Gonzai Gallery

I tuned up for the football game by going to the horse expo. I'm diverse like that. Mom managed to lose her ticket in the 12 feet between me giving it to her and approaching the ticket taker. Otherwise she wasn't too bad out there. After a great deal of prodding, I was able to get her to buy a present for my sister-in-law (Mom and I don't wear jewelry, but Janine does), a multi-colored fused glass pendant. There was a pen & ink artist there whose work is fabulous, so we bought a print of a horse standing in a creek, I'll mat & frame it sometime this week. Gorgeous piece. A horse trainer was showing how to introduce horses to unfamiliar situations by teaching a beautiful palomino to kick a giant soccer ball. Really. But mostly it was about visiting with the horses and ponies on exhibit. Some of them had had enough for the weekend and were sulking; but some were still interested and some - especially the draft horses from Gentle Giants rescue - were really enjoying the attention. It was hard to get good pics, but I got a couple.

 This rescue horse seemed to be in the dumps. But he held still, darn it.
 A Shire available for adoption, this big fella (his feet were nearly a foot in diameter) was loving the attention and demanding treats. But when he was given a strawberry - ptooey, said he.

Last but not least, a Norwegian Fjord horse. They are considered draft horses, but often and in this case are pony-sized. He also had an awesome haircut - his mane stood straight up and had three rows of different color hair. And he was friendly as heck, he couldn't visit with and sneeze upon everyone fast enough. I have a new favorite breed.

Going back to yesterday's Q of the Day about languages...

I took advantage of Borders' demise and picked up some Spanish dictionaries and grammar guides today. (Also got an atlas, some art & design books and a Kane CD, but mostly, things I are still over my price limits.) I'm hoping to start the veterinary assistant program at the local community college in September, they just released the schedule for fall. The plan is to have a professional certificate in progress and the Spanish up to conversational this fall, so if the job goes ker-plooey I have extra skills available.

I must share ( this photographer's work ) with you.

A sample:

After an hour of scraping/shovelling/clearing off ice, I took Mom to Art's funeral this morning, although we didn't stay for the actual service. We went for the 'gathering of friends' part of the program to say hi to those we knew and meet some of Janine's family that we hadn't before. That included 3 week old Elizabeth, whom her great-grandfather only met once but he did get to see her. Mostly, though, I babysat the young 'uns and did an architectural tour with them through the chapel. It was a huge, almost entirely marble chapel with detailed mosaics everywhere, both depictions and trims, and lots of stained glass, pillars, carvings, etc. Quite an awesome building from an art/design POV. The priest said it took 8 years to build it (I asked, I was curious how much it cost as well but I'm not THAT blunt) mostly during WWI. The Germans sank the first shipment of marble and they couldn't get a second until the war was over. He also told me the Baltimore Colts practiced on the grounds in the 70's. Interesting place. Meanwhile, Mom was even less interested in attending a 90 minute mass/service than I was, so we left when it started. And off to work with me.

So I figured I should give you a quick rundown on who you're dealing with :) 

Female, 40(!) and in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (for my new UK friends, I'm about an hour's drive northeast of Washington DC). I'm a klutz who keeps breaking bones and tearing ligaments, and presently I'm finishing up therapy for a shoulder injury. I'm an administrative assistant for a very laid-back debt collection law firm (we wear shorts, bring our dogs and get paid very little), and I live with my mother, who needs someone looking after her as she has Alzheimer's and is steadily declining. Her older brother had a serious stroke in March and will never leave the nursing home, so this isn't helping her state of mind. I also have two cute, awesome nephews who I don't get to see much unless their father wants free babysitting. Our other residents are my mother's dog, Roxie, a beagle mix and my mutt, CJ, who both the love of my life and on occasion the bane of my existence. They're both lovely dogs, but they hate each other's guts. So half my home time is devoted to keeping the dogs away from each other. Spiffy. Roxie on the left, CJ on the right.



I am, at least nominally, an artist/crafter and make some extra money from it, but between stress, the economy and a very arthritic drawing hand, I've done very little art in the past year. I have a web site with most of my art on it, but the web host changed their interface last year and I absolutely cannot figure it out, hence it hasn't been updated in over a year. I love dogs, the Baltimore Ravens, good television and playing board games. I worship the ground Joss Whedon walks on and the Lord of the Rings trilogy are the alltime best films on this Earth, but after that there's no knowing where my taste might run. My musical tastes are all over the board, I can't stand gangsta rap or really over-commericalized gunk but I'll at least try just about anything else. If the radio is on, it's on local public station WTMD, whose tastes largely match mine. Unless I'm listening to NPR, whose politics largely match mine. I gladly voted for Obama and I'd do it again, though I'd prefer him left of centrist pragmatism instead of right of it.

That should cover the important stuff. Proceed at your own risk :)

More adventures in art shows, although this time it's more the buyers than the artists (aside from the guy who sent his art to the hotel instead of the art show). But we've had buyers taking photos with their cell phones, and a lot of quick sale adventures. Mostly people seem to think they can personally write 'quick sale' on something and it's theirs. Even if there's already bids on it. Even when the signs specify you must bring it to a staff member. We're counting them as regular bids for now.

Meanwhile, I hit the dealers room and landed a copy of Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries, which is out of print and going for outrageous prices on Ebay. I got it for MSRP, no tax or shipping :) Happy me! And a stuffed squirrel, he's quite cute. Obviously my netbook works in the art show, which had been a concern. Speaking of concerns, had an interesting conversation with the conchair of Shore Leave. (jslinder I'll e-mail you.) Back to it...

Home now, and probably not leaving the house again until Monday, maybe not until Tuesday! Present forecast is for 22-28 inches of snow today and tomorrow. 28 inches is the record for the area. We have plenty of food, ice melt, shovels and brooms. Time to cocoon.

The office was closing early, and the boss had me come in at 8 instead of 9 with the intent of sending me home even earlier, as I'm the lone non-4-wheel driver. So I'm half asleep. Hopefully getting a few things done on the computer re artwork for Farpoint before I doze off.

Supernatural was booted last night by a basketball game. Basketball, booooo! Want show!

Sometime in the next day or so, the firm is changing its name. And the bosses think we might as well change everything else while they're at. Therefore, I have been given free rein to create a variety of new letterhead and business card designs.

This is my idea of what to do at work all day - pick and choose colors, fonts, layouts and lines. (We have no logo.) Aah, creative bliss...

Found a website with the photographs of Marcin Sacha. They're amazing. Just flooring. I'm especially fond of 13, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28 & 32. Just amazing.

www.likecool.com/Marcin_Sacha--Pic--Gear.html