Lost things.

We often lose things, people, memories.

Sometimes they are gone forever;

but sometimes, only sometimes, they come back...

"Lost Things" by Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths From here 

Shoe envy.

Growing up in Mexico City meant always being on the move, having to walk with a confident stride through its crowded streets, dashing after busses and jumping off of them while still in motion (literally!). And that pace implied having to wear sturdy shoes that could keep up. Dr. Martens boots were my daily companion for the longest time.

My life is very different now. Because I live on a small town without access to public transportation I have to drive everywhere, and while that is ironic since I have never had a greenest lifestyle as I do now, it has allowed my footwear to evolve and diverge. Since I relocated here I have acquired a fair amount of shoes. Dressy colorful shoes, strappy sandals, boots... I have allowed myself to wear high heels for the first time in my life.  I love my shoes and wish I could have more space to keep them.

Then I saw this:

Photos from pink kitten's shoe closet via copper + lace

I could not stop staring! It is surreal, crazy and intense and yet there is a creepy Imelda Marcos side of me that wishes that shoe closet could be mine. 

I just had to show it to J. 

J's reaction:   Wow...

Me:   I know... *sigh*

Him:   How many feet do you think she has?

And that, in a nut shell, is why I love him.

All Over Coffee (Paul Madonna).

Image from the this week's SF Chronicle

One of my favorite artists, Paul Madonna, is presenting next week his second collection of All Over Coffee illustrations. You might know him, as his exquisite drawings appear every week in the San Francisco Chronicle. Paul's drawings used to depict mainly the beautiful city of San Francisco but have moved on to take us around the country and the world looking for the quotidian.

My favorite part about his art is that his drawings include text, sometimes hidden, that make the scenes deeply humane and somehow familiar. They are a window to someone's soul and individual perspective and remind me of Robert Swartwood's Hint Fiction (I referred to it here).

Image from this edition of the SF Chronicle

Image from here.

The release party for Paul's new All Over Coffee book: Everything is its own reward will be on Friday, April 29th, at 7 pm at Electric Works Gallery in San Francisco.

Hope to see you there!

Beekeeping in early Spring (adding supers).

Mr. J in action!

Last week J helped his dad to prep his beehives for the upcoming warmer weather. During winter, bees need a snug space to live so that they can keep warm and cozy, but once the weather warms up it is necessary to add space to the hive to prevent the bees from swarming away looking for more space to grow the hive, make more bees and gather pollen and nectar to produce honey with all the new blooming goodness out there (yay!).

Hives can be constructed according to the size needed by piling up "supers" on top of each other. Supers are bottomless and topless boxes that can contain wax "frames" where the bees build honey comb from.  They come in three different depths, so you can actually experiment with different increases for different conditions and according to the specific hive.  Inside, the hive is like a building all connected throughout where the bees can move freely.

J's dad has taken care of bee hives for more that 35 years now, and his honey always wins prizes at the County Fair. Right now he has 7 hives, and I tagged along with J to see him expand them.

Equipment: smoker, brush, gloves.

The smoker helps to make the bees believe there is a forest fire. That makes them go into survival mode, go inside the hive and gather all the honey then can to then fly away. But they never actually need to evacuate when you use a smoker, as you don't take long enough to allow them to. The smoke makes the bees occupied and that way they are not as protective and aggressive as they would without it. It also disguises the smell of the beekeeper. 

You can see different depth supers in this hive.

You have to move gingerly while handling a bee hive, even while wearing a suit.

And this is why!

Empty wax frames for the bees to build unto.

Honey filled frame! We did not extract honey today.

 Velvet sneakers and Me.

Happy Sunday (after a near catastrophe).

In spite of the horse and donkey getting into their feed yesterday and us being up all night making sure they were fine (horses can severely harm themselves by overeating, and sometimes die from it -Yikes!), and maybe because of that, we have had a nice slow morning today.

By the way, they survived.

Two animated poems by Billy Collins.

Two beautiful poems by Billy Collins to brighten your day:

Let's fly away!

Don't you sometimes feel like taking off?
Leave everything behind?

Here is our answer!

Up-inspired house  by The National Geographic Channel (via Mighty Girl, via say YES! to Hoboken)

The National Geographic channel has enacted Pixar's film Up as part of an upcoming series called How hard can it be? to be released next fall.
Isn't that amazing?

I hope I dream about being in that floating house tonight...

Thomas Doyle.

Acceptable losses, 2008

Today I was happy to discover a fantastic artist! His name is Thomas Doyle and his pieces are absolutely amazing. They remind me of sweet dream-like nightmares, with the perfect balance of good and evil.

Here are some examples of his work, I hope you find it as exciting as I do, and please make sure to click on his name above to see different angles of the pieces depicted and much more.

The barrage lifts, 2010

Dissolution of entities, 2006

All without an airlock, 2005

Null cipher, 2006

Little optimum, 2005

They draw you out, 2006

The reprisal, 2006