It’s almost winter and it’s not the flu that’s going around. It’s the art bloggers’ form of homage. I’ve been beaned three times this week and a fourth just today, by someone who’s let me off the hook. Thanks Marian!
Any more details about my life and I’ll be in the witness protection program.
( photo courtesy of Ted Davis, one of the D’s in D&D Studios, St. Croix )
The guidelines ( we’re artists and hate ” rules ” ):
1. Put a link in your post to the person (s) who tagged you.
2. List 7 unusual things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and comment on their blogs to let them know.
So first, with some humble degree of blushing, thank you:
Here’s the not so Magnificent Seven:
1. I’m directionally inept. And find maps useless because I can’t orient myself to where I am in order to know where I want to go. When I moved here, I was told if I got lost, just make a right at the water. Maybe it’s a feature of being left-handed. (With apologies to other southpaws who aced orienteering. )
2. You might not want to play “ Name That Tune “ with me, especially if it relates to the 60’s and 70’s. If social studies facts could have been put to a Motown tune or a Beatles song, I’d have fared way better in History. I almost caused a driver to careen off the highway by knowing who the drummer was on the Beatles’ White Album. It’s not Ringo. And that was before Google.
3. Although I live on an island, I don’t like being ON the water or UNDER the water. Being ON the water means a boat. In one incident off Long Island with friends, we almost capsized in very deep and rough water, as furniture, wall mounted TV and diving tanks inside the vessel went flying in the cabin. We were on the top deck without life preservers, pale, sick and terrified. Underwater doesn’t thrill me either. A little too claustrophobic for me.
4. I tend to worry over things real, things imagined, and as one of my favorite writers Mark Twain says “ I’ve suffered a great many catastrophes in my life, most of which never even happened.” My husband is the exact opposite and worries over nothing. Nothing seems to upset, frighten or shake him. Which prompted me to write a large sign for our wedding which read “ The Worrier Marries the Warrior”. It’s what also prompted me to marry him.
5. After living in NYC for my entire life, in the epicenter of mass everything, I moved to an island, sometimes referred to as a two and a half world country, a notch up from third.
From riding subways every day, and a 30+ year career as a textile artist, I became a farmer, grew vegetables and watermelon and sold them at our local farmers’ market, undoubtedly a first at that market. And loved it.
The first chapter in the book that lurks in this machine under “ documents “, is the heading: “ I Used to Have a Concierge, and Now I Have a Machete.”
6. I was a docent at the Central Park Zoo for 5 years before I left NY. You might have guessed that I’m drawn to animals.
7. It’s been a 38 year hiatus since I last painted on canvas, which was in art school- Parsons School of Design, and only started again less than two years ago. Archeologists are looking for the rust spots in between my joints and that should improve my technique, hopefully, sooner than another 38 years.
I’m not tagging the three names above which I think they’ll be happy about. Some of them ( one, really ) has had to resort to a fib so as not to run out of things to reveal…….
Here’s my pick – some known, some new. Tough among so many to choose from:
I’d better start keeping a journal of ” Interesting and Unusual ” things in the event that I ever get tagged again.
And as promised, the holiday entertainment blockbuster you’ve been waiting for :
” Larry and Beamer “
Thanks Judy!
November 24, 2008 at 8:31 pm |
Oh, thanks for letting me off the hook.
Interesting facts, but you really got me with the video of Larry.
Good stuff.
So…. no fibs here?
November 24, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
No fibs, Frank. That was your zinger and I didn’t want to ” blogerize”.
We’re still waiting to read about your true confession.
November 24, 2008 at 9:52 pm |
Hi Bonnie! This looks like fun and I’m already thinking of what I’ll say about myself. You seem to have already taken 2 items about yourself out of my own head, so don’t think I’m being a copycat, please. I’m adding your blog as a link on my own, too…wanna exchange links? (Doesn’t that sound dirty?!) By the way, I clicked on the tagged people’s names to see their work, and you seem to have an extra “http:” going on, such that the links don’t work.
Cheers……….
Jala
P.S. I didn’t know Larry was such a little guy! How cute.
November 24, 2008 at 9:54 pm |
One smart fellow…the Warren Buffet of his kind.
Hang around a dog but and collect flies.
November 24, 2008 at 11:09 pm |
Jala- thanks for bringing that up- about the http duplication.
Just when I thought this lengthy post was so well engineered.
Got cut and paste fever and didn’t look.
Interested to see which 2 items.
Sure- I’ll add you to my links too. Thanks.
Wreggie- yes it’s true but it would be pronounced Buffet like the French word for a table of all the food you can eat.
November 24, 2008 at 11:59 pm |
That lizard footage is the cutest thing seen in all my born days.
November 25, 2008 at 2:21 am |
so? who was the drummer on the white album?
November 25, 2008 at 7:46 am |
I’m honored and getting in the “oh my…” mode at the same time. I’ll play. Soon. I promise! (great excuse for not painting, btw!).
November 25, 2008 at 9:43 am |
Isn’t it amazing what we consider telling on ourselves when we get hit with a tag? Totally different of course from what we do tell. I’ve still got seven “secrets” to divulge from the last time I was hit. Let’s see now…….:)
Eldon
November 25, 2008 at 10:34 am |
Oh, please. Nude pxs were published recently on the net taken from a cell phone left at a McDonalds. I’m not saying they were mine but if they were I’d say this: Revelation is overrated.
I shall remain shrouded in whatever bit of mystery I have left but I do appreciate your shout out.
Watching that lizard makes me itchy for some reason.
November 25, 2008 at 2:54 pm |
Larry is a star!
Interesting facts too!
November 25, 2008 at 3:32 pm |
LOL! Witness protection? Fun to read about you. I like the photo of you in your studio. I like your studio, too. I like the color.
Paz
November 25, 2008 at 8:11 pm |
Nava- an exuse not to paint is sometimes just the ticket you need.
This is playing with painters- close enough.
Eldon- at some point in life, you’re glad to have something still to reveal!!
Pat- dost thou protest too much that they weren’t yours?
Seriously, I agree that mystery is alluring.
I read somewhere that the reason we were born with two ears and one mouth is that we’re supposed to listen twice as much as we speak.
Too much leakage out there.
Well, now everyone knows I can’t find my way out of a parking lot. Too late for me.
PR- Larry has a fan club but they leave a very small footprint.
Paz- I’m crazy about granny apple green. It’s not like I don’t have enough green around me either.
November 26, 2008 at 4:30 am |
I’m honored NOT TO BE TAGGED with the likes of Frank, Theresa and the others. Comrade Larry certainly has star power to spare. The people awards him with four red stars. Up with cute, tropical, and green lizards. Down with capitalism…oops!…forgot,,, its down already down!!
November 26, 2008 at 4:32 am |
The first sentence of my previous comment dosen’t sound right. You know what I meant!
November 26, 2008 at 11:31 am |
Ha Ha Ha David- yes I knew EXACTLY what you meant. The honor was two fold really.
Being in the company of those two, and then, exempting you from having to come up with 7 more things and while doing that, having to bring up that number 62 again.
Your fellow comrade here understands fully.
Larry- 4 red stars. Perfect.
What do you think about a Larry portrait challenge?
He cracks me up every morning as he waits in his spot for bananas and the dog.
November 26, 2008 at 12:56 pm |
Love the studio pic, and Larry’s a hit. Great fun and great comments. Happy THanksgiving!
November 26, 2008 at 1:53 pm |
Thanks JoAnn- Larry Larry Larry- I’m playing second fiddle to a lizard!
PS- I liked your thoughts on appreciation today on your blog.
November 26, 2008 at 4:49 pm |
Loved reading all that and seeing the video…
Don’t you just love blogging. We are all so complicated, and simple, and different yet the same.
WONDERFUL
November 26, 2008 at 6:57 pm |
Are you having Roast Larry for tomorrow’s dinner? Oh, how could I? So insensitive to new celebrities and their glow. But, I bet Anthony Bourdain has a taste or two of larry linguini. See, you really don’t want to know anymore about me than I already reveal.
November 26, 2008 at 7:12 pm |
A biography in the works, Bonnie? If what follows is as good as the title, it should be incredibly entertaining! How many chapters so far?
That video was hilarious! What a clever little booger, gravitating around the dog to catch his bugs!
November 27, 2008 at 12:28 am |
KEEP MR. BOURDAIN AWAY FROM COMRADE LARRY!!! Yes, if cooked properly, he just might be a tasty morsel. In the high mountains of Chili (or Peru), they eat hamsters, and I saw Mr. Bourdain enjoy a few! I digress… get a good shot of our diminutive comrade, and let us do a paint off. But let’s have enough time to paint as in this economic climate, I will be putting a lot of my energy into bringing home the bacon (not lizard, god forbid, but bacon).
November 27, 2008 at 12:55 am |
Marian- you’ve said it all right there. And a way to do it all, over oceans and time zones. Great fun.
Thank you for letting me know you enjoy this.
Pat, you know, I believe you when you tell me these critters make you itchy.
I remember watching the Birdman of Alcatraz a hundred years ago and recalling Burt Lancaster in solitary. Over time, his only visitor was an errant bird that landed on his tiny window opening.
They connected.
So have Larry and I.
OK, so I’m not in prison exactly, but to see this particular one out of the hundreds maybe thousands that live in and around us every day ( dismiss this image from your mind if it makes you run for the Calamine..), makes me wonder why just him?
Why isn’t he afraid of us?
Nathalie,
I’ve got good titles. For books and for art. Now I guess, I have to produce content! Drats.
David,
Stepping up to protect our green proletariat! Nice!
With me, there’s never deadline pressure. I’ll see about some good close up shots.
November 27, 2008 at 2:05 pm |
“Why isn’t he afraid of us?”
I’m not sure I’d be afraid of that dog, either! Does he move? Ever?
My kind of pet.
November 27, 2008 at 9:49 pm |
I forgot to say before that I love the pic of you in your studio. You look so happy, surrounded by all the art…what a great thing.
P.S. I would take on the Larry portrait challenge except that I only paint from life. And I kinda doubt the little green man (is he from Mars? Well, all men are, right?) would hold still long enough.
November 28, 2008 at 1:42 pm |
This is my first visit to your site, and I understand why you have had so many visitors over the last year or so… my morning is totally altered by laughter, smiles, gafaaws, snickers, and choking on my coffee as I read through many of your posts. No worries though – I have recovered nicely without any CPR or a call to 911. I am very glad your two friends insisted that you blog – good friends do usually push us beyond our comfort zones I find! I also love your work – were you painting before you left NY? I will come back to visit again – hoping to see the sequel to Larry and Beamer. Beamer looks like the perfect dog for the tropics – relaxed beyond words…
November 28, 2008 at 3:16 pm |
Joann- welcome and thanks for your very spirited comment. I may have made you choke on your coffee but you made my morning!
Painting was sporadic- you know, life, work, son. So I’m trying to make up for some of that now.
Your photography so captures the dramatic landscape you live in. Wonderful work there. And your paintings too.
Hope Larry lives long enough for the sequel. He’s the man.
November 29, 2008 at 1:47 am |
That hand over the eyes lets us focus on that lovely smile – however, it does not detract me from looking for a painting.
November 29, 2008 at 2:24 am |
It’s fun to read your list. That will be some great book one day.
The white album turned 40 this week, but I’m guessing you knew that. I can’t get Martha My Dear out of my head today.
November 29, 2008 at 2:05 pm |
Dar- 40! Isn’t it so hard to believe. Like hearing them sing ” When I’m 64″ and thinking that was a century away.
Wistful.
Bill- aka the bloodhound of the blogs.
I have a new painting.
I also have a camera snafu and am waiting for a new card reader in the mail. The evidence is in a 4gb card.
Perhaps if the reader I’m waiting for in the mail gets lost, you’d like to facilitate the viewing process by sending me another one.
In the meantime, you might want to keep yourself entertained by watching ” Larry and Beamer ” again.
November 30, 2008 at 2:04 am |
Bonnalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,
Loved the banksy link you left on Bill’s site. If all grafitti was that clever…
November 30, 2008 at 2:04 am |
Or graffiti. Damn….I hate when I hit submit comment too fast and don’t fix my typos.
Oh well…………..
November 30, 2008 at 2:02 pm |
Loved the Mark Twain quote. I too fall on the worry side. Trying to get over that. Really enjoy your artwork, and your fun personality.
November 30, 2008 at 7:21 pm |
Carolla- what’s two ff’s or two tt’s bettween ffriends anyway!
Bill- thanks for dropping a note here. I’m glad it all comes through as entertaining. I like when people come back.
Visited your site and saw some good, consistent work.
Mark Twain has said so many things that I wish I thought of first.
( about the worry thing? – good luck getting over it. I think it’s like getting over having blue eyes, but don’t let that stop you!)
December 1, 2008 at 4:24 pm |
Larry is nearly as awesome as you are, but not quite.
December 1, 2008 at 6:20 pm |
Hi Bonnie,
I’m a leftie too and I have trouble with directions too (I have no sense of direction). Maybe it is a left handed thing.
Rhonda
December 1, 2008 at 7:58 pm |
I really like this photo (of you) you should use it as a banner.
Very much enjoyed the grafitti photos – thanks.
December 2, 2008 at 12:06 am |
S. Le- that’s a sweet statement. I am a little relieved as Larry is getting much more fan mail than I am.
Bill- while it’s a nice photo, I think the view is hard to compete with. It even inspired Carol to do a painting of it. I can’t say as she ever did one of half my face- kinda proves the point.
December 2, 2008 at 2:22 am |
You don’t have any old photos that you might want to post with some thoughts whilst waiting for your card reader?? I know you must have something that just needs a little dusting off. I’m anxious to see the new painting but I can be entertained while waiting. I suspect your growing audience would be as well.
December 2, 2008 at 11:13 am |
Pat- you are reading this girls’ mind. I was mulling over the same idea.
So here’s what’s going to really happen. I predict the card reader will be here today, BUT, I have to bring my computer in to have some software maintenance done to it. For some reason, I can’t download updates from our connection here so it has to be done at the shop where I bought it.
I’m getting ready to deliver it this morning and won’t get it back until tomorrow. I hope.
I’ll probably be forgotten by the time I get back up and will be as newsworthy as Larry the Lizard.
December 3, 2008 at 2:34 pm |
I finished that tagging homework now I’m back looking for a painting, Bonnie.
December 4, 2008 at 12:50 pm |
Such interesting details about your life.
Came to you via Paz.
We are in NY where I worry about all sorts of stuff and my husband paints…!
So interested that you are painting on an island. We had 2 amazing years in Morocco before we returned here.
The lizard what so charming.
December 4, 2008 at 1:50 pm |
Elizabeth- thanks for visiting. I’ve read about your book on Pazs’ site too.
Your life on Morocco looked so gloriously rich.
Ahhh, but then there’s always NY! The other island.