cheer!

playing catch-up

found the scanner! so much has happened while i was away from all of my four readers...we moved on the last weekend of september...the realtor offered a free moving van...



some friends, todd and jen, came over to offer some very valuable help...

mr. pop pirate vacuumed everything (suprise, suprise) saying we were not going to take any of the effingham dust to the new bungalow...

the piano ended up being donated to the local ault elementary school because we could not sell it on craigs list to save our lives...



we ended up looking like the beverly hillbillies, complete with grannie's rocker, while we were at it...

we got straight to work, tore down the existing fence, started the new one, and friend sara offered to paint my kitchen...it's a candy apple red... from this...


to this... i bought an art print on ebay to go on this big wall...


and we are just a bit more settled now...the front porch tea room... (where i'm currently blogging from)...
i had to work but mr. pop pirate got to go see obama when he came to fort collins...here's a family that has always voted republican and are now obama fans...

long lines...

50,000 people...he couln't get a shot of The Man...

last night i thought i was going to a costume party...but this pirate grrl, andi, had a trick up her ruffled sleeve...
a suprise birthday party for me! pop pirate grrl!!!!!!! it's the best party i've ever had... a million thanks and shout outs to my fellow pirate!!! sorry not everyone could be there...

here's jen, me , and emily above... and some more great friends...erin...(french whore)
and grant from behind...he had a baywatch costume on complete with big boobies and a crotch area that had a bunch of (fake)hair down there...he has no idea i'm taking this pix from behind of his behind...

steph (whore), sara (unmasked) and mr. pop pirate himself
andi, todd as orville redenbacher, and jen as little debbie
emily as suzie chapstick
jette as a madame and kelleen ...
it's a beautiful 70 degree day here today...indian summer will come to a close at some point...mr. is now making campaign phone calls for the next three days, doing his civic duty by volunteering for obama...

and the winner is.... (a little late on my part)

do i know how to pick a winner...david cook was my choice since day one...american idol is inspiring in that people think they might have talent, they try and try again and some even become artists...







here is my mess on my studio table...some art has actually come from this mess...

day #6--my bucket list

i haven't seen the movie with morgan freeman and jack nicholson yet but i get the jist that it's about finding out you have a terminal illness and figuring out what you really wanna do before you kick the bucket...

on the way back from a hike with my friendy emily, i was spouting off something about something i'd like to do before i die... she sagely handed my a notepad and a pen and told me to write that bucket list....that moment has remained with me as a profound smashing up against my own mortality...

you'd think i was pretty aware of this for as an oncology nurse, i see people, well, get the word that they might just be leaving here soon... people who are just cruising along in their lives, making dinners, seeing kids and grands grow up, making plans and boom...arrrr...they get cancer and look ahead to weeks, months, years of chemo, nausea, doctors appointments....do they have bucket lists? well, i've never asked a patient this but i bet they have one at least at the back of their minds...

i'm gonna die one day, so i GET IT that i gotta make my dreams, plans and goals reality....sooooo, here's my first efforts toward one of my goals....in 2009, i want to have my art shown locally say in a coffee shop...this is the year to create the body of work to be shown...

so i bought a piece of mass produced art (i think it had gondoliers on it) at goodwill...i liked the shape, the plastic frame around it that makes it a deep canvas and it had a ready-made texture painted on it....i painted it with sophisticated finishes iron metallic surfacer on the canvas to ready it for the rusting solution... it comes out black/grey before you antique it...

you can see where i wiped it away to allow gluing the box with a found nest in it on the surface...


i added one of my "word salad" cut outs...


and collage papers...i love the one of the iridescent bottles found in a national geographic ( i find the best pix there)...




as the piece evolves i'll share it with you...questions? comments? constructive criticism? let me know.....

grateful

i'm grateful for so much these days...morbid as it may seem to say, my mantra has lately been "every day above ground is a good day"...it gets to the heart of the gift here on earth...only so many days i will have... being an oncology/hospice nurse makes that perfectly clear to me...

i am grateful for my family and friends...you all make me who i am and you are my only wealth...

i am grateful for my healthy body that is going to carry me on the four mile turkey trot run this very very cold morning...gotta earn my extra slice of pie...

i am grateful for art/craft and how it is a vehicle for my heart's expression...i'm sure you all can relate to this as you are all creative people...

i am grateful for technology that allows me to talk with you and share my visions, humble as they may be...(i am currently not grateful for my digital camera however...broken...no pix for a bit here in blogspace..)

eat ... drink... and be merry....life is a gift....

boo!

...did i scare you? i'm back on line after a major epic, saga, story that i will not bore you as it really bored me... aaarrrr...

friends emily and mark came over for dinner a few nights ago and we did what every dinner party extravaganza ends up doing....pumpkin carving! guess whose squash has an eye patch???

back to more art this week....posts soon...

kitty update: eating, grooming, happy chasing kitty toys...jaw is quite crookedly hanging off his skull...it doesn't seem to bother him....he's happy, we're happy...

we are experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by ...(while i am pulling my hair out and saying, "AAARRR!)

my computer's harddrive had a bad, fatal accident...while i am away, please know i am thinking about all 3 of my readers...

cat update: he got his resin posts undone yesterday and is finally eating full plates of food instead of just a teaspoon at a time...he's lost a lot of weight and his jaw bone wasn't ready to be mobile but ...his jaw is crooked but he is a happy boy now...depression is lifted...

now go forth and make a great day for yourself...back late next week ...

aarr....

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

... AAARRR mateys, i can't believe it's here again. ...my blasted favorite day of the year next to thanksgiving, ( montana's birthday...my birthday, grant's, dates with friends...) well, ok it's up there with my favortite days....i've got pirate-tude, how 'bout you, you scurvey landlubber???

festerin' boils! it's cold as a witch's tit this mornin'... well, i hyperbolize a bit here but it's a cold 'un...so i sit at the computer with tea in hand (i'm certain pirates can drink tea...should i get some grog and splash a shot in it?) and see just how many of us pirates are about... there's this one...and here's one that you must take some time to ckeck out...

so pull on your boots, grab your sword, but most of all get your pirate on and have fun searching for buried treasure today... you might be suprised...

AAARRRR!

blank canvas

summer is waning, the moon is almost full. northern colorado nights are cooling and i'm just warming up to this blogging gig. click on the box to the west of this post...see it? this site manifesto proclaims that blogs are not olbiged to be anything other than what is offered...kapische? i have been paralyzed, unable to get this blog off the proverbial ground since july because i thought i must be witty, prolific and,well, have something profound to say... so i'm just sayin'...

why craft pirate lounge??
craft--because i love art and craft and see no boundary between the two...
pirate--because i fancy myself a romanticised version of a pirate in metaphoric and mundane ways....
lounge--because this is a not only a nod to the mid-century era and aura that i love but also an invitation to sit for a minute or three with me....


artwise, i have two pieces in two venues.... one is to go up at the creative underground for charity... the show is called "A Hand Up" and the money will go to hospice of larimer county and a program for autistic kids....the art has to be on the provided 8" by 8" canvas and has to include a hand in it...i really like how this turned out...



the other one is currently hanging at the artist's nook in a show called "A Body of Art." Each participant was given a plastic body form about three feet long that christine, the owner, got at (evil) wallmart that they use as hanging mannequins...anyway, this show turned out some great art.... heres my contribution...the picture does not show great definition...there is a real bird's nest in the cut away heart area and beautiful japanese paper with brass fixtures....it's called "empty nest."

grant is hiking hallett peak in rocky mountain national park today with our nephew, justin... at over 12,000 feet above it all, that is some hike for that young flat-lander... sorry he didn't take the camera with him for some vistas and panoramas to post...

time to get off my pirate ass and (here i gasp) clean the house...aaarr!

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