Sept 21

Sept 21
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
And here is one for tomorrow, or (if you are reading this a day later) Friday. She is Indigo Hedgehog Woman’s purple twin Violet Snakehair Woman.
What a combo!

Sept 21
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
And here is one for tomorrow, or (if you are reading this a day later) Friday. She is Indigo Hedgehog Woman’s purple twin Violet Snakehair Woman.
What a combo!

Sept 20
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
Here is Indigo Hedgehog Woman, ready to make your day. I was so struck by an illustration in Threads magazine from 1993 that I tried my hand at the same kind of idea. I don’t know why her hair came out so … hedgehoggy. Probably the panicky speed with which I am working so as to finish before the long trek to the wilds of Maine.

Sept 19
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
It seems she might need an eye patch in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, but she isn’t really a pirate and thus patchless.
Do they look as feminine to others as to me?
I must be better, I left my sickbed and rode a horse today. Soon I will post a picture of him because he is very very cute.
We are having a giant pre-trip scrimmage. My large, loud brother (I only have one) is getting married in Maine. He lives on an island off the coast of Maine with the woman he is going to marry. They thought about having the wedding on their island, but it isn’t big enough. This boggles my mind a bit, but there weren’t enough places for all the guests to stay for the weekend. It is a small island. But there are also 250 people involved. So they are getting married on the island Jes grew up on instead. It is another three hours farther north, but the ferry ride is shorter and more protected, and the ferry itself runs more often (three times a day vs. Mon/Wed/Fri to Mattie’s island).
We have wedding clothes and warm clothes and boat clothes and I have lists of food and supplies to bring because you can’t exactly run to the Stop and Shop when you forget something or run out.
So I have a giant case of trip fever, and I am (of course) worried about missing the ferry, and, and, and…. I’m working on outsourcing the worrying again. It worked well for the last trip.
(you’ll have to imagine my voice an octave lower and rough…)
Avast ye scurvy swabs, pay heed:
Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Since I have missed it to date, I shall be talkin’ and swearin’ for as much of today as I remember.
AAAARRRrrrgh.

Sept 18
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
I should listen to my own childrearing advice. I routinely tell people that kids should be allowed to become bored so that they have experience of getting themselves un-bored, developing skills in getting interested in things.
I have been home, bored, waiting for Alice and me to get better, and I’ve had this amazing surge of productivity even with feeling logy and dim. Maybe it is because of feeling logy and dim? I’m harder to distract, and can only think in a very slow and linear fashion… or something. So I have postcards lined up waiting to be made, work accomplished on two months of quilt journal pages and (ahem) two backgrounds for a group I am only vicariously involved with.
I waver between feeling like a poseur and an overachiever with these two backgrounds. The group is Twelve by Twelve, and they are making 12"x12" art quilt squares on a theme every two months. The first theme is Dandelion. I love dandelions. I love picking them and making big, fat braids with the stems. I have a picture I adore of Aerin and some neighbors peeking around the corner of the house with dandelion crowns on. Really I am delighted with the theme, and at the moment I am secretly delighted with my two backgrounds. I am thinking they will be up close looks at the fly away part, (thinking originally about how to make a dandelion that was not yellow and green) although I may use the second background for the yellow part after all. But – it isn’t my group. I’m just playing along on the sidelines…
And yet, I am loving the size and the shape, and the new ideas that keep popping up.
I am also thinking I need to form my own group.
Anyone want to join? I think I am looking for creative, artistic people willing to form a group to inspire each other to take their work to the next level. Must be open to new ideas, critiques, and collaboration. If you fit the bill, or even better, if you are interested, drop me a note.

Sept 17
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
Today’s face, looking rather like John Lennon.
I’m sick. Alice is sick. It is some phlegmy cold thing, but it makes us tired and grumpy and sleeping is difficult even though it is all I want in life because breathing is even more difficult horizontal than vertical.
The Garlic Festival yesterday was amusing. It was a lot of local artists, growers and musicians. The musicians played onstage while people wandered about looking at crafts and artwork and tasting various garlic based foods. I found some excellent hot sauce but I really bought it because the gentleman called himself Dr. Gonzo (who was my favorite muppet) and wore goggles over the top of his black top hat. He looked straight out of Miyazaki or some other purveyor of patent medicine. Cathy and I found a bunch of tasty things to eat, and split them all making it much healthier. Plus a box of tiny heirloom multi-colored baby tomatoes. Several local organic farmers were there with fabulous lumpy tomatoes and multi-colored vegetables. I was looking for a bumper sticker to send Andy in England, figuring it would amaze the locals and spark conversations and help make friends, but I didn’t see any.
Although there were many garlicky things to eat, I have to say I like my own garlic goop best of all. To make it, I take a lot of cloves of peeled garlic, mash it in the marble mortar and pestle with kosher salt to help the grinding, then stir in the nicest olive oil I have until it stiffens up. The result is incandescent, and very nice on toast or chicken or almost anything else.

Sept 16
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
Sunday’s face. Kinda scary looking.

Sept 15
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
sometimes you just need to step away from the computer
Hilltowns Garlic Festival tomorrow with Cathy. It should be interesting. Tasty. Will report back.
OK – I just had a total squee moment, when my favorite living author said she liked my postcards. Then she made me crack up. I am going to bed a happy woman.

Sept 14
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
Friday’s self portrait postcard.

Sept 13
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.
I’m experimenting with my own face, mostly because I don’t think I should subject anyone else’s mug shot to the things I’ve been thinking about.
I also made two shirts for Alice.
I have been making dolls and doll clothes for long enough that working on actual people clothes, even for kids, feels like making giant’s clothes. In a fit of brilliance I insisted she give me a shirt she wasn’t wearing any more in return for the nice new shirt. I got two for the second shirt. I am feeling extremely crafty, both like a grandma and like a fox.