what do you mean that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving????

it does to ME!

it's that old red garage i used to walk by and make a picture of a couple of years ago. probably on this very same day two years ago. when i lived in that crappy student ghetto apartment that leaked all the time and flooded my bedroom and made moldy toxic carpet? see! it has a LOT to do with Thanksgiving, that picture, because i AM SO THANKFUL I DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE. ok, that is a small thing, but taking that "nostalgic" walk this morning and making pictures of some of the things i used to see, made me feel very glad to be coming "home" to my lofty and dry garage apartment. i am spending the day alone, my family are scattered and my friends are few. but i am not unhappy. i am baking sweet potatoes and making split pea soup with the turkey ham that i meant to have in my salad, but decided to put in the soup instead and will put some chicken in the salad instead. i have cold white wine and ice cream. i am working on artStuff and trying not to look at my lofty and dry garage apartment, because in the bright sun i can see it is very dusty. i am really not into being holidayish today at all, but if you are, i hope you are having a nice day. i am and i am grateful. for lots of things. not just my lofty and dry garage apartment. but if i were to list them, it would sound very strange...

onward.

since everyone seems to be presenting their book memes this weekend, i guess i can take up space with my long string of fake polaroids! i finally downloaded Poladroid again and played with it. it's hokey but so much fun to see what randomly appears. i even let it crop for me. gasp. such a loss of control! (but i cheated and straightened the images in photoshop first. shoot me!)

last weekend, i convinced the poet to wander in The Bottoms with me. i hadn't been in so long and that is one of my favorite areas in Kansas City. he gave it a good try, but after half an hour or so, there was some fretting over the cold wind and the possiblity of catching cold. argh! i could have stayed for hours, exploring! we also saw The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest and ate indian food and had a lovely weekend as usual.

now i am back to writing like a fool. i will probably finish the word count for Nano this weekend, but i am just not feeling the euphoria of last year. i can't seem to find the tenderness and humor i had for my characters and situations last year. and ... i don't seem to have a real story! just randomshit happening. well, we'll see. it seems like i didn't really get going last year until almost 50,000 words, so i will carry on. it is a pleasure. the writing. that's for sure. but i'm almost missing arting a little, too. last Sunday was traci's glueshitdown birthday party and i managed to make 3 little collages, which felt good. she has glitter glue. i really need some of that stuff.

finally! these buggers are all finished, all varnished, all scanned
and ready for viewing by any interested parties.
click to go if you like!

to see the whole set of retratos de detalles images alone,
GO HERE

now back to writing.
it seems much harder this year.

yesterday was really gorgeous. as was the day before. and the day before. and so on. although the leaves aren't quite as amazing as usual, the autumn sky has been a fierce, bright blue, almost frightening! the air is perfect, not too cold, not too hot. i have been on my butt a lot lately, working at the artTable, writing like a fiend, reading, etc, and really needed to get out for a walk yesterday, so i did. not a big exciting one, just the most winding-through-the-alleys route i could take to the library. but i tried to make it more exciting for myself by taking my camera for a little project.

usually i don't use the "scene" settings, because i think they are a little hokey, but on my cammie, i have to admit that i LOVE the pinhole scene, so i only allowed myself to make pictures using that singular setting. sure it is a little fake-looking, but still, i think it is interesting. even the most mundane scene takes on a certain holiness.

more pictures! what? you thought i would stop or something? nope!

last weekend was the biweekly visit to the city and the poet and i felt desperate to see something besides woods and movies, so we had a short wander in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Columbus Park. my eyes were still searching for ... details. and i find them there. we also had the most awesome pho at a little corner Vietnamese dive, Pho KC. it was a windy and cool day. very gray. we also saw Enter The Void and i don't really recommend it. my poor poet had to sit out the last half hour, because he was just too dizzy and nauseated. i was surprised that *i* wasn't. if i had known how it was to be, i would have dropped meclizine first, to be sure. but somehow i became immune to the stimulation as the film progressed. i was glad when it was over.

what else. writing like a fool for nanowrimo. the october objects are all in the flattening process, between towels and cloths, under books. i decided to go ahead and finish them all the way after all. i'm not really sure why, i must say. the long lonely weekend is coming up. i will write, glue and who knows, maybe even paint. it could happen!

it is becoming cold now, but there are furBoots to be worn, so all is well.

ps. no point in talking about the election, huh? ugh.