Hair Standing on End

Whoa. Time is one continuous stream of sweetness, thick maple-y flavored moment...that I rush to keep up with. The last few days have been committed on the front end (8 a.m.) through to seven with paying work and the last minute non paying work for The Hangar ( few days turn-around on 14' banners...thank the good god that I worked in vector). I am a bit blurry. And my poor personal work...done-zo. This, this, is what Sunday is about.

However, after a fun and amusing time at the Pourhouse, I am inspired to do a poster for the Zydeco Trail Ridesr pre Grassroots  at the Rongo. The Trail Riders connection is wonderful Jim Reidy. Zydeco actually translates to haricots vertes (green beans) or snap beans. I am thinking a valentine that incorporates green beans with dancing boots..... A design that incorporates past with present....maybe with a demon(weigh in please) or 

I hear Kitty singing outside with La Poochita. Hermione Camp contines to try to be part of the home team...

getting later

In Progress, Q. Cassetti, 2010, mixed mediaThe outdoors club trip was a great success. There has been more talk about the fun everyone had, the beauty of the site, the mildness of the rapids. The grown ups went off to dance (our Zydeco graduation party as Professor Pask called it) at Oasis to Preston Frank and a large part of Donna the Buffalo (Jeb, Tara, Ward, the base and drummer). Oasis was small and warm to begin with and after the first set, people were melting, the beer was selling and the throng continued to dance on. We had a great time and danced through to about ten which was a nice little workout and quite energizing.

Rob was off at six this morning for a down and back with his parents to New York for doctor consulation for his mother. All positive, for now. And I write you as the rice is cooking for dinner.

We have a new visitor here at Two Camp Street. She (I think) is a very friendly all white cat we have christened Hermione Camp. Hermione was Hermon Camp's daughter who, according to family tales, would go up to the roof of the house and raise the flag on the roof when the Union Soldiers would win a battle. Hermione attended Wells College (I think we have a certificate in the attic).  So, a new Camp Street resident has taken her place here. She has, we think, been living in the barn (upstairs) but is so well mannered and nice, it would seem funny if she wasnt someone's pet. We will give it a week or two and then we will take her to the vet. MeiMei is fine with her. TJ is showing off and being the King of the Cat Empire...but he will settle down. Shady, as the biggest cat, is totally non plussed.

More Irish Spring sachets need to be hung on my trees...as someone is nibbling the edges of the leaves...and that is not cool. Then, the next step is shady hair.

Bruce is here through Memorial Day. Amanda shows up Friday with Baby. Another chapter of Rob and his sister wives continue.

Doldrums

Farmers Market Flowers, Q. Cassetti, 2010Kitty and Alex are back from their two days away--weary but happy. Kitty has been bubbling over about the wildlife, the eels, snakes, birds, natural sights and smells. Alex has, not to put too fine a point on it, gone to bed.

My apple trees are thriving (with the add of little bags of half bars of Irish Spring Soap to fend off the deer). I was rattling on about apple, cherry and maybe peach trees to Peggy, my go to friend on all sorts of important topics, and she sagely nodded and said she thought it was a good idea. I want to plant a bunch (more than 10, less than 200) fruit trees in the back yard and do a you pick. It would take advantage of our big field in the back that we mow anyway, and there might be some benefits beyond the fruit. Say, taxes? And with fruit trees, you know what's next? Right...Heres a hint... buzzzz! to help the trees and amuse this person. More to research but I think this is going to happen.

Have been fascinated to see where my name and work has popped up...and where this work has come from. Behance seems to be the primary source of getting the work into all these alternative spaces... but we will see.

I have also been researching old candy and cigarette vending machines. They are pretty cheap and pretty accessable. I am sure I went beyond ebay and started troling Craigs list for this sort of thing,, I mgiht be able to do something cheaper and better that way. I would like to get one and work with the shop at the Hangar Theatre to do a dispensery for buttons, stickers, postcards and show related stuff along with art bars (Ithaca's art candy bars) and other things along that line. I just need to better understand how to make that happen before I make the big play. It is, as you know, a take off on the artomat machines (www.artomat.org) but, with the artomat machines comes the artomat art. I want to keep this stuff local and see what we can come up with. I wonder if I can enchant some of my friends to do this too...? Your thoughts?

I am tired but dont want to sleep. Tonight is zydeco dancing at the Oasis Dance Club with Preston Frank. Should be fun. I do not know if the kids will go as LOST is in conflict with the timing on this.

Work in progress

Making honey from past mistakes, work in progress, Q. Cassetti, 2010Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt a marvelous error;
That I had a beehive here inside my heart.
And the golden bees were making white combs
And sweet honey from my past mistakes.

-Antonio Machado

<<Illustration is a work in progress...not completed. I just wanted to see it/ share with you albeit incomplete.

I havent writting in a while as I have had a backlog of work to do...and finally, just finally I have crashed through all of that and I can sit back for a second before launching into the new pile of paying work and personal projects.

The Yearbook has gone to press. I love it when I can learn new things about software, design tricks to make more silk purses out of sows ears, and the figuring it out and surprising oneself when you use the tools and DO Figure it out. It turned out to be 135 pages of images out the ears (all submitted to me as RGB files that needed to be converted). I raided my own picture archive as well as hopping from facebook page to facebook page asking my new HS friends If I could use their images of prom, hanging out etc.and they all to a one were lovely and approved my request. This little exercise really pointed up how good cropping can make a photograph (even a bad one) and how the energy behind a school happens with photography, but not with the yearbook staff. This integration of resources (excited photographers, new media, photoshop and the Lulu book company) is where the real zing happens. And, with a bit of trepidation from former experiences, I was expecting to spend a ton of time futzing with the pdfs to make them right. Lulu got in front of that since my last big publishing, and created an add to InDesign and Acrobat with all their presets easy to access for the final pdf. So that was a snap. And despite my files being huge and having to learn how to use their recommended ftp program...it all went without a hitch. And...I saved the color pdf 3 times and saved one out entirely as a decolored pdf for the black and white (figured that one out) as well as enlarged the book for the softbound black and white (all within Adobe Acrobat in the advanced features!). I ordered 155 color hardbound books, 55 hardbound  black and white books and 35 black and white softbound books. And if we want to order more, no problem. I placed the order around 3 on Thursday and by 3 on Friday, the softbound black and white was finished and shipping. Where is the problem here? !

Kitty and Alex are on the Delaware River on a paddling trip. The weather has been like summer so I hope even if they take a splash, it will remain a fun trip for them. Rob and I had a fun night visiting at the Pourhouse. Bruce comes in today for two weeks. We are having some fun folks over to talk about their projects and ideas. Tomorrow we have Preston Frank and Zydeco dancing in the afternoon. Maybe some cooking. The bone processing has reached another level. Maybe make soup to take a chunk out of inventory.

Need to go. Projects to do, people to see.

 

no sugar here.

Wayne Thiebaud inspiration, Q. Cassetti, 2010Cold day. Still trying to catch up...but seeing the end of some of the projects. I have posted some cakes I took pictures of at Totino's Cafe in Horseheads...As you know, I love taking pictures of cakes whenever they are good as I would love to make a body of cake art inspired by Wayne Thiebauld, a San Francisco painter who is a fresh kick in the booty every time I see his work.

It was Rob's birthday: day two last night. We had a quiet dinner with Ron and Mary..with lots of talk around the prom and medical issues in the family. Love medical issue talk. Makes the sauerkraut so sweet.

Tomorrow is dancing. I got a brand new, used and broken in pair of black cowboy boots for dancing ( from our new and wonderful store, Funky Finds, here in Tburg) for only  $30. Surprisingly, I find them more comfortable than anticipated. Our last class is tomorrow, and then our graduation is at Oasis at the end of the month with Preston Frank. Should be fun. We are all going (kids too).

Friday, Kitty and Alex leave early to go on the weekend Outdoors Club trip to the Delaware Watergap with some whitewater canoeing. Alex had a wonderful time last year...and is looking forward to the trip. Kitty has decided that this is the trip she would prefer to going on the Senior Class Trip which is a few days at Hershey Park--which, I can't blame her. Snooze Fest.

Had a great meeting with Peter Flynn at the Hangar. The doings are very exciting there...and the fall season from his detailing sounds wonderful and very spirited programming. I wll be helping them with the graphics for that program as well. Some portraits/ some strong graphics. Need to move on that sooner than later. We will need to jumpstart the year to get the theatre working on a more regular schedule with a better handle on the scope of publications and print they produce over the course of the year.

Two nice things:  My Bee work was selected to be on the highlight list at Behance  or here>> Another one is that the poster I did for Bunch for The Star of Bethnell Green (in November 2009) will be in a show from May 25-28, 2010 at the Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London. Now, I am an international me! Wahoo!

EOD Monday

Yukako and Rebecca's corsages from Vine Garden Florists, Q. Cassetti, 2010Phew. A moment to myself. Sorry I have not been chatty recently, but I have been busy making memories like the memory fairy that I am. Friday was work and then down and back to Horseheads to pick up the complete James Bond outfit from Mens Warehouse (talk about an operation) to Saturday with shuttling for hair, corsages and then the finishing and prepping the pre prom dinner for eight (the foreign exchange students, their dates (one being Kitty) and another couple.

Alex was all figured out by his prom date, so we cut strawberries and got him tied and buttoned, and of course, photographed for the big event. Vine Garden Florists did a wonderful job with the flowers down to how they were distributed-- in a glorious grid that allowed Kitty and me to oogle and awe over who got what and what color was the dress>? After the beauty parlour buzzing with proms and weddings (complete with Champagne set up for the members of the party) our heads were awhirl with glamour and glitz and fabulousity that put our meager little party to shame. But wait, we didnt know about the cars.

Alex went off to a show stopping picnic by a waterfall...and a wonderful time. Kitty had the foreign exchange students and their dates (she was a date) and two more for dinner provided by the staff (read Mr. and Mrs. Cassetti, we know how to serve). We had a ton of pictures that I bossed them into giving me..., we had food and fun, multiple desserts and then the Rotary sent a member's antique cars over to take the tribe to the prom. Lets just  say that was the cherry on the top of the sundae. Everyone came home safe and sound with Alex winning a door prize. A computer? No. A clock radio? No. A gift certificate? No..... A paperback Bible! If one were to read anything into it...what could one surmise? I have many answers to this that I will not bore you with...but its all pretty funny.

Sunday, I  had my hour interview with Jackie Merwin on the Bohemian Potluck Show on WVBR (93.5 fM) about my engagement in the local music scene. I made a bunch of prompt cards (thank goodness) and  after Shady Grove activated the alarm system in the minivan waiting for me...she was then allowed to sit on my feet which settled both of us down and from what the boss said, I did a good job. So...onward. First radio interview, done. Bring on the next. I was amazed at how easy it was...and how I didnt ummm and ahhh my time away. After that, we celebrated Rob's Bday by splitting a sandwich at Shortstop and then driving down to Horseheads to return the James Bond costume (and not ringing up extra charges) and home to pick up the sleepy teens to go to dinner to cheer on Rob for another year! We went over to StoneCat and had a great time seeing friends in crowd and having a moment to talk with the amazing Scott Signori who we all are tremendous fans of not just his cooking but his total adorability and spirit-- which is another affirmation we are living in heaven on earth.

More tomorrow. My bee book awaits.

Charles O. Dickerson Prom Highlights From Two Camp Streeet, May 15, 2010 I will catch up with you later. It has been back to back since Friday and just need to catch up with the catch up. Tomorrow is an exciting new day!

05.13.2010 @ 9:26 pm

Its sick, I know it...but the crunch of all the "yes, no problem" volunteer work which, as expected all hit, late...has been fun. Breathless, but fun. I have had a real bonding with InDesign ...learning all sorts of new things-- like how to turn the artboards around, how to use the secondary guides etc. It has been, albeit under pressure, quite rewarding personally. The end is in sight. I have tapped Kitty and her friends for really good photography. I have made friends with strangers over Facebook to get images, to get information and to network for this publication. It truly is a brave new world of accessable content, content that to many of the providers has no value until an editor (read, me) sees a place for it and then, kaboom, value. Take that to another/higher level and think of the future opportunities. And for that, I am grateful and introspective. I need to stew on this for a while before I can be salient and distill down the "key learnings' (one of my favorite corporate phrases) and be able to articulate them with out edge. It was chilly today...fleeces and wool shirts...but still promising to be spring without the snowflakes and hail of last week. The Regional has a lovely sale of things from granola basics like dried blueberries, raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, and organic raw sunflower seeds (5 lbs for $5.) to nice oil, cheese "orphans" to the more exotic. We had haircuts by Thea (and good ones!) for prom in the kitchen of all the guys we know. Tomorrow its the dinner jacket pick up, the patty shell bake off, the shortbread making, and strawberry mascerating for the multiple entertainments in the near future. I have started another bee book from an insect vantage point that is as rich and chewy as Robbing the Bees by Holley Bailey. More pix and more stuff to come. Need to turn in as the dancing the Mamou last night has definitely taken me to another place.

40 and chance of showers.

Spring Iris Bed, Q. Cassetti, 2010Another pedal to the metal day. I am seeing the end of the yearbook...its in sight. I have been scrounging pictures from Kitty and her friends on Facebook, digging into my own mom archives and seeing what the team has...so its editorial pressure along with retouching (even lightly) the images to take them from RGB to CMYK, adjust the resolution to work etc. Lots of color correction with basketball imagery (can you say grainy and yellow?). Ah well. The end is in sight. Forgive me, this has been my spare time recently, so the addage about "all work and no play ...." pertains very much to this gal. Dull Girl to say the least.

We shopped at Sauders on Saturday and then prepped Kitty's birthday (from the notes below). Sunday, we took Alex to Elmira to rent a dinner jacket for the prom this Saturday. He was very specific...no colored tie, no colored vest, no spectator patent leather shoes, no no no. He has been watching James Bond and talking randomly about "gentlemen's sports" so he was direct to the poor clueless gal waiting on us who "knows" what "good" is and that we had definitely gone off the tracks on this one. White shawl collar dinner jacket, black pants, black tie, standup collar, pleated shirt, silver accessories, black shoes. Not sure about the cummerbund, but that is part of the package (which I think is hilarious as the only thing you can keep are the socks)...but its top of the head to the tips of your toes all in one rental package. And, I am sure if you want a hat, a cane or whatever else in the pimpin' mode, the rental company would be more than happy to oblige. While he was being measured, Kitty and I went to gawk at the bridal store next door to our amusement. Then it was back to the office with Rob going to the concert at the Rongo for Mother's Day and I yearbooked. I did take a little break to cut up bars of Irish Spring soap and wrap them in old onion bags and hang them from my new apple trees (who are thriving). Take that deer! The big fat peony buds are on the edge of popping and the lilacs are out.

Rob's Birthday is this Sunday. Prom is Saturday with lots of rushing around having to do with hair and clothes and flowers. I am having the foreign exchange students and their dates (one being Kitty) for dinner prior to the prom. We should have a little family gathering for Rob and I need to dive on the present while I have time. I know what I want to do...I just have to do it.

Alex is down for breakfast, so I need to go say hi and stop playing hooky. Hope to send you a little cheer later today, if I can.

 

The party continues. Someone is playing the offkey piano (we have two...one that has suffered, and one that came with the house)...a group is watching junky tv. and the other group is yakking it up in the summer living room. The hot chocolate chip cookies have vanished. There are some interesting pairings going on.

Poor Rob is asleep on his feet. The build was plenty for this poor guy.

I am scrounging for pix. Might you have pictures of homecoming or Mr. Trumansburg?

 

Breathe

Yesterday sped by--a blur. Work, then a few hours with Kitty and a friend getting makeup at Clinique, shopping at Target and TJMaxx (particularly the red tag markdowns). Then, off to the Pourhouse to meet Rob and find a little grownup time. This morning it was Sauders, our Mennonite Market in Seneca Falls to fill the cart with granola makings, smoked pork chops and stawberries to wing our way home as quickly as I could to say hi to Rob and Alex. They were working on the community build of our new and very glamourous farmers market. (Pictures to the left). There were a load of people there with hammers and tapes-- a veritable barn raising for Trumansburg. This is where Trumansburg Shines...when people give of their time and efforts to build something better.

We got home to arrange the piles of sparkly candy for Kitty and Thea's birthday party which has just started and will be going until 10. We have games (Apples to Apples, Cranium, Twister), we have chips and now I have to buy the pizza. I have a Pizza Rustica in the oven just in case...and the kids keep creeping into the kitchen to steal a bit of the new granola I just pulled out of the oven. Now its time to order the pizzas.

Tomorrow its more yearbook. Its shaping up...I have 96 of the projected 140 pps done and finished. Missing a tiny bit of copy, but its on the up side.

Must go. The natives are getting restless. Shrieking teens.

Greenery abounds

Mother's Day for Peace, Q. Cassetti, 2010, mixed mediaWe went zydeco dancing last night at the City Health Club with the whole tribe and had a good time. Margery Pask, a very energetic and positive teacher got us to do all sorts of things...and with the music and mess of people, it was fun fun fun. We have two more classes and then our graduation at Oasis, a dance club, with Walter Mouton leading the bill. So, immediate payout once we learn the basics. Kitty and Alex were right along with us. More to come. I will have to get used to following better.

Today is Kitty's eighteenth birthday. I know I will sound like an old fart by saying this, but my, my my...how the time has flown. Birthdays are for parents to remember and for the children to look forward. The icing on my cake started this whole new adventure as parents and formers of a small person, old soul, who needed to be channeled and pushed, encouraged and praised and now we have the fruits of our happy efforts in this wonderful person I am so pleased and delighted to say is a member of my immediate family. It was so nice to see the good chemistry that our girl has with her brother. Her happy spirit and lithe form dancing about in front of the mirrors of the practice room--twirling and happy, filled with joy in being with others, doing something new and dancing. It was a glittering moment when she joined us on this spinning orb, and she sparkles as she leads us all in laughter, discovery and action. I am once again, blessed by her presence in my life.

Again, I write before breakfast tour begins. The work still piles up...but I seem to be getting a good hold on it and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Tonight is a dinner for family for Kitty. I have some marinating to do for something on the grill. I have a pickup of some yummies at the Regional (40lbs of organic chicken thighs for around $1.70 a lb. and two cases of pesto). Tomorrow morning we go back to the Amish to pick up flowers for the house and giving.  So onward. Illustration can rebegin soon.

Under a rock

I have gone silent. Totally silent. There is just too much on my plate to do anything but focus in a breathless, almost manic way on moving forward on all the work and still manage to keep all the gears moving in a positive direction. I am squeezing a little note in to you between the wakeup call and the breakfast call which is immanent. Then there is the driving and then back to the desk with more work. I havent forgotten you. We visited the Munson Road Amish yesterday before work to see their plant stock and assess what we would like. I bought 4 leggy, lacy lavender, some mint and some nicotiana (all plants our deer friends despise). The selection was great as well as the fresh asparagus from their field...so it was a good respite for the work. Today, we start our dancing lessons at 7:30. The whole tribe> zydeco dancing. I hope its fun. Kitty's birthday (18) is tomorrow. We have the neighbors for dinner and then a bigger kid event on Saturday evening. I hear footsteps...Later>>