Le Petit Hôtel Jewelweed

What a long and lovely year it has been....

2009-12-06T02:33:35Z

I know I have said this before, but now it is time for business: I am back to blogging after a year of writing, making art, riding, taking art classes, and micro-blogging about it all on facebook.

My motivation: Tomorrow is the opening reception for my first ever group show as a visual artist, and I feel like it is time for me to stop being all hermitlike and start getting more Out There. I am nervous as hell-- the gallery is wonderful and the curator has been a dream to work with. I am in awe of the other artists, and am already feel that topsy-turvy feeling. It is time to get out of my shell. Also, I have missed you guys!

The exhibit is at Brickbottom Gallery. If anyone local wishes to come to the opening, check out the gallery website for info-- I will feed you baklava and champagne and dance around you when you arrive! If you can't make it tomorrow, we are having a free early music concert at the gallery on December 12th!

Here is one of my mixed-media pieces (pages from an altered book) which I've mounted in a dark shadowbox frame:

Riding Log: I am learning how to ride Icelandic horses with the lovely lyonesse

2009-02-12T18:48:58Z

I have wanted to do this for years, and now that I have some time on my hands and enough money to keep the wolves temporarily at bay, dammit, I am going to do this.

A couple of weeks ago, I signed on to take a eries of horseback riding lessons with lyonesse. I had my first lesson two weeks ago and meant to start my riding log then, but better late than never. Last week was bitter cold, too cold for the ponies. This week on the other hand we have a lovely thaw and all of the ice is melting so I am really looking forward to getting out there again.

First lesson:

lyonesse showed me how to put the bridle on the pony, mount, and we practiced starting, stopping, turning, and reviewed overall communication with the pony. I learned among other things that a panicky "Whoawhoawhoa...." sounds a little like the command to tolt, so I am learning not to do that. And not to panic. I rode bareback, which was delightful, and managed to not pull a Gimli (i.e., fall completely off) even when the pony jump over a snowbank.

Best part of the day was learning how to brush, groom, and massage the pony afterwards. His coat is delightfully shaggy and warm and he visiably loved having his ears rubbed.

More later. My plan for now is to go at least once a week-- much depend's on lyonesse's schedule and where she can squeeze me in.

Yay!

We Three Kings (every last lugubrious verse of it, sung by drunken pirates)

2008-12-24T16:02:36Z

My favorite Christmas song, thanks to dear Balthazar in that fourth verse:

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

My gothic heart just soars.

Snow is pouring down here in Upstate NY, and I wish I were home to walk about amid the soft flakes in Mount Auburn cemetery.

Merry Christmas to all!

Unrelated Note: Do any of my Boston area friends have *coughcough* Word for Macintosh software which I could *coughcough* borrow?

(Lemons) Pear Appears

2008-11-04T20:03:16Z

(Lemons) Pear Appears

If it's there, it's something --
And when you see it,
not just your eyes know it.
It's yourself, like they say, you bring.

These words, these seemingly rounded
Forms -- looks like a pear? Is yellow?
Where's that to be found --
In some abounding meadow?

Like likes itself, sees similarities
Everywhere it goes.
But what that means,
Nobody knows.

—Robert Creeley

Photo Booth is wonderful....

2008-10-03T00:11:17Z

The blur you see is Parvati in bad girl mode, trying very hard to steal my Humbolt Fog cheese while I hold her back, and being far too hell bent on dairy products to mug for the camera:

Oh, she does like that cheese. See the predator's determination!

Desperate Romantics!

2008-08-14T13:42:44Z

BBC Drama today announces that Desperate Romantics, a 6 x 60-minute drama, has been commissioned from BBC Drama Production for BBC Two for transmission in 2009/10.

Set in and among the alleys, galleries and flesh-houses of 19th-century industrial London, Desperate Romantics follows the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a vagabond group of English painters, poets and critics.

A relationship drama from the perspective of this iconoclastic group of dysfunctional male romantics, the series follows their lives and relationships as they shamelessly scheme and strive to find fame, fortune and success, as well as love and quite a bit of sex along the way.

Liberty in Torment-- Yeah, that's me dressed in green :-)

2008-08-08T01:14:12Z

Liberty
Originally uploaded by Jewelweed

The other weekend, I did some modeling for the lovely Ivana George. This is just a preliminary image. It is going to be part of a larger installation. I kind of threw my guts into the role. :-)

Aside from having to scrub the verdigris body paint off my body afterwards, it was a wonderful weekend. I sort of forgot that I had painted my nails red, but I think it works.

I want to do stuff like this more often.

The Catching Up Edition

2008-07-07T18:43:43Z

Older News: Kali is doing very well, has her appetite back and is eating like a very tiny truck-driver, and no longer seems inclined to hide in corners being sorrowful. I am still going to cat-proof the attic with window screen material and a staple gun though, per panjianlien's suggestions.

A brief stressful trip to the vet basically revealed that she was having a reaction to the antibiotics. After screening her to make sure there was no possibility of infection, the vet took her off that medication. We also determined that she was past needing the painkillers, so now she is back to just the tummy medicine and the appetite-perker-upper. We've also added very low doses of Prednisone and she seems to be improving.

Provincetown: Was glorious, though terribly crowded. I've found though that if you just avoid most of Commercial Street it is manageable. I spent another day trolling the art galleries on the East End (a lot of summer resort kitch interspersed with some texcellent paintings by contemporary artists, including a show of contemporary Chinese painters, and abstracts by Jeannie Motherwell).

NYC: Heat wave. I cooled my heels at the Turner exhibit at the Met and in the park and stayed at the funky Carleton Arms.

Maine: A long bike ride for me along the coast of Southern Maine. Stayed near Higgins beach where I hung out with a surfing labrador puppy (yes, his big people trained him to jump on a surfboard). Much fun ensued.

Last Weekend: Did a photo shoot with the lovely Ivana George who dressed me up as the statue of Liberty being tortured and interrogated while bound up in scraps of an American flag. It was remarkably fun, the only down side was that the green body makeup was bitch to take off. I will post one of the photos later. She is using it for a larger installation.

In Current News:

I really need a new job. This place is driving me around the bend. I have never in my life felt so much like a minion running around in a gerbil wheel, pushing around paper and spending more time documenting what what my job is than I spend actually doing it. I REALLY REALLY need to do something different with my life.

I am shamefully out of touch with drglam and lyonesse-- must do something about that ASAP

I'm going to a poetry slam this evening with d_roneous

Update on Her Divinity, Miss Kali

2008-06-26T19:12:11Z

She is in recovery.

They took all the biopsies they needed and predictably her lower intestine and liver looked the most serious. The good news is that it is all treatable once we know what is causing all this. Treatment is likely to involve steroids. I'll learn more about that later.

However because she is such a tiny kitty with almost no body fat (this is part of the whole problem) she became very cold during the procedure, more so than they usually run into. They kept her bundled up in heated blankets in the recovery area with a nurse by her side taking her vital signs every few minutes. I just received word that her temperature is finally almost back to normal and she is lively enough now to have growled at the nurse who took her blanket away in order to replace it with a fresh warm blanket.

She has her pain patch on and will have more pain medication and antibiotics to take, as well as more medication for her lower intestine. Partly because she is so tiny her recovery will probably be a little slower than a more robust chubby kitty would experience, so this weekend will involve much in the way of warm Irish wool blankets, snuggles, and treats brought to her bedside.

She is wearing the Elizabethan Ruff now, which alas means much wounded dignity, so, yeah, more nose kisses and treats.

Damn, after all this I hope her condition improves.

Kali the Mysterious

2008-06-26T13:44:00Z

Speaking of Turkish Heart Throbs....

2008-06-24T15:47:32Z

Here is the one and only Tarkan, the one who made all my students go "Sqqqqqueeeeee!" back when I was living in Turkey:

I'd say "yum yum" but I learned the hard way that that has a very different meaning in Turkish. :-) Heheh.

Bulent Ersoy is Facing Charges in Turkey for criticizing the Military

2008-06-24T14:10:28Z

Turkish singer on trial for criticizing army service

Bulent Ersoy faces more than 2 years in prison for saying during a live television show that if she had children, she would not send them to the army to fight Kurdish rebels. [MORE]

I know this is not on everyone's radar, but Bulent Ersoy is something of a phenomenon in Turkey, and this is a big deal there.

Ersoy began her career as a male singer, became something of a heart throb, and then in 1981 made headlines when she transitioned, one of the first public figures in Turkey to do so.

In the eighties, she had significant problems with the Evran regime especially during Turkey's military coup-- In a crackdown on "social deviance," Ersoy's public performances were banned along with those of other transsexual and transgendered people.

You can visit her website at Diva Bulent Ersoy, where there are a lot of clips of her performances (can't watch them myself right now since I am supposed to be working...)

Parvati: looking very, very serious

2008-06-18T18:23:44Z

Constant Vigilance!

This is an intensely focused Parvati, on duty guarding the house from all those birds who keep coming to my windowsill to eat the sunflower seeds I put out for them.

Yes, BIRDS. O.O

She wants everyone to know she is *very* hardworking and will not let them out of her sight for a moment. The birds want you to know that they have absolutely no fear when it comes to sunflower seedy goodness.

I took this picture with my phone. Not blurry at all! Why can't my camera pictures to look at least this crisp?

I took some pictures of Kali as well, but she looked very cross in the pictures since I woke her from her nap.

.

On Margaret Edson, W;t, Ruth Mortimer, Frankenstein, Rare Books, and The story of Santa Guglielma

2008-06-18T14:20:09Z

A recent post by kylecassidy made me deeply wistful. There is a production of Margaret Edson's play W;t going on right now in Philadelphia, starting Susan Giddings, which is by all accounts awesome. I never actually got to see this play staged. I saw the film with Ellen Thompson of course, and read the script-- but I never seem to be in the same city where it is actually being staged.

Maggie Edson was a classmate of mine at Smith. Well, actually, I was one of many worshipful freshmen who were deeply in awe of her talent. During my freshman year she completed a massive project as a Smith Scholar translating and staging The story of Santa Guglielma by Antonia Pulci, the fifteenth century Italian author of three well known religious plays of the period (a genre known as "sacre rappresentazione" plays which were staged by confraternities, laymen's organizations affiliated with churches or religious houses).

Edson's project was a labor of love, like nothing I had ever seen but was actively dreaming about when I set off for college in 1982. The production itself was staged much as it may have been in the fifteenth century, a great pageant involving many, many people. I remember workshops on costuming, on the making of period rosary beads, and my writing tutor Marcia Williams printed an exquisite letterpress edition of the translation ¹ (her press was the Charissima Press, and I recently found a copy for sale online).

Ruth Mortimer, curator of the Rare Book Room at the William Allan Neilson Library (which was later named for her after she died way too young) and a specialist in sixteenth-century French and Italian books, was her adviser and mentor, and Maggie dedicated the work to her ².

Word has it (I read this in an interview with Maggie, though I don't remember where) that years later, after Maggie wrote W;t, she contacted Ruth-- only to find out that she was recently diagnosed with a very inoperable form of cancer and was dying. Such a strange irony given what the play is about. So although the main character was not in fact based upon Ruth (Maggie actually drew from her experiences working in a hospital while she was in Graduate school ³), for people who knew Ruth it is deeply infused with her brilliance and spirit.

kylecassidy and trillian_stars graciously invited me to come down and see the play-- unfortunately it is only playing until 6/28, and due to other commitments and especially Kali's upcoming biopsy (I will need to be with her on paw-holding duty that weekend) I don't think I will be able to make it.

Damn. I hope though that I will be able to meet you guys (and Roswell!) in some other context some other time. You really made my heart shine yesterday, and I just wanted to thank you for that! :-)

¹ This was a watershed moment for me: it was when I pretty much fell in love with the books arts, and when it occurred to me that I could in fact start my own literary magazine and simply print it myself and make it all really beautiful. Two years later the first letterpress edition of the Green Age Review rolled off of the pressed, the type set by myself and my then boyfriend Arthur Larson using borrowed type and donated paper.

² While curator, ruth was also instrumental in obtaining the Sylvia Plath Collection and the Frances Hooper Collection of Virginia Woolf. She also taught a course in the art department on the history of books and printing, which utilized the Rare Book Room's holdings. The rare book collection was named in her honor in 1994. She was also a scholar on the works of Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein collection now has a place in the Rare Book room.

³From the Wit Guide, linked in the first paragraph of this post: "Edson, for a while, thought that she would earn a doctorate and pursue a career as an academic, much like Vivian Bearing. In 1991, Edson began a Masters program in literature at Georgetown University. While completing her degree, she volunteered at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church to tutor a boy from the Dominican Republic. By the time she came to write her thesis, she knew academe was not for her. Her thesis project, on the use of poetry to teach reading, concluded with an oral defense in which Edson performed a Queen Latifa rap number before her faculty review panel. Song and poetry are now integral to her teaching in the kindergarten classroom.

Okay, I am sort of new to digital cameras....

2008-06-16T02:28:17Z

I am not at all sure how to sharpen this image, but this is a start.

Below are some snaps taken on Crane's Beach this weekend where I lounged and ate strawberries with martha_m
The self-portraits were basically me pointing the camera at myself blindly and clicking. I need to find a better method--this one resulted in me having to delete dozens of shots of my shoulder (I kept a few since they made my shoulders look cute).

Picture taking advice is welcome!

Happy Birthday !

2008-06-12T14:20:15Z

Many happy returns, lovely erzebet!

Fitness Filter: Gym Bunny Goodness

2008-06-11T18:37:14Z

I had my first meeting with my personal trainer Danny....

First of all, he is awesome. We reviewed a lot of things and he spent a lot of time watching how I stand, lunge, pick things up, sit down etc. to see where my muscles are potentially wonky. First thing he said: "I can tell you work at a desk most of the time-- it's these muscles here, your lats that are causing your head to push forward. We'll work on them."

We talked about goals (strength! balance! trade in 15 lbs of fat for 15 lbs of muscle! yay!) and he nodded vigorously when I told him that I wanted to be careful about my knees. Throughout the work out he spent a lot of time making sure that I was aligning myself properly and using the correct muscles.

All good so far:

Leg Extension (using one of the machines but not raising my leg too high): 35lbs, 10-15 reps | 35lbs, 10-15 reps | 50lbs 10-15 reps
Plank Posture (those who do yoga know this one): Hold for thirty seconds, then rest. Then another 30 seconds, then rest. then a full minute. Don't laugh-- this is harder than it looks.
Pushups (he showed me a special way to do these and now I am flaking.... arghhhh!): 8 | 8 | 10
Bench Press! (we worked using the 45 lb rod without any weights on it, then switched to the 35 b rod. Clearly I am a lightweight): 35lbs 15 reps | 35 lbs (with legs up and bent a) 15 reps | 35 lbs with legs up as you would do in Pilates 15 reps (Damn I hope I am remebering this right....)
Walking Lunges (reeeeeally lunging forward and taking great care to align my knees the right way): 10 steps per leg | 10 steps per leg | 10 steps per leg
Lat Pulldown (using the machines): 15 | 12 | 10 (increase weight as the number of reps decrease)
Seated Row: 15 | 12 | 10 (increase weight as the number of reps decrease)
Overhead Press: 15 | 12 | 10 (increase weight as the number of reps decrease)
Double Overhead press: 15 | 12 | 10 (increase weight as the number of reps decrease)

Warm up with an hour of cardio beforehand. More stuff next week.

Yum!

Kitty Cocaine

2008-06-09T19:28:27Z

One of the medications little Kali has to take (this one to perk up her appetite since she is now tinier than her sister-- something I never thought possible) makes her... ummmm... a little hyper. She becomes very, very vocal, sitting on my chest, batting my face and meowing urgently.

I really wish I could just ASK HER what's up. Clearly she wants to tell me something. It has the desired effect at least-- she has been eating like a truck driver, and is pushing 6.5 lbs.

This Thursday i take her in for the biopsy. Then it is recovery time, which has me stressed out. I need to make some sort of ramp or step for her to use so that she can get on the bed without having to leap and use her abdominal muscles. Other people though have told me that kitties recover rather quickly from these things, so maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.

This should be the last of it though-- once they have the biopsy, I have been assured that the next step will be to pinpoint the right medication and get her on the road to recovery.In other news, this evening is my first session with Danny my trainer, who will get me set up with strength training. I will post the details on my Fitness filter!

Now I have no excuse not to get back to my writing....

2008-06-05T13:36:41Z

Thank you so much, erzebet! I feel deeply honored.

A long, long writer's block finally cracks to pieces and come to an end. The poem I gave you is part of a group-- so I guess I have no choice now but to finish the whole series. Yikes.

This feels fabulous!

Baby Bird happiness explosion

2008-05-27T17:27:17Z

After a long weekend spent with my nephews back home in upstate NY, I came home to a garden that was gasping for water and which seemed to have doubled in size. The bleeding heart bush is massive and dripping with heart shaped blossoms, the irises are coming up, lilies are springing, the alpine strawberries are knee-deep, and (WTF?) my daffodils are still in bloom. Yes, photos are coming.

As I was watering the garden though, I began to hear an exuberant birdsong coming from the shaded area where I planted all of the lily of the valley, wake robins, and wood anemone.

Low and behold, a baby cardinal was hanging out among the flowers learning how to fly. He must have been too young to understand that Big People are very scary and to be avoided, because he was perfectly cheerful and continued singing, hopping around, and fluttering his wings even when I sat down less than two feet away from him. I held very still and watched him for about ten minutes. I finally put away the garden hose, fetched a glass of wine from the house, and then settled down nearby as he hopped around and fluttered his wings, then succeeded in flying up to a low branch, then down again, then back up, then down again for some extended cheeping and fluttering, and then finally the grand finale flew ZZZZIIIIIIPPPPP up and away into the taller trees.

I love it that my garden has become a home to such things.

Moss!!

2008-05-17T01:00:02Z

I have always wanted a mossy garden, and always thought that if I actually owed a place someday I would ditch the grass completely and just fill the yard with plants rocks, and glorious MOSS filling in the spaces.

Problem is, how does one willfully grow moss? I've never figured out the right way to do that. Transplanting one clod at a time just didn;t seem to cut it.

Well, the key, according to Moss Acres, is crappy soil, acidity, a bit of moisture, and moss spores. And a blender. Take some moss and chop it up with a bit of water and beer or buttermilk and this stuff called "slurry". This adds the acidity moss likes.

Then, spread the green slime over some bare soil or rocks, mist with water now and then and wait a while. You'll end up with a beautifully varied carpet of green that you don't have to mow. And yes, it works on vertical surfaces. It also sounds like there is great potential for a highly original art car in this.

So who wants to go for a walk with me and gather up some varieties of moss? I have some Chimay. It's a rainy weekend, a fine time to be mad scientists with a blender.

Wine Tasting anyone?

2008-05-15T16:23:30Z

The Smith College Club of Cambridge is holding a wine tasting at the end of the month, May 29th, 5;30-7:30pm. It should be a light-hearted and lovely event.

I want to go with a date. :-) Or maybe two or three or four because I am like that!

Tickets are only $25 and it all goes to a good cause, the scholarship fund!

Anyone interested?

Soup recipes, courtesy of the Vegetarian Epicure

2008-05-08T13:42:55Z

WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH BEET GREENS

You start this by making Tuscan White Beans with Sage and Garlic - then you add some things, puree some things, and it becomes a heavenly soup. I give the instructions for the beans from the beginning so you don't have to go looking for the other recipe.

I prefer to use the green tops of golden beets in this soup. You could also use green chard. Whichever you use, be sure the greens are firm and glossy.

1 lb. small white beans (dried)
1 head garlic, separated and peeled
2 tsps. crumbled dried sage leaves
salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large bunch beet greens, about 12 oz.
4-6 cups light vegetable broth*
fresh ground black pepper
lemon juice

Put the beans into a large, heavy-bottomed pot and add about two quarts water, the garlic cloves (reserving one), the sage, and two or three teaspoons of olive oil. Bring the beans to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer them gently until they are tender. This could take anywhere from two to five hours, depending on the age of the beans. During this time, check the beans occasionally, and add water as needed to keep the beans well covered. When the beans are almost tender, add a teaspoon of salt.

Cook the chopped onions gently in a tablespoon of olive oil, stirring often, until they are evenly light brown, soft and sweet.

Wash the beet tops thoroughly, cut off any large or tough stems, and coarsely chop the greens or cut them into 1-inch strips. Chop the reserved clove of garlic, heat it in 2 teaspoons olive oil, and add the beet greens, tossing them in the hot oil until they wilt.

When the beans are perfectly tender, scoop out about a cup and a half of them and reserve them. Add the caramelized onions to the remaining beans and bean broth, along with about two cups of the vegetable broth. Puree this mixture in a blender, in batches, until it is smooth and creamy.

Pour the puree back into the pot and add the reserved white beans, the sauteed beet greens, and two to four cups more of the vegetable broth - enough to get the consistency you like in the soup.

Season the soup with fresh ground black pepper, more salt if needed, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

SPRING GREEN SOUP

This is a very satisfying dish, warm and filling on a blustery March day, yet full of the wonderful fresh taste of spring.

1 bunch firm, glossy turnip greens (from baby turnips)
1 bunch firm, glossy beet greens (same)
4 cups baby spinach leaves
1 small bunch feathery fennel greens
6 green onions
a few new potatoes (about 1/2 lb.)
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 cup sliced leeks, white and light green
2-3 cups light vegetable broth
optional: fresh lemon juice

As always, wash all the greens thoroughly and cut away any tough stems, if there are any with these tender young vegetables. Slice up the green onions, including all the tops. Scrub and cut up the potatoes.

Put the potatoes and greens into a soup pot with enough water to cover and a generous sprinkle of salt, and bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat and let the vegetables simmer until they are tender, about twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan, add the chopped onions and leeks, and cook over very low heat, stirring often, until nicely caramelized. Add the onions and leeks to the soup, simmer everything together for about ten minutes, then add vegetable broth to your taste.

Puree the soup in a blender, in batches, and return it to the pot. Taste, and correct the seasoning with a little more salt, and some pepper. If you like, you can add a few drops of fresh lemon juice, but I prefer this particular soup with very little acidity.

Serve hot, garnished with crumbled queso fresco or mild feta.

It's my Birthday....

2008-05-06T19:32:07Z

And I am celebrating quietly over lavender martinis (or perhaps their new concoction "Violet Femmes") with the usual suspects at that fine den of iniquity, OM in Harvard Square. Mrrreeooow.

In other news, my garden is a exploding with wonderful things to come and today I saw a bright red cardinal who I hope I can coax into hanging around. I am going to be up to my armpits in irises this summer. Who me, complaining? :-) I'm also focused on developing a deep shade garden with lily of the valley, wood anemones, solomon's seal and wake robins.

Speaking of martinis..... What's a birthday without the lovely Dita Von Teese? Provided here for your viewing pleasure:

If this is true, why aren't more of my friends rich?

2008-04-04T13:28:22Z

Seriously, dude. Show me the way:

A few years ago, I was complaining to a fellow writer about my inability to find a publisher for my second novel. It was a fairly typical outpouring of frustration and incomprehension at the state of British publishing. "Have you ever thought of writing porn?" he asked. "It's easy to get published, and you sell a lot of books." As these are the only words that a writer ever really wants to hear, I rushed home and embarked without much thought on a filthy homosexual rewrite of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, entitled The Low Road. I tossed it off in about a month, and it was duly published by the gay porn imprint Zipper Books.