On Another Note....

I'm reading Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. It is very engaging and surprisingly humourous but I've read to a point where I'm reluctant to go on. I sense tragedy ahead. And I saw an upcoming chapter heading which makes me dread what is coming up. Ordinarily I would have finished this book in a day or two. It is a surprisingly simple read. Much of it is written in dialect (Manchester working class) but not so as to be distracting. There is just enough to get a sense of time and place. The author lived in Manchester and had great sympathy for the plight of the textile factory workers and this is what informs the plot and theme of her book which was originally meant to be titled John Barton after Mary's father.

Just prior to picking up Mary Barton I re-read The Grapes of Wrath. It was only my second reading of this novel since I first read in 11th grade for my class The American Novel/Expository Writing. It was mere coincidence that lead me to follow this up with another novel that uses the common man and his struggle with poverty as its theme. Mary Barton takes place about 10-15 years before the Second Industrial Revolution in England.

Wikipedia article on Mary Barton

 

 

del.icio.us tags: literature, "British Literature", "Mary Barton", "Elizabeth Gaskell", reading, "Industrial Revolution", "women writers", Manchester

 

Technorati tags: literature, "British Literature", "Mary Barton", "Elizabeth Gaskell", reading, "Industrial Revolution", "women writers", Manchester

Fun new blog for psychotronic artists

This person contacted me through flickr regarding one of my daughter Ivy's driveway chalk drawings. You can send him (?) your monster drawings and he will post them by category (eyes, wings, etc). Pretty cool.

This is the drawing he inquired about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

del.icio.us tags: monsters, drawing, art, pyschotronic, blogging, blogs

Flickr tags: monsters, drawing, art, pyschotronic, blogging, blogs

Technorati tags: monsters, drawing, art, pyschotronic, blogging, blogs

It's been a weird summer so far...

Which is why I haven't posted anything new in awhile. I haven't really felt like recording much of it into the written word. There have been some good times, particularly the trip with the girls to Chicago. I had such a great time with Jane. We re-bonded as friends in a way we were never able to manage on her brief visits back to Rhode Island. Not that those visits weren't enjoyable. It's just that there was never really enough time to do much more than catch up on each other's lives a little. Her time is usually spread pretty thin when she is visiting her family here in Rhode Island.

Chicago was beautiful; a really easy city to get to know. I'm pretty insecure when it comes to finding my own way around an unfamiliar place, especially by public transportation, but the trains are so easy to figure out  I felt comfortable enough after two days of traveling

 The girls on the Green Line train on the way to Garfield Conservatory.

 

 A little girl waiting with her parents on the El platform.

this way to suggest the girls venture out on their own in order to spend more time in Wicker Park, a neighborhood we really enjoyed but that I was too exhausted to really spend much time exploring.

 Our first view of Wicker Park from the El platform.

 Meg drawing at Half & Half Cafe in Wicker Park while waiting for her order.

Their independent excursion gave me time to just chill out at 'home' in Jane's apartment, while she spent the day at work. It was nice to enjoy a day of quiet to myself after having spent five days in the constant company of my daughters. I love their company, of course but I also like my alone time. Jane's apartment is beautiful and very homey. Her landlord has a wonderful, quirky garden, just the kind I fantasize cultivating. It was very inspirational. One of the things I did that afternoon was bake a cherry pie for Jane using tapioca as the thickening agent. She had never heard of that method.

The humble pie I baked for Jane. The crust was nowhere near as good as her's which is phenomenal.

 

Fergus relaxing on the sideboard.

Jane watering the garden on Saturday.

On the following Saturday, the girls spent the afternoon with an old art mentor from New Urban Arts, who is a native to Chicago and had moved back after a brief sojourn in NYC. Meanwhile, Jane and I had a nice afternoon of catching up while she worked on her pies. I helped by dicing the rhubarb. 

 Jane slicing strawberries for her pies.

Later, we rented a video, bought some beer, and returned to the house for a nice dinner with the girls, some mojitos (virgin for Ivy), some silliness on the trampoline...

 

...and some more silliness documented Jane's pies on camera so she would have some photos to email her boyfriend who had just left for a month-long visit to Iceland with his brother.

  Jane showing off her cherry-rhubarb pies. 

 

Here are some more views of the wonderful garden...

This is the carriage house behind the main house. The landlord, Dennis, lives here.

 

This is the main house. Jane lives on the first floor.

 

 

We left on Sunday, Fathers' Day, as well as Stuart's birthday, and returned on Monday after dropping Meg off in Manhattan to meet up with her friend Taylor.

A few weeks later I was talking to Jane on the phone and she confessed that she missed us for a few days after we left. She hurt her back shortly afterward and had some time off from her job (which she subsequently quit) and she missed having her place filled with guests. That was very gratifying to hear since it means were were good houseguests.

I'm sad because when we return to Chicago to take Meg to school, Jane will be here in Rhode Island visiting her folks. I'm hoping she will be here before we leave so I get a chance to at least have a cup of coffee or maybe a beer or two.

Before I close this, I need to update my health status regarding the colposcopy I underwent. The results were good and I don't have to have another one for awhile. I have to have a pap test every three months for awhile and eventually I'll probably have to have another colposcopy but otherwise things look good. I got that news just before leaving for Chicago so I was able to travel without the burden of that worry at least.

 

 

Technorati tags: summer, travel, road trip, Chicago, old friends, girls, women, family, sisters, mother, daughters, photos, phtography, journaling, journal, Wicker Park, subway, train, the El, Rhode Island, gardening, baking, baked goods, pastry, pie, art, whimsical, thrift, found art, junk, salvage

del.icio.us tags: summer, travel, road trip, Chicago, old friends, girls, women, family, sisters, mother, daughters, photos, phtography, journaling, journal, Wicker Park, subway, train, the El, Rhode Island, gardening, garden, pastry, baking, pie, baked goods, found art, junk, thrift, whimsical, art

Flickr tags: summer, travel, road trip, Chicago, old friends, girls, women, family, sisters, mother, daughters, photos, phtography, journaling, journal, Wicker Park, subway, train, the El, Rhode Island, baking, pie, baked goods, pastry, found art, thrift, junk, salvage, art, gardening, garden, whimsical, whimsy

I had my colposcopy today...

I wound up having a mild panic attack. I didn't realize that when they tell you to take a couple of Tylenol beforehand because of the possibility of cramps, they meant that specifically. They don't want you to take ibuprofen. Because of the bleeding potentials. Basically, that is what happened without going into the details. The doctor, an very lovely looking grey-haired gentleman, and his assistant didn't seem overly concerned but as soon as I realized what was happening, I started getting that horribly clammy cold feeling all up and down my arms. Fortunately, I'm pretty savvy to the symptoms of a panic attack having researched them pretty extensively after suffering from a severe one. Now, I refuse to succumb.

Anyway, I left the doctor's office feeling unsettled and worried. That feeling hasn't left me. The doctor predicted a 1-in-4 or 5 possibility of my having to have a cone biopsy. This is a procedure in which they take a cone shaped segment from the cervix under general or spinal anesthesia. A 1:4 possibility. I don't like the sound of those odds. Blah.

It is my own fault for neglecting to get regular pap cultures, I guess. I won't know the outcome of today's procedure until a week from now at the earliest, or as late as 10 days.

 

 

del.icio.us tags: colposcopy gynecology "womens' health"

Flickr tags: colposcopy, "womens' health" gynecology

Technorati tags: colposcopy, "womens' health" gynecology

Rufus Wainwright

Yesterday my husband brought me home a surprise gift of the new Rufus Wainwright cd. I am listening to it for the first time as I write this. I'm only into the first song, Do I Disappoint You? but so far so good. It's his first self-produced album, executively produced by Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame.

Rufus' signature is definitely all over this song. It starts out fairly simply with a plaintive vocal and fairly straightforward instrumentation and builds up to a finale in full orchestration mode. One thing I noticed was that he multi-tracked his voice which is something that I haven't heard on his albums before.

I'm on the 2nd track now, <i>Going To Town</i>, which on first listen strikes me as a black Valentine to America, a theme he has visited before. His perspective is interesting, as someone who was born here but raised in Canada. This is where his father lived for most of the time he was growing up and he spent his summers here. As a gay man whose past lifestyle hasn't exactly fit into the Will and Grace mold that I suspect the average American expects, he has reasons to be ambivalent about the US. Though he's sobered up, miraculously avoided HIV exposure, and has had a steady relationship for the past two years with a German theater producer, he remains the flamboyant dandy that is never likely to blend in in a crowd. Lastly, but not least significantly, he is an independent artist who, if not for the benevolence of David Geffin*, would be struggling to hang onto a career and a fan base in a business that has become less and less nurturing of its artists. This has certainly impacted what at least seems to be the dumbing down of our culture.

The cover art and liner notes, in what has become typical for his records, reflect both an over-the-top sense of drama, and a touching sense of domesticity. The back cover features a photo inset of him hanging out on the floor with his mom, knees drawn up fetchingly, gazing at her with pure affection. But of course he's wearing lederhosen embroidered with his initials. Underneath this photo is the dedication:

This album is dedicated to my mother who still whispers in my ear that I'M GREAT

Well, in writing this, I've failed to pay as much attention to the rest of the album. I'm terrible that way. The best way for me to really listen to music is while driving in my car. Certainly not the best listening environment in terms of sound quality but it is where I can really pay attention without any other distractions. Driving is enough of an automatic function for me at this point that it isn't a distraction in the way that listening at home can be. I have a difficult time simply sitting and listening with headphones. It is too much of just sitting still for me. Push play on the mini-player below to hear Nobody's Off The Hook, Track 4 of Release the Stars.

Get Your Own Player!

The Guardian recently published an insightful in-depth piece about Rufus.

 

Here is a screenshot and link to his recently overhauled official site.

 

 

 

*This is what I surmise, anyway.

 

 

Technorati tags: "Rufus Wainwright", music, review, "Release the Stars", CD, album, "pop culture", culture, musician, "pop music", "David Geffen", gay, homosexual, queer, alternative, recording, record

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Flickr tags: "Rufus Wainwright", music, review, "Release the Stars", CD, album, "pop culture", culture, musician, "pop music", "David Geffen", gay, homosexual, queer, alternative, recording, record

LiveJournal tags: "Rufus Wainwright", music, review, "Release the Stars", CD, album, "pop culture", culture, musician, "pop music", "David Geffen", gay, homosexual, queer, alternative, recording, record

Female Troubles, Photoboothing, and Movies

On Tuesday, I have to have something called a Colposcopy. I had an abnormal pap smear so now a doctor has to scrape my cervix or something. I'm kind of freaked out about it, to tell the truth. It might cause me abdominal discomfort for a week or so. Yay. Getting my cervix shot up with vinegar so a doctor can look at it with big binoculars. Sign me up for that!

Well,the OB/GYN that my regular doc referred me to said it really is nothing to worry too much about. We'll see.

Today, the girls and I went to the Peter Pan bus station photo booth. We brought props for the pictures. Here are mine and then a collage of with all of us.

We bought a used copy of Borat and we watched it tonight. It was hilarious. Last night, Stuart and I went to the Avon Cinema to see The Wind That Shakes The Barley. It was very good and very intense. Some people left during some of the more upsetting scenes.
I am happy because the young friend I mentioned in an earlier post has gotten back in touch with us and it looks like the summer visit is going to take place after all. He has talked to his mom and dad and they seem on board with the idea. So, we'll see. Now it is up to me to get in touch with his parents and make some concrete plans for July. I also have to get in touch with my friend Jane who lives in Chicago and make plans for visiting SAIC with Meg and Ivy. That should happen sometime in the 2nd or 3rd week of June. The problem is, Stuart and I celebrate  our 20th anniversary on June 6th and it would be nice to do something special then. I'm kind of doubtful that we will do much of anything besides going to Trinity for dinner. We'll see what happens.

 

 

Technorati tags: "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", "Cillian Murphy", "Avon Cinema", movie, Irish, Ireland, Providence, marriage, anniversary, photobooth, photomaton, "photo strip", photography, health, "womens' health", gynecology, colposcopy, medical, procedure, shopping, movies, Borat, DVD, SAIC, family, "School of the Art Institute of Chicago"

 

del.icio.us tags: "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", "Cillian Murphy", "Avon Cinema", movie, Irish, Ireland, Providence, marriage, anniversary, photobooth, photomaton, "photo strip", photography, health, "womens' health", gynecology, colposcopy, medical, procedure, movies, Borat, DVD, family, SAIC, School of the Art Institute of Chicago"

 

Flickr tags: "The Wind That Shakes The Barley", "Cillian Murphy", "Avon Cinema", movie, Irish, Ireland, Providence, marriage, anniversary, photobooth, photomaton, "photo strip", photography, health, "womens' health", gynecology, colposcopy, medical, procedure, movies, Borat, DVD, family, SAIC, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Friday's Flickr Fix

I joined this group on Flickr this week. The inspiration theme for this week was "lyrical". I chose to use Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play". Here are my contributions. 

Get Your Own Player!

See Emily Play
by Syd Barrett

Emily tries but misunderstands, ah ooh
She often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for May
See Emily play

Soon after dark Emily cries, ah ooh
Gazing through trees in sorrow hardly a sound till tomorrow

There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for May
See Emily play

Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for May
See Emily play

 

 

This group is blogged at Creature Comforts.

 

 

Flickr tags: "Friday's Flickr Fix", diptych, collage, montage, "Creature Comforts", "fd's flickr toys", mosaic, "Rhode Island", "mental illness", pyschological, psychedlic, psychedlia, "See Emily Play", lyrical, lyrics, lyric, song, inspiration, "Syd Barrett", "Pink Floyd", "Flickr Groups", photography, photos

 

del.icio.us tags: "Friday's Flickr Fix", diptych, collage, montage, "Creature Comforts", "fd's flickr toys", mosaic, "Rhode Island", "mental illness", pyschological, psychedlic, psychedlia, "See Emily Play", lyrical, lyrics, lyric, song, inspiration, "Syd Barrett", "Pink Floyd", "Flickr Groups", photography, photos

 

Technorati tags: "Friday's Flickr Fix", diptych, collage, montage, "Creature Comforts", "fd's flickr toys", mosaic, "Rhode Island", "mental illness", pyschological, psychedlic, psychedlia, "See Emily Play", lyrical, lyrics, lyric, song, inspiration, "Syd Barrett", "Pink Floyd", "Flickr Groups", photography, photos

We Got A New Driveway....

...and it was totally unexpected. A guy came to the door and asked my dad if he could check out our driveway (which was in a sorry state of disrepair) and give us a quote to re-pave it. My dad agreed and the guy quoted $1600 which is pretty cheap for the size of our driveway. Even though Stuart and I own the house now, my parents are still willing to foot the bill for some of the work that really needed doing when they sold it to us (for ridiculously cheap).

They started work right away because the guy's crew was right down the street and ready to go. It was crazy. I got to actually experience a dream since we bought the house which was to shorten the driveway (and at the same time widening it to accommodate two cars side-by-side) and turn the excess length, which runs along the entire south side of the house, into more outdoor living space. So now I have a newly asphalted driveway (not my material of choice but definitely cheaper than concrete) and a big patch of rocky dirt to fill in with topsoil and whatever other materials we decide to put there.
Of course, now we need to come up with the cash to do that work. But I will finally be able to have a small flowering tree or two in my yard.

 Future site of trees and flowers, hopefully...

 This guy kept coming alarmingly close to the porch with the shovel.

I also got to be a lech and take photos of the shirtless crew.

 

I lost some of my front garden to widen the driveway but it is worth it in the extra space I gained on the South side of the house.

The guy in the t-shirt hosing down one of the crew was the boss. He actually is the son of the main boss but he is taking over. He did a job a few doors down on the same day. He was really cute but wore cheesy-looking Italian loafers.

 This is what it looks like now. We will have to truck in a lot of topsoil. Fortunately, we have a pick-up so we should be able to do it ourselves and save money on the delivery fee.

 

 

del.icio.us tags: renovation, driveway, construction, workers, crew, photographs, photography, documentation, house, home, yard, landscaping, Rhode Island

 

del.icio.us tags: renovation, driveway, construction, workers, crew, photographs, photography, documentation, house, home, yard, landscaping, Rhode island

 

Flickr tags: renovation, driveway, construction, workers, crew, photographs, photography, documentation, house, home, yard, landscaping, Rhode Island

Mondays are nice for me...

...because Stu has the day off. Today he had to go to the doctor. He had a touch of bronchitis and a patch of shingles, and water build-up in his inner ear. The inner-ear thing was probably from swimming all day in Bermuda, both in the pool and the ocean. The shingles was from the bronchitis. The bronchitis started before his trip to Bermuda but was probably aggravated by the flight and all the swimming. Anyway, he has antibiotics and something for the inner-ear thing.

After his appointment, he and Ivy and I went to Cindy's Diner in Scituate. We love it there. It is cheap and has a good atmosphere. I like to take photos when I'm there and today was no exception. These are just a few. You can see the rest at my flickr account.

The awesome signage....

Betty Boop in the vestibule....

Our booth... 

My cup of tea (their coffee is terrible)... 

A guy enjoying his book at the counter...

 

Ivy being silly with a fake "French" mustache...

 

We also went to Kinko's so I could copy some art for cd's for a swap-bot thing...We decided it would be fun to make a color photocopy of Slink the Sockmonkey and Ivy used it to decorate the notebook I bought her...

  

After Cindy's and Kinko's we went to the New Bedford, Ma Savers and I scored a huge Coach satchel for $7.99 along with some really nice Pyrex bowls. Sorry no pictures of that stuff. I do have an picture of an awesome old car we saw on the way....

 

 

del.icio.us tags: oldsmobile, vintage car, automobile, diner, diners, diner culture, Cindy's, Scituate, sign, neon, restaurant, dining, eating, day-off, thrift store, kinkos, sockmonkey, sock monkey, Rhode Island, New Bedford, family, shopping, bargain, photos, photography

 

Flickr tags: oldsmobile, vintage car, automobile, diner, diners, diner culture, Cindy's, Scituate, sign, neon, restaurant, dining, eating, day-off, thrift store, kinkos, sockmonkey, sock monkey, Rhode Island, New Bedford, family, shopping, bargain, photos, photography

 

Technorati tags: oldsmobile, vintage car, automobile, diner, diners, diner culture, Cindy's, Scituate, sign, neon, restaurant, dining, eating, day-off, thrift store, kinkos, sockmonkey, sock monkey, Rhode Island, New Bedford, family, shopping, bargain, photos, photography

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY

 

 My poor husband wrecked the passenger side of my beautiful 1986 Mercedes today. He felt worse than I did. I thought he might cry. It was a birthday present two years ago. It was supposed to help me look classy when showing houses in my new career selling real estate. That never happened for reasons which I won't go into now. It isn't as bad as he made it out to be. At least the doors aren't totally crushed.

 

Here is looking all sad after showing me the damage. Poor baby.

Partly to make it up to me, he took me to Home Depot and we bought $300 dollars worth of plants. I actually had to spend that much so he could get the 6 months-no-interest deal. The garden needs the fresh blood anyway.

A guy in the parking lot saw us loading all the plants onto Stu's truck and asked if we had won some kind of contest.

Now I have a ton of work to do. I still have to a shitload of weeding and raking dead leaves before I can really start planting. But the new plants awaiting their new home will give me the impetus. I hope.

  

Last night Stu came in carrying a bag with a pair of sweet red Chuck Taylor's. He asked me what size I was and I replied, "In Chucks, a 7."  Yay! They are mine! Believe it or not, I've never had a pair in red. And these are an American made pair.

So, even though he wrecked my car (trying to read a yard sale sign, btw) he is a pretty great husband. 

 

 

 

del.icio.us tags: husband, marriage, Mercedes, car accident, Mothers' Day, Chuck Taylors, Converse, presents, relationships, Rhode Island, shopping, gardening, Home Depot, garden, home, flowers, plants, planting, landscaping, consumerism

Flickr tags: husband, marriage, Mercedes, car accident, Mothers' Day, Chuck Taylors, Converse, presents, relationships, Rhode Island, shopping, gardening, Home Depot, garden, home, flowers, plants, planting, landscaping, consumerism

Technorati tags: husband, marriage, Mercedes, car accident, Mothers' Day, Chuck Taylors, Converse, presents, relationships, Rhode Island, shopping, gardening, Home Depot, garden, home, flowers, plants, planting, landscaping, consumerism

Blogging technicalities...

I have spent the last hour in trying to figure out how to insert meta tags into my blog and I've been swimming in a sea of confusing terminology. I finally wound up downloading Windows Live Writer so this entry is basically a test for that.
Just so it isn't totally boring, here is a nice photo.

So far so good. I get to do stuff to the photo like add a paper border or dropped shadow effect if I like (I chose the paper border). Plus I can customize the margins. Pretty cool. There is a handy column next to the writing field to insert links, pictures, tags, maps...I like it. It inserts Technorati tags so I don't know if they go over the entire web or are just for people signed up for their service.

Here is a birds-eye view of Veterans' Memorial Parkway in East Providence, near where I live. Creepy, huh?

Bird's Eye View of Veterans Memorial Parkway and Surrounding Bay Area

One more plug-in I downloaded was something to insert a thumbnail webs image. Testing...

Look at that! It worked! Now you can see the bio page for a band I like. The image is a link so feel free to check them out.

Well, that was an hour or so well spent. I made myself a nice, spicy Bloody Mary as it is almost 5 o'clock, and hell why not? There's ecophene and vitamin C in it.

Technorati tags: blogging, windows live writer, blogging tools, tags, photography, editing, photographs, doll, bradley doll, vintage doll, rhode island, new england, mother, woman, writing, mom, boredom, research, downloads, creativity, computers, map, birds eye view, aerial map, east bay, water, atlantic ocean, bay, veterans memorial parkway, avett brothers, band, music, plug-ins