Thirty

Last Friday i turned thirty and my family helped me ring it in big time on the cape. Jess, Eliot, Dylan, Beth, Steve, Sabine, I went down to celebrate and my dad went all out with the barby Tim and I got him for father's day. It was great. My birthday weekend was mostly spent on the beach and was really fun.
I forgot to tell a story about yesterday's show. This girl who I was splitting a booth with and I were next to this hilarious guy allegedly named Giovanni. He made things out of building materials. This was not what was funny about him though. The funny thing about Giovanni was his very fake accent which modulated between a fake Brooklyn accent, and an Italian accent. I am quite sure he was doing it for sales but he amped it up for the art lady next door who he was buying sodas for and fetching things for all day. It was one really redeeming thing about the art sale with so few sales.

Laziness

Yesterday was the Portland Sidewalk Art Show. It was a wash for me. After recouping my losses(table fees, food etc.)I really ended up making like five dollars profit. I think my work needs some work. I will not be doing that show again any time soon. It is not profitable for people selling originals because it is just so saturated. There were about three hundred booths there and it was just too much to take in. It is much more profitable to just go out on a day in Portland when you know tourists will be out and paint.

I am heading to the parents this weekend for my birthday with the family. It should lovely. We are going with a caravan from maine comprised of all of the seven russel families. It should rock.
I talked to my long lost second cousin who I have not seen since I was in NY for tennis in 2005. He sounded fantastic and will be here tomarrow. Max is in town this week too. i think he Just came in so it will be great to see him as well.
Eliot is saying a variety of word other than mama and dada now. he is saying dexter, cat and doggie too. It is really cool to see him learn words of things he is excited about. I think he already knows what the word is, it just takes a lot of excitement to prod him along into bothering to learn that word. That is what makes me think he is going to be as mad about animals as his mother.
This mornign was lovely. Jess, Eliot, and I went walking around town. It was really busy down there the tourists were hillarious. Jess and I looked rather clownish too with jess sporting a hat that made her look like the plantet saturn and me rolling up my see-through scrubs to expose my black socks with sneakers and lovely pasty white legs. I think I will send tha trequest in for a makeover to that tv show after all. Its that or join the circus because I make a great clown.

Had the nicest day today. A lovely morning with Jess followed by a nice trip with Eliot and a couple of our favorite friends from the Ballard house. We went over to S. Portland while Jess stayed home getting her projects worked on. She is really amazing at getting things done when she has the oppertunity to sleep and have uninterrupted working time. It makes me want to get her staying home crafting for her work. She is just to talented to be doing anything else.
I have been trying to paint as of late which has been fun but very fruitless as far as quality is concerned. I just have to bucle down and start working towards tecnical skill gaining goals. Having seen the fair in S. Portland I have realized it is time to pick up the pace. The Portland show is just around the corner.

Portland featured in the news

Here is a picture of a friend of mine admiring the article in outside about Portland Maine and how mnice it is. It had a photo of a longboarder skating down free street but i did not recognize him. It is great to get the national exosure but if you really were going to personify Portland I think the best way to do it would be with a picture of One of our more notorious and colorful chartacters. For instance maybe the fellow who rides around town with a stuffed animal in his bicycle's baby seat.

It has become increasingly apparent there is a conspiracy against
pedestrians and people who enjoy just meandering the streets of
Portland in general. Everytime a walker ventures out they do so at
their own risk. The things at risk are not lives, money, or fame.
Rather they are risking their own dignity. This has lead to hillarity
once again today.

Like any day it began with a struggle to get out the door. Eliot was
feeling grouchy, I was too. He was hungry so was I. We headed to the
Public Market for some bread and cheese. On the way in I noticed the
bat shit guy who has been harassing Eliot and since we started going
out. Here are some of the lovely things he says when we wlak by just
to get you up to date.

"Ah, the smell of poverty!"
"So many poor people on the streets."
"There is such a problem with white trash in Portland."
Needless to say I was looking forward to going to Zarra's so I could
get harassed by this crazy bastard. Any way I walked by him without
any kind of altercation which surprised me. He surprised me again by
following me into the coffee shop.
I will explain the nature of this crazy man a bit so you can
appreaciate the feeling of apprehension, better yet I will just show you a picture of him in the act of being crazy writing down phrases in chalk on a pad. He laughs at them with a wry smile then begins anew with a fresh sheet of paper and a new insane phrase.

My problem is not with the fact that he does this. I admit it bothered me he was such a bastard but then I realized he was just a crazy angry man. The problem is what the hell to do with a person who seeks to try and be actively unfriendly to a stranger. It is not against the law to talk to strangers. Not even against the law to say what he has said to me as I pass because he has never done it in a direct way. It is maddening because if he had I would have gotten a restraining order against him long ago. I guess we as Portlanders on foot must just grin and bear it. it is after all our our calling to be heckled by the homeless.

The Inernet is in My Hands!!!! muhahaha

IT has finally happened to me. The internet has come to my house. I will be doing lots of stories about computerlessness along with stories that are more current. Really nothing of ground breaking import has happened as of late. You faithfull stoppers by have4 not missed a darn thing. I will try to remedy that in the future.

Hello Portland

Jess Eliot and I have finally gotten back on line. It has been a lovely escape for the last two months but reality has set in, I am addicted to the net. I have to read the blogs. They were the one thing I missed about lowtechdom. Lots has happened but not really blogable stuff. I will be having a tent at the sidewalk art show. It should be fun but I really do not have enough work right now. I only have 25 days to get my shit together. That is assuming I have a great painting day every day. I need to get hopping. Here is a picture I did a while ago. It is sold but i think If I did more of these I could get some commision work. Who knows. Its called a portrait of a sick man, I did it very quickly it is water color, partially wet on wet some dry on dry and some ink. It was a happy accident that it resembled the subject.

HOwdy there readers, big news!

I just wanted to let you all know due to the fact that aol is a horrible company I will not be using my netscape email address. I will try to send out as many updates as possible. I just can't deal with the popups and all that. The new address is kgarde61@gmail.com it should be grand.
Eliot Jess and I have been enjoying this hot weather though I have been rather sick for the last few days. hopefully I kicked it today and am on the mend. We have to move this week and I can't be sick for that can I?

ann and eliot

We had a very successful trip to the parents new house. it is awesome and we enjoyed walking on the trails around it. We met some neighbors and saw family but never quite made it to the beach. next time I guess. We will be moving on the last of the month into a great new place. it is just what we were looking forminus a few ammenities. alas as mick jagger said you can try sometimes and you jsut might find you get what you need which is what we got. It is a great place on the west end a block from my work with a landlord who loves eliot and I know already. we are excited. it is said to leave bracket street but we really needed something bigger. cathy and I will stay in touch I am sure. she is excited to see the new place too.

I must Say the universe has not been providing

We are looking for a new apt and have been having quite a time finding th eright one. there are lots of places looking for tenants but they also are looking for to damn much money. we are going to one right now and the rent there is one thousand dollars a month(everything included). It is a nice place but please. this city must throw us a bone. I know the guy renting it so maybe he wil give us a break.

It is a great day

This lovely scene took place before the bad haircut as you BLOGGING bloggers may have noticed. Beth took this one. The light in there made picture taking an option not to be missed.
I just did miserably at my microbio test. The grade should go nicely with the lab I had last week. I really am beginning to feel like I am unable to remember anything. I used to blame it on a host of things. I think it is time for me to come up with a fresh new silly excuse. As usual all entries will be judged by merit and the winner will be featured in the next holidays round of satirical poems.

The good ones jess took

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add ImageI have been having a great time with jess' camera but as you can see by sabine's picture she is still the master of the photo universe. we all had an awesome time wiht the baby racing and all when the nine of us get together it is quite a rare treat. We are fortuante to live near such wonderful friends.

Sew buttons on pink ice cream

was judy's most recent response to our constant banter of one-up-person's-ship. We were trying to out-adage eachother. She won as usual but I was not trying and becides she is wiser than I am. I hope her schmoo exacts revenge.
One nice thing about the elders is that they have suck excellent vintage adages. America as they veiwed it in their twenties was filled with hip jargon and every now and then one of them will revert and the deluge will ensue. It is as if they are speaking in toungues.
I want to give a shout out to the heat's this evening. I am thinking of yous. and yours. I also want to put up this here silly pictyure for good luck and measure.
I will call it powerful hugs. Hydroluck., I am to tired to write I get silly after eleven and can't spell

Thank you to my least favorite consumer

I would like to thank my least favorite consumer for the cold she gave me and my family. On the behalf of the families of the two people who died from the viral lung infection, thank you as well. It is so nice to work for someone who is so ungrateful then get something from them that I can share with my family. Jess has enjoyed her head cold though I promised her it would be even more fun when it hit her lungs. One other consumer is thoroghly enjoying her last days after her tablemate hawked all over her and gave her a lung infection as well.

Check out Eliots mike jordan impression!

You GIve me Bad Hair CUT! I give YOU Bad Haircut

For those of you wondering what the difference between a nine dollar haircut and a fourty dollar hair cut I would suggest you meet up with this gentleman at Longfellow square. I have never been so badly butchered in my life. He left my hair comically uneven on all sides. It was as if the barber stepped out and a homeless man set up shop in his stead. The funniest thing about it was I was fine with it. I think I was like a newfoundland who gets a summer shearing. I was just so happy to be able to see past my hair I forgot to check the cut out. It was rediculous. COnsider this your fair warning Portland, this charachter may be a locally owned business but there is a reason why he has no franchises.

Oh SH**. It is alive!

This just happened over the last few days. We are so in big trouble.