Nom de Plume

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Our claim to fame is that she lived two houses down from us. Oh to be this close to glory! And we still live with her legacy: she reshaped the alley by dumping garbage into it for over thirty years.

Some of them make me want to weep with longing. Like Kiyoshi Saito’s Winter in Paris.

At The Ren Brown Collection.

I love the idea of tin ceilings. I just don’t know where in the house we would put them. Bathroom? Actually … hmmm … Can you can waterproof the tiles and use as a shower backsplash thing?

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Mine is humongous at this point, as I update it every few days. If there’s anyone out there who would like to use mine, let me know. I’ll e-mail it to you.

Slowly, slowly, the house is starting to come together.

Steve lugged home a massive drill from work and carved out “bubbles” in the concrete in the backyard to plant in. He probably spent about four hours jackhammering (with the “Brute”) and another four shoveling (with the “Truper”). It was a lot of work for two little holes. Meanwhile, Mirabella showed up unannounced on Saturday to clean–and we are still marvelling that the house has never been this scrubbed…

I spent most of the time tending to my plants. Planted cauliflower and cabbage starts, cosseted my seedlings. Tonight will transplant into larger pots. I also finally sanded down the floor in the back room and put the first layer of paint down. It is going to look FAB and I feel perfectly vindicated with my choice of colors. We’re going to move the bedroom in there for the summer, and redo the master bedroom and it’s going to be so nice and cool and airy.

The science behind cooking techniques explained. Not terribly interesting, though some of the recipes looked good.

Picked this up at the library for Steve because he is obsessed–obsessed being defined as having four distinct stands of the stuff in a single yard. (Our neighbors are going to hate us.) To be frank, I thought it would be interesting too. And I am sure it is, if you can get past the frightening prose: “The quite recent idea of universal education, now shared worldwide, is occuring at a time of unprecedented global population growth. Raw materials to make schools and to teach children to make and build and read and write in them are increasingly expensive …”

But the pictures were pretty.

This, from Roxanna. You know what they say about big ears …

I didn’t have to go to work today.

I didn’t have so much work.

The trim in the back room would magically spackle itself so I could get on with it. (I am a terrible spackler.)

The dog didn’t make me feel so guilty.

The floors in the house were refinished.

I were motivated to finish the trashy novel.

Well, really, my life’s not so bad.

I am utterly.

Turns out that the print I coveted below is a rendition of a painting by a famous Canadian landscape artist named Lawren Harris. I know the print is different, I know it’s an interpretation, I know that it was inspired–and fully attributed to–the original.

Still, I can’t help but feel it’s cheating. Plus, compared to the painting, the print looks like a tawdry Elvis impersonator.

Here’s the original oil:

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There are so many things wrong with this post that I don’t know where to begin.

Editing a talented 7 years old writer’s stories
Date: 2005-03-08, 11:49AM PST

We are seeking a local(able to drive to Redmond) editor/writer to work with our seven years old writer who has written about 300 stories, total 150,000 words. You need to be familiar with Children literature and current market, experience in submitting material to publishers. Please send sample of your writing (if you have some writing related to children’s literature would be great), resume and cover letter. We are particularly interested in finding a writer/editor to sit down with our daughter to go over her writings to give her professional suggestions so she can improve and polish her writings. She is a very pleasant and gifted writer. If you love history, it’s a plus.

I covet this. It looks like Seward Park on acid.

See?

link to print
link to 1913 Seward Park photo

And I am lying on the couch basking in the sun and wishing I didn’t have to go to work …

Still, we’re all happy. Steve got a 7.5 percent raise yesterday. The dog got a mouthful of decaying turtle. (Yechh. He wasn’t so happy with the face scrub afterwards.) And I continue to get the satisfaction of not having killed my happily sprouting seedlings. Loofahs and tomatoes and spinach, OH MY!

This is a series of prints by an artist named Tuula Moilanen who I think MUST be a yogalite. I think they’re pretty cute, and may even get one for my mother.

Available at the Verne Gallery.

I have become a weird pug person: I have more pictures of the dog than of my boyfriend; when people ask how I am, they extend their question to the dog; I am currently worried that he is cold outside (it was sunny when I left, cold when I got to work).

Imagine my relief, therefore, when I found out that I am not alone.

Otherwise known as the bone of contention.

I just wanted to paint the walls and the floor. Steve insisted on remudding the crooked dryall. We were at a standoff for weeks. But finally, I’ve finished painting the walls a bright apple green. Then I ripped up the carpet because we’re just going to paint the floor white.

Only to find the most noxious orange. Steve insists the wall color I chose is noxious too, and with the two in conjunction, he’s right: it feels like you’re in Baskin Robbins sherbert hell.

And thus continues the slow, downward spiral into becoming my mother.

As if it’s not enough to wander around, asking, “Where are my keys? What did you do with my coffee?” Or to find myself using the same mannerisms. Or, oh horrors, bossing people around with an identical highhandedness. No, this morning found me running around the house in feverish anticipation of our new cleaning lady just like my mother used to do. “Why?” I used to ask. “She’s here to clean.” My mother would just shrug and tell me to pick up my room.

Now, of course, I know the answer: It’s too embarrassing to admit the squalor one normally lives in.

To make matters worse, Mirabella (sp?) never showed. Her husband assured us they would call around noon. No call. I was at our come-to-Jesus Mount Holyoke board meeting when Steve finally left to buy hostas (don’t ask, new obsession). And now I’m sitting on the couch, breathing in the scent of my potted hyacinths, but sorely disappointed. I was so looking forward to a professionally-scrubbed house.

Oh, well. At least it’s neat. Compliments of my mitochondrial DNA.

This is hysterical.