Far From Branson

It's been many years since I've had a proper vacation. My lifestyle is such that I never really felt the urgency to plan a scheduled getaway. I'm very fortunate in that I really enjoy what I do. I work outdoors for a good portion of the year on landscape projects and home improvement, or I should say landscape improvement. And when the weather gets unruly or the seasons change I move indoors to work on smaller projects. The rock sculpts I've shown in earlier posts are a good example.

And now with a working shop / studio coming together, as part of our home improvement grand plan, I'll soon be able to expand my efforts even further. But I do sometimes find that my mind will wander recalling fond memories of vacations past. One example would be from today's pic. This was actually a working vacation but it was a great experience nonetheless.

I took this pic while exploring the twenty-five acre Japanese Gardens located in Springfield Missouri not far from Branson Missouri for all of you Country music lovers. I had attended a workshop in Springfield a few years back and each day following our session I would visit another place of interest. The Japanese Garden was on my last day and I think I was the only person there aside from the gate attendant. By the way the people of Springfield were probably some of the nicest I have ever met in my life.

Earth Bones

Boulders and rock have always had a deep connection to our lives. First used as material for tools, weapons and even shelter. And when plots of land began to be worked...boulders, now considered a nuisance, had to be dug up but still found use as building material for walls, wells and foundations. But beyond all the practicalities what is it about rock that is so mesmerising?

We are drawn to its coolness on a hot summer day. Animals look for its warmth on a cold day. And plants growing near by will thrive.

I have always been fascinated with rock. Looking at its scars and gouges I can only imagine the secrets it holds. The events it has been witness to as hundreds of millions of years have washed over its surface. The places it's been as it has settled into the earth and been spit out over and over again. The mountains it has ridden and the lakes it has plumbed. The life it has played host to and the fossils it now hides. They are truly earth bones. Is my Pagan showing?

Expletives Would Fly

As I sort through the top shelf of my fridge I discover tucked into a back corner one of my fave hot weather bevies. Four dark cans of liquid gold. Mined in Dublin Ireland by Guinness & Co. and squirreled away months ago in anticipation of a visit from my friend Rob. Now Rob and I met a handful of years back while I was buying and selling trees, boulders and such for various landscape projects. He is easily the most knowledgeable person I know in the area of horticulture.

The friendship was an easy one and soon Rob began to drop by whenever he was passing through. I would be working somewhere in the backyard and could hear him as he struggled blindly with our impossible gate latch all the while cursing unabashedly. The expletives would fly from his mouth like clay pigeons on a target range. The early days would leave me cringing but I've come to realize it's all part of the package.

Our visits are truly a laugh. But the ritual really begins after we both have sat with our perfectly chilled glasses brimming with the foamy brew. Now if I had to count I probably drink only about a half dozen beer all summer and I could easily drink more and at anytime but it's in combination with the visit that makes this particular beer so memorable.

It's like watching a scheduled movie on television even though you have the same film on DVD. That's how it is when Rob shows up. I never think twice about dropping my work to indulge in his company.

This pic shows the view going into our garden gate. The trumpet vine actually originates from next door but provides a great show for Jewel and I every year. It's not unusual to see a local Hummingbird flitting about but I've yet to capture it on camera.

This 'Intel' Could Be Tainted

It's hard to believe but rumour has it as we speak...or as I write and you read some of the naysayers are cobbling a makeshift covert coalition of sorts to circumvent, hijack and downright bamboozle DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com from moving to number one. Back room shenanigans, meeting in dark corners, hushed voices...wait a sec, that sounds like a teenagers first party...okay, this 'Intel' could be tainted but...

...this just in, let's hope these satellite photos are wrong but since the ante has been upped, the rate of melt from the Polar Ice Cap has increased exponentially. More melt can only spell trouble...rising water levels and...well I'm not sure but Al Gore always seems pretty stoked about it.

We need to address this scenario head on - and there is only one blog up to the task. Cast your vote now, call your friends, call your enemies and make up with them...then ask them to vote for DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com as the Best Family blog. It's as easy as a few clicks away and before you can say .."hey! my basement is flooded"...DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com will be required reading for anyone sentenced to house arrest. You have the power.

My pic today is a 'coalition' (there's that word again) of mushrooms that reside in the old mushroom archive. These are one-offs, experiments etc. that now live happily in our garden.

Make sure you check out my Poll at the top of the page. The results are sure to be monitored by those campaigning for positions of power. If in four years Sarah Palin promises everyone a Woolly Monkey...well let's just say you read it here first. And keep in mind that if I hit 100 votes I'm going out for pizza...I'm just saying.

Dented Headbone

I've never been known for having a thin skin. Especially when it comes to constructive criticism of my work. I can't remember ever being overly sensitive but I really think it was in my artsy college years that the die was cast. After several semesters of class critique sessions - 'formal trashing of ones work by the instructor' - I had unwittingly developed the hide of a Rhino. Not always a good thing when dealing with the real world. I don't mind an honest opinion in fact I welcome it and in return I get to be just as honest. And that's where the trouble starts. Jewel once told me I can be a little 'too' honest. So I find myself modifying some old habits...two steps forward one step back so to speak.

And the flip side to this thick skin is that I rarely develop attachments to any of my work. I have sold pieces within days of finishing them without a second thought. But regret is finally beginning to bubble up from deep inside my dented head bone. Case in point would be the carved rocks pictured here. Both sold within days of being finished. And both I regret not keeping.

So what's the answer? I would first have to isolate the question and that would be do I want to be a working artisan that sells regularly or do I want to be surrounded by my art? It's a bigger dilemma than you might think. To be surrounded by your own work provides a very fertile environment to create yet more work but the whole point of the exercise is to develop streams of income...a.k.a. selling my work. But I believe I have found the elusive middle ground.

It's in it's earliest stages mind you but I will showcase it here in the New Year so I hope you will follow along and send me your thoughts, comments, rants and recipes - I like chili.

And if you haven't gone to DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com to cast your vote please do it now. It will only take about fourteen seconds out of your life (I timed it) and you could be saving the planet...swear to god dude...see yesterdays post if you don't believe me.

Whales Will Thank You

Today I'm sending out the word to all of you that have visited my post today, whether by accident or by design, to cast a vote. The honor up for grabs is for the Best Family Blog category within the Canadian Blog Awards. DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com has moved up quickly to one of the top five positions but now needs your help to push it to number one.

It's an absolutely great read. And doing so for just five minutes everyday, once before breakfast and once again just before you visit noddyland, is surely to at the very least make you smarter, funnier, wealthier, taller and a better dancer. But don't take my word for it just look at what some past readers had to say...

"I've been reading DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com for about thirty nine days now and my acne has completely disappeared...my family can't believe it...My doctor is astonished...it's a miracle! Thank you Don Mills Diva".

R. K . . . Brazil

"Since I've starting reading DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com our ship has definitely come in. Not only did we hit the jackpot big at Bingo last night but my husbands eye twitch has all but ceased. It's been like a tonic for our lives."

P. M. . . Dublin

"What can I say?...DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com has completely rehabilitated me. It's what keeps me going until my next parole board hearing".

Inmate #25776. . .Location Withheld

So there you have it. Zip on over to DonMillsDiva.blogspot.com and cast your vote while there's still time to save the Ozone layer. A couple of clicks and we'll be on our way to a greener planet before you know it. The whales will thank you... Adios.

My Disjointed State

I am definitely your typical night hawk. It's not that I don't get tired - I do...but my brain can go a few more laps than my body these days. I'm up late almost every night and if I don't force myself to bed at a designated time I could find myself up still when the sun rises.

But not all is wasted. For the most part I do work during the night. In fact it's my favorite time to work. The house is asleep and everything is perfectly silent aside from the hum of my computer hard drive and the occasional nose whistle from the Goose as he dozes at my feet.

There's also something about my disjointed state...you know - exhausted body versus wired brain that makes for very rich ground imagination-wise. Thoughts and ideas are lucid and ever flowing. One mans exhaustion is another mans high...or something like that.

Today's pic is another rock carving of mine. This one has also been fitted with copper tubing so it can double as a water feature. It's designed to be hung on a wall, propped in a rock grouping or built into the bank of a pond. Very versatile.

Forget The Tree

Every year it feels like the weeks between September and December whiz by with increasing speed. I no longer need to look at my calendar I only need to check the showcase at the local big box store during my better than weekly visits. They will let me know when it's time...time to buy food for the lawn, decorations for Halloween, Christmas lights for the tree...oh and don't forget the tree. And even if I wanted to feed my lawn when more convenient or even practical there is no guarantee I will be able to find 'product' since the store in its infinite wisdom, of what's best for me, will have removed the lawn food to make way for the next big 'push'. In this case the over-sized inflatable characters and displays you would normally have to tune in to the Macy's Day Parade to see. After all nothing says warm holiday spirit like an eight foot inflatable Snow Globe, complete with blowing snow, tethered to the front lawn.

Today I wanted to post a pic of one of my favorite artists work . I never get tired of looking at pieces by Henry Moore.

Big Ole' Whatever

This is one of my rock carvings that I have turned into a wall mounted water spitter. When carving any rock you can either impose your own will and chisel away, usually done more so when the grain or the veining is what you seek to exploit as in the case of marble or soapstone, or you can follow the cues the rock is giving you. In other words to exaggerate what the rock already looks like. We've all done it. We look at a rock and think it looks like an animal or a face or a big ole' whatever.

And if you have never done it try it today with the very next rock, cloud or pile of mashed potatoes you look at. Ask yourself what does it look like? It's a great exercise for your imagination. Unfortunately it's a skill most adults lose especially in this day and age of motherboards and megapixels.

Ask any child to look at a rock and to tell you what they see. My guess is that within seconds they will rhyme off an assortment of critters real and imaginary. Something to be nurtured..."he who has imagination has wings".

In this case the rock was perfectly shaped for hanging on a wall with a great downward gaze which is what I chose to work with. After carving it was drilled and fitted with copper tubing to accept a water hook-up through the back. I can picture this mounted on an Ivy covered wall spitting into a hewn rock bowl.

Deja VooDoo

Okay this post is all about that little piece of weirdness that invades all our lives from time to time. You know when something happens that sticks in your mellon until you fall asleep and you find yourself thinking about it again when you wake up. It could be anything but the point is it is weird to you...not necessarily anyone else. Which doesn't really matter anyway since it sounds nuts when you try to explain it. I like to call it Deja VooDoo.

I've had many episodes over my lifetime and they range from odd to seriously freaky. This one is half way up the scale...somewhere around weird 'with a bullet'.

Anyways here goes, last Summer Jewel and I took a day trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton Ontario. I like to take photos of rock formations, boulder groupings and such so we made a special trip to the Rock Garden section of the park. I had my chance to take many photos and this pic above is one of the shots I took.

Now cut to a few weeks later and while searching rock photos on-line (yes I need a life) I came across this photo of a vintage post card. The shot was taken from the exact same spot that I took my shot. The plant material has changed over the years and the large sentry boulder has begun to lean with time but it is definitely the same spot. The date on the card is not visible but the blurb I had read dated it at around 1964...forty four years later and I was standing in the same shoes as this post card photographer - for just a few seconds. Not to mention the fact that I even came across this post card at all. Definitely a clear cut case of 'time travelling' Deja VooDoo.