Dad Again

My father, who is a world champeen at knuckling down and following doctor's orders when it counts, is leaving the nursing home where he's been for three weeks--a week earlier than anticipated. He's put on weight, exercised, and his balance and stamina are much improved (for a 95-year-old, anyway).

This means that I've booked travel to see him in October, when he's having a retrospective show of his paper sculpture work--for over forty years Dad's Christmas cards/advertisements for his design business were interlocking paper sculptures of shapes as diverse as mother-and-child, a partridge in a pear tree, an armillary sphere, a flock of birds in flight. Much of my pre-Christmas childhood was spent helping to assemble the cards so that they could be slipped into envelopes and sent off to Dad's client list, friends, and colleagues. There's a complete (or pretty complete) collection of the cards at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in NYC, but this retrospective will be a first for him, and he's very jazzed.

So now I'm jazzed too.

I Woke Up This Morning

to the sound of Avocado in the kitchen, making blueberry pancakes and sweetly singing "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist Sometimes" from Avenue Q. Must be gonna be a good day.

No shame. I mean, none.

One of the talking heads on the political shows this morning said brightly that there was talk, if Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans, of turning the Republican Convention into a massive telethon for relief of the victims. There are no words for the vileness--except I hope someone mounts a telethon for the rest of us.*

Of course, if the Feds, State and City would simply do their job, maybe telethons wouldn't be necessary.






*also via the THs this morning: the GOP has collected over 6 million dollars in donations since Sarah Palin took the VP nom. It's easy to write her off as an inexperienced Barbie Doll, but she means something to some people. **shudder**

A Room of One's Own (Mine!)

LittleHouse
Originally uploaded by madrobins

When we bought our house, it came with a little house out back. Apparently one of the former owners had done freelance dog grooming, and this was her office. Since we've moved in, it has been "Avocado's Club House." However, as we have rearranged things sufficiently in the house so that there is no (and I mean no) space for my desk, I am claiming eminent domain and taking it over for my office.

Stuff
Originally uploaded by madrobins

This is the stuff that was in the house. Or most of it. All our videos and DVDs, a couple of chairs, years' worth of stuffed animals, all the papers from my desk, a lava lamp, odds and ends of kitchen stuff that never got put away. Also spiders, kids' craft debris, more stuffed animals, some gardening pesticides, and 17 McCann's Irish Oatmeal tins (I save them to put Christmas cookies in--me so domestic).

Inside, you'll note that the walls have been decorated.

WALL
Originally uploaded by madrobins

Many of the notes are mash notices between Avocado and her BFF. I have taken down or photographed these so that I can embarrass the child later in her life. I am amused to find that "Gullable" has been written on the ceiling. Apparently there was a magic spell involved. Interesting.

So I'll be gradually turning the space into my space. Further updates as events warrant. Meanwhile, anyone want a lava lamp?

Like a Thousand Lawyers at the Bottom of Lake Erie

desk
Originally uploaded by madrobins

...it's a beginning. Having put all the stuff out in the back yard, I needed to find a place for everything, because this is San Francisco and sunshine is not guaranteed. I will have to move everything and paint, of course, but my desk is in place.

bookshelves
Originally uploaded by madrobins

So are most of my most-used reference books.

cabine
Originally uploaded by madrobins

And I put the McCanns cans back on the shelf, just because I like 'em.