Alice Under Waterland

Try to stay cool & calm if you're under the same weather as here - that is, very hot & beyond-belief-humid. Trying to catch up with much & the internetz are not cooperating. Check out the underwater photography of Elena Kalis. I'd love to be standing there right this minute.

Update - Tuesday. I'm having trouble w/internet at housesitting gig. It comes & goes w/out rhyme, reason. I am a jinx:( But I am able to hang out on Twitter. Join me, won't you? Lots of blogger peeps are there.

Tuesday - 16 August 2011 - I have hopes for internet access at home tomorrow (Wed.)

Wednesday - 17 August 2011 - My hopes are dashed. Leaving coffee shop dejected. Growl.

Sunday - 21 August 2011 - As the kids say, OMG. I've been here all day trying to post & cannot form cogent thought out of swirling mini-thoughts. Plus: Julie the Cat has been very sick. Verizon is on strike & I cannot get the internet re-installed. I am hoping that news this a.m. re: strikers returning on Monday while talks continue bodes well. I shall return tomorrow.

(photograph by Elena Kalis via Tangerine Tangent as seen on automatism)

Reflections in the Water

Sally of Lettuce-eating posted these abstracts last January (2009) & there was much justified enthusiasm. She bowed to the will of the people: Voilà, they are cards. Yours are at Made4Aid's new Etsy shop. No shipping fee, no kidding. Even if you can't buy right now, it would do no small amount of good to "favorite" the shop (or some items you like). I loved Made4Aid auctions last year, but this will be easier for those who did not. (Wusses!)

I'm meandering about & muttering to the cat. About to go say hello to Hazel, who is back from Paris. Thinking about the Mad Men season finale (& whole series) & wondering why people use the term 'soap opera' about it. I had to bite my tongue overhearing people on the Metro. Apparently they grew up in a utopia starring Glinda the Good Witch as Queen. Many of these naifs have discovered Basket of Kisses (my preferred MM blog) recently. Man, I hope I didn't send them over there.

I'll take the "no comments" off of yesterday's post in case anyone wants to spill their guts about exciting exits. Extra points if you think it's funny now. You will receive much empathy if you do not think it funny--ever. (photograph by liquid sunny sky via deviantArt; collage made from Made4Aid images)

Week's End - Down By the River

The war is over & there are bathing fashion shots in 1947 France. Nina Leen for LIFE. Yes, I know what the song is about, so I'm not putting in the lyric. I still like it though--wouldn't do for me to ignore the dark side of things. Though, rather mean remarks in e-mail & non-published comments indicate, nay, insist I should. Back with cheerfulness (or something like it) later. But no pink unicorns. (If you like them, fine, I've nothing against unicorns, pink or blue...). Cheers.

Bayou in Black & White

[Photograph by Rodney Smith, via SEBASTIAN]

Tales of the Islander

Got to feel it all/No time for sleep/No time at all...

The paintings of Walter Anderson, especially The Cottage Murals, inspired this beautiful song by Caroline Herring. Caroline gave a stunning performance on A Prairie Home Companion last Saturday night. As she sang, all I could think of was the ongoing BP-Gulf disaster (you'll see why). The David Byrne-directed video is terrific & interspersed with more Anderson images & information about him, a true eccentric & treasure. A huge part of me is relieved that he's not here to see this, it would surely kill him. Update two minutes later--the Gulf disaster; I doubt the video would kill him.

I hope you will visit your favorite music site & download Caroline's music. Here's her website; the songs change two at a time so you can sample them. If you need further recommendation, Julie is a huge fan & cat-gallops to the source upon hearing the opening of Tales of the Islander. (She really does.)

PS: There's some sort of trouble with the YouTube video--I dis-enabled cookies & now it doesn't seem to want to play. Pls click through to the link to Caroline's website. It's really worth it.

[Horn Island by Walter Anderson via Smithsonian American Art Museum; roseate spoonbills in flight by Kerri Oddeni via From the Bay to the Bayou; Caroline Herring by Jeffrey Fasano (on CH website)]

The Nereid of the Seashore

That would be AKTAIE in ancient Greek. This is where I'd like to be this morning. Alas, I will be out in 90+ degree heat attending to other, non-marine, matters. [image from liquid sunny day/deviantART via we heart it]

Friday Update: I'll be back with some pix before midnight. Have received emails asking about Julie. The asthma is pretty bad; the meds are worse; the cost for everything is..well, I'm gonna have to write a disgusting (true) memoir about my family or something. You know, sell out to make money for the bills. I'm serious. J. now hates me & is fighting the medications. She was uncharacteristically freaked out by the trip there & back. Usually, she's like a dog, eager to take a ride, especially with her pal Maria Caterina who took us there (no taxi necessary, it turns out thank goodness). Thanks to MCat for putting up with huge drama yesterday.

Water Cure

Why the mini-surge of people following (Julie) on Twitter? What has someone tweeted in my name, oh man. Can she have her own account & I can bow out? I rarely go there, peeps. I'm a great re-tweeter, though. [Medicine bath by Nina Leen, LIFE archives]

Taking the Waters

Rereading, ruminating, & taking the waters. Apartment style, alas, not in a Czech spa town. Though I have done.
[reading in the bath by Nina Leen/LIFE archives; film still/Unbearable Lightness of Being/still photographer Phil Bray]