| Great day! |
[Nov. 21st, 2009|01:24 am] |
After I got my hair cut I went to get some tacos and while there I read a few selections from Everyman's Pocket Classics' Christmas Stories. I read Charles Dickens' The Story Of The Goblins Who Stole A Sexton for the first time. The parallels to his A Christmas Carol were notable, but there was enough different about this tale within a tale (as it is taken from The Pickwick Papers) to hold me captive and keep me interested. Dickens continues to grow on me over the years. Recently I rented The Pickwick Papers from Netflix and was so impressed that I went out and bought the book immediately. I can't wait to read it in its entirety. Good ol' Dickens. Never a bore. After reading Dickens I turned once again, and for the second year in a row, to H.H. Munro's Reginald's Christmas Revel. I loved this tale of Reginald's unfortunate Christmas visit at the Babwold's. This is one of those stories that almost demands to be visualized. I wish I was a filmmaker. I need to get Wes and Richard on the phone. After the revel I came drank down Damon Runyon's Dancing Dan's Christmas. Although I'm not normally one for crime as a theme in a story, this had a kind of South By Southwest feel to it. It seemed to inject something wonderful into the story to lift it out of the mundane. I had never heard of Runyon but will have to check and see what else he has written. Also, the characters in Dancing Dan's Christmas have a kind of palsy affection that really touched me. It's a kind of thing I've seen done well in works as varied as The Dharma Bums and The Pickwick Papers. It's the kind of thing I've glimpsed in Brideshead Revisited, Nicholas Nickleby and Women In Love, but usually those episodes were between two friends and not spilling out into a group of three or more. So, this Dancin Dan's was a welcome surprise.
After coming home I had a great talk with Dan and after that I tackled a sketch of Lily Tomlin. This is the first out of all that I've embarked on that I actually liked quite a bit. It still is not a perfect likeness (don't ever expect that from me) but part of that is due to the size of the source image I was using. A larger picture with higher contrast would help, but I was unable to find one that fit the bill. Still, I'm somewhat pleased at this outcome, knowing that it doesn't have to be my last.
All in all it was a grand day, one of those days I feel in touch with life.
|
|
|
| B-Bar Studios @ The Oleander |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|04:27 am] |
So, when it's time to get down and dirty with some markers, paint or pens, what better place than the breakfast bar?
|
|
|
| W |
[Nov. 14th, 2009|10:22 pm] |
W is for wapiti, whitsunday, water mass, warp & woof, wyvern, wrist, wuerhosaurus, watrous, waterpolista, warping, wrasse, wunderkind and Wallia pura |
|
|
| Martinmas |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|10:43 pm] |
One last greeting on Martinmas. Have a blessed winter all.
|
|
|
| How do you remember the month of November? |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|02:41 pm] |
For me November was the time for the annual church bazaar, a time for reconnecting with the older people in my community to discuss gardening, arts and crafts and other topics, to see handmade Christmas decorations and desserts they had brought with them for sale and to help my mother sell hotdogs from the church nursery redecorated into a makeshift diner for the day. It might have also been the time for a quiet canoe trip or hiking in the forest with guys from church or for visits to Sarasota to spend cool windy days with my family there. There were of course trips to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving so Lydia Child's song Over The River And Through The Woods, which we American children all knew from watching Charlie Brown, was a favorite, despite me finding out later that the original version was called A Boy's Thanksgiving Day, and that he was visiting his grandfather's house in the poem. Either way, that song and Come, Ye Thankful People Come were the only two songs I associated with November in particular, but there was reason for that association so they are still favorites. Thanksgiving at Granny's house was also the great opening of the door to the Christmas season with the Thanksgiving day Macy Parade and after a great turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, corn bread and cranberries, we took our annual graveyard walk with Granny. What was November like for you? |
|
|
| Happy Saint Martin's Day + November 11th |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|09:10 pm] |
Saint Martin of Tours, soldier, hermit and Bishop of Tours was attracted to Christianity in his childhood. At age 18 he was baptized and his desire to live in the church continued to increase throughout his life. Later he took to monastic life only to later become Bishop of Tours. Among the most popular stories of Martin's pre-baptized life, which was immortalized by El Greco, is this account of Martin's encounter with an unclothed beggar. Martin took off his cloak, ripped it in half and gave half to the beggar. Later, Jesus Christ appeared to Saint Martin in a dream and said, "This is Martin, the Roman soldier who is yet unbaptized. He clothed me."
On November 11th his feast is celebrated all over the world. In Europe his traditional foods are beef and goose. You will hear the term Martinmas goose. Other customs associated with this day are the eating of chestnuts, the making and eating of martinsbrot of the weckmann. And in Germany and other nearby countries children carry lanterns on this night and sing Saint Martin's Day songs.
As usual, Dark Dorset has a great blog entry about the customs and traditions of this day.
Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne... from G A I S on Vimeo.
|
|
|
| V |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
V is for Vesuvius, vitriol, voivode, velvet, velocity, Vishnu, vestment, variable stars, verifiable, virus hoax, vernacular, volcano, Veronica's veil, variation, Valenciidae |
|
|
| U |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|12:15 am] |
U is for unction, unfit, uniform, unchained, uau, umlaut, unplygrwydd, unitive consciousness, ungulates, unheimlich and urodela |
|
|
| T |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|01:02 am] |
T is for thaumaturgy, tetra, tibia, taxon, theophagy, talirurus, testicle, talisman, tikkun olam, theotokos, trecento and toxodon |
|
|
| alternate lyrics to nerth dy draed by plant duw |
[Oct. 23rd, 2009|02:36 pm] |
If you want, you can watch the video while reading my alternate lyrics. This means you were most likely already pretty bored. Anyway, have at it.
My mercy and caring
Was well denied
You shoved me into
Your roller toys
That skeleton cord-light
Is eating coconut (Is heating peppermint)
Tough shot through internet
Drawing a paradigm
Arrows!
Can I eat them every day?
Granda Nair
Tell you what I'm for
Just take out a bowl
Tell you what I know
Just check out I know
Orchestra
We'll see what oomph ya
We'll see him squeal
If you act like John Scaglia
Tie knots in wheel
What do you think of me?
Kra Rupa Sara
Take a renegade tire
A car now eerie
Ghana
Dogon
Ochariat
Tell you what I'm for
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
Tell you what I'm for
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
You're my dirty melody
You fill your trunks
Now hold your lager
Oh my, Hello! Dad don't see
Believe me boy
My knees show really
You're my dirty melody
You fill your trunks
Now hold your lager
Oh my, Hello! Dad don't see
Believe me boy
My hips are reeling
Huh
My breast ain't caring
With the quell, the nod off
See the skeleton in felt
I can blow your choice
What do you think of me?
Na Rupa Kala
Your mother keeps trying to
Call you in
Tell you what I know
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
Tell you what I know
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
Tell you what I know
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
Tell you what I know
Just get her on the phone
Tell you what I'm for
Just sit around the home
(howling sounds)
alternate lyrics by: Bill Rogers 10/23/2009 |
|
|
| S |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|02:50 am] |
S is for seraphic, sipapu, sifaka, saudade, sustainability, sehnsucht, Sami, Shinto, sugargliders, semiotics and sparkly things |
|
|
| R |
[Oct. 17th, 2009|01:56 am] |
R is for Rondônia, repurposing, rhyolite, rhea, RNA, runoff, Ruprecht, Ragnarok, root teacher, royal doors, rallidae, Ranger Rick, radjako and roe deer |
|
|
| Q |
[Oct. 16th, 2009|04:20 am] |
Q is for quoll, quincunx formation, quintessence, quince, quokka, Quetzalcoatl, quartz arenite, quartodecimanism, queijo and quddās |
|
|
| P |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|01:18 pm] |
P is for Pantocrator, psittacosaurus, petrine, polyglot, pittailimaniq, Panthalassa, publican, Percy, postillion, pakeha, Punch & Judy, Padmasambhava, paalangpu and parshah |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
giveawayboy's journal
