ragtags studio central: sarah's random this & that

random means "having no definite aim or purpose," (1655), taken from "at random" (1565), "at great speed" (thus, "carelessly, haphazardly"). In 1980s college student slang, it somehow, and sadly, acquired a distinct sense of "inferior, undesirable." (Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper) Well, okay, fine, Mr. Online Etymology Dictionary person, but THIS is the 21st Century. It's a whole new ball of wax.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Happy Canada Day - July 1st!

Today is Colin's and my 35th wedding anniversary. But I am equally excited to note that tomorrow - Canada Day - we can have our photos taken at Whole Foods with a genuine Canadian Mountie. Colin feels there may be a criminal free-for-all in Canada tomorrow, while all of the Mounties pose in the many, many Whole Foods. The poster above refers to neither our anniversary, nor Canada Day. I just think any art portraying big white horses is swell.

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Rotterdam

Last night we went to a house concert featuring Justin Roth. He was darling, and harked back to some days on which I look back with pleasure.
We all (those of us in attendance) "wrote" lyrics for an especially Fort Collins "upbeat ballad" that he performed as his last piece after two 45ish minute sets. All about the bikepath, a kid named Zach, a chance meeting with Ganesh, and enlightenment. See what I mean about Fort Collins style?!
Anyway, this first clip is of a song he performed which really spoke to my heart, the second is just funny, in a steampunk kinda way, and the last, well yeah, he can instrumentalize too:





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Monday, June 16, 2008

interlude

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

This week only!

BOOK SIGNING
* barnes & noble
June 12 -- Thursday -- 7:00pm
4045 South College Avenue
Fort Collins, Colorado 80525
In This House, with my co-author, Angela Cartwright


WORKSHOP
*
the creative underground at timeless creations
June 13 -- Friday -- 10am-5pm (break at noon) with Angela
1636 South College Avenue
Fort Collins, Colorado 80525

IN YOUR HOUSE:
A textural, transparent, and just a little
Steampunk Mini-Workshop

BOOK SIGNING
* the creative underground at timeless creations
June 13 -- Friday -- 7:00-8:30pm
1636 S. College Ave
Fort Collins, Colorado
++ The houses from In This House will be on display! ++


BOOK SIGNING
* borders
June 15 -- Sunday -- 3:00-5:00pm
1750 29th Street
Boulder, Colorado 80301


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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Happy Birthday, baby!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIERRA-MARIE!
(You who share a birthday with Paul Gauguin, my little funny face!)





Friday, June 06, 2008

"haiku?" memoir

September tagged me, and it's a cool one - not too time-consuming, and quite revealing!

1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person that tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs.

I immediately thought of several that are apropos:

  • I have FIVE chapters due tomorrow!
  • I'm just so worried about you. . .
  • Watchin' a movie . . . call you back?
  • We haven't had a party forever.
  • Where'd all these kids come from?
But none of those titles truly, and in a nutshell, express the ultimate optimism of my life as thoughtfully, succinctly and poetically as this, my final choice:

Maybe there are Meteor Showers tonight!

See, I even seem to have made this small canvas as illustration!
Now I tag: Shirley, Roxanne, Roben-Marie, Catherine, and Leighanna.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

I could be back any second now. . .

Trina wears her wampum beads
She fills her drawing book with line
Sewing lace on widows' weeds
And filigree on leaf and vine
Vine and leaf are filigree
And her coat's a secondhand one
Trimmed with antique luxury
She is a lady of the canyon
Joni Mitchell, 1969

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Monday, June 02, 2008

why no Part 2, yet

http://awfulbrothers.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-is-kind-of-neighborhood.html

Sunday, June 01, 2008

12 people, big trouble - Part 1

I feel like I need to post "something" - it has been awhile since I have taken the time to write anything of real substance.
Partly I haven't because I am just too tired - when I have a minute, it seems much more appealing to curl up on the big red chair and do nothing. Then last Sunday night I had a small accident and really hurt both wrists and my right arm, so basically it hurts like mad to type, which as everyone knows, I suck at anyway.
But what is a blog for, if not to record the minutia of the inconvenient and bothersome, right alongside the events that change our lives for better or worse, the moments we celebrate, those we regret, those we would give much to change?
May was a month filled with all of those and more.
Angela and I finished our latest book, well, the first draft anyway. I wish I could tell you all about it, but mum's the word until the publisher says otherwise. I can tell you it's timely, and beautiful, and will look perfect next to all your copies of In This House.
I had my birthday, having been born in '54, this is the year I turned 54.
The Thursday before last, May 22, the day we were supposed to be packing (I'll explain in a sec), Sebastian and I spent a good part of the afternoon hunkered down in the hallway, waiting for all the tornadoes to abate. The entire Poudre School District was on lockdown - city buildings, even Whole Foods. The next town over - 9 miles from here - was hit. Our family friend Erika, who lives in Windsor, was fine, along with her family, only all the windows in their house were broken. Many fared worse. Here, there was hail, wind and rain, but we were oh so lucky. Why? That's the thing about luck, we just were. This time. Our big old maple tree lost another huge pile of branches, but our little shared-with-the-neighbors garden, freshly planted? It came through unscathed.
We left in the middle of the night - the entire Colorado contingent +, for Vermont, for Silver and Heather's wedding. Colin, me, September, Dante, Sebastian, Corina, and Brent. Flying at night, with turbulence, is "not my thing". I had a major attack of both low blood pressure and claustrophobia, and stumbled to the back of the plane, oh around 2 am. Collapsed (total abandonment of dignity) on the floor, where the stunned attendants tried to explain I needed to return to my seat as "the seat belt light was on". Yes, but, um, sorry, no could do. Fast forward, we landed in Hartford CT, rented two cars and ate breakfast until niece Ryan's flight from DC landed, went back to the airport, grabbed her and drove to Brattleboro. The people at the art deco Latchis Hotel at 50 Main Street downtown were incredibly nice, letting us check in early. The hotel is cool; I highly recommend it if you prefer funk, history, and one-of-a-kind to, well, whatever is the opposite of that. The Latches movie theater adds to the overall funk appeal, and if we had only had a bit more time, we could have seen the newest in the Indiana Jones saga while we were there. At least we enjoyed the smell of movie theater popcorn wafting through the lobby and up the stairs every evening.

TBC