a ha...

...want to also shout out to a fabulous friend who was born on this day 27 years ago. Thank you for the many ways that your friendship inspires. Cheers to you, my friend!!!

a ha!

sometimes pleasures aren't simple.

i had another breakthrough evening, right before i was about to throw in the towel and close-up shop. thank goodness, because i've been working through ideas on and off the canvas and paper all day. well, when am i not, really? i've been swirling them around, trying them on for size, you name it. admittedly, most of my ideas remain in my head, or in my journals, on scraps of paper, in the back pages of my planner, most of them. today, since i had one of my artist days, i was trying to force more of them out of me.

on a bike ride with a fabulous friend this eve, we stopped in to purchase some cheese. thirsty, we both purchased a beverage as well. mine instantly brought me back to the days of yore and a favorite drink of mine: sundance. remember it? if you do, you probably loved it as well. (i'd like to give the rights to the name, but can't find a link to what i think is the right spot.) anyways, this particular drink got us reminiscing about old favorites, but neither of us could remember the name of this one in particular.

in my moment of "a ha" tonight, the name came to me in the same moment as a breakthrough for a piece of artwork, the likes of which will be seen through to the end, it's just that good. but, that was it. they both came a la meme seconde! and so it is with my brain, an explosion of a million little things all at once. welcome to my world. it's a bumpy ride, but i try to make it as comfortable as possible.

which brings me to: simple pleasures. thinking of simple pleasures brings me relief tonight and makes me smile. on a day and a night where nothing can please. when all of the demons are telling me that i am down the wrong road, it's good to be able to step back and smile about simple pleasures. sometimes it is only possible after i've pushed my way through the tough moments and make my way into a clearing so that they are easily visible.

"a ha" life is not all serious...

afternoon thunderstorm:::

{last week}:::

Is there anything better than a summer thunderstorm in the middle of the afternoon? Ok, I confess that a few other things have added up to make this day an extremely good one so far, but really, thunderstorms in the middle of the day are an unexpected treat. I had my French lesson this afternoon, which I am extremely grateful to have someone working with me one on one. A few other little pieces of goodness have gone my way, but this rain is like a really sexy layer of icing on the cake.

pairs of red chairs::

love both of these rooms::

the top is in the casket arts building, with the green light glowing through the doorway. the bottom is a scene that has been silently waiting to become a painting for well over a year now, taken in a previous home. when i stood alone in both of these rooms they felt warm and eery all at once. the top photo was snapped a couple of weeks ago and it's funny how it already seems old, but when i think back to the days shot solely in film, two weeks would still be on a newly processed roll. i wasn't even thinking of the photo below it, which was taken sometime last year. a synapse in my brain finally connected the two as i was gazing at the green light oozing from the doorway.

i wonder how many other red chaired duos are out there just waiting to be captured? perhaps they too are sitting in mysterious looking venues, listening to a girl click by on her high heels as she's snapping a photo, or watching a girl quickly run down to change her laundry and back up again to where it is truly safe.

who really knows what's lurking around the corner?

old man ears

In the photos they do not look like old man ears. But trust me, in real life they do. They are dangling on a tree outside of the lovely Mill City Cafe that a friend and I went to for brunch this past weekend. Immediately we both thought "ears"!

From what I can untangle, it may be the "Kentucky coffeetree". Not sure. But it's another new tree to love and tree-loving is something I do best!

To be fair, because I am nothing if not diplomatic, old ladies too can have large, droopy ears. Ears never stop growing, which is sort of unfortunate for some of us. I think I may be in the running for such a case. But I will try hard not to fight it like my beautiful Grams did. It is considered a thing of great beauty for some cultures to have long ears. The bodhisattva is a prime example. I will try to focus on that when the time draws nearer.

Whether large ears are beautiful to you or not is not really the point. The point is that there are so many little new wonders in nature that I find all of the time. I have gone to this restaurant a handful of times. In fact, I live near to its location. I have never noticed that particular characteristic.

I for one will never stop examining and exploring this great big world, including my own backyard, using all of my senses. And if I have large ears? The better to listen with, right clever fox?

on the moon...

so, last night was the full moon. and there are two things involved with that full moon occurrence.

one. i got inspired to do another quick cartoon-like sketch from a conversation with n&c:


what does this sketch have to do with the full moon? nothing except that the images that get conjured up from conversations with these two lovelies are downright mad. and nothing says crazy like a full moon!

two. i learned today that in french the word for eyeglasses means "little moons"! my french teacher worked really hard on explaining that to me. much credit to him.

little moons! i love it. i'm not sure why it tickles me so pink, but it just does.

i will be in my honeymoon period with french for atleast the next few weeks, or perhaps the rest of my life since it has always been so.

little moons/lunettes: inspiring a children's story in my head as well. i really should be held accountable.

alas, my loose correlations with the full moon...

the nighttime is the right time...

...i believe the credit is owed to ray charles for that? i will have to look into that when i'm not sleepy and needing to wake less than 7 hours, even if the nighttime is the right time.

a nearly full moon as it appears reflected in my bedroom window:::



soap factory on the 4th:::



just wanted to share a couple of quick, lovely night shots as the eve comes to end for this gal.