As we prepare to move for the 6th time in 23 years, seven if you count our most recent move up from one upper-floor unit to another up even higher in this downtown loft building, we’ve been watching a lot of HGTV. We’ve been downtown lofters, something new for us, for nearly 4 years and have grown accustomed to panoramic views, elevators, and life without either Home Depot or Lowes. This will all change…or maybe it won’t.
Real estate and rental property ads. Those who write them should accommodate or at least consider the learning styles of those of us who take things literally.
I believe that even Santa fantasizes about cutting loose on a John Deere, no GPS, on the open field.
SAD NOTE: I used to sell a small greeting card featuring this image on my Redbubble page . Pretty sure I sold 11 copies…worldwide! No, just checked: I sold 14 greeting cards and one t-shirt!!! Earned $11.74 (USD)!! On April 4, 2019 Redbubble notified me that they received a complaint from Deere & Company alleging my artwork violated their rights; consequently, Redbubble removed it. A spokesperson from Santa Clause declined to comment.
Merry Christmas, hear!
Dear friends of ours organized a Winter Solstice Feast last Saturday to honor the longest night of the year. Invited guests were purposefully asked to show up before nightfall to enjoy what remained of the afternoon’s daylight. Libations, delicacies, introductions, and dialogue intertwined, and before we knew it, daytime had become nighttime, and we were partially marinated and satiated works in progress.
We had been given a few questions in advance to reflect upon and instructed to bring a candle. The questions amounted to an invitation to embrace the winter solstice and to consider harnessing it as a potential turning point. The candle, my favorite part, served to dramatize the extinguishing of what hasn’t been working so well and the ignition of what might work better. This is how I recall it.
We have two lives – the one we learn with and the life we live after that.
Bernard Malamud
It took some real carpentry skills to diagram sentences back in the day, didn’t it? Not only did you need to know grammar, but then you had to build a contraption on which each and every part of speech could rest in suspended animation indefinitely, correctly, and comfortably! It wasn’t easy. Imagine building this one!!!
I added this image/poem on Dec. 18, 2024 because I believe it helps deepen our understanding and appreciation of grammar and the architecture of expression.
“I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences.”
― Gertrude Stein, Lectures in America (1935)
Cowboy and I have been dropping Ann off at the Des Moines International Airport (DSM) pretty frequently over the last few months. This morning was no exception; although, we had a few extra minutes to gulp down coffee at home because she was somehow randomly selected for TSA Pre✓™, i.e., expedited screening. It’s the little things in life that make the biggest difference.
Actually, she wasn’t dragging a wheeled tote, because today’s round trip will end before midnight, theoretically.
Ann’s definitely no stranger to the friendly skies as illustrated in the following documentary from September 2011 of her first flying lesson:
When I first saw him on TV pacing along the sideline, I thought, now there’s someone who would look perfectly natural walking around with a go cup, which isn’t as easy as it used to be in New Orleans! Rob Ryan, the current defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, has attracted quite a bit of attention from people of all ages.
I’ve been running around with this image in my head for far too long. It’s time I let it fly away! I should point out that I am now following @RobRyansHair1 and @RobsStomach1 on Twitter.
My Spanish is rusty. I still love listening to it and reading it, but nowadays, when I open my mouth, there’s no telling what’s going to come out. Tell you the truth, I guess that goes for English too!
Thought it would be fun to do a one, long, crooked line drawing, and then go back with just a little color. The subjects are the Parranderos Latin Combo, who performed last night at the Moberg Gallery in Des Moines, IA to raise additional money for their upcoming trip to record an album in San Juan, Puerto Rico with Grammy award winning producer, Ramon Martinez. My friend Fernando Aveiga, musician entrepreneur, animates this project in collaboration with a constellation of co-stars.
A few days ago I posted this core drawing for which I had a couple of other versions. I went with the theocentric version. So I put them together in iMovie for the “hell” of it.
Might want to go “full screen” on this so the text doesn’t get chopped off.
portfoliolongo 
