Francesca Woodman

These are my favourite photographs by Ms. Woodman. They are gorgeous and should be eerie but I don't know, I think they are sort of soothingly beautiful.

Punk Rock Peepod

Ah, Verona...

Santuario Madonna della Corona in Verona, Italy courtesy of Stefan Mahlknecht.

Ten Fun Filled Hours!

Yesterday afternoon I picked up Jax. We planned to run a bunch of errands, have lunch, and then visit my favourite Christmas house at night. Before we left I got to see Miss Sydney in the silliest p-jams I've ever seen. Ain't she the cutest snow-gal in the whole wintery world? Damn right she is.

By 1pm we were off! Jackson was pea-coat clad and ready to roll, looking extra special in the scarf I made. He wants me to knit a little one for Steve Burns and I think I might just do that.

I brought with me my super rad holiday mixes - the felt cases by Amber Brown were "so coool!!" and the Joyful Tree mix scored number one for both of us. My favourite moment of the entire day came when Streisand's Jingle Bells was playing. I love that song and always have. It's a classic number that she spins on its ear and revs up, giving it a whole new sound and pace. Jackson asked me, "Is she rapping?" Never has anyone on Earth ever listened to Barbra Streisand sing and confused her singing for rapping. Then he gave his complete review, "that is not how you sing that song." Damn. Harsh, right?

First stop was the library near Cwood. The woman behind the counter said Jackson "looks like a little gentleman!" and his dapperness got us each a little sticker! While Jax had never seen The Wire (that makes two of us), he did say that Muppets Most Wanted was really good.  

No visit to Cwood is complete without swinging by my fave bakery!

Chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing for Jax, plus a blondie for later and then a magic bar and a brownie for ME!

We had lunch at Heart Beet Kitchen and were both enamoured by the sweet little mason jar snow scenes. "It's a bird bath!!" Jackson exclaimed. Complete with a birdhouse, lil' bird perched on the edge of the bath and a bunny rabbit on the ground below. I ordered us some lentil tacos that were not a hit with Jax, but since he tried them, I let him have his cupcake as a reward, which he gobbled up.

Then we headed to my place for play time with Auntie Star's basket full of vintage toys, Shrek and bunny ears, little cars and a tuning fork, which for some inexplicable reason is always a huge hit with the kids.

While Jax ate his Not Dog (Lightlife Smart Dogs are the best phony hot dogs EVER, just so you know) we put on one of the sweetest (if not thee sweetest) Christmas shows to exist - Ziggy's Gift!!! We watched it twice. Fuzz (Ziggy's lil' white dog with the big blue nose) and the orange kitten are so cute together that it makes me all teary-eyed.

I needed to pick up a couple pairs of gloves at Old Navy and we discovered a little table with cards, envelopes and stickers so kids could create a gingerbread person. I think I showed a great deal of restraint in not overdoing it with the stickers. Jackson, however, went bananas.

Selfie Saturday is the best day of the week!

At the office in Center City (where I have not worked since September 7th because of all the overtime I've managed to pick up. I do so love to work from the comfort of my humble home!) we moved all my stuff from my current desk over to Leslie's since she and I will now be sharing. I had an anger-ball melt down trying to get in the god damn building after hours and Jax was awesome. He was supportive, "Why don't they let us in? This is stupid." and hustled to keep up with me while I dragged him to every conceivable entrance cursing under my breath. Not once did he sense my irritation and rage and get upset. Thankfully I keep candy at my desk and rewarded him with lollis. Then Selfie Saturday continued in the ladies loo!

Finally, finally at 9:30pm we made it to the house on Silverside in Delaware near the old office building. Needless to say Jackson absolutely was blown away by all the decorations, the lights, the music playing, the Pooh Bears, and the little puppies in the doggie bed inside the shed set up to be a living room - "it's holding a stocking in its mouth!!!!!!!"

Home at last by 10:30ish where a sleepy Jackson cuddled next to his father on the sofa, while I got in one last selfie with my practically grown up nephew Zach. All in all, one damn fine Saturday!

Autumn Harvest at GoL

It was so nice to visit Garland of Letters with Wayne last Sunday. That place smells like paradise and is one of the few remaining shops on South Street that maintains its fabulousness.

Messages from Livi Livi Liv Bug

I'm not a religious or spiritual person and I'm not necessarily a believer in signs, but I do love them. A day or so ago I was on etsy and came across a necklace of a butterfly that said Olivia. My cousin Livi died a couple years ago and her immediate family thinks of her when they see a butterfly. It's just a thing they do and it makes them feel like Olivia is watching over them. I thought it was kinda cool to see a butterfly necklace with her name and so I texted it to Marina, Olivia's sister. Now I seriously doubt that Livi is out there in the universe planting her name in odd places for us to find, but it made me feel good to be reminded of her cuteness. Her Facebook posts were the stuff of legend. My brother told me that during Hurricane Sandy she posted something and called her - the hurricane - a bitch. Then Livi liked her own post and commented "I hate you, Sandy." But our favourite favourite post was several Christmases ago when she proudly stated "finished raping my Christmas presents!" Spelling and Livi were rarely seen together and therein lies the hilarity of many of her posts. I miss her.

Follow up - a few days later I got this text from Marina:

November Movies

- Imagine - I totally admire and respect John Lennon, but this documentary presented nothing really new or interesting. I get that it is one of the earlier docs on Lennon (I think it was from 1988) but regardless, twenty minutes from it's end I hit stop. Such a disappointment, except for seeing Cynthia Lennon's totally 80s Maddie Hayes get-up. Those shoulder pads were divine. She looked like a linebacker. And it was nice to see Yoko without her signature dark glasses. Aside from that it was capital d-u-l-l, dull.

- Raiders! - This was a pretty decent documentary about a group of boys that did their own shot by shot remake of Raider of the Lost Ark all during their adolescence. My favourite moment was the very end with the credits where they show each film side by side. It was pretty extraordinary, what these kids did. Wonder if they'll ever release their full version on DVD...

- Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You - Growing up in a suburban Yankee household in the late 70s and early 80s, Norman Lear's shows were usually on in the evenings, especially All in the Family. Frankly, they never interested me at age six, but now, as an adult I have a great love for them. I knew very little of Norman Lear prior to this film, so it was a nice glimpse into the mind and the man behind so many influential and groundbreaking television shows.

- Soldier's Girl - I first saw this film a handful of years back during my Lee Pace obsession years. (He is an utter dreamboat, isn't he?) It's the story of a love affair between Calpernia Addams, a transgender artist/entertainer and Army recruit Barry Winchell. This time around I watched only the scenes with Lee and Troy Garity and I fast-forwarded through all of the hateful scenes. Troy and Lee had such a truthfulness to their performances and that's what made me re-watch it. It's better with just their scenes and skipping the ending allowed me to perceive their relationship as one with a happy ending.

- Iris

- Wild Oats - Great cast with lovely familiar faces - Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Lange, Billy Connolly, Howard Hesseman, and Demi Moore (who, as an aside, looks picture perfect in black nerdy glasses). The movie was good at first, with an interesting plot, but didn't wow me in the least. 

- The Hateful Eight - I wanted to like this film and thought I would until about a half hour in. It was filmed with such a sense of grandeur, made me think of David Lean and John Ford films. In the end, or rather about an hour from the end, I realised that I was not the demographic for this film. Nigger was dropped left and right, which I understand that this is a movie, that it's art and someone's vision, but there's already enough real-life fear and hatred in my every day existence. When I'm not working, when I'm home and need an escape, I'm not looking for something that makes me uncomfortable, sad, and enraged. But I will tell you, when Tim Roth called Samuel L. Jackson his "nubian friend" I actually burst out laughing. Aside from Kurt Russell's fab facial hair, the music and majestic backdrop, Tim Roth's occasional hilarity, The Hateful Eight was too angry and gross for my taste. I can appreciate reviving the western, but I'd take The Searchers over Eight any day of the god damn week.  

- The Woodmans - Another documentary, this time about a family of artists, centering on their daughter, Francesca Woodman. It focused mainly on her brilliant photographs and her depression. I finished the film feeling that I didn't get the whole story about who Francesca really was, but I am glad that I discovered a new artist to research.

- Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory - A family favourite to say the least! A few years back Mum transferred our old VHS copy (with an intro by John Forsythe! Seated in a leather easy chair beside a fire, of course.) to DVD. It's perfect - and the horrible 80s commercials are a SCREAM, but Geraldine Page is absolutely phenomenal, turning in one of the most flawless performances of all time.