Weblog 208

January 31, 2010~ 12:00am
Momentous events! Friday night displayed the wonder of the moon's perigee- the point in it's ellipse where it's closest to the earth for the year 2010 --and it was a FULL MOON to boot! Bright and otherworldly, and simply astonishing to look at! It was the FULL WOLF MOON...



AND QUITE A HOWLER! And on that auspicious date, grandchild number seven decided it was a good time to make his entrance into the world. (Unnamed as yet....lol) he is serious as hell about this 'getting-born' business! Look for yourself.



No. 7

Little Mister
No Name
grandson
number 7
with the serious, wizened face
born
during
the perigee
when the womb-waters drew close to the moon
and thrust you
uproariously
into the world, you stare out
puzzled. We receive you
joyously,
little lamb. Your polished
agate eyes
bright
as the night
that brought you

questioning
every sight
and
sound

- your life

a new made shoe

with a winding
road ahead.

Adventure
awaits you.



(Doncha just love the look of new eyes?) Wow. Nothing like it in this world. Clear and shiny.

Friday was my son-in-law's birthday as well. Kay baked a cake for her daddy in her Christmas gift 'Easy Bake Oven'. She was so proud! It was the size of a donut, but Kay promised everyone a small piece. (We all got some, too. I swear it was like the 'loaves and the fishes'! LOL!!) Having birthdays clumped together is good news for this aging brain. As we grow older, clumped birthday's is a big help as the mind strains harder for cues from the memory bank....I'm not kidding. Mine is going.) On Friday evening when Matt called to tell me about the little guy's birth, I was rattling off birthdays and got Shiloh's wrong. I said it was August. He told me April. (Any points for getting the first letter right?) "Well somebody's is August!" (Took me 10 minutes off the phone before I remembered it's my granddaughter Kay's birthday that's in the sweltering heat-- like moi) ... it's going, I tell ya....it's seeping away.

Friday I also got caught up in reading about the million and a half dollar sale of a 'faux De Vinci' at a Sotheby's auction. When I saw the picture, my mouth fell open. It was that beautiful....



mesmerizing. I love it! (Da Vinci or not, that painting is head and shoulders over the 'Mona Lisa'- any day. I never did understand the world's fascination with that little work of art.) It's never done much for me- and Da Vinci painted some gorgeous female faces. Set me off on a search for more of his paintings and these two are fabulous.





"La Scapigliata" (what a name! Sounds like an opera.) She looks flesh and blood soft. And how about "Lady With An Ermine"? Charming... with just a wee touch that reminds me of Andrew Wyeth. It's the lighting and the colors, and her wholesome 'Helga' sweetness.

So what's all that fuss over a moon-faced, eyebrowless smugness. LOL! Never understood it. Never will.

Since I was already on an 'art kick', I happened upon Pablo Picasso and the influences his various mistresses had on his work. That guy used women like new tubes of paint. Something tells me he would have painted a series of guitar men and harlequins, and died more or less a minor figure if not for the upheaval of a string of inspirational lovers over the years.

And in the same thread of 'beautiful faces'- my favorite of his was Francoise Gilot-



- an artist in her own right. (And the only one to have emerged from her almost 10 year relationship, intact) even stronger after Picasso held sway over her life. Francoise gave him two children: Claude and Paloma. Then went on to marry Jonas Salk of all people, to whom she remained happily in love and married for over 20 years until his death- and the amount of work she brought forth on her own is astonishing. In fact, the lady's entire life was astonishing. Read all about her here

Gilot

I began to peruse that first page, and read right on through. What a life! What a dazzling woman!

Saturday evening, Wayne and I watched a documentary called, "In The Realms Of The Unreal"- and it captivated both of us. It tells the story of a reclusive janitor who lived a 40 year secret life in his one-room apartment, painting watercolors of even stranger children, while slipping into a confabulated world of his own creation via his brushes and various makeshift papers. I won't say any more. (It's only 80 minutes long, so pick it up.) It's certainly worth the rental.

I started my viewing convinced the man was a closet pedophile but now, I simply don't know. I think it more likely he was an isolated individual with stunted, awful beginnings in life, who really did not think or function like the majority of humanity in terms of sexuality or what most of us accept as 'real life', so he made himself up; he made a world to live in that was much richer than the inexplicable, painful one in which he found himself.

We're still in the deep freeze here in 'single digit' Pittsburgh. Winter is not through with us yet.....not by a long shot, so if you're suffering through a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder)- try searching the web on any subject that captures your interest. That's what I do, and by jiminy, it works! (And you'll end up a wee bit smarter.) Always a plus, no matter how you look at it. Stay warm.




February 5, 2010~ 11:00am
Stayed home today. Took a personal ("treating myself") day- and the weather reports are FULL of dire warnings about up to a foot of snow headed this way, supposedly to start this afternoon and on through tomorrow.



I AM HOLED UP! LOL!!



I visited mum and did my week's grocery shopping yesterday. Slept till 8:30 this morning, and gorged myself on all sorts of 'snowed-in' goodies last night while I watched my favorite TV comedies. (If stuck inside during a snowstorm, this is what I would recommend: cheese popcorn, clementine oranges, assorted cheeses cut into chunks, pancakes, hot soups and Little Debbie's cakes.) I even purchased some 'chicken and dumplings' in a package to heat up sometime this weekend. Yes... I watched and munched last night, relishing the quiet and the time off, knowing I can sleep till the cows come home if I choose to, and ain't nobody gonna say anything....I'm HOLED UP! lol. (Digging out will come later, on Sunday.) So far, nuthin'....but the weather people assure us that it's coming, alright. We've been warned.

I have a movie from Netflix called 'Goya's Ghost'. I may pop that into the DVD player later on. (I didn't know if Wayne would like that one so I'll screen it- and if it's something I think he'd enjoy, I'll just keep it and watch it with him next weekend.) I also have VCR tapes of Olivier's 'Hamlet' and 'Richart III' that I've not watched. May view those as well. Here's to BEING HOLED UP...and the world is pushed far away, and everything's quiet. Ah.....bliss.





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