TG

BB carving, grandchildren. YAY!

Happy Thanksgiving!

May the Feast Day bring you pleasure and may you have much to be grateful for!

blog award

Nadine over at In Blue Ink has given me a blog award.

I hereby thank her very much and pass it on to:

Blue Rose at Metamorphosis: for her art and compassion.

John Coffey at Coffeypot: for his humor and his good work with animals.

I will be passing it on to more people when I return from my trip.

America Falls

In the local snowball fights, the flag fell.

babysitting today

I babysat for 7 and a half hours today--was on my feet alomst the
entire time. The grandkids are cute, adorable even--but exhausting!

Barbie Fishes

Hennie Mavis sent me Jim Doran's sketchbook with The Earthworm to
Infinity so I made a big hook to hold it for Barbie's fishing.

Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

We're in Hamilton. YAY! It was a grey day but at least it wasn't
raining as we toured about. And hiked.

The Uncertain Sky, An Elegy for Donna

Another Elegy for my friend Donna who recently passed away after an
aneurysm and stroke.

The Uncertain Sky
An Elegy for Donna

As I draw a single line through your name
in my address book, not too dark, so I can read
the letters, not too dark, as if by writing lightly,
you might somehow return,
as I watch the pencil cut letter by letter
through your name, I burst out crying.
I am a flood of tears; I wail and howl.
Though I haven't seen you for months,
almost years, I can't believe you are gone.
For those who saw you daily, who laughed
at your jokes and stories, who felt the warmth
and sweet smell of your skin, how merciless
the morning clouds. I haven't forgotten you.
Even after senility and death, you will be with me.
Outside, the last faded leaves cling to the uppermost
branches. I wipe my eyes and stare
into the uncertain sky. One leaf
detaches, and floats, this way and that,
lifted, then dashed by a breeze, as our hopes
were dashed, lifted and crushed after your stroke.
A momentary shaft of sun lights the last yellow
and gold leaf and together, they vanish.

Mary Stebbins Taitt

Braided Hazel's Maiden Voyage

I have a new shop on Etsy called Braided Hazel. It has ONE item for sale (well, four copies of one thing) which is the card shown above. They are $3.75 plus postage. If no one buys them, my family will be getting them as Christmas gifts. I don't really know how to work anything on Etsy yet, so I hope I didn't mess it all up! Please click on the link if you have time and give me a comment. Fave me or something, LOL! (Click image above to make it bigger.)

Self Portrait of the artist as a Shaman (Shawoman)

a nostril shot for sure.

This is a self portrait which you could theoretically buy at Imagekind. Why anyone would want to is beyond me. WHne I get the details figured oiut, I will post them.

first snow

Not a lot, but a little, which is Okay with me.

Hope for the future

I got this as a forward from Aurora Fox and I don't usually post forward to my blog, but this one seemed more than worthy.  I think it may be my first one ever, but I love what Alice walker said!!!

Rosa Parks sat   So Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. could walk   So Barack Obama could run   So our children can fly   AN OPEN LETTER FROM ALICE WALKER  Nov. 5, 2008 Dear Brother Obama, You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history.  But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about. I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want.  They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone. > I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies.  Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise. It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led. A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world. We are the ones we have been waiting for. In Peace and Joy,  Alice Walker

YAY, Alice Walker!  She says it like it is!!


--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

Piano Boy Sings

At the Fall Follies yesterday.

Urban Dictionary Meme

As seen on Smellyann's blog and on In Blue Ink.

Rules: Go to urbandictionary.com and type in your answer to each question in the search box in the top right corner and then write the first definition it gives you!
(this is not kid friendly so beware of words and sentences little eyes should not see)

1. What is your name?

1.	Mary
	one who is seemingly innocent. Mary is commonly known as a good girl, for example: the virgin mary ... however Mary is a bad girl who never gets caught. person1: ...christian cheerleader? a Mary?!?! person2: yeah, at practice and chruch is a goody good... but you should've seen her at the party. 2. Your age? "washed up"

3. One of your friends?
Biker Buddy: "lets talk about choppers and wear the same shirts and hang out and be cool cause i like you man, but you are crazy. ..."

4. What should you be doing?
Laundry:

"Laundry can and is often used as a code name for sex, for discussion around people in public, or for people who are uncomfortable with the term "having sex" or "intercourse."

A woman says to her husband "Can we do the laundry?" The man says to his wife, "I already did the laundry, it was a small load, so I did it by hand."" (Geez, I thot it meant washing the clothes!)

5. Favorite color?
green

yes... it is most definitely referring to the marijuana... and also, upon occasion, any substance with similar uses. too, properly, of course, it is a golfing term, but that's really not very much fun, now is it?

'yo, where da green at?'

6. Hometown: Detroit

	1.A city that a bunch of people talk and complain about but without ever stepping inside the city limits or even coming within 50 miles of its border. 4.Best water in the world.

7. Month of your birthday? May

cool; sexy; hot

i am so may

8. Last person you talked to? BB, see #3

9.What did you eat last?
bran: any swearword you wish

10. Your nickname: *****
"Mary, you'll never get anywhere in life by just lying around without a head, you know."
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle"

11. Your significant other: BB see #3

12. Another friend, since you blew #3: Dawn

An irresistibly beautiful girl who can make her very special sexy friend hard and horny and is proud of it.

homemade fried calamari

I made homemade fried calamari for the first time ever--it came out really good. Don't want to make it too often though, all that oil! I made a breading of cornmeal, corn flour, a little white flour, Old Bay spices, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and I dipped the calamari into beat eggs and then into the cornmeal mix and then fried it in oil. Yum. BB liked it too.

See some of the fall color from our yard.

Elmwood today

We took our constitutional at Elmwood cemetery. The fall colors were
spectacular! We did ride our motorcycles and we did get rained on a
little, but not bad.

Merlin and the Pomegranate

last night