sandwiches       In my absence the theme page I’ve been using for years has seemingly been rearranged 0r redesigned.  I can’t unstick my  sandwich. I am so happy to have this little bit of extra energy. Chemo treatment id a beast but it’s making a difference. No matter if I’m

“Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Oh wow”. These were Steve Jobs’ last words. It has to be my favorite quote of the decade. Can you imagine what he was seeing? My husband, Frank, brought me that news knowing how much I would like it. I have been collecting scraps of  ”evidence” about the passage between worl

Interiors of my apple.

Egad! It seems that  a childhood illness I once suffered may have made a late-life return. The doctors agree that it looks like tuberculosis. That is the good news, assuming that we can agree, TB is preferable to the big C. This is the point in my once workaholic creative life where I am trying to [...]

I am enjoying this weather so much. Cool, rainy, then warmer and sunny. We are in the mild zone, now, that it is October. It could be hot at this time of year but it is not. Thanks, weather. The green things are still growing. They might be a little ragged at the edges but [...]

I wish there was a quicker way for humans to absorb knowledge. Something like plugging in your brain into a main source and choosing material to add to your lineup of knowledge, like adding songs on your iPod. I want to know everything about mushrooms. I tuned into a radio show last week and heard [...]

I wish there was a quicker way for humans to absorb knowledge. Something like plugging in your brain into a main source and choosing material to add to your lineup of knowledge, like adding songs on your iPod. I want to know everything about mushrooms. I tuned into a radio show last week and heard [...]

Pretty lights, baby. In the mornings, especially in the cool months, I like to light the candles in my fireplace. I think of myself being “A spark from the one divine fire” I think of all those I know as being a spark here in this world. Lighting the candles is all about gratitude and [...]

Chores this morning included cutting the  top section of an old couch into what I hope are acceptable pieces to be collected by the waste management service. I think it will go. Cross your fingers and I’ll cross mine. This is a bit of putting off the inevitable. Someday soon I will have to call [...]

Low light picture experiment with my $2 thrift store Canon Powershot A520: I was trying to take it easy after my four or five-day return to evil caffeine. Man, it had been so long since I had the java juice it moved through my system like meth. Let’s just say I over did it. You’ve [...]

Just a little tweaking to streamline the cubby-hole work space at the south end of the living room. It is actually a return to the old set up with both the computer table and the art work bench, side by side. There is still lots of color in this small space. I had originally chosen [...]

I love the Sun’s yearly trip through Virgo. It gives me extra energy and drive to clean the nooks and crannies, to clear the decks. The Sun passing through Virgo may drive the garbage collectors a little mad. I imagine trashed items are popping out of waste containers all over town. We are preparing for [...]

There is coolness in the morning air and if you look closely you will see leaves turning colors. Autumn is slowly slipping in. The weather channels have Redding in the high 90s for all of next week but that can change. Looking at these photos from November 2009 let me cheat a bit on getting [...]

If the materials are visible I will make something. I have placed cloth that currently fascinates me right on my work table. Here are my two latest creations: The Pirate shroom is small and dark. This is what comes of playing with last year’s Halloween material. Spider web see-through cloth makes a strange punky mushr

Two girls are completely finished now. With all the distractions that have presented themselves over the last few months it took a very long time. This series of dolls was created as a pleasurable indulgence. They are about play. They were also a project that could allow for some freedom. They do not have to [...]

Tomato harvesting yesterday. This represents under half of what we have had the pleasure to devour so far this season! The first big batch thrown in  a pot to boil became tomato soup thanks to Frank’s suggestion that we try it. It was very simple — cook, remove skins, blend, add a little cream — [...]

DarcyArts has a new mushroom. This one has a striped candy print top, pink and white striped stem and a red-striped, fringed edge. It’s only about five inches tall.  Cute fits in five inch packages sometimes.

It seems like the right time to cop to the fact that I have been slowed in the last few months by sickness. My blogging has suffered and my doll production, too. We (my doctors and I) are still in the process of identifying the invasive bug and I am resigned to this go, stop, [...]

Clipping fresh sweet tomatoes off the vine this morning I found a pretty little heart. The heart tomato has it’s punky side, too. So complete in it’s metaphoric suggestions.

Walking out to the garden about 6:30 this morning I was treated to a beautiful morning sky. I quickly went back into the house to grab the camera and took these photos:

The tomatoes are growing so well. Six containers worth of delicious tomatoes. Better yet some are staggered so they won’t all pop at once. I’m guessing that the temperature difference between here and Sebastopol is keeping the purple colors at bay. We shall see though. We have many more to ripen in the future. 

This morning was spent cleaning up my harvested catnip. I started a series of Black Alien Squid catnip toys early this year and haven’t got back to them yet. Here are a few photos. I need to be schooled on how to shoot black! Frank is taking a digital photo class. He will be able [...]

Even though I write this blog and tell tales of my doings I must have a paper journal in which I confess my sad and silliest thoughts. I had halfway convinced myself to cough up the dough for a fancy store-bought leather bound  journal from Barnes and Noble but my rebellious, DIY-or-bust spirit kicked in and [...]

The grasshopper nibbled away the biggest sunflower reserve bud and this morning I banished him from the garden. I cut the big head and set it by the tree where the squirrel gang vacuum up pounds of black sunflower seeds. I think the big sunflower can grow another flower. There is bud remaining. You can see [...]

They are still here, turning beigy-brown and having moved onto the bamboo sticks for cover. There are two. they have changed so much I do not recognize them from the pair – large and small — I first spotted in the garden. These grasshoppers seem to have limited themselves to the sunflowers. The face of [...]

Early morning watering in the garden was lovely. Took more pictures of the tiny little insects with the yellow wings that are going to town on the face of our big sunflower.  They are doing rounds up there dancing in the pollen. The tomatoes are multiplying and the cukes are gigantic. The tiny insects on the sunflower [.

So much green and nice yellow happening out in the planter boxes. The morning watering revealed treasures. Our big sunflower grew from the bird seed we put in the yard. It’s gorgeous. There are tiny bees on the face. They are hard to see in the photograph because they blend in so well. If you [...]

Inspired by Egon Scheile’s women I decided to see if I could make something in my simple cloth doll format. It is pleasurable to make the faces in a new way — Prismacolor pencil and permanent marker around the eyes, cloth lips hand stitched into place and slightly embellished with embroidery thread. The hair is

The sprinklers were sprinkling, the sun was up, the breeze cool. I was tending to something when Frank said “There’s a chicken in the yard.” I looked out and there was a nice looking white chicken walking up and down the little drive. She is still out there, passing back and forth through the oleander [...

It’s a sea of green out in the planter boxes. It won’t be very long before these turn reddish-purple brown. They will be fat sweet and juicy. We should have ample supply. They will provide delicious tomato sandwiches, tomatoes for all other sandwiches, diced fresh tomatoes with gently cooked fish and bruchetta f

I like stars, little Robots with fake mustaches, pretty colors, ruffles, soft cloth dolls. I like so many things and the way they go together that I have admitted to suffering from compositional-mania. No corner, here, is free of a collection of purposely placed odds and ends. I can’t seem to stop myself. Give me [...

Say you want to put together a rock n roll show and you really want to  drain the life out of every performance. How would you do that? First, don’t invite Ozzy Osbourne, but more about that later. Before watching The 25th Anniversary Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Concerts I did not know that this concoction was [...]

The weathermen say that next week will be relatively mild. Temperatures are predicted to range from the mid 90s to the high 80s. It’s the second week of July. I call that a lucky break. The plants managed well in last weeks hotter weather. They get a thorough listing/soaking in the early a.m. most mornings. [...]

Here we have a spider hanging out at the entrance of a wasp’s mud nest. Is that a good idea? Would they work together? Do they have a plan? Would the spider be eaten or would the wasp be stilled? I never got to find out because the bug guy came and spray and swept [...]

Rolling out the projects and delighting in construction, composition, design of all kinds! It’s been hot as Hades here in the north country. It was close to 100 degrees yesterday. I worked inside all day until getting word that my donuts were okay for shipping to North Carolina. I went out the car to find [...]

The air is hot and creepy. In the summer I just want to hibernate like an ol’ bear. Still, I move on.  My desire to make more post-Vic models was stymied by donut orders. This week I finished three custom donuts and a fourth for another person. Making donuts is really fun and I love [...]

I have always loved music, rock n roll, anything really interesting, sincere, sexy music and a deep appreciation for those who make it. What I do not like are the regular innovations that give industries new material to pedal. Planned obsolescence –>Yuck. What was wrong with vinyl? There is nothing like the sound

Today was a very beautiful day. The last of the stormy rainy weather left its imprints. The earth was soaked and the sweet odor of vegetation filled the morning air. After a few quick errands, the Frank and Connie tag team shambled back to the shack and to our respective projects. Frank is making some [...]

The garden is growing so swiftly. After the late season rainy days all this sun is call forth the green. I snapped a few shots of the planter boxes and their veggie swag. I’m doing the lazy version of a morning watering. I’ve placed the sprayer onto a couple of pieces of bamboo. At that [...]

This morning was dedicated to laying in supplies. The frequency with which this must be done is mind boggling. I went out early in order to avoid the heat. Target and Trader Joe’s had pretty much everything we needed including a new garden hose. I was done with the bulk of the task in just [...]

The sun is grilling the landscape here in the far northern part of California. It has seemed cool over the last few years, or cooler than those that included unbroken stretches — once over a month — of 100 plus degree days. I don’t know if temperatures will reach 106 today but I’m very glad [...]

This morning I will amuse myself by posting more photographs of things I find interesting. I feel tormented by some olderly annoyance like bursitis but it will only slow me down. It will not put much of a dent in my need to be active. Mushrooms are one of my favorite things. I like to eat [...]

These pictures were taken  in an old graveyard in Sebastopol.

It had been a while. I really needed to take part of a day, in this case, a few very early morning hours, and get myself to the sea. Last week on my son, Brian’s big day — graduation from law school — I managed to get myself from the Santa Rosa foothills to Highway [...]

Major props are due to my son Brian Michael Pratt as he  makes a serious, life-changing transition. This last weekend I traveled to Santa Rosa to see Brian graduate from law school. He and his longtime pal, Barack Arnold, have , in the last year devoured combined 3rd and 4th year law curriculum. Bravo, boys. [...]

Good Day, all. The rain continues to fall here in Northern California. It could well be in the high 90s by now so we’re digging the rolling thunder. I am taking a few minutes here on the blog to share the good news of a rock musician Soft Boy who went all the way! I [...]

In dreams last night I walked through a very simple place where the only element in the natural environment seemed to be orange sand. It was spare and creepy. There were motels and little diners as if the place was a tourist destination but why anyone would go there voluntarily was beyond my understanding. I [...]

Okay. Oprah’s shindig grossed me out for its orgy of everyone’s shameless self promotion. Madonna just had to let you know that she’s building a school in Malawi. Madge will not be out humanitarianed! Tom Cruise was all over Oprah like they were slumber party buddies. Eww! How could these ego maniacs resis