What a day. It started this morning when I got in the back near my right kidney by a gang of thugs carrying shot guns who I was trying to run away from because I could neither hide from nor fight them. I’m lying there in my back yard, near the long needled pine trees, on my back looking up at the clouds and the sunshine coming through them. I noticed they looked very pretty and had a small disappointment that I hadn’t laid in the grass more often to look up at them. I was thinking about how odd it was that I never thought of death before, and that while it was quite depressing to know in a few minutes I would be dead, I was happy to have had a good run. Then I started wondering if the ambulance workers would manage to resuscitate me after I passed out from the blood loss, and maybe I’d have one of those after-life experiences. If anyone called the ambulance that is. At that point my phone rang, it was my sister. She wanted to talk about some movie, but I wasn’t listening. I was trying to be patient with her. I had wanted to tell her to leave me alone because I was trying to die here, but then I thought that might be selfish since this would probably be the last time she got to talk to me. At this point my alarm clock rang.
All day the weather was bleak, I had that dream, my stocks lost two hundred dollars, the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” was stuck in my head which wasn’t helping the dream thing out one bit, and then to top it off at the end of the day as I was talking to a co-worker about the latest news regarding the Church scandal another co-worker came up and asked “Do they teach you in school how to molest children?” Gah! Still I’m pretty happy today. Or at least joyful, which I suppose isn’t quite the same thing. This is all very good suffering that I can offer up for some people I know who need some extra grace. Good stuff. And the weather got beautiful, and salsa was fun. One of the two pretty girls showed up which was nice too.
Moving on, I wanted to talk a bit more about art today. I like art, and I love sharing the art I appreciate with others who will also hopefully appreciate it. While I was home this weekend past I went to visit my friend’s - the friend who had the mushroom bread - Mom at her store. About three or four years ago she opened a shop that sells three main products, Avon, tapestries, and glass works. The Avon is basically what brings people to the store and is her main seller. The tapestries and glass are essentially her way of exposing others to the kinds of art she appreciates.
The tapestries she has are hand sewn by Italian seamstresses over in Italy. Her Mom is Italian and she works with her to place orders and import the products over here. They are kept simple in design and are useful things like table sheets and runners. Most of them have a very early 1900s European traditional flare to them. They would not look right in my apartment, but would be perfect for any very traditional home where the Mom is in charge of the household. However, as I was looking through them I found one that was perfect for my apartment. It was one of the few purchases I’ve made where I didn’t need to think. I saw it and bought it, the fit was just perfect. It has a bit of an African theme to it, which I sort of have going on here, and with my black furniture the colors were going to pop. I thought about using it as a runner for my sofa table, but didn’t really want to cover up the wood. My Mom had the suggestion, of draping it over my recliner. At home we have a very old runner, which we have draped over a chair. I liked that idea but the problem is my recliner is leather and the chair at home is cloth. My runner would likely slide down the chair. But it does look cool, and the colors look amazing against the black backdrop. However, because it isn’t practical there, Mom also had the idea of just hanging it up either framed or exposed. I’m probably going to frame it and hang it because some of the weaves use very long threads and I worry dust will be very difficult to remove from them, and I can’t wash this particular piece because of how it was constructed. Apparently, in order to support the long threads, there is a sheet of paper that runs down the middle and under all the weaves in a way that it remains hidden. Washing the runner would likely ruin the paper.
The next thing I paid attention to in her store was the glass. As you hopefully know, two of my friends are getting married in May and I had to get a wedding gift. Their registered at Kohl’s and Crate and Barrel, but both of those places don’t offer very unique gifts, and I thought it might be nice to get them a decorative piece for their new place. But in the end I decided to go with a set of 8 wine glasses. These were hand made in Sweden, probably in the 60s, by Kosta Boda. I like them because Kosta, Sweden is hand-etched into the bottom of them, although I couldn't get a clear picture of it. I hate wine but my friends like it from time to time, and I thought that even though wine glasses are a pretty typical gift, hopefully the uniqueness of them will give them some use from time to time. I figure maybe they can be used for special occasions. Or better yet, maybe they can be used to hold finer drinks, such as Mountain Dew or Coca-Cola.
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