Uncle Oswald

Last weekend we went to Jamaica Plain Open Studios and wandered around the neighborhood in some drizzle checking out some interesting art. One house gave up their porch to the artwork of Peter Phelps to benefit Hearth, a charity that helps the elderly homeless. They were taking any donation amount for his paintings. Here's what we picked with our donation. Phelps himself was out in the drizzle bringing in passersby saying "Even ten cents will get you some art!"

Kurt and Courtney

Bill and I were extra late getting cell phones. I baby-stepped it by getting a pay-as-you-go phone first, which was just fine for a while, but then I got pretty texty with friends and started paying quite a bit as I went. We finally decided to get a real plan, and somehow went from one really basic phone, to two iPhones. I love mine, LOTS. But anyway, this represents the first use of the phones to support the hauling of something home. Bill took a photo while at the thrift store and emailed it to me while I was at work and I approved the purchase. I am looking forward to seeing if this approach ever works for forbidding a purchase.

Some Furrballs and Another Thing

Come on! Really?

I strongly suspect the orange frame was what made this a "must have".

A Little Shot in the Arm

That's inspiring. This has got to go on the wall. We have a zillion of those LP frames and not a one has an LP in it and not a one has been hung on the wall. I think the hold-up has been that Bill wants to do some fancy measuring and stud locating and wall space planning. That may be just asking too much given our busy lifestyles. At our last apartment we did manage one row, with plans to rotate LPs every couple months on a different theme. The first theme, which was never replaced, was just ladies' heads: Marlene Dietrich, Joan Jett, Marilyn McCoo, and Miriam Makeba, together at last.

Ask the Love Guru

A while back at trivia there was a question about something or other, and we guessed Ouija board and got it wrong. A couple of our younger members had suggested Magic 8-Ball but were overruled. That turned out to be the right answer. It would be nice if I could remember the question, wouldn't it? They just vanish like smoke. Anyway, one of the correct guessers was returning to college last month, and Bill used the occasion as an excuse to pick up this promotional item from the thrift store as a gift for our young friend. It's a Magic 8-Ball promoting the Mike Myer's 2008 film, The Love Guru. You ask it a question, shake it up...I forget what the possible answers were but I imagine they were funnier if you've seen the movie, which none of us had.

The Beloved WTWTA

My preferred way to brush up on languages I haven't used in a while is to read favorite kids' books in translation. Here's a nice addition, Where the Wild Things Are in French. Who's excited about the Spike Jonze movie this fall? Can't quite tell from the trailer whether I approve. Here's something cool: the Terrible Yellow Eyes project, where artists submit works inspired by the book.

Survivor Clown

Well, summer's over and it's time to document a few recent arrivals. This clown painting has a date of '72 on it. Pretty fresh looking still. I wonder what paths it has traveled, how many trash bins it was rescued from. Maybe the artist held onto it all this time and finally decided to let it out into the world for others to enjoy. I have to say, when I first laid eyes on this painting I wasn't quite sure if it met the standards for "quality bad art". Either way I know a good spot for it.