The Day After Tuesday

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T11:26:00.001-05:00

Family Christmas cards from 1920, 1938 and 1921. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T23:13:00.000-05:00

A handmade Christmas card from my Great Aunt Minnie circa 1983. Feel free to print him (or her) out and color her in as Aunt Minnie suggests if you need something to do while sipping eggnog.

Blue Christmas

2009-12-20T17:15:00.004-05:00

Hello all. Bit of a blue Christmas here. I realized I've been avoiding all the things I miss because thinking about them makes me feel like something very large and heavy is sitting on my heart. It's a bit of a backwards way to manage, I suppose. I miss my little attic and so many things it's hard to count. To all the far away people I've been missing (you know who you are) I send very much love and a promise to not be so quiet. Happy Christmas!

stiff upper lip

2009-08-28T20:33:00.005-04:00

One of the best people I know reminded me that I should find a stiff upper lip in my passport, right next to the lion and the unicorn. I must remember to have a look for it in the morning.

I miss my ocean

2009-08-18T12:26:00.008-04:00

I'm having a hard time settling in here.

This story is from Orford, Suffolk, near where I was born. I think it's terribly sad.

'Men fishing in the sea caught in their nets a wild man. He was naked and was like a man in all his members, covered with hair and with a long shaggy beard. He eagerly ate whatever was brought to him but if it was raw he pressed it between his hands until all the juice was expelled. He would not talk, even when tortured and hung up by his feet. Brought into church, he showed no signs of reverence or belief. He sought his bed at sunset and always remained there until sunrise.

He was allowed to go into the sea, strongly guarded with three lines of nets, but he dived under the nets and came up again and again. Eventually he came back of his own free will. But later on he escaped and was never seen again.'

hair

2009-08-08T18:23:00.005-04:00

I am still experiencing... shall we say... very intense culture shock. I've been getting my ducks in a row and working to secure studio space to use while I'm here. Not much else to report, but I have received some amusing comments about my hair this week. Riding in the car one of my cousin's four-year-old twins told me my hair looked like a monster. It was perhaps the best hair compliment I've ever received. Then today I was queuing in the library and an elderly gentleman said, "It's just not fair! You have all that hair piled at the back of your head and I don't have any!" It made me smile.

mosquitoes, family & lots of pie

2009-07-24T10:42:00.024-04:00

I started my American sabbatical with a trip to Michigan for a family reunion. My great grandma was one of seven children and the families of those seven have been getting together every summer since 1923. This year my branch of the family (the Esta and Jake Smith clan) hosted the reunion at my cousin Cindy's house in Adrian. It's farm country and the green and skies were beautiful...

my cousin's back yard...

the fairground food wagon and our reunion tent...
Dad and my sister launching balloon lanterns at night...
my soon to be brother-in-law and I in the bouncy castle...
the food trailer by night...
breakfast!...
toasting marshmallows for s'mores in the fire pit...
early morning...
crossroads near my cousin's house...
We had a very fine reunion... and running around in the fresh air is a great jet lag cure. I've also discovered my superpower: resistance to mosquitoes. It's not as useful as flight or invisibility, but on summer evenings in Michigan it makes you a superhero!

The Steam Powered Man

2009-07-23T10:25:00.009-04:00

One of my best friends and a proper gentleman, Max Humphries, was on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday as part of Antony Gormley's One & Other project. A different person will stand on the plinth every hour, 24 hours a day for 100 days to make a "living portrait" of the UK.

In case you might have missed it (as I did because I was traveling) you can watch Max's full hour on the plinth dressed as a steam powered robot on the One & Other site.

See more pictures and find out about the design and construction process over on the Brass Goggles Steampunk Forum.

...and there are more pictures over on Ms. Steele's Flickr account.

I'm so proud!

traveling gifts

2009-07-11T04:32:00.006-04:00

My wonderful friend Kieron made this cushion for me as a traveling gift. Isn't it lovely? It's a little bit of England to take with me on my travels, and was sewn with a very hot needle as my mother would say. Some of the fabric is from costumes at Les Mis, but shhh, don't tell anyone. It's just the right squishiness and the perfect size for airplanes and sleeping in strange places, like a pop-up caravan, which is where I'll be next week. Thank you Kieron!!

a hot time in the old town

2009-07-09T15:26:00.014-04:00

Hello... I'm still here!

I've been quietly making big decisions and sorting lots of things... and boy, has it been hot! We've had several strawberries from our balcony garden and a few things have gone to seed... it's a bit like a miniature meadow. We're attracting ladybirds and butterflies.

Here's Joel breaking in his new ukulele in the sunshine.

and this is my new god-niece, Margot. Isn't she lovely?
she's the hairy one at the front, not the hairy one at the back.

...and here's a bon voyage pie with a pastry Statue of Liberty and the Titanic (this one didn't sink, Max says). Yummy!

More news soon!

July Mint Juleps

2009-07-09T14:13:00.002-04:00

This is a non-alcoholic take on the classic Mint Julep, usually made with bourbon.

Boil 3/4 cup of sugar and one cup of water for ten minutes or until sugar is dissolved to make a sugar syrup. Allow the syrup to cool.

To the syrup, add the juice of three lemons or four limes (strained), four bruised sprigs of mint and one pint of ginger beer or ale. Mix together.

Fill glasses half full with crushed ice and pour in the julep mixture. Garnish the drinks with sprigs of mint.

Enjoy!

a lot of allotment

2009-05-04T13:08:00.011-04:00

I spent yesterday at a friend's new, overgrown allotment digging out a small mountain of couch grass. Despite not having planted anything yet we managed to come home with fresh rhubarb, spinach and even some potatoes. There are several blackberry, currant and gooseberry bushes on the plot too which should mean tasty jam later in the summer.

in and out the window

2009-04-26T07:15:00.016-04:00

Spring has sprung, the weather's warm and the wisteria has bloomed. We planted some rosemary, basil, thyme, two types of lettuce, rocket, black violas and a little strawberry plant on our kitchen balcony.

Usually bees and wasps fly in my windows in the spring and summer, but today a large peacock butterfly come to visit:

Happy Birthday!

2009-04-16T06:43:00.005-04:00

to my sister the Cheezelady, with love.

a forest in the chest

2009-04-16T05:56:00.013-04:00

It must be a slow news day as the Guardian is reporting the story of a man in the Urals who supposedly had a spruce fir seedling removed from his lung. This seems more suited to the Fortean Times than the Guardian. It makes me think of fairy tales, forest curses and the scene from Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain in which the conquistador drinks of the tree of life.

Darwin's Easter Egg

2009-04-12T05:06:00.021-04:00

A volunteer at the University Museum of Zoology Cambridge found this egg, which was collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, after it had been lost in the museum's collection for nearly 200 years. I love that this happened just in time for Easter and the celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday. You can read more about it here.

I also discovered the Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, including his diaries, notebooks and illustrations. These photos are from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872:

The Darwin Online site not only has the complete texts of Darwin's writings but images of the book covers and individual pages. It's well worth a visit, especially if you can't make it to the Darwin Exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

Happy Easter!

little recipe of the month...

2009-04-09T14:42:00.016-04:00

I've added a tiny recipe over in the sidebar just for fun. This month's recipe is for sweet spiced chai. It's been getting warmer here, but it's still nice to have a warm cup of tea.

April Chai...

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil & add three Darjeeling teabags or loose-leaf tea. You can also use regular black tea, green tea or rooibos.

Add:

4 ~ 1 1/2 inch slices of fresh ginger (you can make them with a vegetable peeler)
1 ~ 2 inch cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1 heaping teaspoon of powdered cardamom or a few whole cardamom pods
1 ~ 6 inch vanilla bean cut up into 1 inch pieces or a splash of vanilla extract
a dash of nutmeg
1/4 cup of honey

Reduce heat & simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add two cups of milk or soy milk & bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Strain & serve hot or over ice.

If there are any leftovers the may be stored in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Books and Black Holes

2009-04-08T12:25:00.004-04:00

Lincoln had his melancholia, Churchill had his black dog, and I occasionally fall into black holes. Sometimes I can be in one for quite some time before I realize I have to dig myself out. It helps to remember things I like; in the past I have used this as a place to share things that make me happy, but I've gotten out of practice. So, it seems a good time for spring cleaning, both here and in my head.

Books are some of my most favorite things, and I was lucky enough to recently find a copy of the first American edition of Michael Ende's The Neverending Story. I first read it as a teenager, but the copy I borrowed from the library was printed in black ink with no illustrations. My beautiful new (old) copy has text printed in the proper red and green with 26 illustrations by Roswitha Quadflieg illuminating the chapter heads, one for each letter of the alphabet.

Here are some images from the book... more pictures, including Roswitha Quadflieg's full alphabet can be found here.

If you've never read The Neverending Story run out and get a copy; even if it's a paperback in black and white you won't be disappointed. If you're able to read it in the original German then lucky you!

..and if you're still reading this after all this time, or still checking in, hello again.

Domo Arigato Mister Roboto

2009-01-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

Hello again. Though I've been quiet here, things have been very busy in real life. I've been staying with my family in Arizona since before Christmas; much had been going on, but this week we received fantastic news. Thanks to a great surgical team and a DaVinci robot my Dad is now cancer free!!

Between this and the inauguration the champagne has been flowing.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and that things are looking at least a little bright wherever you are.

puppets and knitting

2008-11-29T17:09:00.011-05:00

Today some friends and I went to see a puppet version of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me at the Little Angel Puppet Theatre. My friend Max helped build several bits of the set, and the audience was full of excited kids and happy adults. We had a great time; the performers seemed to be having a wonderful time, too. The Little Angel has been going for more than 50 years, but recently the Arts Council of England cut its funding. Earlier this month the British Theatre Guide published an article on the reasons (*cough* Olympics *cough*) and effects of this cut, which can be read here. Despite funding cuts and recent economic worries it's heartening to see a theatre manage to keep going through donations and fundraising.

In knitting news, today I was given a flier for my friend Fi's knitting festival, Unravel, which will be held in The Farnham Maltings in February. Fi is a fantastic knitter and designer, and I can't wait to see what she's put together. Today I also swung by Loop to pick up the right size circular needle so I can knit a hat with the yarn I bough in Maryland this summer:

The color makes me very happy!

To round out my puppetry/knitting day, I've been watching Wool 100%, a Japanese film about two elderly sisters who take in a feral, obsessively knitting girl. It features wild knitting, puppets, an accordion and a very fetching pair of silver Louise Brooks haircuts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T18:30:00.011-05:00

It has been many years since I've been in the US for Thanksgiving, and a couple of years since I've cooked a Thanksgiving meal. This year two of my favorite people came round for dinner, which made it a very nice day indeed.

Here I am at the start of four hours of cooking..

..and some of what we had to show for it. Veggie Thanksgiving, mmmm.

Ben and Max made the (very tasty) pumpkin pie, which had to be baked in a springform tin as my pie plates are temporarily awol.

Yummy. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

catching up...

2008-10-21T17:23:00.012-04:00

I've gotten out of the habit of writing here even though I have had things to say. Last week I celebrated my birthday (I'm as old as Star Wars in case anyone wonders), and spent the day at Mudchute City Farm. We saw cows, sheep, llamas, pigs of varying sizes and breeds, happy free range chickens, horses, feisty big goats and feisty little goats. We also had a worrying run-in with a psychotic squirrel, but we didn't let him spoil our day. It was lovely and strange to find fields and woodland and animals right in the middle of the city.

The farm also has a very tasty cafe, which was serving still-warm freshly baked carrot cake when we were visiting. Mmmmmmmmm.

On the way home we ran into this Halloweeny fellow:

I also received a wonderful home made dark chocolate and Marsala cake for my birthday, making it a two-cake day. Not too shabby.

Today I had the amazing opportunity to tour the sets and workshops for Wes Anderson's stop-motion animation film Fantastic Mr. Fox. Having signed a confidentiality agreement I am not allowed to say anything about what I've seen, but suffice to say the people working on it are very, very talented and the tour was incredible for a design/modelmaking/puppetry geek like me. What we were allowed to see was fantastic indeed and I cannot wait until it comes out.

Hi Dad!

2008-10-11T16:41:00.010-04:00

In case anyone has been wondering, I have not disappeared into a black hole. I've had one of those periods, which may be familiar to other artists who work in relative isolation, in which I managed to get stuck in my studio and in my own head like a snail in a shell. However, I spoke to my dad on the phone today and he told me he missed reading what I write here so I thought I should pull my socks up and stick my head out again.

I've been away this week seeing friends and meeting the rest of the Toast in the Machine participants. I have also (finally...thanks Max!) procured the perfect leather to finish up one of the sculptures I'm working on. There's been some news in my family as well... some very bad (but it's okay, because the robots are going to sort it out), and some fantastic. On the fantastic front, this man will soon be joining our family:

Doesn't he look nice?

the end of the world as we know it

2008-09-10T05:05:00.017-04:00

Big Bang Day has arrived. Today is the day scientists finally switched on the Large Hadron Collider at Cern. The Large Hadron Collider is not just the largest particle accelerator ever made, but its running constitutes the largest scientific experiment ever conducted. Some members of the scientific community believed that switching on the particle accelerator this morning would create mini black holes which could swell and devour the earth. As I am still sitting here typing and drinking my coffee I think we're in the clear. What may be world-changing about this experiment are the questions it could answer. Cern scientists hope to create a mini big bang and examine the resulting particles, possibly including the hypothetical Higgs boson or "God particle," which could help explain why objects acquire mass and help fill in the blanks in the Standard Model of particle physics. The scientists at Cern could get to see first-hand what happened during the creation of the universe and gain a greater understanding of how the universe works, which is tremendously exciting.

black hole!

In the very slim chance the worst does happen, here's some music for the end of the world.

strange creatures

2008-09-05T06:09:00.007-04:00

With the combination of one of my housemates arriving home late and noisy every night this week and the workmen across the street starting too early, I've not been sleeping well. Last night I had a very disturbing dream about a group of cat-sized rodents nesting in my bedroom. They had humps like camels, tails like water rats and clawed, webbed feet. I wonder what the humps were for?

(image - Matthew Robins)

Tonight I'm going to watch Matthew Robins perform his "science fiction opera" The Death of Flyboy at the National Theatre, with shadow puppets projected on the fly-tower and live musical accompaniment. Listen to some of Matthew's music here. If you're in London you should come along.

red letter days

2008-09-04T16:28:00.010-04:00

For the past two weeks or so I've been reworking my portfolio, traveling, stressing out and interviewing (as well as getting to see friends I don't see often). The result is that I found out on Tuesday I've been awarded a place on a professional development program for puppetry and puppetry-related disciplines. It's being run by the fantastic Green Ginger company in collaboration with the Puppet Centre Trust and several other theatre companies and arts groups. Funding was provided by the Leverhulme Trust, which is funded, among other things, by sales of Marmite.

mmmm..Marmite. Tasty and good for puppetry!

On the very same day my best friend found out he has been given an allotment. This may not seem like a big deal to those of you not living in London, but in the city waiting lists for allotments can be up to five years long, and he got his in less than five days. He is now the proud tender of a plot of land the size of a tennis court. I'm happy because it's near some wild blackberry bushes, and Ben makes fantastic jam. I've almost eaten the last batch he made me and I've had the jar less than a week. Yummy!

Votes for Women!

2008-08-18T17:11:00.014-04:00

Today is the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women in the United States the Constitutional right to vote. British women had to wait another eight years, until 1928, to gain the same rights.

Women have been enfranchised for less than 100 years, and there is still great need for social change. It is extremely important for everyone to exercise their right to vote. I am lucky to be able to vote in two countries, but voting in US elections from outside the US can be tricky. Helpfully, the Federal Voting Assistance Program website allows you to register to vote, print absentee ballots, and find out how and where to return them. I'm doing it early this year to avoid a repeat of a certain panicky evening four years ago in a central London FedEx office, posting my ballot along with several other anxious expat Americans.

There is no excuse for not voting, especially in an election as important as the upcoming one. Hurrah for suffragettes! We owe it to them to make our voices heard.

busy as a..

2008-08-04T13:04:00.006-04:00

This bumblebee paid a visit to my studio today. It's the largest bee I've ever seen; larger than some hummingbirds and fatter than my thumb! I looked it up in one of my books and learned that "dumbledore" or "dumbledory" was an Old English term for bumblebee, along with drummel, hummel or humble bee. Tolkien uses the word in his poem "Errantry," which contains many other lovely words as well.

"He battled with the Dumbledores,
the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees,
and won the Golden Honeycomb;
and running home on sunny seas
in ship of leaves and gossamer
with blossom for a canopy,
he sat and sang, and furbished up
and burnished up his panoply."

The ladybugs are still visiting at night, along with some other little beetles that look like stained glass when the light shines through them.

dancing pigs in charity shops

2008-08-02T12:14:00.013-04:00

A few days ago I found the most wonderful book in my local Oxfam about the 1971 ballet film Tales of Beatrix Potter. It contains a script for the film as well as background on the development of the production. My favorite part details the creation of the costumes, which were co-designed by Christine Edzard, who also directed The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream, and artist Rotislav Doboujinsky, who designed and built the stunning animal masks. I love this quote on Doboujinsky's working practice:

"Doboujinsky works at his own pace - and to his own standard of perfection. 'Now and again I have found no good solution to a problem,' he says. 'Then I renounce,' - renounce not compromise. He must almost have renounced Hunca Munca; thirteen times that winter he made her mask and it was not until February 1970 that, with the fourteenth attempt he was satisfied."

The characters were all performed by dancers from the Royal Ballet. Below are pictures of Jeremy Fisher, who has the most fantastic stripy-stockinged legs, Mrs. Tittlemouse and Johnny Town-Mouse, several waltzing mice, the foxy "sandy-whiskered gentleman", Pigling Bland and friends on a picnic, and a group of extra tails.

Construction materials included:

"60 yards of paper for tails
5 lbs pig bristles - half white - prepared solid, product of Poland
Gallons of various glues
Bags and bags of feathers - marabou, duck feathers, swan feathers
12 pairs of artificial hands (hired) on which to fit paws
Marbles: ping-pong balls : sugar basins"

..and a Van de Graaff generator for affixing animal hair to glue-covered masks!

Isn't it delightful?

the forest for the trees

2008-07-28T14:51:00.019-04:00

Today I've started making a tiny forest out of twigs, and I'm excited to see how it will turn out.

For inspiration I've been looking at the work of Russian artist Ivan Bilibin. Here are two of his illustrations, published in 1900, of the red rider who brings the sunrise and the black rider who brings the night from the Russian fairytale Vasilisa the Beautiful.

(click for much larger images)

The full story can be read here. Baba Yaga the witch, who flies around in a giant mortar and has a house on chicken feet, makes an appearance. It is well worth reading.

For the last several nights as I've been going to sleep I've found ladybugs on my bedside table. I've been visited by red ones with black spots and black ones with red spots. Even if I let them out the open window they come right back in. I wonder if they'll be back again this evening?

(detail from the Alexander Marshal Insect Watercolors Album, ca. 1600-1680)

mal à la tête

2008-07-26T16:49:00.006-04:00

When I was younger, throughout most of my school career and into my early twenties, I suffered from terrible headaches. In the summer we used to visit my grandparents in Maryland, and sometimes made trips to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. At a young age I fell in love with the Smithsonian's collection of trepanned skulls.

Trepanation is the process of cutting a hole in the skull to relieve pain or pressure. The skulls at the Smithsonian were from ancient tribes who believed headaches were caused by evil spirits, and that by cutting holes in the skull the spirits would be set free. The holes were often made with stone tools while the patient was still awake. Many of the skulls had more than one perforation, sometimes cut into decorative shapes and often partially healed. I was fascinated by these skulls, and imagined what it would have been like to live in one of these cultures and be trepanned instead of sent to the school nurse.

This week I have been having headaches again. My dictionary of superstitions suggests that these could be caused by a thieving magpie using my hair in its nest. It also provides a spell for headache relief, in which lengths of red wool are wound around the affected part as a "measuring cure." Other helpful suggestions include rubbing a stone or salt on my forehead or wearing nutmeg.

Instead I think I might just have some ice cream and go to bed.

back in the saddle

2008-07-25T16:12:00.013-04:00

Hello, hello! I am back from my travels, and it only took an extra week or so for my brain to catch up with my body. It needed a little extra vacation after our vacation. I've had a hard time adjusting to not being on holiday, hiking around, seeing friends and family and swimming in the pool every day. I had such a lovely time!

Whew.. no wonder I'm tuckered out!

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-15T18:35:00.002-04:00

I'm in Maryland spending time with my extended family and my parents are also in town visiting, so I get to spend Father's Day with my dad for the first time in years.

I love you, Dad!

running around like a

2008-06-09T06:09:00.008-04:00

It's been a crazy week getting ready to go away for a month.. I think I've just about finished everything I need to do. Tomorrow I'll fly to Maryland to see my grandma and extended family, then to San Diego to spend a week with friends, and then to Arizona to see my family. It's a huge trip, and I'm so excited to see so many people!

This morning my dad sent pictures of the spring flowers near their home.

Aren't they beautiful?

I can't wait!

(The picture at the top is Mike the Headless Chicken, who lived for 18 months sans tête.)

the mice ate my parsley

2008-06-04T07:03:00.007-04:00

...but interestingly they didn't like the stems.

looking through the center of the world

2008-06-03T05:52:00.018-04:00

Last night after watching an unintentionally silly production of The Revenger's Tragedy at the National I walked down the South Bank to see the Telectroscope.

The Telectroscope was created by artist Paul StGeorge with the help of Artichoke, the arts group who helped bring The Sultan's Elephant to London. Supposedly, more than 100 years after it was begun by (fictional) Victorian inventor Alexander Stanhope StGeorge, a tunnel running under the Atlantic ocean was completed and "an extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope installed at both ends which miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa."

In reality the Telectroscopes are video installations erected in New York City and London allowing viewers on either end to interact in real time.

When we were there last night it was sunny in New York, and people on both sides were laughing and waving and holding up signs to communicate.

More images (including the giant drill bit used in the installation) can be found here, and people's experiences of the Telectroscope can be found on the Telectroscope blog.

spelunking in the closet

2008-05-30T18:06:00.012-04:00

I suddenly realized I leave to go to the States in about a week and a half. I'm trying to be very very productive in the interim. Much exciting progress is being made on my current projects (hurrah!), but I keep needing little odds and ends.. bits of metal, tiny fixings, and today I needed some pieces of fur. Unfortunately my bits of (vintage, not new) scrap fur live in the back of my closet, which, unlike most British closets, is cavernous. I had to crawl to the very back of it to dig out the box I needed. A miner's lamp would have been helpful.

(the piece of fur in question)

I also got a beautiful print in the post from the very talented Rima, which you can see here. Thank you, Rima!

lucky girl

2008-05-27T05:47:00.011-04:00

I'm feeling very contented this morning. I got to spend time with my sister and Ryan not long ago, my friends in Bristol this past week, and last night a friend of my sisters came to stay on her way home from Istanbul. Not only did we have a really nice evening but she gave me an incredibly sweet little Turkish bowl as a thank-you.

It's so nice to meet nice new people!

Today I get to sit at my desk and make lovely tiny things, and maybe make a pattern for some summer-weight shrugs. This evening I'm meeting my best friend to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I'm completely, geekily excited.

O soothest Sleep!

2008-05-25T17:18:00.015-04:00

I'm very tired as I've been away in Bristol since last week, ostensibly to teach a master's workshop, but I've mostly been visiting friends, eating nice food, watching a village fête themed cabaret, taking part in a tiny, tiny piece of theatre, putting friends' lovely daughters to bed and helping to write a ghost story. I also saw a fawn gamboling in the evening sun from the train and was forced to watch this on television. Hope everyone else has had a happy weekend too.

yawn... off to bed.

yes we have no bananas

2008-05-18T18:34:00.008-04:00

I slipped on a banana peel on the sidewalk today. Who knew it happened in real life?

I'm sure I've not mentioned it before, but I collect banana stickers from around the world. If anyone finds an interesting one and would be happy to send it along let me know!

out and about

2008-05-18T17:41:00.014-04:00

I was lucky enough to have my beautiful sister and her boyfriend visiting this past week. We braved sun and rain and cobblestones, filled our bellies with tasty food and managed to spot some famous people. It was Ryan's first time in London.. doesn't he look happy?

(photos courtesy of Brie and Ryan)

I'd be even more sad that they've gone except I'll get to see everyone in a month when I go home to visit. I miss you guys already.. hope the jet lag isn't too bad. I love you!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-05-04T18:50:00.002-04:00

knit one

2008-05-04T18:39:00.003-04:00

We've had a weekend of no-jacket weather, which for some reason has put me in a knitting mood. I spent part of the evening looking for a nice structured wrap pattern and have had absolutely no luck. Either I'm one of the pickiest people alive or 99 percent of knitting patterns are terrifyingly awful. Can anyone explain this to me..?

..anyone?

I think I may just make something up, which is what my very talented sister does and her projects always turn out swimmingly.

Speaking of raccoons, my family was once intimidated by a raccoon in our own back yard. We were out on the patio playing board games one night and it stared us down with such an evil intensity we all considered making a run for it. They're not as cute as they look, raccoons.

May flowers

2008-05-01T13:59:00.013-04:00

We're still having showers even though April's over. In fact, right now the low evening sun is streaming in one side of my studio while it's raining and thundering and flashing lightning on the other. Crazy spring weather! We do have the proverbial May flowers, however, which are making the bees very industrious indeed..

Happy May Day!

for my sister with love..

2008-04-30T21:48:00.005-04:00

You're free! I bet you don't even need that safety net.. you'll just keep on flying. I love you!

the fourth

2008-04-30T07:30:00.008-04:00

I put the dates for my vacation in my calendar several days ago but only realized this morning that this means I'll be in the US for the Fourth of July for the first time in years! I love family firework picnics. Hooray... I can't wait!

Pirat

2008-04-28T18:06:00.004-04:00

..a short Czech animation by Jan Bubenicek and Bretislav Pojar. I'm such a sucker for pirates. And puppet films. A pirate puppet film, ahhh...

Part one:

Part two:

Apologies for being quiet, but it's been so sunny and I've been up to my elbows in pulp and wire and epoxy.

a word to the wise...

2008-04-20T10:54:00.012-04:00

I've put off writing about this for quite a while, but after spending another few hours trying to bend my computer's operating system to my will I feel the need to share a warning.

As a self-employed artist working to launch a web-based business my computer is my life. A few months ago I had to replace my much loved laptop as its many eccentricities had worsened with age. I desperately wanted to avoid switching to Vista, so much so that I considered switching from PC to Mac. The computer which had all the features I wanted was only available with Vista, and so I conceded defeat.

I love my new computer. It's fast and powerful and the graphics are great. The only problem I've had is that Vista is terrible. I cannot organize files and images the way I'd like because Vista won't allow it. It blocks access to basic files, even if I am logged on as an administrator. It crashes my web browser. It eats drivers. It is incompatible with software it claims to support. I have lived with temperamental computers before, but Vista's failings plague me on an almost daily basis. Today it ate the driver for my volume control, and frankly that's the last straw. If you are looking for a new PC I would strongly suggest trying to find one that will still run on XP, otherwise switch to Mac. As for myself I will be looking into a change to the Linux Ubuntu OS. If anyone is currently running Linux and has any advice please let me know.

In happier news, we've been enjoying a lovely spring day. The sun is streaming in the windows, and I watched a bird with a worm happily hopping along the wall outside the kitchen window while I was having breakfast.

You can just see the worm in its beak, and the wisteria is about to burst into bloom!

Happy Birthday!

2008-04-16T18:12:00.005-04:00

On this day in history a solar eclipse marked the return of Odysseus to Ithaca, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, the term "Cold War" was coined and my beautiful sister was born.

Happy Birthday!!!

snug as a bug in a rug

2008-04-13T18:21:00.007-04:00

I braved sun and sleet and hail and rain to meet up with some of my favorite people for lunch yesterday, and today trekked across town to see another friend and have my belly filled with wonderful homemade scones. I am consequently a contented and very, very sleepy girl. Off to bed now.. goodnight!

bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

2008-04-09T16:22:00.005-04:00

I managed to splash boiling water on my face and down my shirt while cooking dinner this evening. My dad told me a story of my great aunt Ona, a woman of formidable build, who once poured an entire pan of boiling water down her girdle. I suppose it could always be worse.

the view from yesterday

2008-04-07T06:19:00.010-04:00

After some astoundingly sunny days, winter had its last gasp. I woke up yesterday to snow!

There were no fewer than ten snowmen in various stages of completion in the park, and several snowball fights. Today everything is back to normal. It's as if the snow never happened.. maybe we all had a collective dream of winter?

love, love, love

2008-04-05T07:41:00.006-04:00

I woke up with a tune stuck in my head and it took me a while to realize it was this song from Sesame Street:

I have no idea how long it's been since I've seen that clip. Strange it swam into my head, but it is a happy spring-y song to go with our happy spring-y weather.

Hope it's lovely where you are too!

this must be Thursday

2008-04-03T06:59:00.012-04:00

Just for fun, a cardboard bicycle..

(many more lovely cardboard objects by Chris Gilmour can be found here)

..and some boat shoes:

still more beautiful things

2008-04-02T12:10:00.017-04:00

Sculptures by Kathryn Spence, made from thread, trash, lint, string, wire, doll clothes and fabric scraps:

Untitled (5 Wrens, 1 Blackbird, 1 Paperbag, 1 Blue Jay, 1 Robin)

Untitled (figure)

..and fine art taxidermy by Polly Morgan:

For Sorrow

noodleheads, nincompoops, mooncalfs, ninnyhammers & fools

2008-04-01T11:49:00.022-04:00

"The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly."
-Erasmus

When I was little one of my favorite books was an edition of The Wise Men of Gotham, retold and illustrated by Malcolm Carrick. The people of Gotham were said to have feigned foolishness to keep King John from staying in their village in the 13th century. The stories recount villagers drowning eels, sending rent away tied to a hare, failing to trap a cuckoo in a hedge and other misadventures.

The book is silly and wonderful and had an incredible smell the way some books do, a bit like a mature cheese. When I was very small I somehow thought this was because one of the tales was about a man rolling his cheeses down a hill in the belief they would take themselves to market. This and other Gotham tales can be read on Project Gutenberg.

Another story about a fool who is not entirely foolish is the Russian fairy tale The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship. It is about a simple young man who wins the hand of the Tsar's daughter with a flying ship and the help of a strange band of travelers. This is taken from a 1990 stop motion film of the story by Cosgrove Hall:

A full version by Arthur Ransom can be read here.

Happy April Fool's Day to you!

spring forward, fall back

2008-03-30T14:51:00.007-04:00

I hate it when the clocks change! It always throws me into a tizzy for a couple of days..

light and shadow

2008-03-28T08:01:00.018-04:00

Yesterday was so sunny I got a tan working at my desk. Today is decidedly wet, so I don't think there's a danger of it happening again.

My new camera is on the way. I should be able to photograph things in progress on my desk soon, but until then here are some beautiful things made by other people.

Paintings on perforated canvas by Anne-Karin Furunes:

Pictures of Portraits IX / Finland 1918, 2006

Pictures of Portraits I / Finland 1918, 2006

Work by Drew King:

Central Park Reservoir, acrylic paint on cut paper

Intersecting Paths, mixed media on paper

straight from the World's Fair

2008-03-25T19:56:00.012-04:00

I went to see another play at the National this evening. It was like a two and a half hour version of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. As much as I admire Jeremy Irons, he reminded me strongly of the animatronic president.

a good day for saints

2008-03-23T14:41:00.015-04:00

When I woke up this morning it was snowing. I listened to music from the little church near my house on my way to meet friends. I had lunch in one of my favorite places, and the sun finally came out for a short while after a freezing grey day.

I have a fascination with carved Santos figures, processional figures and other religious statuary. It seems like a fitting day for them:

Happy Easter!

It's spring!

2008-03-22T20:09:00.022-04:00

...which today meant we had sun, wind, snow and sleet followed by an afternoon that was freezing and grey. The plum blossoms are out at the end of the street though, and I got to spend my day looking at mummies, prosthetic limbs, phrenology heads and other wonderful things in the Wellcome Collection:

Henry Wellcome and his astounding mustache.

a Peruvian mummy

Untitled, 2004 by Michael Hopkins

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T14:22:00.013-04:00

Once I terrified a boy in my kindergarten class by telling him that the green paper cut-out footprints our teacher put up on our classroom walls overnight were in fact real leprechaun prints, and if the leprechauns could get inside our classroom they could get inside his bedroom at night too. I hope he's made of sterner stuff now.

from Darby O'Gill and the Little People, 1959

too much cowbell

2008-03-14T21:52:00.004-04:00

It's almost two in the morning and my neighbors are having a party, complete with an overenthusiastic cowbell player and someone blowing what sounds like a large plastic toy horn. Am I amused? My sources say no.

"I'm not dead!"

2008-03-10T20:37:00.008-04:00

"...I'm getting better."

If only my digital camera and Vista were friends I could share pictures of my new desk chair with its freshly sewn slip cover, the insects I've been mounting or my desk covered in sculpted odds and ends. As it is you'll just have to imagine them.

And thank you very much to the kind person who sent me a box full of books. It made my morning!

coffee!

2008-02-29T14:53:00.013-05:00

I have definitely had too much caffeine today...

Oh, and happy Leap Day!

Work while you have the light..

2008-02-28T18:19:00.005-05:00

Len Lye's Rhythm, 1957

Busy busy busy... nothing much to report. Yet.

it never rains but it pours

2008-02-21T20:06:00.006-05:00

Many things going on this week in the world of work, most of which I cannot write about for various reasons. I'm sure it's safe to mention that an unseasonably large fly has been buzzing around the studio and sneaking up on me all evening.

Happy Birthday!!!

2008-02-15T16:00:00.005-05:00

A very happy birthday to one of the best people on earth. Wish I could be there to celebrate.. I love you!

hop hop hop

2008-02-15T09:08:00.005-05:00

From my desk I can see a workman laughing and hopping around on his ladder in the street. Whenever someone walks by he stops hopping and tries to look busy.

for that good bishop's sake

2008-02-14T12:14:00.013-05:00

Many happy Valentine's wishes to everyone I love who is far away!

snif

2008-02-14T08:31:00.009-05:00

It seems every time I go away to teach I end up getting a cold. I never got sick when I was teaching small children.. not sure what's wrong with my college students that makes their studios hotbeds of disease. I am using it as an excuse to eat oatmeal in bed while waiting for the Indiana Jones trailer to be released on the internet. That's not remotely nerdy, is it?

the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

2008-02-10T15:35:00.005-05:00

I'm back from days of teaching and seeing friends. Today I filled up on Moroccan food and sunshine, wandered into the New Year celebrations in Chinatown and watched the moon set.

I espied this paper model in The World of Interiors and thought it was sweet..

(Throated Bunting model by Japanese paper artist Keiji Kawaguchi.)

get your vote on!

2008-02-05T17:59:00.001-05:00

I've been hooked on the Google Twitter Super Tuesday map since my sister sent me the link. As she pointed out (and I wholeheartedly agree), it's exciting to have someone to vote for for a change.

priorities

2008-02-04T05:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday. Despite the fact the game was held not many miles from where my family live and I speak to them regularly, I only found out about it by reading a reference on a blog about cupcakes.

happy Groundhog Day!

2008-02-02T06:02:00.002-05:00

puppet-o-rama

2008-02-01T08:06:00.003-05:00

I'm in the process of cooking paper pulp to sculpt some figures. While it's boiling I'm trying to make some armatures, which would be easier to do if my studio wasn't shaking from the building opposite being torn down. They seem to be keeping the facade, which is good, but replacing artists' studios with trendy housing is a dreadful shame.

I found this virtual tour of puppeteer Ronnie Burkett's studio the other day. It's fantastic! I'm not a fan of marionettes, but he is an incredible maker. His heads are beautiful..

from Ronnie Burkett's 10 Days on Earth

I also learned that Sesame Workshop has launched a video site on which you can watch hundreds of clips from Sesame Street. Hooray!

Anything can happen, child.

2008-01-29T18:12:00.003-05:00

I spent a snowy night a few weeks ago driving down from the mountains with my sisters and listening to Shel Silverstein poems on CD. I just found the Shel Silverstein website, which is suitably silly and has some great audio clips of Silverstein reading his poems, making noises and playing music. The excerpt from The Giving Tree accompanied by Silverstein on the harmonica is really lovely.. but then the story did always make me cry when I was little.

"There once was a tree... and she loved a little boy."

"I understand there is also a cannon."

2008-01-27T14:56:00.002-05:00

It's a shame creativity isn't always rewarded.

heavens to Murgatroyd

2008-01-25T17:51:00.001-05:00

Six hours, four technicians and a missed dinner later my computer is healed, save reinstallation of some drivers. No one should have to endure synthesized Pachelbel's Canon while on hold. The horror... the horror!

whiffle bats

2008-01-23T18:22:00.002-05:00

I got the rage this afternoon after trying for several painful hours to fix my computer. I spoke to an unhelpful tech-type person who did nothing but make me want to beat him and others of his ilk senseless with a whiffle bat. I ended up spending the afternoon watching Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief in defeat. This evening, however, I went to see Faulty Optic's Dead Wedding at the Barbican with music by Mira Calix.. it was wonderful.

Orpheus, from Dead Wedding

day old kelp

2008-01-22T10:07:00.003-05:00

Omar's Mother, a great short puppet film by Puppet Heap:

Also check out their shadow puppet short Ye Ballade of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar. Really wonderful stuff.

a touch of the rheumatiz

2008-01-21T17:33:00.002-05:00

Spent lunchtime in the house comparing weather-induced aches and pains. It was wet outside and blustery in the studio.

This has been doing the rounds, but I think it's indescribably lovely:

I love 44 and just about everyone from eighty-zero on up. Is that it? Stop that banging!

it's still Sunday

2008-01-20T18:09:00.003-05:00

I went out for a walk today and came home with a stack of books from Oxfam and this delightful Fudco bag:

..that counts as a fulfilling day, right?

a damn fine cup of coffee

2008-01-17T17:08:00.002-05:00

David Lynch makes coffee. How did I not hear of this sooner?

the birds at night

2008-01-16T20:55:00.001-05:00

Oh, minor jetlag and LibraryThing... a dangerous combination! The birds outside are chirruping very loudly considering it is the middle of the night. They're confusing my body clock, but at least they sound cheerful.

never mind the jetlag

2008-01-15T18:11:00.002-05:00

I'm sure I remember it being worse than this. The hot cocoa and pomegranates must be helping.

Merry and Bright

2008-01-14T18:21:00.004-05:00

...is exactly what my trip home was.

Thanks to everyone at home for for such a wonderful time.. lots of love from somewhere considerably less sunny. I miss you already!

Après-ski

2008-01-09T17:34:00.003-05:00

oh oh oh!

2008-01-04T17:54:00.002-05:00

pirates! cupcakes! pirates and cupcakes!
get yer fill here.

(via Cupcakes Take the Cake)

a Caucus-race

2008-01-04T14:48:00.001-05:00

`What IS a Caucus-race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.

`Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out `The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, `But who has won?'

from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter III: A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T06:18:00.002-05:00

Thursday

2007-12-27T13:24:00.003-05:00

(1920s Kimono)

We're deep into the post-Christmas lazy days here. Today I'm going to a screening of Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas at the arts center and then to a VIP tour of a Jim Henson exhibition. I got lots of knee socks for Christmas.. I know it sounds boring, but I'm really excited about them.

Merry Christmas to all...

2007-12-25T17:39:00.002-05:00

...and to all a good night.

We have spent our Christmas eve eating fondue, drinking nog-aritas and dancing to old vinyl. I hope your Christmas is just as merry, wherever you may be.

ghosts of Christmas past

2007-12-23T21:44:00.003-05:00

I suppose the jetlag is officially over when the insomia kicks in. I had a very good day.. I got to play with my sisters and some friends, drive home with the huge moon hanging over the desert while singing loudly to the car radio, and eat freshly baked Chrismas cookies barefoot in a middle-of-the-night kitchen. Not sleeping is a small price to pay.

And this is quite lovely, too.

Happy Christmas Eve!

in mediis rebus

2007-12-21T18:48:00.003-05:00

I realized I forgot to say we got home safely... but we did. I've been busy riding roller coasters, spotting unfortunate hairdos, eating free tortillas, being sung to by young men in bellhop outfits, attending Christmas parties and becoming irate over the use of CGI instead of prosthetics in blockbuster movies. Other than that not much has been going on here.

winging it

2007-12-16T16:47:00.002-05:00

I'm tuckered out from celebrating my Dad's birthday and going out with my sisters and tree decorating and picking out a microscope (and other things) for a little girl who was on the Salvation Army's Christmas Angel list. Tomorrow we're going to California to play for a few days. In the meantime, here is a Flickr pool of bears in ill-fitting hats to keep you entertained (courtesy of my lovely sister Brie from whom many a delightful link has come).

tree!

2007-12-14T04:03:00.002-05:00

Our Christmas tree quest was successful last night. We found one in the first place we looked, which is unusual for us as we have very particular tree criteria. It has to have enough gaps between branches to accomodate our silly number of ornaments and be big but not TOO big. We have marks on the vaulted ceiling from past years when we've gotten carried away.

(If a tree falls on your sister and there's no one there to hear her, will she still scream?)

lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them

2007-12-13T12:58:00.002-05:00

I've spent most of the day helping to decorate my parents' house for Christmas, and am now waiting for my sisters to arrive so we can go pick out a tree. There's also a meteor shower tonight. It's been years since I've gotten to lie out in the back yard wrapped in blankets and watch shooting stars.. I'm excited.

jiggety-jog

2007-12-11T02:07:00.003-05:00

For anyone who might have been wondering, I arrived in Arizona safely, was filled with margaritas and Mexican food and put contentedly to bed. We had to sit on the runway for almost three hours before taking off, making my long flight REALLY long, but we all survived. I'm certain the pilot said "by the power of Greyskull!" over the PA before asking the flight crew to check the doors. It's just about time for breakfast now, even though my body thinks it's the middle of the afternoon. sigh.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-09T18:20:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I'll be winging my way across the ocean to Arizona for Christmas and New Year's. I think I've packed everything I need to.. what I need now is some sleep.

To the Valley contingent, I can't wait to see you.. less than 24 hours!!