Gateway Monitor

Sometime during the night my monitor stopped working and I could not get it to come back on.  Lucky for me, I had art class today and enough money to replace it.  I purchased a monitor from Goodwill which employs handicap people to repair and test these items before they sell them.  I have no idea what a brand new monitor would have cost me.  I am happy to have been able to replace this item and get back to posting and blogging within an hour of being paid for art class.  Hopefully, dear readership, you would consider replacing your defective or broken equipment through Goodwill before going out and buying bran new.  We save these items from the landfill by purchasing items repaired and inspected by the handicapped.  I am not ashamed of being handicapped.  It wasn't my fault.  It still is not my fault.  No matter what people do to diminish the handicapped or the disabled, you must admit there is a place for us in this rapidly disposable world....whether it be someone repairing a monitor, or someone teaching art.  We are not lost causes!

Why Cats Paint

Kittens prefer chalk drawings:)  Several years ago I encountered a book called Why Cats Paint.  Delightful read.  I wondered how in the world, the photographer got the cats in the book to cooperate.  This morning I looked out my window and saw Cole and her kittens who appeared to be doing chalk drawings.

I Saw You Today

I saw you today Comfesters.  I opened your community festival in drum circle.  Wahru Cleveland has forbidden me to play with drummers while she is in Wisconsin.  She of all people knows that drumming has been forbidden several times in the United States.  She of all people has been forbidden to drum because she was a woman.  She did it in spite of that, as I did today!  So now she steps into the very narrow minded path of hypocrisy.  I was there dear sisters and brothers.  I came, and I drummed in spite of Wahrus banishment:)  By the time Comfest comes around next year, may every drummer in Columbus know why she would do such a thing.  I don't have anything to hide...but she might.  May it all come out 3 fold for every drummer in the city to know.  May every drummer she has undermined come back and drum in spite of her perceived power.  May all wrongs be righted.

I was the only bass drum there today.  Without me, I believe the drum circle might have been incomplete.  I wish no harm on my sister drummer Wahru, only that she be exposed for her reasoning and her underhanded back biting methods.  I only wish for a clean conflict and challenge.  Let her accuse me in public of what it is that I supposedly have done.  And then let her be subject to the same scrutiny.  So be it. 

May the woman who tries to exclude me be excluded until she accepts what she has done...so mote it be!

Just Say No To Drugs And Give Them To Me

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Universal Soldier

Syd The Hunter

Syd and I are mouse free for the moment!

Zager and Evans

What ever became of these two prophetic boys?

Old School Photography

The cat in this photo's name was Boston.  He was a good cat.  I had him when I was in college, and of course he became a subject for photography.  This image was manipulated in the dark room with an enlarger.  I simply reversed the photo paper, and shot the image twice.  In looking at my old photography, I realize that I have no idea about how to manipulate images with digital cameras and programs.  Much has been lost. 

Little Library In My Neighborhood

There is a sweet little library in my neighborhood that I walked down the sidewalk to snap a photo of this morning. 

For the first time in months my feet are well enough to begin walking.  I have a new doctor...of course she is not located in Licking County.  Who knows maybe my health will be restored:)  An idea like this miniature library could be contagious.  I hope so.  Comfest is coming up next weekend.  Ideas like this little library remind me of Comfest.  The Columbus Community Festival is 40 years old this year.  I plan to be there.  Who knows, maybe all three days!  Folks in Licking County would settle for "The Strawberry Festival" instead of something like a Community Festival.  All is not lost.  There is always hope. 

Hospice Inc.

http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/hospice-inc

Dying is big business here in Licking County.  My Grandmother told me last time I saw her, that she wanted to have choice.  Choice has been taken away from her.  I can honestly say I am finally ashamed of my family for allowing the system to kill her slowly.  I have always known there was something sinister about Licking Memorial Hospital.  Those of us who know better than to use the medical facilities of this county are obligated to spread the word.  What we need in our county is a healthy alternative to Licking Memorial Hospital.  It is a money grubbing system.  There is no money to be made on perfect health.

seeme.com

About a year ago when I was grant writing, I joined a site for artists called seeme.com.  I downloaded my silver feathers, and my paintings.  I can't remember everything I put on the site.  Occasionally they send me an email with a self promotion idea.  Today, I played with the image of my sold painting 3 Kool Katz.  If...and that is a big IF I were to make T-shirts through them, they would be a $32 T-shirt, with $6 to the artist (Me).  I would need for folks to let me know if they wanted these T-shirts before I could invest in it.  Still though, you have to admit, they would look way cool!

Mouse Traps

Syd has managed in his old age to snag two birds (that I know of) in the past two weeks.  However, he has failed to catch my resident mouse.  Killing is distasteful to me.  I will do it, but I would rather not.  I have lived with this mouse for weeks.  Today was the day.  I went to the dollar store and bought some traps.  Goddess forgive me, but I require a clean kitchen without mouse droppings.

Apparently, cats are either birders or mousers.  Syd has always been a birder.

Farther Along

Copy Work

These numbers are part of a wooden calendar set.  It was missing a number 12.  In order to get the spacing I borrowed #31, and the #1 and #2.  Without number 12 the set is useless.  Hopefully, I can take my new Sharpie markers from Art Council money and complete the old set.  I am presuming that in doing that, I will be enabling the owner to resell this item.

Tims Feathers

About 20 some years ago, my friend Tim Stevens commissioned 6 sterling silver feathers.  Over time, I got better at making them.  In 2012, I added copper and brass to the mix.  He told me that he hoped the feathers would become a "cornerstone" to my silversmithing.  They have.  I have lost count of how many over the years that I have made.  This weekend as I celebrate Tims life and his vision for me, I will make several more. 

RIP Tim Stevens

This is the only picture I have of Tim.  There just are not any words for the grief and loss I feel.  I sang Tim into his next life last night.  I hope to see him on the great labyrinth.  It was Tim who first commissioned silver feathers from me over 20 years ago.  I know I won't ever be able to make one without thinking about him.  RIP Tim.

Jackson Pollock Revisited

My art class on Monday made a very strong start on replicating the process of Jackson Pollock.  We learned the primary colors, then at the end added black.  Next Monday we will learn the secondary colors, and I am guessing most of the white on the poster-board will be gone.  For those of my readership that may not know, the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue.  The students are already being quizzed on what primary colors are mixed to make secondary colors.  All three of them know the combinations.  I hope the weather holds, as I don't know how we would continue the process of throwing and dripping paint inside my house:)

Katie Belle And The Belle Rangers

I finally tracked her down.  It was worth it.  For Those Of You That Haven't Heard Katie Belle....well what can I say....now you have!  I first heard her on a CD Niagara Niagara.  She did an old Merle Haggard Tune...I Think I Found A Way To Live Without You.  She is pretty hard to track.  But very trackable and very worth it.

Clackwick Sound

on Vancouver Island, a forest so old
the last of her kind she is mighty and bold
but the big blades now are mowing her down
farewell, farewell to Clayoquot Sound

well the NDP had made a big noise
trying to play the big games with all the big boys
so they sold out her soul for hardly a cent
the raw timber's cut and elsewhere is sent

blow the bridge down, blow the bridge down
in the dead of the night sink it into the ground
for the sake of the soul of Clayoquot Sound
take a deep breath and blow the bridge down

upwards of thousands have stood in the way
but police just come and take them each day
and the government too has its own saws
they're changing the charges by changing the laws

what of the spirits that live in the trees
what of the life, the quiet, the breeze
what of our planet when it's stripped to the ground
farewell, farewell to Clayoquot Sound

what of our planet when it's stripped to the ground
farewell, farewell to Clayoquot Sound

Most Influential Song For Me

Other than Klackwick Sound, this song is the most influential song I have ever learned...as a prayer...before I try to go to sleep at night.  It certainly is a better lullaby than the ones about "tis now that my Jhonny is commin for me.  Same style...hands down a better vision for a young girl faced with the sort of world that is sadistic, cosmetic, violent,  and false.  Not the world I wanted, but the world I have to live with as a disabled, aging woman.  It is the sequel and the prequel to Old Bitch Warrior.  You can think of these two songs as Warrior Part One, and Warrior Part Two.  I have others in my library of songs that empower....don't make me use them:)  Don't make me use them for something as stupid as people driving down my street too fast...gonna kill my animals and kids....don't make me pull these songs out.  They are more real to me than any teaching that can come from my neighborhood watch church....I assure you.  Jesus is not coming back in time to save my cat from a speeding car that is gonna kill a kid or a cat....just because the dumb bitch was on a cell phone...Just do the right thing....OK?  It's not that hard.

Beautiful Day In Columbus

I had a fantastic day in Columbus yesterday.  I wish I could take pictures and drive LOL!  The sky was endless puffy white dreamy clouds for as far as you can see.  I love Columbus, and I can't wait to move back there.  For now though, I have the perfect apartment, and am doing what I love to do.  Friends that I didn't see when I lived in cow town,  stop by weekly....sometimes daily.  I don't want to lose what I have have gained here.

Deer Move To The City

Three deer crossed 11th Street this morning.  They are awesome, but out of place here.  I was told by a gas station attendant that they are being run our of the woods.  Perhaps there is as much deforestation happening in the woods as here in town.  I tracked them down Walnut street.  One went up the freeway ramp.  I can only imagine disaster for the deer, and perhaps an unlucky car owner.  There are signs of life out of balance all over the place. 

Convergence

We had our second art class yesterday.  It was fun.  Next week we are going to be studying Jackson Pollock.  Not only are we going to learn about him, but we are going to try to make our own canvas using his techniques.  This is probably my favorite of Jackson Pollocks work.  It is called Convergence.