New World Order: 200,000 people dead and no end in sight.

Resist 2020#7
New World Order: 200,000 dead and no end in sight.
Q. Cassetti 09.19.2020

Lockdown Day 13 : Panic is the Enemy.

I have been pretty much in quarantine for two weeks. Since then, we have hustled to get our kids home (thanks to extrordinary efforts on my kids and husband’s part). The minute the NBA cancelled I was running to lock all the doors and pull up the drawbridge. The next day with the closing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the shuttering of Broadway, I knew we needed to move fast to begin the hunkering. My son was on the bus the next day. So, now we are all here. Everyone is working remotely from me (as always) to my museum professional hubby, to my daughter studying theater design at Yale to my son, photographer…though his freelance work essentially dried up as did his time selling tickets on Broadway. We are all here…in the silence with our headsets on trying to stay quiet and thoughtful. The news and the world rage around us…but here we are with the cookpots filled with some bean thing and tubs of things for folks to grab and eat. However, I cannot quiet down.

Susan, my therapist (now teletherapist) cited the need to try to bring balance between the Rational minda and the emotional mind. Here is a bit on that:

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), presents three basic states of mind: reasonable mind, emotion mind, and wise mind.  When operating from reasonable mind, we view the world rationally and pay attention to observable facts and phenomenon.  You may notice that you are in reasonable mind if you feel somewhat detached from the situation and find yourself noticing the facts and planning future behavior based solely on observable knowledge.

When you are in emotion mind, you may experience an intense subjective state wherein logical thinking becomes difficult or cloudy.  You may notice the facts, but find yourself distorting them or amplifying them based on your current emotional state.  In emotion mind, it is difficult to remain objective and you may engage in behaviors that are solely driven by your subjective perceptions and internal emotional state.

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So to put that on a spectrum now, I am very much in the planning and reacting mode—ordering food at the store a week out. I am reaching out to my farmers and friends and offering to help. Cooking and advanced thinking for the home team. But, worrying about all that I cannot anticipate. Worrying about the world. Worrying about the families and people stuck in NYC. Worried about my son’s roommates. Worrying about the place we find ourselves when the Governor NYS cannot get help. Worried that we are on a breakaway horse with no idea where we will end up (if we do not end up dead) . Worried about the pain and suffering that every person will be subjected to because of tremendous greed, narcissism and fear has brought us to the brink with this administration. It is the end of dreams. How can we hope?

I wish I could get my head around this for a pretty picture or some tidbit to brighten my soul—but I am not in the least bit humored or lyrical. We will talk tomorrow.

Welcome shy girl.

Lucy Littlestar

Slip, sliding on the ice today. Rumor has it that we are on track for getting 5-7 inches tonight. I have coffee and milk and enough kibble to not have to go anywhere. Oh, that’s right…you don’t know about Lucy.

Lucy (working middlename is Littlestar) is my new dog. You heard me grieve over my golden boy, Mitch, and how crushed I was to lose him just as we had all gotten comfortable with each other. I didn’t want time to drag between losing my heart and getting another dog to take the space. So, I was looking on Puppyfinder.com and searching for airdales in the area. I noticed that there was a way to dial in age in the search bar—and up popped Lucy. She was/is a 4 year old Airedale who was part of the family and they had to get rid of her as her “person” couldn’t be around her any more. Turns out, there is much more there to unpack. I started to text with the owner and after a bunch of back and forths, she agreed to let me “rehome” the dog. Getting her was another issue…as the owner lives in North Carolina. But with our going to a wedding in Maryland, we agreed to meet closer to her in Richmond, Virginia. This was at the end of October 2019.

The hand-off was bizarre and after relating details to my new doggie support team, they have reinforced how wrong it all was. We met in a dog park because Lucy is a bit “shy” around cars etc. Dog Parks, according to my vet, are designed to keep vets in business. One never knows what is going to go down between dogs, their owner, off leash—put that in tumble dry and see where it takes you. Sleepless—-this will keep the wheels spinning. Lucy was not the tiny thing we saw in the pictures, but 90 lbs of shaking fear. She was hoisted into our car, shaking and burrowing her head into the seat back until we stopped to spend the night. She was good on the leash and was solidly walking with me until we got to our room…when she got into the bathtub and did not budge whatsoever. Poor Lucy was an emotional mess. Rob wisely cited that “this was not a rehome, but a rescue”. I concur. I was really regretting my impulsivity and worrying about how this might not be a good thing. Seriously worrying.

Basically, Lucy did not eat, drink or communicate for the better part of month. The first few days she spent in the tub here at 2 Camp. She kept her tail tucked tightly between her legs such that I had to ask the vet if it was broken.. She saw the vet—with the vet encouraging me not to worry as they have seen dogs like her, and it takes time and they saw a loving animal. And so it began. She had never been on stairs…and now she adores them and for fun climbs them up and down as part of her daily routine. She now is my dog. Lucy is on better dog food and has lost (less volume) 20 lbs and counting. She now has a shape. She has been spayed, microchipped, clipped and cleaned. She has had a haircut and her coat is improving. She wags her tail for me…and her place of sanctuary is my office whether I am there or not. She is beginning to unfurl and show me her humor, her spunk and her smarts. I am optimistic.

And she loves popcorn. Caught a piece this morning as i tossed it to her.

We also have appointments with Russ. Russ Hollier is a dog whisperer from Cortland. I figured Russ could help Lucy become more of the dog she is…and once we are there, to work on basic training to improve our relationship. While Lucy gets a little closer, or lets Russ pat her (big deal, Lucy had some bad, traumatic men in her life) or reward her with a squeeze of cheese from a can— Russ tells me about his other dog customers and the things they are doing from work helping super anxious people to a person with disabilities whose dog is part of their support team. it is all very heartening and lightens my mind to know that Russ is changing lives both canine and human through his interaction and training.

We all need dogs during the age of Trump. They keep things real—and she pushes me to pay attention and support them. Lucy and I have a way to go…but she isn’t going anywhere and hopefully, the only place she will be going is vertical.

Fingers crossed.

02.05.2020

It’s the beginning of the year (alright, its a month in) and the beginning of another decade. Another decade!! What happened? I am so worn down from the “drinking from the firehose” that I have been doing since this heinous man was elected that I really have lost touch of much else It’s been a rollercoaster ride of hope and agony, of assumed beliefs and the true seediness, greed and grift that so many politicians, lobbyists, and oligarchs engage in— to keep most of us in line, eating the scripted pablum and moving forward to keep them rich, in power and in control. It has been a horror to discover that the bottom always has a bottom, and in this world— there is no bottom, just freeflight which seems to be getting faster and faster to what end? To our end? to the end of an idea, an idea called “America”?

I used to do a picture a week to focus on resistance around this administration and their sycophants and that was well and good until I could not decide which horror was the worst—as the words, the chaos, the horrors, the mis-steps, the sniping and backbiting, the 7/24 need to tend to the news just to make sure no one was dead, or we were on the brink of war. At that point, art seemed irrelevant. It wasnt speaking to me, but became, to some degree, a talking point with my friends—but something that really did not drive change in the lovely liberal bubble I float in.

I have to get my images back. I have to get back to making things. I have to gather myself back up and have a voice. It used to give me strength even in the frivolity that I could chat with you.

So, to that, I am going to start to write— the tip of the brain to the tip of the cyber pen, just to begin to exercise the old brain—and as a small diversion from the tragedy that has befallen and continues to strike our America. I may start ranting. I may give you my book list. I may tell you some tales. Or we might crack open the jolly book of ideas and pictures and have a few laughs together. That might be nice?

Talk to you tomorrow.

It was the solstice last night. The air was still and cracking with heat with the light lasting well toward 10 p.m. The little bugs were swarming and it would have been, if you were a fish, a feast of buzzing activity. I however, am not a bug, and it was tedious as they crawled en masse all over our glasses and plates as we attempted to have a little porch dinner to try to grab what little breeze there was out there....without much luck. It is an amazing delight, this luminary climb from the depths of December until this brilliant day mid June--brighter and brighter, lighter and lighter, more day and a little less night. More times to lighten the load and brighten your heart. Now we are on the slow decline until October, when the inky dark, long nights seep into our days--and with that crisp cold sleeping, and dark mornings with frosty windows. By then, the bugs are gone, the hummingbirds have moved on, and the dusting of snow and ice promise a long time in front of the fire.

I completed a book of poetry for a family friend--with it delivering after a day of printing and less than a week of standard shipping to everyone's delight. Nice to have that finished. Love Blurb. Love their InDesign app that makes making great publications easy. I used to be a Rah Rah Lulu books advocate, but now that I have sampled the ease and tools of Blurb--this lady is not going back.

I am working on some little houses....a collection of picture building blocks in illustrator . Kind of fun. All black and white...and pretty minimal. All inspired by primitive illustration which I adore and my midcentury illustration friends.

Time to go to the bank and be a grown up.

Queen for a Day

Waldorf Crown. Pattern by Happy Hippo Knits

I am knitting little things. Keeping the mitts busy. You know the drill. The best thing i have found and am trying to really perfect is this: Yes, this: The knit Waldorf Crown. I had to stop gasping once I saw this...and ran to get needles and yarn just to see if my wits could lead me through this. Yes. It did. And Yes, I did...though I think a bit of more accurate blocking might really help. I also think that a really tight stitch with wool or even a heavy weight cotton might give the stitch great definition. But.... Are you kvelling or is it just me...sucker for everything?

I have tried three different patterns including knitting along with wonderful jolly Bronislava Slagle (see below) who you can knit along with her to make a crown in the round (written pattern is here>>).  She also creates a pattern for you to make them on straight needles here>>Only problem, to my thinking on Bronislava Slag's crown is that see the spine or center of each of the points? see that they are not nice PSSO knit stitches like the Happy Hippo one? I think that is because its knit in the round and gets messy that way. Next Crown will be the YouTube approach with some refinements there.... But aren't these the bee's knees? I think I am going to crank out 8-10 of them and sell them (auction for MANY) as a birthday party set? What fun!

The great thing beyond its a KNITTED CROWN is that it's a tiny project therefore it's totally quick, not much yarn and can fit in your pocket. So perfection. If only I could figure out how to drive a car and knit. That would be multitasking to the enth degree...and probably more horrifying than even texting and driving.

If you are a knitter, give it a whirl. You might make yourself a Queen or King for a day.

Advent 2015: Day Eighteen

Advent 2015: Day Eighteen
Holiday Color
Q. Cassetti 2015
 

Advent 2015: Day Twelve

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.

Ron White

The sky is falling...

Red Bird
Q. Cassetti 2015
Adobe Illustrator

Logo refresh for Ithaca Reuse

Hi: Ithaca ReUse has a logo that has been very recognized but the director felt they needed a refresh as they are growing their organization, their offerings, and their programs. The logo shown to the left is the original version. The image above is the revision--keeping the arrow element, keeping the circle. Simplifying the text..and straightening out the copy so its a bit more direct, a little less fun.

Day 3: Portrait warmups

"When Mexico sends its people … they are bringing drugs
and they are bringing crime and their rapists."
Donald Trump, July 2015

The media has helped to make this man, this man of many words, of a limited scope, a hostile vision--someone who announces that "you're an idiot" or that the Mexican people who come to this country are unacceptable deviants that their country allowed to emigrate. He is a parody of what television thinks is "powerful" or "successful"--the reality t.v. version of appropriate behavior for an American adult. What I find stunning, (though why should I?) is that Mr. Trump actually has wrestled the stage away from the real politicos and is standing under the main spotlight as a representation and spokesperson  of a philosophy, a vision for the Republican party. Forget the party for now, a representation and a spokesperson for the United States. This I find horrifying.

Why are we giving him a minute of our time? What is it that is resonating beyond the sheer fear that he has garnered this attention? And why?

Day 2: Portrait warmups

The past few days have been days granted by heaven. The weather perfection, with high blue skies, rolling puffy clouds, a breeze and not too hot nor humid. Shady and I have driven to the lake each evening at Golden Hour (that amazing moment in the summer when the sun touches everything and turns it to gold)...taking my favorite back routes--and soaking in the fields of cut grass and grain, the bundles and bales of gold, the clean cows--clustering under a grove of trees to savor the rich grass. By the time we arrive, we are on the verge of pink time...when the sky is streaked with watercolor pink, red, and orange...as the temperature drops, the sound is gone...and the birds have tucked their beaks into their wings to sleep.

Day two. Don't know if I like this JB (thought I adore him)...more tomorrow as one a day keeps the illustration crazy away.

Looking at July.

Can you believe it? It's almost July!

It was a weekend of religion, people, happiness and sadness. It started with a spontaneous party thrown by friends to toast the Supreme Court's ruling on Marriage Equality. Here is to marriage for everyone. Or as our President so rationally stated, "Love is Love". Right? So, now we can get on to other things and let people live, love and be with those that wish to live with and love. This is the right thing to do, and I rejoice that we had some sense around this as so much that is surfacing and exploding around us is so senseless and "Foxified" by the media.

On Saturday, we attended a funeral of a friend's mother (aged 92) and was touched by the simple, sweet ceremony with mentions of the trout in her kitchen sink, and the pies and muffins that were symbols of a blueberry harvest. We heard about Strawberry Shortcake at the church as well as her reknowned clam chowder, also  a staple at church. She was much beloved, and very determined until the end. It was good to go. We jumped in the car after a short reception and drove to Tburg for a wedding at the Conservatory of Fine Arts. It was a joyous, very Burg event...with the Notorious String Busters  and delicious catering by Serendipity. The bride beamed, the groom beamed, and the children were adorable. Lots of fun seeing the tribe...and was thrilled to have some really terrific new shoes that kept me standing for 3 hours. There were gorgeous local flowers, champagne flowing, and every shape and size celebrating at our indoor picnic which had to be moved due to the downpour we were having all day.

Sunday was a little bit of cooking and a big meeting with my pals at Finger Lakes Cider House. Lots to do, lots to square away quickly.  Rob and I were lakeside, which is always amazing as I find we are surrounded by the environment there...floating among the clouds or as with yesterday, fading into the haze that came with the rain. It was cold and damp, but pleasant sitting  at our big oak table with 270˚ of vista and window, just being...and watching the birds flutter across the porch and yard.

I made up a big jar of dilly beans (quick pickles) inspired by a jar of pickled radishes/onions (with coriander, tumeric, salt/peppercorns,) that  came out very well. Similar deal with the beans only I blanched them and cold shocked them prior to packing in the jar. The radishes were paper thin, so I did not blanch/cold shock them as they didn't need more cooking. I am using my homemade vinegar for these pickles--which yields a slightly softer, less biting taste. Need to make more vinegar. Will run out quickly at this rate. And the beets haven't even happened yet. Time to squeeze some apples for my big mother that makes the vinegar!

This week includes meeting with my ankle doctor and the beginning of V2 for Physical Therapy. My doctor wants me to work on range of motion and learning to use the foot/ build muscles that need to be built, so gain my confidence and improve stride. And so, I will. And, there is lots of work for the big client and for my farmers. So, busy enough to keep me out of trouble.

More later.

Mary Blair for your pocket

Mary Blair created a lot of things. Disney's "Small World" is just one example. She illustrated children's books (Golden), did some pretty cute advertising work, and is known for her work with Disney visualizing many of the classic animated movies as well as creating the palettes that really define the early Disney animations. Is Mary Blair known for her hankie designs? I don't think so...but she should be as she brings a whimsy and yet a strong hand and strong common composition to the hankies that are out there. And, do you think they are valuable? One person noted she bought a Blair hankie at a yardsale for $.25 and proceeded to resell it on Ebay for in excess of $150. More>> That is even better than Apple stock! Here are a few examples I have gleaned from the web for your amusement and my reference.

New New

The rain has stopped for now. If I were a mushroom, I would be tremendously happy. Its cool and humid and the lawn is out of control. We have these mushroom monsters, natural sculpture that have popped up overnight under the big pine trees we have in the side yard. These babies just "happened" and though eating something that big, and derived from a pine tree does not appeal to me, their immediacy and their presence is though alarming,  is also quite miraculous. More rain for the weekend--so all the plump fruit can soak it in for maybe a nice hot July to transform blossom to bite for all of us. I am thinking peaches.

As I am in the process of bringing you all up to date, I thought I would share some of the work I have been putting out--that you may or may not see in our neighborhood.

Today, I am going to introduce you to the new logotype for the Finger Lakes Cider House (FLCH). The FLCH is a new venture brought to you by Melissa Madden and her husband, Garrett Miller of the Good Life Farm, Interlaken, New York. I have been working with Melissa and Garrett on their farm logo and graphics/marketing/promo and when this gem popped up, I raised my hand to say that yes, I would love to take a crack at this.  So later last year November or so, I started work on developing this mark--and this one, for me, stood out of the pack immediately. I am delighted that Melissa and Garrett agreed to this design.

The Finger Lakes Cider House is  at the Good Life Farm and is a beautiful space (all built by Garrett and a team) that overlooks Cayuga Lake in a simple wood inspired space. I wanted to reflect the hand made quality of the space along with integrating a form that could be used independently (the apple and the seeds (called the seedstar)). So taking a page from my "way back machine" retro inspiration these day, I decided to start with the font and get something, (I know, god forefend) Celtic. Celtic! WTF? Miss Polly Pure Type is going off the deep end! But yes, friends, I did go Celtic and found a font that I thought would work, would express the handmade thing, and would be bulletproof (a phrase the fancy brandmakers in the BIG City would never, ever use--my new favorite that is bandied around is "mindful"--do not get me started).

What is bulletproof? Bulletproof means you can put the logo in anyone's hands (even a monkey) and your brand would still have integrity. It means applicable...even without a standards manual or 175 pages of dos and don'ts. It is a logo that is simple (one or two colors, no more), simple to apply, inexpensive to produce (xerox, output, rubberstamp) and is memorable.  Bulletproof is branding made simple...and not a lot of chatter from consultants about how excellent your design team needs to be to apply it (read lots of work there with the big client). I have a hard time with logos that are just by design expensive to implement, and expensive to maintain. Why would anyone (client) knowingly select a full color logotype that has a gradient that you need a Masters Degree in IT and print production to even begin to use?  I like it dumb (because that is the way I am)--and accessible. I do not think that it means bad or inelegant...but what is the purpose of a logotype if the last time it looked good was in the presentation to the client. The damned mark must look good, and fresh in most applications. Don't we all want to say that we designed "that" when people are loving it, happy. Isnt that the logo doing it's job? Plus with  the added benefit to the FLCH logotype, is that we have fun widgets in the apple and seedstar to apply with the very distinct mark.

Enough of my jaded rant. Go to the ciderhouse. Its really fun, and they have well in advance of 20 different hard ciders available to buy by the bottle, with 5-6 on tap to have a tasting, a flight or a glass to see what all the fuss is about. I am delighted in this new local industry which truly has popped up in the last 4 years...and I am proud to say of the five ciders represented at the Finger Lakes Cider House, 3 (Redbyrd Orchard Cider, Black Diamond Cider, Good Life Cider) are designed by yours truly--and they do not look even like family members which was part of the challenge. More on that as we go.