Party Time! Excellent!

As this guy knows, it is time to party. The first week is over and I just turned in my 60 page report for work! Thank goodness that is finished! "My - brain - hurts!" to quote a favorite character. Tomorrow we will go back to the Renaissance festival and the weather is supposed to be beautiful for a change!



Here are some things I might or might not see again.
This family of fauns (probably not).



But I definitely will see the Fire eater's Barbie! (And this time his show will be a lot more impressive and less smoky!)



Happy day - I get to play tomorrow! (And have Japanese food too!)

Just for Fun - a Phenakistiscope

From: http://www.thebigcamera.com.au/Phantascope.jpg

Something to amuse while I have no time for blogging.
The phenakistiscope - a Victorian toy



From easyweb.easynet.co.uk

What painting are you

What Work of Art are You

Here's my answer:

What Work of Art are You Your Result: Picasso's Dora Mar   You have had many brushes with greatness and are an artistic soul who has never been valued for your own work. Fiery with a French soul you make an indelible mark on those around you but never get the credit you deserve.
Egon Schiele's Agony
Friedrich's Wanderer
Dal'is Burning Giraffe
Titian's Venus and/or Adonis
Blue boy by Gainsborough
Degas' Dancer
Mary Cassatt's Young Mother Sewing
What Work of Art are You Create MySpace Quizzes

I made up this quiz, but there was no cue for the pictures, so I'll post the images below and after you take the quiz, you can guess which one matches the answer you got! How silly! (Also sorry about the typos there was no way to go back and edit the answers! ;-(

(Dali)

(Gainsborough)

(Friedrich)

(Degas)

(Schiele)

(Cassat)

(Titian - Venus and Adonis)

Power to the Peepers

(image from www.petuniveristy.com)

Frog quiz from Dorota's cool frog website

Also known as the Smiling Tree Frog or Dumpy Tree Frog due to the nature of its appearance, this frog is a very hardy creature and a favorite pet of amateur frog owners, although some pet owners complain that they are not active enough. These frogs love to eat, which can make them quite fat, hence their "dumpy" appearance. Unlike many frogs, these frogs do well with other frogs of their species and are fairly friendly. They like a warm and moderately humid habitat and eat larger insects like crickets, cockroaches, locusts, moths and beetles.

What kind of Frog are you?

Photos of the Week

Just a little entertainment for the day! A Georgia O'Keefe moment.



A Francis Bacon moment - La Voyeuse



An Egon Schiele moment. Everyone has to clean between her legs sometime.



And this one?

Stuff

George Carlin used to do a great routine about stuff and where to put it - unfortunately it never helped me figure out what to do with mine. As an artist, I know that certain things need to be kept for future art projects, but I never know where to put those things. This means stuff like scraps of ribbon, mismatched nuts and bolts, broken pieces of china, watches that don't work anymore and more plastic creepy crawlies than most people have seen in a life time are stashed in weird nooks and crannies all over my house. I just don't know where to put the stuff!

I learned the hard way not to ask my sister for help. One night when we were chatting on the phone, I asked her what she does with her plastic spiders. Two days later I got this in the mail:



Now I had to find a place to put something even larger than my plastic spider, cause now I had abox and all of her plastic spiders too! I usually end up putting the stuff I don't know what to do with in a bag. These bags then lie around the house, because I don't know what to do with them either. So I stuffed the box of spiders between bags of things that I didn't know what to do with.

Here is the contents of one of those bags:



So tonight I was onthe phone with my sister again, but this time, I thought about the question more carefully. "I've got to get rid of this stuff," I said, "but it's so hard. Like what should I do with this plastic dagger..." "You can't get rid of that!" she said. "How about my ticket stub to the first Harry Potter movie?" "No." she said. I continues, "There's these plastic jumping Lederhosen." Keep 'em!" was her response. And so it went, so I gave up and the stuff all went back in the bag, but of course I cpuldn't figure out what to do with the bag, so I walked around the house carrying it for a while. My spousal unit asked me what I was carrying around and I told him it was stuff I wanted to throw away, "...like this plastic dagger." "You can't throw that away!" he said. "And the plastic jumpy lederhosen, those are too cool." And so it went. (And so all the stuff went back into the study next to the box of spiders and another bag of stuff I don't know what to do with.) What do you do with all that weird stuff that doesn't have a place? I know, I think I'll send my sister a little gift!

Dis-trussed Dis-tress

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I can't resist destroying other people's beautiful pictures.

Tiggerlane has some gorgeous photos up of the trusses for her new house and I saw her photos and the mania started to take me over. I'm sorry! I can't stop myself - I had to do it! This is what I have done to her lovely images. (Be sure to go see the originals!)



I wanted to play a bit with the colors too.



Bet Tiggerlane won't recognize her house at all from this!

Of Things Magical

I used to get all these little yarn swatches from this one knitting company (little pieces of yarn about 2-3 inches long in a variety of colors, sizes and materials) so I decided to make a magic ball. I tied all the swatches together and made a fairly decent sized ball of yarn - which I am now knitting into a narrow (and I suspect very short) scarf. I've been anxious to see what it might look like and am actually pretty happy with the results.



I also promised MIndy I would put up pictures of the Magic hat I got at Renaissance Festival. The thing about the hat is hat it is so ugly when it is not on anyone's head - but when worn it suddenly is the most beautiful and flattering hat one can imagine.



I look at this hat and am amazed that I paid top dollar for it. Here it is from the other side.




Now here it is on me (Sorry I'm tired and a bit dragged out - but still look how marvelous the hat looks!!) Isn't that incredible!?

What Book am I?

Hmmm:

You're The Guns of August!

by Barbara Tuchman

Though you're interested in war, what you really want to know is what
causes war. You're out to expose imperialism, militarism, and nationalism for what they
really are. Nevertheless, you're always living in the past and have a hard time dealing
with what's going on today. You're also far more focused on Europe than anywhere else in
the world. A fitting motto for you might be "Guns do kill, but so can
diplomats."


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

First I got the Poisonwood Bible - then this - I'm not sure what to think!

You're Great Expectations!

by Charles Dickens

Coming from humble beginnings, you have become pretty stuck-up in your
later years. While hard work and dedication were the path you first walked on, a sudden
fork brought you glory and fortune. Unfortunately, you have changed even more than your
bottom line. You really should turn back to your old friends and at least respect your
old life. Look out for haughty hotties.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Minnesota Renaissance Festival

More images from the Fair:

Beware the fairy telling tales:



What secret just passed between these two?



Ye old cell phone - instrument of the devil?

Lies and the Lying Liars that Lie about (them)

(Apologies to Al Franken - who I hope will be my new senator in a few years - for embroidering on his book title)

Fun Monday - Topic: White Lies we have told. From the Other Bear and Uncaring Bear

My favorite episode of Buffy the Vampire Slater is called "Lie to Me". It refers to the heroine's knowledge that the world has bad entities in it and that we must all be constantly vigilant to keep evil at bay. I love that episode because she asks her mentor to lie and say that the world is a safe and rosy place for just that evening, when they both know it is not the case. Still there is a tenderness to the lull that allows them to pretend the world is really at peace. Like Buffy I know we must be constantly vifilant and have a very difficult time living in a world that is not always completely honest (even though there are times I like to dream it is.)



I'm simply not a person prone to lies. My father was a Kantian and for Immanuel Kant the famous enlightenment philosopher, lies were out of the question. Even if a murderer was asking where his victim-to-be was hiding, Kant said one had to tell the truth. His reasoning was that morals break down if one is unsure about whether and when to trust others.

Life, of course, is rarely that simple. I rarely recognize the murderers who ask me pointed questions - and in general I suffer from the inability to lie easily, even when everyone would be better off if I did. I told my aunt that I did not like her birthday gift one year. It was a leather hat and at the time I was a vegetarian, so I told her I did not want to be complicit in the murder of innocent animals. That wasn't a very good idea. It made her and my mother and father very angry with me and the animals that died and made up the hat were still dead and none the better for my honesty.

Because I tell the truth so easily, I also believe others as easily. My sister Min has told me all manner of improbable stories and I have believed her every single time. Austin, Texas is bigger than Chicago. It is a custom for construction workers to plant trees on top of buildings when they are finished. Stop signs aren't obligatory in Spring Branch, (a suburb of Houston, Texas). She knows so much about so many things and you know what, the world is a beautiful place with those things she has told me about. Last week she told me that Abe Vigoda is still alive -



I told her I believed her - but you know - I'm not really sure - Do you think she'll tell me the truth when he does die if he isn't dead already? She says he's livng indisguise in a bunker in lower Queens with Elvis and JFK where they play poker and smoke cigars all night long.



Can you imagine those conversations? I hope it is true. Tonight I do not want to have to be vigilant. Lie to me, even if just for a while.

Six Portraits For Your Consideration

My spousal unit was greatly looking forward to Renaissance Festival this year and as you know, I am a belly dancer, so we knew we would have to go the first weekend when the Faire has a Middle Eastern theme and features the troupe of Cassandra (one of the greats of American Style Belly Dancing.) Unfortunately despite the fact that we are in a severe drought and have had NO rain all Summer, the forecast was for heavy showers for both days of the weekend. This meant Don and I suffered great indecision on which of the two days to go, since the weather forecast alternated for extremest misery between the two days with neither seeming terribly promising. Finaly we just decided to go on the opening day. If we were going to be miserable then we wanted a day to recover before the true misery of the work week began.

...So it was off to the Fayre. Of course we shopped and watched shows in the pouring rain. I bought the absolutely ugliest hat anyone has ever seen. (Off the head it looks pathetic and yet when placed on the pate, it is magical and turns itself and the wearer into a thing of beauty. (I'll post on it at a later time.))

I also got a chance to try and ruin my new camera in the rain. (Didn't happen). I love the long lens of the new Nikon, because I can take portraits and although people know that the camera is pointed at them, they seem to think they are part of a bigger picture. I'm enjoying the results so far.

This is one of the dancers at the show. There is nothing spectacular in this photo, but I liked the expresson on her face.



I was fascinated by this child in a Mickey Mouse mack. The ears were always crooked and the child had such a delicate face.



I asked for permission to take this picture and the woman told me that she had asked the face painter to give her an air of mystery.



I was also enchanted by this face. I think I like the full face version best, but each image has its own charm. You decide.



I love it when the person sees you taking the picture - there is a moment of recognition and a certain indifference or even brashness that follows which says - "Go ahead make my day! Take my picture I dare you and crave you to do so."



This is probably my favorite - it speaks to the weather and the nature of the day.

Jeepers Creepers

Here is a recent shot with the new camera of a coleus in the garden. (All pictures in this blog entry are mine).



And then, a propos to nothing ... My sister has noticed that the peepers that had been singing regularly during our evening phone conversations have stopped peeping. We wondered where they were. I guess they've curled up and gone to bed:



Here is a closer view.



Coming soon - pictures from the Minnesota renaissance festival....

One Fish, Two Fish, Cow Fish, Cool Fish

From Z.about.com



From www.divegallery.com



From www.underwaterdive.com.au



From www.jupiterimages.com



And this one is from www.infobonaire.com

Oh, there is one more I found that is absolutely the kewlest:



From www.eccp-artware.com - it is made out of hub caps.