PALO ALTO, CA—A new report published this week by researchers at Stanford University suggests that Americans spend the vast majority of each day staring at, interacting with, and deriving satisfaction from glowing rectangles.Continuted here.....
Travel - Solar and Wind Power - Cob and Strawbale Construction - Electric Cars - New Physics - Metaphysics - Oddities and Silly Videos - Photographs of my Life. That's about it.
PALO ALTO, CA—A new report published this week by researchers at Stanford University suggests that Americans spend the vast majority of each day staring at, interacting with, and deriving satisfaction from glowing rectangles. I'm very thankful to be living in Sonoma County, California. Surely one of the most beautiful places to live on Earth. Here it is late November and we have roses blooming alongside the gorgeous fall leaves.
I'm also grateful for my family! We had such a nice friendly Thanksgiving dinner, with so much love and care put into the meal and so little drama to endure. We're all quietly doing our thing in the world and it's working out pretty well.
On Tuesday, Eden and Aja walked over to make pumpkin raviolis with Jerry. After a brief struggle over who got to wear the pretty pink apron, they got down to business, making the vegetarian centerpiece of our Thanksgiving dinner. Young inductees into the slow food movement.
My Uncle Mike came to visit from Florida. He was staying up in Windsor and we had a number of great days together. This was our first day. We had breakfast at Howard Station in Occidental, then drove over Coleman Valley Road up at the top of the world, down to the ocean.
I'd planned on Schoolhouse Beach, but there were enormous waves crashing in, making it totally unsafe.
So we joined a small crowd at Salmon Creek Beach. There were no surfers at all--the waves were pure chaotic foam.
On the way home we stopped to see Florence Avenue in Sebastopol and all of Patrick Amiot's great sculptures.
One of my favorite Flickr contacts is lichtmaedel. If you'd like a wonderful dose of serene eye candy, click here for a long slideshow of her photography.
Last weekend, which just happened to be Halloween and Dio de los Muertos, Krista had her first open studio of the year.
I wasn't much involved with setting up for the show, and to be honest here, I was a bit grumpy about the whole thing. Krista seemed to be working non-stop for weeks getting ready. She'd come home alternately tearing her hair out with frustration, or all smiles. Crazy making. But when I finally went over and saw the place I was moved.
Her open studios have always been really cool. It's not just paintings on the wall, she has the place packed with little altars and displays of curios.
Well, this time it all reached some sort of critical mass threshold. There was so much intensely interesting grooviness packed into that little space it felt like it was glowing somehow. A beacon of beauty and wonderment.
And I'm happy to report that it was far and away her most successful open studio to date.
For one thing, there were people visiting the entire time and the studio was actually crowded for much of Sunday. Our wonderful Tumbleweed play group showed up en masse and that was a rush! But even after they left, we had a full house all day.
Even though we'd done the lamest job ever at advertising, we were just about "at capacity" most of the time.
Krista sold at least six or seven paintings, which is a new record. In fact she sold some of just about everything on offer, including her groovy "energy elixirs", a Bali sarong, stickers, cards, prints and even a magnet or two (my contribution). It was a wild success.
But best of all, the fantastic energy and 'never a dull moment' feel of the event was tremendously affirming.
I know that I'm terribly biased, but I honestly feel that Krista is one of the great living painters--and her career is still very young! To see her get such a walloping dose of well deserved appreciation made my heart glad.
Jerry singlehandedly turned Krista's open studio into an "event", by manning the cob oven the entire time and turning out an endless stream of fabulous wood fired pizzas--I'm guessing close to 30 of them.
This added such an amazing dimension of sensual pleasure and a spirit of true generosity, that I believe it helped fuel the quantum leap in Krista's success.
Our Halloween this year started the Friday night at the fabulous High Street Party. I wore this mask and really creeped people out! Except for Donna. I think she said I reminded her of an old boyfriend.
Krista was a 30's starlet. And we met up here with the Mad Hatter.
More photos on Flickr.
On Sunday Eden and I joined a throng of zombies down at Courthouse Square to draw attention to the need for health care reform.
I reckon there were about a hundred of us, along with a marching band and a lot of photographers.
We marched down Fourth Street, down past the library and up Third. I have no doubt that we made all the difference, just like the final snowflake that starts an avalanche. Harry Reid announced today that the Senate bill will include the "public option".
Ironically, it's the corporations that are the true undead.
As Krista Brown wrote in her fantastic blog Undercurrents:
After seeing the film The Corporation awhile back and reading Ted Nace’s Gangs of America, this idea of the act of incorporating being akin to creating a Frankenstein is not far off. A corporation enjoys the rights we as individuals do and yet it has superpowers, can shape shift (into new and diverse businesses), has an insatiable appetite (for profit), is immortal and cannot be held accountable. When you start to look a bit deeper at the nature of the corporation, it is frankly terrifying.