The Book Thief

This morning at the flea (market) I was pawing through a pile of books on the asphalt and came across "The Book Thief". I read the jacket...the story of a young girl who steals books from libraries during Hitler's heyday. She distributes the books in her neighborhood to people without books. I was going to buy it until I read it is narrated by "Death". I just couldn't handle that this morning so I put the book back in the pile and went on to another stack.

A woman came along, picked up "The Book Thief".

woman: have you read this one?
me: yes, I did.
woman: wow...I've never met anyone besides me who's read this book! (woman elated) It was so...
me: strange?
woman: yes! that's it exactly! But the....
me: the death narrator?
woman: yes, the thing about the narrator being Death!
me: personally I found it a little hard to take.
woman: oh, me too.
The woman then put the book down and moved to the next stall. I don't know why I told her I'd read the book when I hadn't. But I did seem to understand it better than she did....

Harvest

Bountiful Harvest....

From our neighbor's garden. Thanks Teresa and Bobbi....

The Big One

I'll be ready for the big one if you just tell me when it's coming....

Pick Me, Pick Me, Pick Me!

....they plead as they queue up on my craft table waiting their turn to be included in one of my very famous sculptures....

Loneliness or Solitude?

" Loneliness is the poverty of self;

solitude is the richness of self"

May Sarton 1912-1995

A walk in the hood

This morning I came across a neighbor's yard decorated in corndogs!?
The easy way to "climb" a wall...sideways It's been a dry season...

Crime scene? (jeans in chalk)
Watch out...the psychotic mob lives here....

Distraction

5:45 AM in my writing room. (note Diet Coke...this morning I read a new study indicating a higher risk 0f heart disease in people who consume diet drinks.)
The view from my writing room door....
I'm not a minimalist...(stuff everywhere...) Some mornings I can let anything distract me: Scientific studies and impending doom. The way early morning light creeps into the sculpture garden just outside my door. The painting hanging over my desk with its purple door and barebulb and straightback chair. A pregnant "daddy long-legs" spider traipsing across the wall. But where, oh where is the book I'm writing?

Best Toes

In the early 80s I worked in a county Food Stamp unit. It was as if we'd hand picked each other to form this group, all of us peculiar in some way...

We played darts on a frayed bristle board hung next to the regulations against one wall. Jay and I draped a madras cloth bedspread over our two desks, tent-like. One of our group surfed on his breaks and we won't go into what our clerk was doing tucked away in her little cube. We took Italian lessons and read a chapter of Nancy Drew outloud each day...

And I was voted "Best Toes"....some say I've still got it....

Neighborhood Bar

It's been a long time since I've hung out in a neighborhood bar. But there is still something alluring about them. I used to just pass within the shadow of a bar and I'd drift in and slouch onto a stool and ask for a "cold one"

Now when I walk by I can hear the dull crack of a cue ball and a one note twang from the juke box. Smell the drift of cigarette smoke and hear the muffled clap of two old timers playing "horses"against the countertop. The seedier the bar the better, the more grizzled the men and lacquered the women. Watered down drafts for a quarter and grit on the floor and a Clydesdale horse clopping around and around in a neon Bud sign. And just the faint hint of expectation in the air. It does make me pause and hold in the scene like a lungful of good smoke before I move on...

more of the woods....

Irene and Annie take a hike...














Legs on early morning lake....

Oar in water




Irene and red pack




Ferris wheel in Snelling, CA

A Week in the Woods

On the trail...
Annie Bones and Irene chillin'
All tuckered out... Irene's been fishin this same spot for 62 years!
Friend Sandra and me kayaking near the inlet...

Gone Fishin'

The next load of blog posts on 7-22-07. I'm off to the woods for a week where there is no computer, no cell phone, no tv. Just a kayak, a little dog afraid of water, cold beer and lots of trees! See you next week!

Escape!

I was driving the back streets to Book Cafe this morning when a man in a wheelchair crossed the street right in front of me going 40 miles an hour! A toothy grin split his face and trailing behind was a long disconnected extension cord and surge protector bouncing against the asphalt...(it's summer...we're restless..)

At one with whatever...

There are times when you just don't want to live in the moment...

Never enough

When my younger son, Sol was 18 he joined the navy. I was pretty freaked out but did my best to be supportive.

"Oh!" I said. "Well! That's great. But are you going on a ship?"

Sol actually traveled the world, just like the billboards promised.

I never stopped worrying about him and kept a world map over my desk at work with stick pins marking his voyage.

One day at work I went to the postoffice to retrieve a package he'd sent me from Mombasa, Africa. I hurried back to my office and while my co-workers watched I ripped it open, tore through the newspaper stuffing, unwrapping carved giraffes, wooden bookends of women with big bosoms, tiny black elephants and this beautifully carved and dyed mask. When I'd finished I sat down and wept.

It wasn't enough. What I wanted wasn't in the box, it wasn't some trinket...I wanted my son back, safe within my reach.

Uphill...

Ever have one of those days?

Because it's here..

Here's a photo of my older son, Aaron taken when he was a writer/editor for Sojourner's Magazine in Washington DC. I believe in the mid 90s, (?) Besides being incredibly handsome I think he does, in this picture at least look a little like a cross between Errol Flynn and Isadora Duncan, what with the scarf and all...

My Friend Flicka

Check out my new "flickr" feature on the far right! The pics are of various found art projects, in all states of development. Thanks, Irene for the tech support and thanks to my son, Aaron http://almas-soulfood.blogspot.com whose blogging has inspired me!

Come To Our Senses...

NOT WAR...

Sunrise

Sun rising over the Shadow Mountains in the Mojave. Photo taken in "downtown" Phelan March 07.

Bedtime

One of my very favorite times of the day...when I go quietly into my room, turn on a lamp and in the stillness, open a book and disappear into another world...

Egads!

I was in love with Nancy Drew when I was 12 and 13. Now I have a suspicious mind. If I don't see my reclusive neighbor for several days in a row I figure his renter has done away with him, wrapped him in an old tarp and stuffed him in a trunk in the attic. Then this renter has assumed my neighbor's identity, transferred the property into his name and the authorities won't listen to me at all...in fact I imagine them saying: "Who do you think you are anyway, Nancy Drew?" Meanwhile I keep my eyes glued to the little attic crawl space in his rafters looking for some kind of sign....

Two years old!

Annie Bones is two years old today! She is fierce, funny, sweet and "cool". She barks at the wind, leaves, shadows and skateboards. She loves salmon, balls, belly rubs and long walks...

She's curious, energetic and a real traveling trooper. Happy Birthday Annie...Here's to a long and happy life!

Annie B. continued....

Annie B in her trailer, check out the tongue action!

Happy Birthday Annie Bones!

Annie was born in the Mojave Desert and used to be the size of our hands. Here she is at 7 weeks.....

Umph-less

Some days you just have more umph than others....

Burning Man

We're going to Burning Man! I just got an early birthday present from Irene....here's my ticket. This event happens on Labor Day weekend every year, (as does my birthday) and I've always wanted to go. Apparently it's not for the faint-hearted. For those of you who are not familiar with this counterculture happening go to www.burningman.com to read all about it. If any of you have been....any tips for old geezers? What a great way to celebrate my 65th birthday! Thanks, Irene! We've already started making lists: dust masks, earplugs, electrolites, sculpture stuff, drums, etc etc. I'm jazzed! Sorry, Annie Bones, you'll have to sit this one out....

Just Plain Crazy

Woman in hair salon noticing my wrist tattoo:

Isn't it crazy what we do to our bodies when we're young?

Me: Yeah, I got this when I was 64...

Obeying Signs

Retirement's good for a lot of things...

Now I need a sign that says: STOP

Good-Bye Sally

Today we scattered my friend's ashes off the coast of Santa Cruz. Sally was a Buddhist, yoga-ist, drummer, writer and sailor. But mostly Sally was a friend, a generous and compassionate spirit who lived her life to the fullest. I will miss you Dear Friend.....

Ida Floss

"Ida Floss", the very first found art
sculpture Irene and I made together.
Since this photo was taken Ida has
undergone several makeovers.
She now lives in our "sculpture" garden
near my writing room...

Winning isn't everything

Acclaimed: v ac claimed- To praise enthusiastically and often publicly; applaud; To acknowledge with enthusiastic approval

Award-winning: adj - having received awards

My Canandian son has praised my writing as has a friend in Laos.

In High School I won a trophy for Best Feature Writer for our school newspaper.

Do these things make me an 'internationally acclaimed, award winning writer'? ...this on the day after receiving yet another rejection notice from a well known North Carolina magazine...

I love the realities we can create out of nothing but words...

Scooter

Don't get me started.....

SICKO

We saw Sicko today, Michael Moore's latest and best movie to date. (my opinion) I urge everyone to see it. I came away feeling really angry about our ridiculous system (or lack thereof) and afraid too for my old age and what will happen if I become ill. Mr. Moore's lambasting of our health care industry contains a lot of humor too. (like George Bush in a speech referring to OB/GYNs "They just aren't able to go around the country and practice their love of women they way they used to!")
Recently, Irene's aged mom was in our local hospital for 4 days with the flu. While there she was given some over the counter drugs which she normally takes but was not permitted to bring into the hospital with her: She was charged $21.03 for each calcium tablet, (8); 25.50 for each high blood pressure tab; 24.92 per Pepcid tablet, etc. etc. The bill for her uncovered meds came to $666.80 and wasn't covered because for some reason she was considered an "outpatient"! Irene wrote a letter to Medicare protesting the denial of payment and was denied again! This battle has been going on for months. Ironically, when we got home from seeing SICKO there was a message on our phone: The hospital has decided to cover these expenses themselves. It's almost as if they've heard Irene and her mom will be starring in Mr. Moore's sequel or something...
In Mr. Moore's words: If you want to stay healthy in the US, don't get sick." (ah, words to live by...)

Happy Birthday, Sue!

My stepmother is 80 years old today, (81?) Actually Sue hasn't been my stepmother in many years but she's always been 'family'. I met her when I was 7 years old. She had been married to my father for 2 months or so when my 9 year old brother and I showed up on their doorstep, satchels in hand. This was the first she'd heard of us...and she did her best to be a mom. Sue is from the Bronx in NYC and I listened to her tales of city life with relish always vowing I'd go to NY one day, work in a dimestore and look for acting jobs while living in a 5th floor walk-up. It was my idea of heaven. Today Sue is a great friend, an incredible poet and a real trooper...Enjoy your day, Sue!