Beginning Again Begins Again

This just in: moving stinks.

I'm living in a disaster zone in preparation for moving to the "big city" in a week.


The good news is that my two cats are in hog heaven with the chaos, the piles, and the unimaginable number of bugs and other sundry critters that I've found behind the panels of fabric I used to mask the ugly barn board walls that this apartment sports.


The other good news is that to quote frequent cerebral drool reader Cranston Barry's email to me:

"Happened to be riding my bike around the North End Yesterday and ended up at a lawn sale at your new apartment, held by the current residents.

Bought a few books, met your new landlord, told him of your fascination with home-thermonuclear-experimentation, and he was down with that. Looks like a nice place."

So luckily when I burn down the joint with my fondness for spray painting and flaming alcoholic beverages, the new landlord won't be surprised. (note to all future landlords, please disregard the former reference to "burning down the joint". I'm a fantastic tenant with excellent references. Trust me.)

Garlic: A Tribute

Today marked the passing of a good friend: the little garlic bulb that could. A few months ago, Josh and Selene bought garlic as they usually do, and it sat in a bowl on the counter in the kitchen as it usually does. However, the little guy got up the gumption to grow. And grow he did. First he sprouted green, then was moved to the top of the refrigerator where he grew tall and lush stalks, and then he lived a little pot that I brought over for the occasion. He was watered. He was loved. He was decorated with fake flowers that I bought for the flamingo project. Unfortunately, he was also dying, which Josh found out today when he accidentally dropped the pot and saw root rot and fungus. Poor garlic. He wasn't meant to be a house plant. We will miss him. Luckily we have Ernie the schefflera to fill some of the void, but he isn't garlic. We bid you safe tidings to the nutrient rich well drained soil in the sky.

The Next Best Thing to Flying is Looking Good

Burlington, Vermont is blessed with having a hopping art scene and a lot of small arts organizations to boot. One of these, the South End Arts Business Association is one of my favorites since they put on the Art Hop throughout the South End every September and I get to feel like I live in a city with an art district for a night or two. So to support SEABA, I bedazzled a flamingo. Yep, a flamingo. A pink, plastic lawn ornamenting flamingo. You see, they're having a flamingo auction. Take a look:

http://www.seaba.com/node/69

How could I resist? I started out innocently enough with a perfectly pleasant pink flamingo:



Isn't she lovely? But basking in the original glory of the pink wonder wasn't the task at hand. Creative decoration, however, was. It began innocently enough with a few beads...


And who could say no to a little fake fur?


And a few more beads...


And a couple of buttons, beads, and assorted other baubles...


By this point I'm gaining on tacky...


Yep, tacky is coming up fast on the outside...


And voila! Six layers of glue left to peel off my hands and two bags of trinkets create one mighty fine auction item:


But, of course, you can't forget the jaunty flower in the beak:


She is truly a thing of beauty. While I hope SEABA makes a lot of money of her and that someone special falls in love with my girl, I secretly hope she doesn't sell so she can come home.

I need to get out more.

A Sad, Sad Day

It's been tough going around here. Why? Because coffee plus my heart equals death. You see, I have this pesky little problem with heart palpitations. It's not fatal, per se, but it is extremely disconcerting to all of a sudden have your heart stop and start in random intervals for 10 minutes at a shot. So, with tears in my eyes and a throbbing in my cranium, I've had to lay off the java for a while until my caffeine sensitivity settles down a bit. These are truly dark times for those that have to interact with me on a daily basis. God help me. God help us all.