Friday, October 31, 2008

The Burning Skull




Due to inclement weather the burning skull 
was taken into the house.

Tyler and Sydney discussed what ought to be done. 


Sydney found some greens that someone seemed to have 
left for her pleasure, strewn about beneath the burning skull. 
Tyler went, more or less, straight for the jugular. 


Later Tyler tried to curry favor with the flamboyant 
interloper by telling it Sydney's secret name. 
No impression was made.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ghost Story

It is all true, quite true. Although I have a gift for improvisational fiction, for facile prevarication, for utterly believable out and out lying, this story is quite true. 

Once we arrived at the beach I had thought everything would go smoothly, though the sense of urgency was still strong. The box was sealed with a sticker unlike any I had ever encountered, no tearing with my meager finger nails would lift it's edges, I attacked it with my car keys. My son stood somewhat idly by, toying with the camera. At last I got the box open, challenged by a thick plastic bag I tried to open this in a less crude fashion, but ended up breaking into it again with my keys. Having already removed shoes, I  started toward the sea, bag in hand. "Do you want to......?" I asked my son. He shook his head and took a step back "I'll just do pictures, thanks." I hadn't really expected him to participate, but it seemed the right thing to at least ask. 


Cold Pacific Ocean swirling my ankles, the sun just diving below the horizon, I plunged my hand into the bag that held my mother's ashes. I hadn't expected to feel little bits of bone. I had thought the ashes would be soft, almost inviting, like the finest of campfire ashes. These had bits of bone and some of those bits were not so small, some were larger than a thumb nail and oddly triangular. Perturbed, but undaunted, I sowed handful after handful into the tide. Looking over to my right I saw a dark shape bobbing in the tide quite near the shore. "Great" I thought "a dead seal." I continued to keep an eye on it and was relieved to see it was, in fact, a live seal. Curious it being so close to shore. I began to think of the mythic Celtic Selkie . 'Perhaps the Selkie has come to claim back one of it's own, ' I thought playfully. "Do you see the seal ?" I called to my son, pointing. I couldn't hear his reply. She would have wanted there to be a seal, waiting for her, I'm quite sure of it. She loved the sea in all it's myriad of forms and moods.


When I was planning her memorial the officiant, a charming female Rabbi from New York City, assured me that memorials were for the living, that the dead were not going to reach out of the grave and grab you if it wasn't just right. I wasn't so sure. I saw my mother's hand jiggling reality. Why else would, at the last moment, this particular Rabbi be called in ? We were having a non-denominational service, but my mother loved Jewish people and always talked about her Jewish friends and she grew up in NYC, really identified with that city. She would enjoy this.  If she wasn't hanging around, how come I kept getting great parking places ? I kept my doubts to myself and made plans according to what I thought she would like. Despite the words of the Rabbi, the dead do reach out and grab you from the grave, especially if they want to be put into their grave, sort to speak.  Three days before I waded into the ocean I had woken up with a start in the middle of the night feeling like there was something wrong. Next night I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like there was something I had to do,  just had to do. Then last night I had woken up thinking there was something seriously wrong with me. I thought maybe I was having a heart attack, except I could feel no pain and my pulse seemed normal. I wasn't hot, so, no, it wasn't a hot flash. The only impression I had was that there was a circular area of heat that wasn't hot on my chest. I wondered if I was just flat out dying, and maybe this was what it felt like to die. Suddenly without the use of algebra or any sort of higher math it all added up and I realized it was time to let loose my mother's ashes. The next morning I glanced at my calendar and found that it was the Autumnal Equinox, an important and auspicious day astrologically.  I counted back and found that it had been almost exactly 9 months to the day since she had passed. Was this some sort of reverse gestation? I don't know, I'm just reporting the facts. 

Mother peacefully united with the Pacific,  we headed home, wrapped in the dark.
 "Thanks for coming with me."
 "Hmm, yup."
 "Did you see the seal." 
"Nah, I didn't, are you sure there was one." 
"Yeah, but I'm not sure it was a regular seal." 

Happy Halloween, Samhain, Dias Des Muertes, remember it is the time when the veils between the worlds are the thinnest..........

Monday, October 27, 2008

Monday Bunday

Good Bunday to all, pictured here is Tyler in the midst of the elusive bunny yawn. Camera can just barely capture it, but you can see that execution requires straightened legs and wide, wide, little bunny mouth. The human equivalent is recommended for persons who sit for extended periods of time, repeat at least every 30 minutes, vocalizations are optional but encouraged. More regarding a special project will be revealed soon.........

Monday, October 20, 2008

Monday Tocktober Bunday

We are going along with the 'Buntock Tocktober theme from DKM.

Showing off the 'tocks from the side and getting
 a nice shoulder stretch, what could be better?

Double 'tocks with a doot to boot.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Tagged: 6 Random Things











We got tagged by Furrybutts, so here are 6 random things.


1.Tyler's favorite activity.

That would be Tyler on the left..

2. 3 famous people whose paths I have crossed. 1-Lou Harrison: I used to be his "personal assistant" taking dictation, dealing with correspondence, arranging tours and performances, 
even cleaning his house, the efficacy of which he checked with white gloves. Like his other PA's I only lasted a bit more than a year, it was an amazing job that left one exhausted, or as Lou used to say "augustipooped".  2- Tommy Smothers of the comic team "The Smothers Brothers"; I bottled wine at his winery for a couple summers. I rose to the exalted position of chief filler. Often Tommy would bop by wearing his tennis togs. One year the weather was over 100 degrees, we were sweltering and he would NOT let us jump in his pool. 3-David Bryne was within 6 feet of me in London. I was recovering from food poisoning got from Fish and Chips and suddenly felt I couldn't handle the Tube station with the crowds and noise and smells, without vomiting forth. Rushing up to street level like a breaching whale I saw him getting into a cab, I  was terribly excited and all thoughts of vomit left my mind.

Portrait of the artist as a young artist.

3. Here I am at 8 or 9 or so with a cat I made out of bread, now that's random....

4. My great great grandmother was a lady in a proper English mansion with servants and gardeners and such. She fell in love with one of the gardeners. The union was not looked upon kindly so she stole some of the family jewels and they ran (sailed really) off to New York City where she ran a boarding house and he worked as a policeman. He was so strong that he lifted a horse off the street during a snow storm.

5. 3 favorite "self help" books: Oil Pulling by Bruce Fife, Take a Nap Change Your Life by Sara Mednick, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. 

 

6. Tyler and Sydney disapprove when toys that lose their bells.

Tyler and Sydney are under a wicker rocker that 
nobody ever sits in and seems to exist only for rabbits......

If you have read this far, please, consider yourself tagged! If you'd like to play that is.....Don't forget to pick-up your "I love your blog" badge. I figure if you've stuck this one out to the end that I probably do love your blog !!!! 

Peace, Love and Understanding to All,
D and the Spots

Monday, October 13, 2008

Monday Bunday


Tyler is practicing for his upcoming presentation, 
a mimed skit, entitled "Easter Bunny or Easter Egg?"

Have a good Monday Bunday, and Tuesday Bunday, and Wednesday Bunday.......

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Out To Pasture

Large scale drawing project by Santa Cruz Waldorf High School class of 2012

Yesterday I finished teaching my first class for this school year;  9th Grade Black and White Drawing. The picture you see is our line drawing project, an enlargement of Albrecht Durer's " The Woman Clothed With the Sun and the Seven Headed Dragon " from his Apocalypse series. See the original here. Each student did a tenth of the whole, final size is about 5 by 7 or so feet. Last year we did Durer's rhino (see below), which I suggested to the class this year, but they insisted on looking though the whole woodcut book and choosing one themselves. this could be thought of as loosing control of the class on my part, but anything that will get students to look at art and be enthusiastic and think about their future (even if it is only in art class) is alright by me. The presence of the dragon played a big part in the choice, later I hipped them to what was going in the print. The Apocalypse series of 15 woodblock prints was created at the beginning of Durer's career and is one of the first large scale print series made available to common folk, even the poor could, for a few pennies, own a Durer. Sold by his wife and mother at fairs this series popularized the artist in a way no other artist had done before. Started in 1497 and completed in 1498, the Apocalypse is based on the Revelations of St. John regarding
This is last years 9th grade project, they couldn't cooperate sufficiently to work on one rhino, 
so we had to have Team Rhino A and B, with one student doing two panels
 and Miss Moll stepping in to do one as well......

the end of the world. At this time in Europe the end of the world in 1500 was also predicted. This was both the time of the Black Plague and the Reformation; people were panicking and raving; there were stories of crosses falling from the sky and killing people; crazy times. Durer looked to the words of the Bible comfort and found himself profoundly moved and stimulated by those of St. John. The visions took form in Albrecht's head, using images from all the art and scenery he had experienced in the travels of his early youth. In "Woman" what is actually happening is the appearance of Mary, who is being pursued by the dragon, and has given birth to Jesus, who is being saved by god. In a later print St. Michael vanquishes the dragon and saves the world. It was generally agreed that the final product was spectacular and that it looked a lot better from far away than from up close, the latter could be a sort of life lesson. I hope that students learned something about the importance of thicks and thins in line drawing as well as the techniques of hatching, cross hatching, contour hatching and stippling. And the oft mentioned goal of keeping everything in proportion (that could be another life lesson)and, of course cooperation.
The second Rhino from last year, I did the middle back panel,
 this one got turned into a school greeting card.

I'm off for six weeks now, though other various employments continue. During this teaching block I have been very good about riding my bike to work, this was noticed by at least one student, an 11th grade boy. While I was cleaning up my room he came in and said "Miss Moll, I just gotta ask you something." "And what is that? Jackson?" "Are you riding your bike because you got a DUI?" "No, Jackson, I'm minimizing my carbon foot print and I like to ride my bike." "Oh, I was just thinking of the reasons why......" My upcoming absence from school may spark rumors that I'm drying out at a rehab clinic. LOL.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Monday Bunday Alphabet Sticks

T is for Tyler, now totter off and get me a treat.
You can help Tyler and Sydney's rescue organization, The Rabbit Haven, get a $25,000 grant. Just go HERE, scroll down to the voting place and search California for The Rabbit Haven. T is also for THANKS A TON. Also unlike other sorts of elections you can vote EVERY DAY !!!!
Whisker kisses to all,
Tyler and Sydney