You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2007.
May 9, 2007
J: This is the part where we blow up!
Me: Not today!
J: (sound effects of exploding and soaring through the air) Buzz, you’re flying!
Me: This isn’t flying; it’s falling with style.
J: Ha ha! To infinity and beyond! Uh, Buzz, we missed the truck.
Me: We’re not aiming for the truck…
“Quick, Mom! Take the picture before it dries!”
For no particular reason, I’ve been holding off on posting about Todd Deutsch as an influence, but it’s about time to send out some love. He was an important mentor to me at St. Kate’s and I have a great deal of respect for his work.
I especially appreciate his thoughtful work Family Days, which informs and encourages me in my own pursuits. I recall seeing work prints hanging on his office bulletin board, right about the time he was taking on family life as a subject. He encouraged me to make pictures of my own family, and I created work of which I am still proud.
Not only did Todd help me navigate my way to a degree in studio art, he’s also a really intelligent and cool person who quietly brought out the best in me and continues to provide an excellent example of a successful working artist.
Do check out his blog which contains a wealth of interesting and fabulous links!
As we gravitate to the yard for the summer, the camera has been joining us. My favorite spot on our whole property is the corner seat on the deck, where the view includes the patch of woods behind our house and of course, the kids. Here are the first few of many more to come in a new project: Kids in the Yard.
As I stood on the hill, broken dog harness hanging from my hand, the futility of it all began to sink in.
The last week has been freakishly busy for me. Lots of music duties for church (five nights of VBS and a Sunday service, and a paid wedding gig), I started a new job as a para for summer school and hosted five houseguests all week (feeding a total of eleven people 3+ times a day).
Oh, yeah, and we adopted a dog.
Maddie came to us from Sean’s family in Kansas, who were under the impression that she was a chocolate lab mix when they acquired her for free on December 23 in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We did see her as a puppy and can understand how they came to that conclusion at that time. However, when she arrived on Saturday, we began to doubt our skills in puppy breed analysis.
She has responded moderately well to our brief but frequent attempts at training. She seems eager to please. But I’ve never met such a hyper dog. She digs, she jumps on people, she escapes the yard, she scares the shit out of my toddler and preschooler, and I’ve seriously never heard a more terrifying bark.
Her hair is very short, and her face is wide, although she does have floppy lab ears. Today I went searching the internet and there’s no doubt about it: she is some sort of mix involving an American Pit Bull Terrier.
There are plenty of people who can argue for the good qualities of a pit bull. Right?
Because she had found at least two ways to get out of the fenced yard, I decided to use the tie out in the front yard where there are fewer obstacles around which to get caught. Wrestling her out into place, I finally had the harness fastened around her and the tie-out wrapped around the ash tree.
As I let go of her, a rabbit bounded into the neighbor’s yard.
She took off running, and I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly dreading the jerk and yelp I anticipated when she reached the end of the tie-out. Instead, however, the green harness simply popped free with a clink and landed gently in the grass, metal rings twisted and bent with authority. I was reduced to calling out for her and stomping around the neighborhood half in tears but mostly just feeling pissed off.
I returned to stand on the hill, watching Maddie jump and run and play all through the neighborhood. Joy unleashed.
She’s more than I can handle. My good intention to provide a loving home won’t change that. That pretty much sums up my life: lots of good intentions, slow on gripping reality. I usually get there, it just takes some time and it usually takes getting a little pissed off.
I know that I’ve been slacking on posting photos from my dining room table. Tonight I’ve posted a few, and I will get to the rest soon. The idea was to take a photo of the dining room table for a month, but it appears that I only have photos April 20 through May 15. Close enough, I say!
May 8, 2007
May 8, 2007
May 7, 2007
May 6, 2007
May 5, 2007
Well, I finally made the decision today that I’m just too stressed out to go through with the exhibition in July. I’m disappointed in myself.
And incredibly relieved.
Before I get bogged down and convince myself that this is one of many in a long line of fizzle-outs that will doom me from success for all eternity, I’m going to intervene on myself.
Bob Wilde graciously wrote to me tonight: “One has to pick and choose carefully from all the good things there are to do.”
I need to remember that I have lots of time to do all sorts of great things. I don’t need to do it all right now. I don’t even need to do all of it, ever.
