cot otangent cotillion

Some people try to turn back their  odometers . Not me; I  want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've  traveled a long way, and  some of the roads weren't paved. 

Will Rogers

Can't resist a little taxidermy






Well, that ought to keep you going for awhile-  Some pretty good ideas here, and you can be assured I will read them myself as soon as I finish!

Needless to say we weathered (nice choice of word) Matthew but sure hope we wait another decade for another hurricane to appear.  We were really fortunate this time:  a whole flurry of preparations-  moving furniture inside, toting and hauling a cart load of herb pots waiting to be planted as it gets cool enough, talking to friends here to make sure they were OK being alone/scared/needing a place to stay, etc.  We lucked out-  we lost three small trees from a line of 6 or 8- they were in the direct path of the winds as they whirled around from the west.  The back, west, side of our house faces a large berm heavily planted wth a few windows-  basically a fortress looking wall from the back.  But the side yard with the pool has a surrounding 8' wall that is landscaped on the outside wth foundation plants and these 8 little trees.  I love these trees-  the leaves ar little paddles, almost like a succulent.  But one end of the wall was at the west end so these trees took the brunt of the winds.  All the plants are now frozen with their leaves pointing east!

Im hoping that the landscapers can upright these before there is irevokable  damage and perhaps save them.  Oh, how I hate to mess with symmetry!  On the other side of the driveway I had an 8' tall line of hibiscus that bloom an amazing coral orange and they are all lying on the ground now missing whole branches of leaves.  

I know, these are just plants and so many people lost their lives in Haiti-  don't worry, I am keeping perspective and not freaking out about the yard.  

The hurricane was expected to hit right in Jupiter but at the last possible second it slightly veered to the right and we didn't get the direct hit, instead I think it hit more viciously up around Melbourne and north.  There was terrible flooding up at the GA border too-  St Augustine was evacuated and there is no projected time of return.  A friend just finished a renovation on a house up there and has some aerial views that show water halfway up her front door, yet they can't get there.

We spent hours putting things back where they belonged, sweeping up fallen branches and working at getting some semblance of normal back.  And I learned a big lesson to never buy furniture that isn't on wheels, and that I can push, shove, pull, and manipulate myself.  And it is quite amazing once you know Home Depot is closed for the day how many things are immediately necessary and only behind their locked doors!

Needless to say, I haven't been to the studio in a few days, unplugged everything when I left and hope that the metal roof holds tight. I will go over today to see if it's still there.  But then, a hurricane might just be the way I close up shop!  We'll see.  Sometime life decisions are made for you and nothing else can be MANipulated to make it go your way.  

So we had our hurricane party last night with the people we were supposed to be going out with instead.  I made some greens and sausage, a giant freeze and shaved cauliflower salad , and an orange semolina cake.  I also had a small lasagne I rescued from the freezer just in case.  The people brought a huge lasagna, and another woman made a giant tub of gnocchi and her friend made a vat of sauce to top it.  We ate well, but unfortunately they all left their food here so that will be our menu for days to come. Today for breakfast I have an amazing pistachio biscotti the size of my forearm...  Life is good.

All that was a lot of words, but finally we gt to the ART PART that you've been waiting for.

Utilizing vibrantly colored paper, artist and illustrator Yulia Brodskaya creates unique three-dimensional portraits that reflect the beauty found in old age. Each work contains a palette of colors that remain at the center of her focus, recently concentrating on precious jewel tones that also serve as the title for each portrait. Previously Brodskaya had referred to these quilled pieces as drawings, but the more expressionistic her style becomes, the more her work reflects a painterly approach.

This form of quilling is really pieces of folded paper-  Make the images larger and look closely-  very cool interpretation of an old technique.

While I've been writing on the blog, we got a phone call that our trees will be replanted on Monday.  Love this place, it's like assisted living on a college campus, but not!  Things are just taken care of, no jerking around.  

Now I guess I better get back to emptying the dishwasher from last night-  nobody handles that for me-  must get that on the next home owners meeting agenda!  BTW, if ever you are hungry and can't get groceries, I suggest you have a pot luck supper for yourself.  First clean your refrigerator and make something out of what you find, everybody brings mountains of stuff and then leaves it with you-  you could do it once a week, supply some wine and fizzy water, and there ya go!  Plus you are forced into throwing away the container of furry olives from the way-back.  

OF course that didn't happen to me...