another

good day before the storm.  so back to town.

breakfast at Cafe Pasqual with Karen Leigh:

then a stroll up & down Canyon Rd.

altho still popular with tourists this stretch of real estate has largely lost its allure for locals. it certainly doesn't have the verve I recall when moving here nearly 22 years ago.

then back to Ecco & a wee chat with JC Gonzo abt a collaboration.

avant le deluge

the proctologist of winter suggests a big rip next week. considering I may be snowbound for days I took the reins.  did the shave/shower routine. then bus hop to town.

had a visit with the Yatika Starr Fields columns.

then a chat with Holly Coonsis before looking at some art. a quick gassy lunch at Bad Ass. then a surprise Ecco encounter with Red Cell a month before he relocates to Istanbul.

finally a bit of shopping. Cheesemongers for blue & Plaza Cafe for cake.

my ice day

took pick to pond where ice was at least 3 inches deep.

this ice chunk hunkers beside my glass block from the Venice in Kent.

then inside for some rare daytime televiewing. men's finals at national figure skating championships.  some lovely skating. but again those controversial judges who love to ruin these events.

the snow globe in these shots was a farewell gift from my library staff who probably didn't realize how brutal winters can be in Santa Fe.

my friend Sheila

in the last few days there has been quite some chatter on Facebook abt Sheila Smith.  so I decided to share her contribution to Gildzen at 50:

Sheila became a Broadway legend when she went on for Angela Lansbury as "Mame" for which she won the Theater World Award. at that stage in her career she was already well-known to theater insiders but suddenly was being treatd as a star.

she went on to tour in the show.  here's a poster:

as part of the Facebook discussion abt her someone postd this rare video of her early in her career:

helping me make it

El Nino has made this some winter to survive. I do what I can to get thru.

but for the past few weeks I've had some joy within my adobe walls. this has had more blooms than ever.

I took a small cutting of this cactus from my resort in Palm Springs years ago. each of these pink blossoms returns me there.

a piece of the past

today is the anniversary of the crash that killd Carole Lombard.

one of the strangest gifts I've ever rec'd was a small piece of wreckage from her plane found on Potosi Mountain just outside Las Vegas.  & it happend that my friend Gary gave it to me just as we were to take one of our road trips.  this one included the small town of Oatman where Lombard honeymoond with Clark Gable.

here are some photos of me & plane piece & honeymoon hotel & "The Book of Java" at the hotel restaurant.

remembering David

one of the positive aspects of Facebook is as a connection tool.

recently someone postd on the Kent page that she had items she purchased at the David Meredith estate sale that she didn't want.  she was hoping a friend of his mite contact her.  so I did.

& today a box arr'd. there was nothing major in it. his sister had already sent me items from his art collection as a bequest. but these minor things were so David.  esp when he included handwritten notes giving their history. it's moving to have more reminders of this dear friend.

butts in Brazil

gymnast Paul Ruggeri posts this picture of him at his hotel in Rio.

it reminds me of this shot of me when I was there.

erasures

"milk can in snow"

finding beauty

when it's too cold to be happy you have to work harder. after a late start & 2 cups of coffee I lookd outside & saw ice. but there also was sun.  so I grabbd the camera.  I knew if I was to make it thru the day I had to put on a positive scarf & task myself myself with joy.  joy is always there.  but sometimes we have to dig to find it.

after taking photos I felt my day had truly begun. it was time to come inside. to throw off my clothes. to be photographd by Jim Ferringer. drawn by John MacConnell. filmd by James Bidgood. time to smile with a smile that wd melt this ice.

none of these things are happening. I'm in a cold place. but smile I try. & a couple of the photos work. & I have poems to write & collages to construct.

I will make it thru winter.

David Bowie (1947-2016)

the Globes were so awful I went right to bed.  so I didn't learn of his death till I turnd on Facebook this morning.

I didn't know he was sick so this death was a particular shock.  Bowie was one of those artists from my long ago who kept growing & changing & creating. I no longer recall when I was first aware of him. but once his presence appeard he never left the stage.  one of the earliest mentions I can find was listening to him on Xmas of 1972 (as documentd in The Year Book).

there's no denying his importance as a musical figure. but he also had a significant acting career.  I remember being startld by him in "The Man Who Fell to Earth."  & I saw him on Broadway as a force in "The Elephant Man."

& now we see his majestic exit plan. my first viewing of "Lazarus" was both a punch in the gut & a hallelujah to an artist who knew how to depart.

Mom's famous collection

there was a great deal of publicity when my mother donated her autograph collection to Kent State University Libraries.  but this morning was the first time I discoverd this.

not long ago Mom askd me to send her one of the articles abt her collection. of all the press coverage I think the best was this from the Lorain Journal the last week of 1997:

attack

just learnd of the stabbing of playwright David Henry Hwang.  glad he survived.

here's a photo I took of him in Santa Fe a few years ago:

Vilmos Zsigmond (1930-2016)

I took this at Santa Film Festival in 2008

mail

last of 2015:
haikus from M. J. Arcangelini

first of 2016:
book from Richard Stabbert

"& so it begins one more time"

I call Alex in Movieland a list poem. some look at it & say it's just a long list. well that's part of it. but one of several things that for me make it a poem as well is rime. but a different kind of rime.

for instance last nite I wore to dinner the I Paralleli silk scarf from La Coupole in Venice.  you can see me wearing it at that 1983 NYE dinner at Taverna la Fenice in one of the photographs in yesterday's post.  for me wearing it again last nite allowd me to include it in Alex in Movieland & that that inclusion is a rime. perhaps more of a cinematic rime. but then I've calld this work the movie of my life / my life as a movie.