My Cup Runneth Over

I have been conspicuously absent from the intraweb recently, but I have a great excuse! I've been spending lots of time at my sister's, helping her get ready for her great big huge fabulous Halloween & Vine juried art show in California coming up soon. Go Bran!
I can't tell you where I was on what day, but I've been over there lots and spent the night a few times. In fact I return "On the morrow!" as I love to tell her.
I provide moral support, entertainment, problem solving, crepe paper collar sewing, "hunting & gathering" and lots and lots and LOTS of sanding!
Can you see the joint compound dust on my face? I was just covered the other day and wanted to preserve the moment in pictures.
Note the sanding; I dislike 150 grit sanding sponges, they are not coarse enough. I had a great idea to try out tomorrow though...I'll cut one of the 60 grit sanding sponges in half, kind of a butterfly cut to make it thinner. It will get into the crevices better that way.
I was trying to get a picture to illustrate how filthy I was, but what can I say? I still look like a smokin' fox. When you've got it, flaunt it!
Sanding, painting, sanding and more sanding on the gorgeous back deck. And thank Gods for this fabulous September weather!
Bran workin' on a Warty Jack.
Love the unbridled enthusiasm!
One of the nights I was there Philip & Misty came over for Jim's scrumptious dinner with their respective daughters. Here they are in the front yard before dinner.
Tomorrow I am getting up, feeding someone's cat, picking up some real paint from the art store and heading back!
Godspeed for me!

White Trash #6

It's that time of year again. Time for everyone to celebrate white trash culture as only we in the South care to; in costume, drinking beer and listening to hilarious parody bands perform live!
Iron Cordoba & Nasty Productions did White Trash #6 Saturday night at The Chop Shop, opening soon in North Davidson. No, I will not call it "NoDa". Can't do it.
A good time was certainly had by all.
Vanessa was representin' Jones County Mississippi in her Kathy Ezell costume. Kathy Ezell is one of her infamous aunts.
How cute is Vanessa though? She got a trophy & everything!

Here's a headliner I made & painted with the Stars & Bars long ago. It is still hot fo real.
Vanessa Hodge & Kerrie Clayton classin' the place up. Have you ever seem anyone rock a Rebel flag bikini top so successfully?
Oh how I love ll my redneck boys...
Dave Alvey is particularly good at pulling off the look. Dave, you've never looked hotter.
I am just a sucker for a redneck.
Here Vanessa-I mean Kathy Ezell is breakin' down some situation for a captive audience.
Here are my two favorite red head girls, Hayley Farrington & Vanessa Hodge! Look at all that fringe!
And Jay Tilyard himself of both Iron Cordoba & the Chop Shop. Ever the entertainer. He's been doing this stuff since we met in high school. It's good for some things to never change.
Class abounds, I think this is Paul Finner. This was right be3fore they played Motley Crue's "Girls Girls Girls". If I had my way they would have covered Shout At The Devil or Live Wire, something from one of the Crue's two good albums. Alas it was still fun.
Here is Linda Nulsen showing up to support The Boy (Jay). She is a hoot & a half, plus she WON the wet t-shirt contest to boot! Jay was mortified, everyone else were delighted.
No caption needed, I just LOVE this picture of Vanessa.
We all partied way past my bed time.
I got to see friends like Hayley (haven't seen in 7 years!) and many more who I don't see often enough, and all in all it was a joyful event. You just can't make new old friends.
It was totally worth it.

Fall is in the air!

I can hardly stand it; I spent the first three days this week outside and I spent today at Bran's taking part in the art storm that is now in full effect over there. And Fall is on it's way!
While working in the yard I heard crickets chirping in broad daylight, well it was deliciously overcast but you know what I mean. That is a sure sign that the Fall equinox is around the next bend, also a sure sign that life is magical and I've nearly made it through another Dirty South summer with ms confined to air conditioned spaces. In case you don't know already, I take Fall, the autumnal equinox and Halloween deadly serious. The equinox is less than a month away on September 23, can you even stand it?
Here is one of Bran's Devil lanterns, isn't he nefariously dashing?
Bran's house is similar to mine in that there's really cool stuff crammed into every nook & corner, and chandeliers double as hanging racks for works in progress.
These snowflakes have had faces sculpted on them and are awaiting finishing touches. They're hanging from her kitchen chandelier and I really love them because they are so pretty and I too have art I've done hanging from my kitchen chandelier.
I have been terribly uncreative this summer, I really attribute it to the heat, it's just unbearable for me. August is the 2 PM of the months in the year; it sucks. 2 PM is my lowest point of the day and August is my lowest point in the year. I'll be glad to see September come. September is my savior; it offers cool, soothing redemption in the form of pure magic. The Earth takes on an entirely new persona, everything changing, I smell it, taste it in the air, feel it in my bones and on my skin, it makes my crown chakra feel all sparkly. What can I say? I'm in love with this, the most magnetic season. Just like a moth to a flame, I'm so drawn to it.
Along with all these most cherished simple pleasures the changing season brings, I feel enlivened to get back to my silver. I have taken to using scraps leftover from my jewelry making as hooks and things in my house. They are just so pretty and unusual. After I remove the rivets I just run screws through the holes right into the wall. I've been saving 3 to use as drawer pulls on a small chest, high up on cabriole legs. Just wait 'till you see that. It goes with my black bed and I'm tempted to screw these right onto my headboard to tie the pieces together visually. I'm a bit reluctant to drill new holes into any furniture...but you only live once, right?
Tomorrow is my infusion, which I missed today. I enjoyed it in the heat of the summer, but I fear it may crush my soul to be hemmed up in a windowless outpatient oncology center on one of the most beautiful afternoons of the year so far.
I am taking a bit of chain maille to work on, although I'll be done with that in about 20 minutes. After that I have a wonderful treat, a book loaned to me by my Dad; The Poet Of Tolstoy Park. I will have a synopsis of that later. For now I'll just say it is beyond wonderful and has me going around barefoot more than usual, which is to say a LOT.
So everyone be sure to enjoy nature tomorrow afternoon for me. I will be thinking of my one true love, Fall and hoping that you are taking moments to really savor it.

My Nature Fix Is In!

It has been a long, long time that I've been cooped up indoors, held captive by the summer heat.
My pagan heart has been itching for its nature fix and today I finally got it! I don't know what the temperature actually was, but it felt like about 75 degrees and low humidity.
I spent the entire day outside. I can breathe again.

Just when I'm feeling sad to see summer go I'm reminded of how luscious & all consuming the changing seasons can be. It's music to my soul. I love feeling the sun on my skin, working in the dirt and plants, sweating, getting blisters from so much vine pulling. Ah, sweet sweet redemption.

And I mean redemption. The last month has been lots of nasty heat and bad ozone coupled with even more disconcerting stuff that I won't even go into. This blog is not a platform for all the bad stuff.
So back to the good part, I think tomorrow will be more of the same! My car is currently in the shop, "forcing" me to stay home and work in the yard. Guilt free! It is a win-win situation.
So I will try to wind down and get rested up for a long nature appreciation day tomorrow.
I'm more excited than a kid on Christmas eve!

Summer's End Approaches

Summer is all about being outside most importantly, second only to hosting Girl's Nights and imbibing with friends.
Summer is drawing to a close (nearly), and I have to admit this Fall lovin' woman is kinda sad to see it go. I spent half the afternoon at Vanessa's pool, soaking up some more UV rays before it's too late. There's only about a month of swimming weather left, and that makes me sad.
Early summer is just right for tubing at the Farm in the Big Pond, but these last few weeks it has been too hot for me.
Opening day of Dove Season draws neigh, and I usually take that last opportunity to go for a swim in the Pond, the sound of shotguns taking down those delicious birds punctuating the air with excitement!
My favorite Uncle Tom usually comes from LA and another treasure, his friend C.P. comes with him from Mississippi. They shoot doves & drink beer, and at the end of the day they take their bags down to the pond and "peel" doves for Dad to stuff with butter, wrap in bacon and grill.
That is an occasion worthy of a full blog post!
It is a tradition marking the end of summer, and the beginning of harvest season, dove harvesting at least. It's like clockwork, and it bears great significance in my mind.
I am not teasing myself by allowing thoughts of Fall come into my brain yet, that would give me season confusion; Fall is serious business in the mind of Dusti.
So for now I'll spend as much time outside in a bathing suit as weather permits, and try to keep Fall Fever at bay.
It's harder than it sounds...

Annaversary forgotten!

I just realized in the shower last night that a big five year anniversary just went by, unnoticed.
On August 15 2005 I started school at The American College Of The Building Arts. I was studying plaster restoration. It was a big deal for me.
Here is The Old Charleston City Jail which houses the main offices of the school.

I was so excited, it was all so wonderful! We had trade classes in the morning and then academics after lunch break. I lived just a few miles away from classes so I could go home for lunch and shower all the sweat & plaster off before going back for math, English, art & construction classes.
I had the cutest, tiniest apartment in the North Charleston ghetto, formerly Navy housing built in the '40s. Two of my neighbors were going to school with me and we all got to be great friends very fast. Mary Arden was in the Ironwork program as was Shara and our apartments were all three in a row.
Here is Shara doing here thing in trade class. She graduated last year.
She is a fantastic blacksmith!

So From August 15 through September 15 I was in Heaven. It was one of the best months of my life. I'll leave the rest of the story for later, but for now I'll just say that letting this anniversary slip away unnoticed was a good sign for me.
I can look back on that time, five LONG years ago happily because it was wonderful. I have so very many magical memories of that short, sweet little chunk of time to revisit. I can turn them over in my mind, remembering how I settled into the rhythm of my brand new life. Everything different from what I was used to, new things to learn, new friends to meet, new skills to master. And so much more ahead of me to be learned, I didn't know it but it would have boggled my mind.
But like I said, it is a sweet sweet place in my memory and for now I'm going to savor only those good times. There's plenty to go around.

Go Vanessa, it's yo birthday!

Vanessa a.k.a. Waneka a.k.a. Eunice a.k.a. Vanista a.k.a. Semona was born on none other than Friday Ausust 13th 1976!
She is my besteset of best friends. We met through our big sisters who finally saw fit to introduce us one hot day in Mississippi in 1982 or there abouts.
I remember listening to Brandi (my big sister) and Karla (Vanessa's big sister) hatch the plan to get us together one afternoon. "They both love Barbies, and they both love horses!" they reasoned, plus it would get their little sisters off their backs. So on that day in the early 80s I waited and waited for Vanessa's Dad to bring to her my Mimi & Pop's house to play. I had actually laid eyes on her before, twice.

Vanessa knows how we kick it in innertubes on the pond!
One time, a long time ago I was in Pop's barn negotiating all the cow shit on the floor. I spied a shy Vanessa standing on the rail by the long trough, she was checkin' me out. "Who is this city girl!?" I'm guessing she thought. Seeing I had a captive audience I decided to try out a phrase I picked up from my cousin that visit. "Gag me with a spoon!" I said of the bountiful cow pies.
The second time, I think I mentioned this before but-the second time I was in the car with Mom, we were dropping Bran off with Karla. They had this long, hard packed dirt & Mississippi kind of pea gravel driveway hemmed in by a field on one side and a field and then woods on the other. As we were leaving me & Mom saw a gray & red streak fly by the car. It was that fiery red head atop her trusty steed, a gray pony named-wait for it-Dusty!
Here is a High School aged Vanessa, senior year I think. Just a bunch of no good teenagers loitering somewhere.
But as I was saying, finally she arrived at Mimi & Pop's house, I had waited for FOREVER! We watched Rocky & Bullwinkle in "the orange room", then we played Barbies at the foot of the stairs. We've pretty much been BFFs ever since.

Vanessa makes an excellent witch on Halloween!
Eunice really gets to shine when attending an annual White Trash Party. Check out the black eye! She does the best white trash act; she's from Mississippi.
Here is a rare shot of us as teenagers hangin' out with her friends. I'm on the far right and Vanessa is against the column to my left.
Those were the days! Actually, those were not my favorite days, probably not hers either, but we still had each other:)
This is one of my favorite sites. The only thing better is the same thing, but with everybody bareback on a horse. Bran leads the way, then Karla, then Vanessa.
We had an amazing and sadly rare opportunity to get together last month, just the four of us, no kids! It was when I was painting Dad's house, they all three came out, we swam in the pond and walked around the farm. We caught locusts and threw them into the webs of Writing Spiders and took pictures. It was epic. That was Karla's birthday!

Vanessa is shy, hilarious, dependable, smart as a whip, fun, insightful, loyal, thoughtful, self reliant, she rocks just in general. Hers is the doorstep you show up on at 3 AM when you've just left your husband. She is the friend you call at 1 AM to ask to take your dog out for you in the morning because you're running off to the beach with a guy on the first date. She is the friend who moves to Hawaii to work there for a year and asks you to drive her new car the whole time she's gone. She's the friend you rely on for things too personal to even write in your own blog.
She's the one you call when it's 4 AM here and God knows what time in Hawaii when you've been on Prednisone for three weeks straight and you think your head is going to explode! Some day, God forbid, when one of my parents dies she will be the one I call to come sit with me and cry and who won't have to say anything at all, because I'll know that she understands; we did that when her mother passed years ago. She's the one who has countless letters from me from the years of our friendship, many of which she could totally black mail me but never has! She's the one who's boxes of letters I still have, even one from kid-dom she wrote after her hamster George died and a tear dropped onto the paper while she was writing and she circled it in pencil and wrote "my tear" with an arrow pointing at it.
She's the little girl in the picture with me & my Mimi picking tomatoes in Mississippi.
She's my oldest, nearest & dearest best friend.
She's The One.