The Watcher

Inside us there is a listener who listens for what we say, a watcher who watches what we do. Each step we take in conversation with our friends, moving slowly, or flying among words, he watches, calling us into what is possible, into what is not said, into the shuckheap of ruined arrowheads, or the old man with missing fingers.
We wake, stretch, stand up, speak our first sentence, and fall as we talk into a hole in the sounds we make. Overly sane afternoons in a room during our twenties come back to us as a son who is mad. Every longing another had that we failed to see returns as a squinting of the eyes when we talk, and no sentimentality, only the ruthless body performing its magic, transforming each of our confrontations into energy, changing our scholarly labors late at night over white-haired books into certainty and healing power, and our cruelties into an old man with missing fingers.
At breakfast we speak of people long known who've left the Path, and two hours later in broad daylight the car slides off the road. I give advice in public one day as if I were adult, and that night a policeman in my dreams holds a gun to the head of a blindfolded girl. We talk of eternity and growth, and I pour more wine into my glass than into yours.

* I wrote down this short piece from a book without noting the author. 
Why is Robert Bly the first person to come to mind?  Maybe... not?

Sunday.  

pre

mid-everything

post

I'm pretty thankful for stacks of Sunday dishes, even in all their dirty, because it's a pleasant reminder of the good people that come your way...

Monday

And, if you've a mind to, check out this Picture & Poem project.

This week started with an afternoon of kitchen play and a perfectly small Sunday Supper extravaganza. Every week should begin with a fried apple pie, or three.

---------------

It's not over, but the week is wrapping up nicely. Today I received official news that my poet friend, Tom McCauley, and I received a fellowship from The Union for Contemporary Art here in Omaha, NE. This fellowship provides us with a free studio space and a stipend for 6 months, beginning in February. We've been toying with a collaborative book project for awhile and now we've been given some incredible resources to help see it through! Along with our own personal works, we'll also be initiating a community-based project with a group of kids in North Omaha, but more to come on that. There are a lot of logistics to work out with this venture but we're both really excited and thankful to have this opportunity to learn, explore, create, and give back!

---------------

Pause future talk, the week has been productive. I acquired a new accessory (see below) and reaffirmed that cafeteria lunches still need an overhaul; I spent the day sorting through a million high school drawings.

  

---------------

Here's to packing your lunch, and to fine winter nights.

Cheer

For several months now Sunday evenings have been reserved for "Sunday Supper," a small event that brings food and friends together. 

It's a group of fine, fine cooks &  lovely, lovely people, which means a wonderful way to start the week.

So glad that the very first day of this brand new year just so happened to fall on our gathering day...

The before.

and the after.

 There were new faces, old faces, and the usual star of the show.

Here's to the new on day #2.

here, there, and back again

NE to KY to TN to NC to KY to NE.

I make circles. 

Let's get dizzy. 

----------

"Come on, let's skip and be merry!"

 "Let's kick these rocks and make them have some fun!" 

-Toby

a pretty great travel partner

but there was that one quote:

"You know how you make drawings of real things, 

but your drawings don't actually look like anything..."

 also a fine critic and, obviously, hard to impress

----------

This is where we started.

Western Kentucky

This is somewhere between the two.

This is where we paused for awhile.

Toby and Michelle perch 

draw, read, & relax... oh, and treats
a fantastic restaurant, should you ever be in the neighborhood: Knife & Fork; Spruce Pine, NC

we watched this all afternoon

Thank you Miss Michelle, we had a real nice time!
Love, Toby & Maranda

Skyping with my best friend in Kentucky goes something like this:

we're excellent communicators, obviously

Suppertime with friends in Nebraska goes something like this:

 delicious food and pie, of course

charades

shadow play

keep your scraps

and a grand finale, bringing the evening to a close

There's a holiday sale coming up in November. I'm participating...

and have vowed to use up all my lingering supplies before collecting more
my paper stash is ludicrous

So far so good.

Over.

I'm lucky to know some pretty fantastic people that like to share delicious food, special drink, conversation, and potluck fun. This is a teensytiny sampling of the spread we had this past Sunday, um, half-eaten.

Sundays. My favorite day. As my grandmother would say, "Why, I never..."

I suppose I was brought up under the impression that half statements were actually full statements.

I'm not sure this has served me well.

This may explain some things.

beets? gone. apple/rasp pie? gone. sweet potato w/ nutty crust? gone. bean salad? one more serving.
lentils? gawd, there's still a pot full..

It's been a fine week so far, and coming home to mail, real mail, helps:

We talk to each other, and ourselves, in our letters

sometimes we don't have to say much

 and other times we make tiny books with doodles and after thoughts
because we're paper people, which means piles of paper scraps

always, we write like we talk... for better or worse.

and we always end on a high note

And, finally, this is pretty fantastic:

fresh fruit for tarts and pies

vegan/gluten free crust. beginners luck. a tasteful success, which i can't seem to stop celebrating.
unfortunately, i'm not exactly sure what those side notes actually mean, "if making pie," um....   ??

yellow flag shapes

a stranger loving life

And, finally, I was fortunate to see 6 fantastic musicians perform tonight at the Side Door Lounge, here in Omaha. Please check out these artists, hear their work, and support them when you have the opportunity!

Rachel Tomlinson Dick

Jayme Fowler & Nate Dittman

Shenandoah Davis

There has been art stuff

love Gomez Art Supply, printing ink, bathtub soaking, and paper on the wall

There has been "i can't believe this..." stuff, fences to jump, and random color

and lots of lovely, outside, summer things.

Always better.

i did this, there, and thought of you.. happy birthday yesterday, michelle!

There's a backlog of words to share, but plenty of time for that..
I'm coming around.

This project, however, has a deadline, so I'd like to share it with you now!

Joslyn Art Museum has taken on a "Yarn Bomb" project and we'd love to have you participate. Find out more about the project, deadlines, and where to send your pieces here: http://www.joslyn.org/post/sections/157/Files/Project_Yarn_Flier.pdf

The morning greeted me with a mailbox full of this

Find out more about this movement and entertain yourself with some amazing pictures at the link below: http://www.knittaplease.com/

on pause

(poem for July)

The Story
-by Mark Strand

It is the old story: complaints about the moon
sinking into the sea, about stars in the first light fading,
about the lawn wet with dew, the lawn silver, the lawn cold.

It goes on and on: a man stares at his shadow
and says it's the ash of himself falling away, says his days
are the real black holes in space. But none of it's true.

You know the one I mean: it's the one about the minutes dying,
and the hours, and the years; it's the story I tell
about myself, about you, about everyone.

some things will always be better: mixed tapes and usps letter mail

This past week I came home to a treasure chest mailed to me by my friend, Rbt. Sps.

Rbt. makes a weekly sitcom, and I have been fortunate to receive a Season 1, boxed set of dvds. I'm so excited to share these and have been plotting and planning with my friend Natalie, for the better part of the day, on how to make this happen. 

Summer fun.

rbt. thank you a million times over

And, of course, it's better to make plans while you make food

spinach/kale/tofu/stuff

And this weekend, there were lots of plans

midnight doughnuts and ethiopian food 

But sometimes it can be overwhelming

So it's good to take time for long walks

and note all the things that make everyday life so great.

It's a good week.

There have been some good things:

keep your hands busy

_____

because who gets that lucky.

in the hole $1.75. "You have to play big to win big." -Jenna

best corner pool

 _____

And there have been some ridiculous things, like all day baking:

What? Why.

_____

So today, I was leaving my house with a bag full of cinnamon rolls just as a neighbor-stranger was heading down the sidewalk. I thought about offering some to him, but didn't because no one takes baked goods from a stranger on the street. That's weird.

I walked on.

Then changed my mind. Typical.

So I turned around and offered some sweet treats.

The neighbor-stranger actually took them. I wonder if he ate them.

Maybe that's why I spent the majority of the day baking all these unnecessary foods, to remind me, so I could remind you, that sometimes impulse is good.