meanspirited me

Not as breezy this morning, but nonetheless, the air is moving. There is a little woodpecker hopping around n the tree in front of me. Maybe he will find the seedladen fat block we have suspended for his amusement and snacking. No one seems to have noticed it yet…and when they do, it will be instantly gone.

I entertained myself yesterday by pulling apart a pdf of the visual identity work presented to glean the colors swatches to really put them through the paces. As much as color is so personal and so arbitrary, when colors are selected for a visual identity, often they are selected almost randomly without any “due diligence”. What happens if its a one color job? how will the color perform when screened? Will 10 point, medium weight copy reverse out of it in solid? can you overprint on it? How does copy reverse out and come back in another color in the palette? How does it stand up? How does the color work on grey? on black? Is type legible on white in  100%? What is the CMYK breakout? Is there too much yellow to make it legible? So I put these 5 colors through the paces. There is a cyan, a yellow, a magenta, an orange and a grey along with a grassy green ( a green I have used in the past until it was declared “ugly”). And surprisingly, none of these colors have the depth to screen tint as well. It is 100% of the colors or nothing. I am also musing on the magenta which, with my experience will not have any legs as very masculine men do not want to have pink represent their businesses. I used a purple on a job when I was at Corning and was taken aside by the lead guy who  told me real businesses did not use purple. Punto.

So the question remains, is this the right thing to roll in front of my clients (I think yes). Should I modify the consultants palette to make it work (I think no, they are the experts)? Should I show the seeming lack of legs, despite  the declarations of how robust these elements are to my client (I think yes, as I am going to be handed these standards to apply and reinforce with the inside folks). More exploration today to bring this into line. I am already thinking of workarounds even before this program has been bought into, and approved. The consultant may not even have the slightest idea of the limitations they are giving us—claiming too many choices makes the program go out of  control (also true) but then the color that is selected has to be really RIGHT so we can force them to really work for us.

There is a clunkiness to the font choice…but I can live with any font as long as there is a MSWord equivalent unless the company wants to buy 20,000 CPU licenses to run the more elegant font. The proposed imagery is also a problem. I may take one of their designs and play it out in the few colors to see/show what happens in other people’s hands? Also, I may take one of the jewels we have gotten from Mexico to wrap in these two need visual treatments and see how they stand up. I feel that this might be mean spirited to do, to puncture the little balloon of happiness my client has in these very sterile applications, but if I cannot make this stuff work, what about the admin in Kansas who wants to create a postcard for her boss? We see those jobs and its enough to make your hair stand on end.

More later on this front. Thank goodness there is medication for this sort of thing. I am not spinning in my sleep over this…when I should be on the rotisserie.

Today we see a Hangar production, The Man of La Mancha. Maybe the MacGillicudies at the Rongo after. We may have Bruce here? We also are hoping for a bit of rain.

More later. Maybe something for Illustration Friday (IF)>>

Depicting a conversation

Russian broadside or “lubok”I am sitting on the porch, guarded by my sentinels who are growling in their throats at the passers by. They are also perched high enough so they can make sure the rodent population know they are there and there will be no nonsense. The huge swell of heat yesterday was quickly relieved by Kitty, Alex and I submerging ourselves in the lake hitting the hot pockets of water on the top, and the more frosty climes below. After about an hour of just being absorbed by the lake, we were able to get on with the evening which to our pleasure cooled a bit such that now, it is a lovely place to sit and be surrounded by breezes and the blue view up the lake. Sleeping was perfect too, with the roar of the window fans helping out the motion from the outside.

Yesterday was a solid design day for me. I got the calendar publication knocked into this goes here and that goes there—a lego exercise of what is a two column and what copy is a one…and this is where a square finished image goes, and this is where a silhouette goes. Though it is the first phase, I was looking at orphans and widows, kerning and all that fun around the typesetting (that used to not be our jobs as designers). It was centering just to do the kind of design work that is like carpentry…one nail after the next, looking at relationships, moving on, tweaking the last two steps, moving on,and finally finishing up the layout and then, tweaking and touching the photos and logos, adding tone, adding rules, taking away stray objects, recropping photos. And then, miraculously, it was done. At least, done for now.

I had the fortune to sit in on another conversation with the big consulting firm on branding. I will not go into the details, but it stunned me that the very pointed input that the client provided in our last meeting was cherry picked insofar as what the firm thought was valuable. Not what the client, who though I am on their team, provided which was considerate, considered and quite broad —had much merit to this group. When asked about the two approaches they had worked up—the client asked to see the work that went into deciding that these were the definative directions and there were no sketches to be seen (I mean, even if there weren’t sketches, even if it was only two directions presented—I would scramble and say that yes, they could see them…let us get them together for say, tomorrow… and get them together). But NO seems to be the answer…and that the client seemed to not have much say in that. Plus, when asked directly why they hadnt applied the old mark to the new treatments, they were dismissed, saying that it was one of two directions…no gradients…. Oy.

Just to digress, it is a nice thing when there is a black or white solution to a problem, isn’t it? But as with people and the nature of people, it is rare when a design solution pops off the pen and both the client and the designer say together “YES”. There are a lot of gradients in this business. Sure, there are great design projects which tend to be either for enlightened clients or for clients that talk to visual people (like the good old days of paper promotions, or today— in software or high end products) so this sort of seamless “perfect design” work can happen. More often, the game of “guess what I am thinking” happens, and the designer presents an idea/a visual and the client is either close, not so close or far away in his/her concepts. Then it is a series of back and forths…”tell me about this, tell me about that, show me what you like, show me why you like it” to begin to drive toward the designer seeing through the client’s eyes. No amount of fancy presentations with lots of white space and bad legibility can gloss over this type of coming to understanding. More often than not, the work is work…and it may be good work, it may communicate, it may transcend the client’s original concept—but it may not be the pinnacle of a design career—if the pinnacle is perfection. But who is to define perfection? To the client, they may not understand what perfection is….(often the case), but they know what they like, they have an idea of the value and if the path to design is a valuable conversation where the client knows they have been heard, isnt this success? Good design is a snapshot of good communication, good conversations. It may not win prizes given out by designers to designers…but it may fill a business need to drive more understanding with their customers to drive sales to pay their bill and mine… This is me, tiny design business girl talking. To the big firms, its billing billing and billing. Client retention and true client understanding isnt part of the deal. The attitude is that the client has selected them as the consultant because they are the experts…and client be damned, they were going to push back as much as possible. Not my style.

Poor Rob. Remember yesterday and how hot it was? Guess where he spent his day in Toledo? No, it wasn’t in the hotel pool. No, it wasn’t in an air conditioned conference room. Rob spent the 100 degree day in a freaking glass factory  where it was 140 degrees…which though it was a veritable hades, he said he learned a ton and was so delighted to have reintroduced himself to these flat glass guys, and reeducated himself on the new world of flat glass. We will see him home tonight running to throw himself into Cayuga’s depths and become one with the liquid element.

I am giving myself a break from natural history books on bees, beekeeping and bee history. I am not done with that, but its time for a change. I love books about man/nature as one can lurk and learn without having to scale Mount Everest or go to sea on a whaling boat. Into Thin Air is the kind of book I am talking about. Or the Nathaniel Philbook (I’ll check this and post links later) books on the whalers. While tooling around on my Kindle, I ran into a jewel that I started last night and cannot wait to get back to,  James M. Tabor’s Blind Descent. Blind Descent is the story of the race to descend into the deepest supercaves in the world by two of the foremost cave explorers. So, it’s the ascent to Mount Everest with the lights off…and the magnitude of the landscape, the training, the gear, the personalities of the lead climbers promises great things. I spelunked a bit in college— and after really giving what I was doing some thought, I did not look back. Its pretty scary business…not what you see which is very cool and truly other worldly, but the journey is not a fun one…and honestly, for me, not worth the wonders. But this book is going to take me back inside the earth, and what a nice way to reflect on the race to travel within our earth…versus going beyond

The clock says, move on, Q. Another summer day awaits to try and understand what the client needs and wants, to have conversations to try to figure it out, and to anticipate the water at the end of the day. Onward.

Roasted for Flavor

Lubok Hive Study, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkPrinted posters for the Zydeco Trail Riders/Rongo, so look out for them. The Trail Riders will be playing on the 21st at the Rongo…and I have a pal in the band so it was a fun illustration project. There is another one brewing for the Cayuga Blue Notes too.

Today, I have turned to butter. Absolutely a big puddle due to the heat and still air.  It is cloying…There is promise of a break on Friday. We need it. The hot air being moved around yesterday was not helpful…but about 4 yesterday, my brain just plain shut down. Tonight, the lake, the cold lake is where I am going to float and float and float until that puddliness becomes a cold core again. After looking at weather.com…today promises to be 92 and tomorrow 94…so the hot ride is not over yet. I am pushing water with Nigel and Kitty and Alex.  Need to brew some tea…somehow coffee doesnt seem to appeal.

 Yesterday’s picture and today’s unfinished picture were constructed from this weekend’s sketching/inspired by the Lubki high patterning of landscapes. It’s one decorative chunk abbutting another decorative chunk. Odd perspectives, if any…This image wants text…and perhaps a text window cut into the foliage.

More branding talk today. Its been interesting listening/ and engaging in a high level branding series of presentations and discussion. It is not customercentric…This big agency is always referencing their fees, out of contract etc. even prior to talking about an idea…Its not about solving the design and image problem…its not about making a great representation for a great company but its about fees and fee structures within a stuffed meeting with too many members of the consulting team that adds up to big fees for education and training of their team. I certainly could not get away with this sort of mischief. I guess these guys get away with it once…and once and once….I value the client/designer relationship for the longterm so that my education is amortized on a longterm basis. Should be interesting.

short week: whaddah week

Bees’ Trees, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink. (work in progress)Rob is off for a few days in Toledo to get a refresher on flat glass technology and production with an associate. We have more heat and work predicted as its a short week and the short eight weeks before fall. I think there may be some discussion of Holiday Cards (a favorite of mine) today via a phone meeting. I know there are a few “crash and burns” that are instantaneous turn arounds and hopefully, If I am very lucky, I will have a chance to breathe. Kitty and Nigel will be pressed into action. I need to equip Alex with whatever retrofits we can get him for his job (ie read expensive rubber gloves and his trying out our Dansko selection for his feet). He is a day on and a day off with the week of Grassroots off to help with the volunteer work which he enjoys and the music which he really loves. It is a tremendous thing that Grassroots is the hook for volunteerism and community pride for little Trumansburg. It will be an event that our children, as others have, will come back for before Christmas, Thanksgiving and anyother “normal” holiday. It is community, class reunion, family reunion, music and friends all wrapped up neatly in a four day music event.  And I think Kitty and Alex already are of this thinking.

Yesterday we spent virtually in the water, drying off and back in the water. Some of the drying off had to do with sleep for some, reading for some, hanging with friends for some, and a few swipes of the trusty pentel pocket pen for some (read: me). Then it was back in the cold Cayuga to bob and splash to get the core temperature down to something tolerable. I made pizza again from the new tried and true recipe from King Arthur to everyone’s praise and satisfaction. Used up all the leftovers I had around and it really, to use a phrase a friend uses, it really “came good”. More this summer on the pizza front. The key, I think is a big dose of semolina. We finished trimming the hedges, with Rob proclaiming wisely ” often and frequently” re don’t let the hedges get out of hand as its harder to trim with the green stuff going woody. I am on it. But the hedges and the nice lawn makes the Luckystone so much more elegant and we are going to get this yard in order in short order. Even the pruning we did of the smaller trees and trumpet vine all adds up. Thanks to not having prep for graduate school and then graduate school offsite and then the spin down from graduate school took away from my attentiveness re bushes and shrubs and making nice for the home team. Now I have the luxury to do that once again.

Its almost 8:30. Time to get the troops mobilized. Time to gather the milk bottles and water bottles. Time to wrangle the cats and get at least, Mr. P. B. White back to the house. Time to turn off the fans, close the windows and check to see if the refridgerator has failed again, or not. Whaddah week.

Independence Recap

We had an impromptu little dinner and gathering for4 of Alex’s friends and 3 of Kitty’s friends yesterday. Yes, there was floating in the cool depths of Cayuga Lake. Yes, there was pizza dough making and the traditional fourth of July meat burn. The guests and their hosts stayed up late, sitting on the end of our dock to watch the 180 degrees of fireworks around our part of the lake from Aurora to up the west side of the lake, to closer to our home shores. Nothing too spectacular, but plenty of color for free. Rob and Alex cut bushes in the morning, trying very actively to make us not the disgrace of our neighbors and I really should go out and give him a hand this morning as it really is a two person activity and I am lolling around waiting for laundry to get finished so I can hang it (the beauty of the lake) and writiing in this blog.

I was studying the Lubok book yesterday and thought about the work. What was it that was speaking to me? Was it the content? or the style? Love the content but really cannot get my head into it…but find threads that I have worked with unbenounced but love the style and this was what was keeping my attention. Lubok is another folk style to understand and moosh with what I am learning from the Pennsylvania Germans and other folk traditions that intrigue me. I feel that there are stylistic chops to be taken from all of these artforms including those decorative objects and folk traditions (like the Erzgebirge Christmas things or the Polish Easter objects or those wonderful little shrines and decorative “thank you for healing me”placques that the Mexicans make to parallel a two dimensional expression of the same). So it is chop making that can be applied to any topic. Sometimes for bees, sometimes for folky interpretations of things in my world, possibly folky translations of ideas that are now….for instance recession or the oil spill. Lets let this pony run a bit and see what happens.

More in the lake time today. There will be a hotdog burn for lunch/dinner….and not much else. I need to get my head together to have a stern talking to with one of my kids who zigged instead of zagging…the Mother is not happy with  the lack of problem solving. I need to be focused and eloquent…not resorting to blowing the roof off the house in my unleashed passion and anger…over something that is maybe remedyable…or maybe not. But, if there is a lesson here…I need to point it out…as an adult and not the Kali of song and story. Where is my belt of the heads of my enemies?

Independence Musing

The Mice are burying the Cat”, a 1760s lubok print. It has been commonly thought this plot is a caricature of Peter the Great’s burial, authored by his opponents. The caption above the cat reads: “The Cat of Kazan, the Mind of Astrakhan, the Wisdom of Siberia” (a parody of the title of Russian Czars). It has been claimed by modern researchers that this is simply a representation of carnivalesque inversion, “turning the world upside down”.In the spirit of independence and change, I submit this lovely lubok illustration of the dead cat being buried by his prey, the mice. This terrific lubok print really captures in my heart, how we had been captivated by the cat or the “Man” and we need to , as a community of weaklings, band together and let ourselves be heard. The multiple wars and occupations we seem to be embroiled in—seemingly endlessly weaving ourselves deeper and deeper into the tribal hierarchies we do not even begin to understand spending treasure and people on protecting something we have no understanding of, nor heart to feel true compassion. The obscenity of the oil spill (gush) off our beaches with the fingers being pointed to one after the next greedy, self possessed individuals who are so intent on not stepping up and taking the heat, and equally not charged to change the situation for now and for later—has this mouse enraged to the point of not knowing even how to react other than  stew. There is nothing to do. Sure we can raise money but for what? for Whom? Should the money raising be to raise the other mices’ consciousness to prevent another one of these disasters? Should it go to alternative energy solutions and stop offshore drilling none the less? Should we all take a week off and turn off the lights, stop driving and test to see whether we could make this work for us…?   When is it when we mice, the community of mice, grab ahold of this tragedy and not wait for some paternal character (not the president of BP) to console us and tell us everything is back to status quo?

The corporate world, one for “training” and “accountability” as part of their human resources requirements for all employees has tragically failed to not trouble shoot the trouble shooting, or the trouble shooters. The military training program for creating failsafes (even I as a dumb graphic designer had to take) to ensure there was a backup plan to a back up plan somehow failed. Did the boom create this moral bust? Did the culture of greed and irresponsibilty of people like Bernie Madoff, or companies like Enron override this aspect of our culture that it is better to point the finger when the immoral jig is up than to plan and do the right thing to get ahead?

On this Independence Day, as we slice up the watermelon, turn on our grills and kick back, I suggest we think about our independence and ask ourselves if we truly are?

Summer at hand.

“A Joker and His Wife”. This 18th-century lubok is a copy of a German popular print.A cool, perfect day at the lake. I started late, but within a hour I had several small plants begging for mercy and others looking quite trim and manicured. More tomorrow. The Osage Orange, otherwise known to us as the Monkey Brain Tree, is lethal with its sharp new green thorns ready to scratch and gouge. And the arctic willow, randomly sends out hundreds of long, new wands, making the plant look quite hairy and unelegant. The trumpet vine (which really is manifested more like a tree) was sending vertical shooters into the grass…wild in its prolific desire to grow and reproduce. I brought 2 of the six tree peonies I bought from Song Sparrow up here and have been giving them sun and water and they are delighting in being here. Transplanting is soon. The first tree peony I put in has flourished and I am hoping for three as the blooms are so otherworldly, having three bushes might permit me to pick one for a vase inside. Or at least, that is my hope.

Alex has just gone to his job (dishwasher/busser at the Rongovian Embassy). Kitty and Rob are shuttling. I am back from grocerystoring…and have 4 logs of pizza dough in the fridge to bake off tonight (King Arthur Baking Companion bible recipe). Seems like we might be overrun with friends of Kitty and Alex tomorrow for dock jumping, bonfire making and the like. I think the extra packages of hot dogs and the pizza shells might come in handy tomorrow. Let me check on the drinks and tea situation. My hope is to clip some more tomorrow, and draw a bit. I am fusing Lubok and Bees with some various ideas I want to try out.

It is remarkable not having a graduate school summer this year. The long thread of sunny evenings and open time to “mess about” is so remarkable that I am a bit taken back by the luxury. No deadlines, no late nights and raw nerves from the lack of sleep and some of the idiotic high jinx of our classmates, no shows to hang, no papers to write…just a lovely unbroken summer with Grassroots in the middle and Hampshire at the very end. There is berry picking and music, friends and quiet…something I havent had since 2005. Rob has a week at Sagamore this September that I might tag along on…as my break from reality and of course, there is the hope of a few days at Art Basel Miami in December..But, we will see.

I need to go and check on a few things. I am steeling myself for a dunk in the lake later this p.m. whether I want to or not. A dunk in the lake guarantees wonderful dreams.

Thursday before a holiday.

Trudoliubivyi medved’. [Diligent bear.] (1868), New York Public LIbrary Digital CollectionsNew York Public Library Digital Files for Lubki is the place! This Diligent Bear is a charming thing. The bear has a sweet, childlike quality with his tools. And the Trees?! Wow. Decorative, Decorative. And check ou the simplicity of the clouds as just a big white space…Somehow it reminds me of a lot of works, but most particularly, The Song of Robin Hood images by the author illustrator, Virginia Lee Burton. Maybe its the line work as the patterning is different..more fraktur-ish. The linear garden/field is a pattern as well. Plate from The Song of Robin Hood, Virginia Lee BurtonNot as crude as I generally love the Lubki. But, charming.

My Garden of Eden (Spade Tree) is going out to ICON (Illustration Conference 6) for July 14-17 show of the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Show of the award winners (I got a silver this year…a bronze two years ago). So, another placement amongst other illustrators. Unfortunately, its illustrators talking to illustrators (my people) but its not getting in front of a wider audience.

Competition alert! The Pine Leaf Boys, a very fresh zydeco group from SW Lousiana (three time Grammy nominated) are looking for a CD cover. Posted it to Facebook which a friend sent to me. So, I am throwing in on this if I have a chance. Take a listen to their music on their album. the name of the CD is “Back Home”—and I have some houses and home sweet homes in my back pocket…so maybe I can cull something out the mix. I am pondering this right now and am itchy about it…which means a struggle before I get to something.

Its Thursday before a holiday. You know what that means…It means the rush before all my clients go on vacation, and then need to have all their projects on their desks, nice and neat for first thing Tuesday as they come in from a long and charming weekend. That means another grey hair for me. Ah, well. Nothing new…totally nothing new. But like Shady Grove, I always forget and am reminded midstream to plan for this.

It is more graduation parties on top of graduation parties for the youngers. Its been cool to cold here…so early to sleep long and deep in this cold summertime which allows the five a.m. wake up not a jolt but a happy and welcome transition. Hopefully there will be some music, some yardwork and some pizza shell baking this weekend. I have a big hunk of pork in a low and slow oven to have pulled pork for the hot weather we are promised in a few days. Need to roll as the work and deadlines keep coming.

Lubok, Lubki

The Goat and Bear, second quarter of the 19 c., National Library of RussiaLubok is singular, Lubki is plural…who would have known? Figured if I found out the plural, I might find more of a cache of images than the ones I have found. Nice thought. Fraktur and the Pennsylvania Germans were prolific and collected/curated. These babies are few and far between despite their popularity:

The National Library of Russia>>

Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Library,  Alex Rabinovich Collection of Lubki Prints>>

Fine Press Book Association: Lubki, The Wood Engravings of Old Russia by Adela Roatcap

San Diego Accountant Guide (?) Lubok Multimedia Guide>>

The Koren Picture Bible (Wikipedia) (1692-1696)

Lubok (Wikipedia)

Boguslawski, Alexander. “Russian Lubok (Popular Prints).” 29. January 2007

New York Public Library Digital Collections: Lubok>>
(best resource by far) 

I thought for sure, the Russian Library(for Lubki) would be the Free Library of Philadelphia (for Fraktur). This was popular art that even the Czars collected for themselves and children, charmed by the stories, the humor, the crude color and linework. So where are those royal collections? In the trashbins?

Need to cut it short. I am betwixt and between today with lake work, work, work and kid work. I will pick up a bit later to see if there is more to talk about.

Tuesday: Looking towards the weekend

Sweetness Alight, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkTuesday started early. I got double thumped by the cats around four a.m.—impatient for cookies and attention.We then had to get rolling early to get Kitty and a friend to Corning with Rob for the day—to see the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, The Corning Museum of Glass and the fun on Market Street. Alex has a new job (self elected) at the Rongovian Embassy to the US on Main Street here is sunny Trumansburg. Dishwashing. He called me to say he was washing a pile of dishes and will be working until 6 p.m. Hard work, hard lessons…but all good because I am not jamming it at him. He has brought it on through his own motivation. I am thrilled.

Alex and I are going to learn how to smoke meat this summer. We bought a smoker from Josh Ozersky (now ozersky.tv and food writer for TIME) and tried it once. But Alex is anxious to perfect his bro-meister skills…which may incorporate barbeque and smoking to the mix of bro skills. The Urban Dictionary defines a “bro” as:

“An alpha male idiot. This is the derogatory sense of the word (common usage in the western US): white, 16-25 years old, inarticulate, belligerent, talks about nothing but chicks and beer, drives a jacked up truck that’s plastered with stickers, has rich dad that owns a dealership or construction business and constantly tells this to chicks at parties, is into extreme sports that might be fun to do but are uncool to claim (wakeboarding, dirt biking, lacrosse), identifies excessively with brand names, spends a female amount of money on clothes and obsesses over his appearance to a degree that is not socially acceptable for a heterosexual male.”

The MFA program at Hartford is beginning to ramp up. You can see the work of the incoming students here>> I am also collecting the Texas contact period illustrations from the current students (classes of 2010, 2011) and this is where we are>> Take a look. Pretty exciting.

We have three screenwriters in the back room meeting. I am friends with one of the guys who was looking for a place to have a 3-4 hour meeting (not at the coffee shop) so I said “come here” as we have chairs and tables and coffee too. So we have people busy chatting about interesting things that we get snippets as we go in for tea.

Work to do.

Monday startup

Sweet Maiden, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and inkYesterday was quiet. I was wiped out. I guess it all added up with the passage of visitors, kid parties, and visiting family. I just needed to shut down. I knew it when the uber petty was forefront in my head and I kept cycling on the trite. So, I slept the afternoon away. And the trite went away, and in that vast vacuum, ideas of bees, of Kama (the indian cupid) and  the world as a hive filled that space. I dive into my Lubok book on a regular basis now…enjoying the odd russian tales melding Russian Orthodoxy  with folklore, legends and myths. Human headed birds, bear armies, midgets and dwarves, and strife between husband and wife. Of course there are heaven and hell infusions as well. Dreamy.

This hazy state is a nice one from last year this time with the frantic rush to the thesis finale, multiple guests in tow and flat out from June 1 to  September 1. The summer stretches ahead of us in a long green ribbon with work and play interrupted by swimming , music and the daily vacationing we have here on the plateau and on the lake. Bliss.

I just finished another bee book: Letters from the Hive: An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind, a wonderful journey through the history of gathering, growing and living with bees with chapters on food, medicine, religious rites, mythology and science by an entomologist . This is a wonderful second to Holley Bishop’s Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey—The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World. Wonderful summer reading. Sweet in its depth, in it’s topic and gives more meaning to the bees buzzing in your large trumpet vines and roses. These books put nature squarely in your lap and makes the lovely agricultural lands that surround you more poignant and the cities more approachable (tales of a beekeeper, Jean Paucton at the Paris Opera who has kept five hives on the roof for a decade and sells his honey through very exclusive concerns such as the opera gift shop and Fauchon in his home town). I think another bee book is in the lineup. Just need to choose.

More later.

Proud Mama Alert!

Katherine Carroll Cassetti, Class of 2010.Okay, okay…I give you fair warning. I might be a proud Mama a bit today…so you are warned. Best turn off the computer or click to YouTube and watch something amazing versus being bored by a middle aged mommy happy for the accomplishments of her daughter.

If you haven’t guessed, we had graduation  yesterday. I was so proud of Kitty and honestly, every person that crossed the stage to receive a diploma. One proud  student after the next. We had songs performed by classmates. We had amazing, confident message filled speeches presented with wit and wisdom way beyond the presenter’s ages. The valedictorian thanked individuals in a poetic and meaningful way and then clipped his sax on and played us a thoughful and beautiful version of “Its a Wonderful Life”.  After all the speechifying, the graduates led us all up to the baseball field where they tossed their caps and there was a little gathering of all the attendees and parents. This was the photo op with all sorts of hugging and groups of students standing together for the pictures. Honestly, I wasnt prepared for any of this, nor were any of  my tribe, so we visited, took some pictures, chatted about nothing and congratulated the grads we knew. I should have been in puddles, but sheer pride, excitement and soaring hopes filled my heart as this is our future, and what a future we have in store for us. Kitty was confident and charming—glowing as she does, and quietly making her way saying hello to friends. She really didnt quite understand what all the fuss was about. On to the next!

We had lunch at Americana with Kitty, Alex, Gloria, Melody, Rob and me. It was lovely. Kitty, Alex and Melody went off to a party with food, World Cup and a lot of hugging. We prepped for a small dinner with the Cassettis and Gloria and a surprise (happy) visit by none other than Princess Berryboo! We had a nice time with the ladies all fiddling with the scarves I had as party tokens (Kitty of course had it all tied up on her head, Berryboo jauntily swept around her neck) with lots of chatter and gossip and the like. It was fun.

Princess Berryboo

Princess Berryboo, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digital.Princess Berryboo joins my portrait collection. Look for more celebrities in the next few weeks!

 

Work in Progress, Princess Berryboo, QCassetti, 2010, digitala

Work in Progress,2, Princess Berryboo, Q. Cassetti, 2010, digital