It's getting dark

...to almost take the bus

This is my quarter collection. I keep it in a small black lacquered wooden box my mom brought back from a trip to Russia. I found some of these in pianos, some of them come out of the change machine at the laundromats (then it's a toss up between the quarter and dry clothes), and who knows where the other ones come from; maybe I dream them into my pocket.

Canadian:

June 1999 - Countess of Dufferin Baldwin 4-4-0 steam locomotive
May 199 - Voyageurs in a canoe
2005 Saskatchewan centennial - Bird, but not the provincial bird on a fencepost

American:

Minnesota 2005 - "Land of 10,000 Lakes".The state of Minnesota contains over 15,000 lakes. The quarter depicts one of the lakes lined with Norway Pine Trees. Two people are fishing on the lake and a loon on the water is in the foreground.

Texas 2004 - Texas star, state outline, rope detail "symbolic of the cattle and cowboy history of Texas, as well as the frontier spirit that tamed the land"

Alabama 2003 - The reverse design features Helen Keller reading Braille. The inscriptions include "Helen Keller" and a banner reading "Spirit of Courage."

West Virginia 2005 - The reverse design of the West Virginia Quarter features the New River and the New River Gorge Bridge.

Alaska 2008 - The Alaska Quarter reverse design features a grizzly bear with salmon.

Georgia 1999 - The reverse design features the Georgia peach, an outline of the state, the state tree, and the state motto. The Peach is often used as a representation of Georgia. The springs bordering the outline of the state are from the Live Oak, Georgia's state tree.

District of Columbia 2009 - The reverse design features a depiction of famous jazz musician Duke Ellington, who was born and raised in Washington DC.



So that's it, 2.50$ I will NEVER spend.

Holding hands

I have found some things on the ground in my lifetime. Noteworthy was the time myself and about 5 other humans found ten 20$ bills scattered around a parking lot. That's where it all began. Mostly I pick up coins, handwritten notes, lost toys, dishes, books, etc...Finding a thing on the ground is like finding a shipwreck on the bottom of the sea. Amazing, that I, should be here, seeing this thing, when I could have been anywhere else. What mystery! What tales I could be told about this thing if only someone, anyone could tell me about it! Who will speak for this thing!!!! HELP! HELP! I found it!

These hands were found on the ground. First one, then th'other. Amazing, that the two of us, should find each a hand to hold, at the same time. And that these things, have come to us, to make a visual pun, on such a beautiful day. How gracious are the things.

You festin'?

Preservation hall jazz band - no flash please

the skies of NOLA

Ya'll been to the rock'n'bowl?

At mid-city lanes, is where we cut a rug to live zydeco, and bowled some 10 pin. You can get a mean portion of jambalaya at the back where the false building facades conceal a food stand and some sitting room. There's nothing finer than the mixing sound of all the bowling pins crashing in a perfect strike to the backdrop of accordion, washboard, creole lyrics. All underneath a beautiful disco ball moon and christmas lights that spider out and give the sense of being outdoors in the town centre of a small town annual spring fair.

I'm going to New Orleans, I should be asleep

St-Mary Magdalene's: ideas for my mom's window

This time 8 or 9 years ago and the top of the Spanish steps

St-Jacob's roadside spring and this time of year

professionalism

fair & park

kill time, show no mercy

Spring again

Second winter

I got the spring time blues

The summer I came back from Rome

The eternal city had rocked my teenage world. And then I moved back to Canada. I lived downtown where all the government offices are, therefore after 5 pm it was a ghost town. I spent a lot of time at Tech wall; the park across the street from Central Tech High School. The park boasted a patch of grass and a square slab of pavement which butted up against a 20 foot high retaining wall. The wall was an infamous graffiti spot and also, we played basketball there.

I used to shoot hoops with my boyfriend at dusk in the middle of the summer and watch the city buses go by. Sometimes other people would be there to talk to, homeless folk or artists setting up to paint. A well-known graffiti artist was often there and I became good enough friends with him that we hung out beyond the wall. His work was widely considered untouchable and it was faux-pas to cover up one of his pieces.

Sometimes in the middle of the day I would bring my guitar there and watch pick up games of soccer run by local Brazilians or something.

You are the best

Wash your car

Winter is a natural disaster in the city

I suppose when spring comes I'll miss all the warm nights huddled around tables; there won't be nobody to plunk on a piano or guitar to lure people away from their conversations as they focus on a separate harmony, or a doubling up on the melody. I'll miss nice girls hosting with eats and unceasing warm wine. I'll long for reading F.Scott Fitzgerald to each other and staring out the window side by side, wistfully, at what could be, and what is going on: construction, an ambulance, nothing at all...

Gone will be my winter nights of cutting through the park, homeward, crosswise, and upon reaching the middle, being brave enough to throw my hood back and soak in the stark landscape as it romances me with fresh snow.

My peripheral vision is a luxury in the cold dead of the season. A small window surrounded by coyote fur is usually all I can afford. Sometimes the wind is so icy and burns my skin so that I hate it, I hate it, but I stand straight, I don't care and I think, God, I love it.

Who's with me?

Mornings in my house

Mornings have a special kind of stillness that evenings do not.

I like looking at the dog-walkers in the park out of my living room sliding doors while I drink coffee and absorb some magnified winter sun. In the morning, I check the plant known as Yvonne the wandering Jew; I didn't give her either of those names and one of them is practically scientific. She is tough and can make it no matter what.

I've penned some good songs in the morning too and in the summer I can play on my balcony again while I wait for my ride and best friend to take me to work. Work is materials like mahogany, brass, felt, steel, maple, leather, shellac, hide glue, etc...

I like sitting on this rug. It was swallowed by a flood two Christmases ago and was rescued by my father. He paid to have it cleaned and kept it until a year later I asked if I could have it and I got it. I like this rug the way children grow older and hold onto things like blankets and plush animals. It reminds me of my good life, it protects me.

It's still winter, still.

small things

Winter retreating

This very weekend I spent in a house called Ruth with about 2 dozen different people.
We studied a passage from Malachi, but the thing I will remember most is when just 3 of us read a John Steinbeck short story to one another called "the flight". The thing I will also remember is drinking copious amounts of tea by firelight, and at one point, there was an outdoor fire and we stood around shin-deep in heavy snow warming our hands.

On the last day, I took a short walk in the woods alone.

best piano & roses photo contest

TERMINATE WINTER IMMEDIATELY.

Wear the heart on the sleeve on the wall