Slow Down

I live in a sleepy residential area, close the the ocean. It consists of mostly seniors who bought their homes in 1964 or beginning families that were lucky enough to inherited or purchase their parent’s homes. There have been 2 God-awful car collisions at a small intersection within a 4 way stop… around the corner from my home. All these collisions have happened with a minor behind the wheel, driving upwards of 90 miles per hour, about a stones throw from the local elementary school. Just 2 weeks ago, 3 cars full of teens racing side by side, clipped a neighbor with his wife, his 3 small boys…ranging 5, 3 and 18 months and another 5 year old neighborhood girl while they were on their way to a birthday party. This little family got away unharmed, thank the Lord. One passenger (in the back seat of the car that clipped them) died on the scene after smacking a cement telephone pole. He was 14 years old. The driver’s 17 year old girlfriend had her entire face sheered off. Her face was gone people! GONE…and she lived!

Today, yet another teenager, with his own father as the passenger, drove through this intersection at a very high rate of speed (according to all eyewitnesses at the local liquor store at the intersection)…and this time they hit my neighbor…3 doors down. I don’t even know my neighbors, but this quiet, unassuming man, walks his dog faithfully everyday…so I’ve noticed him and waved. He, I learned later, was the man who went through my entire neighborhood taking down my Halloween signs after the event was over because he knew I would be tired. A man that I’m embarrassed to say… I didn’t even know his name! Well, his name is Malcolm and I am sick and tired of people driving wrecklessly, with no regard to other’s. Tell your kids, no… yell at your kids and make them understand. While you’re at it, tell yourself…to F—ing slow down…because it matters!

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Two drivers and one passenger were transported to the UC Irvine Medical Center this afternoon after a yellow Ford Mustang crashed into a black Toyota Camry at Bushard Street and Banning Avenue, police say. That accident occurred in the same intersection where 14-year-old Phoenix Nguyen was killed on March 15.

According to the Huntington Beach police department, the 17-year-old driver of the Mustang carried one passenger, 56-year-old Gregory Jackson. The Camry was driven by 76-year-old Malcolm McKenzie.

McKenzie and Jackson have multiple injuries but are in stable condition, and the Mustang driver, whose name was not released because he is a minor, suffers from minor injuries, according to a police news release.

Huntington Beach police and paramedics responded to the collision at 3:20 p.m. The preliminary investigation indicates that the Mustang was going at a high rate of speed southbound on Bushard Street and ran a stop sign before hitting McKenzie’s car, which was going eastbound on Banning, the release said.

Cookin…good

Anyone that knows me…knows I am domestically challenged. I can make a pair of butterfly wings out of 4 straws and a roll of toilet paper…but ask me to cook…and whew…! We went shopping for fruit and salad making stuff today, nothing that requires a pan, a platter or an oven …. taking a day away from the gallery madness. I saw my Husband looking longingly at some form of pasta. There were about 18 different kinds sitting on the shelf…which all taste exactly the same to me… I guess it comes down to which one is less challenging to eat. I told him, in a moment of recklessness, go ahead…get one! Well, as luck would have it, he took me up on it.

Then of course, you have to pick out some of that dreaded red pasta sauce. I just grabbed the Trader Joe’s store brand. What’s the difference. I knew perfectly well I could burn them all the same! Then of course he had to have some form of meat by product in it so, heck, I grabbed some turkey-chicken sausage looking thing out of the refrigerated section. Man, I was really on a roll. Heck, why not get some bread and some of that fake cheese in the green can. Nothing like shaking your cheese from a hole pierced can…so off we went.

Arriving home…First off, I had to look for some pans. My pans are somewhere in a drawer with paper towels in between to keep them from scratching! I don’t know why I should care if they get scratched because I actually haven’t looked at them for at least 6 years, but apparently I did care at one time. I also found some of those big spoons, both pierced and not pierced, in the same drawer. Hell, I didn’t even know I owned any of them. I was reaching gourmet status! They had to be from someone else’s house, left over from someone else using my kitchen to cook in…for me!

Well, anyway, I studied the pans trying to determine which one was supposed to hold the separate items. I decided on the biggest pot for the noodles. I got the package and here came my first stumbling block. “Add 4 quarts of water to a pan”. I had no idea how much water 4 quarts was so started to look at my cell phone thinking of panic messaging . I stopped and pondered. I found a measuring cup…God knows where it came from…but nothing about quarts. I actually found another one that was larger…but still nothing. I got out my blender…yes, I do have one for smoothies! No, nothing about quarts!. So I had to go to Google. Heck, they know everything! 16 cups of water to 4 quarts! I went back to the kitchen and studied the pan trying to determine how much water it would hold. Then I thought, “I’m not going to use up all my damn bottled water on these stupid noodles” so I went to the tap. I figured it was going to boil anyway, so whatever was floating would be incinerated! I added 16 cups of water with a one cup measuring thing…it took time…but heck, I was cookin! I put it on the stove and tried to decide if I needed a lid. “Yep, I might as well!”

Then I took the fake sausage out of the fridge and started cutting it up into pieces. Now I have lots of knives but only one will actually cut. I think I bought the rest with my friend Kathy at Pic-n-Save when we were teens. The one that does cut is only about 2 inches long…so yep, it took a while. I studied the pans left and made a choice for the fake sausage. I had no idea if I was supposed to put something in the pan with the sausage…but I didn’t have anything anyway, so in it went… solo. It did take me a while to realize I didn’t turn that portion of the stove on…but finally I mastered it. I then went confidently on to salad. Now salad I know. I eat the stuff everyday so a-washing I went.

In the meantime everything started bubbling and boiling, spitting and hissing at once… so I yelled at my Husband to come help me. He knows just as much as I do but it was his bright idea so I told him to “Stir something”. It was about this time that I looked at the fake sausage package and realized it was already cooked! I like food burnt anyway, just like my Mom always made, so I didn’t feel it was going to be a real problem… as I watched my Husband running in and out of the room , trying to keep tabs on a basketball game at the same time. The pasta water at some point looked like the term “rolling boil” so I added the noodles and then I looked at the clock on the microwave. 8 minutes! Mike added the sauce out of the jar to the sausage and wow, we were actually cooking real food!

I completed my salad and went to work on a fruit plate. Yep, I know fruit too. Then I dragged out some bread and remembered we didn’t get any butter, suspiciously found some in the fridge…no idea how old it was or where it came from…but it looked like butter to me…so I spread it on the bread! The pasta was done so I left Mike to drain it somehow. I was to afraid to watch. I knew he wouldn’t sit at the table, being the sports fan he is, so I tried to find some trays to carry it all on. I came up with 2 things that looked slightly like cookie baking sheets, flat, silver but only one edge bent up? Feel free to claim them if you read this and they’re yours!

Well, it actually turned out pretty good. At least we both ate it and retained it in our bellies! He settled in for his game and I carried all the stuff back to the kitchen. Now I will say that even though I don’t cook, I never mind washing dishes…unless of course it’s Thanksgiving and it’s involves my Grandmother’s first edition, first year…Dessert Rose dishes that I’m actually terrified to handle. So I started to run some water in the sink when the dish soap came to my mind…and the fact that I didn’t have any and hadn’t for some time. I searched around the house and decided on the “Pure and Natural” hand soap in the bathroom… because it has a nice rosemary mint smell and is hypo allergenic too! That had to be good for something! Then I realized I would need dish towels and couldn’t find any because I probably used them years ago to shine some shoes or dry a cat. I went to the linen closets and got out the bath towels. I draped them all over the counters and rolled up my sleeves and went to work. I just finished and they are sitting in a huge pile…drying. Eventually I will put them away…but as for cooking, I feel I’m good for at least another 6 years. I’m definitely open to any offers to cook for me though. I promise to wash all the non-Dessert Rose dishes ya got! 🙂

Taking Notice

I have been wracking my brain (well, what there is left of it) to find a way to make Anuvue Studio’s new Gallery more noticible from the street. The tenants below me (although gracious and lovely people) have a “less that wonderful” sign (which I would gladly torch, steal, hide or shoot bullet holes into) (just kidding) (not really kidding) attached to my balcony…yes, it’s the only place he/she can actually hang a sign. It has been so since 1972…and who am I to re-invent the world.

So, I thought above this “Less than wonderful” sign, on the equally less than lovely wrought iron in “Baby Blue” (the first color I think of for wrought iron) …I would hang my nice new sign…with lighting…to blast both the blue iron and ug-sign to OZ. Sorry Toto. BTW, I hated those flying monkeys too.

Above my sign, I have 10 windows…and although these windows would be partially blocked (by my sign), if I picked just the right combo of photos that have most of the image on top…I could even enhance the sign with photographics, drawing the eye up…and maybe everything else would disappear…like my money. Hey, it could happen…

Some photos courtesy (stolen rather) from Photo444 😉

Dune

Lighting and art

Been a little under the weather but finally was able to meet with the lighting designer for the studio. I figure a gallery is 50% about the actual art and the other 50% is about how well the lighting works to the art’s advantage. I took lighting design in college (which was more years ago than I care to divulge) and some of it stayed stuck in my brain…That and the fact that I studied the internet until I felt I wouldn’t embarrass myself. 😉

The designer left with a clear vision (of my vision) so I’m feeling good about what he will come up with. Now of course comes the dear old check book…

I was lucky enough to obtain a small office caddie corner to the studio (though I’ll wait until the previous tennant actually vacates this time). It’s small (and cheap) and will make a wonderful classroom for digital photography, painting…heck whatever we decide needs teaching. It will probably hold 10 students…just the right number to feel good about teacher / student time. I’m now working on folding desks (with a flair) so that the room can pack up nicely and dual as a photography studio…and part-time storage. I’m all about getting multi purpose uses out of whatever it is I’m working with. Hey, depression era parents…what more can I say!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Learner and Lowe …

 

…those little eyes, so helpless, and appealing

one day will flash and send you crashing through the ceiling

thank heaven for little girls

thank heaven for them all

no matter where, no matter who

without them, what would little boys do…

 

Welcome to the World Adisen

 

Photo courtesy of Lesa

Gatekeeper

The hand of man IV

Tangle

Leona and others

I’ve been asked by several people “How do you find your Artists?”…well…all I can say is “In my travels I find them and they find me”. Sometimes I get the feeling they are being sent to me…at the right place and the right time. It’s not something I question. I accept it as just something meant to be…not sure exactly who’s directing…but I have my suspicions. That’s the truth.

For the last 5 years, when I go anywhere I’ve had a habit of picking up cards. I never knew exactly when I would be able to open a Gallery…I just knew I would. So, for years, I’ve been collecting cards…from Artists. They have to be (of course) talented…but they also have to be friendly, easy going people. I have headaches enough on my own…I’m not interested in having more…so each person’s personality is taken into account. Whenever I stop and see something I like (and think others would too), I ask about it. Depending on the eye contact, the willingness of the person to explain, the light in their eyes and my comfort level around them, I make a decision. Life is short and this is supposed to be fun. I’m easy to talk to so if they aren’t, then it just isn’t for me.

Leona is a perfect example of the right place, right time theory. About 14 months ago while I was traveling with my lovely niece Nicole, we decided to go to Death Valley (the best kept secret I know). Death Valley only has 3 places you can stay at. One, which is ridiculously priced at something like 300.00 bucks a night and 2 older (but still nice and homey) lodge type places right in the heart of the valley. I pulled my jeep up to one of the 2 lodges to go inside and get our room secured. I past a woman sitting on the bench just outside the office. I noticed she was making something and I can never resist watching someone work with their hands. I used to sit for hours and watch my Dad at his drafting table, or tying fishing lures or propagating plants…so the habit has stuck from childhood. It’s probably why I love Artists in general.

When I came out of the office, I plopped my rear down on the bench next to her and asked what she was doing. She was making a basket…and not just any basket but the most intricate little basket I’d ever seen up close! She had some type of large bag with her and she proceeded to take others out. Now I’m not really a basket person. I’m have very techie modern tastes but these baskets were…well they were magnificent! I remember seeing one with some sort of carved turquoise handle on the top while I asked her how she had learned to make them. She told me she learned the craft from her Mother and that her Mother had won awards for her baskets. My heart began to smile.

Well, we talked for a while and then I realized she was a great match for my little Gallery that (at this point) was still in my head. I told her what I had in mind…and I saw that light in her eyes. She gave me a card and I held onto it until I finally found my building. I contacted her and the rest of the story will continue in the Gallery. Oh yes, her Mother…she’ll be a participant too!

Leona sent me a couple of pictures. One is of some of the baskets she and her Mother have made recently. The other is of something I have never seen done in all my life. She makes purses…out of cowboy boots! You have just got to check these thing out!