoyed blogging here was literally shut down in such a way that I could easily avoid confronting the matter. It was a lot like facing the mistakes and petty abuses of the long ago past: dating someone with a girlfriend; not reporting or slapping an English professor with a roving hand; rolling over and playing dead.<br />
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I don't know how this blog will change, but I'm taking it back, at least for the duration. I broke my foot on Christmas Day and will be home-bound for the Winter quarter with myself and my dog and my inability to write.<br />
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This time, I will not let the lurker win.<br />
AGSending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-82836397900947995122012-06-28T17:53:00.001-04:002012-06-28T17:53:09.013-04:00Bon Voyage Little Books!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZ9Z45YeLWJRkpXUPiulu5lZTlyOBhIT1pa5OZC-dpoMkI0-Wcg7zLgLi8yHMm4DubvMyH4oHLt_G9TebJqtzycb7xvmBLtNE7VyljX-SJW5tZHPMHXZF7VchIzQprT5Ory4Yi3jIyCfo/s1600/boa+ag+rowing+boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZ9Z45YeLWJRkpXUPiulu5lZTlyOBhIT1pa5OZC-dpoMkI0-Wcg7zLgLi8yHMm4DubvMyH4oHLt_G9TebJqtzycb7xvmBLtNE7VyljX-SJW5tZHPMHXZF7VchIzQprT5Ory4Yi3jIyCfo/s320/boa+ag+rowing+boat.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Copies of "Rowing Boat" set sail from my local Post Office Saturday morning. Got to fill out several customs forms! I'll be curious to learn how quickly these arrive at their Italian, Canadian, Australian, Californian, Ohio and New York destinations!</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">This was fun, though I focussed so entirely on structure and the desire to play/work with the sculptural or object side of the matter, the book itself doesn't seem to count.</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Goodbye little books!</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Alicia</span>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-87145632426700481322012-06-06T09:31:00.000-04:002012-06-06T09:31:05.392-04:00Artist book for clientI'm so lucky to occasionally get a request to make someone a one-of-a-kind book. This one, almost completed, is for a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The husband, a true romantic, has crafted a poem from a batch of love letters the couple exchanged back in the early 1960s when they were courting. I've taken the poem and some pictures from that time (of the couple) and put them together in a flag book. As usual, I struggle with execution and waste. I have to make the book over and over (because I can't seem to measure and visualize). This is the final. It's close but I think if I could do it again (and why not?) I'd make it a lot messier. Not knowing the couple (everything's been done via email), I'm not convinced they'd like that. I would like the structure to be as romantic as the impulse, as the lovers themselves.<br />
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<br />Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-15901013253145682872012-06-06T09:10:00.001-04:002012-06-06T09:16:34.973-04:00Rowing Boat Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDX9f3fQ_f3zFY87Q2ejcOokyBP21fGnFPtHMLTiKMHkSZHPbu47X2NMglvkNbtEXHFRN75h52Zp2usDBmhqCP4FaO_5JeRPFvWihZpamtMJLxjhMunuU_54GFoHWQOrF5tgbWg4L_PKxO/s1600/BOA+rowing+boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDX9f3fQ_f3zFY87Q2ejcOokyBP21fGnFPtHMLTiKMHkSZHPbu47X2NMglvkNbtEXHFRN75h52Zp2usDBmhqCP4FaO_5JeRPFvWihZpamtMJLxjhMunuU_54GFoHWQOrF5tgbWg4L_PKxO/s320/BOA+rowing+boat.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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Group 7! I was excited to open my first book from Gene Epstein a few days ago. A lovely take on "Delicate." Thanks, Gene. Will you post a photo of your book here?<br />
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I've been pondering and avoiding the "Rowing Boat" Book Art Object project for months now caught up on the boat structure. I know I'm missing something obvious, but after trolling for boat making directions--- finding cute ones for real row boats and origami instructions for boat-like structures--- and making clumsy clay and foam core structures, I've determined to follow my attraction to the abstract notion of a vessel. This decision is based on the stash of floral wire and wrap I found in a drawer and the lessening of frustration experienced while making these. On the spiritual front, it is pleasurably meaningful to shape them between the palms of my hands.<br />
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My next step is to tear into the old journals. In doing this, I find passages that are worth "sending out to dry" but which don't work with the original structure, which is a coptic bound book. Doing this means cutting up pages and getting any narrative out of order. Instead, I'm counting on my old favorite, the meander, so that lucky readers will get one page, front and back. I find I do want to send even a fragment of a story rather than the rain of words I thought would "do."<br />
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The covers are chipboard covered with paste paper scraps from the yards of same I've been making this summer.<br />
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More and more soon. They are coming.<br />
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<br />Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-66839575971627821652012-02-04T10:53:00.000-05:002012-02-04T10:53:29.562-05:002012 New project "Rowing Boat" artist book<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>273</o:Words> <o:Characters>1557</o:Characters> <o:Company>Alicia Griswold</o:Company> <o:Lines>12</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1912</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Rowing Boat</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So far, I’ve “researched” rowing boats, discovering that the simple row boat is not the only option: I’ve got kayakes, canoes, dinghies, skulls and probably even more. Or not. I see that most of those just mentioned depend on paddling, not rowing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the beginning of every project, I am at my most literal. Abstractions grow later. In my sketch book, I’m teaching myself to draw rowboats, borrowing heavily from photographs and instructional drawing books. With the Art Institute’s library within easy reach, that’s a lot of instruction. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The writing component is trickier for me just now because I don’t have a text of any relevance handy, which means writing one. I trust this will emerge from the freewriting and “coincidences” bound to reach me as I ponder the project. In fact, I recently took a workshop in developing intuition through imagination (see <a href="http://www.lynnwilloughby.com/">www.lynnwilloughby.com</a>) and one of the exercises involved describing, in great detail, a boat. This exercise alone could be a small artist book. It well may be.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When I’m not pondering the images or the text, I’m playing with the structure. If the boat is in movement, I want a book that moves. One of my favorite structures is a “meander” book, a folded sheet that yields 32 pages. There are pivotal pages that literally turn the book around. I’ve always wanted to focus movement on those pages.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally, there’s an idea/practice I’m committed to which involves using, as material, pages from the many many journals I’ve kept since 1967.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to re-use, recycle and re-invent these pages before I die or have to throw them away because they won’t fit into my cell at the old folk’s home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are, mercifully, no longer precious. They have become the sea upon which my little boat floats.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Here are some pages from my sketchbook.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Alicia</div><div class="MsoNormal">Group 7 “Rowing Boat”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-88048181702549901062012-02-03T14:54:00.000-05:002012-02-03T14:54:41.208-05:00I must be doing something rightUp until this ferocious Winter Quarter, I would have said a successful class was one without friction. After this week's temper tantrum and foot stamping (all the way to Dean's office), essentially the fifth (counting my own) in less than a month, I am left grinning. With so much passion about, I must be doing something right. After all, the goal this time is for me to teach my students how to think. Given the wails of protest and confusion, I might as well be midwifing 25 individual births.<br />
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But yesterday, as I headed in with a "stomach," I was shocked to be greeted by several smiling faces and possibly sincere greetings. Had they all gotten laid the night before?<br />
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Thursday is Right Brain Day, which is always fun. We did an intuitive exercise and then, again to my surprise, they all wanted to discuss it as a group and share their writing and insights. Many had taken the descriptive part of the exercise to a different level by creating poems. The temper girl, her defenses rivaling the US Dept. of Defense, provided great insight into nearly everyone's readings. The students at this school have a remarkable ability to support each other. It's a bit of grace that seems to glow from within. No one seems to mention it or brag about it; I hope the larger administration never notices it, because it's truly lovely just the way it is.<br />
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Maybe temper flameouts, confrontations and anger is not a recipe for failure. Maybe, like pepper, it's a simple ingredient.Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-28259464636237999652012-01-09T17:43:00.000-05:002012-01-09T17:43:11.571-05:00Let the Quarter BeginI'm teaching full-time this first quarter of 2012 (and then some.) A fullish load at the Art Institute, a monthly course at the online school and a weekly look-in at GPC. In between classes today, I interviewed an engineer for my foreign biz client. I have neglected my local biz client. Artomats are taking a hit as well. I know some people seem to thrive on schedules like this. In fact, if I'd worked this hard in my 20s or even 30s, it probably wouldn't seem like such a challenge now. Still, despite how slowly I seem to get on, the working day is a darn sight better nowadays without the anxiety of youth.<br />
<br />
Am currently investigating the phrase "Rowing Boats." It's the title I selected for my contribution to Book Arts Object. First step is often to free-associate for what comes from within. I didn't do this to any degree yet; instead, I checked for the symbolism of the rowboat. Hard work on your own terms and in your own time. Such a coincedence!<br />
<br />
Book plan: small meander (2x3'' or 4x5" closed)<br />
character: the boat itself if I can draw one with a personality and its oars.<br />
Setting(s): in the hands of its creator, afloat, struggling in waves, beached, rocks, turned over<br />
<br />
This sounds like a children's picture book. Also sounds like the Sisyphus book and text. We'll see.<br />
This morning a student used the phrase "Whatever floats your boat." Maybe something there.<br />
I'll ponder this as I work out my skills in drawing a traveling boat.<br />
More as it happens!Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-16419544995193097352012-01-03T18:24:00.000-05:002012-01-03T18:24:01.864-05:00New Years Resolution: Book Art ObjectThe key to a happy New Year's Eve Resolution is to get it over with the first week of the year.<br />
One of my "resolutions" (aka suggestions) is to contribute to at least four book arts shows or events. Happily, the Book Arts Listserve keeps me supplied with Calls for Submissions. 2012's first is a kind of round robin of limited editions between members of the <a href="http://www.bookartobject.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Book Art Object</a> community. (BAO is a blog community in Australia. Click link for more info)<br />
<br />
It seems a bit complicated but isn't. I don't think. The drill for this year's editioning was to pick a title from one of 100 short story titles in a book project by Sarah Bodman entitled <a href="http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/sbooks/sbg35.htm" target="_blank">An Exercise for Kurt Johannessen</a>.<br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As instructed, I selected three titles and was assigned my second choice, "Rowing Boats." </span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not sure why I chose this title, but I delight in word combinations and especially enjoy playing with verbs as nouns, etc. I haven't been near a rowboat in decades so I doubt my interpretation will be literal but who knows? It's good to have something to play with.</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
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</span></span>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-54278336147632877802011-12-30T12:39:00.002-05:002011-12-30T12:54:42.863-05:00What Inhabits the Sky- the first edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What Inhabits the Sky</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Birds, of course<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> And kites<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The ambitious leaves of tall trees.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Ideas masquerading as loose feathers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The inevitable wishes of young girls<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The prayers of a multitude<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Stray bullets<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Arrows on a mission<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Chimney smoke<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Jet stream flashing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Neon darkness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">My eyes, my eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Your finger point north<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Go home. Go home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPA_U_vG6EYVObabnMFJSg_yJk2OdK3LTzA41Tn629Q7LmP3OivkJ3kRKjOmGcsi05ci2_BlyRvVXJnWGW6L0d4F2ivMKfVTVN36AJMY1xhB7Kih4pRlK7H7Uupj1b4gH6LfHNVYO0_J-/s1600/IMG_3917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcPA_U_vG6EYVObabnMFJSg_yJk2OdK3LTzA41Tn629Q7LmP3OivkJ3kRKjOmGcsi05ci2_BlyRvVXJnWGW6L0d4F2ivMKfVTVN36AJMY1xhB7Kih4pRlK7H7Uupj1b4gH6LfHNVYO0_J-/s320/IMG_3917.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-91952841060645545252011-12-25T17:11:00.000-05:002011-12-25T17:11:01.950-05:00Lillie 's first ChristmasHer first Christmas with me. A year ago she may well have been lost. From the records I was given by the Pet Shelter, she was picked up in January in Valdosta.<br />
She's very happy now!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwtHWCKAPb0_6Zozmu_HtJCg3PTmP1NaUfUKBK6z-Cw3BuwTxMvtDkhuOQIoFP3s31kbUplKCozJeTPOpZNSg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-20107195336014105272011-08-19T10:27:00.001-04:002011-08-19T10:27:46.619-04:00How's Your Semester Going? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>49</o:Words> <o:Characters>282</o:Characters> <o:Company>Alicia Griswold</o:Company> <o:Lines>2</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>346</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, To Be a Teacher<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">You look at me and see an official nag<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Someone whose job it is <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To catch and lock away your every opinion<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Evaluation<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your decisions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Your changes of heart and mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">You look at me and see an ear the size<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of a woman<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But not a woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">You see an outstretched hand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A demand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">You see the mask of the crown.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">You do not see me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-71890195462606255592011-07-23T22:49:00.000-04:002011-07-23T22:49:49.632-04:00Heat Waves and Reasons to Love the South Anyway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauzV-XS4QWedgVTZJSC-xXku1xueHTRKcSaixFJ7AJ1tmboNJZdiLzecR6NetI8diOAuoKr2IPgs8aNKCMBtF-p6bCdx19mdqHPNizqu48TYpyQlODgKDhcSvSKaZAzso3OkiAnHpD5Lb/s1600/Magnolia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauzV-XS4QWedgVTZJSC-xXku1xueHTRKcSaixFJ7AJ1tmboNJZdiLzecR6NetI8diOAuoKr2IPgs8aNKCMBtF-p6bCdx19mdqHPNizqu48TYpyQlODgKDhcSvSKaZAzso3OkiAnHpD5Lb/s320/Magnolia.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>As hot as it gets, and of course, no one can complain this summer with any originality, there is something always cooling about the magnolia in bloom. Even on a sunny street, the scent of this large and stately blossom drops the temperatures for the length of a inhalation.Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-6001411612295340262011-04-26T12:51:00.000-04:002011-04-26T12:51:06.750-04:00oh, welli refuse to apologize for not blogging. I'm sorry, I just can't.<br />
<br />
What's interesting. The new (and curiously chubby) homeless guy who arrives at the Harris-Piedmont pocket park at dusk each evening when the light is just enough for him to unroll his bedding, sit cross legged and snug between his over-stuffed gym bags, pull out his journal and write.<br />
<br />
I've been watching him at this for three weeks now. He's punctual and regular and doesn't show up just often enough to make me worry and often enough to make me want to wave hello.<br />
<br />
He leaves each morning around 7:30.<br />
<br />
Something about this one makes me feel as if i'm participating in a fictional event. I think it's his big butt.Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-5944254681563653082011-03-31T14:56:00.000-04:002011-03-31T14:56:34.872-04:00Sisyphean Labor<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sisyphean Labor<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Those tasks we pick because they seem small <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">enough to hold in the palms of our hands <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or even pocket are those that grow to full size <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and must be hoisted shoulder high and carried.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTGjISLTmFqOtil23c6IP1AIe5RiLd5Xf5HORhfWPH1CzXEhyphenhyphenn4p-9-zuAi2ridhBxHJbJBnTF_gyWajUKaahfi2IVZYWE6Ge3eCdFr8L2mJZpB3pAHy-x1ZlYsKvckRALJZKz5Nq0bWd/s1600/hurl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVTGjISLTmFqOtil23c6IP1AIe5RiLd5Xf5HORhfWPH1CzXEhyphenhyphenn4p-9-zuAi2ridhBxHJbJBnTF_gyWajUKaahfi2IVZYWE6Ge3eCdFr8L2mJZpB3pAHy-x1ZlYsKvckRALJZKz5Nq0bWd/s320/hurl.JPG" width="228" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Pick carefully and for love and old age.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rather than a single rock, I discover <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">some days I maneuver several odd-shaped<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">stones bound together slip shod<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT-Book"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and my day is a juggler’s holiday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-85506126419389203262011-03-08T12:41:00.000-05:002011-03-08T12:41:07.688-05:00Ruining Work<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Lately, I take whole pieces of paste paper apart and put them back together, so they are both different and the same. They are done to, violated, experienced. Then I rather sadistically try to restore the piece’s beauty with red thread sutures, reminiscent of bloody little bows. The piece has been restored and lives with the beauty of the surgical survivor, the heart torn, the face undone. But alive.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I tore apart a nice paste painting done on a cheap drawing paper…a kind of happy accident, a kind of weed.</div><div class="MsoNormal">But once reconstructed (with difficulty, cheap paper is non-responsive) the individual pieces needed texture, perhaps a media gloss, wax, a spray of some sort. Pretty little sutures were not enough. In fact, they caused more pain.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;">I love leaving clues behind, evidence of a former wholeness. I think the cheap paper piece still longs to be its original whole and not the two columns originally, carelessly envisioned by me. I moved into my idea too fast and with the kind of assumption that always yields a typo, a misspelling. Here, a misstep and a waste of a potentially nice book cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;">Every piece of art must be breathed into being carefully and with complete presence. In this piece, because I never looked at its parts or what “deconstructing” it would mean, I destroyed. It’s sad…like bad plastic surgery.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zNJy0h_GYlli3nwt2z4f69ZcWdIsJViR8iEndA_lS49FJKeKrT5I7acPleGK1uoZ4A78YuUQ3H_tCx9sMU076tfE2ENWQxrNQClLwaQp_3hlh95CB2NnuF6As9vxv8L7xP5SYw-FV4LX/s1600/IMG_0575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zNJy0h_GYlli3nwt2z4f69ZcWdIsJViR8iEndA_lS49FJKeKrT5I7acPleGK1uoZ4A78YuUQ3H_tCx9sMU076tfE2ENWQxrNQClLwaQp_3hlh95CB2NnuF6As9vxv8L7xP5SYw-FV4LX/s320/IMG_0575.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;">Run it through the sewing machine?</div><!--EndFragment-->Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-28278695792872517412011-02-27T09:09:00.001-05:002011-02-27T09:11:20.633-05:00Sisyphus Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0ui0xHaLjRajaypmdt7n5yGiIgEKhrRVdIIbeMZAdW3QRlkB6TNiyQynwwLFeUQq9OoNDs-5UOGEm-RvSEC9LlQLJ6UIcQAaBKENql0jHhfVDW2rfGRor1ArBcMRyAy4oqExbUdAUHx9/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0ui0xHaLjRajaypmdt7n5yGiIgEKhrRVdIIbeMZAdW3QRlkB6TNiyQynwwLFeUQq9OoNDs-5UOGEm-RvSEC9LlQLJ6UIcQAaBKENql0jHhfVDW2rfGRor1ArBcMRyAy4oqExbUdAUHx9/s320/IMG_0571.JPG" width="228" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">Pushing the rock up the hill is<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">not temporary,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">It</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">’</span><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">s everyday. Some artists<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">think of the rock as the<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">sun rising, arcing and setting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">We push it with our labor </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">those parts of life we push,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">pull, carry, shoulder<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">day after day </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;"> those bits<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">are contained in the rock.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Another Typewriter'; font-size: 14pt;">Night time or bust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-92024529260012928512011-02-17T14:21:00.000-05:002011-02-17T14:21:14.376-05:00Lillie Day 10 - Crating Miss Lillie<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnS8jkn6sUZt0BJWJ-T7GyNwyKrsWMNnyZdoAeHzW-t0-1GP8jfMiYTGR0MqU0KpxCt6pbTJTUnGgA2cOHFXOmJ7AEtNT3igKdXQcmuu2x4Yjxtp3tFjiP70IQsYsa67Lg_H4tl_nTFNF/s1600/IMG_0607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWnS8jkn6sUZt0BJWJ-T7GyNwyKrsWMNnyZdoAeHzW-t0-1GP8jfMiYTGR0MqU0KpxCt6pbTJTUnGgA2cOHFXOmJ7AEtNT3igKdXQcmuu2x4Yjxtp3tFjiP70IQsYsa67Lg_H4tl_nTFNF/s320/IMG_0607.JPG" width="240" /></a>Gosh, I'm busy! With very little time to call my own (by my standards, anyway; readers with children and husbands need not respond) the fact that I've got a stack of papers to grade is the only thing motivating me to post today. Or is it?<br />
<br />
Why no. No pun intended, but today marks the first day Lillie spent in her crate without either peeing, pooping or both.<br />
<br />
She did both the first day, so I placed the spare "wall" thus shrinking the crate to her size.<br />
She just peed on the second day, so I washed out the towel and replaced it with another and left her less water.<br />
She just peed on the third day, but took down the wall, so I replaced the wall, washed out the towel and replaced it with another.<br />
Then I did a laundry.<br />
She just peed on the fourth, fifth, six and seventh days.<br />
On the eighth day I took the trainer's advice and removed the towel.<br />
On the ninth day she peed and pooped. I flushed the poop and washed the plastic tray with the new spray bottle of urine stain and odor remover.<br />
On the 10th day I took the advice of my chiropractor, who welcomes dogs to her office and her life, and added a T-shirt of my own. Not a clean one.<br />
On the afternoon of the 10th day I arrived home to a dry crate and a dry dog.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow we try this again for a longer stint. Good luck, Lillie.Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-83134527326296721432011-02-10T09:45:00.000-05:002011-02-10T09:45:36.961-05:00Lillie Day 3Ha!<br />
There's been some discussion in my family (remaining sister and her in-laws, thank you Facebook) about a middle name for Lillie. I'm not a sentimental dog owner and think the middle name idea is pretty silly. To humanize a dog, or any pet, or even a child, is to ask for trouble and disappointment. From what I can see and have heard from real dog owners (and read from new copy of The Dog Whisperer by Paul Owens) dogs are dogs and people are people.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPR860ZN3aGdLEDjKew68pwpdRNnS5s6uazTrcGmCb40U5-G510rjZeSCECp5qAzqVPDwhCWl8Jzk77emmT72yGe4Lrg_s9bFXXYOQGelNgWaOnrA12W5r_XVsCz0DDyWOmCeqr2hGP3O/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPR860ZN3aGdLEDjKew68pwpdRNnS5s6uazTrcGmCb40U5-G510rjZeSCECp5qAzqVPDwhCWl8Jzk77emmT72yGe4Lrg_s9bFXXYOQGelNgWaOnrA12W5r_XVsCz0DDyWOmCeqr2hGP3O/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Lillie Marlene. Lillie Pulitzer. Lillie Beth. Lillie Vidalia. Lillie Croquet. Lillie Pad. Lillie Belle. No no no. Lillie No? Better not.<br />
<br />
But then I wrote today's post title. Lillie Day. This has a reasoned beauty to it for a couple of reasons: I'm looking for a project blog, and as my days as a dog owner have just begun and I'll be learning something new on every one of those days, why not title the Lillie posts with their day?<br />
<br />
Today, we walked for an hour, came home, she ate her new dog food with relish (I replaced the Red Bandana kibble with Wellness, which smells much better. Hope this will clear the air in here, so to speak.)<br />
<br />
In The Dog Whisperer, Paul Owens says to work with the dog on each trick and behavior for a short time, about a minute or two. I've always wondered about this. It's very helpful. We're making good strides with "Sit" primarily because she already can sit, though she seems to do it on her own terms (classic terrier, I think). I'd like her to respond to "Down." when she jumps up on my leg and I'd like her to fetch the duck (her big toy) when I say "Fetch." Lots of other things but those first.<br />
<br />
I realize I have a lot to learn about play, so this morning I played "soccer" with her favorite chew, a disgusting but obvious pleasure dome of a cow hoof. She got into the chase but didn't catch on to the hide and seek part. Too complicated?<br />
Listen, random and faithful reader, any advice, input, etc., about living with a scrappy little terrier is welcome.<br />
<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=sendi-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1593375980&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-71665577939154106592011-02-08T14:48:00.000-05:002011-02-08T14:48:42.500-05:00I Take a LeapUnlike my last huge commitment, today's leap of faith was not an impulse. I've been playing with the idea, checking the sites and running the numbers for several months now. I've also collected input from friends, all pet owners, some of whom played serious games of Devil's Advocate. Last Saturday, I cajoled DP, a woman with more strings than a harp, to help me not adopt a dog at the Atlanta Pet Rescue. She, currently down to one dog, four (or is it five?) cats, two horses, patient husband, live-in elderly parents, three grown kids, and 1.5 grandchildren, was to be curbed as well.<br />
<br />
It was my intention to look the prospects over: small dogs who wouldn't get bored in a high-rise condo, could power walk up to five miles, spend at least six hours waiting for me to get home, and, oh, yes, provide blog fodder.<br />
<br />
Fergie, Dixie and Laurel made the first cut. I liked Fergie's scrappy looks. She reminded me of a drummer I'd had a painful crush on about ten years ago. Dixie was sleek, mellow and seemed above the kennel fray, but she was, and is, a Jack Russell with possibly Cairn mix and would need a lot of exercise. Still, she could do five miles easily and was clearly a smart little thing. Laurel was a Yorkie mixed with something bigger and did not show to advantage. He needed a bit of filling up and some high-end grooming. Still, he seemed mellow as well, would love a small condo and behaved very well. But he felt bony, and I was pretty sure he'd never make two miles, much less five, or even the three I actually walk.<br />
<br />
After chatting with the counselors, I eliminated Fergie. He's got serious attachment issues. After ten minutes with Dixie, I didn't like the fragility of Laurel. But I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to a terrier.<br />
Oye. Go to lunch. The one thing I didn't want to do was act impulsively, so I was pretty glad I left the shelter empty-handed.<br />
<br />
Only I went to bed thinking of Dixie. And woke up to a call from DP. "I miss her!" So did I.<br />
If she's meant to be my dog, she'll be at the rescue on Tuesday.<br />
<br />
I could barely start the quiz I still have to write for tomorrow's "Big, Fat Quiz" at AID. I could barely read the websites for the prospective client who called yesterday. Yes! I'll take that job. I have another mouth to feed!<br />
<br />
Here I sit with what must be the perfect dog for me. Dixie, or Lily, or Portia (not sure) has been home for an hour, has had some water, turned her nose up at the dry food (tuff titties, kid), chewed her cow rind, made friends with her new stuffed duck and is now lying comfortably at my feet.<br />
<br />
Someone must miss her very much. This is a nice, well-trained, solid little dog. As DP said, she is my gift.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD23btFFnDHk6myqtmRhDrFchHaQgEfc6x13i7cGdR7NMu7WlA3oVXLHOA9nK6ELvevSe_m0XfR0F19qxozF_UVh9WnUHEwzvC3mAfsy1a2w1k2Xt1_Mwfr-SiOisZ_kUqSSWTscVf5XoT/s1600/IMG_0603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD23btFFnDHk6myqtmRhDrFchHaQgEfc6x13i7cGdR7NMu7WlA3oVXLHOA9nK6ELvevSe_m0XfR0F19qxozF_UVh9WnUHEwzvC3mAfsy1a2w1k2Xt1_Mwfr-SiOisZ_kUqSSWTscVf5XoT/s320/IMG_0603.JPG" width="234" /></a></div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-13196537137463071002011-01-14T16:28:00.001-05:002011-01-14T16:29:21.067-05:00Dangerous Book Episode 46<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyltpXqeF4O_dajtcjJGPpBSETQowId_MpU2Dl7TQMIVpkpiPJc4y04CwBeW83_xCdMHdejPjC4x3IAbpGxDlfaCvsQBd2z04JNc08BlbBbYC2UbpR6olf5w4PBDifhfqfL1yuPxFwx69f/s1600/sc001dc0ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyltpXqeF4O_dajtcjJGPpBSETQowId_MpU2Dl7TQMIVpkpiPJc4y04CwBeW83_xCdMHdejPjC4x3IAbpGxDlfaCvsQBd2z04JNc08BlbBbYC2UbpR6olf5w4PBDifhfqfL1yuPxFwx69f/s320/sc001dc0ed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;">June 5 - Veronica’s funeral. Sunny and too warm to be standing in a cemetery<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;">Peter and Lura very much the couple in matching black suits, guided carefully by the Mr. Stripland (“Thanks for Stopping By!”) and for a bit I felt as if I were at a big party or reception. When I feel unable to cope socially, I hang out near the bar and talk to the bartenders. My options today were to link arms with Professor Sargent, who hugged the fringe and showed more interest in Snowe plot where am amazing row of peonies persisted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> Kept my eyes peeled for Veronica’s “effective legislator” and was surprised to see instead quite a few familiar faces, political and academic. The mayor. The dean of our Arts and Sciences. Betty and Dr. Rumpel. Ed (Eddie) Dowling, former state senator, according to Professor Sargent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “Really?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “Don’t you vote?” Sargent hissed, motioning me to put away my notebook. “Who raised you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “You do it,” I snapped, but slipped the list in my purse and sulked until my imagination drifted again to the body in the box and the ranks of friends and aquaintences surrounding it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> Secrets reveal themselves by working to the surface without effort. Like archaeological finds, some are dug up, other simply rise to the surface. Edward Dowling’s been to jail. Maybe. Been in trouble. Is not a success story. Was he one of Veronica’s good ‘ol boys who acted first and repented later? Is he still vulnerable? Did he owe her? Does he frighten? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> After an awkward march through the older (and shadier) part of Evergreen, we fetched up in Calvary’s over-crowded and clearly well-loved church hall. The assemblage regrouped and I found myself hovering near Betty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “The coffee’s weak and the iced tea is tepid,” she said. “Let’s hope someone’s spiked the lemonade.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “Can I get you a Diet Coke?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;"> “Not unless you’ve got a bottle of rum in that bag.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #660066;">…to be continued<o:p></o:p></span></div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-34457068302447018542011-01-11T09:05:00.001-05:002011-01-11T09:18:36.602-05:00The Sound of Whirring Tires<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytb4bp5JeRR8RaxNVDjEL-nirbHVL3HEw1RMX_Qi_SEksfMhv0bvPiDFGbPmYy7Ckw59jZ9y_0X26UTWWZaXFJy4-1KwQGfrFXvbfybDAJbiXIjRsNRkUzvQ1ixwzQ7ML_VjBy5ZFMdJI/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjytb4bp5JeRR8RaxNVDjEL-nirbHVL3HEw1RMX_Qi_SEksfMhv0bvPiDFGbPmYy7Ckw59jZ9y_0X26UTWWZaXFJy4-1KwQGfrFXvbfybDAJbiXIjRsNRkUzvQ1ixwzQ7ML_VjBy5ZFMdJI/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHA45LPY7Apn_AY25TNwrsLMWdFsaLE70Ff-38XT8FVJEoSk8LcpfhaiJ9FSqwPxby0akfFV4097qVxAZPcSZICPOphXzyOusf-Wfvuy0Y4VyKU_2PuqlPwCN7FI9ir44pYzqnkrc5hi5/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHA45LPY7Apn_AY25TNwrsLMWdFsaLE70Ff-38XT8FVJEoSk8LcpfhaiJ9FSqwPxby0akfFV4097qVxAZPcSZICPOphXzyOusf-Wfvuy0Y4VyKU_2PuqlPwCN7FI9ir44pYzqnkrc5hi5/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gSLxMnZuaZoTfN-uCTOslNY4BUeKkOLTUYfQHmOOYBRAzgHqImBHhiCfn3y6Mm5Q0n87Ekh8tUHShiZYUxy3HUjpzc_zKQSj1HjT8dIXJrAqAs0JplXmMt_ydTh_cHCpCL6GQQdMdyH5/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gSLxMnZuaZoTfN-uCTOslNY4BUeKkOLTUYfQHmOOYBRAzgHqImBHhiCfn3y6Mm5Q0n87Ekh8tUHShiZYUxy3HUjpzc_zKQSj1HjT8dIXJrAqAs0JplXmMt_ydTh_cHCpCL6GQQdMdyH5/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaHGjuD8fFKrPHsYH32q5OqWx7QH4j3nnhtDXAVA_riijjvhQKS5y93Iu8kjLY3BHO6a5fMCTz30R-EcM9YRwWi2-7WdQU00br4OVsOjfQqc7kivcXDJKdLyoLlfjMzap6j2FphLMJQ7S/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaHGjuD8fFKrPHsYH32q5OqWx7QH4j3nnhtDXAVA_riijjvhQKS5y93Iu8kjLY3BHO6a5fMCTz30R-EcM9YRwWi2-7WdQU00br4OVsOjfQqc7kivcXDJKdLyoLlfjMzap6j2FphLMJQ7S/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">There are no cars in view but I do hear them occasionally whirring their slow way up Piedmont Ave. You never know how hilly Atlanta is until you try to walk a familiar street in August or drive it over ice. The intersection of Piedmont and Baker-Highland, just above, is almost pure snow still, because no one's had the nerve (thank God) to attempt the even steeper climb west toward Peachtree or the east slide.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Yet there are patches of ground and, for some, the need to move. The sight of a bundled man and his balanced bags of groceries (evidently Publix on Piedmont/North is open) sliding down against this feather weight of a runner heading up as if he knew where each slip was and could avoid it so surely did he advance moved me from mockery to poetry. Well, it moved me to the keyboard.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here I sit, plenty of work to do, few cookies to eat, no butter in the freezer for more. I really didn't take this freeze warning as seriously as I should have, not if I wanted uninterrupted carbohydrates and fresh fruit, which, now that I can't have them, I really really do. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Time to work! Finishing up a website project that has taken many hours longer than I thought it would and debating over changing my syllabus or waiting to see if we have classes tomorrow.</div>Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-61893419799188294212010-12-30T10:24:00.003-05:002010-12-31T10:00:27.609-05:00Found a good oneCheck out this literary blog site!<br />
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<a href="http://zintaaistars.blogspot.com/">http://zintaaistars.blogspot.com/</a><br />
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<a href="http://behindtheconcessionstand.blogspot.com/">Behind the Concession Stand</a> - for teachersSending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-5863375805801610362010-12-29T14:35:00.000-05:002010-12-29T14:35:57.130-05:00How to Feel Your Own Bones<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1XkXmFDzDH1PXq7mt2365zvdaGdzEBqe00laQe9dlV1gWSi8cLLHymXVaARMB_Vw-F1YINua9WNYEO74LYOG4VpW5I9Jy8P4vhMvIefjgVFvbWa_dhra8A10w8yUTt1FUJ2T8vNooCaD/s1600/sc001dcfa7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1XkXmFDzDH1PXq7mt2365zvdaGdzEBqe00laQe9dlV1gWSi8cLLHymXVaARMB_Vw-F1YINua9WNYEO74LYOG4VpW5I9Jy8P4vhMvIefjgVFvbWa_dhra8A10w8yUTt1FUJ2T8vNooCaD/s320/sc001dcfa7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How to Feel Your Own Bones<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Somewhere below the surface of a January grave,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My history rests just fine until a man returned to lure me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> from the wood only to find he could not find my heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Finding bones instead, he laughed, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">gathered them into the night --- </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">a filtered green tradition. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Think poets and their everlasting labels.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The river man,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Earthen, viney and tough, he </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">stole the bones of my history, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">but he did not steal my heart. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">How filtered you are, he whispered. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">No one can reconstruct a heart </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">from its history. </span>Go and find my heart. </div><div class="MsoNormal">When you return --- well, go and find </div><div class="MsoNormal">what you will find.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Like time and bad weather, fear passes. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oranges are gathered. A hypnotic roll of tickets </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">distributed and taken, tear themselves in half </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">and flutter to the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Rained upon, snowed under, bleached and buried.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> Graves turn. Blue stones erupt into gardens </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">new laid. My heart lies somewhere. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Here. On a page I cannot read.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">He is a poet and has resurrected me </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">in words cleverly edited to bones <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">and a twinkle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">See, the problem is he found my heart </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">between sheets of white and has fallen in love </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">with it there. Why not? It’s so clean </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">and he can rest, as once I could rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">No more. I haunt myself with itching</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> and burials as scattered as the tickets</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> the trees leave. No passage here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Far away by now, he remembers fondly, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">profitably, everything love taught him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The bastard.<o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->Sending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149223951182991145.post-47182659927211164242010-12-24T18:24:00.000-05:002010-12-24T18:24:43.780-05:00And So, This Is ChristmasI love these little earrings. A cousin, who used to send the Knuckle generous Christmas boxes over the years, has shifted her tradition to my sister (J) and myself. These glossy little snow guys came a couple of years ago and have not been bettered since. Subtle aquamarines, shiny glass pearls. Humor with a twist of sweet glam.<br />
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I certainly have no words of either wisdom or joy for this Christmas. I've been sort of slammed up against it, happy enough to be in town with some interesting work to do between quarters and a couple of shifts at the Hang 'n Fold. Phipps Plaza is d.e.a.d. You know things are still bad when those who are shopping are cheering about the elbow room and great parking. That's not how it should be! (That said, the quiet shift did give me time to "check the sizing" on several items and head home with a new outfit.)<br />
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I'm frankly too dazed from the quarter to feel particularly artful. In fact, I've been working on the same batch of <a href="http://artomat.org/">artomats</a> for three weeks. They'll be over to Chapel Hill by New Year's but wow. One good thing about taking so much time though is that I'm too tired (burned out) to rush them, so I'm sort of lovingly painting up the sponge stamp and shellacing the text so that it's translucent. The pieces will be worth waiting for.<br />
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Roasted a big chicken tonight with success! The recipe is from <a href="http://glutenfreedomatlanta.com/">GlutonfreedomAtlanta.com</a>. I loved the lemon garlic herb stuffing (that's it, no bread). Lemon juices, garlic all mixed with the oil used to coat the root veggies. Nice.<br />
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Ok, well, Merry Christmas everyone. Get out those great earrings and socks.<br />
Much love,<br />
AGSending Pages Out to Dryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01607502025459402821noreply@blogger.com3