Catch-up Blog #2 - Our Grand Day Together

These images are a bit out of order but - I guess that's okay. Those who were there know what order they should be in and for those who weren't, it doesn't matter anyway!

Monday was a fantastic day. I had to work in the morning, and the ladies joined me at HSP around 11. I showed them some of my favorite things including, Martha Washington's cook book, Waldseemüller's map from 1507 - the first map which labels the continent "America" (well it's a facsimile - the only known copy is at the Library of Congress), Chew papers, and the Alfonse Mucha print. Then our wonderful library director, kindly opened some of the drawers of our "special" collection and showed them the first written draft of the Constitution, the two printed Emancipation Proclamations, our partial Declaration of Independence, a lock of George Washington's Hair, and ?? oh, right, a diary with the account of Mr. Washington's death. I think they enjoyed it? :)
Then we picked up lunch at Letto Deli - the best little deli in Philadelphia. Strolled down to the Center For Emerging Visual Artists and looked at my show. Then we sat in Rittenhouse Square and ate lunch. This is a spectacular place to eat lunch at any time, but with the golden leaves lying around everywhere, people half winter dressed, half not, and a brisk breeze - a drippy chicken melt on rye really hits the spot. Then we wanted to go to Valley Forge, but not before stopping by Naked Chocolate - the best chocolate place in Philadelphia, if not the entire U S.

Valley Forge (for my international readers, and anyone else who needs a little brush up on US history) was the site of the camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War. The troops were lead by General George Washington. It was a place of bitter cold and we all have visions of soldiers in threadbare clothing half freezing to death. However, as we found out, winter was not when most died. They died in the spring when disease became rampant.
We got there in the afternoon around 3pm, which means at this time of year the sun is already starting to sit low in the sky. We still had two hours of light, but it was late afternoon light, the kind which sets already vibrant colors aflame.

However, it doesn't make taking back lit images very easy. Here are the four of us in front of a cabin in which 12 men lived. I had put the camera on a stump and set the self timer. Had I just made us face the other way - we would have had deer in the background of the picture: The deer were everywhere. At one point Linda made me stop the car so she could lean out the window and take more pictures. :)
It was so beautiful to be out there. They were impressed with the size of the place. We drove all around it and stopped at different points. It was windy and chilly but it was quite beautiful.

Since Linda is a late October baby we went to Susanna Foo's for dinner. I think they liked it. :)
Marsha had the duck, Judy had the shrimp and Linda had the Moo Shoo Pork and I had the fillet minion - after - the dim sum platter and before the desert. YUM. Oh yummy. That place is a real treat.

On Tuesday everyone went their separate ways.

Jacques and I both miss our ladies. It's very quiet now that they are gone. Every morning I let Jacques out of the apartment and he walks out, looking up the stairs with his ears perked up listening intently to see if anyone might be upstairs. It was a wonderful visit - so much good conversation, such easy house guests - and really wonderful companionship. I'm so happy they came and I really looking forward to the next visit. They gave me a very generous gift certificate to Restoration Hardware… I'm pretty sure I will be able to use it right quick like. :) Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Catch-up Blog #1 - My big award

I have received the International Bug Lovers Club of the World award!
I have lots of things to catch up on, but this one is really the most pressing. Several weeks ago - I believe after the second debate - there was a comment on the blog that I had received this award. It came in the mail several weeks later (and several weeks ago), in a neon yellow envelope. I have not acknowledged it yet - so would like to take this post to say, Thank you!!! I am truly honored to have received this award! I am delighted to know that there is another group of people who think bugs are really cool. I was hoping to be able to post images the big spider who kept making a web on my front hedge. I kept walking into her web in the morning, and she finally decided to move higher up, over the top of the hedge. Unfortunately, Mr. El had been eyeing my hedge and hounding me to trim it. I waited too long and he did it for me while I was at work one day. No more spider. Sigh. Stay tuned - I love bugs too - and will most likely post more about them.

And to the rest of you bloggers, handing out blog awards… neener neener neener … I got a bug award!

Beautiful Fall

I owe you all a long blog about all kinds of stuff. I want to talk about our trip to Valley Forge, my show, Pyramid Atlantic and the surprise of Monday Morning. :)
But for now - all I can manage to post (at midnight) are two of the beautiful fall images I took at Valley Forge on Monday. We got there in the afternoon and had afternoon sunlight for about 2hours. Spectacular.

Wonderful Visitors

Three of the fantastic teachers I taught with at La Serna have come to visit for the weekend. Linda, Marsha and Judy. It has been a wonderful visit so far. I feel terrible about having to leave them on their own on Saturday for Pyramid Atlantic, my fault - for not making sure I wasn't scheduling a thousand things at once.
Jacques was not so thrilled with the visitors. First thing in the morning, Jeff the contractor came to look at what we were going to do with the bathroom, they will start maybe next week. Leah came - bless her - and cleaned. Then Mike the knife sharpener came with the blades for my board shear and guillotine. (Yippee! Now I'm in business!). And then the three ladies showed up. It was a tough day. So to let me know this, when we were upstairs looking at the last room in the house, he sat on the bed with the brand new sheets and covers I had bought for the visit and peed all over it. It was amazing. They were so nice about it though. Thank goodness. That could have been really awful. Sigh.
By the time I got home from the fair the next day, they were all on the best of terms. Jacques and Linda seem to have really warmed up to each other. Here he is on her lap. Animal love is good - especially for someone who had had their wallet stolen that day. :(!

Today - Sunday -
We took the Mural Arts Tour. This is a two hour bus tour to look at just a few of the over 2800 Murals that are in Philadelphia. We had a terrific guide and I saw parts of Philadelphia I'd never seen before. Some fantastic murals too. It's like visiting old friends. We stopped at the Underground Railroad Mural on 7th and Chestnut - and here you can get an idea of the size. This is a mosaic mural, the most expensive mural. My ladies are standing in front of it.

We went to Redding Terminal for "lunch" at 3pm, and then went to look at a few more murals and we stopped at Isaiah Zagar's Secret garden which one can now go into and look around. It's fantastic. Here are the ladies looking down in one of the little grottoes. Zagar is a local artist who is continually working on this place, everything, the entire house, is covered in this style. It's fantastic.

But maybe the highlight for me this time was going over to Girard and 40th to look at the little girl reading a book with butterflies flying out of it. There is a new mural there as well and so we drove around the block to try to get an idea of what it looked like in the twilight. And lo and behold, the mural did exactly what they are supposed to do, give people pride in their neighborhood and bring people together. Dante - a block captain - (a young person maybe 16 - 18?) came over and talked to us about both murals. His younger brother was on one of them and the little girl was another friend of his on the same block. His pride in the murals was evident.
More adventures tomorrow - HSP collections, my show, Valley Forge and Susanna Foo's.
It's going to be a great day.

Culmination

The reason there have been so few blog entries about what I'm doing in my house is because I've been madly working on my two-person show. The opening was tonight. I have mixed feelings about the work, but the response was generally positive. Here are some of the pictures.
Zodiac
Adrienne and Mary too. Adrienne was the first person to see this work, since she was the first to install it during the show she invited us to have in Venice - thanks Adrienne!

Perennial
This book has stitched text and contains an abalone shell. I promise to write up a better blog entry with the entire book and the whole text. This is the piece I have the most mixed feelings about.

A Single Seed
An accordion book with an image of an orchard. The trees have been stitched with gold thread and there is a yellow pearl hanging at the end of each tree.

Planted
Will also send more images of this. This one was popular.
Interns, volunteers and coworkers extraordinaire!
Cathleen was supposed to be in this picture as well, but she was making a face that if I had been making, I would have been upset that someone else posted, so I cropped her out. Sorry Cathleen! We'll have to do an honorary post later. Cathleen is the Archivist for the Chew Family papers. To see her handy work, check out the blog: www.chewpapers.blogspot.com.
Mike (left) is our front desk guy (Visitor Services I think?) and exhibitions guy. He also graciously volunteers in the conservation lab on his day off - way to go!
Leah (center) is our fantastic Conservation Technician for the Chew Papers. She started with an internship - conserving a wedding certificate album which took over 300 hours of work. Thanks Leah!
Christopher (right) is our amazing volunteer who is rehousing all of our nitrate negatives. A super boring job, but he's still here. :) Lots of good karma for you.


Hedi Kyle and Katie Baldwin - two fantastic book artist to whom I owe a great debt for many different things. Thank you!


Nodin and me. Nodin's mommy is my Swiss friend Nicole, Nodin is four month old with the fattest cheeks. Yup, he's adorable.


And finally, the two relieved artists - well, I can only speak for myself. Caleb seems unfazed by the whole thing in a calm sort of way, (do I look a little green in this image?)

Now! Back to the house . . . 8am tomorrow, a contractor is coming to start looking at the bathroom so that we can re-do that.

It's been a heckuva week. Lots of stress, emotion, ups and down and the time-change didn't help either. Three of the amazing ladies I taught with in California are coming for the weekend tomorrow. I am really looking forward to spending time with them and relaxing.

Then it will be back to the house. I have tulip bulbs to plant.

What a Beautiful Day

I woke up this morning with a feeling like Christmas. Giddy excitement - a general feeling that today was a special day. In spite of the grey rainy wheather, it was such a beautiful day. The greyness amplified the vibrant fall colors. I waited until 9:30 to vote - waited in line for 45 minutes, and proudly pushed the VOTE button for Obama. There was a feeling of good will everywhere. A conversation in line in front of me talked of a woman who was driving up from DC to make sure her 85-year-old parents could participate in this historic election. People who had participated in the '60s and never thought they would live to see a black president.
Around 3 I started driving people to the poles - well only one people, the others were picked up by someone else. I then drove campaign info to different places and was finally sent out to canvassers up in north west Philadelphia. I knocked on doors of one block - everyone said they had voted except for the nut who opened his door and told us they put their faith in the kingdom of heaven and they wouldn't be participating in what was going on down here.
At 7:30 the canvasser in charge got off his cell phone and said quietly, "they called Pennsylvania for Obama." We couldn't believe it - everyone said, "really?" YES! Group hug, 6 complete strangers hugging each other - a car on the corner started flashing its lights and honking at us, the contents screaming "OBAMA!"
I went to a late dinner with friends - the restaurant was empty. 10:30 got back home to work on the artwork I still haven't finished that must be installed tomorrow.
At 11:03 - the city went crazy. I could hear people screaming, cars honking. It's two hours later and cars are still driving down my street honking. I am thrilled that this victory is receiving the same response as the Phillies victory less than a week ago! I was hoping for this. I am so proud of us. Obama's speech was wonderful - and as I listened, I thought, what will he do after his presidency - well, I think he'll just have to win the Nobel Peace price for something, right?

The song running through my head as I write is Louie Armstrong's, What a Wonderful World…oh yeah.

Phillies Win!

I'm a day late in posting what I wanted to post. Will post later this week about WHY! My show opens on Thursday and it has completely consumed me.

However. . . in other news, the Phillies won the World Series! Philadelphia is euphoric. I didn't work on Thursday, and the big Parade was on Friday. I took the train in to work, and it was packed. Phillies fans were already wandering around, clogging the Starbucks - so I had to drink work coffee. And it was just a mass of people. I've never seen so much red and white in one place in my life. We were hoping the library would be closed, but no such luck. It might have happened if it wouldn't have been for WHYY, our local PBS TV station, filming for a spot about the Chew Papers. They were around until 3:30 and the powers that "were", decided we couldn't close on their behalf. That's okay. We wouldn't have seen much of the parade anyway.
Leah, two interns, and I tried at 12:30 to get to the parade route. It was simply tides of people. On Spruce we couldn't get within half a block of Broad St. So we snuck around to Cypress, one of those little bitty streets and we did get much closer. We pushed into the crowd as far as it was possible to go. We'd push some more and there was no where for anyone to go. So we were stuck. I did capture an image of the Philly Fanatic. (the Phillies mascot (!?)). We landed in front of the Kimmel Center which was crammed with people. We did get to see the floats go by, and we saw a few of the team. I just thought it was great to be with so many happy people.

On our way back to HSP we saw this gentleman with his pipe and I had to shoot a picture of him. It's amazing how old men love to have their picture's taken. Then he told me about going to Reading Terminal that morning and since it was Halloween - I should be careful going home. He also said, wouldn't it be great if we were this happy 365 days of the year. Yes, wouldn't it. We got back to HSP to find Tyrone (one of our Facilities guys) filming all of the millions of people coming off of Broad St. We sat on the front porch to eat our lunch for about a half hour, and the waves of people did not let up. There is a PATCO (New Jersey Transit) entrance right next to our building and at one point it there was no place for anyone to go they just mobbed the street waiting to get down the stairs.
When we went back inside, Dr. Dan told us they heard in the news that SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) gave up on getting people to center city. They just stopped running trains. This is after they had already doubled and added more cars to their usual number of trains. Pretty amazing.
The people just didn't stop either. The stadiums are sort of walking distance from center city, so after the parade half of the 2million people that apparently came went to the stadiums. At 5:30 when I was headed over to UArts, all of those millions were headed back up Broad. They didn't stop coming. What a great day for Philadelphia, I know all of the businesses in center city go a great financial boost. Our favorite lunch spot was jammed. And I am very happy for them.
I just wish that if Obama wins, we would have the same euphoria and the same celebration.

What I'm doing at work

I thought I'd just show you what I've had the privilege to work on for the last two days. I'm working on putting an Alphons Mucha print back together.
Alphons Mucha was born in what is now the Czech Republic around 1860 and he is often referred to as the father of Art Nouveau. This particular print is of Job Cigarette Papers. I've looked online, but couldn't find this particular one. I haven't search by printer yet, a Paris based printer.
We recently received the Plastic Club Archives. The Plastic Club is the oldest club in the US organized by women for women in the arts still in existence. In fact they are right around the corner from us on Camac street in one of those cute little three-up houses. They decided that they could no longer care for the their archives properly seeing as how most of their things were falling apart. I assessed them last spring, a very generous donation was made and now we will be conserving and archiving the collection. We had a little shindig tonight to sort of inaugurate the process with the members of the Plastic club, and I was asked to finish something fabulous. We think that Mucha came to the Plastic Club and gave lectures to help them fund a permanent building. He was in the US from 1906 - 1910. Perhaps he presented the plastic club with this print? So I pulled out these dusty disastrous looking things that just literally crumbled in my hands. It was awful. This beautiful poster that is approximately 41" x 60" was folded up so that I wound up with about 16 separate squares by the time I was unfolding it, with a lot of crumbs to boot. I've been mending it on the back, which is also beautiful, by the way, since the ink has burned through the paper.

I'm really close to finishing piecing it together. The paper is in such bad shape though, that when you practically breath on it it splits apart.
But it was the highlight of the evening, and there is another poster in the same folder that I'm dying to open to see what it is. But I shall refrain so that I don't mix up the crumbs.

A Long Entry

Well, I've been busy.
I've got lots to say so let's break this up into chapters:
Chapter 1 - Board Shear Acquisition
Chapter 2 - Working Outside
Chapter 3 - Fall
Chapter 4 - Jacques' New Perch
Chapter 5 - Stardust
Chapter 6 - Melanie's Eyeball
Chapter 7 - My Work

Chapter 1 - Board Shear Acquisition
Yep - bought a board shear. I've wanted one for some time and I knew that something would work itself out. About two weeks ago, Fantastic Jessica called me from New York and said, "Hey there's a board shear here for $850! (compared with $4000. - other places) I said, "Hot Diggity! Where?" She gave me the info and I called and had a nice long conversation with Jonsey from Trinidad with the wonderful accent.
I decided to switch my day off to Tuesday because they were closed for Yom Kippur (my regular Thursday off) and drive up there. I finally found parking (illegal, which I of course didn't realize and promptly got a $115. ticket - oh well.) and went into one of those wonderful shops in New York that has been there for 50 years. The owner, Arnie, your basic Dustin Hoffman character in his 70s, came up to me and told at me to "speak up 'cause I don't hear so good!" So I shouted at him that I wanted to look at a board shear before he finally heard me and said, "Oh you're the girl from Philadelphia!" Yes, well, . . .
The Center for Book Arts is right up the street and Arnie convinced me to go and ask them for a piece of scrap board so that I could try out the shear for myself. I did, and in the mean time Jonsey showed up, he'd been out for lunch. He was a gorgeous as his accent. He also said, "oh you're the girl from Philadelphia…" hmmm…
Arnie and Jonsey had to pull the shears out to put the weights on so that I could try them out properly. And from this moment on I had hope for the world.
I don't know if they have some special mental telepathy bond or what because Jonsey was not shouting at Arnie the way I was to be heard, he just talked normally. When he needed to get Arnie's attention he would whistle, Arnie would turn around from what he was doing and know which tool Jonsey needed! It was incredible. A mutual respect, and if Arnie got on Jonsey's nerves, because let's face it - having to repeat myself and shout at someone all day long would really test me - Jonsey never let on.
I decided to buy the thing, and shlep it home that same day. But to get it in my car we had to take it apart - all the way. Arnie was impressed, "you mean, you can get this thing back together when you get home?!" Sure - piece of cake. Well, not for Arnie's wife - as the story went - she would have shrieked and melted. Since I don't have a husband, whaddayagonnado? Ya gotta do it ye-self.
They got the thing in my car. Jonsey told me to put the ticket back on my window, and sure enough, two more ticketers came up and one of them checked the ticket thoroughly to see if it was really from having parked there or if I had put a fake one up in hopes of not getting one. Sheesh! They are ruthless.
The thing in my car, my car riding very low, I said goodbye to Arnie - who gave me a big kiss and a hug and made me promise to send him a picture of the board shear all put together. Ach, ye of little faith.

I got the thing home and hauled what I could of it into the house. I was going to ask Mr. El if he could help me, but he hurt his ankle and so wasn't able to help. He had some guys coming to help him, maybe they could help. But I was impatient. I called Fabulous Jessica and said, hey thanks for the tip-off, but can you help me get it in the house? She was busy but she offered her boyfriend, Mario. Thank goodness!
Between the two of us, and Joe (a guy in a bright green shirt walkin' past us and asked us if we needed help - and we did!), we got the whole thing into my studio, AND put together. Mario is one of those strong silent types, so he waited until it was put together to ask me what this thing was. Not realizing that, of course he wouldn't know, I said, "it's a board shear! - you cut paper with it." I handed him a sheet of paper and it cut it like butter and I got the huge emotional outburst - a very quiet "wow" and a big smile. "That's cool!" Uh-huh! Thanks Mario - couldn't have done it without you! And thanks to Joe - wherever he is, because I think the table top would still be on the sidewalk if he hadn't walked past at that moment.

Chapter 2 - Working Outside
I don't know why it took me so long to realize I could work outside. It's been so beautiful the last two weeks, and on my days off and at home Jacques wants to go out, and I'd like to be outside too - and why can't I sit outside and write or draw or work on my computer until the juice runs out. Lots of interesting things happen in the back yard. Jacques loves my being out there until I lather up in anti-mosquito stuff. Then he won't come near me. I can't believe I still have to, they should be dead by now, right? Well, if there is a mosquito in Philadelphia, it will find me.

Chapter 3 - Fall
Being outside also helps me keep in tuned with what's going on in the garden. Fall has come. The first thing turned bright read in the garden. Fall is going very quickly this year. Already most of the leaves are gone from this vine. As I was riding my bike home on Friday I passed some bright yellow trees, this morning most of the tops were gone and bare branches reached for the sky.
Chapter 4 - Jacques' new perch

Yes, the shed has been conquered. I'm not sure what the draw is. It must smell very strongly of squirrel. And he might feel like he is closer to the birds. Jacques also has always had a thing about be up. Even in my apartment - he preferred to be up, but not on the tables. He's not allowed and he knows it.

Chapter 5 - Stardust
I have a new favorite movie - I watched it twice. I've never done that with a Netflix movie. Ever.Oh, this one is so good. A young man is in love with the village's most beautiful girl, who is , of course not in love with him, but with the pompous most handsome boy in the village - and they deserve each other! But the young man promises to bring her the falling star they see when he convinces her to have a midnight picnic with him, complete with champagne. Thus begin the adventures of Tristan who must find the star and bring "her" back. The celeb cameos in this film are fantastic. Ian McKellan is the narrator, Michelle Pfeifer is the evil witch, Rupert Everette is one of the kings' (played by Peter O'Toole) seven sons, named, Primus, Secondus, Tertious - well you get the idea. Oh, and the highjinx are fantastic. The seven sons are all competing to be the next king, and so they bump each other off in fantastic ways. Then their ghosts show up to watch the rest of the show, in their bumped off states, of course. One is burned, the other pushed out a window and is smooshed - etc. brilliant. Robert De Niro plays Captain Shakespeare - a surprising character - in charge of a vessel that flies through storms and captures lighting. Ah, it's wonderful. In all seriousness - this movies is very well thought out. The plot is sound, loose ends tied up, it is complex with several exciting story lines, but fully complete, everything seems well developed. If you are a fan of The Labyrinth, or Willow, or The Princess Bride - this is a film for you. Be warned it is a bit on the violent side - although the blood is blue - but best heed the PG -13 warning for little ones.

Chapter 6 - Melanie's Eyeball
Miss Melly sent me an eyeball! A felted eyeball. Last Christmas Melanie made one of her nephews a jar of felted eyeballs. On her way down to Delaware to spend the holiday with her family, she stopped to visit me. As soon as she opened her suitcase Jacques moved in. He found all of the eyeballs and began dragging them out of her suitcase. For my birthday - Melanie sent Jacques his very own eyeball. Oh boy. This was the favorite toy for a while. He would pick the tennis sized thing up by the iris and proudly walk it to a new area of the apartment. It's pretty shredded now but he still brings it to me every once in a while to play fetch with him.
This spring I decided I needed one too - I asked her for one over the summer and yippee! As busy as Melanie is with her new job, residency in Alaska, possibly moving? - she made me one too. :) Yeah! :) I'm going to use it as a pin cushion.

Chapter 7 - My Work
Melanie's eyeball came at an appropriate time. I've been reading some metaphysical stuff and finding different quotes and writings by very different people. One of the threads, or connections I'm finding is that the universe is tiny. Julian of Norwich (1343?) noted one of her visions as receiving a hazelnut sized object in her hand, and a voice saying, "It is all that is made." Yun-men(949?) said, "Let me take the whole universe and put it on the tips of your eyelashes."
I have a show that opens on Nov. 6th. I thought I'd experiment. What do you think?

Puttin' stuff on the walls

Well, here it is, my living room:
I haven't talked about this room much, mostly because there's not much to talk about. I need to do the floors, and take out the "closet" (not pictured). Maybe I need to decide about the fireplace… I decided to put somethings on the walls for now. I put up my dad's drawings here. These are my graduation and two birthday cards. I love them all. PS: this wall will probably come down at some point. My kitchen is behind it. (birthday 2007)

graduation (2005)
(birthday 2005)

In my bedroom I put the prints Anne-Maree sent me as a house warming gift. We met in Korea at the Seongnam Book Arts Fair, and I think we bonded, even if she is in Australia. She's fantastic and her work is amazing! She's google-able, until I can post a link - which won't be tonight. Anyway - here are the two prints she sent me on my bedroom walls, and closeups.




I also bought a Board Shear on Tuesday! Yippee! This will be a longer post later. Suffice it to say - I bought the board shear from Arnie, (Dustin Hoffman with a comb-over in 20years, and deaf,) and Jonsey, a beautiful Senegalese man, so kind to Arnie. I swear they had mental telepathy going for them.
I bought the thing, they dis-assembled it, got it in my car, and I hauled it back to Philadelphia. Half of it is in my house and the other half is still in my car, because I can't move it by myself. sigh. I will get in in here, and I have to send Arnie a picture of it re-assembled. I don't think he believed that a woman could deal with it. :) He is so sweet! Anyway - the entire saga still to come . . .
PS: The Phillies are playing the Dodgers. I'm hearing a lot of cheering in my neighborhood, this must mean the Phillies are winning. :)

Because I have NOTHING else to do…

And I talked to Melanie today - here's my new collar. It's actually a bit greener, but I couldn't resist photographing it against my orange wall.
I used the leaf pattern in "Knitting on The Edge" by Nicky Epstein, then picked up 100 stitches (#5 needles) and knitted around for about 7 inches. If I did it again I think I would knit two purl two up near the top because it stretches out when you pull it over your head. I used Patons Silk Bamboo yarn. This is the softest stuff you've ever felt in your life! I got it at ACMoore for $4? each skein. I needed 1.5 skeins, so I guess you could make it longer if you like. I really love this thing, can't wait to make another one. I like it better than a scarf, especially at work because a scarf is always falling off and landing in my glue. Well, now, problem solved!

Jacques made a friend and solidified an enemy

Yes - on Thursday Jacques made a friend and solidified an enemy:
Remember these two?Thursday is my day off, and it was a relatively cool day, high 65°. :)
So I did laundry and Jacques came outside for a while. He loved it. He still stays in the yard but he loves being outside. His favorite thing to do is take dust baths. He might be part chinchilla. He loves rolling around in it especially until he's not black anymore, sort of a light brownish color - and when I pet him the dust just poofs off of him. At any rate…
Late in the afternoon, I went out to check on him, and there was the black and white kitty in the yard. They did their posturing, and I didn't want to miss it so I didn't get the camera.
First Jacques came over to me and showed off, that he belonged to me. He snuggled up to me, and rubbed himself against me, a real ham (as I've said before). Then, with tail, poofed out, back arched, off he went to intimidate the b&w kitty - who hissed back at him from a foot and a half away. Nothin' scares that kitty. And pretty soon they were "stalking" each other, one would pretend to stalk the other, hoppin' along in the grass and then they would chase each other. :) - I'm so glad Jacques has a friend. However…
Baby Boy - (Miss Mary's (Mr. El's wife's) alpha dog) is not a fan of the cats. Every time Jacques comes out he has a little conniption fit, or as Mr. El put it - he fusses. So Miss Mary and I were talking about the upcoming election, and the VP debate - (sigh) we talked for a long time about everything, the debate, her wacky tenants in the barber shop, racial issues, her grand daughter, etc. and since we were talking, Baby Boy came over to make nice, and then Jacques decided he could be brave and he came over to me.
Then Jacques decided to walk up to the fence, sniff at Baby Boy, and then he reached through the fence an bopped Baby Boy on the nose with his paw! At that point BB had ENOUGH and went ballistic - scared the heck out of Jacques who took off like a shot to hide under the shed. I told Baby Boy is was a good boy - because he was, he didn't bite Jacques paw off like I figured he would have. But it was really only because Miss Mary was there - if she wouldn't have been there - Baby Boy would have lost it much sooner. Well, I hope the dogs never get loose and I hope Jacques learned his lesson.
And since some of you are, maybe, wondering what I thought about the VP debate: oooh, she's hate-ble. She's an idiot. She's only been in office for, "like", five weeks? And she's part of Main Street???!!! What the heck am I??? chopped liver? or did the bar of the lower class just move over six figures?! That woman has NO idea what Main Street is - oh, she so hate-ble, plus she's not going to answer the moderator questions because she doesn't want to ??? elch, yuck - what is she going to do when she has to really answer real questions from her constituency!!!??? is she going to say to the voters, "I'm not going to answer that question because I don't want to ???!!! are we really seriously considering this???- she's like the head cheerleader, doin' a heckuva job!(And trust me, I know!) Uch, since I'm about to barf on my computer, I think I'll call it a night.
Good night y'all - may peace and brains prevail.