Happy Halloween?

This is probably only the second time since I was a child that I haven't done anything for Halloween. I am usually some sort of vampire (punk rock, Victorian, traditional), but nothing this year. I have more than 20 huge boxes of costumes I've collected since I was 16, although they were not costumes at that time.

I've always had parties, decorated my houses to the extreme, scared the crap out of little kids...Halloween is my favorite holiday. But, since we moved to this neighborhood we have never had more than 3 trick or treaters. Being a mostly Russian community and not wanting to offend, I have kept the crazy to a minimum.

We only had 1 kid tonight and that was only because I had told her mother earlier that we had candy as I passed her on the street. Can't even give the stuff away and it's the good stuff-Snickers, Reese's, PayDay and Twix, Geez!

In With the New

Some weeks back I came home to find that one of the 50+ year old rose bushes had been torn out of the ground by the city workers who were installing new water meters. It was a climbing red beauty that I'd thought about moving and replacing with a shade tree but was afraid that it wouldn't make it. The decision was made for me but seeing the poor, old thing laying there broke my heart.

So, I bought and planted an African Sumac which will be slow growning but worth the wait as I didn't want to settle for something common. The seeds of this tree were originally collected in South African in 1919 and propagated in Chico, California. I have read that the fruit of the Sumac are ground down into powder and used by people in the Middle East as a spice. Once established, it will need very little water and work nicely with my plans for our super, small front yard.

The first thing that HAS to happen is changing out the fence. At some point in this neighborhoods' history some one got the great idea of using chain-link fences and then everyone jumped on board. Ghetto! Thinking economy and re-use, I plan to get old railroad ties and stack them 2-3 feet high.

Then, out with the grass and in with decomposed granite, rock stepping stones, agave's, succulents and such. I think I will paint the brick or stain it darker, take out the geraniums (though beautiful a pain to dead-head constantly) and replace them with yuccas (of which I have an abundance).

If our house was just strong enough for a tile roof! At the end of our street, along the railroad tracks, still sits the old Portuguese tile factory that was owned by my 80 year old neighbors' uncles. You can spot the houses that were originally inhabited by Portuguese from the Russians.

As usual, so many plans...so little money and time!

Friday Night

The closing reception was not a smashing success but I sort of figured it wouldn't be, too many things going on Friday night, the first couple of hours there were but 3 of us. Last week, in my handcoloring b & w photos workshop, I really hit it off with a gal named Abbe. She had shown me some of her daughters art and I invited her to hang some pieces for the closing reception.

People finally came, a few at least. A few pieces sold. But the best part of the evening was hangin' with the teenagers. Georgina and Chris were awesome people and we had some great conversations. When their friends showed up I read their palms in the dim light of the "lounge" and wondered if they had any idea how many crazy, new experiences were to come.

I headed out with a couple of girl-friends for a pint of Guinness at a nearby bar then called it a night. I came home to the tiny, fur balls (Booger and Eddy) wide awake and ready for play time.

Kittens, anyone?

My visual migraine started yesterday and came back today. My neighbor Irene called just as I'd come home from work to to lie down and close my eyes. She'd found 3 kittens that had been abandoned by the neighborhood feral hussy.

A few years ago, one of "Buddha's" cats had her own litter of 5 that she'd left out in the sun to die. We took them in along with the mother I'd trapped (as they were but 2 days old), fed them with syringes when mamma wouldn't, wiped their bottoms with warm, wet rags and fretted like they were our own. Found them all great homes and mamma got "fixed".

Thankfully these little guys are about 5 weeks old and don't require the sleepless nights. I hope that they will find someone to love them tomorrow night at the closing reception at my studio.

Mmmm....Hibernation

This is going to sound ridiculous, but every fall, anticipating the winter, I begin a slow decline. I get all dramatic and think I won't survive this one. It is not that we have harsh winters here and I am afraid that we won't be able to collect enough fire wood or have enough reserves in the pantry to make it thru the long, cold season. It is more of a my garden is dying, I have to wear shoes, I'm tired at 8pm, and I really hate being cold kind of thing.

I am sure that I suffer from S.A.D. and need to figure out a way of thriving and not just surviving this one. Make lots of art seems like a good plan. Been digging thru boxes of old photos and having fun playing with them. Now that I have sort of figured out how to combine images in Photoshop perhaps I can salvage some old work that didn't quite make the cut.

The photo of the little girl was taken at least 12 years ago. Camille was unlike any 4 year old I've ever met. She was unlike anybody I've met. With her nearly white hair and impish smile, we explored the cemetery I used as a backdrop (her mother a short distance away). When her mother had been with us, Lily was a difficult child and unwilling to "look cute" and "behave" but as soon as it was just the two of us she took my hand and said "Great,I have some ideas!".

She was still a little girl in this shot but later, when it was safe, she showed her old soul to me. I will post some of those photos later.

Ah, Craigslist...My Ball and Chain

I often loose myself in the world of Criagslist. I love yard sales and can "attend" them any time of day or night, in any season, even in my pajamas. There is a serious Love/Hate relationship going on with us. If I actually had money and lots more room it would be no problem, but, alas, that is not the case and I have been warned (kinda like the "no more animals until one passes away" deal).

It was agreed, last week, that Saturday we would finally get the garage cleaned up. It has been full to the rafters with camping gear, holiday stuff, furniture projects and other great, used finds. The bathroom remodel that was started months ago has been put on hold due to lack of access to workspace and tools.

So, Friday night I found a box of beautiful blue tiles that I really need on craigslist. See, there is a bathtub I bought 3 years ago on Craigslist that I need to mosaic and use as a pool for the fountain (Penelope) I bought 2 years ago on Criagslist (500lbs and only $20!). Are you getting the sad picture here? Lots of great plans, but....

Turns out that these tiles were only 2 blocks away and the guy that answered the door was an old customer of mine at the camera shop. We got to talking about the history of the neighborhood, as he grew up here, and then his wife invited me to see their garden.

Her tomato's were flourishing and mine had not. I'd had no problems until this year. She gave me all of her secrets and we continued our varied conversations back out front. As I was leaving, Robert asked if I needed a compressor. My honey had asked me earlier in the week to look for one on Criaglist, so, I called him up and it is now sitting in our newly clean and organized garage.

On the way home I stopped at a yard sale on our street that looked really interesting. They had a lot of vintage items and books. I bought a Diane Arbus book and a beautiful vase that had been made by the mans late wife. As I was admiring the plethora of plants in the yard, Henry pulled out a wild ginger for me. The flower's smell was amazing, something like a cross between honeysuckle and tuber rose.

He brought me into his backyard and pulled off an aloe and dug out some Tropicana's for me. The yard was filled with fruit trees, ornamental plants and a beautiful vegetable garden as well as lovely artistic touches of rock work and ceramics his late wife had made. Earlier, I'd mentioned the tile I'd picked up and my intentions for it, later, he rummaged thru a shed and brought out a couple of boxes of glass, mosaic tile and gave them to me.

Two hours later, I arrived home with much more than a box of blue tile. I'd come back with a bunch of goodies, some great advise and wonderful conversations with neighbors.

We spent hours cleaning up the mess in the garage. A lot of the time was spent with me up in the "loft" above the garage (whose stairs had finally disintegrated last summer while friends were staying there) and the honey handing me things from below. So, from now on, we will grab pieces as needed to work on. One day, perhaps, the loft will be the guest house I have envisioned with new stairs and a balcony and a bathroom and skylights and insulation and the french doors we bought 3 years ago or at least, paint the backside of the garage!

the Spooky show Closing reception October 29th, 5-9pm

There's still so much art that didn't sell that I have decided to have a closing reception. Pieces are priced as low as 5! I have thumbtacked some of my old fiber based prints to the wall and they are priced to move. Two of Michelle Greenfield's voodoo dolls art left @ $20 each and she has skulls on crosses for just $10. Rhett's Frida Calacas are all going for $20 each and there are some beautiful paintings and photographs by Kiny McCarrick as well as really beautiful tin work by Shannon as well as a dozens more wonderful works.

The last shot, The Ghost of Madame X, is one of the pieces I sold. It was my first attempt at using multiple images digitally. The curtains were photographed at the studio several years ago, actually a polaroid taken before the model stepped in, and the skull is from a series of shots I took at Sac State in the biology department. Madame Gautreau was painted by Gustave Courtois in the late 1800's and the etching I have was made from it. She had previously posed for John Singer Sargent and both were shamed by the portrait he had painted of her in 1883 which shows "a large expanse of skin" as she was wearing a gown whose straps were falling down (straps later "righted") and her pose was considered sexually suggestive.

If you would like to submit your work, please do! The more the merrier...but not 'till 4am, this time!