Weblog 85

September 23, 2007~ 1:45am
Took Friday off and got the new car inspected-- insane, isn't it? It's only 3 months old, but the damn sticker said "9/07", so I had to haul it back to the dealer and have them give it a once-over and slap on a new sticker that says "09/08". Trouble is, I stupidly misplaced my new owner's registration. Had to drive back home and look for it- which means that when I found it an hour later, my appointment was taken- and I had to sit in the waiting room for two hours waiting my turn.

Life is an unreal series of events that go waving around in and out of focus, and we can only grapple with the fog, and hope to see land- hope to see through the gauze of the many layers covering us....



I am amazed by my own ability to 'forget' things. I'm downright irresponsible at times and couldn't care less about it until I have to 'put-up or shut-up'. Any responsible person would have gotten together what they needed, oh- perhaps the night before- but I left it to fate and hoped for the best. Chaos was created where there needn't have been, and I damn near ruined my day off too-- saved, but barely. I'm 'moony'. I'm too careless about things because life always seems sort of 'unreal' to me-- like this lovely Art Deco Italian postcard translated to say: "You dream always."



Yep, that's me alright: mostly in the dark, pretty 'nothings' floating about, bordered off from the world until something practical breaks through with its prickly edges to disturb me. But what I did get to do in those two irreplaceable hours of my life-- is watch "Montel" (he's an ass, by the way.....lol) and "Ellen"-- funny, but she tries too hard on this new show of hers-- and I read about Jodie Foster in an old issue of 'Entertainment' magazine. (She's still clammed up about her sexual persuasion...has a right to be, but she sure makes the media rabid to know the intimate details. Forget how successfully she portrayed the young hooker in 'Taxi Driver' or her impeccable performance as Clarice Starling in 'Silence of the Lambs'-- the American public wants to know, and by damned they'll keep AT HER until she cracks.) LOL!!! -(fat chance)- that's one ballsy lady.

I did of course take along my little hand-held electronic solitaire game. It's like 'nightly prayer' to me, and always one of the last things I do propped up in bed- I play a mean, few cycles of 'Beat the Devil', and I did win-- twice-- while waiting for my little blue car to come out the other end of the garage all stickered up. No matter the time of day or what my circumstances may be....



...I am one fool for CARDS! One of life's little diversions that make the time pass pleasantly. Oh, I don't play '500' or Poker.....just play against the ol' devil himself, and just about once a night I win. (I hate to think how angry that's made him over time)- but I guess I'll find out.




September 23, 2007~ 2:45pm




Halfway

In the mid-nineteenth century
the Orphan Trains
scored the country,
traveling west. Their squared-off
windows
holding little
moons
of faces
staring out, moving
away
from parents
who couldn't keep them,
immigrants, and single parent homes
who gave them up
to the
charities,
were traveling into the night, passing
plains and corn and uncertainty, the Orphan
Trains
of Kansas,
while up above,
the planets shook
their
tidings.
"Who are you, small
humans
on your ball
of mud,
huddled
in snorting dragons
of the night? Your fathers
dead or lost, your
mothers,
half-insane
with want"- as the Orphan
Trains of Kansas
bull-dozed on.


To read more about this social phenomenon, go to The Orphan Trains. Amazing, how much the past swallows up. I wonder how many are out there had ancestors with beginnings on those trains? The past is a fascinating, often melancholy place. We should visit it often, with respect and awe-- it is our common, human cemetery.




September 25, 2007~ 8:00pm




Some people like to window shop, I get the same pleasure from browsing the net. One of my favorite things is simply to browse Google images and type in an odd or random phrase- take 'pot luck' as the images begin, and oh, the beautiful things that emerge that way! Today I learned about an artisan, a silversmith in the Arts and Crafts style, who created the most extraordinary pieces in the early 20th century. The image linked to a site where I found his work- by typing in the phrase, "gilding the lily"- and that lovely brooch was displayed.

If you want to see some of the lovely- sensual, hand-crafted- and powerful pieces from his body of work, click on Chicago Silver- Peer Smed. What genius! Of all creative movements, I love the Arts and Crafts Period the very best. It incorporated much of Art Nouveau by preserving the graceful floral motifs, an abundance of 'mop-headed ladies'- with waves down to their waists- but the pieces are SOLID: good, dark woods- hand-hammered bowls and furniture that you know will last generations, becoming more burnished and striking with time.

There is a marked sensuality in the 'Arts and Crafts work'- but a practicality and sturdiness that compliments it beautifully. I'm a big, big fan. Anyone looking to give me a gift.......LOL.......something along those lines would be much appreciated.





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