differences days make
December 31, 2009 | Filed Under extraordinary | 2 Comments
january
february
march
april
may
june
july
august
september
october
november
december
dream of the bird
December 29, 2009 | Filed Under ordinary, royal buffet | 8 Comments
really and truly, i am taking a vacation from all things paper. with one tiny exception: a mobile for first fridays “crossing borders” exhibit at art & light this weekend. it’s a group exhibition of works from mexican artists and also local artists whose pieces were inspired by mexican art. i’m really a wee bit mortified and quite humbled to be included in a group show with the likes of some really talented and amazing people. hooray!
my first piece, entitled, “dream of the bird,” is a giant and very colorful mobile (which is different for me, particularly the colorful part. i like colors, i really do, but i have a hard time using them and not being intimidated by them. i think that’s pretty common, isn’t it? it’s so much easier to stick to whites and blacks and grays and typed pages). i also did a piece of twenty smaller pieces, little birds in a flock together, but each piece is it’s own strand mobile that can “fly away” from the others, as it were. this piece/these pieces is/are called “flock of paradise.”
the show is this friday night from 6-9. do stop by if you’re local and support local artists and their work!
and now, back to eating too much and playing wii with the kids and putting away all of these christmas decorations…
stable dark
December 25, 2009 | Filed Under extraordinary | 3 Comments
Jesus, our brother, kind and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude;
And the friendly beasts around Him stood.
Jesus, our brother, kind and good.
christmas today, merry, bright, food abounding, people full of love all around us. so different from what it must have been for mary, alone with her husband, birthing her precious child in muck with animals lowing and shuffling in the dark, the night, the cold? and quiet all around, the little Jesus looking up in her face, the universe in his eyes, the palms of his hands. christmas, God becoming man and dwelling among and with us, for us, grace and truth born as a baby. merry doesn’t seem like quite the right word, but i’m wishing it for you all the same: merry christmas, friends.
christmas surprise no. 1 :: maximus
December 24, 2009 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial | 2 Comments
a little max in the house. we wanted the kids to find him under the tree on christmas morning, but we couldn’t work it out to hide him for that long so we brought him home on saturday. he was still a great surprise, and saturday (take note) was, according to him, the greatest day of jude’s life. everyone is being gentle with max and responsible, even lola, who spent the first two days shrieking and running and sitting up high in a chair to watch max from afar. she has now moved on to holding him in her lap and using the leash. it’s very sweet and i’m so glad ernie and i decided to go ahead and do it. we enjoy kahlil, but due to her rambunctious and hard-to-train self, she romps about outside with the kids and then stays there. so a little inside-the-house-to-snuggle pooch was in order, don’t you think?
i always hope for christmas eve to be simple and easy, everything done, slow mornings, maybe a fog over frost in the yard, coffee in hand, music around, sock feet that aren’t stepping in toast crumbs. alas, it is not to be. we are still running a bit behind and i have to break my rule against venturing into a store on christmas eve and go out this afternoon. henry sings at church and lola is asking if she, too, can wear a robe like henry does. hopefully tonight, after the running about and grinch watching and choir singing and present wrapping (and stocking! making! poor lola still needs one!), i will get to sit by the tree, the fire, with ernie and feel warm and christmas and blessed all over.
all white and red
December 23, 2009 | Filed Under familial, royal buffet | Leave a Comment
when nothing is too pressing i have such trouble getting things done. i feel like i’m wandering aimlessly through the days this week, wrapping something here, baking something here, cleaning something here.
there is much whispering going on, especially after bed. i am so hyper about christmas right now, i just don’t know why. and i really don’t know how much more of my hyper behavior my husband and children can take. i just love secrets. and surprises. and giving.
we gave the kids the biggest secret of all on saturday, which i’ll post about tomorrow. it was early, yes, but a necessary early. if you follow me on twitter or facebook you’re probably already in the know. and if you don’t, well you can wait until tomorrow. or follow me on twitter. or facebook.
lola is asking for a bath, ernie is wrestling the boys until they scream and cry and beg for more. there are rolls rising on the counter and espresso nearly ready on the stove. i like this gray and slow vacation.
more days of christmas ornaments above, can you guess who they are? the birds are harder than the people….
love that is true
December 22, 2009 | Filed Under ordinary, royal buffet | 1 Comment
a mere few hours of driving away and the snow falls continuously, silver blues and whites until plowed and blackened into slush. here, the kids ask if the morning frost is snow, by afternoon they think it’s warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet. though it really is not.
lola is taking an early nap. there are lentils and rice for lunch. dinner? a mile of day away. today i need to finish gifts, clean in places (studio?), play some games, bake more cookies. even snowless these things can be done.
these pics are of ornaments that didn’t make it into the shop for the year: twelve days of christmas ornaments from vintage sheet music and glittered gloriously. if you’re the planning ahead type, you can let me know and i’ll make some for you to hang next year. more images in the days to come….
christmas order aftermath
December 21, 2009 | Filed Under lists, royal buffet | 4 Comments
royal buffet search + find
clothes, coffee, plates with cookie crumbs. paper, string, bags of all kinds. glasses, cameras, things that are mine. things that are not mine, things that are lost, multiple half used bottles of glue. trash, trash, more trash. clips to re-use, shreds unusable, bits undecided. tape, cards, glitter abounding. broken lamp, broken ornament, lonely sock. anthropologie bowling bag of yore, pencil sharpener, italian fan. rug? the bard? broken lamp?
sign of the camel
December 18, 2009 | Filed Under lists, ordinary, royal buffet | 2 Comments
flurries
last royal buffet packages: packaged + nearly shipped
no snow, though it was promised.: just cold rain
scraps of record jackets all over the floor
cookie eating
sleeplessness
secrets
choir rehearsals
laundry all over the place
thoughts of curry
piles of things i’m wanting, needing, hoping to do
tree lights when you stare at them blurry
december?
December 12, 2009 | Filed Under familial, ordinary, royal buffet | 1 Comment
just peeking out from the piles of orders (thank you!) and paper debris to say hello. this week is the last week of royal buffet making until january and my fingers are feeling it! i’m looking forward to christmas, of course, and maybe even to watching movies, which i’ve not done for many, many months, as much as i love to watch them. too bad i can’t cut and watch movies at the same time. cutting paper is not as automatic as knitting is supposed to be. i should become a knitter.
it’s cold here, typical south carolina coldness: cold and rainy and only a dream of snow. the kids go out in the afternoons when the sun stays a bit, but they don’t want to stay out there for hours, which is unfortunate. on several levels.
we have a christmas tree, haphazardly decorated by little munchers. i suggested making a tree again this year, as i’ve done several years before, and there was a quiet uproar. “a real tree has all that cheer inside it,” henry said, so how could we say no? we’re here for the holiday, after all, so it won’t wither and die while we’re off to the north. i don’t care for colored lights, really, but they asked, and asked rather nicely, for colors, so we watered down the colors with some whites and everyone is happy. it’s actually quite a nice tree, most of the ornaments in globs at kid levels, rearranged and often found on the floor. but it glows and is cozy and makes everything merry and bright.
hopefully i’ll be back to posting again soon, like at the end of the week when i take the last pile of packages to the sterile post office and wave goodbye to the all-business clerks for the rest of the year.