KUNIYOSHI

 


i purchased a dozen japanese woodblock prints in London, 25 years ago.......mostly Toyikuni III.......later, i met a Duchess at a dinner party.......she had a collection of Kuniyoshi prints which were astonishingly other-worldly.......i purchased a dozen of them, but have never framed any of them......perhaps it is time.......

MUST BE ABOUT INTIMATE THANKSGIVING GET-TOGETHERS

 

this week begins the birthdays of my "Virgo" friends....
Bill..pictured....Steven, Reis, Linda, Grandpa, Tony,
Ron, Katrina, Charles.....well...more than in any other
month of the year.......there aren't as many "Aries"....
must be because no one wants to snuggle when it's 90 degrees....
happy birthday to you all!

before coneheads there were

 

CONETITTIES......WHICH AROSE IN THE LATE FORTIES AND CULMINATED WITH JAYNE MANSFIELD, SOPHIA LOREN,
MAMIE VAN DOREN, ANITA EKBERG AND GINA LOLABRIGIDA......AS MAMMARIES WERE ELEVATED TO FETISHISTIC PROPORTIONS.....COLLIER'S MAGAZINE WAS FILLED WITH POINTY BREASTED LADIES IN MAIDENFORM BRASSIERES, ENGAGED IN MASTURBATORY FANTASIES IN WHICH THEIR CONSPICUOUS BOSOMS GAVE THEM GREAT POWER OVER MEN, IN ADDITION TO PERPETUATING THOSE VERY MEN'S FIXATION ON THEM AS THE OBJECTIFIED SUBJECTS OF THE SAME MEN'S SEX FANTASIES........

SURVIVING PULP IDIOCY and SHORTHAND NOVELS

 

by age 11, i had read all the BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY books.
these poorly written books with short chapters, ending...
like the other popular episodic adventures of the time,
THE SHADOW, GENE AUTRY, ROCKET MAN, SHEENA OF THE JUNGLE,
AND FLASH GORDON, with an exciting impulse to continue to
the next chapter. Having read the Christian propaganda in
UNCLE ARTHUR'S BEDTIME STORIES,
a gift from my only religious relative, Aunt Frances, and
having survived without religion, I made it through the
sexist and racist children's literature of the day, such
as BOMBA, oddly unaffected......which confirms, today,
my theory that some just don't have the gene for religion
or unthinking fundamentalist prejudice, instilled and perpetuated by dogma....
I read Rick Blaine's Scientific Adventures....all of them...too!
And, each month, a new novel was sent by mail.....CAPTAIN'S
COURAGEOUS, LITTLE MEN, AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND....I eagerly awaited
these monthly reads...in addition to the racier books that my
step-father kept in his bedside cabinet......LADY CHATTERLY'S
LOVER, BLACK LIKE ME, SEPARATE TABLES and PEYTON PLACE.....Mother
read such tripe as LADY CONSTANCE AND THE WHITE KNIGHT or THE
MOORS OF LOVE AND REMEMBRANCE......girl stuff! CLASSICS
ILLUSTRATED.....all of them.......gradually filled a large box..
with quickly read pulp versions of MOBY DICK and THE INVISIBLE MAN....
The only magazine that i read, cover to cover, was FAMOUS MONSTER'S
OF FILMLAND, filled with gory pictures of triffids and creatures
from outer space.........

Salty Food......Yuk!

i still have half a one pound container of sea salt that i bought a couple of years ago.....most vegetables have enough salt for me....and i have an intense dislike of
prepared foods, even from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, because they are so intensely
over-salted.......yet, i have friends who actually add even more salt to these foods...
just yesterday i bought some falafels with tahini sauce, from Whole Foods......they were inedible! One can add salt, but one cannot remove it from foods.....the prepared foods from Publix, Kroger and Ingles is so salty that even a tiny bite of them lingers on my tongue for a long time.......

POOL TIGER

worried about neighborhood kids
swimming, unsupervised, at your
pool? here's the latest device....
a diving white bengal tiger............
works every time.......

hens and chicks

my first succulent.

.

it keeps reproducing and growing....it is winter-hardy in Georgia,
appearing to die, yet emerging again, the next summer....bigger
and more beautiful........its many offspring having found homes
with friends........I have plants that belonged to my Grandmother
that remind me that our short lifespans are miniscule compared
to many ancient plants, some of which have lived for centuries,
even thousands of years.......
I have always been wary of individuals who have no plants around them
or who do not nourish and protect plants.....or animals or people.............
during grad school, i got a job making terrariums and bonsai........it was
always so heartbreaking to be called in for "plant maintenance" only to
find plants dying of abuse or neglect..........so were the spirits
of those who called...... It has become increasingly difficult for me to leave
my home for even a few days.....there are so many plants in my home and
around it that require my care and concern.........I would have enjoyed a
career as a botanist or even an attendant at an indoor botanical garden....
even the last emperor of China spent his last years, in relative seclusion,caring for plants, in peace...........

Book 2 CD1 Well-Tempered Clavier by Daniel Ben Pienaar

the doorknocker

This enormous bronze doorknocker, a Harpie
with a candle holder in her mouth, has
never found a home.....it is so large
that it needs the Adam's Family Mansion.
It holds an enormous candle to illuminate
the castle's door.....

never enough of bunnie!

looking sweet and kitten-like........which she is, of course........
the photo does not reveal the monstrous mosquito bites on the backs
of her ears, however......she spends much time, looking out the glass
doors, not understanding the prohibition of outdoor activities during
the torrid heat and mosquito season........2 more months, Bunnie.....

BUSBY!!!

WHEN I NEED A "GOOD TIME" FIX,
THERE'S ALWAYS THE GRAND, SILLY
PRODUCTIONS OF BUSBY BERKELE...

GINSING CREATURE

 

this bronze incense burner, from my collection,
is so animated......a four-legged, walking, ginsing-
root creature......i drink the bitter tea made from
the plant's root.....mixed with sourwood honey....a
great mood elevator and mild stimulant!

YUM , YUM!

 

Decorative and long-lasting marzipan seafood desserts.......after years, they have hardened into
permanent objects of art........

arty kid.....

 

note the fingernails in this early portrait of your's truly....
Mother wanted me to sit for a formal portrait......i just
couldn't see Buel Case, the photographer, without making a
personal statement.....thus, the nails...(even after the photographer's assistant spent some time attempting to "rectify" the painted nails.....proudly exhibited
for all to admire, if only by suggestion.......in my high school pics, one can always
find me......shoes of a different color, platinum flat top (of sorts),
some little indicator that i was to be seen as an eccentric.....early on.....

Phil/Lil

The first dragqueen that i met, 40 years ago......
we were both antique dealers......in our 60's, Phil/Lil
and I are still acquaintances, even casual friends...
he still looks better in drag........than as a
regular guy under a toupee'. We still shop the
same Thrifts for unusual attire and artful gifts.....

genetic interlink

my father, mother.....and their only child.....me!

BIRD AND HER GRANDCHILDREN

 

a family friend, Lilli and Anneke......... Bird is happy, here, with her daughter's children.....
the pic was taken in front of a waterfall in North Georgia, near my cabin.......

Der Blaue, EX........

 

what do you see? yes, that's it!
and that, too! what!

golden umbrella

 

Imagination is not an empirical or superadded power of consciousness, it is the whole of consciousness as it realizes its freedom. -Sartre


"I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of the world to be illusions of magicians. I discern the highest conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing on one's eyes. I see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons."
-Buddha

"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass."
-Dogen

"Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious."
-Carl Gustav Jung

"All beings are from the very beginning Buddhas. It is like water and ice: Apart from water, no ice, outside living beings, no Buddhas. Not knowing it is near they seek it afar, what a pity!"
-Osho


Journey to Other Worlds by Satori

WOODROW'S OLD STEUBEN CHANDELIER

 
 



this hung in a friend's studio for years, until we did a trade....
i don't even remember what the trade was, but i've enjoyed this
old chandelier so much......the beautiful, warm, golden light...
the thick glass seems to hold light within it's body.

THE DELIGHT

 

this highly detailed watercolor always cheers me up...

the little silver cars

these miniature sterling cars are so complicated, for their size.....
i believe that these were made for Gump's, many years ago............
you can see the scale........look at the dust that has collected....
it seems so large, in comparison......the parts all move, and they
were a source of much entertainment......they reside on top of a
rosewood cabinet with many other articles of clutter...........

PHURBA

 

symbolically used to hold disembmodied thoughtforms in place in order that their mindstream may be re-directed and their inherent obscurations transmuted. More esoterically, the phurba may serve to bind and pin down negative energies or obscurations from the mindstream of an entity, person or thoughtform. I have several phurbas of differing styles.....when i have a discomforting or aggressive
thought, i "pin" the offending "energy" to the earth of a potted plant.......It is a curiosity to my visitors when they see these odd daggers in the planters...

Karen James' Wedding

Helen Glenn, my stepsister, her son, Randy, with my stepfather, Tom, in failing health, at Helen Glenn's daughter, Karen's wedding.....
Helen Glenn was embarrassed that her husband, Donald, had his cousin, the notoriously conservative Governor, Fob James, in attendance.....