we need rain!

It's been awhile since we've had some rain, which is unusual for us. the grass is brown and my lovely garden is shriveling away; which makes me quite sad. thankfully, my tiger lilies seem to be doing fine and have started opening up. i so look forward to them every year as they smell so wonderful! and i love the process of how they start to bloom. little by little, like they are teasing, slowly they begin to open up and then next thing you know, poof! they are completely open and ready to be admired.

now everyone do your rain dance for me and send some my way!

also, I was recently asked to do a Q&A artist interview with Suzanne of Blue Sand Studio. You can read it here. And starting next week, i will be the guest curator on Crescendo.com! I will tell my story of "art saves".

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p.s. here is a picture of me outside doing my rain dance

finding some fun in all this rain

steampunk class i am working on to teach, here in late aug. or early sept.

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playing in the rain

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due to a mermaid washing ashore, traffic was backed up at exit 98.

roller derby mania!

So last night Jane and i went to see the Jersey Shore Roller Girls at the Asbury Park Convention Center. when we left the house, it was not raining. however, by the time we got to the restaurant it was coming down. we didn't have any umbrellas, but Jane had a couple of USPS priority mail boxes in her car, so we used those to cover our heads. We had a nice dinner at Langcosta Lounge. by the time we finished dinner, it was POURING buckets. water was everywhere. we were soaked by the time we got to the convention center. wet jeans, soggy heels, gross! (but our hair was dry thanks to the postal service)

trying to find a parking spot

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me and jane running for cover! (notice the priority mail box/umbrella)

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entering the convention center - the floor was soaked and slippery!

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the convention center is right on the beach in Asbury Park, so here is a view from upstairs.

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"Greetings from Asbury Park" - this was Bruce Springsteen's famous ablum

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the girls are warming up. We decided to support "Anchors Assassins"

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feeling a little soggy & cold here!

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we were surprised by an appearance of the "internationally-known dog catcher silver string submarine all-star competition bagpipe band" (that's some title, huh?) but they were really cool.

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pictures from throughout the evening of the competiton. although they played their best, "Anchors Assassins" lost to the undefeated "Right Coast Rollers" thanks to their secret weapon, #666, Chelle B Evil - who was an incredible skater. that girl was fast, coordinated and lithe!

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random photo of the Wonder Bar, but the face up top is of "Tillie" a vintage icon from the yester year of Asbury Park

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ahh, see a Little People did go to the derby, but was kind of shy. he got his pep up later for some coffee and red velvet cupcake .

rain, rain go away

this is our new pool. who'd like to join me in a swim?

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and of course the rain meant, "fun with Little People"

paddleboat ride

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oops we fell in (we were clowing around)

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lazy river Little People

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shooting the rapids "Little People" style

Disinegration project

Seth Apter, from The Altered Page, is doing a project involving nature and paper. the project involves taking paper of some sort and leaving outside for a length of time to see how it changes from the elements. i created a pretty little paper and fiber collage and hung it from some rusty wire (first photo) and then wrapped it in some cheesecloth and hung it outside (2nd photo). i added diamond glaze over the focal image as i decided i'd like that to remain intact (if possible!). the rest i will leave up to mother nature to see what happens. i have a little problem with worrying about pretty things getting ruined - so this was also an exercise in "letting go" - this is why i decided to create something pretty and then leave it outside - a risk, i know! what will happen to it? will it get ruined? we shall see. i'm leaning towards it still looking really cool when i finally bring it in. we get lots of rain here, ocean air, high winds, occasional snow. maybe it will blow into the mud and i won't notice it for days. stay tuned...............

rain, rain, rain

i was soooo tired last night and couldn't wait to lay down. jeff was out with friends, dillon had friends over and a caregiver was in overnight with tucker. i was just laying down and getting comfortable when dillon comes in and says, mom, waters coming in the basement! ugh. it wasn't too bad, but messy and who wants to be washing towels and steam cleaning the carpet at 11:00pm?
here are a few pics i took this morning while the rain eased up.