Summer Hiatus...

Wow. 10 Days since my last entry. It seems as if that much time hasn’t passed in reality, yet nevertheless it has. I have been hosting my sister and her family for several days now. And even though we are having a lovely time, I haven’t had much time to devote to the blog. Though, my schedule will return to "normal", whatever that may be, in a couple of days. In the interim, here's a television commercial being run by the Chasen Galleries where I will be having an opening next Friday (August 10) in Richmond, Virginia.

S.P.T. w/ hat

Oh man am I busy this week. And after such a lovely weekend too. I'll go into detail on that and other things perhaps later today when my schedule allows. Until then, it's Self-Portrait Tuesday.



I'm wearing my hat as it is the only hat that I can find to wear in the garden to water my withering plants while keeping off the harmful rays of the sun. Of course, my face is lathered in sunscreen much to the chagrin of my pores. Alas.

Right Wing Hypocrisy

More right wing hypocrisy...

http://www.queerty.com/sex/rep-allen-arrested-for-gay-solicitation-20070712/

Friday the 13th

Hey - It’s Friday the 13. I just made that realization moments ago. I have never had much of a problem with this particularly numbered day. Though, just 10 minutes ago as I stumbled groggily through the kitchen in an attempt to prepare my morning coffee, I placed my bare foot squarely in the middle of a warm puddle of cat vomit (complete with stomach churning sticky phlegm saturated hair balls) lovingly left by one of the two feline varmints that I allow to share my living space.



Could that be a “Friday the 13th” phenomenon? No, I think that was just bad timing - or very good cat positioning - depending on your point of view.

It is Friday - in any event - and I have had a very full week. I’ve had some very good studio days, was able to catch up on some digital design work, and I was able to share some very enjoyable social time with close friends. I watched Michael Moore’s “Sicko” during the week and loved it.

Though it was preaching to the choir, the truthful documentary (the facts are out there - and easily verifiable - regardless of what the corporate whores and right-wing lovin’ “infotainers” are saying)



a complete roller coaster of emotion from humor to sadness, empathy, and disgust.

I have never lived through a time in this country when I felt that those in charge were so thoroughly corrupt and spiritually filthy as those at the helm now. How many people will it take to realize that the emperor is wearing nothing at all? How much more damage to the national psyche must be tolerated at the hands of these greedy, small thinking, patrician, self-important, corrupt, hypocritical, bitter freaks in the White House?

I really believe now that they TRULY DON'T CARE about anyone that isn't a member of their economic class, their religion, their skin color, their sexual orientation, their ethnic background. It's important to notice that I have "economic class" listed as first and foremost because money really and truly is their God and they will do anything at any expense to get it and keep it. ANYTHING. It doesn't matter what gets destroyed (whether it's a small country, or a hurricane ravished American City, or our wildlife and nature preserves, or our Bill Of Rights, or thousands upon thousands of lives) as long as the final outcome is money and power. If you think that this isn't true, then you have drunk their Kool-Aide and you are truly delusional.

HOT HOT HOT

Hey - It's Self-Portrait Tuesday...



It’s also hotter than the surfaces of a thousand suns outside here in the Garden State. According to accuweather.com, it’s 92 degrees with an air temperature of 108! That would explain why I saw tumbleweeds, iguanas, and sun bleached cow skulls in my front yard this morning as I went on my power walk. The power walk which turned out to be a grueling “I don’t think I can make it” trek across the desert otherwise known as the local park.

I am like a delicate flower in the sun I’m afraid. In fact, this afternoon an eager honey bee decided to visit the locks of my golden hair. I didn’t notice until I heard that spine chilling drone of buzzing wings ever so close to my ear.



I could sense the angry bee's frustration and I expected it to deeply plant its painful stinger into my innocent scalp at any moment. Surely, the bee mistook me for a giant sun flower of some sort. In any event, my fear driven quick and spasmodic interruptive dance of running my fingers back and forth at the speed of light through my short summer buzz quickly freed both the intruder and myself from misfortune.

The only time that I have been stung by a bee was when I was a child. It was during the the height of Summer in my home town in Kentucky. Naturally I was barefoot. I saw the bee serenely circumnavigating the head of a clover gently gathering pollen. I remember having one of those very silly thoughts that only experimental children have which was, "I wonder if if step on Mr. Bee if it would sting me". I did and it did. Lesson learned. On day, I'll write about the time I had another silly childhood thought involving a plastic garment bag and the threat of suffocation.

JM an OD in the WC?

I, not unlike zillions of other people, have my favorite Doors tunes deeply ingrained into my psyche ( L.A. Woman, People Are Strange, Love Me Two Times) and also not unlike multitudes of fans, have been to his grave in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris so this little news item hit my radar as mildly interesting.

It seems that after 30 something long years, the manager from a nightclub frequented by Jim Morrison is releasing his account of how the infamous party boy actually died from a heroin overdose in one of the club's bathroom stalls rather than quietly in his tub.



You can read the details here...

The shocking truth about how my pal Jim Morrison REALLY died

When you think it's morning...but it's not

It’s 2:30 AM on the dot. I’ve been up since 2:00. Is it restlessness? Insomnia? Sleep boredom? I don’t know and at this moment don’t care - it doesn't change the fact that I am awake when I should be asleep.



What was I dreaming? It’s too fuzzy being either too close or too distant, or both, simultaneously. The night before last, I dreamt that I was wining an Academy Award for best supporting actor. The crowd went wild during my acceptance speech.



There were a few problems. Not only was I unsure as to what performance I was winning for, I was accepting the prize wearing work-out shorts, running shoes and a t-shirt. It didn't help my confusion that both the Academy and the media seemed only to know my name as "Mykhal Sprice". I guarantee you that if I were ever to choose a stage name - that would not be it. It sounds much too much like an Hindi translation for cheap men’s cologne.



I am going to try to slide back into bed. Wish me luck.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

It's July 3, 2007 and it's Self-Portrait Tuesday...



I've nto taken part in SPT for what seems to be quite some time. But I find myself on a different time continuum in the Summer ( like many folks) so, adhering to regiment is something easily slipped by the wayside.

It's a little after 8 AM as of this moment ( 8:14 to be exact) and I have already been to the beach to look for sea glass and on my morning speed walk.



I t was with great interest that I read about Bush's decision to "commute" Libby's sentence. Initially, I was disgusted and furious about the news. But then, I realized that for each of the moronic, self-serving decisions made by the buffoon and his administration, the closer we get to a Democratic President! So, feel free to make more insipidly stupid decisions. Full steam ahead! Or perhaps I should state - Fool Steam ahead...

Wonderful weekend...

What a truly lovely weekend I have had. The trip to DC was wonderfully successful on several levels. We had a great time enjoying the company of L. and D. and the photo shoot went very well for the digital portrait went very well. Though, after taking the photos (which were of L. posing in her hat collection - a fabulous collection that she had created over many years, each with special meaning), I mentioned the idea of self-publishing a coffee table book of the images along with the individual story of each hat. She and D. loved the idea. So as of now, the initial idea of creating a digital portrait has evolved into the creation of a coffee table book which I will design and which will incorporate my digital photographs of Lynn wearing select hats from her collection accompanied by a bit of descriptive prose for each image.

After the photo shoot, we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner accented with lots of cocktails much laughter.

George and I awoke very early Sunday morning and had coffee with the sunrise on the patio which overlooks L’s massive and beautiful backyard bordered by her stunning gardens. The air was crystalline and cool with absolutely clear azure skies above. We were amazed that such a morning could occur on July 1st ( it was actually a bit chilly), but there it was nevertheless. It became one of those sensations where you realized that what you were experiencing weather-wise was a short lived special treat that would more than likely not reappear again until the middle of Autumn at the earliest. We sat silently with our warm cups of coffee (the aroma of which had mingled with the sweetened scents of countless different flowers that had gently wafted into the crisp early morning breeze) and listened to the sounds of the waking day.

After L & D woke we enjoyed a casual breakfast before returning to the Delaware shore. During the ride, I finished reading this -



This was a real “hard to put down” page-turner for me. Of course, I’m a history buff and after having lived for so many years in DC, I was always quite compelled by the Lincoln assassination. Our gallery was also only a couple of blocks from the Ford’s theater as well as Mary Surrat’s boarding house. It’s really a fascinating, and true, read.

Right about the time that I was finished, we were pulling into Elmer’s Produce outside of Bridgeville, Delaware.



Elmer's has been there for countless years and they offer massive amounts of fresh, local produce, plants and more. It's one of our favorite stops along the way...



The other thing that they offer, as stated in their sign seen in the image above, is a “gift shop”. It is also very large and offers a huge amount of “intriguing” things, that some, may indeed, consider worthy of gift giving. Here’s one in particular that stood out.



It was a painted ceramic creation that featured 3 different yet extremely similar figures of Jesus sitting together on a throne. I believe it was called the trinity or something to that effect. The first words that came into my mind when I saw the works was, “Will the real Jesus please stand up?”



I also must admit how taken aback I was when I realized that the one Jesus figure with the dove bore an uncanny resemblance to a neo-hippy friend of mine from the way back machine whom turned me onto many new things - ahem, and I - he.

I also couldn’t get over how the large yellow adornments over the three amigos heads so strongly looked like these peculiar pieces of headgear popular amongst Green Bay Packer fans...



Perhaps the ceramic trio would make the perfect gift for any devout Christian who also happens to be a Green Bay Packer fan.