Saturday, May 13, 2006 A

"Dreams of Mom and Dad"
7:10am

My dreams have been unusually vivid of late. I've had chance to dream of both my parents recently. Wednesday morning I dreamt of my mother:


The last time I saw her alive...

Her thin face appeared before me. I knew in the dream she was dead, and that it was her spirit trying to reach me. I told her I loved her and thanked her for all she'd done for me. Then the image disappeared.

I think it is all the Mother's day hoopla going on. It makes me miss her, wish I had a chance again to talk with her.

And this morning, my dad was in the starring cast:


The last time I saw him alive...

Here it is as I recorded it right after I woke up:

4:09am
Dream, me with Dad at the suit shop. The suit shop was on the second floor. The view out the windows was like what you'd see at an airport, (Actually, sales area was originally plain waiting areas that had been changed to sales rooms).

Dad looked just as he did before Laura and I moved to Arizona...

He tried one suit on, in navy, which fit him well, but the salesman said it was too big. So we go back further to the smaller coats. these were a tad tight, even skin tight. but the salesman kept saying they were just fine. Also he wanted Dad to have a weird tie with them. I said no, he needs a standard tie. So the salemsan got him a tie that was a tiny bit more ordinary, but still it was way too funky.

I wasn't having any influence against the salesman, and I was growing real irritated. Then I woke up.

I don't know the meaning.

I woke up later thinking about that dream. I think it is again referring to the spiritual/magical path. One size does NOT fit all, and only YOU can determine your best fit. The obnoxious salesman symbolizes those who try to push their agenda onto someone else, whether or not 'it really suits him'.

Going back to the literal from which the symbolism springs, even as one who fits people as part of my day job, I always listen to the customer. While I strive for a fit that I think is neither too tight nor too loose, sometimes the customer will want it looser or tighter than I think is the best fit. After learning he is insistent, I do it his way. He is the one who is wearing it!

And so it is with the spiritual/magical path. We each are the one who must determine what suits us while travelling this path.

Saturday, May 13, 2006 B

"Scarlet Tanager"
10:28am

My monthly calender features "Audubon Songbirds and other Backyard Birds". This month's page features a scarlet tanager in the lower right corner. He's been 'begging' me to draw him, and today I listened:


Large size version underneath...

This calender also informs me that today is "International Migratory Bird Day". A net search reveals:

International Migratory Bird Day celebrates the incredible journeys of migratory birds between their breeding grounds in North America and their wintering grounds in Mexico, Central, and South America. The event, which takes place on the second Saturday in May each year, encourages bird conservation and increases awareness of birds through hikes, bird watching, information about birds and migration, public events, and a variety of other education programs.

I did a little search on tanagers. Wikipedia informs me that "Only 4 species are migratory, using North America as their breeding grounds. They are the Scarlet Tanager, Western Tanager, Hepatic Tanager and the Summer Tanager." So my scarlet tanager drawing fits the celebration of the day!

Sunday, May 14, 2006 A

"Gotta Crow"
12:29am

It's late at night, but I have to take time to crow! My Critter Gallery Index is done! Now the linkage doesn't work, but I've got the index page done! The rest can wait until tomorrow.

Sunday, May 14, 2006 B

"Gotta Crow II"
3:41pm

All the pages work! The Critter Gallery is done!

Now I'm ready for a nap!

Sunday, May 14, 2006 C

"The Curry Speaks"
8:22pm


Sunday, May 14, 2006 D

"A Flower We Need"
10:42pm

The latest 52 Figment:
5.7.06 :: [Part One] The world needs a new flower. Write a description of, but do not draw, your creation. [I will choose one and ask everyone to do their own rendering based on the description, so be specific!]

It is an edible flower with a fragrant, sweet smell. All aspects of it provide nutrition. It is so tasty, nobody wants to eat anything else. It is even better than chocolate, and it provides all nutrition, (except for water). The fields filled with it give a pleasant, but not cloying smell to the air.

One complete plant makes a meal. Cows and pigs can just live their own lives, no body is killing them for food anymore, for everybody wants only the tasty flower. Maybe the flower too is like the 'every flavor jelly bean' in the Harry Potter books. Just think of what flavor you want, and that flower becomes that flavor, sweet, salty, juicy, all of it.

Nine petals, each that can have its own flavor
three leaves, that will satisfy and provide all protein.
one stem, that will clear people's heads much better than caffeine
and the center,
the sweetest savor there.

I want this flower! I should add also, that when it makes us speak out our back end, (as in today's earlier picture), it makes only the nicest smell, that nobody minds smelling!

Monday, May 15, 2006

"Entrance to the Show"
8:12pm

Tuesday, May 15, 2006

"Unterwasserfotos"
9:18pm

I was fascinated by a link to "In pictures: Egypt's sunken treasures". I wanted to learn more, and followed another link to the Martin Gropius Bau, the Berlin museum which is hosting the exhibition. While there, I looked for pictures. Alas, while there, I found no picture gallery, but promise of "Unterwasserfotos" in the 'Katalog' they had for sale. Amused that I could read this word in German, I told Julia about the 'under water photos'. Naturally, Julia told me this similarity is because English has Germanic roots. After she said that, I'd remembered reading somewhere of this, but I quickly forgot it. And indeed, the earliest English has a "Germanic heritage in vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar"

Meanwhile, I wanted to see those 'Unterwasserfotos', and I kept digging until I found some. One of a deep sea diver investigating a stele with the royal insignia of the pharaoh Apries (589-570 BC) fascinated me, so I drew it:


You can see the Ankh, for 'life', and the Was scepter which symbolizes 'power'. The triangular symbol means 'to give', so this phrase means
'to give life and power'

(Note of May 17, 2006)
When I showed Julia this picture, she said the symbols look like they read 'ART'. I thought the same thing after I'd finished it.
Maybe good art DOES 'give life and power'.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

"Clues From the Past"
7:55pm

I felt so hot and tired when we came home, that I laid down and napped for quite a bit. I had some dreams which were rather vivid, but all I can remember is the phrase 'clues from the past'. This seems to relate to last night's drawing, and the comment Julia made on it this morning, which I added and thought about this morning. How can art 'give life and power'. So often, a moment is perserved, as in photography or the quick sketch. That moment 'lives' again when we remember it. Perhaps the Egyptians had something like this in mind when they wrote the following:

"Stars fade like memory the instant before dawn.
Low in the east the sun appears, golden as an opening eye.
That which can be named must exist.
That which is named can be written.
That which is written shall be remembered.
That which is remembered lives . . ."

- from the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.


He could be drawing, rather than writing...

If the art is 'inspirational', perhaps it 'gives power', too. So that is intriguing to think about. In this frame of mind, perhaps it's good to tackle that 52 Figments question: "Imagine you are eight years old again, dreaming of your future self. What did you want to be?"

9:49pm


Dreams from Childhood, forty years ago, more or less:
''I'm here to do great things, to make the world a better place.''

I say 'more or less', because the picture I drew from is of a FOUR year old me, and the specific memory to which this refers comes from a FIVE year old me. Like I say, 'more or less'.

(from my 'short bio')
"The most vivid early childhood memory occurred when I was about five years old. I remember well the golden checkered tablecloth, the lemon walls, the faintly tobacco yellowed refrigerator. It was Saturday. Saturdays were special. Dad didn't work on Saturday. He would often make fried egg sandwiches, with bacon garnish. They were delicious. I was enveloped in the aroma it produced, smoky, for he cooked with high heat. As I savored the sandwich, every sense so fully engaged, my mind also was engaged. Why was I here? Why are any of us here? There had to be a reason.

I looked at my Dad in his shorts and white T- shirt. Maybe he knew. I asked, ''Why am I here?'' This threw Dad for a loop, momentarily. He stammered and stuttered, ''Well, because we loved and wanted you.'' That was comforting, but not quite what I was asking. ''No, Dad, I mean, WHY am I here? Dad became really flustered, not quite believing a five year old was asking about the meaning of life. Suddenly, the answer came to me, with sparkling brilliance. ''I'm here to do great things, to make the world a better place. Oh, I know it!'' I felt triumphant with the coming of the answer. I looked forward with eagerness to all life had in store."

Then I was full of dreams. For a time I was beat down, but I'm learning again the power of dreams.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

"Beginning to Grasp the Questions"
7:33pm

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