Green Man 14, Q. Cassetti, 2011, pen and inkAs you know, I love stuff…any kind of stuff is fine by me. I love technology—cameras, computers, its all fun. And my favorite go to for technology is my wonderful IPad (given to me by my brother and husband) which has filled in the gaps, has provided me a vehicle to watch movies, read books (and not clutter my side table with paperbacks that I do not want anyone to know I read), recipes on demand, a drawing tablet and now thanks to Kennsington, a little mini, bluetooth keyboard that allows me to write you this verbal meandering on a more regularized basis. Yes, I tried with the iPad hunt and peck keyboard—but it just didn’t get me writing as fast as I normally do with a keyboard—and thus stopping or slowing down the stream of stupidity I write. And, with this keyboard, it makes writing on the iPad app for Squarespace totally pleasant, so travel combined with the opportunity to share immediately is going to increase. Hurray for small moves! Hurray for bluetooth (which I am beginning to understand and get the hang of) ! And hurray for slightly more seamless, offsite communications! Love this world we live in! Right?

I have been enjoying Dribbble. This is a microbloggy type of site that one is invited to participate in—if you are a visual person. You are given so many shots (I think its 24 per month, with no rollover)—to post a 400 x 300 pixel image of work you are working on—and then folks can comment, like or heart. Once can post visual responses—and it is a nice back and forth. One can have followers etc. (common with the Empire of Tweets), and Facebook. It is exclusively a visual site. Its nice as you can tweet the images posted…and if you have it set up to have your tweets fed to different parts of cyberspace (Facebook, Behance, LinkedIn, Tumblr and so on), those post immediately, so more mileage for every post and every click you make. Does all this effort to thread these sites together through tweets and RSS feeds really manifest more work, more attention, more recognition, more anything? I do not know—but time is valuable, and the question is—and I think I already know the answer, is there a right solution for this?

Seems to me, uneducated and naive in this cyber world of “getting out there”, there is no clear answer. The web is for everyone…and you can tailor your experience to those things that interest you…and only you. It is one of those wonderful spaces that you can be totally self absorbed—and pursue your likes and loves—regardless of anyone else. And, you can do this privately on a global stage. Just as your experience with the web is personal, so is the promotion, the tagging, the blogs, microblogs, social sites, promotional sites all need to reflect you, your interests and what your pocketbook can support. It can get expensive if you filter advertising and private sites into the mix. But again, this is personal choice—and with the DIY headset I am understanding…everything goes.

That is why an approach of fearless trying—and linking, and spending the time to knit it together to create a cohesive image is important to me. Good chance it might not be the same for you..but then again, this is MY web experience…at least for now. My rule of thumb is that you never know anything unless you try it…so sticking my toe in the electronic pond and seeing where the ripples end up is my approach. You never know…and interesting people and projects have come my way just my putting my work on threads and seeing how far and wide they go. India is one of the bigger countries that sends people to my work via google. And I am in China and Estonia. Go figure. I guess the work speaks to this aesthetic and audience. What is next?

It is a silver-gray morning at the lake. The water is the color and form of mercury with a subtle deliineation between water and sky…all misty and moisty. The crickets living in the wisteria are having an audio party, chirping away. Last night, I made up a pot of more freezer jam: sweet cherries, blueberries, and nectarines with lemon and just slid the 4 robust jars of it into the freezer. What fun this freezer jam is. Next stop: ginger peach. I think that sounds divine.

It is looking like fall. Its cooler and thus, I want to cook a bit more. Lovely Alex regaled us with his love of Thanksgiving—particularly that of last Thanksgiving—from the food (in detail) to the guests (he loved it) to the relaxing and quiet of the day. I had totally forgotten that last Thanksgving was premade holiday that I made mostly in advance (gravy, stuffing, breads, desserts, cranberries, side dishes) and froze—unthawing the day before—pop the bird in…and away we go. Definitely the way to go….and I am getting my lists ready to be in advance this year. That really, really worked out—and the food was only a few weeks old in the freeze, so it was just fine. Plus, it pushed us to have turkey before Thanksgiving for the bones to make buckets of stock that the whole of Thanksgiving hangs off of. Gloria will be with us this year which should make the family scene more lively for all.

The week beckons. Kitty and Rob go to NYC tomorrow. Alex starts preseason training today. I have commitments all week. And we are squeezing Sausage Fest into the mix on Saturday. I mean, preseason isn’t preseason without the annual “skinny boys| big sausages” event. Yes, we have the teeshirts. Yes, we have the guest list. All we need is the sausage. Done. I also raised my hand (as a senior’s mom) to provide breakfast for 28 on September 10th for the cross-country boys and girls just to keep my end up. Now, what to make….? And back we go to providing pounds of apples and bagels, writing checks, and showing up to events. The bittersweet thing is that this is the last year. Now that I have really gotten the hang of being a mom—the merry go round will slow to stop. And I will get a new role with this training. The good thing is that Alex is delighted that the end is in sight. No hesitation, no maudlin shows….plunging ahead. Love this boy.

More green men. I am getting the hang of them.