Thursday, November 30, 2006

Blast From the (Ghost of Christmas) Past Thursday #27


So as we get in the spirit of the holiday season we pause to remember the times that made childhood special. Candy canes, christmas parades, carols, sitting in Santa's lap and whispering that you were indeed a good girl or boy the past year. Randy, Julie, Paul and I took a walk through the Huntsville Botanical Gardens last week to look at all the beautiful lights they put up. And as an added bonus - Paul fulfilled an unrealized childhood wish. Randy just went along for moral support of course. Santa, the jovial, rosy cheeked fellow that he is, took it all in stride, although I'm sure his legs will be a bit sore.

Labels:

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Thank you, Thank you and thank you!

A few nice pics of the Gobble Fest on Thanksgiving. Glenn and Karen (Paul's brother and sister-in-law) hosted a simply wonderful feast for 10 at their home in St. Louis. Everyone had a wonderful time, and as it goes with most visits - it was much too short!

Let's see there were the wonderful people preparing the food....Thank you Paul and Karen

And Glenn....Thanks Glenn!

Then there was the yummy fresh turkey. Hello turkey. Thank you for giving up your delicious tender little body. You were very good and Glenn and Karen will be snacking on you for days and none of you will go to waste. And thank you also to the smart people who invented the pop-up timer to know when the turkey is cooked, thus reducing the number of Thanksgiving related emergency room visits.

Then there was the dressing. Thank you bakers for baking the bread, thank you farmers for harvesting the grains to make the bread. And thank you celery and onion growers and various other spices growers.

Thank you little cranberries and thank you and sugar cane growers for sweetening the tasty little cranberries!

And then there's my dog. Thank you for cleaning up anything we happened to spill on the floor while preparing the delicious Thanksgiving feast. And also thank you for not drooling directly on me, and not barking too much when the company came (well, sort of).

Thank you for a beautiful setting, wonderful food and time to enjoy family.

And don't forget to thank the little salt and pepper shaker rodents too!

I hope you and yours had a most "thankful" Thanksgiving
and enjoyed yours as much as I. Gobble Gobble!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Symmetrical Universe

© 2006 Stephen Pitts

I'm a big fan of B&W line art drawings simply because of their purity of form. Color drawings are much easier to pull off because color will get your attention and the artwork doesn't have to rely as heavily on the matter or form of the subject. B&W is much more challenging. The pure lines and composition - the contrast of ink and paper are solely responsible for drawing you into the artwork. A caver friend of mine does some fascinating B&W artwork, with some of the most intricate pen and ink detail I have ever seen. Recently Steve and Jennifer set up a website to showcase it. Get drawn in here: Symmetrical Universe

Labels:

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Blast From the Past Thursday #26


So every time I think of my girlie girls from back home (Florida) I picture this in my head. This photo is hanging on my wall at my apartment and every time I see it, it never ceases to make my laugh. I LOVE this photo. On March 2nd 2003, Laura, Annamaria, Joy and I stopped at Dairy Queen on the way to the church for Annamaria's wedding. This would be the perfect ad campaign for trying to make ice cream look sexy.

And just as a bonus - I've included another picture from later that evening of Jennie, Adam, Lea Am, Laura, Joy, Kelli and Shannon. (Miss you all!!)


And then as an extra extra added bonus - a picture of me (in mid-blink) from WAY later that evening when the remaining 5 of us decided to go to IHOP. This photo will seriously start a bridesmaid fashion trend for sure. I couldn't handle wearing my uncomfortable fancy shoes anymore, so I rooted around my trunk and found my hiking/caving boots. Looks like I'd just bought them because they still look nice and clean. You know I actually stopped wearing these boots just a few months ago, when the padding finally wore out. Three years is an amazingly long lifespan for caving boots.

Labels:

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Attack Nursery Rhymes

Just before election day on the 7th of November NPR did a radio interview with a view of the voice-over artists that both parties use for political ads. Personally I can't stand all of those horrible ads - but this interview about the ads is brilliant! And had me quite literally clutching my stomach trying not to drive off the road with laughter. There's a segment where the voice-over artists read nursery rhymes in their political ad voices. So if you have a couple minutes to spare, go here: Attack Nursery Rhymes Click the red "listen" button just below the title of the article. You can listen to it in REAL or Windows Media.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

So much to Post, So little time!

Hello all, Glad to see my last post question was finally answered by a few people! I never answered my own question which really isn't fair, is it? So what would I do if I could not fail? A Lot. First I would study to become an archaeologist, a web-design, an industrial designer and letterpress operator and learn how to blow glass and play the drums while I'm at it, then I would travel the entire world on assignment, visiting the most remotely beautiful and untouched places, with all the great cities of the world in between, pick up about 10 different languages in the process, stop in to help excavate a new complex of tombs in the Valley of the Kings, run by Letchagia to help sketch a few miles of passage for them, design some amazingly modern furniture and items for Knoll, pick up new drumming techniques in Africa, do some Millefiori in Murano, Italy, and all the while sending my articles and photography (and recordings for NPR) back to National Geographic where (of course) they'd be waiting to publish them. I would write a book about my adventures with lots of my pen and ink drawings, paintings, etc., and with the profit, set up a studio and art gallery, and buy a letterpress with tons of type where I could dabble in art, craftyness, modern design, printing and teach kids and adults art and craftyness and design.

Phew.

There is more, but I don't want to be responsible for anyone's mind exploding.

I have so much more to post right now, but everything is in different stages of moving in and moving out all over the place that I don't have my computer in a place to upload the photos I have on it. I have plenty of photos to do another "This Old House" post. The remodeling of Paul's house is almost almost complete! We have new flooring. Things have to moved back in and around and cleaned up, trim needs to be painted and tacked down - but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer...

And then I have some caving photos too, and quite a lot of good links to add and change out. Hopefully by next week some items will be pseudo-put-back-together-again so I will be able to post some more photos.

For now, here's one photo that Paul had of the new kitchen flooring.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

A ?

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?