Random 10 mp3's from the drive to work

Satisfied – Vestal Goodman & Dolly Parton
Hobo Song – Old and in the Way
Just a Little Talk with Jesus – Inspirations
Fishers of Men – Rhonda Vincent
Vietnam – Country Joe McDonald
Feel Like Makin’ Love – Kid Rock
Trouble (Acoustic Version) – Pink
Coming into Los Angeles – Arlo Guthrie
Box of Rain – Grateful Dead
Moonshadow – Cat Stevens

How much more random does it get? christians, hippies, and rockers....yee freakin' haw, praise the lord and pass the....nevermind

gourd update

so - the cutting went okay, it was really thin once I cleaned it all out and could have been more pliable when I cut it, but I'm impatient....I've run into a little issue I didn't count on...taking so much of it out from cutting has caused it to sag a little...not a huge problem cause it makes the wings stick out and maybe I'll wet it again next weekend and see if I can encourage it to stand straighter...we'll see

found some great alcohol based inks to stain it with (once that time comes)....they're weird...just soaks right into stuff, it's supposed to be for non-porous surfaces but I've read about people using them to color gourds...we'll see

I also got another woodburning gun today and plan on using it to add the detail....no telling where our other one is....and I really have to figure out something to do with the inside....guess what? we'll see

Illustration Friday - Cake

well, I cut my finger a little with the gourd, J made me stop dremeling inside for a while, so I decided to finish my "Cake" drawing...I've been playing a little with the brushes in Photoshop can you tell?

my youngest brother bakes cakes as a side job...he calls it Man Made Cakes....so what else could I have possibly done for this topic?...he's really a great baker to tell you the truth...especially to be a big ole Bubba...I think he's been focusing on the decorating piece of it this last year...I also think he's up to the 3rd level of decorating classes at the local craft store, LOL...I bet the women taking the class talk about him over coffee when he's not around....

so should I send it to him?

what is this doing in my house monday?

oh that's me...it's a holiday and I'm home on a Monday....:)

regularly scheduled silliness with "What's this doing in my house Monday" will return next week....if you didn't take the day off like me and have something great and bizarre to share that you can't figure out why it's in your house, please post, let me know and I'd love to take a look...

gourd stuff to come later in the day...I love gourds

gourd day

and this is how I spent part of the day...cleaning and drying a gourd

SPF - it's only as hard as you make it

This week's topics brought to us as always from Kristine at Random & Odd.


1. Your suitcase/s or travel bag - my purse-like functional summer lesbian bag...I didn't want to pull out the real luggage because I just put it back up from the trip earlier in the month....and I travel every day with this one, it's the perfect size for a sketchbook, camera, phone, wallet, cigarettes, mp3 player, leatherman pliers, chapstick, and other stuff I really must have....as the threat of Y2K has diminished over the last 6 years I have stopped carrying the emergency supplies - it's progress.



2. Your ground - first thing that came to mind was "grounded" and that is J for me...not to sound co-dependent or anything...but, she helps keep me from going absolutely nuts....too much or not enough thinking on this one?



3. Something you are powerless to - storms and shadows...they are what they are...in real life and in my head...it's how I react to them that makes a difference...



so there you have it...who played and who is getting a 3 day weekend????

school is out

damn....

Illustration Friday - Sorry

Illustration Friday - Sorry

The wizard was sorry he hadn't eaten a more substantial breakfast before leaving his castle that morning. Hostile encounters before noon were especially taxing. The promise of a late lunch with the fat troll and three billy goats was all that kept him going.

another stretch...I know, sue me....blame Vincent Price....top is hand-colored with my favorite woodless pencils
bottom is digitally colored....and watch out, I loaded PhotoShop on my home computer last nite, now if I can just figure out to use it....

what is this doing in my house monday?

WHAT IS THIS DOING IN MY HOUSE MONDAY??????????

sometime within the last week or so, we both realized that after almost 3 years in this house it's time to move...don't get me wrong, this house has been great, we love the neighborhood and all that, but we need something more functional for us, something bigger, something that is hopefully not next to another redneck bunch...

so, this week in honor of our realization...I give you many "what is this doing in my house" entries all rolled up into these boxes that have not been unpacked since the summer of 2003....we have made a sacred vow to spend time over the coming long Memorial Day Weekend, going through some and trying to be brutal about what gets kept....

and just so I'm clear....these are just some of the unpacked boxes....there's more, many more

so please....jump on in...identify something that's in your house, keeps getting moved from place to place, or that you just can't get rid of and don't know why...take a picture, post it and let me know....make me feel better....please

anybody want to help sort through boxes this weekend? I'll provide the beer

New Orleans

Right now...by someone who's there....I linked the wrong thing when I posted this on Saturday, so I'm changing it to go directly to his blog....I promise it's worth a click...

Slimbolala

Stuff Portrait Fridays - WoM

It's Friday, which means Stuff Portrait Fridays and this week required some thought....just what I needed, more reasons to think....thanks Kristine ;)....the topics were all related to Waves of Modulation and the way she sees things through her pictures....

now this came at a time when I've been really digging around at flickr...contemplating HDR processing....and realizing I have manual settings on my camera...duh....which means at some point I will figure out to do HDR (just not this week)...

so - before I babble any more, here are some pictures...and I warn you, I may have gone completely off topic sometimes with these but bear with me :) I was so wrapped up in how they all tied together there's gonna be some overlap.....

1. Something Discarded...I've been passing this pile of trash for months now and I realized yesterday the "no entry" part has been added...recycling at it's best



this is one of the overlaps....I'm a huge fan of the WPA and war administration photographers from the 30's and 40's...especially Walker Evans and Eudora Welty...they captured the spirit of those times better than any other medium I think...you could just see right through the people in their pictures....so when I saw this guy sitting on the bus bench, rolling a cigarette I instantly thought "discarded" and how he would have looked in one of those old Welty pictures....much different, but I still liked how it turned out....Kristine this is also inspired by your amazing ability to photograph people...I think you have to have be able to establish a comfort level that allows people to relax in front of the camera in order to get really good portraits and you got it by the truckload evidently ;)

2. Lay down on the ground and find something ugly and make it beautiful....I never shoot b&w...too much of a slave to color....but it seemed to work okay here and so many folks are taking such great stuff I thought I'd experiment....electricity is beautiful even when surrounded by cat hair and dust and even more especially when it is connecting me and my computer to the internet.....



3. Take a picture in the style of the person that inspires you....wow, that could be like a hundred people on flickr right now, but like I mentioned earlier...I am in love with the idea of HDR imaging and I'm not sure I would have ever even realized it existed if it weren't for drumsnwhistles who posted about it a few weeks ago...her photos are incredible, the macro shots she takes are just crazy good....look at this one especially Labor and Delivery
see? amazing stuff...then there's beebo wallace and kris kros
their use of color takes my breath away....so this was an attempt to look at something the way those 3 incredible photographers see stuff...



good grief - that may be the longest post ever for me...if you're still here....did you play?

here's something that may be a suprise

because it suprises me everytime I realize it....

I'm a Judy Garland fan....it's totally J's fault and sometimes I forget how much I like her, but I got sucked into watching a 2 hour biography Monday night and it all came flooding back....the voice, the dancing, the tragedy...how can you not love her?

but that's not the point....

the point of this post in particular is to hip y'all to an episode of Judy's doomed TV series that aired in October of 1963 - Barbara Streisand was the guest and Ethel Merman made a suprise appearance...the 3 of them did a version of "There's No Business Like Show Business" that is maybe one of the best musical collaborations to have ever aired on television...really...

not to mention the crazy duet medley version of "Get Happy/Happy Days" which is unlike anything you'll ever hear again...think the Bing Crosby David Bowie Christmas song...spooky and surreal almost....

good stuff, classic music, worth a listen and a download if you can find them :)

What is this doing in my house Monday???

WHAT IS THIS DOING IN MY HOUSE MONDAY????

so anyone that's been reading this for the last few months or so may have heard me talk about my neighbors...especially the crazy, redneck daddy and the weird teenage son and his gang of skateboarding buddies who congregate in the front of our houses....

well....looky what I got....no comment on how or when, but let's just say it's a little trophy ;)

here's how this works...take a picture of something in your house that you just can't figure out why you keep or how it ended up there in the first place....leave me a note, I'll come look and we can feel silly together....

Illustration Friday - Angels and Devils

final version with village...sorry patti no village idiot on this one, but that's a great idea for something else

the devil from far away was soothed by the sounds of the angelic harp, drifting down from the stone tower and the village was saved....

this is another pen and ink, pencil, digital experiment...

check out more entries at Illustration Friday

this is the undigitalized (is that a word?) version...I should put the village in the background, yes?....don't know why I'm on the weird fairy tale-ish bent the last few weeks....

not my high school I

jokingly said, as we saw the initial teaser for this story earlier in the week...but guess what? it is where I graduated from and I'm really disappointed....and the bad thing is...it's a good school

geez, it's not like people don't assume we're ignorant rednecks over here to begin with...but do we have to make it so easy?...how is this dude still still teaching (well, he actually may not be after all actually)...

Reading, Writing and Race

lazy day...

which is really good since Friday and Saturday were challenging...

no server at work on Friday...no internet access, spotty email access, and a monthly report that had to go out...

disturbing trip to the post office on Saturday morning, met with the auction folks to explain that I'm definately not going to be working for at least the next few months and still got talked into helping out on Saturdays from time to time....couldn't find a piece to fix the lights on two ceiling fans I needed at Ace which meant a trip to Lowe's and probably could have found what I needed at Ace after all...then we waited for the cable person to show up, they were late....

so today, we've taken care of the Mother's Day obligations (and let me be clear that it's not a favorite holiday for either of us) and are spending the rest of the afternoon...doing as little as possible....just like Otis :)

lee's bonus tip for the weekend:

know that using higher wattage bulbs in light fixtures that specified, may melt the switch over time, causing them not to work and potentially catch on fire....oops

this is what a dead switch looks like in case you're wondering.

stuff portrait friday - 2's!

It's Friday and that means pictures...courtesy of Kristine at Random & Odd.....this week's theme was "2"....


1. Something you have 2 of....."boob-like" but it's only 2 gourds waiting to be cleaned and cut and painted or something....they are such a great shape, I want to do something good with them and have had no inspiration to date and that is why they continue to sit by the door....staring at me.....

2. Something you wish you had 2 more of.....coming back from vacation pretty much sucks....I've been playing catch up since Monday and hopefully will be at a manageable point this afternoon when I leave....but, damn I sure could have used 2 more days/weeks off...to just sit and swill beer....p.s. - gotta love TX for Shiner and UT Women's Softball...go longhorns, world series is a few weeks away :)

3. “Two”.....trusty refrigerator magnets we pretend are for the nieces and nephews when they come to visit....saying that makes us feel better ;)

so who played?....c'mon do it...it's Friday...it'll make the weekend get here faster....

SC Cowgirl

1967 - exceptionally cute 11 month old

2006 - exceptionally cute 39 year old

the more things change...the more things stay the same

Illustration Friday - FAT

contrary to popular belief, the fat troll living under the bridge was well loved by the three billy goats gruff...mostly because of his willingness to make snack runs in the middle of the night

stop by IF if you haven't lately...Penelope's got it all fixed up nice and stuff....

what is this doing in my house monday?

after missing last week, I found something extra special for this week's installment of "what is this doing in my house Monday?"....how I could have forgotten about them all this time I just don't know....

this is a bag of VINTAGE CUPCAKE/CAKE TOPPERS....(notice Carrie and the Flying Nun in the back row)....there must be over a 100 of these in the sandwich bag...all varying shapes sizes and scales (see Cow in relation to Baby Jesus)....

the alternative to posting them here...would have been to just pack them up and mail them to Florida :)

so...did ya post something that's in your house and you're not sure why????? Let me know and I'll check it out....

road trip snack food find

somewhere outside of Asheville, NC at 10:ish Monday night, we stopped for snacks, to use the bathroom, and confirm directions....

while pondering the empty calories, I found chocolate covered nutter butters...now they were more stick like and were more like layers of crushed nutter butters covered in chocolate...

overall pretty good when I finally got around to eating them this afternoon.

Sunday morning...

napping dogs....
Scout being good...
Scout demanding my attention
fire extinguiser, lighter fluid, and beer...guess who's backyard this is?
smoking barrel in same backyard....can anyone guess who yet????

I love my neighbors....I love my neighbors....I love my neighbors....

at least it's raining

back from the hills...

mountain driving is no joke...mountain driving at night is much different than I remember....there is a floating cross somewhere between Asheville and Cherokee that you can see on I40 going towards Knoxville that was really quite spooky in the darkness...always take alcohol with you when traveling in N.C. because dry counties and towns pop up unexpectedly....

all towns in Western N.C. are not Asheville, Hendersonville, or Black Mountain....evidently God is still pretty popular there because there are signs written to him or for him all over the place...actually that's true all the way through this state as well, but it's just more noticable when the towns are so far apart....there was a giant semi-trailer on the side of the road with "Jesus Saves" written in big letters, there were a couple of bill boards with the 10 commandments....crazy, devoted kind of stuff...

Cherokee is like a tourist trap wet dream...neon, 50's kitsch everywhere, serious Native American art, a huge park in the middle of town where you can play in the river...it has everything....except alcohol, which you must bring with you when traveling in N.C.....

Pina coladas are really best enjoyed at the beach...they don't translate well in the mountains...there are a tremendous number of 2 and 4 lane roads still being utilized all over the place...they haven't changed much in some spots, but they are still slow as hell...Walmarts strategically placed along the way don't help traffic either...

200 miles and going up 3000 feet in elevation makes a big difference in climate...duh...not everyone wears shorts starting in April and I forget that....we had beautiful but chilly weather the entire time....outdoor hot tubs are a good thing in these situations...we also discussed how easy it would be to turn into Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" if left in the woods for too long...

overall....an outstanding way to spend a week....a good milestone birthday for Jeannie...and best of all, it's good to be home...

Lots of pictures...Take a look

Cherokee, NC

Cabin

Gem Mining

Scenery

DUCKS!!!

and we're off

or almost at least....hope everyone has a great week....I bought a gig memory stick this morning so be prepared for lots of pictures this weekend and I'm taking the new sketch book and all the pens and pencils I could find so hopefully some decent drawings will also result :)

not much longer now!!!!!