Common Ground Fair

Today was the common ground fair in Unity. The three of us went up and had a great time. Jess and Eliot were kind of tired when they first arrived but the fun crowds and great stuff buoyed their spirits and all was well. We saw many people we knew but did not get much time to talk as Eliot was requiring lots of attention. One time today I was letting him push the stroller in front of me and i looked up to see what was ahead. When I looked down Eliot was no where to be seen. My heart skipped a bit or five until I turned and saw he was right next to me in my blind spot. Scary feeling.
One the way home we stopped in Augusta. It was nice to spend some time there having a quick bite. We ate overlooking the city at Evergreen Cemetery. It was beautiful.

Commonground right around the corner

This weekend is commonground. I managed to get a day off. Jess Eliot and I will be hob knobbing with hippies this weekend. I am thinking about skipping the watermellon this time around.
Eliot is getting real chatty. very cute indeed

Community is happening

Today I met up with a couple of friends and their children and so very lucky to live in Portland. We had not really planned on meeting up. The smallness of the city just kind of made it happen. This is what I love about this city.
I helped out mama Jess like a big boy today cutting out her patterns in corduroy. She seemed to think it was worthy of praise but I had to go to work before I received my payment in smooches.
Tonight at work was very silly indeed. I had KFC for the first time in a long time. It was tasty yet foul. I think I will stick to Rosie's wings. Tonight I am staying in. I would have gone out had I found out about any happenings but I think I would be just as happy at home. It is chilly and Portland needs me to sleep I have another day of chance meetings scheduled tomorrow.

Another Weekend in vacationland

IT was a typical weekend in Maine, oceans butterfly chasing, photoshoots, and keg parties. The friday revelries found me across the beer pong table from a formidible adversary, my own good friend dave and Jeanette. The occasion was a money raising party for Jeanette's prodigal art but it ended up being free for me. I think Jeanette knew I was a lightweight. I have to give them a cheer for their beer pong prowess but a jeer for Dave's sportsmanship. His tenure on the table was due largely to creative interpetaion of the rules and of course his insistance that everyone only have one game. Dave your days are numbered as beer pong master. Eliot and I have a strategy for dethroning you and your made up rules!
Seriously though it was good to go to a keg party even if it did make me feel a bit more thirty than I would like to feel.
Speaking of thirty my coworkers are getting a cheer from me tonight for the surprise birthday party they threw me. Not only did they have a swell shindig but they had a great cake and flowers too! I was so surprised I almost needed to borrow a depends before digging in. The flowers have been drawnw twice and will be painted tonight time permitting.
Jess and I did a relationship stress test otherwise known as a photoshoot. We are not meant to work together with cameras. We both enjoy being creative and bossy at the same time which results in lots of commands and few commandees. None the less the photos of Eliot wearing the Miss Lulu's stuff came out great.

Well I Haven't Any Photos to Fluff Up Today's Report

Today has been very slow. It is not so beautiful and I found out I missed my test to get on the list for the nursing program here. No worries though. The clouds will clear and there will be another test this October.
Eliot is not just satisfied with walking anymore. His ambling has given way to faster version of itself. It is fun to watch him run and tumble. He is very good humored about it. That is all for today.

Check out these for the changes in the art

There are four paintings done during the last three years. I am just marveling how it is like I have never painted some things before. Other things I have a better sense of how to paint them now than before I took my break for fathering. It is remarkable how Eliot has brought about change. Jess has changed too. It was just more subtle. Her creativity is efficient yet fluid. She plans and plan in her head how to make a creative thing happen then executes it with few snags. She is able to anticipate the points that will be frustrating to her and avoid them. IT is a skill I would do well to emulate.
I am hoping the classmate I had gotten an order from buys these paintings of her dog. I had such a hard time doing them because they were tough angles. The photos really were flat and I had no sense of the dogs length and purportion. So hard to do without the dog on the spot.
If any of you want work done please send me notice. I am finished with all of my commissioned work presently and am looking for more. Sky is the limit as usual of course.

Big news

The Little Bunny is being carried locally at Miss Lulu's on Gold Street in Portland. Jess, Eliot, and I went in today and brought along the pants and outfits she had made. The owners were very pleased to see how very beautiful her work is.
I have been absolutely thrilled ever since as our goal eventually is to have Jess doing this type of work full time.

today I declared a pair of my own socks to be more foul than dirty diapers. They will spend the remainder of the week with the dirty diapers for this offens(ive oder). The homeless made not one crazy comment. It was a slow but good day.

Boy Charms and That is all

Eliot came to work today and worked it. He really did his rounds at seventy five state streets third floor living room. It was really funny how he toddled from resident to resident.
We went to the farmers market in the morning for some veggies for Dexter and a nice lady gave us some carrot tops for free. I think Dexter will agree that was very nice of her. We have been worried as of late for our little Dexter as he is getting old and is not as continent as he used to be. I am thinking of crafting some bunny depends. Does anyone have any patterns out there?
It looks as though Jess will be having her stuff out by the end of the week. The prospect of her getting the praise I have been giving her only on a larger scale makes me excited. She has peed on her parades in the past, underselling her own talent so it will be nice to say told you so when the rest of Portland lines up to wear A Little Bunny originals
I have been doing two commissions finally that I have been meaning to do since school let out. They are pet portraits and seahorses so I was not feeling as amped about them as usual. It was good to have work though and of course the practice is always useful.
Lastly our new advice from the crazyman section:
Today in the outdoor market the crazy guy who is always talking smack told me to "Look at all the fat Americans." He is truly one crazy motherFer. It is fun to keep track of him and the various craziness he espouses. I will have to do a video about him.

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

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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.