hmmm. cough. blah.

when you finally, after looking at the house warming gift your mom has had sitting on the kitchen counter for a little over a decade, decide to open it and cook its contents, hmm, well cough, blah, hack. so I unwrapped the cellophane from the prettily arranged gingerbread man cookie kit, read the directions, mixed the decade old ingredients per instruction with fresh eggs, decorated each pressed out cookie with sparkles and such taken from the cabinet shelf from over the stove housing leftover birthday stuff from my childhood, slid the resulting items into and then back out of the oven, allowed them to just cool on the special rack designed for the task, AND then bit into one with hopes remembered....hack, blah, umm cough only to discover that the shelf life of a gingerbread cookie kit may only be one year, not one decade. hmmmm so I now have a plate filled with gingerbread men that upon the tongue have the texture of crumpled dried dirt and the flavor or lack thereof of cardboard or a communion wafer!!

DECEMBER 30, 2010
OMG!
I just arrived at the parental units and the cookies are still on the kitchen counter BUT SOME ARE MISSING. OMG! I inquired with great fear for my mom and dad. To my relief, my dad let me know he'd been feeding the "cookies" to the birds and squirrels in the backyard. Thank God!

stuff dating back to 1796 found in my gram's collection of things

Found in family bible my gram had that she received from previous generations, bible dating 1858.

 

that was a lot of pampering

in my little BOXed box planter garden to produce my six little butternuts. though I can't keep up with the arugula. I think I harvest 1-2 gallons every other day or so. my cherry tomato bush is still cranking out tomatoes in thick all most like grape clusters. they seem to take turns in turning red, single file, one at a time. my most peaceful moments are the twenty or thirty minutes of harvesting my arugula a blade/leaf at a time.

BOXed full moon

christmas ornaments that'll droop your tree

Making ornaments for the Mystery BOX to sell at

Cultured Cocktails with BOX13 ArtSpace
Location: Boheme Café and Wine Bar, 307 Fairview
Time: 5:00PM Thursday, December 23rd

Proceeds will go to operations of the BOX

Oh yes and the more you drink (bring a desig driver), the larger the portion of the evenings tabs goes to help the BOX operate exhibitions.

dang I just can't eat it fast enough

my arugula likes this weather a little too much! I just harvested about 4 gallons of the stuff. had to give some away! good problem. and my one tomato plant is so dang happy and drooping with fruits.

perhaps this is to remind me that life keeps on. at some level it does remind me of this with the continued growth and regrowth of my arugula and my ripening tomatoes even in the chill of a Houston winter. even when i don't do all the right things to protect and grow my garden. I can only do so much, but honestly I do not make the leaf reach toward the sun or drink from the soil. I can cultivate or not, and growth and regrowth continues. unless you are my a honey bear squash, in which case you're just our of luck. so perhaps even this uncultivated growth that has occurred in my absences amazes.

prepping to deinstall at BOX 13

The BOX's debutant stairwell is spectacular; I was very excited to have had the opportunity to play within this space.

even in my unmoaring
in the unraveling
still seeking into the unwelcomes
I get lost in my own missed-understanding
remnant rough cut oak, tubes, baling wire, rebar, chains
~3'x 3'x 7' each unit (4)
November 2010

then--circa 1964; now--summer 2010

photo my grandmother had, circa 1964
those are not freckles across my nose, but grime (outside playing grime)

photo i have, summer 2010
those are not shadows across my nose, chin, forehead and upper lip, but grime (outside playing art tire grime)

and then there is what i once thought was a doll that i played with when i visited. i loved this doll. even my brother remembered it. (yes i know it is a whisk broom but she danced and glided beautifully)

and a several historical newspapers like,

an interesting day with my dad and brother.

fun things my gram had...still

a blessing for this day the tenth of December

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you...

My students' are hanging it up for the semester (literally)

Sam Houston State University
WASH student exhibition
Mon, December 13, 5pm – 7pm
WASH Building, 2220 Ave. M, across from Holleman Field, Huntsville, TX

(WASH-Workshop in Art Studio and History)

a little fire in the heavens

blogs I read, skim or check regularly

like art--i make it but don't really go a viewing
like poetry--i may write but i don't really sit a reading
like basketball back in the day--i played but i don't really like a spectating

so i blog, but am not a blog-reading-aholic
but a few i do view

this season because I feel a spiritual obligation to think especially deep thoughts this time of year and think I should open the way and his thoughts are deep enough and open enough without pushing me into my way to serious take on life.

regularly because I learn from his journey, see a little more, connect a little more securely, and am challenged in my writing as well and get an occasional laugh

because he's my friend and though I won't learn to be a game boarder, I would like to learn to cook

because she is my friend and this opens the window a little further so that I can see her more wholly

because I like watching a sixth grade poet, writer and photographer blossom and I'll be able to say I knew her way back when

one because I have a sick fear, compulsion, that if I don't, I might miss some hidden secret invitation into a living breathing goodness even though I know if an invitation into this was to come, it would not be through the vehicle of a blog. the knowledge does not stop me from looking and hoping

hmmm. on an occasion i read my own, sometime this helps me hold onto what i believe and am trying to learn and exercise

www.kathrynkelley.blogspot.com

oops. my gram took a tumble and broke her hip. OUCHY.

but the vicadin is totally working.

at 99, living independently, on no meds except over the counter vitamins, no ailments or complaints,  sharp as a tack, and ambulatory until today, the doctors plan to bolt that hip back together in the morning and send her on her way to rehab. hmm the doctor did ask her some funny questions. after they asked her if she smoked, drank, or did drugs...ever, to which she replied, "no," they asked if she thought that is why she's lived such a long healthy life. she just shrugged. hmmm. i am thinking she has had bacon and eggs and coffee every day for her entire life and must simply have amazingly good genes in her blood line. her mom lived to be 91; her dad 93.  YES this is my blood line!

i am hoping the surgery goes well tomorrow morning and she is up and walking soon. they believe she is a good candidate for the surgery but did inform of the real risks; especially for one her age. so if it's time for her to make the crossing, i hope she does so in the way she would like...quickly.

after i snapped this picture of her and i; it suddenly dawned on me that i know exactly what i am going to look like when i am 99, well, except i wont be 4'11".

it brings joy

my scanty garden built in old pipe yard rough cut oak, hobbled together as boxes, sitting atop the asphalt behind my bigger BOX of 13, fenced in by barbed wire and surrounded by remnant combine tractor tubes, adds an unassuming simple comfort. the most peaceful joy filled moments are working my way along my boxes slowly harvesting each individual leaf blade of arugula. or coming home to plucking a handful of raw, fresh vine sugar snap peas and eating them on the spot--so crisp and fresh. I really need to build more which means it is wood harvesting time again. Must bum a trailer

I swerve

kindness usually means i must be willing to swerve from my path. i probably have to set my emotional hankerings, spiritual agendas, monetary security, moral/justice compelled dictates, physical comforts aside for a mere moment to extend kindness. if i only extend toward a finish line, I cannot extend to another. no? yes. and if I swerve, extend, in kindness, when I return to my path, will new directions open or become visible?

I like that :)

papercity art notes

thank you, Catherine for the kudos