Many Windows

Yesterday we went looking at the windows at Macys and up 5th ave, and the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Macys Charlie Brown windows

this window was interactive- you can play the piano!

Lord and Taylor

Daya liked the mirrors at the sides which made her hands go on for infinity.

The tree in daylight.
We will go back to see it at night.
Pictures never convey just how huge the tree is.

Daya got a Himalayan kitten at American Girl for her dolls. 

She named it -(sorry, her)- Fuzzball.

Mas Sajady

There is a guy named Mas Sajady who is a frequency/energy/spiritual healer or something like that. To be honest I don't know much about him.  But my friend ----- met him at an expo and she told me he is amazing.

She knows how deeply bleak I have been and forwarded an email about a healing event he was hosting here in NYC this weekend.
She said I have to go.

I looked at it and said "-----, no way. It costs $A,lot.00.  It's not going to happen."
---- said, "You have to go. One second."
And she handed me $A,lot.00 in cash, just like that.
I said, "No way.  I can't take this."
---- said, "Yes you can.  Go register."
I said, "I can't argue with you, can I."
---- said, "No."
I said, "You're insane."
---- said, "Ok."
I said, "Thank you."

Yesterday I went.  The event was from 10 to 5.  It worked out well because Daya had a dance intensive all day. It was very interesting.  Very intense energy. I was very tired afterward.

I was one of the few people who didn't feel great afterward, but it might be detox.  That happens.

It was a good experience and I would recommend it, and I would attend again.
He is back in NYC in March and I will probably go.

Actual Man Cave

For real.

I guess someone is proud of their man cave.

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!