Oct 29, 2005

More stumbling thru the tomato patch. Tripping over pumpkins. Wondering why if Xmas is THE day how come the Wicked Witch of Sins Past and Sins Imagined is able to step center stage when it's only the beginning of November.

I'm sure the Queen of Unease is comfortable that we are unsettled. If it were not for the pumpkin's smile I'd probably vote the 4th of July the most enjoyable time spent on the porch, being benign, being grumpy, being neighborly.

Oct 27, 2005


God. I hate trying to re-learn every little tibbet whenever I become re-involved with the Net. "Hal, where are you"" I mean, shee...Hal was supposed to be on the scene by "2001" - at least according to Stanley Kubrick's version in 1968. 2001? "Hey, Stanley! We're talking about 2005!"

Anyway. Onward and up and out and inside down...here's more "pages" from my Notches. Mainly, as usual, talking about art. (That's what artists do. Talk about art. Some even produce.)

rivy

Jun 25, 2005

Good day, today. Got another load of interesting library books. One on 9/11 personal memories, one on Mayor Koch and NYC in the 70's and 80's. And "The Poetry Home Repair Manual" by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. I get from the intro he's my age. 60's. It looks interesting. Oh, and a video tape on New York histroy from end of WW2 to end of Century.

I'm having this love affair with New York City. I visited there one time only, in 1999 - and wow!- People say they like to visit NYC but have no desire to live there. I do. I don't know how long I'd like it. How long before I turned back to the Ozarks, but I'd certainly like to find out.

Onward with the masses.

May 17, 2005

Tuesday. Signed up with MSN penpal or something and 've been bam-blasted with one pop-up ad after another. It ticks that my computer is not mine. I paid for it. Yet Corporate American aggressively intudes into my time and space when I go on-line. Not fair, folks. Not fair. I don't care who's counting the beans.

Anyway...today. A post. Thanks, Muse.

May 13, 2005

Getting re-started. Regaining traction. I long ago gave myself 3 rules for filling a sketchbook/journal. 1. Put anything down. 2. Don't tear any page out. 3. Continue until the book is filled. It worked. A long, long time. 20 volumes (my Notches) are now filed with the University's special collections. And hopefully will be around for a time. So...telling myself to apply the same thing here. Log in and write something. Show something. Just blog. So...there it is and 'ere 'tis.

May 12, 2005

God, a whole month without anything. It's tough enough being a "pro" at crastination, but putting it on display for others does spike it up a notch. Ah, wail....

Anyway, here's a copy of my letter just posted to Congress via MoveOn.Org. About ethics. About rules. Tongue well in cheek.

I think advice and consent from Congress should come from the party in power, i.e., the GOP. Losers are losers and in Congress they should be treated as such. If additional advice/consent is needed outside the Republican ranks, it should come from True Christian Believers, not those Donkeys on the other side of the aisle.

As far as ethics in the House goes (which is not that far), Republicans are NOT to be held to the same standards as Democrats. If there are NO perks to power, then why seek it?

Republicans seem to understand this. So should the public at large.


Ralph Ivy

Mar 27, 2005

The artist's mind, fueled by desire, denial, and desperation, rises to new levels of creativity, insight, and production. Or so I congragulate myself. I have, this weekend, completed the - at times - overwhelming project of replacing Windows 98 with Windows XP, re-formatting my 30-gig drive, and re-installing Paint Shop Pro 5. And did so with only a mumbling of profanities and minimum of curses to the gods. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. Just maybe I will soon be sharping my virtual pencils and returning to the screen drawing board.

Mar 25, 2005

Billy Goat Tavern. Chicago. "...the legendary Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue, where thousands of ink-stained hangovers were born. Mike Royko sat at the bar, as was his eternal wont..." The description is from "The Confessions of Bob Greene" by Bill Zehme from Best American Magazine Writing 2004. Zehme is talking "circa 1990" but it could be 1963-66. I was a young man in my mid-20's, working a night shift at the Chicago Sun Times. I spent many times there, before and after and in between work. Billy Goat's was a block or so (a short walk) from the Times and a similar distance from the Chicago Tribune Building. Tucked down below the Michigan Avenue overpass, perfect film noir, a place to treasure one's angst while soaking up a beer or two, and listening to competitions between papers and staff spill over into verbal punch-outs. And yes, Royko was there then too. Sometimes friendly. Sometimes not.

...stories to tell. And miles to go in my sleep.

Mar 24, 2005

Back from Texas. Meandering bus trip. 16 hours from Fayetteville, Ark. to San Marcus, Texas down; 24 hours from San Marcus to Fayetteville back. Downtown cold wet city street Tulsa 2 a.m. "Long time gone - Soon comin' home" Woody Guthrie might have sung if there. Or so I imagined. It's why I like bus trips. The mind unwinds. Even if the wind is cold.

Mar 15, 2005

Texas bound. Longhorn country. Leaving this afternoon on the "Dog" (Grayhound bus) for San Marcus. Just south of Austin. To visit artists/friends couple - Don & Shanti - and just kick back on the deck of their country home, watch the fish in the pond, and take a break from daily guilt of not doing all the things I intend to do each day. Good anticipation.

Mar 10, 2005

A week. Good intentions doesn't stop me from becoming a Pro when it comes to crastinations. A week since my last post?

The Muse is unconcerned. "If you're not getting anything done, just fake it." Denial, she insists, actually works. "If you fake it, that means you're pretending to do something you're not. 'Acting' in a word. And that's key ... starting to act. "Sounds good," I said. "Sounds good."

Mar 3, 2005

I like drawing via the computer. I don't like working on the computer. Being a left-hander I'm right-brained to the core. "Remove lid from ink bottle before inserting pen" I can understand, but for anything more complex I might as well turn to my astrology chart. Right now I'm struggling thru the morass of replacing Win98 with WinXP. Simple? Yeah. Right.

Oh, wail....If things don't come together they fall apart. I take comfort where I can. Such reassurances help.

Feb 28, 2005

Verdana Miranda. A journey forward in a backward mind? Ah, mainly just a note to the Muse that all is ...well...all.

Feb 27, 2005

Relief. After weeks of absence I've said something. Posted some pics. I've read women bloggers are more likely to continue blogging than men are. Appears true. Why, I don't know. I'm curious. (mellow).

heavenly debate 1

Sunday. Another month? Mother Month sounds better. Don't know why. An excuse to write (right?) something, anything, probably.