Guetta Girl

long lazing daze

i spent a lot of my time like this too; looking and listening, watching and thinking...]]> which is not to say i didn't do anything....for instance, i enjoyed some quality grilling time

i took the tofu, zucchini, and portabello mushrooms

and put all that hot vegetable goodness on some red lettuce and grape tomatoes, using the marinade as the vinagrette

need i say YUM!!! ?
i also played with chocolate, which is ALWAYS a good time!

EPIC LOVE

the signs are being thrown everywhere! ]]> the deepest level of truth uncovered by science, and by philosophy, is the fundamental truth of unity. at that deepest sub-nuclear level of our reality, you and i are literally ONE."
John Hagelin, Ph.D

hey gish!

good luck in the big city!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPORTY!!!

]]> my brother and his family came over for a little birthday fete.

kinnon is always sorta the star of these gatherings...

which totally bums tessy out, since SHE loves being the star!

i have NO IDEA what these people are looking at!

whatever it is, i didn't do it! i was over here

working the grill

in case it wasn't totally apparent.....i think i did pretty well with the spread....

everyone seemed to enjoy it...although maybe not as much as the presents!

the last terrorist (show)

tonight i went to see will's band TERRORIST play their last show....which just happened to be at the 11's.....]]> CHALICe (who's pict never emerged), and FRIENDS OF YOURS (pict below) opened for'em.

if you look closely at this crowd, you'll see members of CHALICE sitting on the couch...still not the pict i thought i'd taken...

i can't speak for erin

but my mind was so blown by will's smashyourfaceadon-stylings that i could barely see on the walk home....

yard work i didn't have to do; HOORAHZ!!!

]]> i must admit i was not into it when sporty said he'd hired some folks to "deal" with the backyard.

in particular i was discouraged he wanted the apple tree taken down (see the red arrow below), since i'd always hoped to get it sprayed to harvest the apples.

now i'm more focused on having a sunny spot for a vegetable garden next year!!!!

what are you guys watching?

]]> even tessy got in on the action....

ole-timey weekend

]]> i was finally able to air out my comforter in the sunshine! it's the little things, i'm tellin' ya!
although i'm kinda keeping these a secret, i'm sure if the recipient sees them, they will know these are for them...knowwhatumsayin?
what's that arrow pointing to? obviously it's to document the takeover!

i know your calendar says wednesday, but trust me, it's a tuesday.

i've really been enjoying the stacks of rocks that are currently appearing in the northampton dog park. ]]> isn't sally cute?!?!?!?

yesterday i was fortunate enough to have denver's human, hollis with us on the walk.

she had the day off from work. it was obvious this made denver a very happy camper!

tessy was super suprised when we got to the dogpark and denver was there, without us going to her house to get her!

you can barely see her, but that's denver losing her mind to bliss in that field right there!

THE GIRL CAN JUMP!!! but then, you already know that, dontcha?!

in the afternoon i met up with troy, who i haven't seen in like 10 years. i thoroughly enjoyed myself, in case that isn't completely apparent in this pict.

also-also; the fact that i look as though i've thrown myself into the pict at the last moment is INTENTIONAL. i might even be tempted to call it my "schtick".

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

what are they you ask?]]> golf club covers for my brother on his FIRST father's day!

well, you know it was either that or a giant pink bunny suit....

humidity is NOT my friend

all this heat and humidity
]]> IT HURTS!!!

it feels as if WEEKS have passed instead of days....

i went down to nyc to pick up some chairs (story for another time) from my aunt. while i was down there, i got a chance to hang out with a couple of folks i know from sf, who've relocated eastside.]]> adam came over for dinner at my aunt's place.

we took tessy up the street to a dogpark on....84th maybe?

then we hung out with my aunt, ate food, drank wine, and made merry! here we can see aunt caroline is blindingly merry!

the next day i wound up taking two walks. the first was solo, so i could get a decent pace going. one of the things i always do is people watch, and in that watching i discovered that the vast majority of women on the street were carrying these gyhugic shoulder bags....

i really don't get it ...

there's also a TON of sex and the city stuff going on. what i wanna know is; does this restaurant have any relevance to the show? or are they just advertising? (i never really watched the show)
then i took tessy to central park. here you can see her as we wait for the light at park avenue (&79th)

en route we saw the iraqi embassy...gotta wonder what's going on behind THOSE closed doors...

tessy really seemed to like the park, without being overwhelmed by all the action, which she kinda is on the street....

one of the things i like about central park, is that sometimes you can forget you're surrounded by one of the busiest cities in the world. i mean, LOOK; you can barely see the skyscrapers for the trees!

we went back to the apartment until i was supposed to meet my aunt after work.

we went to check out a couple of exhibits at the met.

unfortunately you couldn't take pictures in this exhibit. IT WAS FABU! they had all these different fashion designers create their versions of the costumes of superheroes that have made it to the big screen. they even had the original costumes (LIKE THE ONE WORN BY CHRISTIAN BALE!) in amongst the fashionista versions... i was suprised to find the iron man costume there, in that i don't even think that movie is out yet...
we stopped and had a coctail with some lurvely cheez, while listening to a chamber quartet, in the main area....

once we'd rehydrated, we headed to the rooftop to check out the jeff koons sculptures...

had it not been for the super loooooooooooooong lines, we prolly woulda had another libation. i definately wanna go up here again, with coctails in mind!

on our way home from dinner, i saw this:

yes, it's superblownout b/c i forgot the flash at night....i know, i know.... but my question remains; what is this all about? other than, you know, being really funny.
i met up with brian for breakfast the next day. it was wicked rad of him to get up early to meet me (he lives in brooklyn)! it was NOT wicked rad of ME to only get a picture with his eyes closed.

i DID check at the time, but somehow did not notice this.... it was great seeing, and catching up with, BOTH adam and brian again! even though i have not seen either of these guys in two years, it feels like just yesterday i was hanging out with them in sf....very twilight zone.... i wish dave and/or matt and i had connected, but that's obviously for next time....
i will leave you with this thought;
if the subway is this hot now,

what does the summer hold in store?!?!?!?!
i will post all the pictures i took on both walks in my photolibrary there, and some on flickr before bones tonight....

a day of daze

]]> lately i find myself wishing i would talk less and listen more...

think less and watch more

maybe what i want is to care less

and to give more freely

or to not be so afraid of being afraid

i want to have the human experience

without all the limitations of physical existence

maybe, in general, it's not so good to post when listening to DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

or maybe where soul meets body is the crux of it all....

memorable memorial

this was the busiest weekend i've had, without visitors, since i moved back to the happy valley.

friday night was all about the worm fest. i must admit, it was no noise pop, but i really enjoyed myself (until 2AM, if that says anything to ya'). in particular i was stoked on ken maiuri's and tizzy's sets. i didn't take any picts, so you'll have to make do with the handbill. i wanna give a MAJOR SHOUT OUT to my brother tully, who sponsored our beer consumpton! WOOOOO HOOOOO TULLY!
]]> saturday morning the tessinator and i met up with bex, harvey, and the gert. saturday, sunday, and today were all most picturesque at the hamp dog park....

somehow the gert convinced a complete and utter stranger to give her a fairly lengthy message....FOR FREE. damn! i need to get in on those skillz....

does this dog not look filled with joy?!?!?!?!?!?!
later, i met up with a newly acquainted knitter, amy, at webs. we're gonna do an argyle sox knit-a-long starting june 7th, so we went to check out sock yarn (along with some patterns). i had every intention of snapping a pict inside webs, but all i got was this en route...
the cutout love does not die easily..... sunday brought two different grilling events. the first was over at sage's place.
she has a nifty little deck attached to her awesome apartment.
i lurve the energy at sage's place, and am excited to spend more time there, now that the night comes so much later....
the tessinator lurves the sage, no matter what the time...
from haydenville, i cruised over to easthampton to get in on some hooping action at tracy's house....in florence, i cut behind the dogpark to hook up with rte 10. somehow, i don't think this was the shortest route, but it was the shortest i know...does anyone know a shorter way? how shameful i should have somehow not gotten a picture of the hostess herself (when blogging gets slack), but i did get a shot of bex in action.
turns out i totally suck at the hoola-hoop. who knew?!?!? either i couldn't get it going, or it was down around my knees. now, i coulda sworn that i had a hoola hoop i used alot as a kid, but apparently hooping is not like riding a bike. the kind hostess-whos-picture-is-missing generously let me take a hoop home to practice for the next hoop happening..
THANKS TRACY! there were some great veggie burgers and veggie kabobs grilled here, and i found myself earlier today wishing i had some, along with that pizza i couldn't finish friday night. i think i'm gonna start carrying a ziplock bag with me from now on.. today was all about mowing the lawn (to provide myself with a proper practice place) and finishing up some "caps".
they're for df's dog lamont. lamont's a boston terrier, which is why these are a bit on the shallow side...
i made earholes on both caps to ensure a snug, yet comfortable, fit. (i used a coffee mug to model the hats cuz the tessinator's head is like 4X the size of a boston terrier)
and YES, i DO take commissions for customn knit dog gear! just email me...

a rendez-vous with the eliott sisters....

our latest episode starts with ahther getting ripped a new one by mumsie. why? you might, or might not, ask...because ahthur decided to try and strongarm evie into marrying him, despite the fact he was appointed as her legal guardian (how old is she supposed to be, anyway? and does anyone know what "the legal age" is in england?) it's interesting to watch ahther in action, because he's such an egotistical ass, and somehow has NO IDEA! *this is a very long entry*]]> he also never really shows any emotion, and i'm wondering how much of this is supposed to represent class egotism and/or pts; post traumatic stress syndrome from WWI, which we all know was horrific and a HUGE waste of life..... it's also interesting to contrast ahther with jack, who we know was also in WWI. whereas arthur only mentions the war to his mother in the argument above about how he doesn't have to listen to her any more, jack is really forward about his experience. at one point when bea was working for him, jack revealed how much it affected him, and that he felt compelled to drink himself to numbness at times... you just never know how a person's gonna respond to stress...
in the previous two episodes that i haven't mentioned, the eliott sisters have worked their way through yet another dressmaker's...actually, i think it's supposed to be a low-end fashion house (i'm not super familiar with" fashion", so i have no idea how these things are organized). anywho, the head honcho lays into evie for giving a client her real opinion, and then steals some of her designs. bea, who i just admire immensely (YES, i know that it's just a television show, and these people don't really exist**), decides that the eliott sisters deserve more recognition, AND that evie should be paid for her designs, even if she's not given credit of creation. do i need to spell out the abrupt nature of the termination of their employment? i admire bea's ability to recognize the true worth of both herself and her sister, and to stand up and demand acknowledgement by the world at large. in the last episode, you know, the one where ahther corners evie about marrying him, the one where piggy both announces his financial backing for the eliott sisters, and then his total financial demise at the graphs of the stock market.... although he does want bea to drop everything and move with him to birmingham (?), where he's taken an actor's position at a theatre....but i digress... left with no financial support to continue growing their business, bea hatches a plan. she goes to see evie's godfather, a bigwig financier, to garner his support

she gets the ol'ixnay, but not for the reasons she initially believes. bea's primary male interactions seem to have been with her fahther and her cousin, both of whom are dismissive of women's abilities in the world of business...this was the standard at the time, and unfortunately still is today in some places, and is a smallish example of conditioned subjugation, since it places a woman in a place of dependance, the way a child is dependant (which of course raises questions of its own...). beatrice decides to approach evie's godfather, who had been dissed and dismissed at some point by fahther when the girls were still young. the godfather, who's name escapes me at the moment but who i'll look up at imdb at some point, surely, is critical about financing the venture, not because he doesn't believe in their ability, but because they really haven't put together a solid business proposal. he suggests she ask arther, as evie's legal guardian, to be....hmmmm, i forget the legalese they used, but i would think of it as a co-signer; someone willing to pay up should things go south. he tells bea that if she can get ahther to back them, he will find the financing....

swallowing her pride for the greater good, she approaches ahther at home, where she feels he'll be more vunerable, and therefor perhaps more thoughtful to her request. that beatrice is one smart cookie! he refuses. although bea confronts ahther that his refusal is due to evie's refusal of his marriage proposal, i think that's only half the reason. i think ahther is pissed that the sisters were confident enough of themselves that they would be willing to go around, or in this case, above him for assistance. ahther's ego was definately flying high, knowing that despite the approval of the godfather, all power really seemed to lay with him, which is why he made his....mistake.

in the delirium of his applied power, mingled with what i suspect to be a tinge of jealousy revolving around evie, he summons sebastian (who we previously thought was an eliott half-sibling bent on getting in on the family inheritance) to his office. sebastian, in the two episodes between when we last spoke and this episode, has discovered AND revealed that he is NOT an eliott. apparently, his mother lied to fahther, in order to get on the payroll. superficially, i am greatly amused by this deception, and am thrilled that fahther was shenanaganned. on a deeper level, it's sad that in the past, if a woman who didn't want to be married she really had to play all the angles, not falling short of deceipt, in order to survive. i mean, i've never heard a child say, "i wanna be a liar when i grow up......sad in that kinda way.....anywhoo, sebastian shows up, and is forward about how he's not related and doesn't expect any money in that regard, but that he feels his mother IS due something, having somewhat filled the role of wife during fahther's lifetime. ahther, riding high on the delusions of his own grandeur, decides to tell sebastian that neither he, nor his mother, will be getting one red cent (my phrasing). in addition, he's to stay the hell away from the eliott family, specifically the eliott sisters, and threatens to reveal what a total whore sebastian's mother has been, by providing a list of names and addresses of said daliances....are there two L's in daliance?....

sebastian gets pissed off! although it looks like seb is gonna floor aht, he's really just about to throw the wadded up list of giggello....(how the hell do you spell that? or PLURALIZE it, for that matter? where's richard gere when you need him?!?!?!) back in ahther's face. at this point, i'm giddy with lurve for sebastian! at first i thought he was just in it to win it, but then it kept seeming like sincerity was creeping in, even though i was slow to accept it. not only do i, obviously, appreciate the sincerity, i appreciate the if-you're-gonna-step-to-me-you're-gonna-get-stepped-on attitude that sebastian slings, which actually brings about the catalyst for my admiration. instead of lashing out physically, seb observes quietly from the sidelines

and when he discovers the jugular, he strikes, ripping it open in the dark....

sebatian, implementing his expensive education, tails ahther until a point of interest is reached. he goes to the nightclub, and susses it out....

daphne reveals to seb, after a mere FIVE MINUTES of dancing, that he can obtain whatever drugs he's jonesing at the front office of the club. it takes no time at all for sebastian to summon a police raid without ahther having noticed him in the club once.

before they even knew what him'em, the 3 partners were in front of a magistrate! not only were they dealing drugs from the office, they were shipping whiskey to the states, who were in the midst of prohibition. ahther winds up having to pay 1,000 pounds and do a month in prison. STOKED!
for mumsie, not so stoked...

i have to say, it is exactly one month ago today that i wrote,
daphne's behavior is so outrageous and irratic, she must surely have some kind of amphetamines going on"
the truth always finds me. it seems that it's not just ahther who's having to pay the price. one of mumsie's best society buddies is daphne's mother. she shows up to acknowledge to aunt lydia's face that daphne has been hospitalized for cocaine problems stemming from ahther's club. that, combined with the social scandal of ahther's conviction, left her with no sound society choice but to say good-bye to aunt lydia. i think it takes alotta chutzpha to say something like that to someone's face, when you could simply walk away and not deal with it. i admire chutzpha!

the house of eliott is on the receiving end of some of the society's standards crap themselves.... lady so-n-so initially gets all confrontational with bea about her cousin's behaviour with all this not-only-am-i-not-going-to-give-you-any-business-but-i'll-make-sure-no-one-does
attitude. and you know our bea; not taking it. she puts lady so-n-so in her place by reminding her that debtors are listed in the paper if she so decides not to pay the bill for dresses already made, and the decision is all hers....
lady so-n-so comes back with her tail between her legs, or at least as much as she can muster. after being told to sod off by bea, in not so many words, she has this moment where she allows herself to be vunerable, where she admits not only that she's wrong, but her admiration towards bea for standing up to her. it's such a glorious moment of vindication, for both women. lady so-n-so is able to let go and experience something "real", and bea's belief in her self-worth is both internally and externally validated. (i need to remember this for my own life....)

and through that validation, a space is made for the universe to provide**, as it were.... the london hipsters start coming out of the woodwork, and swamp the house of eliott specifically because of the "scandal", and place more dress-making orders than the three ladies (DON'T FORGET TILLY!) can practically handle.
and if that weren't provision enough, ahther is released from prison,

and realizes he's gonna have to leave the country in order to be able to have any kind of "appropriate" employment....you know, so many of the past society behaviour/rules to me seem unkind, restricting, and totally unnecessary, although i'm sure they were just a given at the time. it makes me wonder how similar "modern" social mores will be viewed in the future; what part of our conditioned social construct will be viewed as unkind, restricting and unnecessary?
AND NOW FOR THE BEST PART!!! realizing that the gig is up, ahther has no choice but to throw himself prostrate at the sisters' feet! he finally tells bea and evie that he's hidden money from them, primarily from his personal embarrassment at being partnered in such a rigamarole of a business...a nightclub where he'd been in cahoots with fahther.

the additional 400 pounds from the sale of the house, along with their stock in the club, comes to about 3,000 pounds, which, from the look on bea-n-evie's faces should sound alot more impressive to me than it does....i would like to say i'll research this in order to ascertain what the dealie-o is, but i won't. i'll just take the looks on their faces as proof enough that it's a good deal of money... ahther admits to bea's face that he had misjudged her ability to run a business. again, i was taken back that someone i didn't expect to step up, and who was in a position to just walk away, they stepped up! hoorahz for the stepping up!!!! (as opposed to the stepping to)
not that the sisters were gonna suddenly embrace ahther for what he'd put them through, in that, you know, they coulda really used that money for rent and business materials, and whatnot... after signing over evie's legal guardianship to bea, and the position of executor of estate to the godfather, ahther leaves without another word.....

**it is my personal belief that stories arise from the remant energy of past souls merging with current consciousness, so i apply a certain amount of validity to recurring themes that seem almost omnipresent in all "storytelling"....i mean, it's not like i'm completely outta touch with reality....