No Thanks

Olives
Mechanical pencils
Winter
Muffin tops
Lattice
Yucca plants
Dogs

Oysters

Sponge Bob

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all...

--Emily Dickinson

Thanksgiving

I found a box of cassette tapes in the closet from way way back. Highlights include:

• Book of Love
• Prefab Sprout
• Dream Academy
• Thompson Twins
• Thomas Dolby
• Ernest Tubb

My dad's health checked out okay on Tuesday. We are so grateful. Now we just have to be patient while his eye continues to heal. So thankful for friends, family, and health. We celebrated with my brother today (steaks, blue cheese potato gratin, pumpkin cheesecake) and on Saturday have the full blown traditional Thanksgiving with rest of family. Much love to all. Amen.

Tiny Books

Don't you just love these tiny books by UK artist Jane Foster? I found them on her blog.

Potato

Over the course of the last few weeks, emails have been bouncing back and forth about the possibility of a Potato Exhibit at the United States Botanic Gardens in Washington DC next May. Meredith and Tom Hughes, co-founders of THE POTATO MUSEUM, an organization dedicated to researching, preserving and explaining to the public the history of the world's most valuable plant, are the organizers. Rebecca, Nina and I have decided to participate. Our first potato event, The Potato Eaters: Dig It Baby! was in St. Louis, Missouri in January of 2002. The Cult of Potato group exhibit followed in February 2005 at the Contemporary Art Collective in Las Vegas, Nevada.

My first instinct was to say no to this invitation. But I always have such a good time at these events and the opportunity came about right on the heels of The Kick Ass Awards -- so I was feeling a certain calling, a need to do something creative and communal. Then over this weekend at my parent's, I stumbled upon The Complete Potato Cookbook at an antique store AND my mom found a heart-shaped potato in her bin. I took these as signs. So now I'm contemplating potato-inspired artwork that has some component of education and/or interactivity and/or community. Ideas abound. Time does not. We'll see how it goes. You can follow the activity at http://cultofpotato.magntize.com/.

Classic cookbook by Ruth Bakalar, copyright 1969. "Here, at last, is a book that celebrates the lowly potato in teh style it deserves, presenting sumptuous food that are bound to please even the most finicky palate."

Mom scores a giant heart-shaped potato. We couldn't bear to eat it.

Me, contemplating the potato. Photo courtesy Jess Dewes.

100 Things That Delight Me

In no particular order...

1. The sound of whippoorwills
2. Giant round bales of hay
3. Audrey’s laugh
4. Everything about Lindsey
5. Big skies
6. Baking pies
7. Aprons
8. Zinnias
9. Hanging out with my mom
10. Watching my dad with Audrey
11. Finding heart shaped rocks or potatoes
12. Red wine and good cheese with girlfriends
13. Paint chips
14. My brother Jeff telling a good story
15. Decorating magazines
16. Picnics
17. Kick Ass Awards
18. Dewes Annual Chili Cook-off
19. Herb gardens
20. My brother Tony scratching his temples with excitement
21. Photobooths
22. When The New Yorker arrives
23. St. Louis Botanical Garden
24. Good thrifting/antiquing
25. Cooking for family or friends
26. Hugs from Sam and Jacob
27. The smell of gardenias
28. So many kind and creative friends
29. Bird nests
30. Red shoes
31. Getting a good haircut
32. Listening to loud music in my car
33. Painting
34. Road trips
35. Trying new recipes
36. Planning vacations
37. Art musuems
38. The cabin in Colorado
39. Remembering my wedding day
40. Sitting under the big tree in my parent’s back yard in Cole Camp, while clothes dry on the line
41. When a poem comes together
42. Marrying into such a swell family
43. Going for a walk in the spring, summer or fall
44. Annual Christmas shopping trip with mom, aunts, and cousins
45. Reading Lindsey’s email from our courtship
46. You Are My Sunshine
47. Winning a game of Scrabble against Lindsey
48. Cowboy Boots
49. NPR
50. Old timey country music
51. My parents still being in love
52. Sharing a birthday so close to my mom’s
53. Float trips
54. Annual 4th of July celebration with family
55. The tree in the yard across the street during autumn
56. Watching Audrey “read” books
57. Knowing all the words to It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
58. A fancy dinner out
59. Studio space
60. Starry starry nights
61. Audrey running towards me or Lindsey
62. The smell of Play-Doh
63. Sending or receiving great mail (real mail, not email)
64. Trees
65. Great short stories
66. Tire swings and porch swings
67. Nice sheets
68. Eating breakfast out
69. Going to see a great movie
70. A flexible schedule
71. Having such a wonderful childhood and family
72. Mary Janes (the shoe, not the candy)
73. Miniature Golf
74. Finally being a mom
75. Great blogs
76. Richard Scarry
77. Bookstores and libraries
78. Sewing and embroidery
79. All or mostly white bedrooms
80. Hot showers
81. Mashed potatoes
82. Vintage anything (toy refrigerators, coats, house dresses, linens, dishes, photos)
83. Garden fresh tomatoes
84. Polka dots
85. Handmade
86. Chocolate sheet cake
87. Art supply stores
88. Hugs and kisses
89. Free time
90. Reading in bed with Lindsey before going to sleep
91. Finding the perfect gift
92. Ice ice cold beer
93. Old farm houses
94. The smell of grass
95. Jazz
96. Nature
97. Memories of my grandparents
98. Brainstorming
99. Dance parties with my sweeties
100. Float trips

Weekend at the Farm

Outstanding In The Field

Those who know me, know I love to cook for other people. I don't do it nearly as much as I'd like or as much as I used to. I find Outstanding In The Field so utterly inspirational. What a dream job/situation.

Power Cord

I love this knit extension cord from KnitKnit's Etsy shop. But I have so many flippin' scarves and scarf-like accessories already.

Shoe Fantasy

Hump Day Shoe Fantasy: Three pairs of shoes to get me to the weekend. Note that all three of these are so far removed from the boring reality encasing my depressed feet right now it is ridiculous.

Wednesday: 1960's vintage Christian Dior Oxfords from Rice & Beans Vintage.

Thursday: Red flower platform pumps from Anthropologie.

Friday: Blue leaf detail booties from Chloe.

High School

Just found this photo I took probably around 1982/freshman year in high school of either some of my birthday or Christmas presents.

• Jean Nate Body Splash Gift Set
• Love's Baby Soft Gift Set
• Some sort of Chanel perfume
• Rainbow note board
• Rainbow socks
• Unicorn note pad
• Valley Girl book (what to wear, how to talk, etc.)
• Lip gloss in an ice cream cone shaped dispenser
• Assorted costume jewelry and hair accessories
• Turquoise bandana
• Miniature deck of playing cards
• Two sweaters (one matched my boyfriend's sweater-Ugh!)
• Plaid nightgown

Also, now that I see it, I remember I had about a million ads from mags like Seventeen and Glamour hanging all over my walls. And this was all displayed on my canopy bed with patchwork bedspread. I had it good. What a dork.

Three Sweet Things for a Monday

Marta at m.writes has assembled a sweet page of Audrey quotes, complete with photos. I love the grocery totes silkscreen with vintage purse images available at ShowPony on Etsy. And Lindsey got baby girl's birthday present assembled (3+ hours). Now we just have to find somewhere to hide it for a month. 

Sammy Peters

Gallery hopping via the internet. Found these Sammy Peters paintings. Love them. Check out his website.

4th Grade Poetry

Um, more stuff from the archives. Presidents and clowns...heavy topics, indeed.

Smile All The Time

Throwing out massive amounts of paper from the past. Not sure what was going on in my head with this journal entry.

I Feel Drunk All The Time

Mingus and Patchen

I missed Day of the Deadbeats this year, and was really bummed when I saw Joseph Sulier was going to close the evening with a Kenneth Patchen poem. I had a letter from Miriam Patchen thumb tacked to my wall for the longest time.

I Feel Drunk All The Time

Jesus it's beautiful!
Great mother of big apples it is a pretty
World!

You're a bastard Mr. Death
And I wish you didn't have no look-in here.

I don't know how the rest of you feel,
But I feel drunk all the time

And I wish to hell we didn't have to die.

O you're a merry bastard Mr. Death
And I wish you didn't have no hand in this game

Because it's too damn beautiful for anybody to die.