January 30, 2005

"Inspired Again"
10:14pm

'A small whimsy'

'A larger whimsy'

The first one is a jpg, scanned from the drawing, done in March of 1999. It is 14K. The second one is a line drawing in the gif format, finished tonight. It is 7K. I am back again, inspired to select favorite things for that BOOK! An inspired Joan is a happy Joan.

February 6, 2005 A

"If I'm Not Too Fussy"
10:04am

Gray skies and a mild chill in the air was actually rather pleasant as I dragged the rolling laundry bin to the washroom. On day three of a sinus headache, that familiar ache around my eyes is getting old.

I can hardly believe it is already 'Super Bowl Sunday'. They haven't stopped talking about the 'fall out' from last year's Bowl. However I think any fleshy appearances of large mammaries will be restrained. I don't care about the Supper Bowl (typo!), wait a minute, yes on 'supper bowl', no on 'super bowl'. heh heh

However, the Grammys are next Sunday and Feb. 27th is Oscar night, and I'll be glued to the TV screen then. The ladies at those award shows will likely be having their low cut dresses literally glued to them, to avoid 'fall out'. Certain revelations just aren't 'cool' anymore. Audiences really care more about whether the singer can actually sing than how what secrets her form fitting dress contains.

Speaking of singers, I've enjoyed Haris Alexiou's CD so much that I went to Amazon in search of another. I didn't want to pay twenty night bucks for an import album, but thought I'd gamble thirteen bucks on one called Dialogue Blue. The song list looked intriguing. I didn't know why she'd want to concentrate on old American classics, but tried to imagine her beguiling voice doing these:

1. Summertime
2. Minor Blues
3. House of the Rising Sun
4. Autumn Leaves
5. Missirlu
6. 'Round Midnight

Oh, yes, her voice caressing 'Summertime', 'and the livin' is easy' would surely be seductive. I clicked to finalize the order. When the confirming email came back, I was most puzzled. "Who is MARCOS Alexiou? It is a pianist named Alexiou, along with a violinist, who is doing jazzy renditions of those songs. I checked. Presumbably he knows his stuff, as he is the author of three books on Jazz and currently teaches at the "Skalkotas Conservatory" in Athens.

By sheer dumb luck, I may have discovered a great performer. I hope.

Regarding my own 'creative performances', I've made progress on some avenues of serious study, while others await in limbo. I did, however, manage an automatic drawing:

Random Clockwork

The words that came to me after I'd processed this drawing were, "Things happen on time if you're not too fussy." Deep Self is telling me 'Relax and enjoy the ride!'

I'll endeavor to do that.

February 6, 2005 B

"Enjoying The Fresh Air"
5:56pm

Julia had a good idea. "Let's go to West Wetlands Park for a short walk and then go get ice cream afterwards!"

The air was fresh, the shade under the ramada lovely, and I had my camera:

Ramada beside the manmade lake

Flowers in bloom

Julia exploring the hummingbird path

February 8, 2005

"Of Meals And Medicine"
6:11am

That eggplant omelet Julia made was delicious. It was certainly easy to chew despite a very sore mouth. The site of the tooth which has been prepared for a crown was wickedly sore last night. It seemed strange, as earlier toothwork did not hurt so much.

But then Julia reported similar discomfort when she had hers done. So maybe sometimes it just 'bes that way'.

Last night, two bowls of vegetable beef soup and two side portions of mashed potatoes at the Crossing provided easy hunger satisfaction. They truly have home style cooking there, no unusual spicing, just good food well prepared.

After the recent sinus headache, I feel as though I'm coming out from a veil of semi-consciousness. Journaller Margaret's experiences with the pseudoephedrine cause me to wonder if I 've been having a similar reaction. She complains of 'flat' entries and confusion. It's pretty clear that my entries of the 6th and last month's 28th are FLAT and displaying much confusion. I would not ordinarily buy the wrong CD, as I'd done last Friday.

Also the restlessness Margaret mentions, the pseudoephedrine medicine makes me thrash horribly at night. I am all over my half of the bed, kicking violently. And the damned stuff does not even ease the pain that much. I'll be looking into other solutions.

February 9, 2005

"Happy New Year"
6:52am

year of rooster

I will write more later. I was especially chatty in the private journal and am certain it will remanifest into a possibility or two. But now must ready myself for work.

February 11, 2005

"Valentine Visits"
4:54am

So much lovely quiet this morning. Even the raindrops have quieted. It is a good space to gather my thoughts. I woke early, with a dream of Laura. Julia, also, had a dream of Laura a couple of days ago. We are counting them as Valentine visits.

Not only that, a couple of days before these dreams, I looked at Laura's picture and thought of her as Josh Groban sang the following lyrics to me. Laura's spirit beheld me from behind that picture and she used Groban to sing to ME:

Remember, I will still be here As long as you hold me, in your memory Remember me I am the one voice in the cold wind, that whispers And if you listen, you'll hear me call across the sky As long as I still can reach out, and touch you Then I will never die...

I think she came through to us in dreams to tell us this.

Here's mine:
It was a cold and gray February day. I was driving the car, some vague passengers were in the back.

Then we reached a forest with bare trees. I stopped there to pick up Laura. She got in the car and I let one of the others drive. Both of them had German accents. So I was in the back to the left and Laura was to the right. She looked especially peaceful and happy. The driver, a thin German in a black turtleneck, lit up a cigarette in the car and announced, "I'm not going to worry if this offends Laura." The other dude, also in a black turtleneck, but shorter, did the same and announced the same statement. I was shocked. The air had not yet begun to get smoky and nasty, but it soon would. I looked at Laura, but she was not reacting. Normally she would have gotten combative at the thoughtless people so little concerned with bothering Laura's health. But she looked peaceful and calm. It's like she was saying, "I don't have a real sick body now that is so easily threatened by such things."
End of dream

Still, in real life, if someone threatens my personal space environment thusly, I won't remain silent. However, that sense of immediate and grave danger that always plagued Laura, yes, where ever she is, she's not in that any more.

Julia's dream two days ago had much the same message:

Laura was showing Julia the city of Phoenix data processing, where she used to work. Laura was in good spirits as she told Julia funny stories regarding her work place. Much time seemed to elapse in this pleasant dream. Laura was definitely happy, at peace, and not hurting.

Julia woke feeling good.

I think the German reference came up because I was looking at a German site yesterday. I'd ordered a cool stainless steel small platter through amazon.com and it arrived. The 'Tavola' brand is made by WMF, which is based in Germany. Before I decided to add /english to the URL, I was viewing the pages in German, looking at various lovely 'Rostfrei' items, 'rustfree'.

nice tray, 9 3/4x 7 1/2in, 25x19 cm

It is heavy, has nice rolled under edges and is quite aesthetically pleasing.

Speaking of aesthetic experiences, last night we watched two lovely videos from the library, one about the National Geographics photographers and the other about the sights in Turkey. The engaging young girl charmed as she showed us all the neat stuff there. I had no idea they had so many ancient Greco-Roman ruins.

Well, that video is as close as I'll ever get to that country, so it was good to have peeksies. The photographers, oh, I shall remember them. One says he is never without his camera, for fear he'll miss something. And the things they do for their art! One couple lives out in the wilds of Africa in a tent, so they can capture the critters. They admitted maybe they get a really cool picture only every other week, and how that is so worth all the waiting and frustration.

I am not there in the wilderness, with such a challenge, but how much I relate to that with my own creative impatience. I wait and wait, curse the blank page, feel stalled, and then sometimes I get something that awes me. But I would not do otherwise. It's the only way to feel truly alive on all fronts.

Always, it is good to see what other creative people are doing. For instance, I found this quote in an e-mail from a fellow mandala artist:

“It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the centre. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the centre, to individuation. [...] I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.”

- C. G. Jung.

That may inspire me to a new mandala. I haven't done one in a while. Oh yes, there are so many possibilities.

February 12, 2005

"Fussy Tastes"
2:56am

Oh, I really tried to go back to bed. But my mind is too busy. I have the whole weekend to sleep when I want, and I do mean to get plenty of it.

But for now, my mind is chatty.

I just just ordered:

Delivery estimate: March 17, 2005 - April 2, 2005
* 1 of: Very Best of Haris Alexiou [IMPORT], Audio CD; $28.99
* 1 of: Portrait (this is different Greek singer) Melina Kana; Audio CD; $21.98
* 1 of: WMF Tavola Collection Stainless Steel 11-1/4-Inch Serving Tray, Kitchen; $18.99

Total for this Order: $77.52 !!!

But at least I have the RIGHT singer this time, and a new one. Also, another platter in a slightly larger size. I think everything is on backorder, which is why the long wait.

I learned of another source for Haris' albums, http://www.musical.gr/disc_search.scr?gui_language=2&a_id=604&ar_co=1. But I don't know how the euro translates into dollars. However handy dandy VISA knows how to handle it. I don't suspect it's any more than nearly thirty dollars per CD, though. It's good to see she has actually made MANY albums.

It is quite something when one has fussy tastes and standard American stuff doesn't always suit the palette. Here I am ordering from Greece and Germany. Glory be to the Internet... (realm of Thoth, no doubt... Or if you prefer GREEK, Hermes...)

Speaking of suiting the palette, I've just learned that I hate scallops. The round fishy things taste fatty to me, nasty. If River City Grill can't make 'em taste good to me, NOBODY can. Those things are just plain nasty. I dutifully ate two large ones, hoping that my taste sensations were false and gave the other two to Julia. Oh well, the lobster ravoli and shrimp were good, as was the blueberry crumble dessert.

Later today, after I've had much more sleep, perhaps we can get some good bread at Goldsboro's bakery and veggies from the Produce Store. That's after much more sleep...

Until later...
Adios...
pick the 'dio' you want'....

February 13, 2005

"A Sense Of Flow"
4:43pm