Tag: compound

Yep, it’s summer

Sometime Friday, I took pity on Guinness’s panting self, closed the windows, and turned on the air conditioner. I’d been putting it off to spite the profiteers. Today, I left The Compound for the first time since… I don’t know when. Wednesday? And HOLY CRAP IT’S HOT. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I’ve been sick.

My mother has been reading poems to a mentally challenged resident of “Shady Pines,” and she wanted to know if I had any books of children’s poetry, because these are apparently favorites. The last time I entrusted any of my children’s books to my mother, I ended up with little golden spines and nothing else–some kind of book-eating bastard bug in the place where she stored my stuff. Not that I’m BITTER or anything, but no, not even for a mission of mercy can she have the meager remnants of my early years. So I went to Half Price Books and bought three volumes of children’s poems. That should keep them busy for a while.

Because I’m not leaving the house again until October.

Another artistic discovery

When Tim and I were walking through the French Quarter last weekend, we passed by Lyon & Lyon art gallery (their site is under construction, so I have no link yet).

Tim’s eyes were drawn to a painting by artist Paul Tamanian (Tim said it was how he wished he could make his bathroom floor look).

I stepped into Lyon & Lyon on Sunday morning, and found out that Tamanian originally worked in ceramics, but ended up using metal, beating the hell out of it in various ways to create his art. He makes sculptures as well as paintings, and the woman at the gallery let me lift one of the sculptures so I could see how deceptive its heavy appearance was.

Tamanian’s work is also being shown at galerie dalray in New Orleans.

And below is some of his art at Galleria Silecchia in Sarasota, whose site also includes photos of Tamanian at work.
see photos of paintings

The End of an Era

Things have changed here at the Home Office.

When Tim first moved to Houston (just after IT HAD TO BE YOU was published), he accessed the Internet via dial-up in his apartment. In the Big House, we’d recently made the transition from dial-up to cable modem, and we had a couple of computers linked in a network. Tim frequently used the second computer to write (mainly to keep documents software compatible), then permanently after his Mac died. We sat face to face, but we couldn’t see each other because one of the desks had a high back with shelving on it. That was the situation when we worked on HE’S THE ONE and THE DEAL.

When Tim got his new Mac, he used dial-up in his apartment for a while, and I’M YOUR MAN was finished during that time. Then we needed the Home Office for temporary housing for my mother, so the cable modem was moved to Tim’s apartment. For a while, we worked side by side upstairs, but our hours weren’t compatible, which meant I was often interfering with Tim’s sleep. So we dropped a line downstairs, and we finished writing SOMEONE LIKE YOU and THREE FORTUNES IN ONE COOKIE on different floors in the same building.

After my mother moved out, we set up the Home Office in a way much more conducive to two work spaces, and Tim and I have sat side by side for about a year and a half. We changed to wireless (secured, you Stalkers!), which means my laptop often serves as a guest computer, but Tim’s Mac didn’t have wireless capability.

Now we’re working on TJB FIVE, and Tom and I just gave Tim an early birthday gift–whatever thingie (I don’t do geek talk) he needed for his Mac to be wireless. The wireless signal is more than strong enough to reach the apartment, so Tim can now office in his own space.

It remains to be seen how this will affect progress on TJB FIVE. I’m sure Tim will be happy not to deal with the ten million questions I ask him a day (his brain is like my encyclopedia), and Rex and the girls will get some time apart, which should help their socialization issues.

But this is the first day, and it’s kind of lonely over here.

Sorry, Lindsey

I should have taken a photo of the palmetto bug carcass I just moved from the garage to the trash. But y’all would have just thought we got a fourth dog at The Compound. HUGE!

And it’s definitely breeding season, because one flew in fast and low at four a.m. and barely missed my face. Which is not to say that palmetto bugs breed with my face, but that only the females fly and only during breeding season.

Bitches.

TJB, part two

Timmy and Paul arrived safely. We have given Paul the official stamp of Friend Approval. (Like Timmy cared; he already knows how great Paul is.)

Here are the men folks–minus Tom–behind the birthday cake I make every April 28 in memory of my friend Steve R. (Well, it’s a different cake every year, but it’s always chocolate–Steve’s favorite–and it always has Pooh characters on it because Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were a Steve and Becky thing.)

And Paul, in return for taking fantastic photographs throughout the weekend, wanted only some Southern cooking on his first trip to the South. (Technically, it’s the Southwest, but I’m a Southerner, so within the boundaries of The Compound, it’s the South. At the very least, I know how to put together a Southern table.)

So here’s Paul, holding his plate of fried chicken, purple hull peas, corn, cornbread, fried okra, salad, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

busy me

…tired…of…housework… And there’s still so much to do.

I cleaned the loveseat in the Home Office, but it’s never going to look good unless it’s professionally cleaned. Since Margot thinks it’s her sofa, it sees a lot of dog action (because whatever Margot does, Guinness must do, too, plus River thought it was his sofa–Rex is indifferent to it).

I’m tired of cleaning it. I’m not a big fan of slipcovers. So after it was dry and vacuumed, I covered it with one of my quilts. Margot approves.

Back to work.

Weekend

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and as U2 might sing, I’m “tryin’ to throw my arms around the world.” Got a card from a thoughtful Wisconsin treehugger in honor of the day–thanks, Todd. =)

So…my husband is sharing a tent with a lesbian and a rabbi… That might sound like the beginning of a good joke, but it’s for a worthy cause, as Tom and Lindsey (and Lindsey’s rabbi) give their support to the MS-150 this weekend. Y’all have fun–and kudos to you for volunteering.

I’ll be using Tom’s time away to CLEAN THIS HOUSE–because as you know, I always go into a cleaning frenzy before people come from out of town. I can’t wait to see Jim, Timmy, Paul, and Greg. =)

More springishness

Even though I’m not a mother, I kind of experience some mom things. Like…I’m rarely in holiday photos because I’m always taking them. In the photo albums, there are more pictures of the “kids” (in this case, dogs and Tim) than of the “parents” (me and Tom).

I’m the one who willingly cooks, organizes occasions, bakes birthday cakes. And I’m the one who does stuff like this…

…with a complete sense of acceptance that it likely won’t be done for me.

Since my own mother recently moved into “Shady Pines,” my resignation to being the grown-up who won’t get treated to kid things has become more entrenched. So imagine my surprise when I got to her apartment yesterday to find this:
Continue reading “More springishness”