two circles and a rosette

February 27, 2012

feb 27

For todays circle I was thinking about the beautiful curl inside your ears where you actually hear things. Where secrets go. Where music goes. All the other noises go too, like jackhammers and farting buses, but I was trying to be poetical. 

I was at an awards dinner last night, which was raucous fun. It was the end-of-year awards for Xenophon Farm, and as well as the high point scorers for various levels of dressage, there were also essays on why the author should get an award even though they didn't ride in three shows and/or get decent scores.

To my astonishment, I won the high point award for Training level Seniors. That was fun. But cheering for the people who were talking about having to halt because the screws in their broken leg were coming unscrewed was better. Or the bold kid who is getting used to a new pony and their scores are dreadful, but they keep on working. 

So I did finish this circle yesterday, but then I had to bolt to get to dinner on time. I was thinking about red blood cells, carrying oxygen around so we can move and think, but more of them look like roses than blood cells.  I don't know why all these ideas about cells in my body turn into roses. There must be a metaphor in there somewhere. Or a joke. 

feb 26

three spirals

February 24, 2012

feb 24

I know, I'm counting again! Just think of it in The Count's voice: "Three, three leetle felty spirals, ah, ah, ah ah" (and a crash of thunder in the background). Here you can see   him count many things, including three (three)  leetle pigs. 

I couldn't think how to apply thread, so I left it alone. It looks naked to me, but pretty. 

spiraling in

February 22, 2012

feb 22

Spiraling to find a center? When I ride, the horse and I will spiral from a large circle into a smaller circle, and then leg yield out again. This helps the horse place her hind legs more under her, and carry herself better.

To me though, this piece feels more like spiraling towards the center, the point of balance. It is a kind of seeking thing, the precise reverse of what a scenting hound does; spiraling out from the last known location of the target, and seeking a scent. 

balance as a goal

February 21, 2012

feb 21

Balance is a process, generally. It happens, and then it stops and then I have to shift things around until it happens again. It feels more like brief shining moments of clarity than anything else. This is more of a reminder. More balance. Less shuffle. 

what I did this weekend, in three circles and a photo

February 20, 2012

three circles and a nephew

Top two, left to right: Today's circle, yesterday's circle which is kind of doodly but has a whale in it (yes, a pink whale; see Nightbirds on Nantucket, and also Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man) 

Bottom two: My mom's bionic knee (my apologies for getting it upside down mom, it was the direction you were in bed) and my outrageously, particularly wonderful nephew examining the February circles. 

lungs, or roses

February 17, 2012

feb 17 front

Take a deep breath.

I was thinking about the place where oxygen goes from air into the bloodstream, down at the bottom of your lungs. Little sacs called alveoli inflate, oxygen slips through the walls into tiny capillaries displacing carbon dioxide which is exhaled. 

Except when I cut the piece out, I was looking at the back, and it looked like roses. See?

feb 17 back

So you may take your pick: roses or lungs. 

brains, branes

February 16, 2012

feb 16

Brane is a mathematical term for surface. Which is interesting because the reason our brains fold and wrinkle the way they do is because all of the work a brain does happens on the surface. And the only way to increase surface area and still fit into a skull is to start folding. 

Alternatively, in a zombie apocalypse, they (the zombies) stagger about and moan "brrraaaaiiins". I am kind of a zombie at the moment, but I am still amused at the confluence of branes and brains. 

thinking hard

February 15, 2012

feb 15

Neurons do the thinking, in the spaces between themselves. Synapses are where neurons come close, but don't actually touch. All the things that we think of, and about, and all our reactions, happen in the spaces between.