Makeshift Shade

Since there is no tree for shading the back deck, twenty five years ago I began to train a trumpet vine. Supported by steel cable, the vine has become my "shade tree".....protection from the harsh summer sun and a source of beauty........ Now, a chandelier hangs above the table and little lights are mounted within the now enormous vine.....an example of long-range planning coming to fruition.

The Vision Of Enoch by Sulis

Sally and Pablo have a foursome on the maple hardboards

I posted this dance sequence from THE TANGO LESSON some time back...... In light of SYTYCD and DWTS....I think it should be revisited.....Sally really hauled ass to learn Tango and the resulting film is one of the great dance flicks.......great, and darkly exquisite fashion sequences featuring Morgane Maugran, Geraldine Maillet and Katerina Mechera......as Sally struggles to write a screenplay about glamour, fashion & homicide while becoming increasingly preoccupied with Argentine Tango....and Pablo, of course!

Martin Stamping and Stove Iron Piggy Bank

Through the years, I've had a soft-paste pottery piggy bank decorated with pink flowers; then a larger carnival glass piggy bank (that came with a gas purchase at SPUR); and, most recently...from Mother's garage....a large iron Piggy bank that was a gift from my Uncle Bob ,who managed the ironworks business. It's sorta ugly, in a cute little piggie sort of way.......This is the Little Piggie that built his house on a rock!

THE FIRST IN THE "WINDOW" COLLECTION

My friend Ellen Gentry was hired by her friends Susie and Ann McCarie to illustrate a catalog of items that they had travelled the world to collect and assemble into a collection to be sold to their rich friends via an artsy, hand-drawn catalog. When the business went belly-up, Ellen and I went to the "warehouse" where Susie was liquidating their inventory.......I bought this central-European stained glass window for $135 and it has travelled with me for 40 years, having been incorporated into every place that I have dwelled. My burgeoning collection of stained glass has finally displaced the window to a sill, where it filters the afternoon sun into vibrant colors.....I love the big "ruby" at its center......

SOEUR SOURIRE.......SISTER SMILE

When I was 18, Folk Music washed over America....My favorite singer was Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, "the singing nun"; and I must have listened to her album a hundred times....Soon afterward she faded into obscurity and was forgotten. After being exploited by the Church, by Philips Records, and being hounded for back taxes on the money that she had donated to the Church, Soeur, who could not even use her name (which 'belonged' to Philips) attempted to regain popularity with disco versions of her lovely songs, but failed to negotiate a contract. Then, after falling into a deep and transmogrifying depression, she and her companion of ten years, Anna Pécher, both committed suicide by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol on 29 March 1985. She was only 51!

Fruity, Rich and Frilly........Naked Roy's ghost licking its lips

Samish Bay Pacific Oysters with Jalapeno/Horseradish Salsa....... dipped in egg yolk, covered with fine herb-seasoned bread crumbs, then quickly sauteed in truffle oil......yummy breakfast delight this morning......

Calm by Kourosh Dini