grocery store observations

This came to me while I was shopping for groceries today.It's one of those mundane tasks, that you have to do whether you want to or not.
I especially like to observe couples that shop together, basically I see this with straight couples, gay couples seem to be able to get that whole concept of divide and conquer. Whereas straight couple either actively shop together and split the work load, or they, don't. If they don't then it's mostly the man pushing the carriage, looking like an impostor, feeling a little out of place, or scared. You'll often find them standing there gripping the carriage, in a quiet aisle, while their loved one is off hunting and gathering. I find it curious behavior, as to why he can't continue on in the maze of the store, putting things in the carriage,maybe these couples aren't list shoppers,so he has no clue, what kind of cereal he eats, or chips he likes to snack on, or even what kind of toilet paper he likes to use. It's a little sad, and well a little annoying.
I also love to see the woman's gentle redirection of the cart,it's done silently, and by hand.We know that shopping aisles are like streets, that have two sides, you need to get on one side of the other, middle of the aisle shopping is for straight men, and permissive parents, who feel it's okay to let their kids push those huge car carriages down the middle of the aisle, because well the child can't see over the car part of the carriage, and so they stay in the middle, to avoid bumping into things, which keeps the parent lectures to minimum, and leaves them in peace, to push the carriage, as slow as they want.
This sometimes impresses and again annoys me depending on how much of a hurry I am in.
The other thing that has always impressed me , is the ability of kids to stare, directly at you, not even shyly looking away, if you look back at them.I always hope a little that this skill will carry this child to adulthood, where they will continue to make direct eye contact, instead of looking away.
My last observation,for now whatever happened to just politely saying excuse me, when someone is blocking your way in the aisle, or in front of your item you want to get to. I frankly get annoyed by people, who will just stand there passively, waiting for me to get out of their way, just say "excuse me", and I'll move, I'm not a mind reader, and I won't turn to a pillar of salt if you ask me, I'll just move , and not think another thing about it.

bird rescue

I'm not exactly sure how a little bird, got into my potting shed, but it did.

I keep the birdseed in there, in two old playmate coolers, they are perfect containers, they are mouse proof, and keep the seed fresh and dry, they also have great handles, when I need to fill the bird feeders, I can take them with me.


I walked into my potting shed to do that very thing, fill the feeders. I heard this fluttery noise, then I spotted a little slate colored junco, flapping against the windows. I thought for a minute how to get him out, I opened the barn door wide, and considered shooing him out, but then I thought that would just scare the poor little birdie,or drive him deeper in the corner of my potting shed.Slowly I reached my soft gloved hands toward him, caught him and cradled him in my hands, feeling his warm little body nestled in my gloves. I stepped outside, slowly opening my hands, where he sat for a second, then picked up off of them, rising up and flying away.

It made me feel happy, like I had received a little gift.

working title

Over the last 3 years, I have participated in some type of attempt at daily self portraiture.I began in 365 days, here the main focus was a daily picture, which at the time was a struggle, I have insecurities or had insecurities about how I looked, I got over that, and rarely cringe at photos of myself, there are times , more then not, that I enjoyed and found it to be very empowering. my attempts at year 2 , really were that attempts, I just really had been there done that before, and for me, it wasn't creative, it was more of an annoyance, and that's silly, to continue with something you don't really feel.

This spring flickr introduced video, which I thought cool, but it really doesn't apply to me. I never did videos of myself,i couldn't imagine it. Then I received my first invite to a group called "just say no, to video" and frankly I was intrigued, as to why I should say no.. So I started to do videos, and well It was exciting and creative, and huge eye opener.

If I thought I might balk at still images of myself, there are body angles,and chin doubling, you just can't hide in full motion video,so you either grimace, or get over your big bad self.

In July I joined 365 minutes,at Ipernity. A groups started by two friends from the original 365 days.
At first, months before I started I felt intimidated,by what others were creating and then in July I got over myself and I jumped in.Though it makes me grimace to admit I have a less the firm chin,or belly or anything, that also the beauty of it, it's gone in a flash erased, by another action, or music, or image I am portraying. It's an honest views of my life, of me, of my need to be a poseur video rock star wannabe, sometimes, but mostly they are real, and fairly mundane.
What will I do next July,when I finish, well i guess I will decide that in July.

holiday meals

It all went off with out a hitch, I actually remembered everything, the extra stuffing got cooked, the rolls got baked, golden brown and they weren't even burnt.

The turkey came out perfect, my fresh, then frozen, then thawed bird came out perfect, we did it Alton Brown style, which is basically 500 degrees, for 30 minutes, then you drop the temperature of your oven to 350, and you also cover the breast with foil, there is no basting. All I made sure to do was add water to the roasting pan, so the the drippings can make the base of what will be the easiest gravy, ever.

Now I am a baster, I have for years, and when my husband first suggested it, we'd cook it the Alton Brown way, frankly I was resistant.I was cooking this turkey what if it turned out, awful!
It would be my fault not Alton Brown's ,plus that he's a food network star, who wouldn't really feel my agony of defeat. Tom was gentle, with his suggestion, didn't bring it up again, but he planted the seed. I was imagining, "could there be a easy way to make a turkey?
The idea whispered in the back of my head, as I planned my menu, and divvied up the food jobs. It was there a little beacon,present,wanting me to choose.Then I decided today(remember I'm a procrastinator, I'd do it. Thank gawd I came to my senses.

When I was younger, I used to make fairly elaborate meals, lots of steps, which would taste wonderful, but added tons of time onto the process. Now with 20 years of wisdom, under my belt, I realize simple is often better, easier to do, and there was no stress involved, which that in itself is a mean feat to pull off, before friends and family. It may have taken me 2 decades to achieve that, but I'm pretty happy that I have.
But then again, does that mean it took 20 years to get that lesson through my head?
Perhaps, but I can live with that.

driving at night

I work the 11 pm to 7am shift, I have the pleasure of driving at night, looking at the moon, and generally thinking,about whatever, I want to think about. Half of my ride is rural, lots of woods, open fields, before I ever reach the city.
Occasionally during these drives, I'll be fortunate enough to spot the animals that inhabit these areas.

My favorite is the night, I spotted something crossing the road, at first I was annoyed, what was someone doing walking the side of the road dressed in black, as i got closer I realized, it wasn't human but a most likely a big dog, as i got closer, i realized that's not a dog that's a black bear!!! I got to witness it climb up and over a stone wall, and continue on it's journey. I was thrilled and in awe all in the same breath.

There is a fox, I see from time to time on this route .When I first spotted the fox it was young, with it's sibling running beside it. I was so happy. It made me feel like the land was very rich, to be able to support two kits.As with all life cycles I also witnessed, the death of one of the young foxes, it made me sad to see it's brother or sister pacing near it's lifeless body, though the area is wooded, there is a street that still runs through it,and make it dangerous to foxes crossing the roads. As years have passed from that moment, I occasionally caught a glimpse of the lone fox, still surviving. This year I had the great fortune of seeing this fox grown up with it's own little fat bellied pup, tottering after it. I felt honored to have seen that.

My most recent sighting have been deer, you notice them out of your periphery as you drive by.They always seem to be waiting to cross the road, or they've just run into the road, it is powerful to witness that. That brief second where we are both staring at each other, then in a flash I've driven by, or that deer has crossed the road, to disappear back in the woods. The sighting may have been brief, but it's effect on me, priceless.

blog, blog ,blog

So dear reader though, I posted last night's post a mere 5 minutes after midnight on Sunday, I am posting another Monday entry well to account for today,Monday. I'm on vacation this week from the job at the hospital. Every Veteran's Day weekend is the Holiday Open Studio for the whole building not just our studio, if it gets slow, I am sometimes lucky enough to see other artist's studio and see what goes on behind those closed doors.

Now you are probably wondering why I would need to take time off. It's mostly for all the prep work, well there's sorting out my prints, what's really good quality, and what will go in the seconds pile, usually these are prints, where i can see the registration is off, etc. i need to bag the prints, in these lovely Polypropylene sleeves, that not only protect but are archival too.Makes me have little fantasies about being found in some one's house of course posthumously, and becoming a famous printmaker.I need to figure out a price list, finish my job that volunteered to do for the studio, I make the name placards for each artist table.

Now that was the good part of my day, this was the bad part.I had my teeth cleaned today. A new hygienist, I understand her need to do a good job, but I swear she scaled me some new teeth.She was also one of those back handed compliment people. First she asked me if I flossed, I said " I do regularly, I use those little Glide flossers" where she proceeded to tell me that "using those are better, than using nothing" I guess she's an old skool kind of flosser, not one of those new fangled flosser users. And I got to hear once again, about my filling overhang, that will slowly cause my jaw to crumble to dust, if I'm not careful. I guess I'm not careful, because if I was I'd use the old fashioned floss and actually do a good job.Instead of being a plaque maven. ah well we can't all be perfect toothed, or maybe it's perfect gummed.