tuesday... i think

I'm battered and bruised!

Not from the trip, mind. I tripped over a rather large bentwood rocking chair earlier, after contriving a route behind it to adjust the window opening. (It's a recent addition to the apartment so I suppose I'm not used to it being there yet)

The TRIP!
A whirlwind: Rochester, NY for the Christmas holidays - fun! And not even too cold, for upstate! Snow, ice skating, food, food, food, and family. The horses were furry and fat as they tend to get in winter. The nephews and nieces were in full form of pre-Xmas excitement. Made cookies with Mom, Jordan and Em. Xmas eve at Joe and Diana's-- a feast! Some last minute shopping with Dad and Jon, and Xmas was a big breakfast at the farm followed by another feast at my cousin Nancy's house.

On the 26th it was back to Newark airport and no layover onto a plane to Amsterdam Schipol airport, where Ben was waiting for me, as he'd gone there a few days earlier. Whoo hoo! Back in Amsterdam after only a year.; it was wonderful to return- with all its canals and beautiful old houses lining them-- it's magical. We had a chance to have a fun dinner with Gerhard and Eline while there. While in Amsterdam, we stayed at a very comfortable and sweet apartment, by way of a trade with friends of friends.

On the afternoon of the 30th we hopped a train to Münster, Germany to visit with Stork and Elena again, only this time for New Year's Eve (last year we were in Berlin for the change-over). Super fun; some bike riding around town to pick up provisions for New Year's Eve, which was a night was so foggy one could barely see a half block away. We had a great time watching fireworks in the nearby cathedral square after sharing a meal with their friends in the building- raclette style (a tasty prelude to Paris).

On the 2nd, we boarded an early train which took us from Münster to Cologne, at which point we switched for the Thalys to Paris. It was the first high speed train in Europe, and we had first class tickets, as they were cheaper than the 2nd class on the longer, traditional train ride (?!). Very nice. So, we arrived in Paris at around 4:30, checked into Hotel La Lousianne, then headed out for exploration and dinner! We walked to the Isle del Cite, as it was so close to our neighborhood, and caught part of a mass going on while we wandered through Notre Dame. That cathedral is impossible to wrap one's head around; believable that it took over two centuries to complete.

Paris Paris Paris! Five days there- all of them very full of wandering and exploring-- and eating, drinking... not smoking as much as I'd expected, however, as they'd enacted the no smoking in doors rule the very day before our arrival. :( Many cafes, however, still had plenty of outdoor seating, beneath striped awnings and heat lamps. Beautiful city-- endless lovely architecture and curlicued balconies... Amazing. We also had the good fortune of being able to catch up with two Brooklyn friends while there; Steve on Friday afternoon and evening, and Alex for lunch on Saturday.

After Paris, we trained back to A'Dam for one final afternoon of wandering and relaxing. We went to several of our favorite spots, and returned to our kind hosts' apartment for dinner with them (Marloes and Jurjen: they'd stayed at my apartment, and their friends at Ben's, for a week over New Year's)

Time to end this update, as I am on Amsterdam time, where it is approximately 3:30 am. There is an obscene amount of photographs from this trip; as time allows I will sort through and upload highlights and oddities to the flickr site (see link to the right). And, of course, there will be new imagery for jewelry...

away

i am abroad. This keyboard is awfully different to a US one. I will be away until Jan 9th, so if you've been looking for me, that's why I haven't been findable.

Sunday, winter.

A wet and dreary outlook, weather-wise, but a fine Sunday.

Wintermarket came off very well from the looks of it (a wonderful project I've lately become involved with, as a designer).

Ben and I had a lovely dinner and visit with a friend in Manhattan tonight.

On our walk between downtown and Union Square, I stopped in at a Rad Shack and found 1 gigabyte SD cards to be on sale for 13 bucks, which means I can shoot 3 times as many photographs before requiring a download to CD. Nice!

Starting tomorrow morning I have 4 days in which to accomplish very much; work-, jewelry-, gift- and prep-for trip- wise. T'will be an intense week. (Nothing new there.) The Holidays are upon us!

And now it is 12.20. Time for sleep.

.

post script : aquarium sold, and gone, as of Thursday evening. Strange. Bentwood rocking chair - found as of previous Monday- has filled aforementioned aquarium space in apartment. Odd the way things work out sometimes.

But I still miss Pi.

post post script : 143 etsians now hearting the electrofork shop.

Hark-- hail!

Cold stinging pellets are falling against my windows this morning.

Last night I was visited by some of the most intense, vivid and disturbing nightmares I've had in a very long time. (Not disturbing in any revelatory sense; just pure nonsensical surrealism that the subconscious mind so excels at, when it so chooses)

Vivid in color and texture- and also aurally vivid! I'd gone in and out of sleep, tossing and turning, drifting around and occasionally across the line of waking for what seemed hours if not days. The culmination was a semi-conscious moment at which I finally, starkly woke-- convinced I'd heard knocking at my windows, and noises away at the other end of the apartment. How could I know which noises I'd heard were dream-induced and which were real?! I was frozen in long moments of fear, until silence, wakefulness and the ongoing sounds of 5th avenue at night finally returned me to my senses (mostly).

Was it those slices from Pizza Town? Could it have been from too much coffee that morning? I will never know I'm sure, but I don't mind. I am awestruck by the occasional largess- gifts of excitement and mystery from the invisible realm.

I believe I failed to mention yesterday (in my brevity) that I had a simply awful time of going to pick up artwork from a gallery in the city. Well, awful is an exaggeration, but a frustrating afternoon nonetheless. Part of it was simple disappointment, too.

I am selling the tank- the aquarium and all its attendant accoutrement. Listed on Craigslilst a few days ago; I have a scheduled pick-up tonight which hopefully the weather will not hinder. The end of an era of large-fish husbandry for me, at least for awhile.

brevity

Heading back to Europe for a spell soon! Amsterdam will be our home base, again, with visits to friends in Munster, Germany again, and then... Paris! I've not yet been there, so that will be very exciting. We will have opportunities to see some Brooklynites in Paris, as well.

On the arts fron: Etsy is treating me very well so far- been selling loads of jewelry, so that has become something that takes up a fair amount of time. As a result, I have not done a drawing or painting in awhile. (Not a complaint; I just don't want to lose those things.)

Oh, holidays holidays holidays- this time of year is always a whirlwind!
That's my short update for now. More soon.

December Third notes

It's noon on a monday. I haven't showered or eaten breakfast; the apple is still in my fridge, only now there's also a fish in my freezer, too. His name was Pi, and he's been with me for a long time, as fish go. Years. His empty tank is still bubbling away with the filter on because I'm afraid if I turn it off the silence will be deafening. And my great aunt whom I've not seen in several years is dying in a nursing home upstate, and I didn't make time to see her over Thanksgiving.

Blustering wind outside, and bright sun.
Yesterday's snow has gone already.

bootleggers in Blighty

electrofork bootleg!

Forwarded to me from the Smokewagon boys (for whom this poster was designed, along with Rock City Crimewave): what looks to be a vinyl messenger bag adorned with my artwork! I'd love to find out where this is; all I was told is that it was taken in London. It's too bad they squashed the poor devil so much...

jewelry!

45 Etsians now calling electrofork a favorite, and I can't keep enough necklaces in stock to get past a single page of listed items! (not a complaint.) So, I have loads of new materials on the way and will be creating more necklaces, plus earrings (all sterling) as well as cufflinks (sterling and silverplate). Whoo hoo!

Now back to work.

november

Last night I had a couple zoomin' brisk bike rides along 5th avenue- to and from TL's treehouse. Nice! As of this evening, 27 people call my Etsy shop a favorite- also nice! Two more necklaces sold over the weekend.

So far November in the city has been brisk, but friendly. Smells of autumn abound. The heat is coming on as needed, but today it's good for having a window open. Pi is growing, diggin' his tank (which now has a living plant in it- it thrives on the acidity of Pi.)

All is well. New projects beginning.

Oh I didn't mention it here yet, but I had a real and proper birthday party for the first time in SO many years-- since Kelley and I were roommates!-- and it was so much fun. I knew a lot of folks wouldn't/couldn't make it, as that weekend is always coincidental with Halloween (and I wasn't exactly organized about the invitation process), but lots of folks still made it. So much fun! (I'll put another *thanks* here to Ben and TL, for helping me prep, serve and host-- and for adding so much to the night overall.) *

And now, on to winter, I suppose.

RIP DST

Oh how I hate the end of Daylight Savings Time!
Why must we switch back every autumn? Darkness at 5:30 has begun and I hate it!

Rrrggghhhh!

hmmmm

Bike ride to and through the park this afternoon, but the autumn colors there are scant as well.

seasonal

This time of year, now that the temperatures are feeling much more in keeping with our idea of seasons, makes it a difficult thing to get out of bed! The coziness of soft sheets, piled over with a down duvet; just too inviting. Discipline is required! Sheer will power!

This morning as I pulled myself reluctantly from the envelope of sleep and comfort, I smelled the tell-tale dustiness of radiator heat: winter is coming. Pi is always at his most energetic during these in-between months of coolness indoors (before the heat really gets going), being a cold water fish. He zooms around the tank, trying out impressive new moves; bending and arabesquing like one who knows he is being observed. (Well, he is, after all.)

Now if only the leaves would start to make fire with their colors.
I must try to get to the park; (surely there things are looking more aligned with the lateness of the year...)

strange sleep.

Wallet lost in a mall. Twice.

Some sort of expedition: the others who came along shifted, as situations in dreams are wont to do. An icy canoe-paddling approach to a grand shopping mall whose edges were lapped with icy water- some sort of Native American Experience tour tied into the Modern American Consumer Experience- aghast! The landing was an approximation of huts and shelters meant to emulate what life might have been like for up-north Winter Natives, but for us the ice was all synthetic, and we were not frozen and soaked through, as we would have been had we gone canoe-fishing and foraging back in the day we were meant to be imagining.

Beth and Chris were there in this part of the dream, as well as Kelley and perhaps a few other Baltimorons (as she says). We entered the mall at length, found ourselves amid the roiling chaos of a large cafeteria, planning next steps, or perhaps simply planning who wanted to split up and where to meet later on. A point found only Kelley and I remaining in our seats, and we both walked away-- to realize a few minutes later that we'd forgotten our bags. Rushing back to the scene, we found our things all still there, but strewn by thieves who'd only bothered with taking the cash and cards from our wallets, and our keys (for some reason). Relived to a point that the remainders of our belongings remained, we continued on.

Later I found I'd lost track of Kelley, too-- was wandering distractedly throughout the place, unable to get my bearings, or any sense of how the layout of the place worked. Lost. And later, having suddenly caught up with Bath and Chris at what I suspected was quite the other end of the place, I told them what had happened, and I think I then lost track of them again somehow.

Then a moment that felt like waking in the middle of wakefulness- to realize I had lost my possessions, again! No coat, no bag, no wallet- all hand-held items had gone, and me with no memory of how this second lapse had occurred. Quiet breathless panic, as I commenced to run throughout the massive mall, trying to retrace steps, looking everywhere in vain.

There was more to the story, and eventually (after a cousin of mine magically appeared and magnanimously hijacked the PA system to make an announcement of reward for the wallet), I did get at least my wallet back, for which I was grateful. But still at such a loss! My sketchbook, my coat, my bag- where was the rest of it all? I didn't want to appear ungrateful, but wished that the cousin had listened more carefully before making his announcement; had included other items in the list. After all, now the wallet was empty of cards and cash, little remained in it save useless things like a Key Food card and some receipts...

There was much more, but little in memory remains.

"The Listeners"

That was a phrase randomly chosen from a book: it was a title, in fact. Its influence led to some off-the-cuff writing followed by a painted drawing, both of which now share the title.

Now I am mid-stream on a similar painted drawing, except I haven't begun the painting part yet.