I Have a Dream...

April 4, 1968 was my 4th birthday.

Spaghetti

Seeing this picture always makes me happy.

Opening Friday

*as always, click on image to enlarge

Innocence

Pigs

What DO men want?

(And why is it never me?)

Hospitality

I can now add yet another name to the list of area hospitals I have accompanied various members of my family to over the past several months. L'hospital du jour? Swedish Covenant, on Chicago's north side. My father was transported there by ambulance this morning from my brother's nearby home, where he and my mother had been house- and dog-sitting this weekend.

I visited them yesterday. When my father woke up this morning, he couldn't remember that me and Jasper had been there. He couldn't remember quite a number of things. So...we think he may have had a stroke--early tests have shown that he's had a number of ministrokes 'in the past'. How far 'past' that is, we haven't been told as of yet. Is that days? Weeks? Years??

Lorelei, if you've got the energy and/or inclination to explain those ministroke/lightning strike thingamajiggies, go for it. I haen't the energy (nor the edumakayshun) to do so tonight. (BTW, Mimi now keeps referring to you as 'Laura'--her other OTHER white daughter--even though I tell her it's just too confusing that way and to just keep calling you Lorelei.)

The old man seems to be doing fine, as of now.
I'm going to eat mashed potatoes now and then fall into a deep sleep, where hopefully I will dream of a coven of naked Swedish nurses prancing round my Papa and feeding him yummy little meatballs to make him feel better.

It's a fantasy I know he'd love to be having himself, but in case he isn't able to sleep tonight, what with all the ambulances speeding past his open windows, I'll do the dreaming for him.

Welcome to the Jungle

OK, so every once in a while I pull out things I own and spend hours trying to 'research' them, ostensibly for Ebay purposes. What happens, though, is that if I am successful in finding out a history to whatever it is I have, and if that history is even marginally interesting, I usually decide that I don't want to part with said object.

Anyhoo, so I've owned this photo for a little over a year.
Paid 2 bucks for it (including the cool reverse-painted glass art deco frame it came in). It is a glossy photo, autographed in dark blue ink.

This much I know: Mei-Mei was the second ever LIVE giant panda brought to the United States. Smuggled out by a wealthy fashion designer/socialite-cum-panda-smuggling-adventuress named Ruth Harkness.
(And if that is Mrs. Harkness in the car next to Mei-Mei, let's assume she wasn't as enamored of leopards. Living ones, anyway.)

So...the first panda, named Su-Lin, was sold to the Brookfield Zoo, where he choked to death on a stick (and now resides at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History).
Mei-Mei also came to the Brookfield Zoo in 1938 (and died there in 1942).
Interestingly both pandas were thought to be female, which was not the case.
(Hey, I made that mistake with a cat once.)

OK, so I know who Mei-Mei was. This also dates the pic to 1938-ish.

But who the fuck is Ted?? Besides looking way too much like Bobby DeNiro, I'm fairly stumped. The only 'Ted' who comes up with any frequency in searches about pandas is Teddy Roosevelt Jr., who actually liked to shoot them. (Although I did read that after he met a living one who wasn't at the end of his rifle he decided he liked 'em and thereafter swore off pandacide.)

So is this Teddy Jr. risking panda poop on his cashmere coat? Comparing pictures, I'm thinking not--but am not 100% on that. Ted Jr. was a pretty weird looking guy. The man in this photo is kinda sexy, in that 'Is that a panda on your lap or you just happy to see me?' kind of way.

I was hoping it WAS the Junior Roosevelt, for obvious historical (and monetarily-rewarding reasons). But alas, after this morning's comparison of handwriting samples, I am even less convinced of it.

Panda poo!!

So I am asking you, my antique-, history-, and research-saavy friends and blogviewers, for your help, advice, research tips, etc. in this matter.

Help me figure out who Ted is.
Or even Audrey.
Help me solve the mystery of the Giant Panda Stick-up.

Slut and a Harlot...Two Bits!!!

OK, Dave...that'll be two bits.

Madness

Caution: After just one of these you may subsequently
feel compelled to consume the rest of the haul.

p.s. Most of the family favorites (anything choco-peanutbuttery)
were already consumed by picture-taking time.

p.p.s. As I was posting this, my child just did an updated candy count:
251 pieces. And this after 24 hours of post-Trick-or-Treating familial candy bingeing.

Jasper's Eyes

My boy really captured the holiday in these ethereal shots.
He's got a great sense of composition already--these are all full frame photographs.

Not a Tumor

Doolittle

Good girls don't...
but I do.

"I could have ------ all night, I could have ------ all night,
And still have begged for more. I could have spread my ----
And done a thousand things I've never done before.
I'll never know what made it so exciting, Why all at once my heart took flight.
I only know when he began to ---- with me I could have ------, ------, ------ all night!"

Hungry Like the Wolf

From Duran Duran hipster to prehistoric Nomad in 5 easy steps.
So simple, even a caveman's Mom can do it.

p.s. This isn't even the Halloween costume, kids.
That's TONIGHT'S project.

Morning Wood

Nuthin' better.

Dem Bones

OK...so I've just spent the past 4 1/2 hours cleaning the bones of a spent chicken carcass so my child can take 'em to school tomorrow--to make a caveman necklace for Friday's perennial 5th-graders-only extravaganza known as "Nomad Day". Dem bones are currently soaking in bleach water. Once I drain them I'm done.

Way above the call of duty on this one, but that's a Mommy's prerogative. I just hope he appreciates how small chicken vertebrate are and how much pickin' and a scrapin' it actually takes to clean the flesh off of 'em.

I tell ya, it was quite a Dahmeresque experience--'specially every time I had to pick out a piece of spinal cord. (Brrrrrrrrrr...)

Synchronous happenings of the day:
Got the results of my bone density scan today--I'm dense. Yay.
Also, picked up a DVD at the library about H.H.Holmes, America's first serial killer, who actually sent HIS corpses out to be de-fleshed and articulated. What can I say? Some killers just don't like doing all the dirty work themselves...

Damn. I wonder how long will my hands will smell like chicken.

Grubby Little Trinkets

Another thing I do to make money (besides getting nekkid for art students) is sell things. At flea markets and on Ebay. The thing I like to collect and sell the most is vintage jewelry. I'd much prefer to just collect and not have to sell, but that ain't the way it works, unfortunately.

Take this bracelet, for instance. I bought it about a month ago--with the express intention of flipping it for a good profit. It is a gorgeous jelly opal and sterling Navajo tourist bracelet from the 1930's. I'd love to hang onto it, but considering how often I'd actually wear it that wouldn't make sense. Why? Cuz I'll probably get about 10 times the price I paid for it when I sell it on Ebay. That's why. And until life circumstances change, I need the money more than I need the bracelet, no matter how beautiful it is.

I'm gonna list it tonight, after a similar piece I have up ends.

But right now I'm running out to the Salvation Army to continue my search for parts of Jasper's Halloween costume. And my own. More on those later.

Lineup

Pop It

Lost in Translation

Have fun. Laugh your ass off.

Then consider learning Japanese.
Or Jive.

PT

Just about to head off to my first day of physical therapy. In addition to my chronic low back disc-bulging dilemma, I will also be getting therapy for this.

If I can type later, I'll let you know how it went.

Pickled Punks and Stupid Shit

I can't wait to see the corn dog juggler.
Wonder if he takes bites out of them as they're being tossed around?

Actually, I will be freezing my fanny off at a Cub Scout camp-out that night. But if anyone's in the area Friday, pop on over to the opening. Crystal's gonna be doing Tarot Card readings, which oughtta be...um...enlightening, to say the least. Just don't plan your future around what she tells you. Trust me on this one.

p.s. Just click on the image to make it bigger if you really want to read it. And check out the groovy wood panelling effect. I was 'helping' (i.e. sitting around eating chips) Barbara create the flyer while she played on Photoshop. Late night, last minute flyer. Eh...
But cool painted wood panelling. Me likee.

Atomic Barbie

If you're looking for Mid-Century Modern, talk to my dear BabelFission.
She's got boatloads of it and is looking to unload.

atomic_barbie

Coming soon to an Ebay near you.
(And already playing at a flea market near some of you. )
P.S. Check out the newsprint-grimy hands--we were both COVERED in ink by the afternoon's end. The down side of selling lots of pottery and glassware, I guess.

She Bangs

In the grand scheme of things this is such a minor dilemma, but here goes...I'm contemplating bangs again. Bettie Page Artbabe bangs. The last time I had bangs was here, in 1998. This hippie girl, Kathy, who I worked with at Whole Foods, did 'em for me at a hippie party in her back yard, surrounded by--you guessed it--other hippies. I have a picture of the event somewhere. I'll have to look for it. I was wearing a hippie dress she had sewn for me with Hello Kitty on it. ANYWAY, I think the bangs look pretty groovy in these pics. So...any thoughts anybody? Should I or shouldn't I...

Crap, I just remembered--Kathy didn't cut my hair. LAYLA did. She was a smart, funky ska chick who also worked at Whole Foods. I KNEW it didn't make sense that a hippie girl famous for flying her pit flags high would've agreed to the removal of ANY hair, ESPECIALLY in the presence of her hirsute brethren. Nope--Layla did it. She had Lorelei hair. Very short and very red. Tres sexy on the right women. Feisty.

De-Capet-ate

You say you want a revolution...

Bipolar

Puberty

Geez...I go away for a month and look what y'all miss out on!!
Titties sprouting up faster than mushrooms in a rainforest.
And on a boy, no less.

Actually, Jasper had to come up with a goofy outfit for a class assignment.
This was our first (and fave) choice.
Ultimately though, we opted for something a little less 'inappropriate'.

How Soon Is Now?

OK...I'm back.
Any questions?

86

I'm going away.
Not sure when I'll be back.

This has been...erm...fun. (?!)
And you have all been terrific.

But there's something else I need to do
which requires setting this aside for now.

My love to you all.

(p.s. If you want to keep in touch, please do so.
I would love to hear from you!)