Cats Meow

I am not real big on nic nacks as I use almost every available inch of space in my home.  But our library has these library replicas that are Oh so cute!  Now I am told that the company that makes these is called Cats Meow.  Apparently each and every one of the little historic replicas includes a little black kitty.  I have admired the arch of learning that is made out of metal right in the front entrance of this library.  What makes these appealing to me though is the little black cats that on this one is on the left side of the arch.

These sell for $15 and $18.  I love them both as I love my library.  Hopefully when I get all caught up with my bills, and have collected what other people owe me, I may get one of these.  I will be researching this company in the future and will report back here what I find out.  I can pretty much tell before looking into it though, that I wish I would have been the person who came up with this idea and product.
                                                                                

Yet Another Continuance!

I won't be coming to court on Thursday as there is another continuance in my case against Nesley Thomas.  This makes 6 altogether.  It doesn't matter, I will be even more ready in a month.  My case just gets stronger, the more delays...backwards and forwards in time...so mote it be!   

Gas Prices Rising

I have a friend who works as an attendant at the local Certified gas station.  She told me gas was going up significantly (40cents) by 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon.  So of course I put the gas it will take for my Columbus Trip on Thursday.  I am not sure that $4 a gallon is sustainable.  I will be doing lots more walking in the next few weeks.  Thank goodness everything except the laundromat is walking distance from my house.  I have hook ups, so it just might be time for me to try and get a washing machine to save on gas to get to Jeff's Laundromat.  My driving significantly decreases as gas prices go up.  I have not seen that in my fellow consumers.  James Howard Kunstler writes that $5 gas will put the trucking business to a halt.  I would guess that it will effect virtually everything from the price of milk, to whether or not someone can afford a pair of shoes.  I drove about 1/2 as much as I normally do in February.  I have to make at least 2 trips to Columbus the first week of March.  I will need to make that gas loss up somehow.  As my friend Denny says "walkin aint crowded".

Art Show March Second

I am hoping to see some of my dearest readership on March 2nd when The Quilt Of Elizabeth Brim will be shown along with 75 other artists.  The show is at Westerville Community Center located at 350 N. Cleveland Ave. Westerville, OH 43082.  Telephone # 614 901-6500.  I hope to see you there!

ps.  My friend who works for Certified says gas is going up 40 cents by 2 o clock this afternoon.  

101 Rugby Road

I had a sense of deja vu about the boarding house in the movie Sofie's choice that I watched for the first time this weekend.  It is hard to imagine that I haven't seen that movie before, but I went for several years without a television set, so I have some catching up to do.  Because of the strong and strange feeling, of course I had to google it, and found out the movie location and the house in Brooklyn do in fact exist.  It turns out that the pink palace in the movie located at 101 Rugby Rd. is not pink at all, but red, white, and gray.  The feeling goes away when it is viewed in its true colors, and I realize that my friend Piper lives in the pink palace on Cleveland Avenue.  It really looks and feels more like the house in the movie, than this photo of the actual house!  The house that Piper lives in is a boarding house, and apparently has a history of the third floor being a "speak easy" where jazz musicians who were not allowed to stay in all white hotels stayed in the late 40's and 50's.  Pipers building has all the grand woodwork that you would expect from a rooming house that is that old.  I can't wait to tell him about the movie and see if he thinks the pink palace of Sofie's Choice is a dead ringer for his rooming house.  I am doing my best to try to keep my mind off of my upcoming court case this coming Thursday.  I have about 20 minutes to expose the evil deeds of my landlord, and to cross examine her.  I am relieved that she won't have a chance to cross examine me, as she has an attorney.  I wonder if she has thought about that?  I get to make her squirm in front of the judge, and the only way out of it at this point would be for her not to show up.  It is doubtful that this judge would grant her a 4th continuance, and the fact that she has had 3 has probably invoked his suspicion.  I can not wait to get this behind me, so that I don't ever have to think about her again.  I see that I have 4 law books on reserve at this library, so I can only guess that I will have studied the law, the rules of the court, and will be more than ready for Thursday morning.  After that, it is a whirlwind of activity for my upcoming art show.  I confess, I would rather throw all my energy towards the show, and not ever give Nesley another thought.  I realize that I need closure, and this is the only way I am going to get closure.  This will be posted on Sunday, and I hope to return by Wednesday as I will need to check my email to see if the bailiff has contacted me for yet another delay.  I am good with it either way, but I would prefer to attend my art show with all this over and done with.

Last Weekend

Last weekend I made $10 on one of my recycled pennies.  Not bad for a few minutes work!  These are going to look great on a black shirt or blouse.  I have been reading about early Navaho silversmithing to distract me from obsessing about my court hearing.  I am finding out that the Navaho learned silversmithing from the Spanish blacksmiths early 1800's.  Of course they used coins as it was readily available.  I love doing something my ancestors did, with a new flare.   Let me know if any of you would like a set of these. I will give you a good deal.

Syd Shifts

I found my cat Syd this morning looking out the window in the studio.  He has had a tough winter and lost some of his hair.  He is still so fractured from all the moving last year, and does not go outside very much.  It doesn't stop him from looking outside though.  He hasn't been in the studio, and on the bench in months.  I had to clear him off a spot, so that I won't lose projects and tools.  Cats shift their favorite spots around from time to time, so I am not too worried that this will be a permanent perch.  He has been sleeping soundly with me every night and so I was a little worried when I couldn't find him this morning.  I am blogging this a few days out, as I anticipate staying home to conserve gasoline for my two trips to Columbus next week.  I hope some of you are planning on attending my upcoming art show featuring the Quilt Of Elizabeth Brim.  I will try to post something March 1st to remind everyone.  The show will be up for awhile, and that is the only day I will be there (March 2nd) for the opening.  I sure hope Syd picks a new spot soon so that I can work safely with my lie catcher (barbed wire hoop).  He has little regard for my projects, or where they might land after he bats them off!

Lie Catcher

I don't ever know just what will end up an actual piece of art, or the inspiration for later art.  Lately the subject of lies and the careful purpose behind them have been occupying my attention.  Last Sunday, I attended and performed (Columbus Drum Chorus) at a food conference in Granville Ohio.  I was captivated by the graphics around the event...the advertising mostly.  I had done a google search, and found a Granville Graphic in the same arts and crafts style depicting a quaint little farm with a windmill, silo, farm house, plowed fields that I put in a blog.  Of course it was absurd (the graphic) in that Granville Ohio is more like a theme park Disney creation of small town America...which is only a prop, and only appears to be wholesome.
But in all fairness, advertising is full of just such imagery that covers up a less than pretty or tranquil reality.  This same imagery is on the carton of eggs, the lid of the chip dip, and I am guessing wherever animal cruelty needs to be "overlooked" for the good of Capitalism.  "The show must go on".  Obviously people need to be manipulated, or at the very least stay asleep in order for them to part with their money!  We couldn't just put a real picture of a real cow on the packaging from the butcher.  They don't want to make a graphic of a chicken confined to a cage for the convenience of humans.  And of course the reality of the dairy farm isn't near as pretty as this firmly rooted belief in the concept of "wholesome".

  This week in addition to preparing for my upcoming trial against a woman who deceived me and lied to the court, I will be examining the lies that are the everyday fabric of our existance.  What better place to start than the basic food substances that are part of our everyday "run of the mill" food purchases?  Appearances are indeed deceiving, and one must wonder at some point, just what would "the truth" look like?  My lie catcher in the photo in no way resembles the contemporary Native American piece I will make of this project...rather it is a beginning.  This is just the basic construction process on the way to the final construction, like the pieces of the metal quilt.  I will weave it much like a dream catcher...the hoop which is the beginning of a standard dream catcher will be constructed out of barbed wire.  Most of us are accustomed to thinking of barbed wire as a device to keep us out of places.  We make barbed wire here in Ohio, as well as it's cousin razor wire, and it is mostly a successful method of guarding secrets, or treasure!  In the instance I am using it, it is used for the opposite purpose, to keep things in, or contained, like a dream catcher.  I invite you dearest readership to begin to notice the everyday lies that are the foundation of consumerism in the packaging of the "things".  As I go into court next Thursday morning, I will go with the full knowledge of all that I am trying to expose, and all that the plaintiff is trying to keep hidden from the judge, and the pretenses of the whole justice system as well.  There are parallels to all this content.  One could be overwhelmed by the carefully woven society of lies we all subscribe to everyday.  I feel lucky that there is a process of exposing the lies...court systems, agencies, journalism, literature, art.  The very vehicles of the lies themselves are also the vehicles for exposing the lies it seems.   I have worked in places that abuse livestock for the profit of society, and I have worked in systems that profess to guard the rights of the disabled.  I have seen the truth, and I have seen the coverup.  The pretenders wink at us and smile.  I will keep you in my thoughts as I try to catch the liers in their lies, and I construct art that will hopefully enlighten those who wish to really see.

Finally Got It Right

I finally got the right letters for my recycle sign and am going to nail them down in the next few days, as I begin preparing for my upcoming trial on the 28th.  Our drum gig in Granville went well.  I didn't spot anyone from The First Baptist Cult.  I realize that the folks that harmed me 11 years ago, are probably dead already or so old that they can't harm me or my family.  I say good riddance to them, may they trip on the labyrinth and break a hip!  They can have it, and they can create as many false history's about it as they want.  I won't be so eager to volunteer in the future...they can find some other chump, or they can just buckle down and do the work themselves.  I figure I have volunteered enough years of my life now,  it is time for me to sit back and watch someone else "volunteer" for a change.  I will be back dearest readership, when I have something significant to report.

Granville Graphic

This image is hilarious to me!  They should have a little burning cross in the background hillside with Klansmen dancing around it!  How quaint this picture is.  It is almost as quaint as the one on my egg carton, which is also a lie.  The chickens around here do not live on a farm like the one pictured, any more than Granville Ohio looks like this poster.  A whitewashed wasp nest... would be the most accurate.  I will drumming in Granville this weekend and may not be back to blog till Monday where I will make a report of the drum gig.  Rock On Readership!

Drum Gig In Granville

The Columbus Women's Drum Chorus will be playing at this conference in Granville on Sunday.  I know that some of my readership attend such events.  Hope to see you there!

The Mists Of Avalon

I forgot how much I loved this movie!  The movie The Mists Of Avalon is based on a book by Miriam Zimmer Bradley.  Bradly rewrites the story of King Arthur from a woman s perspective.  I reread the book the couple weeks I sat down at Norka Futon, after Amy robbed the place for the second time.  Lori was uncomfortable there by herself, so I read the mists again.  I always wondered why they didn't just send Amy back to prison.  Oh well.  It is all just river over the damn now LOL!

Worthy Pilot

I saw a pilot at my friend Eve's house yesterday morning.  It is a BBC series called Dirk Gently, and it is hilarious.  I highly recommend this series and can't wait to see more episodes.  In addition,  have ordered the book from the library just to see if it is as good... it might just be better.  
Dirk solves his cases by following his belief (knowledge) that everything is interconnected, which of course I know that to be true.  Truth is stranger than fiction dear readers.....almost always.  I realize that they are making fun of something that is more true than anyone knows!  See Dirk Gently if you get the chance, and let me know what you think!  

Capitalistic Lies

I am beginning to collect items for my next art project.  The theme that is emerging right now, is the lies in the art that are on our everyday purchases.  The Styrofoam egg graphic on the egg carton that I look at every morning.  The egg farms in this county do not look like the happy little farm picture here, but instead look like warehouses...a place of little light, much suffering and death.  They don't want us to know that of course, so they slap a graphic of a pretty little farm for us to internalize.....nothing to see here, move along now with your purchases to the cash register!  I am beginning to realize that Capitalism is truly evil...not communism as I was brought up to believe as evil.  Somehow, our free enterprise system does not include nature, or wildlife....but rather profit by exploitation.  I am blogging this on Friday in anticipation that I won't be back here till Monday as I am conserving gas for my upcoming drum gig in Granville.  Keep your eyes open dear readership for the lies in advertising.  They are subtle sometimes.

Hopewell Penny Buttons

I am increasing my recycled coin penny's this month.  The two in front are not cleaned up yet.  I am thinking they would look great on a black blouse!  I am blogging this several days ahead as I am conserving my gas this month so that I have plenty to get me to my trial on the 28th.  I don't mind, there is plenty to do around my home (sounds so good to say my home:), and I will be back when the weather is nicer and I can walk to the library.

post script  see yesterdays blog for the completed button series.  I posted this blog before I finished them, and I am blogging today afterwards, so everything is out of sequence!

Scarlet And Gray Feather

I am still playing around with my camera and photographing my metal work.  Somehow, I need to get rid of this glare from the textbook picture behind the feather.  It is a library book on Indian weaving and rugs.  I know it would be perfect for some of my Indian Jewelry and I know I can not afford a professional photographer....and I know I need slides for future grants.  This is a feather for my friend Tom who loves Ohio State (scarlet and gray).  He cut the back board for my metal quilt, and I told him at the time, I would make him a feather.  It took me hours yesterday to find 3 beads that would work for the gray.  They are not perfect, but I think rather than wait till I get to a bead shop, the metallic gray will work.  Thank you Tom, for helping me finish my metal quilt.  I will see you soon!

Penny For Your Thoughts

Recycled coins make super looking buttons.  The top three are silver, the last a discontinued dime.  The next 4 are penny's, two new ones and two I made several months ago.  It is interesting how the copper turns and patinas over time.  The last two are probably not very cost effective as it takes an hour to cut one of these out.  The first of the two is a Hopewell symbol soldered onto copper (copper on copper).  The second one is a brass Hopewell symbol soldered onto a discontinued penny.  These are done with the Hope overlay method, and I think I may try my hand at making a bolo tie out of one of them.  I left the shadows of the Roosevelt, and Lincoln on the dime and penny's, but I could just as easily remove the ghosts, or leave them with the president heads untouched.  Neither Lincoln or Roosevelt have any particular aesthetic appeal to me, but I can see doing this with an Indian head, or buffalo nickle in the future.  I may just have to teach myself to sew, so that I can have a shirt or blouse that sparkles with my own buttons for Pow Wows and Pot-latch ceremonies.

One Kitten Left

This kitten was born in May and is now an adult.  I haven't seen his two siblings in a while.  His sister Rio is dead by being hit by a car.  It is hard to not let this guy in when it is so cold outside.  But until I get one eviction solved, I am not going to risk another.  I made this guy a hidy hole complete with straw.  You can see by the grease spot on his head though that he crawls up into warm engine's of cars to get warm when he is not scalping for food!  His situation falls into "courage to change the things I can" part of the serenity prayer.  I refuse to name him, as I don't want to jinx him.

Third Sign

I am making my third recycle sign, and adding pieces to my second metal quilt this week.  The rules for the recycle signs are changing, as I am now cutting up loyalty cards for some of my letters.  I still have way too many Christmas tins to work with, and the dominant color this time is looking like it is going to be green.  In a few day, I will need to put all this away and get out the law books again, but until then, I am having fun doing what I do best...making something out of nothing!

Copper And Silver Accents

I have been meaning to replenish the silver feathers from my personal necklace, do some more recycled coins, and make a bezel for that wonderful piece of turquoise I bought with art council grant money.  These are not tumbled and cleaned yet, so they will look real different in a week or so.  The two Hopewell buttons are in the Hopi overlay style.  They are going to be pretty on a garment, or on a purse.  I still haven't worked out what all will be included on the bracelet.  I have waited a long time to make myself a bracelet.  I will be busy the next few days polishing all this up and getting ready for my drum gig in Granville.

Rematerials

I have been busy trying to find books and information on architectural art, environmental art, and anything having to do with recycling materials for my purposes.  In order to write grants for my next few projects, it will be essential that I be able to write clearly about what it is I am trying to accomplish.  Here is a promising book that I am borrowing for the next few weeks that I hope will give me some ideas, and provide the language for descriptions.

People Of The Lie

I have been re-reading M. Scott Peck's book People Of The Lie this week.  Weird thing is, because I read right before I go to sleep, my dreams seem to be trying to work out a greater puzzle in relation to evil backwards and forwards.  I can almost put darn near everything that has ever happened to me into the context of this book.  Evil does not want to self-examine.  Self examination to an evil person is akin to suicide.  Unfortunately, those evil ones will not ever see the analysts couch...therefore their evil goes largely unchallenged.  I have always known this, but it helps to understand the various betrayals I have endured over the year from my lover, friend, to my sister.  And when I think about it deeply as I have had to do, all three of these women are up to evil, and would do anything not to have to look at themselves...to the point of attempting to set me up, get me arrested, put away, made homeless.  Peck recommends a psychology of evil, so that it can be studied.  Good luck with that.  Exposing the darkness of evil to the light is really the only tool in the toolbox so far.  My Buddhist friend says that my evil enemy's were attracted to my light, but that they can't handle the light.  I think of my rinky dink small court claim coming up at the end of the month.  Small claims court is limited in that a person can only sue for money.  This may be the last chance I get to expose Nesley to the light, so I am going to take it....money be damned, kiln be damned.  If I can't expose her for her pedophilia, at least I can get the court to inspect her other doings.  My sister is probably busy self destructing, as I recall she was carrying a bucket of shit the last time I saw her...muttering something about bees.  Her karma will be great.  All I have to do is stay out of the way on that one.  And Lori,  there must be a way out for Lori.  She isn't so far gone that she could change.  It is our greatest power as humans, our capacity for change.  I am banking on that.  Peck gives his readership a hint.  Two feelings in the face of an evil one...confusion and repulsion.  I can safely remember those two feelings about Nesley, and about what my sister did to me last February...and then again her attempt in April.  Foiled again evil ones, your day is coming.  Your Karma is before you.  I highly recommend this book.  It is as timeless as evil itself.  And the thing is, there is no psychology of evil as of yet, so until then, we are on our own to battle it in ourselves and to weed it out in the world.  Don't wait for them to get caught.  By the time they get caught, they will have chocked the life out of living growing beings.  I will never give up on my sister.  I will never give up on Lori.  But come the 28th, I am in the mood to do some weeding in the goddesses garden.

Desperate Housewives

February 2nd promises to be a snow storm day.  It is also a witches holiday.  I am blogging this a day early, as I won't drive my truck tomorrow if it is icy.  Piper says there is a snowstorm on the way.  But no matter.  I will be watching Desperate Housewives, and other DVD's from the library.  I love Desperate Housewives, True Blood, and Mad Men these days, as well as anything Tarantino.  I could watch these series over and over, and pick up things I missed the first time around.  I will be preparing to take the pedophile to court on the 28th...not for pedophilia of course, but for being a deadbeat landlord and busting my kiln.  What a dumb ass!  If she wanted to keep her tax fraud secret, or her pedophilia for that matter, then she should never have jerked my chain (remind self not to jerk Concha's chain).  May we all get what is coming to us backwards and forwards in time So Mote It Be.