Weblog 312
February 5, 2012~ 12:00 am
Last week it was owls..... this week I've been thinking about dogs. LOL!! No, really! There's something so elemental in the relationship between a person and a dog. It touches my heart in all the softest places. It brings tears to the eyes.
That picture RIGHT THERE is what I mean. (Incidentally, I'd never heard of that late nineteenth century artist before, but now I'm over the moon with his paintings! His name is Antonio Rotta.) What exquisite sensitivity! It's in the details of their companionship and their daily lives...the hunting for food, the old man's religious devotion as shown by the little holy water font hanging above his bed... the fact that his hand has been hurt, while the dog looks on with such LOVE, as though he knows... I love it.
Of course I recently read the charming book 'Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend' by Susan Orlean. That's honestly what brings me to this HUGE awareness of the tie between man and dog, a tie that's extraordinarily deep and lasting. Makes me want a dog. A hound like the one in the picture.
There was an extremely tragic story in the news here about two elderly neighbors. A lady's 12 year old pet chilhuahua was killed by her neighbor's 18 year old pit bull, and both neighbors were crying in the interview. They were friends it seemed, yet the depth of their despair at such a horrifying turn of events had changed them forever.
They showed the 'killer' dog-- a white-muzzled old black and white on a leash, who was happily wagging his tail for the camera man. Why he killed the little chihuahua remains a mystery; most of all to the owner who was sobbing and saying he'd have to have his old friend put down. God, that KILLED me. Simply DEMOLISHED me, with the old fella saying what a friendly animal he'd always been while his heart was breaking for his neighbor's loss.
I dreamed of a horse this week. He kept nuzzling at my face with such affection, the muzzle downy soft.... following me around along a grassy hill, nuzzling, nuzzling. I must be lonely for an animal of some kind.
Here's a wonderful picture of 'loneliness'.....
Yes, it's Rotta again. I've been seeking him out. What a sad little guy. Looks to me like he was playing soldier then stopped when he realized playing alone wasn't really much fun after all. And back to dogs (which seemed to be of primary interest to Rotta....
my goodness! The way that poor animal is howling to heaven, my guess is that boy is not playing at all.) There appears to be smoke and troops in the background. Perhaps he was a boy-soldier for REAL in this picture. The American Civil War had many young lads as drummers, buglers.... who can say, but the dog is howling pitiably. Again..... that deep, deep bond. I'm envious of it.
Saturday was not a movie night because the weather seemed unpredictable with a mixture of rain and snow all day. Wayne and I had dinner at Eat'n Park and I floated with happiness while eating a Super Burger and loading up on a trip to the salad bar. After my bout with intestinal upsets a couple of days this past week, to be able to eat a large, varied meal was such a pleasure.
And Saturday was the day I finally gave in and bought myself a new cell phone. (At Wayne's prodding.) Thank goodness he suggested it! My old faithful Motorola flip phone would not hold its charge any longer. One call... sometimes EVEN a short call would have it going dead. The young salesman couldn't BELIEVE I've had that relic since 2004! LOL!! Eight years. Up to the past couple of months it worked fine, but traveling that nasty Route 28 is pretty scary without a reliable cell phone for emergencies...and it's a BEAUTY!
Another 'flip phone' but candy apple red -and so much fancier than what I'm used to, though it's not OVER-BURDENED with a mass of gadgets. (Yes, it takes photos, and yes, it connects to the internet, but with such a teenie screen it's not much use for that stuff. LOL!!!) Just for the heck of it, I did bring up this website, but reading it by scrolling an inch at a time, up and down and back and forth really isn't practical. It's nice to know I have it to check email now and then, but I won't be using it for that very often.
I'm just tickled with it! And there's no change to my affordable old T-Mobile plan: my existing account transferred to the new phone simply by inserting my SIM card. Man....the graphics are so much nicer than my black and white old one.....
and I'm brazenly proud of the thing. LOL!!! (I don't want or need an iPhone, but a nicely decorative little old 'flip phone' suits me to a tee.) As long as I can call triple A for a flat tire, or the office if I'm stuck in traffic.. or be available while my dial up computer is connected to the internet (yes, I still have dial-up, thank you very much)... then I'm happy. Now all I need is a dog.
(It's funny, when Wayne and I decided we'd be getting married this year, he said, "Can we get a dog?" LOL!!! He's lived in a co-op his whole life where pets aren't allowed.) I think so many of us long for that 'pet connection' and dogs just seem to connect right to the soul. A hound. A hound dog, short-haired and sturdy. That's what I'd like. :)
*(NOTE: I checked my T-Mobile bill online today, and yes, there WAS a sizable charge for those few, puny bytes I used. It was $3.98 for a one minute peek through an inch-wide window!
Oh! and with the 'cookies' I'd picked up by looking at the net with damn cookies enabled and script allowed, there were already two advertisers who found me and sent along two TEXT messages at 20 cents apiece.
I called T-Mobile and now have a LOCK on internet and TEXT messages...THAT won't happen again. Plus I'd already signed up at the govenment-sponsored 'Do Not Call' site for my cell phone number-- so I reported BOTH those bastards today. The times and their phone numbers were listed right on my statement online.
WORD TO THE WISE: if you have an old, grandfathered and affordable cell phone plan and you get a new phone and now have web access, BLOCK IT right away or you'll see your paycheck disappear by the byte.)
~THAT WAS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT~
February 6, 2012~ 6:30p am
Ok.... it was a crap Monday. One of those days where nothing goes right at work, and there are interruptions aplenty. A day when past mistakes rise up in their humiliating fashion, and require immediate attention and resolution. (The bitch of it is..... it was a GLORIOUS day outside!) Dry, crisp... in the 40's...with sunshine by the bucketful. (I'm blaming it on the moon, which was on like a klieg light when I left this morning in the pre-dawn hours. I love it, of course.... but yes, it makes people nuts.)
I had intended to come right home, change into my robe, have a pot of coffee, browse the net a bit and curl up with a book. Then I got clobbered with a CANNONBALL to the stomach..... by ART. By the thrilling and touching and MAGNIFICENT paintings of the late William Utermohlen
born in 1933, died March of 2007 of Alzheimer's.
You may have heard of his self-portraits. He continued to paint himself as the disease progressed, showing quite viscerally how he was disappearing from view. (I believe I'd seen something on television at one time about those portraits and yes, they're quite emotionally striking) but I hadn't been familiar with his earlier work and I have to say... rarely has color and arrangement struck me with the kind of IMPACT found today by searching through his work via 'Google'.
Like that yellow bed above... the two cats, the catty-cornered arrangement of the picture... the man's back turned, but looking curled and protected....whatever I'm seeing, it's hooking itself deep down. You DO need to see a larger version of that one. I love it. Absolutely LOVE it.
Utermohlen started out as an extremely talented artist, but when the disease was becoming more emergent, his later paintings are likewise brilliant, and in the very same ways modern art often is. (Made me wonder if it might be a clue... how an artist must 'disconnect' completely from self-awareness in order to create these new interpretations of a world crashing onto totally unknown shores.. maybe his disease gives us a glimpse into just how brave modern art is, at its core.)
Please do dip into an wide array of Utermohlen's art, extending from the earlier, sublime nudes... to a kind of social commentary... to his own grapplings with a disappearing self. He's like a knife in the belly to me, so I'm curious as to how it'll affect you.
Go ahead. Start here, then keep hitting 'next'. (I wonder if others will find themselves close to tears at times. The man pries me open completely, and it's very moving.)
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
Last week it was owls..... this week I've been thinking about dogs. LOL!! No, really! There's something so elemental in the relationship between a person and a dog. It touches my heart in all the softest places. It brings tears to the eyes.
That picture RIGHT THERE is what I mean. (Incidentally, I'd never heard of that late nineteenth century artist before, but now I'm over the moon with his paintings! His name is Antonio Rotta.) What exquisite sensitivity! It's in the details of their companionship and their daily lives...the hunting for food, the old man's religious devotion as shown by the little holy water font hanging above his bed... the fact that his hand has been hurt, while the dog looks on with such LOVE, as though he knows... I love it.
Of course I recently read the charming book 'Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend' by Susan Orlean. That's honestly what brings me to this HUGE awareness of the tie between man and dog, a tie that's extraordinarily deep and lasting. Makes me want a dog. A hound like the one in the picture.
There was an extremely tragic story in the news here about two elderly neighbors. A lady's 12 year old pet chilhuahua was killed by her neighbor's 18 year old pit bull, and both neighbors were crying in the interview. They were friends it seemed, yet the depth of their despair at such a horrifying turn of events had changed them forever.
They showed the 'killer' dog-- a white-muzzled old black and white on a leash, who was happily wagging his tail for the camera man. Why he killed the little chihuahua remains a mystery; most of all to the owner who was sobbing and saying he'd have to have his old friend put down. God, that KILLED me. Simply DEMOLISHED me, with the old fella saying what a friendly animal he'd always been while his heart was breaking for his neighbor's loss.
I dreamed of a horse this week. He kept nuzzling at my face with such affection, the muzzle downy soft.... following me around along a grassy hill, nuzzling, nuzzling. I must be lonely for an animal of some kind.
Here's a wonderful picture of 'loneliness'.....
Yes, it's Rotta again. I've been seeking him out. What a sad little guy. Looks to me like he was playing soldier then stopped when he realized playing alone wasn't really much fun after all. And back to dogs (which seemed to be of primary interest to Rotta....
my goodness! The way that poor animal is howling to heaven, my guess is that boy is not playing at all.) There appears to be smoke and troops in the background. Perhaps he was a boy-soldier for REAL in this picture. The American Civil War had many young lads as drummers, buglers.... who can say, but the dog is howling pitiably. Again..... that deep, deep bond. I'm envious of it.
Saturday was not a movie night because the weather seemed unpredictable with a mixture of rain and snow all day. Wayne and I had dinner at Eat'n Park and I floated with happiness while eating a Super Burger and loading up on a trip to the salad bar. After my bout with intestinal upsets a couple of days this past week, to be able to eat a large, varied meal was such a pleasure.
And Saturday was the day I finally gave in and bought myself a new cell phone. (At Wayne's prodding.) Thank goodness he suggested it! My old faithful Motorola flip phone would not hold its charge any longer. One call... sometimes EVEN a short call would have it going dead. The young salesman couldn't BELIEVE I've had that relic since 2004! LOL!! Eight years. Up to the past couple of months it worked fine, but traveling that nasty Route 28 is pretty scary without a reliable cell phone for emergencies...and it's a BEAUTY!
Another 'flip phone' but candy apple red -and so much fancier than what I'm used to, though it's not OVER-BURDENED with a mass of gadgets. (Yes, it takes photos, and yes, it connects to the internet, but with such a teenie screen it's not much use for that stuff. LOL!!!) Just for the heck of it, I did bring up this website, but reading it by scrolling an inch at a time, up and down and back and forth really isn't practical. It's nice to know I have it to check email now and then, but I won't be using it for that very often.
I'm just tickled with it! And there's no change to my affordable old T-Mobile plan: my existing account transferred to the new phone simply by inserting my SIM card. Man....the graphics are so much nicer than my black and white old one.....
and I'm brazenly proud of the thing. LOL!!! (I don't want or need an iPhone, but a nicely decorative little old 'flip phone' suits me to a tee.) As long as I can call triple A for a flat tire, or the office if I'm stuck in traffic.. or be available while my dial up computer is connected to the internet (yes, I still have dial-up, thank you very much)... then I'm happy. Now all I need is a dog.
(It's funny, when Wayne and I decided we'd be getting married this year, he said, "Can we get a dog?" LOL!!! He's lived in a co-op his whole life where pets aren't allowed.) I think so many of us long for that 'pet connection' and dogs just seem to connect right to the soul. A hound. A hound dog, short-haired and sturdy. That's what I'd like. :)
*(NOTE: I checked my T-Mobile bill online today, and yes, there WAS a sizable charge for those few, puny bytes I used. It was $3.98 for a one minute peek through an inch-wide window!
Oh! and with the 'cookies' I'd picked up by looking at the net with damn cookies enabled and script allowed, there were already two advertisers who found me and sent along two TEXT messages at 20 cents apiece.
I called T-Mobile and now have a LOCK on internet and TEXT messages...THAT won't happen again. Plus I'd already signed up at the govenment-sponsored 'Do Not Call' site for my cell phone number-- so I reported BOTH those bastards today. The times and their phone numbers were listed right on my statement online.
WORD TO THE WISE: if you have an old, grandfathered and affordable cell phone plan and you get a new phone and now have web access, BLOCK IT right away or you'll see your paycheck disappear by the byte.)
~THAT WAS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT~
February 6, 2012~ 6:30p am
Ok.... it was a crap Monday. One of those days where nothing goes right at work, and there are interruptions aplenty. A day when past mistakes rise up in their humiliating fashion, and require immediate attention and resolution. (The bitch of it is..... it was a GLORIOUS day outside!) Dry, crisp... in the 40's...with sunshine by the bucketful. (I'm blaming it on the moon, which was on like a klieg light when I left this morning in the pre-dawn hours. I love it, of course.... but yes, it makes people nuts.)
I had intended to come right home, change into my robe, have a pot of coffee, browse the net a bit and curl up with a book. Then I got clobbered with a CANNONBALL to the stomach..... by ART. By the thrilling and touching and MAGNIFICENT paintings of the late William Utermohlen
born in 1933, died March of 2007 of Alzheimer's.
You may have heard of his self-portraits. He continued to paint himself as the disease progressed, showing quite viscerally how he was disappearing from view. (I believe I'd seen something on television at one time about those portraits and yes, they're quite emotionally striking) but I hadn't been familiar with his earlier work and I have to say... rarely has color and arrangement struck me with the kind of IMPACT found today by searching through his work via 'Google'.
Like that yellow bed above... the two cats, the catty-cornered arrangement of the picture... the man's back turned, but looking curled and protected....whatever I'm seeing, it's hooking itself deep down. You DO need to see a larger version of that one. I love it. Absolutely LOVE it.
Utermohlen started out as an extremely talented artist, but when the disease was becoming more emergent, his later paintings are likewise brilliant, and in the very same ways modern art often is. (Made me wonder if it might be a clue... how an artist must 'disconnect' completely from self-awareness in order to create these new interpretations of a world crashing onto totally unknown shores.. maybe his disease gives us a glimpse into just how brave modern art is, at its core.)
Please do dip into an wide array of Utermohlen's art, extending from the earlier, sublime nudes... to a kind of social commentary... to his own grapplings with a disappearing self. He's like a knife in the belly to me, so I'm curious as to how it'll affect you.
Go ahead. Start here, then keep hitting 'next'. (I wonder if others will find themselves close to tears at times. The man pries me open completely, and it's very moving.)
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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