FALLING INTO BED "And some artists try to make something out of nothing, order out of chaos, demanding of themselves that they ably communicate structure and composition, colour and balance, and that each piece they create serve to communicate a predetermined issue as well. A piece of art asks people to stop and look in... Continue Reading →
BRAE TOFTS One dollar. Every three years. For the past 25 years. I’ve been paid one dollar, every three years for the past 25 years to move house. I’ve packed my pets and belongings and moved house. To a new house. Different part of the city, same state. Different neighbourhood. It didn’t take me long... Continue Reading →
PEGGED It wasn't what they said. Actually it was exactly that. It was not only what they said but the how of it. It was neither smart nor kind. The stolid and impassive back and forth seemed to go on for ages (because everyone agreed it had been ages)...and was in the end...all for naught. ... Continue Reading →
PESCE The Reader looks more than dubious that somehow I can connect fishing for words to the watercoloured fish on a platter surrounded with leafy, green things, yellow-ish squiggles and red rounds that may or may not look like small, yet delicious potatoes. I can't so I won't. No surprise there, The Reader smirks. Very... Continue Reading →
SIMPLY ORANGES THREE Caps with flaps or Santa hats Presented here for thee and thee, A modest image as sure as you please Of simply orange oranges three.
IT'S A TOSS UP NO IT'S A COW Both of my kids have a picture of a framed cow that graces a wall in each of their respective homes. They were born on a family dairy farm and know the value of hard work. They also know the value of working together and of... Continue Reading →
NUMBER FORTY-SEVEN "All his own geese are swans, as the swans of others are geese." Horace Walpole (1717-97) British writer Referring to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Wait! Wait! shouts My Reader. Geese? What geese? That's a cow...I don't see any geese! Point taken...
CONVERSATION CUL-DE-SAC She wasn’t an easy person...understand not in the infamous being easy sense, she just wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Safely said, her glass was always less than half-empty. Who is kidding whom? It was empty. My Reader might think this a rather harsh and hard-to-tell recollection of The Mother. She was exactly what... Continue Reading →
BIRD IN A BOWL Funny thing about that weather. Yesterday on the half-past five morning first dog walk of the day the weather was clear-skied, star-studded crisp and thirty-three degrees. Then again, at the morning nine o'clock second dog walk... Continue Reading →
No, she never wanted to be a burlesque dancer. What she wanted and only because he asked was a china teacup and saucer preferably English and old, blue or orange or both. Her immediate vision was that it was to be similar to the small collection they once had. The collection he took with him... Continue Reading →
Grandmother’s house was always dark. That’s what I recall anyway. The heavy drapes were always pulled shut which swathed the living room in darkness. The living room became an unmistakable cave when you entered through the front door. Grandmother’s house was always dark, but it also always smelled of blackberry jam. The scent was pungent.... Continue Reading →
"...The sound of silence. Background noises no longer there... painful spaces of time... Other sounds eventually fill the empty space..." __ Other sounds do eventually fill the empty spaces that once filled a home that played the daily tune of "BEWARE OF THE DOG"... whether a big bark threat or not. He spoke openly about... Continue Reading →
Normally, I’ve been reluctant to besiege My Reader with facts, that particular part of my art researching profession that requires accuracy closely bordering the edge of boredom. However, just this once and feeling safe in the “historical fact” arena because I’ve taken liberal liberties with wording and comments…the curious art researcher and enquiring mind bubbled... Continue Reading →
This is how it goes, usually… 1 January – take down Christmas tree. Pack. Store. This is how it went… 26 December – Christmas tree down. Packed. Stored. Five-day head start on usual Christmas tree take-down. Forget January. Early. Easy. Done. Forgotten. Bliss. Thirty-one plus five extra days of forgetful bliss. Thirty-one plus... Continue Reading →
The day couldn't have been darker, colder, more foreboding or windier. What did we expect? It was, after all, the East Sussex seacoast in early spring; a perfect day to get out of the cottage and explore the neighbourhood in spite of the dreadful weather. Right. The residential hill behind the train station looked straightforward, and looked straight... Continue Reading →
We’ll be dining in the kitchen…surrounded with the savory aromas of a holiday meal all day in preparation. The reclaimed, battered and bruised farm table is covered with a treasured cloth sprinkled with rose images that mirror a Renaissance floral still-life. It is etched with faint stains from many meals now past, and creased permanently... Continue Reading →
I think that I shall never see A fig that fails to entice me.
At first it was curiosity and wondering about a word. Then mental machinations and mindless wanderings took the high road and soon profound curiosity became a fever-pitched research obsession. It was all about a word, and the word was G-R-E-A-T-N-E-S-S. A good word GREATNESS. A great word. Greatness (n.): from the adjective GREAT to... Continue Reading →
My Reader believes that we are what we quote, undoubtedly because of the folder I keep stuffed with scraps of paper of others’ words, albeit quotes, that resonate to the core. The folder on my desk is a cornucopia of borrowed lines. Words written by the famous, infamous, and sometimes nefarious goons who, on occasion,... Continue Reading →
Fetish for FIGS... It came as a challenge It came as a dare, So I went to the studio And plopped in my chair. What began as the one But concluded with four, It became quite apparent There was room for one more. Five FIGS to be settled In harmonious collusion, On a bed of... Continue Reading →
Promiscuous PEARS pro-mis-cu-ous: adj. 1) Composed of persons or things confusedly mingled.
in-flec-tion \in’flek-shen\ 3. A change in pitch or intensity in the voice. Brit.sp. in-flex’ion. Webster Illustrated Contemporary Dictionary. For reasons not listed anywhere, I don’t pretend to be a writer. It takes me a while and then more of a while to string the words together that finally…paint my sentence vision. I think some call... Continue Reading →
LE CAFE'... As the struggle to re-introduce my right hand back to full use with daily hand exercises, I also continue to sketch and practice endless scales on the piano. My ultimate quest is to learn how (by teaching myself) to watercolour, and [again] play complicated Haydn and Bach duets with my friend, Rosemary. Let... Continue Reading →
Ham House Garden Patio Ham, Surrey England I look up to My Reader. Admire My Reader. I think My Reader is the Toot’s Potatoes…please excuse my personal coined phrase for Brilliance Plus. My Reader has accomplished the un-accomplishable, and has left no emotional room for anything less than inspired adulation. El Guapo has written... Continue Reading →
Jots from a Small Apt. 