If a post just magically appeared EVERYDAY, without any effort from me, then you'd probably already know about the Doggie Crime Wave of December '07.

We woke up to find my wooden hair brush gnawed to bits. luckily there was plenty of DNA, or actually slobber, to identify the wrongdoer. Soon after we found that said culprit also chewed the side of my built-in wardrobe and munched the clasps off of some innocent and very pretty bras --forcing them into early retirement.

And then, the second worst offense to date, was captured on surveillance cameras. And this crime was PREMEDITATED. Look at the doggie scoping out the luscious snowpeople. You know what he's thinking... yes, he really did run over and PEE on her snowwoman.

happily, posts don't tell everything about every day's events, or else you'd also know about the Duck Assault of November (Pewter is doing fine now). and you would not want to see what remains of the famous Yoga Mat Massacre of last October.

No sentence has been pronounced but let me tell you. sometimes when Farmer barks to be let back in the house i make him wait a millisecond longer than i ought to. which i guess makes us both guilty as charged.

and yes, the dog has loads of chew toys. there's no excuse for that waving mouth of snapping teeth.

When it comes to attending a lecture by someone fantastic (Michael Pollan). who wrote a few books i really like (The Botany of Desire, The Omnivores Dilemma). about a topic that the O'lover is obsessed with (FOOD)...i make it my duty to scooch my chair up..and lean forward...and stick my leg out. So there's no mistaking that I am indeed the CLOSEST audience member.
me and Michael...ahhhh...Many thanks to my grandma-in-law Lillian. Besides being a constant inspiration (she is a very strong woman and environmental activist) she is the matriarch of the family I so luckily married into. Oh! And she also provides the hot item tickets to the author series up at Sundance.

signed,
star struck and clutching my autographed copy

We're going to have a simple holiday. We haven't even put up a tree. Our new tradition is to slow down. almost to a metabolic halt.

image from the New York Times Thanks to RH who recently sent me a link to this article.

In the old days, when humans were in sync with the seasons, before the madness of alarm clocks and every hour of every day needing to be accounted for, people would pile up with each other and their live stock and snooze away the winter months. Fast forward a bunch of years later and i for one am still feeling the lure of hibernation. My strong impulse is to squirrel a medley of nuts in my cheeks and bury myself in the hay with anything that gives off some heat.

It's time for a big SLEEP!

And big dreams. And losing oneself in the flow of music, art, anything, without regard for schedules and lists.

Last night, O'lover and I went to the Messiah Sing-In. I got caught up in the truths of all those exquisitely expressed notes of music. The heroic journey of both Christ and Handel (the composer) renews my faith in suffering, in emotion, in hallelujahs, and riding the waves of it all. And by the last "amen" I felt like i had been granted a bonus life time.
Walking home from the concert...pretty, ey?

xoxo,
quel

Dear Reader,
Do you have any friends that in your eyes could ne'er do wrong? That no matter WHAT you ADORE them?
Well, my talented, brilliant, and idealistic friend Ardell has merited "pedestal status" for ETERNITY.
Ardell has probably had more influence on me than just about anybody.
If she says, "start composting" I say "how high." haha.
no really.
If Ardell says "plastic is tacky." I say, "hmmm...a wooden toothbrush. right on. "
I can trace many of my favorite habits and preferences back to Ardell.
A free lance editor by trade, she places emphasis on organization and coordination of everything. If Ardell takes you under her wing, your paper/manual/whatever will read flawlessly and she will facilitate breakthroughs you never imagined possible. I wish I could take a peek in her brain to see how she's filed away all those hundreds of dissertations she's written cough cough i mean "edited." I swear, she deserves some honorary degrees for her rewriting cough cough i mean "editing."

Thanks to Andi, for hosting the very fun Ardell-is-in-town party.

In this pic Ardell has just earnestly sought input on an OCD color project she's doing.
This is her precious daughter with moi. Darling Miss M was born the day before Gallery OneTen opened its doors. It's how I remember the age of the gallery.
Ardell lives on six steep acres in a tall house in a narrow Colorado canyon. Very picturesque.
If Ardell's location choice could be settled by a good game of tug of war... I would win! because no matter what i would not let go of my end of the rope until she was BACK because...I wish Ardell were around always.

signed,
girl tearing up the cottage looking for a non blurry pic of Ardell to accompany this post.

Happy (full)filling Thanksgiving Y'all!

After the family feast O'lover and I retreated to our cozy home for an important session of some long overdue truth telling about a matter as significant as any other matter...What do you want for Christmas?

But first. really quickly, i'm putting on my gratitude attitude for a stream of consciousness what-i'm-thankful-for list:

-O'lover's kindness and strength
-my family. They're good people.
-thoughtful friends
-folks who extend themselves to make things better
-the word "rucksack" and random words strung together
-pretty door bell rings
-homeopathic meds
-hot homemade applesauce (apples from our tree) with walnuts (gathered from the park)
-living outside of the rat race
-the clicking of knitting needles & whirrrrrhummm of the sewing machine
-"Pushing Daisies" on www.abc.com
-and to go full circle...I'm so so grateful for O'lover, the holiday season. and the fact that what we want for Christmas is delicious times with delicious people sprinkled with some "good will for all" on top.

But, hey if we must have gifts (and admittedly we must)...i'm voting for original art or anything homemade or used.

What do you think about "concocting" gifts from materials at hand rather than buying them? Raw truth please.

The Provo Downtown Alliance has been asked to take on the flowerbeds on Center Street this next year. With our currently very modest budget this new mandate has been...entertaining. Because you just have to laugh when more and more (and more) is expected of a very small staff. I joked and said we should resort to casting zucchini seeds. Zucchinis have flowers...
Little did I know how truly brilliant this idea was until roaming the streets of Chicago! Vegetables! I wish I had more pix. But there was cabbage, broccoli, chili peppers, rainbow chard, arugula, and other leafy greens EVERYWHERE. It looked beautiful and for the survivalists...there's no security like food security.
What do you think? Pray tell!

when i was just 3 years and 3 days old my parents had me take a seat in preparation for receiving my belated birthday present. even then i understood i had hit the jackpot when they handed me my newborn baby sister. she brought color into my life. i believed them when they told me to take care of her and seriously thought she was mine. mine to spoil rotten or boss around; mine to mold into a left-handed artist; and mine to draw designs on her bald head when she shaved it at age 16. Tammy didn't speak until she was 4. She would mutely point at whatever she wanted and we would fetch and deliver. she finally started talking (in full paragraphs) when we unintentionally fell short of anticipating her every need. i thought i had her figured out. her high level energy comes from our mom and the platinum singing voice is from our father. we used to play conductor. she was the talent and i would make her belt out simon & garfunkel hits hundreds of times until every note had bounced off the walls to my exact specifications. growing up she was a talented poet and all around creative type.
she moved to san francisco when she was 17 to work in the theater and then as a peace activist. She was employed by California Peace Action for years, opening an office in LA, and traveling around the country at their behest. she is very known for pulling well developed completely persuasive, nay, deadly, arguments out of her sleeve. If you've witnessed this about her raise your hand.
But then...my artsy, humanitarian sister switched brain hemispheres,
gasp.
TRAITOR.
she decided to be a mathematician at SF city college. She ended up graduating with a masters in materials engineering from UC Davis. And now she's doing her M.D. PhD. in Chicago. WHERE DID I GO WRONG??
TamTam's a momma. She gave birth almost a year ago. During labor while I was passing out from my sister's travail, she was playing the perfect hostess to everyone, including the entire engineering lab who had come to cheer her on for the final pushes and help welcome Mr. T to the world. She is a great mom and has done well with a difficult balancing act of full time school and mommy hood. the love she has for Mr. T is tangible. he knows his momma is his #1 fan.
i've learned that when i talk to Tam about her thoughts & about what she's studying, i must take notes. they help me to stay focused and participate and then i get to turn around and regurgitate stuff like...well, never mind...since right now Tam is studying everything you don't want to know about the perineum. for her histology class.
yup, i'm proud of my sister. and i love her, her husband, and Mr. T. I'm super thankful for the relatedness.

So...Happy Birthday Tammy!
I'm lucky to have you as my sis.
You're the birthday gift that keeps on giving.

p.s. And Tam, I know you've paved your own path...but i appreciate seeing that you continue taking some cues from me, like your keen shoes, and mrs. meyer's products, etc. =)