"They think they can make fuel from manure-Now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a stop to siphoning"

-Billie Holiday

I like to haul stuff...

six tea olives

redneck playpen

...and other sh_t

After years of hauling stuff in my Volvo sedan, my husband jokes I married him for his truck.  Not true, but it was a bonus.  

I may borrow it...but it's still HIS domain.  In between trips to the garden center, you can drop off a soil sample...

or read about bluebird houses

Ugh, just don't use the visor!  That warning sticker should read....WARNING, visor contains turkey beard.  

Some beautifully ragged trucks below by artist David Boyd, Jr.

Previously posted his work here

Hey John,  if you're reading this...I need a bigger truck

Diagnosis

"My Mother had a great deal of trouble with me,

but I think she enjoyed it"

-Mark Twain

Finally...a diagnosis

source unknown

I'm enjoying it...I just don't look like it

Sleeping Arrangements

"Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear, your head like the golden-rod, and we will go sailing away from here to the beautiful land of Nod"

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The land of Nod...I'd have better luck finding Atlantis.  When Mischief and Mayhem are sick, we are desperate to soothe and comfort...which usually results with one or both of them in our bed.

and they bring friends...Pup Pup and BaBa

We are all too familiar with the following sleeping positions.

Mischief's favored sleeping position for the first year of her life.  Thank goodness she has an accommodating Daddy.

Illustrations from 

howtobeadad.com

The night has ears

"The day has eyes, the night has ears"

-Scottish Proverb

Our night has earaches.  A week after recovering from the stomach bug, we are hosting new cooties. The space between my ears is exhausted. 

Prosthetic ear I created during graduate school training.  Wish I could pop it on Mischief and cure her pain. 

Some beautiful (and healthy) ears...

David Kassan

Stanislav Prokopenko

painting demo-Nelson Shanks

Jacob Collins

painting demo-Nelson Shanks

D. Jeffrey Mims

In My Mind

Going to Carolina...

The Colbert Report
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And thankfully leaving Carolina...no more robocalls

Friday Flowers?

"What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Linoleum cut prints by British artist Hugo Guinness

via here

The yard is cold and quiet as we anxiously await the peak of the camellia blooms.  Usually camouflaged and unnoticed during the growing season, overshadowed by flashy flowers and green grass...textures and surprises are suddenly appearing.  Always there, just undiscovered

woodland fern volunteer in our brick wall

textural bark of a cherry tree

daffodils breaking the surface of the dormant grass

blanket of green moss

determined blooms of rosemary

dirty fingers and dandelions

Have a great weekend, appreciate the small stuff

In the Studio

"It's all a big game of construction, some with a brush, some with a shovel, some choose a pen"
-Jackson Pollock

Mischief with a pen...and gloves (her socks) so that "when I cough and cover my mouth, it will be soft."

Looks important..must be encrypted

A beautiful day

"It's a beautiful tale, and today is a beautiful day without any bugs"

-Hugo Pratt

The stomach bug has left our house.  I think I've suffered some mild brain damage but thankful for this beautiful day.

Some beautiful bugs that I pulled from the Evolution Store website

The Evolution Store has its own entomology department where they make their "own frames, spread and mount their own insects."

Beautiful bugs you don't have to be an entomologist to love

Saturniidae by Duane Keiser
via here

chart and specimens
via here

wall chart
via here

The Bug

"There's a fungus among us"

We've got the bug...the stomach bug.  It's been a very dark weekend.

"What ho! what ho! this fellow is dancing mad!
He hath been bitten by the Tarantula"

Quote from the epigraph of The Gold-Bug (circa 1843), a short story by Edgar Allan Poe set on Sullivan's Island, a barrier island outside Charleston, South Carolina.  The narrator follows William LeGrand who he believes has been bitten by a gold-colored bug causing him to become insane.

Illustration for an early edition

via here

I don't know what bit us...must have been the gold-bug for it certainly resulted in insanity

Morning Dew

"Its liquor is like the sweetest dew from Heaven"

-Lu Yu

my desk

My morning dew.  No fancy coffee here...just a cold can of crack juice each morning.  When I came across the work of artist David Boyd, Jr. I knew I had found a kindred soul.  A son of the South, his work is nostalgic yet fresh.  His sign series doesn't parody southern culture but rather expresses an appreciation for it.

"As those early dreams of becoming a hired assassin or race car driver began to diminish, Boyd settled into the life of an artist."  

From his website:

www.davidboydjr.com

Also check out his blog:

http://compelledtopaint.blogspot.com/

And what goes great with a Mountain Dew...a moon pie of course.  More from his sign series below

Have a dew...it'll tickle your innards!

Vintage Mountain Dew ad