Lovin' Spoonful (of Sugar Makes The Medicine Go Down)

Remember that song, "My Darling, be home soon..." by John Sebastian and the Lovin' Spoonful? A sweet song I did like a lot as a teenager and which I heard today just before I prepare to go to the airport. So I will be home soon to all those who have wished me a safe and joyous trip there as well as back again.

I leave you with this illo from a popular comic book in the 40s, 50s, with My Name as well as my attitude there.

So while there may be no one home on the blog for a week or so, don't worry... this darling will be home soon.

See ya! (Photos of the Holiday Market and new illos from yours truly up next week!)

Candace

Check List

Hello everyone. Here's a checklist of what I will be jetting across the Pond with for Jeanne. Say, you didn't think this trip was about me, did you? Expect more daily doubles as the Official TransAtlantic Countdown continues until MONDAY.





Gee, I hope customs is looking the other way on this second one. I stopped this habit 12 years ago. And I didn't smoke these namby pamby babies.

Noooo. I smoked UNFILTERED Pall Malls and Chesterfields. Also, clove cigs. Good God, and I have lived to tell the tale! I was a real femme fatale, with cropped hair and mini skirts or skinny jeans, jetting smoke through my nostrils until all my cilia was burned out. A carton of cigs here $25. There, considerably more. Much more.


On a more wholesome and domestic note, Jeanne wants the Quaker Treatment as well.

Born and raised more or less in New Orleans, Jeanne is the quintessential Southern gal when it comes to certain items... like grits. Besides keeping a clean house and impeccable character, she can cuss a blue streak, yet make you feel like you just heard something really wonderful that you just must have.

We were (almost) fast friends and still are. I can't tell you how excited I am to be seeing her and Jen (another coworker/friend who has been living in England with her [Brit] Hubbs for two or so years now) . This is going to be fun.

My papers are in order -- or will be until customs gets involved. I had my money changed over this AM. I bought Jeanne a belated b'day gift and am taking that as well as another fun gift wrapped for the winter holidays.

A nice cup of joe with Joe and Pita, Leela and T. Scurrying about, thrilled to be away from the computer to take care of business. Kitten and Don are over in a few. The party has begun.

Until Tomorrow, get more of what you love.

Candace

WHAT THE ...??? Must Change Attitude

Art by Mary Engelbreit.

Hello Everyone.

I hate reading about publications ceasing ANY time. Victoria at least came back with its original cover and ambience.

But Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion will have its last issue Dec/Jan 09. Times are stretched thin everywhere and publications usually feel the pinch really hard, all things considered.

Maybe it's just me but it changed somewhat. Folks are still loyal, heck I still am. But I loved the ART, I loved the old covers and not the "new and improved" ones. It became less homey and more "crafty". not that there's anything wrong with that...

Bitch, bitch, bitch...

Rumour has it ME is looking for a new publishing company. Still... it's worrisome to know something relied upon and looked for is Gone (With the Wind), no matter what you're into.

Later,

Candace

Things To Come

This year, Nanowrimo is not unlike being stuck in a blender with an alligator.


Hello Everyone!

This is what I am going to this Saturday. You may recall I had dithered about whether or not to try and get in when they had their Artist Call back in September. Well, I did decide against it what with my vacation coming up -- less than a week away now. The fee was $50 but $50 was $50 this time around, and I can spend that on something handmade in Merrie Olde, if you know what I mean.

This is certain to be fun. I was pretty impressed with the one back on Mother's Day and with the young woman/head honcho in charge of it.



And here is the invite of another holiday event coming up at Spruill Gallery in Atlanta which I have visited more than just once or twice. Don't you love these little fellas? They look like felt, and I just might have to try some of these this year.





Here is the latest shot of the (still) in progress Persephone. Yes, that’s her name and that's the title of this piece now rather than "Pink Lady". The background will no doubt be something dour and dark in nature and execution. She’s encased in darkness, representative of the Underworld Kingdom (death, winter, the unknown) but it has not transformed her. She is still the harbinger of another changing of the seasons.

In other words, “if winter comes, can spring be far behind?”


So come on, Jack Frost, the sooner you show, the sooner you’ll go!


Altho I have to admit, I love autumn and – more often than not -- winter. Shhhh.... Does that make me a bad person?

Get more of what you love!
Candace

Sunday Morning Going Down

Found this fantastical new creative from Madrid, Spain, thanks to my blog pal, Michelle Allen, who is having fabu adventures art- and cuisine-wise in China which you can read about here.

Hello everyone!

This is one of the few days I will have "off" till I take off -- literally -- so it was thoroughly enjoyed today with a belated celebration with T, brother Steve and s-i-l Olivia (the redhead), all seen here waiting for brunch. They are totally great folks anyway but especially to come visit from a bit of a distance for T's b'day, take in a film and go to eat at one of T's and my favourite restaurants -- The Last Resort.

The murals inside this fabulously delicious and affordable eatery are incredible. (Sorry for the solar flare!) Wouldn't you love, love, love to have this artist hanging out with you when it's time to decorate? And there's always art of some sort on their dining area walls. Local artists, too.

The food at The Last Resort is superb and boasts generous portions. I have never been disappointed at that place. My plate was loaded with my order which was duck hash and new potatoes topped with an avocado creme fraiche, all tucked under two perfect poached eggs for $8.95.... what the -- ??? Mmmm... no dessert (I was stuffed), although I did have a Bloody Mary to get me going. Sigh... this helped settle my OWN hash for Daniel Craig in the new Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace".

Take care and have a great, great week.

Candace

Happy Birthday to My Peeps

Hello Everyone!
While it is a gloomy Jo March type November day in Athens, here in the Hollow, things are really hopping with work work work, Nanowrimo (oh dear oh dear!), getting ready for the trip, and Birthday Felicitations!



Happy Birthday to T!

We took in a movie last night after slugging back two lattes at FourBucks (smirk). We moseyed on over to the dollar show and agreed that while "Wall-E" (not a regular kids' movie, honest) was fun enough, "Presto", the animated feature before the real flick, was da bomb!

Lots of fun and the end credits reminded me of so many of you out there in Blogovia who love play and work with type and design, lettering, printing, publishing, proofreading and pretty. Worth checking out, trust me.

A few "divine art bowls" made from incredibly thin materials. The link is here, but here's a little something to pique your interest first. Maybe I am a teensy bit boring but I love love love that transparent white radish bowl. Thanks to Kitten for the info!


Before I forget, today is also Claud's birthday. Yes, I have to put up with TWO Scorpios. You may remember her from an earlier post, but believe you me, she's not taking this or any other birthday lying down. She hit 48 and liked it so much she's still there.

And before I sign off, get well wishes go out to Mister. He belongs with and to femminismo of One Day At A Time, who -- like my own self -- is going through the horror and reality of Nanowrimo's week 2. Some pretty artistic knee work right here, though.

Get More of What You Love,

Candace

(Not So) Idle Hands

Just in case you're on the Official TransAtlantic Countdown with me... Two weeks to go. A scant 14 days. I already know that on Thanksgiving Day Proper, Miss Jeanne and I will be having tapas and seeing a play, "The 39 Steps", the evening show.

Hello everyone!

This lovely young woman is Graham (sorry for the darkness of the photo). She was at Starbucks (and still is) when I moved to Athens, lo, these three years ago Christmas Day (best present ever, moving to Athens!). She was hard at work Sunday on these little darlings and even kind enough to give me a copy of her "how to do it" worksheet. Graham told me her grandmother taught her how to make these and she was creating quite the treasure trove. Her energy and excitement were palpable and I could also tell that this grandmother was/is quite the important person to her.

I may have to not only do them but try some felt and/or velvet. Aren't those just the most scrumptious materials? I think these types of fabrics just "go" with the Winter Holidays and as you can see here, Graham's choice of fabrics work nicely as well. She is moving to Oklahoma to be with Hubbs for four months as he's doing some super important work there. How the gang will miss her... and I don't mean her fellow and sister baristas, either. She was kind enough to place her hand in with the ornaments -- seen below -- for scale. These are, by no means, small potatoes!

Come Back Soon, Graham!

T's birthday is Friday and will find this fun and off the cuff present on the table at breakfast. Who remembers this show? "Thriller" with host Boris Karloff? It was pretty much a fright fest anthology and very popular.

I was a little little kid and would watch through my crosshatched fingers. My mother worried that it was making me "nervous"... so I had to hide my fear following the shows. Or I "wouldn't be allowed to watch it again!"

I would unfurl -- gracefully, of course! -- like a fern following the show's ending. My knees would come down, the fingers unhinge, and I would walk -- la de da de da! not scared, not scared, not at all! -- into and then through the dark, large living room to the hall where any number of monsters could possibly be waiting on either side of the one door that led to the bedrooms and bath. And my bed was across the room. Had to get to it and in it without "The Hand" coming out from under the bed or out of the closet to take me away to who knows where!

As you see, I was pretty successful in thwarting the monsters of the imagination.

Do I still do that? Most assuredly. If I'm busy at something, that "nervous" feeling is not so powerful, doesn't keep me back as it might otherwise, right?

And so far, no monster hands have shown up to grab anyone -- unless I am drawing them.

Take Care, Everyone.

Candace

The Better Nature of Our Angels

Happy Friday! Just a quick 50 cent tour for you today.

Another work in progress. Yes. It's on pink paper. I am not one for pink, as I've mentioned before, but one uses what one has when one has it at hand. Literally. It's on a lovely smooth paper about 6 by 8. It will probably end up in a journal or in a beaded hoity toity frame after I add more colours and bells and whistles.

I am wildly behind on my word count for Nanowrimo! But I have been busy in other ways and know I can catch up this weekend. Work is a given, of course, sucking up my creative time for such a vast undertaking, particularly this time of year.


It's raining here tonight and they predict a tremendous (for Georgia) dip in the temps here after it moves through. The Girls are restless, the Boys are asleep. Saw eight! deer in the front yard when I came in from "On The Border". That margarita was worth the rainy drive (all six minutes of it) and the deer are ever-grateful for that bucket of corn T puts out for them now that the weather has changed. (Really, it's to save the hostas!)


More autumnal splendor. The camera simply cannot and does not capture the better nature of our angels which sometimes speak to us through golden leaves and flaming red foliage. How fortunate I am to have lived to see such beauty during these times. More of this gorgeousness later on.

I get giddy with the camera when I am outside on soft gray days like today, surrounded by splashes of the most amazing of nature's beauty.


Attention: Handmade Shoppers!

There is a Goody Giveaway from the talented Michelle Allen -- go visit her site here and lay a few words on this artistic entrepreneur. You may just win the Giveaway.

And it's always cheering to have a comment from folks, as I am sure you know!


Have a great great weekend.



And get more of what you love, whatever season you find yourself in.
Candace

Yes We Can

Yes, We Will.

Yes, We Must.

Hello everyone,

While I try not to get too over the top, I admit I am pretty thrilled over this election coming to such a close. I also think of Us as the United States -- not blue states or red states, as O says. I believe we are Americans -- not Blacks, not Whites, not Latinos, not Asians. So as we embark on this maiden voyage, good luck to us all. There will be mistakes, there will be more solemn days and days of despair too. But for now, and even for then, we have hope and the better angels of our nature as the saying goes.

Short tonight. Art Shenanigans will be back on FRIDAY with some surprises. But until then,

Get More Of What You Hope For.

Candace

March in November

"Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never vote for President. One hopes it is the same half." - Gore Vidal

Wow, isn't this quote a zinger? Or do you feel like it has more sting than zing?


Hello Everyone!

When I was a kid, I read all of Louisa May Alcott's books a dozen times or more. I remember one particular chapter of "Little Women" began with one of the March girls grousing about November being such a dismal month and quick-witted Jo saying, "That's why I was born in it."

Not so dismal here, what with the crisp air and eyepopping colour of once dull (i.e., green) foliage. Some of that dogwood's leaves are pink.

I wonder if Jo March's November birthday was the 3rd of November? That's Miss Jeanne's birthday and she is now keeping her own weekly tally of the Official TransAtlantic Countdown as it heads towards ground zero in London. She has even promised to load an Oyster card (transportation) for me so I can get around London during the days she's at work and I'm on the loose. That is a real pal.

And like she reminded Me yesterday: "Only three more weeks! Squeaks!"

Maybe Jo's birthday was 14 November, which is T's birthday. As well as Bess's.

Or the 7th, which is my dad's. Or the 29th which was Louisa May's own birthday.

But what about the 4th of November? Anything fun doing on that day? No? Well, check it out!

Thanks to Velvet Ginger for this last!

Take care and until Friday,

Get more of what you love.

Candace

November's Nanowrimo

Wow. I can not believe how fast everything goes down the slide once we hit Labor Day... I was just bitching about the stores having Halloween out and about the last day of August and now it's over and done for '08.


Hello everyone!
As feminissimo reminds us here, it is indeed time for Nanowrimo. I started this particular jump off the bridge four years ago. Last summer ('07), I bought "No Plot? No Problem!" from Chris Baty, the founder of this writing gig, for giggles more than anything else. Some of his anecdotes and pep talks tickle my funny bone immensely.

I have 2,500 words so far at the end of this, the first day. Don't get excited, there's a reason which you should totally recall. I'll post a weekly word count, as time permits. And, oh yes, I know you are all wondering... "But Candy, aren't you going to be GONE that last week in November? That big final push it out week when champions make or break on the rocks of their own choosing? How are you going to -- ?"

Well, like a slug of single malt scotch, I like my writing challenges neat. That's why I intend to write DOUBLE the word count the first 24 days of the month in order to get 'er done.

So, don't cry for me, Argentina.

Just bring me a straitjacket, size S/M, please and in basic Great White.

Get More of What You Love.

Candace

Photo credit: UK/London Business District (I bet he's worried about his daily count, too!)