Meow-Meow Update

When we went to Hudson, Daya wanted to visit her cat-friend Clapton, aka Meow-Meow, who used to squat on Dru's porch and yell incessantly.

Daya LOVES Meow-Meow.

He was relocated to Animal Kind, the cat rescue/shelter right across the street a while ago.
He loves it there.
He is so happy, in fact, that he has stopped yelling constantly.

Daya is happy that he is well and safe.

It was wonderful of Animal Kind to let us back into the no-visitors area just so Daya could see him.

Such a strange and distinctive kitty face!

He enjoyed having a visitor

And the whiteboard just because it is cute

Sissy Meow

Dru's cats Emo and Doran are HUGE boy-cats.
But they don't sound like it!

Emo in particular has a very girly meow.

NOTE: Both Doran and Emo are...... how to say this nicely.... really dumb. Which is part of their charm. Emo is the smarter of the two. Their sister Harvey lives with Branwen. Harvey (the girl-cat) and Doran share a brain. At least Emo has a mind of his own, even if he hasn't really figured out how to use it. Neither Emo nor Doran purr.  My theory is that they haven't figured out how.  Dru says that is entirely possible.

The Saga of the Green Pastel

Sketch was open during Winter Walk, I shouldn't even have to mention that we went there.
First, if I remember correctly.

The wonderful thing about Sketch is that they carry open stock Diane Townsend pastels.  That's because Diane lives in Hudson.  I would really love to meet her one day.

So of course I went straight over to the open stock.
Immediately, I saw this really fantastic perfect green pastel.

Look at it.

 Sooooo......Pretty.........

However, I decided to STAY STRONG.  I told myself that I probably have that color in my (large) pastel collection. I didn't really need it. So I took that picture so I could remember it and stare at it.

*********
On Sunday, we went out for brunch and local shopping.
When I had made all my mandatory stops (Verdigris, Savor the Taste, Tradewinds), I told Dru that I had fulfilled my Hudson Destiny.
I felt good.

Except.

That green pastel.
I could not get it out of my mind.
I needed it after all.

Hey, I held strong for about 18 hours.

So I exceeded my Hudson Destiny and got the green pastel.
I also got 7 friends for it because I didn't want it to get lonely during travel.
The more the merrier, right...?

Mad ACEO: How Lovely are Thy Branches

Carey was waxing poetic this week.
But it is an excellent theme.

Pastel on colorfix primed bristol
2.5 x 3.5"

with iridescent senns!

Carey's are here! 

Winter Walk

Dru is my friend which makes me extremely lucky.
She said "Come up for Winter Walk."
I said "Ok."

So Daya and I went.

Winter Walk was just lovely.  The weather this year was perfect.

Oh wait.  Pause.

I forgot to say what the heck Winter Walk is.

Winter Walk is an annual winter festival on Warren St in Hudson.
The shops are open late and there are horses and reindeer and alpacas.
So it is a good time.

Here are some pictures.

The Art Supply Store

Very Important Place

Purple Icicles

The Grinch

Traditional Holiday Jellyfish

Warren Street

from

Two-Horse Open Cart

Tree by freight train tracks

Wonderfully floofy and huge puppy

Reindeer who didn't give a shit about people

Little kitten-cat at Animal Kind

Anyone who dresses up in a bodysuit cat costume

is forever awesome

                           

Alpacas who didn't give a shit about people

Alpacas R Us

I desperately want a pet alpaca

Cool display with purple lights

Purple holiday lights

Going to The Second Show

is pretty much mandatory

Sign

Cool Window

Other Part of Cool Window

Alpaca

Fireworks

What Would I Say?

My amazing, beautiful, and wonderful friend Joss Rossiter (Soulbrush) posted a status update on Facebook the other day.  She had a rough time growing up, but she wanted to tell her younger self that things get better.

*****
I often think of what I would tell my right-now self to my young-self.

It's not good, to be honest.
I would have to be honest and tell my younger self that it doesn't get better, no matter what.
It isn't worth it.
It goes from bad to worse then back to bad.
It truly isn't worth it, things do not change no matter what, no matter how much work you put into trying to make things better.
Hope and faith pointless. They only serve to self-soothe and cope by denying current reality.

I wish I knew that 20 years ago.

All those questions that, back then, I wanted to ask my future self- well the answer to them is "Nope, it isn't going to happen. It doesn't get better."

I don't know what I would have- or even could have done differently with the knowledge ad resources I had.  I don't look back and regret decisions for the most part. Because I don't know what I would change them to. What, at those times, I could have changed those decisions to.

****
NOTE: This has nothing to do with Daya. She's fine. I maintain everything she needs. This is about my own personal journey. Daya is not responsible for me. She is growing up and will have her own life. Her life is as separate or buffered from my past and present issues as it can be.

Also, again not about Daya- my personal journey of parenting has been incredibly crappy and deeply sad on all the adult levels except work. It has nothing to do with Daya and it is not because of her.

The 5 Train

This is a video from when Daya and I went to Boo at the Zoo at the Bronx Zoo last October.  I meant to post it here but I forgot.  In keeping with the train theme from yesterday, here is the Manhattan-bound 5 train arriving at West Farms Square/East Tremont Ave in the Bronx.

The 2 and the 5 go there. We can take either train.  Daya likes to go to the end of the platform in above-ground stations to watch the train come in.  The 2 arrived first but my camera ran out of juice and I didn't get the video. Daya wanted to wait for the next train just to get the video. I changed the camera battery and we were good to go.

It actually ended up being a good decision because there was some problem on the 2 line in Manhattan and we avoided it and got home faster.

The train is pretty empty in the video because we were close to the end of the line.  It filled up quickly.

Track Inspection

Yesterday afternoon I saw this extremely cool Track Inspection Car at 14th street on the Uptown 2/3 track.

I want to ride in it.
I want to drive it.
I want to know for what it is inspecting and how it inspects.
I want to inspect the tracks, too!

There are *blinds* in the windows!

It is a smallish car, maybe the same size or even smaller than a regular subway car.

I want to ride

in the

Track Inspection Car

About Nothing

It is Wednesday night and I need a post for tomorrow (Thursday).
It is difficult sometimes to come up with content for this no-real-theme-blog.
But I like posting every day.

I was going to come home and do a pastel painting on Pastelmat (which is supremely amazing paper oh my gosh), and I still might do it but I have to leave in a half hour to get Daya from dance and I don't feel like starting something then getting up.  And once I get Daya home I have to make dinner And then go out again for a little while soooo...

The painting might get started but I doubt it will get finished.

It has been raining all day.

Pebbles is in the box and hasn't even so much as looked at me since I have been home. Isis and Furball have both said hello very nicely.

My next door neighbors have a piano right on the other side of our shared wall which irks me because it is loud and I can hear it everywhere in my apartment, even underwater in the bathtub.  Someone over there plays, they are pretty good actually except they only play two songs. And I do mean the same two songs for the last year and a half which was when they got the piano.

It is very strange.

Oh, Fran asked if I will still blog every day next year.
Probably. Why not.

Mostly Dead

Last Saturday evening, I killed my kindle.

I carefully packaged it in a (slightly-used) ziplock bag and brought it with me for a nice hot soak in the bath.  I meant for me to soak, not the kindle. It fell in the bath.  PLONK.  I didn't worry too much because it was in the ziplock bag.

I fished it out and carried on as usual. When I removed it from the ziplock it was very wet. That slightly-used ziplock was not water-tight. Damn.

The kindle sat in front of my heater for over 24 hours to dry out. It really seemed to be ok. I charged it.

On Monday, it was not charged after having charged all night.  Hmmmm.  But it seemed ok other than having a low battery. Then it went to the critical battery screen.  I did...I don't know how many hard resets. It was charged with a wall outlet.  The light comes on but no one is home.

It will not charge. When I plug it in, the light comes on. So there's something there, it is not all-dead...just "mostly dead".

For all intents and purposes, it means I needed a new Kindle.

 --insert expletives here--

I can't be without my reads. No.
So I got another Kindle.  Amazon does same-day delivery here! I made the cutoff by 40 minutes.

Goodbye old Kindle Paperwhite. (I think.*)  :(

See how the light is on?

Is it a zombie Kindle now?

*********

*I said to Daya, "If it ever comes back to life, it is yours."

She said, "But it doesn't work."

I said "Nope."

She said "So really, you're giving me nothing."

I said, "That's right."

********
I was lamenting my Kindle's semi-death with my fellow Pastel forum staff members on Wetcanvas.... And Dierdre made this guilt-inflicting image....

Mad ACEO: Salt

This week's theme is salt.

I painted salt flats with pastels and...salt.

All are 2.5 x 3.5"
Bristol with colorfix primer
Various salts

Pastel with white sea salt

Pastel with pink cabernet salt

Pastel with marroon merlot salt

Carey's are here!

Season

Mo's column was good this week.


The Holiday month has officially begun and the time has come to discuss the green and red elephant in the room - namely complex, seasonal emotions.

No matter how Holly, Jolly the season is, there's bound to be a sleigh-full of emotions as well. This is due to the what this time of year represents, and has represented in then past, to each of us. Some people love the holidays. Others hate them. Some people love to hate the holidays, while some simply hate the holidays and hate that as well. It's a complicated time of year, but it doesn't have to be miserable.

*********
I just now realized why commercials demanding that we purchase new cars and expensive diamonds annoy me. It's because I take the season seriously and I don't want it to be about the price of the gift, or guilt and that's exactly what's being shoved down our throats. Playing emotions for greed is sinister.

***********

Yes.

***********
This doesn't have to be a hard time of year, but looking at it realistically is important. The season is bound to be sprinkled with stress, irritations, joy, anticipation, competition, insecurity, hopes, wishes and dreams, as well as an occasional letdown, disappointment or bout of self-pity. It's this intense roller coaster that helps make it what it is, a wondrous and magical time of the year.
Stuff happens. We live in a world where stuff happening is a daily occurrence. While some stuff is worse than others. It's our ability to love the season, in spite of the stuff, that can make it so special. The key is to accept our reality and love our lives, tarnished tinsel and all.

Feel your emotions completely, without censoring yourself. Give your ups and downs as much latitude as they need. Experience your feelings to the depths of your soul and while you're at it, remember that everyone else is doing it too.

*******
This has been a hard year on many levels, and the holidays, well, I just wish they were over.

Daya is having good experiences and that's what matters.

As for me, it is yet another year of getting over hard things. I have really, really had enough. I just want it all to be over.

Random Macros

Here are some random macro pictures from around my apartment.
My macro lens is really fun.

Pebbles Whiskers

Furball Whiskers

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Black Lava Salt

Cabernet Salt

Merlot Salt

Christmas Tree Tip

Furball's Chance

Furball got to sit in the box! For about 20 seconds, but still.

But Furball has discovered that she can hide under the tree, which she likes better than the box.

Furball's Hideout

Tree

This year we got a new tree. I have always put up a tree for Daya, but it has been a little tabletop tree. NYC apartment and all. Our little tree is cute and white.

But this year I thought it might be nice to get a new tree. Daya picked one out and she chose well. It is a 7 ' tall tree and it has snow and pine cones, which we both like.

Daya is very happy with her tree.

Another Thanksgiving

It is another Thanksgiving.

It is good that the country takes a day off to, in theory, have gratitude. It is a good holiday.

Mostly, I'm tired of holidays. I go through them and get through them.  The time between them seems to get shorter and shorter every year The commercialism drains them of their meaning.  Buy this, buy that! Now!  Black Friday is obnoxious. All this holiday commercialism is obnoxious.

So, Thanksgiving.  Yeah.
I'm thankful for all the obvious stuff.  Health, Daya is doing well, job. And I know these are all significant things.

But otherwise, it is just another day to get through.

*********
I wonder a lot why some people have things, blessings, family, people, in their lives and others do not.
Though I suppose humans have wondered this through all ages in every culture.
There isn't really an answer for it.
It is a true life reality that we are not always taken care of, Needs are not met, and things just don't work out. There aren't answers. We can only change ourselves; never other people. We can never make other people want to be with us. And often that has absolutely nothing to do with us at all, it isn't something we can change in ourselves.

I wish I knew what it is that causes another person to want to be with someone else. What it is within a person that makes someone else want to be with them.
Not in a need-based parasitical way, or grudging obligation; I want to know what causes a person to want to be with someone else just because they want to.

Whatever it is, I don't think I have it.