Advent 2013: Day Four

Advent 2013: Day Four: Amaryllis Wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2013

Here and Now.

Back on the blog. Trying to be a good girl and get back to talking about the daily this and thats--sharing the stuff that keeps streaming out of the tip on my magical digital pencil.

That's right...all those pictures just flow out of the sharp end of my digital pencil...and all I have to do is hold on tight, and see what happens. Stream of consciousness...parts and pieces emerging... I have been streaming things from my recent trips, and from some of my rage at being American. Though, frankly, from the antics of the last few weeks, it all has left me breathless and gasping, trying to figure out what happened to rational negotiation, conversation and compromise--and instead bullying, brash and combattive behavior  mirroring the passionate child, stomping and storming to get attention due to the lack of sleep, lack of attention, hunger or patience. If only we could just hug these radicals and calm them down through little plates of food and quiet talk....but this is the hippy mommy moment that just isn't "real". I am still puzzling over where we go from here...from the brink to another brink? How can we be a bigger community of people who have more in common than the small things that separate us?  
Rob and I are sitting looking out over the lake with the rich, full autumnal clouds hovering over a purple lake listening to all the good radio we have here.... and having a little study hall. I am pondering the aspect of what is "Adirondack"--what is the style, the heart, the philosophy? What is it to be Adirondack? Is it all about camping and campfires? Is it old forests, deep woods, and dark skies? Is it mirrored water and scented balsam? Is it historical or is it now? Can it be both? What romance is there? How to people react to Adirondack beyond that that Ralph Lauren has fashioned?

I am also thinking about the local food movement--and the sad note that our unbelievably wonderful CSA is closing (not just for the season--but for now).  This will change things for 400 families in our area which is an opportunity either for someone to buy this place and run it as it has been run or for another farm to fill that need. It also points up that the Tburg Farmers Market has a place to step into the void if it wants to beyond our Wednesday market we currently sponsor. Something to consider.

Rob is pondering bigger, more intricate things....and the coffee keeps flowing. Feels almost like a vacation. A vacation with furniture moving (getting all the porch stuff stowed away)...and emptying the fridge (science projects have not been too extraordinary). There goes Rob again, doing something else productive...and I just sit here gabbing to you.

Big week of travel for Rob this week. Big week of holiday planning and production for me. My god. November is just five days away. I will have things at Sundrees and at Felicias for their Black Friday Event (local goods and services with brunch and Black Friday cocktails like the "Doorbuster"). So cards galore and little kits of the small stuff (I am currently calling that stuff "Tiny Table" as it is all kitchen, food, eating related), the cameos, and food jewels. We even have gummy bear necklaces (resin gummies)....Fun. But a heaping helping of extra work on top of the holidays. Plus, there is Thanksgiving to start prepping. 

Yikes. What happened to that vacation feeling?

Whaddah day.

Barley Rondel, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5The world was at the Rongo last night to hear the amazing Stringbusters and to welcome our favorite, Billy Eli with Eric Aceto and group. Many of the Tburg Royals were there…so there was lots to talk about with fascinating people who had things to say. Lets just say, I am having a love affair with our little Village, and every social event, every interaction just sweetens the love more and more. I had to leave a bit earlier than Mr. Cassetti as I had to be ready to rock this morning at the Community Yard Sale at the Farmers Market. Thanks to amazing Suse Thomas Wolfanger, she was there to help—getting money and spreading the love she does so naturally. We had an amazing day, a great turnout. As I noted on Facebook, fresh from the Market: “

Such fun at the Trumansburg Farmers’ Market! Bought a few amazing things (Pendleton shirts, Woolrich shirts) a pashmina scarf, a fluffy chiffon scarf with pansies on it, and a scarf with a 1953 calendar on it (amazingly interesting palette. Had a divine Kimchi hotdog from Trevor and Shelly MacDonald along with sampling their amazing Sauerkraut balls and a half sour pickle. Amazing! Sharon Tregaskis from TreeGate Farm was selling beautiful seedlings. Meg Meixner from Wolftree Farms was selling organic chickens and eggs. Margaret Shepard from Sage Hen Farm was selling garlic, leeks and greens. There were mushroom logs and perennials along with a great assortment of treasures. I am sunburned and energized. What potential we have in our amazing village! Pictures to come.”

This event was great because it allowed us to see how we needed to be “on” for our first day (we need keys to the electrical box, we need signage, a lot of direction getting people situated, a bit of process, a way for folks to hang banners etc.). It also prompts me to suggest that we should think about the flea market idea…and that maybe a Sunday event might be fun during the summer (once a month?). Do you think that could hold up? After seeing the crowd we got, I think there is something here…and could provide a fun activity for all. If we promote it, it can happen. I def. feel we need to do this sale again next year.

We need to get Alex to a boat for his senior dinner dance tonight. It will be a perfect evening for this party…which will be great for our boy. Rob and I will burn time in Watkins to take them home around midnight. Rob is off tomorrow to pick up Kitty and attend a meeting in Albany. Alex is going to be acting with Running to Places from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. I plan on making flower pictures just for myself (!) for Mothers Day!

I bought a pair of very cute black espadrilles as my mothers day present to me!

Onward to more springtime fun!

Happy Crack

Tulip Wreath, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Its online this and online that. All my little customers have these odd needs of small run print that span the needs from bumperstickers to labels, banners to quartercards…and my goal is to make them look and feel as legit as any well funded startup. I am buying laser output, small volume bumperstickers from StickersBanners.com. I am buying stemless wineglasses with a logo laser etched on the bowl for $.95 a piece from Discount Mugs.com.(got samples and they are really nice…so nice i am thinking of having a mess done with my illustration and see what kind of cash I can get for them).  I am buying quartercards and mini postcards (as a business card) from 48hourprint.com (and just got them in less than a week from the release of the files to printed cards in my hand…including shipping). I just got rackcards and posters for the Farmers Market from bargain basement printing.com. And a new “can do” vendor who was helpful (on the phone no less)…and their name says it all: BannersontheCheap.com. My head spins from all the little thises and thats that are in process of arriving…and more to order and wrangle. But it does mean that we are making progress while discovering some cool new companies that can help me help my customers.

Mary Ellen Salmon will be distributing the rack cards (she is running a little rack card distribution business that is affordable..and she is but a block away)! So, my hope is plug all my folks into that program too. Now, all we need is some better weather for our farmers…enough of the freezing. 

I was talking with some of the folks at our Farmers Market potluck last night…to find out that the recent freezes have all but wiped out 95% of the apples and soft fruit (peaches, apricots, cherries) in this area. It is like a death for these farmers who count on the weather to behave for their living—and here we are on the front end of the growing season knowing that certain crops just will not be there in the late summer/fall. My friends Mr. and Mrs. Waid were full of happiness—beekeepers that they are—saying things were fine for them and their hives were happy. I would love to go see what the Waid operation is just out of curiousity and of course, to see the lovely hives of bees. There is some pleasure for all of us at these potlucks and i hope that we can continue this feeling of community through the summer as we all seem to enjoy this…and much can evolve from our relationships.

Yes, I am a little dutch girl. I am working on some pictures that are derivative of Dutch flower paintings…and am trying very hard to keep the flowers dead simple…graphic and blocked that will give the impression of the painting, but still feeling bolder, more modern. With these vector files, I am building a great symbol library of objects which I think of like colorforms or to a jeweler a wealth of findings— objects that can be changed, recolored, reconfigured but reused…in a variety of applications.
These wreaths are just a hint at what they can do. What with the promise of expanded patterning in Adobe Illustrator CS6, I am psyched about the opportunities. I am just cranking out these wreaths in different colors etc. while building the pictures which take longer and are not the candy crack that this instoillo stuff is doing for me. Mindless and so sugary….and when folks see the stuff (even ALEX) they rave. I am worried that my inner happy is peeking out…what happened to the Princess of Doom? I hope she is still inside. However, with this happycrack stuff there  IS something here—and as it is flowing…I am going with it.