kuniyoshi, cat lover, cat artist, portrays himself, with his cats, at home.

i realize that kuniyoshi has drawn himself as a cat as well.

manet, too,
loved them.





http://www.flickr.com/photos/lotusgreen/sets/72157594419572962/show/

the gift of light

thomas paquette's new book: gouaches.

almost more a book of poetry
than one
of paint.

http://www.thomaspaquette.com/books.html

eating oranges

for seventeen and a half years, every time i ate an orange, i never touched it with my hands. i figured out a way to do the whole peeling and separating part through a plastic bag.

robert just hated that smell on my hands.

while i buried him, a white- crowned sparrow pecked around in the spilled niger thistle seed under the gold- finch feeder. his friend sang. i was grateful.

over time, after once leaving me the gift of a hummingbird in my bedroom slipper, robert learned not to chase and catch birds. he was very smart.

for the last seventeen and a half years it has been just me and robert living alone together. monogamous. this now feels unreal.

i am going to go and eat an orange with my bare hands.

(ohara koson; yoshitoshi; hoytema; walther klemm; carl moser; otto eckmann; carl moser again; totoya hokkei.)

till there was you

from The Music Man, by Meredith Wilson

There were bells....on the hill,
but I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all,
Till there was you.

There were birds....in the sky,
but I never saw them winging,
no, I never saw them at all
Till there was you.

And there was music,
and there were wonderful roses,
they tell me, in sweet fragrant
meadows of dawn and dew.



There was love, all around
but I never heard it singing,
no, I never heard it at all
Till there was you.

Then there was music and wonderful roses
they tell me, in sweet fragrant meadows
of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you
Till there was you

isn't it strange, isn't it interesting, that "we," well, the west anyway, didn't seem to see plum blossoms, or cherry, until they saw japan see plum blossoms and cherry. also interesting, though, is that i rarely see ornamental design being used the same way in both cultures; if it's on pottery in the west, it generally isn't in the east.


(top is by toshi yoshida, for dom; ohara koson; eiho hirezaki; royal doulton.)

thanks, folks.

can't respond personally right now.

will resume when i can.