Poetry from other places

I do not know where this has come from. I somehow ran into the NuForce.org site and found these amazing entries about ufo sightings and was struck by these simple, short stories--notations from plain, normal people who are trying to communicate something they had seen that they could not really understand as it is an "unknown". I found that by taking a little sharp knife to some of the hemming and hawing, poetry emerged that was sublime, simple and elegant. This pleases me to no end. So, I will continue to torture you with this new fun, Qproject.

Isn't manifesting itself in imagery (yet) but I am certainly looking at end of time illustrations from the middle ages, of shooting stars and other portents that earlier people used to describe things that they couldn't understand or rationalize during the time they were living. We often think of ourselves as being so smart, so superior, so scientific--but when it gets down to understanding or observing something that is not known, we waffle and try to make it make sense through science and vocabulary. But to those normal people, they liken these oddities to things they know and understand: nature, color, light, sound, speed. Don't get me wrong...as I have been falling down this UFO/ alien/ odd rabbit hole....there are things that are truly odd and to some degree both fascinating and frightening, I keep looking for answers that are not there...but to that, isn't it wonderful that today there are things that go beyond our knowledge--big things that we can only look and take it in. And puzzle.

I have learned about the Taos Hum, more broadly called The Hum. Lots of ideas of what it is and where it comes from, but the Hum emerges as related to UFOs. All I know is that its out there and no one can really figure it out. The Hum.info  defines the hum as: "strange humming or rumbling sound whose source they cannot find." There are the strange "end of times" groans that are heard in different locations from around the world

Then there is the Norwegian Spiral (sometimes called the Norwegian Spiral Anomaly (wiki)) (see above) which is another thing we have been trying our hardest to 'splain, but really, why does this spiral with a bright blue, twisted umbillical cord need explanation? Wikipedia tries in their set-up:

"The Norwegian spiral anomaly of 2009[1] appeared in the night sky over Norway[2] on 9 December 2009. It was visible from, and photographed from, northern Norway and Sweden. The spiral consisted of a blue beam of light with a greyish spiral emanating from one end of it. The light could be seen in all of Trøndelag to the south (the two red counties on the map to the right) and all across the three northern counties which compose Northern Norway,[3]as well as from Northern Sweden[1] and it lasted for 2–3 minutes.[3] According to sources, it looked like a blue light coming from behind a mountain, stopping in mid-air, and starting to spiral outwards.[4][5] A similar, though less spectacular event had also occurred in Norway the month before.[6] Both events had the expected visual features of failed flights of RussianSLBM RSM-56 Bulava missiles,[7][8] and the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged shortly after that such an event had taken place on 9 December."

But you and I both know it's related to the aliens, and the man just isn't letting on. Right?
There is area 51 and the aliens, the autopsy aliens, the tall white aliens who confer with presidents and kings. There are marvelous light shows and ships, flashes and shapes that disappear in a wink. There are aliens that like vegetables, and ones that are not dependant on atmosphere and live underground. They can do anything and everything including build the pyramids, and act as our gods. Who is to say this is wrong or right? Maybe Joseph Smith had it right with Jesus being resurrected into the New World...and that the early American cultures were not primitive? 

Right now it's poetry for me.

Occurred : 7/28/2014 23:55

Circle of light falling.
... from the sky like a meteor, but with no tail...
...it fell straight from the sky...
...like the moon was falling.
I only saw it.

Occurred : 7/28/2014 23:55 (Entered as : 7-28-14 23:55)
Reported: 7/27/2014 11:32:24 PM 23:32
Posted: 8/1/2014
Location: Swan Valley, ID
Shape: Circle
Duration: 5 seconds

Today's inspiration from NuForc.org

Red & green orbs in the sky defy aircraft movement over a field of ridge top windmills...

...they were sucking the power out of the windmills..
hovering over a field of windmills like bees hovering over flowers...

View fullsize

Occurred : 7/1/2014 02:30 (Entered as : 07/01/14 2:30)
Reported: 7/1/2014 1:35:44 AM 01:35
Posted: 7/4/2014
Location: Wyoming, PA
Shape: Circle
Duration:1 hour

jumble box.

Back from Great Camp Sagamore for their annual fundraiser weekend. It was a lot of fun with some new twists (music at the dinner, an opening cocktail gathering, smores at the campfire and unscheduled downpour making the venue change from under a big white tent, to the dining room). All the new adds were wonderful, and I think our guests had a nice change, nice time, nice experience in the Adirondacks. It was a lively group of people we travelled with--who had ideas, things to say, things to contribute and who were engaged, fun and funny. 

I am getting the hang of the NYS "silent auction" thing and am honing what I bring for impact and sales. My stationery box (remember the cigar box stuffed with stationery? that I contributed to the Museum Association auction?) got quite a bit of play as did the Farribault lap blanket (I bought a stack of them for a very (underline very) good price and though it sold for sub what the "real" retail price was, we got well in excess of 3x what I paid for it. So, the blanket thing sells too. Stylish nesting at the Adirondack camp is the idea....and all that surrounds that. Plus, with many of these summer people in a remote place, treats from civilization (liquor, wine, etc.) brought to them has appeal too. Plus, there is the quick $20. "I want it" thing...like the food jewels...or could be food too....I am thinking next year, some of the adirondack/ buffalo check inspired illustrations printed at 8 x10 and framed with a mat might work too. Phew.

I am full bore illustrating for the new opening of the Rongovian Embassy, a local institution that has a whole fake thing going with heraldic imagery, fake maps etc. which I am churning away on with my vector technique. I am not at full steam, full multitasking ability as I had prior to my fall...and am anxious to get that back as the volume of work I was doing isn't what's happening now to my frustration and to a degree sadness.

Former Roosterfish: Dogtooth Pale Ale.

I have finished an entire repositioning of the names/representation of Roosterfish Brewing. They have this sort of thing in the marketplace (see above) with much of their beer being marketed with tap handles and variety graphics applied to the handle. So I worked with the owner to move the brand from "crazy and off beat" to focusing on cool things that happen in Watkins and the Finger Lakes. Another thing that was immobile was the illustration of the fish and how to get it into a format that bumped up happily against other design elements without it appearing as odd as it is (Roosterfish are from only two southerly places and not from Seneca Lake--so it is rooted in the name sounding good and not on any meaning/symbology).  The changed names of the beer reflect on things having to do with Watkins the place, the racetrack, the park and it's history. So, Dogtooth Pale Ale from Roosterfish (tough to remember) is changed to Finish LIne Pale Ale, and we have kept Firehouse Blonde but morphed the pinup illustration to a photo of one of the silver screen starlets who made movies in Ithaca and likely vacationed in the Glen. The owner wanted the take-away from drinking his beer to it being delicious--and so the secondary line of "drink deliciously" happened on all except Firehouse and a few more....I emphasized their being the first Farm Brewery on the carrier and six pack carrier... bringing all the elements across but keeping it predominantly black and white (with the second/varietal color only really happening on the bottle label.

The new imagery was going to be rolled out during Vintage Car weekend in the Glen but to the owner's happiness, the GREAT (yes it's part of the name) New York State Fair asked if they could sell six packs, so we are hustling to get this done two weeks earlier than planned (in about 2 weeks from today) to get it into the hands of the hoards that descend on Syracuse. I have done banners, coasters, table cards, tees in addition to the bottle label, six pack and carrier. My client has shown it to a big craft brewing distributer who is jumping for joy exclaiming that they can really sell "this". So, another lesson in good design sells and has value. And, it doesn't have to be fancy...just appealing, telling a story and approachable (at least in this case).

The fish got locked up in a circle and with a bolder (non handwriting font) in the way it is handled on the label, or centered without a circle (best is seen on the case). The big breakthrough (for a dummy) was to regularize the fish made it sync up with type, and become part of the element without it being THE feature. I was having a hard time living with the fish, making it work in context and being able to make it fuse with the type, and not compete with more illustration (as in the DogTooth) but having the type marry with photography works. I will share the program once it has rolled out. It would be wrong of me to give you the peek under the tent that the owner deserves to do.

And so it goes. The big, outer carriers need to be amended. Someone is coming to take my picture later this pm. so I should look for a comb to spruce up a bit. Believe me, I need way more than a comb.

Today's reading from the NUFORC Poetry Forum

Stillwater, Florida.
Circle: Ten seconds.
link>

I saw a blue light above my house. It then darted off.

Too low to be a plane and it wasn't a shooting star.

poetry from my new favorite website

its was red orange and it changed its shape and just hoverd over the tree line

I saw the object over a tree line i dont know what it is i first thought i was the moon then i thought the moon doesn't rise in the west so i watched it for about 20 minutes. In the first 10 minutes its changed shape and i think i i saw the ground under in on a hill side flash for a second. And then after that it changed into a crescent shape and didnt do anything elts but sit in the sky at that spot for 10 more minutes. I eventually went to bed and when i left to go to bed it was still there.

Occurred : 4/16/2013 00:15 (Entered as : 4/16/13 0:15)
Reported: 4/15/2013 9:42:30 PM 21:42
Posted: 5/15/2013
Location: Johnsonville, NY
Shape: Changing
Duration:20 minutes

from the National UFO Reporting Center
State Report Index for New York

_________

Hovering steadily, burning like fire, starts to dim then disappears

Hovering mostly in one spot over a festival, burning very brightly like fire.

Then it started to dim and within seconds it was gone.

It was entirely silent.

Occurred : 7/12/2014 23:30 (Entered as : 07/12/14 23:30)
Reported: 7/16/2014 7:35:56 PM 19:35
Posted: 7/20/2014
Location: Saugerties, NY
Shape: Fireball
Duration:1-2 minutes

Reprise

There are quite a few things that are really wonderful about email and electronic communications like speed, ease, and regularity. Then, there are things like real communication which gets left at the doorstep as one cannot read anything into an email as there is no real time connection, no idea if things were flat or fabulous. It is all how you read the text and or read the entire context of the conversation. In my world, watching the client is key to really understanding what makes them tick. Case in point. The other newbie that sent me back to the drawingboard with an ad really LIKED the ads. Liked the attitude (a little smarty pantsy). Liked the graphics. And, she saw where it could go....so baby did not need to throw the poor baby right out of the bath water.

Let's just say, I was close to fist pumping and jumping up out of  my seat (pending my ankle cooperating) just in the sheer appeal that I had not missed it entirely. Phew.

And I quote the WSJ "The Finger Lakes region, where yogurt makers dot the landscape, has even been dubbed "The Silicon Valley of Yogurt."

 

New York's Boom in Yogurt Is Not So Sweet Yogurt in New York is Evolving From Sugar-Laden Fruit Flavors Toward Savory, Middle Eastern Flavors

By Nancy Matsumoto (direct link to the Wall Street Journal Online)
June 18, 2014 9:30 p.m. ET

At a SoHo cafe run by the yogurt maker Chobani, mini-iPad-toting servers take orders for unlikely lunches, such as plain yogurt topped with hummus, olive oil, a spice mix and lemon zest.

At the Chelsea Market stand of Sohha Savory Yogurt, diners customize their bowls of Lebanese-style yogurt with the likes of mint, olives, cilantro and spicy harissa oil.

And in Albany, legislators passed a bill this spring to make yogurt the official state snack.

New York is enjoying a golden age of yogurt, with the number of yogurt plants rising to 29 from 14 between 2005 and the present, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. The Finger Lakes region, where yogurt makers dot the landscape, has even been dubbed "The Silicon Valley of Yogurt."

At the same time, yogurt in New York is evolving from its adolescent infatuation with sugar-laden fruit flavors to a perhaps more mature phase that skews toward savory and Middle Eastern flavors.

And these latest yogurt offerings come from both large companies, such as New Berlin-based Chobani, and small startups such as Sohha, which is made in a small professional kitchen in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood.

Martin Simov, one of the employees at Sohha, makes a savory yogurt wrap for a customer. ap for a customer at Chelsea Market. Andrew Lamberson for The Wall Street Journal

"Yogurt has for too long been a sugar-delivery mechanism," said Siggi Hilmarsson, founder of Siggi's, which is made upstate in Yates County and sold nationwide.

When Mr. Hilmarsson arrived from Iceland to attend business school at Columbia University, he was stunned to find that some yogurts contain as much as 26 grams of sugar a serving. One of his first flavors was orange-ginger with an austere 9 grams of sugar in a 150-gram serving.

David Faulkner, London-based global market analyst with the market research firm Mintel, dates the beginning of the New York yogurt renaissance to the "massive growth" of Chobani, founded by Turkish immigrant entrepreneur Hamdi Ulukaya, who "blindsided everyone and launched the Greek yogurt boom."

Now, Mr. Faulkner said, "people are much more open to looking at alternate yogurts, like skyr [strained like Greek yogurt, resulting in a thick, high protein product], Lebanese styles and...kefir [a fermented milk drink]."

The savory, vegetable-based flavors produced by Blue Hill Yogurt, based in Pocantico Hills, such as beet, carrot and tomato, grew out of recipes at Blue Hill Farm's restaurants, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, said David Barber, president and co-owner of Blue Hill Farm. Mr. Barber's brother, chef Dan Barber, used them as condiments.

The grass-fed organic cow's milk and vegetables come from small family farms in the Northeast, including the Barber family farm in the Berkshires; sugar content ranges between 8 and 10 grams for a 6-oz. serving.

At the Chobani cafe on the corner of Prince Street and Broadway, regular Skyler Steward, director of analytics at the nearby ad agency Code & Theory, said that as an Arab-American, he was drawn to the café's "really authentic food," including a savory yogurt soup and the za'atar spice mix topping like the one his mother makes.

Besides yogurt in a bowl topped with cucumber, olive oil, fresh mint and sea salt, other popular savory dishes feature smoked salmon and dill or watermelon and feta, items, said Peter McGuinness, chief marketing officer for Chobani.

All of the items can be ordered on the Turkish analog of the bagel, known as simit. When the cafe opened in June 2012, its menu consisted mostly of sweet options. Since then, it has evolved to being close to 65% savory, said Mr. McGuinness.

Sohha grew from an award-winning business plan that co-founder John Fout wrote for his M.B.A. program in entrepreneurship at Baruch College in 2012. He and his co-founder, wife Angela, couldn't find yogurt that was sugar- and preservative-free like in Angela's native Lebanon, so they began making their own with mostly grass-fed cow's milk from a Poughkeepsie co-op called Hudson Valley Fresh, and selling it at farmers' markets.

The couple launched their business in May 2013 when they found a space in Sunset Park that would meet the strict hygiene requirements of the yogurt-making process.

Besides two kinds of yogurt—plain and tangy—dips and beverages, Sohha sells five toppings, including a za'atar blend of thyme, sumac and sesame seeds, and an "Everything Bagel" topping that mimics the classic New York bagel.

"My wife keeps adding toppings and I tell her to stop," says Mr. Fout, "but maybe it's good; people who come for lunch every day won't get bored." Angela Fout's latest topping combination: tahini, carob molasses and hazelnuts.

By the end of the year, Mr. Fout expects to be in 15 farmers' markets and several Brooklyn and Manhattan cafes and small stores, and to hit his plant's capacity of 1,000 pounds of strained yogurt a week.

Savory yogurt, he said, "is where the future's going to be."

Crabby

What the heck is going on? I have had 2 new clients in the last ten days, both real newbies--and probably not clear about what they are looking for, content, postitioning etc. I have given them "their moneys worth" times at least three, and both have come back saying that I totally struck out. What?! This is nuts. Absolutelyl nuts....as this level of misses hasn't happened in decades (read 10 years times at least 2). So, I am putting in a ton of time, and in one case, a bit of redo...and missing. No more newbies. It is not good for my health (working until 10;30 p.m. last night) and not good for my brain. There is only so much teaching one can do....and there are tons of more fun things to do. Like my own illustration. Or illustrations for the Rongo, or making indian chutney (man, oh man).

Crabbiness aside. Forgive me.

We had an amazing front roll through here yesterday from very close and humid and hot to in moments, fall like frostiness with little humidity. Amazing how weather is.

I am walking down Camp Street daily which is helping quite a bit with my gait and flexibility. It will be quite a day when I forget I have been injured and that every step is an effort with memory. The orange cane is in use as are the fabulous compression sox from Nabee...but this is part of the rehab. No more drugs, no more sadness on that front.

Today I present one of my commanding friends a jewel I bought her from shopgoodwill.com. She is a remarkable women who performs intellectual and physical feats that we just stand back in awe of. She can farm with draft horses, write grants, create programs, grow just about anything (500 turkeys, organic ginger and organic tumeric just to name a few)...and is indominable. To that, for her birthday, I have a tank commanders beret with a juicy big metal tank on it so she can command and direct with license. I should scrounge for a card....Learn more about her and the new project, CSA+ here>>

Gotta go make coffee for a two hour meeting soon. Just wanted to be a bit more responsible and say hello today. Do something wonderful. Okay?

Live from the electronic drawing board.

We are on to the next chapter and it still keeps coming. Got a call from a new client yesterday who needs ads for internet advertising on a very obtuse, "nerdy" product--and wanted to have a little zing! They need copy, cute headline (although cute may not be the word to fit the "nerdy" personna) and layouts for a meagre sum of money, but I took it as a new client walking in the door is a new client walking in the door. I forgot what it is to nurse these new clients into being older clients who we cherish and value for their work, friendship and the road time we have put in together.

It has been wild. All the farmers are needing things from my friend Melissa who is starting a new, big idea CSA to the local sheeps milk yogurt company who likes the label I did for them, but now wants it a bit rougher to make it more "artisan".  Another producer is on the front end of figuring out what he wants to do. The beer I rebranded is coming along....but more than the single hit they had started with but an entire program change, packaging and nomenclature approach. Slow. The wine I started on is coming to fruition with the client holding my hand on color and layout which, now as a content provider, feels very odd being told what colors to make things. I mean, I think I am the expert here....this is not buying carpet squares....But I will behave, be quiet and submit the bill (soon, I hope). A big local food manufacturer called me  (flattered) and I worked flat out last week on a project to find out that they were not communicating well and they wanted illustration (though during our meeting so the 28 hrs I spent on intense design work for a labelling system was for naught. I am wondering if I can charge them for the development fee (I should) despite their change in plans.  Time is money and their changing their minds is expensive. The meter was thrown. Bills need to be paid.

A depiction of  (example of Lubki illustration/art style)

Солнце, Луна, времена года и двенадцать месяцев в виде знаков Зодиака. Лубок. Конец XVII -начало XVIII в.

I am working on the new Rongo. Quel fun. The Rongo, as you remember from way back, is a local watering hole known historically as The Rongovian Embassy to the United States. It's an old bar founded in political thinking and local "can do" with a mythological ethos, all sorts of fun talk about what is Rongovia--and an older following who want their bar back again. So, in the spirit of Ulysses, a group of motivated people have formed a group to fund and bring back the Rongo. I am gifting the branding and print work to retain essentially, the rich visual traditions and assets that the Rongo has, and revisit it / refresh it to reflect the new group and their hopes for this institution. It has been fun putting pen to the lion, the sun face etc. There is a fantasy map of this place which I plan to redraw in a very lobok / lubki manner (you remember Lubok! You don't?? fabulous, naive folk art from Russia-- take a look, you will get it).

The Carta marina (Latin "map of the sea" or "sea map"),[1] drawn by Olaus Magnus in 1527-39, is the earliest map of the Nordic countries that gives details and placenames. Only two earlier maps ofScandinavia are known, those of Jacob Ziegler(Strasbourg, 1532) and Claudius Clavus (15th century).

Detail, Carta Marina.

I also am taking inspiration from the celebrated map, Carta Marina (or the Map of the Sea) which features crazy wonderful sea monsters, great typography and a scale of some sort that turns corners (see upper left corner of the map). I love the palette, the randomness of the typography, the way the water is described and the funny mountains.  It represents a much happier world (imagine this map with nuclear silos, airforce bases, downed ships, UFO sightings, and McDonalds?) than this one now...and it appears that the world to this fellow, might not have been absolutely flat...but that is my two cents. Lets just say with the map of Rongovia, the Rongovian Crests and Rongovian history to create, there is plenty to do.

Gotta go. There are legends and fables to create.

Waxing and Waning

Summer is here, full bore. Last week was Grassroots, a music festival here is our little village-- which is usually the hottest few days of the year--so hot in some cases, that the wooden floors radiate the temperature, and the only relief is total submersion in the lake followed on by great horizontality with fans pointed on you. Not this year. It was bliss. Temperatures were mild. No rain to make it a gloppy mess. Great civilized behavior. It was a walk in an english park by comparison to the hot, hazy and harried days of past festivals. I went for a few hours during the weekend and had a great time hearing lovely music and visiting with half the festival. It was hugs and kisses all around and a chance to see all those dear people I love so much in this vortex we live in. Once again, we live in the best place on earth.

At Grassroots, our friend Alan heads up a group of very talented people to do a community build. Meaning, they design and build a structure that can be used beyond the music festival. There have been tiny buildings built as play structures for our Tburg kids (the mini village with a firehouse, a library, a school). There have been buildings for the Tburg Farmers Market from our Market Managers Building, Bandstand, and secondary stage....along with the whole pavilion structure but done as a different build. This year, these intrepid souls built, moved and finished a brand new bathroom from the top of the roof to all new plumbing, new toilets, new sinks (made of stainless mixing bowls)....and it is a wonder. (note shot above). The team decided that as these were special toilets, the concept of a crescent moon on the door needed to go some place, so the two sides were christened the "waxing" or "waning" sides, with the phases of the moon depicted on the doors. I didn't mention that this structure held 10 stalls (photo shows only one side). Then, this building was beautifully landscaped with great hydrangea and other plants....and it became a locus at the festival. Funny how that is. And, in the spirit of doing things right, 8 of the 10 stalls were designated women, and two for men. We were hoping they would go totally Hampshire and make them non-gendered...but hey, maybe Tburg isn't quite ready for that.

Just wanted to get the old blog going again. I have been whaling on some design work with little time to spare...but I should spare a bit to chat with you. I've missed you.

Happy June(?)!

Can you believe it?

Kitty home until tomorrow. We take her up to Syracuse for a breathtakingly early flight to San Francisco for her summer internship with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, where she will assist the costume designer while living at the company and being provided one meal a day and a little pocket money for this and that. Not enough to cover food...but maybe it will cover her subway tokens. An adventure none the less in a beautiful, fun city--travelling with these interesting people (the mime troupe is a political street theatre group), going to all the terrific parks in the area...So, she is going to get a big dose of interesting...with a sprinkle of special and a dollop of change. All is good on that front.

Alex is back in NYC starting his semester which seems to be right up his alley. He is spending time in the darkroom and shooting quite a bit. He is feeling a bit lonely, but has not really reached out to friends and to places he can make new acquaintances. So, maybe this will be the mother of invention (this, being loneliness)--we can hope. He has shot some 4x5 film in his new cigarbox camera that Leah kindly made for him...and he is powering through with film and digital and is talking a mile a minute at trying his hand at two and a quarter, and some big high res digital cameras they are using in his shooting class. He is cheery and chipper...and is doing stuff like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and enjoying being in the moment.

Work is busy here. Quite a few publications on the desk...along with the finalizing of the wine project I was working on. The direction is good...and I am pushing against it (providing way beyond the scope of what was quoted) to help sell in this design which will  (I know) drive sales to a product that is so quiet that it was probably missed on the shelf. No more missing now. Hello Hot Pink. Hello Orange on a blue bottle. That is exciting.

I also had a breakthrough with this beer brand refresh project I am working on. I was fighting the given asset (logo) they had, and was really walking around it during my sketch process. I finally had a moment and figured it was time to dive in, stop bitching and start making lemonade out of these here lemons. From that point on, the work has evolved and is very interesting and really solves the client's problem tastefully. Now for the rule setting. You see, the trick to this project is that the client want s funky --(not bad smelling but more "artsy?") look and feel...along with the name of the company, the location, the name of the variety, the funky (meaning smells bad) illustration/logo they currently have, and then, a signature illustration (he likes pin-ups). I have already gotten on my feminist high horse (using fancy big words like misogynistic and stuff) to point up that the world has moved on it's axis and women drink beer too. I suggested that we look at illustrations that have a point of view and are cute/funny, without being so damned old boy about the whole thing. The client is a sweet person who just does stuff cause he can...and poor man...gets a dose of me stomping around with my stinking crusades. He seems to be open to change...and seems to listen to my one man tirades....so I am blessed this way. Anyway...I finally have a handful of interesting layouts to show him so we can transition his beer from being invisible at the store, to being one of the "cool ones" that get prime space (and therefore, better sales). Believe it or not, design is definitely going to influence whether sales are going to improve or not. I am impatient to see where he lands this week. Should be interesting (for good or bad).

Eighty today. Perhaps the lake after work?

More later.

Class of 2014

She wore the finish line flag. Seriously. Kitty wore the finish line flag to graduation in the form of a cute dress I got for her via a new online favorite: edropoff (http://www.ebay.com/usr/edropoff?_trksid=p2047675.l2559) on ebay. EDropoff is a consignment, used couture site that has some very elegant things (ie Chanel) down to things more perceivable. I bought her a few things for her birthday (a vintage, silk Diane Von Furstenburg for one), and was taken by this crazy checked dress which I thought might be fun to pursue a job or just to sport as Kitty is a dress person too. I thought she would like the dress, turns out...big hit. And, as we were summing up how excited we were with the graduation et al, I said to her that it just seemed so right that she wore a finish line flag to commencement. She hadn't thought of it that way...but somehow knew, albeit unconsciously, that it was the way it needed to be.

So graduation was a perfect day. HIgh skies, low humidity, high excitement, high ideals, high thinking. Kitty had moved from the blues of the night before to "on"--in presentation mode for the show. She sparkled and glowed with Hannah LIbby on one side, and Susie S. to the other--two glorious companions to progress from being students to being alumni in the world. We had lots of great speeches focused on being yourself, carrying the Hampshire ideals and tenets into the world--fighting for what is right for yourself, your people, your world. It was a singular moment to be greeted by this larger than life person, the baby you nursed, the child you shared the emergency room with, the sketch partner, co-conspiritor and friend--with her arms out, her eyes glittering, and her being...so so there. I was incredibly moved in that moment---one of those times that the background freezes and goes still...and through that focus, that tunnel of cognition, that this dear person was one with the now, the then and the future. It was a moment of recognition of all the blessings I have been handed--and most particularly, the gift of family and my dear ones. I am grateful to be handed this moment of passage, of change and of growth. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else though I have to admit, it is a bit itchy.

Kitty and her finish line flag dress with Hannah Libby (left). Hampshire College Graduation: Class of 2014, Amherst MA.

Last Dance

On the way to Amherst. We are talking about those things summer, the steam on the windows, the rain and how it alters that which we see. It is raining cats and dogs, with the windows steaming up. We left Trumansburg around ten after loading the car, gathering up stuff, Rob directing our carpentry team (they are replacing a floor in my mother-in-law's kitchen while we all are away). We got Ms. Grove settled...and oops,the cats! (thanks for the reminder).

We are talking about arrival times in Amherst, departure times for New York City, departure times for San Francisco, and arrival times for the Luckystone Lodge. The first half of the family left earlier this morning to get on their way and to Kitty in advance of the small army and commissary being moved in the Wonderbus. 

The Wonderbus is carrying  a huge strawberry rhubarb crumble (I have discovered the world of crisp, crumbles, cobblers and grunts) from these gigantic, healthy rhubarb canes I bought at the farmers' market, a pan on marinated fresh asparagus, a dish of marinated green beans, and huge jars of marinated mushrooms, artichokes etc. We have nuts, and cheese, crackers and olives. And I plan on composing all of these things on my big melamine, provencal trays to up the game a bit. We have a keg of Red Byrd Cider and a small keg of beer (both in a cooler immersed in ice). I have a mini present chest of tattoos, food jewels, funny cameos, and a few little sets to give as parting quelques choses for those that are near and dear. Given this graduation is devoid of caps and gowns, of tassels and treasures--I figured tattoos might be a nice offer to give a gift of shared graphics. We are entertaining a crew at Kitty's mod tonight so there will be all of us (and our birthday boy, Rob) which makes 6, Kitty's housemates--6, and then assorted friends, families, and associates. There might be a crew..but along with a stack of pizzas, we will be good. This is a small offering...probably not as big or as fancy as I would like-- but I hope it will amuse and entertain.

Tomorrow is the day of graduation combined with the reality of moving out before 10 on Sunday. It is going to be very stressful and emotional for Kitty--and we will need to be there to have her lean on us to get going. Granted, she has had some weeks to prepare, but there have been no solid deadline until tomorrow, and there have been other more wonderful things to do, experience for one last time, people to visit with, chapters to conclude. Kitty has been dancing through the end of the semester and the last dance is tomorrow. Sure, we can all be reasonable and rational about this, but truly for me (and I am not even living this, she is), I get a bit choked up knowing that the last dance is coming, the last spin, the last twirl, the last dip--and then silence....for a few weeks until the new caller comes on stage, arranges the sets and the music starts again-- in a new place with new people. We have been there, and as it happened, maybe not been as conscious of the ending and the beginning as it was the first time of something so monumental,  But given where we are now, we have had a few endings and beginnings, and this change for my first child gives this particular time an extra poignant twist--watching her get on the path that she determines. She will be making the right choices with this strong grounding of friends, learning, and experiences she has gotten from Hampshire.  None the less, bittersweet moments to watch, share and embrace.