Staying Out of the Heat

The hundred degree temperatures have kept me indoors...so has my first incident of poison ivy. This work, painted on Rives BFK, had its genesis in a page from my sketchbook.

Its a look backwards, to my Brooklyn days in the forties. I thought of the many summer days my friend, Jessica and I spent sitting on her fire escape, reading comic books, playing board games, chatting. It was a short ride to Coney Island on the trolley or on the open air cars of the BMT. I recall stretching my neck to watch the daredevils who rode the amazing, hair raising parachute jump, walking on the boardwalk with an army of friends, seeing so many men in uniform, listening the latest music coming through the sideshow's speakers, eating hot dogs at Nathans, enjoying days at Steeplechase, matinees w. newsreels of battles and victory.

In full bloom

Here are the crinum in full bloom. Note that there are more flower buds emerging in the midst of the cluster. I think that if you look closely, you'll also see some bug enjoying the bloom's retention of water.

Crinums Start Blooming

Its really miraculous! Yesterday the crinums in the front flower bed were just a mass of long freen leaves. This morning, five inch thick stalks appeared bearing many large red buds, even one bloom. Though not very long lived, these flowers are spectacular and I know that summer has truly arrived when they bloom.

When Ira and I were in Amsterdam, traipsing in and out of each of the shops in the famed Flower Market, we saw crinum bulbs for sale. Each was two to three times the size of my fist! Our crinums are pass downs and I'm quite sure weren't anything approaching that size, but may be so now. We'd have loved to have bought a few, but our US Ag laws prohibit bringing in any bulbs that are not from a certified grower....I never did find a "certified grower", even in the Keukenhof.

Brian Brushwood

Announced by Josh Porter as a Bizarre Magician, a Blockhead, a Fire-Eater & Human Straw, Brian Brushwood captivated his audience last evening. It was particularly wonderful to watch the wonder and awe in the faces of the youngsters in the crowd. as Brian went through his varied acts listed above. My favorite other than the fire eating sequence was his take as a noir Birthday party performer.

Secrets of the Sideshow

Photobucket Album

Curious, Mysterious and Strange: Secrets of the Sideshow opened last night to a large, enchanted audience. The exhibits shown in the video are magical "madelines" of childhood circus, country fair midways, for me: memories of Coney Island. The show runs from June 28 to August 30. Bring everyone...they'll enjoy it.

Animal Happenings

I glanced out at the patio last evening to see if it was still raining. And on its hind legs, peeking into my studio doors, was a tiny rabbit, no more than 4" in length, chocolate in color, including its pom-pom tail. Before I could grab my camera, he hopped away. This am, without success, I looked closely at the roots of nearby trees to see if I could find the rabbit hole. I imagine that my patio guest is risk taking Peter Rabbit, and that his siblings, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail are staying safely with Momma Rabbit.
And Ira related that our neighbor's cat, Smoky, who loves to climb trees, is again this summer, being attacked by a mother mockingbird as soon as he places a paw into our yard. Ira reported that yesterday, he watched the bird actually strut behind Smoky, squaking loudly, actually chasing him as he headed to his home driveway so as to hide under the truck parked there.

New Works

These pieces are on paper, ranging in size from 22" x 30" to 16" x 22". They are not traditionally framed, but have a back sleeve through which is a bamboo pole; this has each "floating" on the wall.

As I look at these, I say to myself that Yeats line: "The centre cannot hold", and realize that the works express my thoughts of the need for a new, stable, enduring center.