58!

Another year. Another year of physical therapy. Yep. November 2013 was when I broke my ankle (into smithereens). October 2014 was a year with multiple screws and uprights and weekly physical therapy. It was the year of leg elevation, lots of ice, swelling everything and pain. It was no fun. Here we are again, in October, 2015 and all the hardware is out (except for one screw that snapped in half and wasn't coming out), less--almost no swelling, more physical therapy (twice a week), and the pain is less and less the more I move this crazy foot, ankle, leg on the painful treadmill. I know I sound like Debby Downer, but it is getting better and I am so optimistic, I have a pen in my hand and I am drawing Bohtas, and thinking advent calendars...so its all on the upside. So moving forward in the age thing...the time thing and the therapy thing is making me feel better, more energy, less sadness, and more like there is an opportunity to get back into things. Hurray! Lets put an extra candle on the cake just to celebrate that!

Plus, with the amazing lessons from my first cousin, Martha--I cannot moulder in the mire. Ya gotta give it all...until it's over...and then (which happened) you gotta give it all in the last demonstrations of your life on earth--to reassure us that we need to even keep that legacy thing of positive energy moving in the right direction to inspire, teach and personally grow.

So up off my pins. Strap on the stabilizing shoes. Grab that bright orange cane and start whacking at my world. Theme for year 58. Get going!!

Happy birthday to me.

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.

More from Oneida

Funny. I was reading during my early morning random research reading...about John Humphrey Noyes (imagine, right?) in The Atlantic Magazine in this article "Multiple Lovers, without Jealousy"

Harriet Holton Noyes.

"In its history, America saw only a handful of collective dalliances away from two-person marriage model. In the 1840s in upstate New York, the Oneida commune practiced “complex marriage,” in which the 300 members were encouraged to have consensual intercourse with whomever they desired. As its leader, the lawyer John Humphrey Noyes, put it in his proposal letter to his wife, Harriet: “I desire and expect my [wife] will love all who love God ... with a warmth and strength of affection which is unknown to earthly lovers, and as free as if she stood in no particular connection with me. In fact the object of my connection with her will not be to monopolize and enslave her heart or my own, but to enlarge and establish both in the free fellowship of God’s universal family.”

By some accounts, the Oneida way of life was far more feminist than traditional marriage was at the time: The women only had sex when they wanted to, for example, and some of the female members relished having multiple sex partners.

But this was no erotic utopia. The commune’s elderly true believers regularly initiated its less-experienced teenagers into sex in order to strengthen the younger generation’s devotion to Noyes. Members were publicly chastised if they were discovered carrying on exclusive relationships. People who wanted to be parents were matched in arranged marriages and prevented from bonding with their children, all as part of Noyes’ plan to create a superior uber-race. In 1879, Noyes, fearing arrest for statutory rape, fled the country and wrote to his to his followers that they should abandon complex marriage. The 70 remaining commune members entered traditional marriages with whomever they happened to be living with at the time."

So, the word according to Noyes still continues on in discussions of American Polyamory...and the followers of that tradition. I am fascinated as a reader and a historian but horrified as a person living and breathing on this planet. I am by nature, a jealous and highly monogamous person..so the idea a shared love is beyond my puritanical thinking.  I am saddened by the stoic Harriet Noyes as well as the wife of Joseph Smith, Emma Hale...and the crisis of more women in her marriage as dictated by God and her Prophet and husband. Stiff upper lip, indeed.

Notes on the Oneida Community Mansion

John Humphrey Noyes

John Humphrey Noyes (September 4, 1811- April 13, 1886) founded the Perfectionist community, The Oneida Community (1848-1881) in the Oneida Community Mansion in Oneida, NY. I have been a big fan of Noyes and the sheer American-ness of this community which was part of the marvel of NY State's burned out zone. Wikipedia briefly sums up the  overview of their views:

"The Oneida community’s utopian philosophy focused on the individual relationship to God; it was intended to be a sort of “kingdom of God on earth.” The second focus of the community was sexual morality."

This community was peopled by individuals who gave up all possessions and wealth to the community (included the treasures found in the cases around the mansion)--and gave in to the community in it's entirety. From this shared wealth came shared pleasures including their lovely house, their work in creating carpet bags (as in "Carpet baggers"), seeds, animal traps, silk thread and the most lasting, the Oneida Silversmiths. I could quote a bunch of stuff that I have read, but will leave that to you--but to mention several interesting observations. The Oneida Community did things right. They had designers on the team, and hired some of the biggest talent of the time for Community Plate Silverware (another name they marketed under). They hired Maxfield Parrish and Coles Phillips for illustration for their earlier ads. They were heavily engaged in the war effort--which also manifested itself in some great illustration work for their ads....Who would have guessed.

Coles Phillips for Community Plate

The Community Mansion still stands in gorgeous condition--with a few rooms available as a bed and breakfast as well as over 50 people rent apartments in their 93,000 square foot building (some being descendants of the original community members). This massive, beautifully maintained building sits perched on a huge piece of property that adjoined the former factory. Smart planning by the Community business people, set up the town of Sherrill and guaranteeing it's life independent of the group. It is a testament to a moment in time, a moment of interesting thought made real, and a group that had impact on upstate New York and truly, American culture. So worth a visit and a tour.

Recommended Reading:

Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community
pencer Klaw

From Kirkus Reviews:

"Disturbing tale of a 19th-century utopian community. Klaw (The Great American Medicine Show, 1975, etc.) wrote this with the cooperation of descendants of the Oneida Community, who granted him access to unpublished memoirs and letters. The result is a thorough if somewhat blinkered look at a daring experiment in social and biological engineering, a sort of Victorian brave new world. Oneida was the brainchild of John Humphrey Noyes, a preacher and writer who believed himself to be God's chosen instrument. Like other utopians, Noyes taught the perfectibility of the human being; more controversially, he also condemned monogamy in favor of sexual libertinism. After some false starts--including an arrest on morals charges--Noyes put his theories to the test in 1848 by establishing his own Eden in Oneida, New York. At first, the community flourished. Inventions poured out, including the stainless-steel cutlery still manufactured today; members enjoyed courses in languages and science, as well as equality in food, clothing, and shelter. But too often Noyes's activities seemed a forerunner of China's cultural revolution. Romantic love and celibacy were banned; at 13 or 14, girls lost their virginity, usually to Noyes himself in sessions known as ``interviews.'' Privacy was nonexistent, and members were subjected to scathing public criticism of their every fault. Noyes ruled as absolute dictator, wielding power by manipulating sexual privileges. His social experiments reached their nadir with ``stirpiculture,'' an attempt to produce superior human beings (with Noyes blood involved, if possible) through breeding experiments. Predictably, the community's idealism faded rapidly, and, by the 1880's, Oneida was more or less defunct. 

New Logo for Root

My sister-in-law, Jenny Eddy is starting a program to teach/train at risk people (ages mid teens to early 20's) in food, cooking, service etc linking those people to caterers, restaurants etc. Here's their new logotype and tagline (written by little old me). I wanted to show a root vegetable to suggest food, and use a typographic treatment that would look good on a teeshirt and on a Board of Directors presentation. The carrot can snap out of the mix, to be placed on hats/etc. or to embroider on a screened word. I loved the double use of the word feeding-- with it being positive about the participants and the communities (family, church, food, school) that are enhanced by the work of Root. Jenny is remarkable. I look forward to her efforts.

Thrilled! Creative Quarterly 41

Hey! The labels shown above done for Jackie and Ian Merwin, Black Diamond Farm got a "winner" designation in Graphic Design, Creative Quarterly 41.I have included the newest two (First Fling and Jaywalker) who were in process before the show happened. More to enter later!!

"Runners Up" were for the Bright Raven Farm logotype/illustration and my new Happy Birthday cards/ illustration. Delighted.

Kitty is back. So amazing to see her. I have had a lot of time with Alex since the first of the month, so to have our girl back is a nice counterpoint to the ongoing lecture demonstration I have been having with Mr. Cassetti.

The oriole is here as I am loading my guns for more cider work. Just completed JayWalker and First Fling for the Merwin's Black Diamond Cider...as well as the Pommeau and Shin Hollow. We are def going in a bird-on-the-farm/orchard approach which stands out nicely from the others...and gives them a personality that is distinct from the other 2 ciders I package.

Day 7: Portrait Warmup

"You know, it doesn't really matter what [the media] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."
– Donald Trump

"...And I'm not saying she's an unattractive woman, but she's not beauty, by any stretch of the imagination. I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she's not-- I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she's not." – Donald Trump

“I love women. They’ve come into my life. They’ve gone out of my life. Even those who have exited somewhat ungracefully still have a place in my heart. I only have one regret in the women department — that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer. I met her on a number of occasions. I couldn’t help but notice how she moved people. She lit up the room with her charm, her presence. She was a genuine princess — a dream lady.”
– Donald Trump
“Trump: The Art of the Comeback”

Day 6: Portrait Warmup

One Hour Portrait, Madonna
Portrait Warmup
Q. Cassetti, 2015
Adobe Illustrator

"Imagine if someone like John Lennon or Bob Marley, Sid Vicious, Picasso, whomever, were doing their work, and some corporation, some CEO, some branding entity was saying to you, 'Well, you can do that, but you've got to remove this aspect of your work.' There would no longer be that purity anymore."
 

Madonna Ciccone

Day 5: Portrait warmups.

The Donald
Portrait Warmups 2015
Q. Cassetti
Adobe Illustrator 2015

"Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make."

Donald Trump

You know, on a rare occasion this boob makes good sense. 

Off to meetings and projects. More later.

Day 4: Portrait warmups

" Life's short. Anything could happen, and it usually does, so there is no point in sitting around thinking about all the ifs, ands and buts.
Amy Winehouse

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.

Day 1: Portrait warmups

I am going to try and do a quick portrait or picture with a time limit everyday. Stick to the simple single or two color approach which will allow me to work quickly. This is a portrait of Jean Shrimpton, a model in the sixties who was "the thing" and memorable for me as she modeled white lipstick coming out of a telephone booth on Carnaby Street. Sixties curated personified.

Hot morning.

Umbrella hankie, Tammis Keefe.

It was hot and humid... or as the weathermen in Pittsburgh on KDKA radio used to drone on, "hazy hot and humid" often followed on by Kahn's wieners commercials " Kay Aye H En Esss" ...so hotdogs and hazyhothumid always go together. Pittsburgh kind of perfected Hazy Hot and Humid as it is in a valley, with inversion, and with bad air pollution. So despite the absolutely Miltonian moments of the tremendous blast furnaces being tapped--and visible from miles away...with sparks, and flames and white hotness, the flip side was dreadful air, sweltering temperatures, and seemingly no relief. At least here in the fabulous Finger Lakes, we are not inverted, not in a valley and as often as it gets hot to the enth degree, we often get relief in a day or so. Pittsburgh--with that  HHH mantra could capture weeks without relief, without a break, without a promise of a breeze. The refuge of the clammy cool basement always beckoned. Pathetic, really. 

We had a massive quick soaker yesterday with promise of the same later this afternoon. Rob has gone off to the Adirondacks to some trade event with the Governor to help the Museum Association of New York promote a bill that they are working with the Board of Regents on. He will miss the last day of Grassroots, and the final day of his vacation (Monday) but he seems good with that. I take Alex down for the bus early this afternoon and hope to go to buy my new favorite thing for breakfast. Wait for it. Coconut Yogurt. Oh my. That with blackcaps and a sprinkle of either muesli or granola and I think I have gone to heaven. I bought my first go of this delight at Aldi in their "its a limited buy, so stock up now section"--thinking well, it could be totally weird, but it also could be a game changer. It is sublime...almost a dessert--with the pucker of yogurt and the tropical quiet coconut flavor that sends me. Enough of this chat.

I must go. Bills need to be created. Packages packaged...and prepped for the mail tomorrow.
Just wanted to say, hey.

Midsummer's day.

Some people celebrate midsummer with parties and bonfires, interesting food and family gathering. We celebrate midsummer with a four day long fest, the Grassroots Festival at our fairgrounds. We celebrate community--with pre-Roots events (a wonderful concert with gumbo at the Rongo this year!), discussions, projects and the close review of the schedule of events by the regulars to pencil in their auditory path of the four days. The tribe comes into town, lining the roads with cars--from Wednesday before the festival through Sunday...and even stragglers until mid week the week following the fest. The non approved vendors set up by the grocery store to sell wide brimmed straw hats, tie dyed anything, and iced cream. Parking becomes a way that the locals, the high school and other non-profits can make a little money to offset the eighth grade trip or personal projects. The gigantic stack outs, the "wall of beer" is found at any grocery store or gas station near the fairgrounds. The air throbs with sound all night and day. Rob and Alex are heavily partaking of the festival, while I work on projects, read and savor the midsummery time. Here we are...the top of the year and often the hottest week of the year--with longer, and colder days happening from this week on. It is the week of raspberries and onions, spinach and the promise of tomatoes and corn.

Alex is home for the festival and is actively delighting in everything from his work, his friends, his new sense of what he can do, what he can accomplish, what he is able to change and affect. He is ready to be in his final year of school. He is at the right level of "baking". Rob has been full bore at the festival from the prebuild of the new bathroom building to the music and full days of friends, visiting and dancing. I delight that he enjoys this so much.

I have a new PT, Ms. Jessie who is, with her gentle, long hands...is whaling on this new ankle...and though I am crippled after her kind ministrations, am getting more mobility, more bending, more ability and interestingly, less pain, after her hard work. Jim has gone on to Duke/UNC for a fellowship and post-graduate work in physical therapy. So, though Gentleman Jim has moved on, I have a treasure in Jessie. Twice a week, no  less.

Happy Birthday #1
Q. Cassetti, 2015
Adobe Illustrator

I am starting a body of work called "Happy Birthday". I found that I was creating some pictures around Happy Birthday, so I figured I would "let it out" a bit...to see where this could go with the little machines and various forms of transportation that seems to be popping up just in my work. So, you will see more of these just to spice up the summer..and to get the gears going for me. It has been a long spell of staleness--and I have to begin to move the needle as I am bereft of not having a topic to think and stew over. There are cakes, and candy, and international traditions here. if anything, I can learn something, and we can see if a card or two evolve. If anything, the pursuit of greasy noses, colorful heads, Brazilian lollypops, pinatas,  or candles burning all day long, sugar roses and "party hats"might yield some fun images. Plus the idea that time is moving is interesting too.

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!"   Dr. Seuss

I have been inking a ton of apples these days--inspired by midcentury modern. Apples, pears, slices, seed stars, textures...and they have been applied to a logotype for the Finger Lakes Cider Alliance. There have been some cute offerings emphasizing Alliance, emphasizing cider, emphasizing Finger Lakes. Let's see what they go for....I am hoping no Finger Lakes Wiggly worms...as it has no currency outside of the area...but hey. Additionally, I have posted some of  my logotypes to this page and will add as I go (there are a ton more, but this gets you going). I think a page of labels might be great too. Now now, but soon.

Red, White and Blues

Bunting at Walmart

The 4th has come. A day to celebrate independence which always comes with interdependence (though we do not mention that). Here's to singularity and standing up for your beliefs. Here is to compromise, to listening and not talking. Here's to thinking and measured response. Here is to valuing all opinions, and being open to change. 

I am always struck that to so many, "Being American" signifies a rigor around what is right and wrong...something very analog, very black and white, something that doesn't have edges, but issues and ideas that are cleanly broken into the answer and the question. We are either pro-abortion or anti-abortion. We love everyone or hate everyone. There are haters (but no polarities there) but there are no lovers. We approve or disapprove. The concept of a spectrum of understanding, of belief or philosophy is not "being American" but something irrational and insane.

Watching the largest group of presidential contenders being fielded--points up this thought--and I am dumbstruck to think that any of these men (yes, folks--they are men...there is a woman in there for "shits and giggles" but not someone to fear or be competitive with) live such a bi-polar existence or right and wrong, yes or no, oatmeal or eggs, tea or coffee, awake or asleep--life. It seems at odds with how we are as functioning beings, that this limited, approved and market-tested view on any topic can be a way to embrace one's beliefs.  This approach may appear to be the "safe" road to travel, but it is the most heinous and frightening. Yes, it is predictable--but so limited and slim an channel, that very few can navigate it..and leaves many of us out of the process of being engaged and included.

We have so much promise, opportunity, energy, people and treasure. Why can't be be wise enough to take everyone on that journey. It will be far more interesting--and to my thinking, far more Christ-like to embrace the whole and not the privileged few. Aren't  those privileged few those that we escaped in our Independence? Must we revolt again?

another day.

And so, it continues to rain, and evaporate, and humidify, and rain again. The grass has never been more lush--with poor Chet booking to keep up with the lawns he mows on a regular basis. Today was catch up on details day, and catch up I did. Plus, I had a nice visit with the Physical Therapist to the stars, Mr. Jim C. at the local PT Hut...and he whaled away on my ankle and it helped quite a bit. I have exercises and feel that this is truly the road to recovery. Amen to that...and thank goodness for the finishing touches that a physical therapist can bring to a surgeon's work.  It  is a remarkable world we live in.

Lots to do today from more work on Alex's apartment materials, birthday presents to buy, doctors to see, veterinarians to schedule, paying work to do and so on. It is amazing to me that we are hurdling into the long, Independence Day Weekend at 100 miles per hour without brakes...and the year is half done. The Solstice is behind us...and onward/onward/onward we go.  I hope the weekend isn't spent catching up on the day we supposedly had to vacation.

I am delighting in Rachel Maddow's rants, raves and on point commentary on the Republicans who are going to run for President. The largest field of candidates, one more a character than the next...almost as if they were cast in their roles. It is going to be a wild year of talking heads and crazy comments about being an American, on what American is, and America. As much as I am wonderfully drawn (or maybe better, sucked) into this vortex, The saner part of me is suggesting that maybe I should just hide under my bed with my iPad and continue to read children's  and young adult literature...and live on that island. Rachel's rant on Chris Christie and his world was remarkable last night. Take a listen on the Rachel Maddow podcast today. Fireworks. I might have to go for round two on that.

Coffee time.

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.