Art

I got a wonderful birthday present - thanks beloved. It is a print called Adagio by Mackenzie Thorpe. It just called my name at the Studio 7, the gallery in our little town. His art makes me sad and happy at the same time. I wonder if the little person pulling this heart and trying to hold onto a love, trying not to let its own heart slip away or something totally different that I don't see. But here it is:

Sunday Ritual

I am sitting here drinking my coffee and reading the Sunday obits. It occurs to while reading that some people just have a full life. Some peoples obits are really long, they had so much going on in their lives. These are the kind I like to read. I don't really care about the contents so much, I like the fact that they had a life. Then there are the ones that are so short I wonder did they have no life?

For instance, Eva Borak (who I knew a million years ago) she spent nearly 50 years working at the same place (where I knew her from) - one might think there might be a short story here, but she has a long one.

There is Gisela Bigden-Fisher - she had a Life (yes, with a capital L) - full of danger and it seems the love of many.

There is Dario Genesio Carraro - the man had six children, 17 grandchildren and 28 great and great great grandchildren, yet that was all they could say about him. This I find sad.

Then the saddest (for me) this week. Michael, Matthew and Tony Bologna. I never met them, but I can't help but feel saddness at their lives being cut so short by some fucking asshole with a gun. Thanks Supreme Court, now maybe we can have more of these senseless killings.

Thanks again

Well it has been a little over a year since M's Birthday In Paris was a real event. I want to thank everyone who went to Paris to celebrate M's big birthday. I want to thank my beloved who made it all possible. Just thinking about it gives me a feeling of great joy.

Don't Let Them Bite

Do you remember the little saying your mom would say when you went to bed at night. I remember her tucking me in, kissing me on the head and saying "goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite". I don't recall thinking that she was speaking literally. Not many things gross me out, but this just make me go ewwww! From now on when I travel you can bet that I'll be slapping mattresses and checking crevices, at least when I stay at high end places.

So when you are tucking your little bundles of joy into bed, come up with something else to send them off to sleep.

Smoke and Mirrors

I walked out my front door this morning into what looked like the start of a beautiful summer day. The sprinklers were on, there was a slight breeze and the sun was trying to break thru. Then I smelled it - smoke. While the fires that are burning throughout the state are nowhere near us, the smoke is reaching us on the wind. I started thinking that feeling safe is just an illusion. We are surrounded by hills, dry and crispy. We keep building on them and I guess hoping for the best. I look at homes up in the hills and think they are beautiful, but what would it take to just wipe them out. Fire moves fast and does not care if your home is a double wide or a multi million dollar castle, it burns you down if you are in the way.

Smoke and Mirrors

580 Brightens my day

Today I actually smiled on 580. The goats are back. A few hundred of them on the hills near the Oakland Zoo. I love them - at least from my car driving by - up close and personal I am not sure how cute hundreds of goats are.

In case you want your own goats to graze, check out Goats-R_Us, no really that is their name. The specially breed goats to wander up and down the hills of Northern California and when they retire they get to hang out locally.

The cost is about $700 per acre, which includes the shepards salary. I never really thought about it, but I guess they need someone to keep them in line. I wonder how much being a shepard pays? I am assuming it is a seasonal job. Hmm.... I have been looking for something new to do. Maybe I could take the goat hair and spin it into thread and weave during the winter months....

Sunday Ritual

Sometimes my Sunday ritual just hits closer to home than other times.

http://www.legacy.com/SFGate/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=112004517

The passing of a gentleman

Howard was a friend I met thru another friend, Michael. Howard was for all intents a purposes Michaels father, so when the call came that he was at the hospital, we got in the car and went to give support for a night that would be long and hard.

Howard was a gentleman, he always had something nice to say to you. That does not mean he could not be snippy and catty, cause he could. That was part of his charm.

Howard was always happy to see me, he always made me feel good about the way I looked, even on a bad day he could make me feel special. I might only see him three times a year, maybe only at special occassions, but it was always made me smile to see him.

Rest in peace Howard.

Mercedes = Money?

Today my beloved and I were having falafal wrap here in our little town. Parked outside was a brand new Mercedes CL550, I know it was new because it still had those carboard dealer plates on it. It was a lovely car and as I watched a young man went outside and opened the trunk. He moved a couple of things around and pulled something out of a bag as he turned I realized he had just pulled a big stack of money out of the trunk.

Damn, if I had known that Mercedes puts money in the trunks of new cars I would have bought one.

I guess the falafal biz is better than I thought.

Silence is Golden

Everyone that knows me knows I look at real estate. It is a genetic thing I think. I check out craigslist on a regular basis looking for real estate in Paris. You just never know when that lottery number is going to hit.

Anyway, I found this cute cozy 2 bedroom/2 bath in a very nice area. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the apartment looks out over a silent street.

The sound of this or the lack of sound of it disturbs me, a silent street just sounds so, well quiet. I picture people walking along with no voices, no sound as their feet hit the pavement, no car horns, no early morning markets. A Twilight Zone Episode if I every heard one.

So, since the lotto ticket has not hit yet, I guess I have to pass this one up.

Somethings

Somethings just scream out to be blogged about and this is one of them. Fred Baur designed the Pringles can and some of his cremated remains were put into one and buried along with the rest of him that was placed in a urn.

I have thought about what to do with my mortal remains after I am gone. I do want to be cremated and I do want somebody to take me to Paris and wander the streets while dribbling me as they go. Who this might be will depend on timing.

I remember a conversation with my friend Mark a hundred years ago. Mark was in the hospital dying and we were talking about ways to remember people after they die. I said I think that we should take a snow globe and put a picture of the persons favorite place in the world and a little bit of their ashes in there. You could pass them out at the memorial service to friends and family, they in turn could put them up on the mantel or wherever you put that stuff and every time you walked by you could shake it up and think about your loved one in their favorite place in the world. We both thought this was a great idea and laughed. Then Mark died and his memorial was at the Columbarium in San Francisco. I think some of the people walking in thought I was out of my mind when I stood looking at the building and laughed until tears ran down my face. If they could only read my mind looking at that building - it is shaped like a big snow globe - sometimes things just work.

Bumper Stickers

Today in Sacramento I saw a bumber sticker that said

Earth First - We will destroy the other planets in due time.

How appropriate since we have polluted Mars with a rover that is digging into the planet. Searching for signs of life so that we can go there and mess that up too?