Theresa · Mather

Well, the town fireworks were interesting. They were set off to a soundtrack on one of the few local radio stations, "Kickin' Country". Selections included Neil Diamond's "They Come To America" to Nathan Hale's Gallows speech, selections from the Declaration of Independance read to the music of Jurassic Park, but the Grand Finale left no doubt that some in this area still aspire to theocratic dominion- the Grand finale was to "In God We Still Trust" performed by whiny voiced "Diamond Rio", a paean against separation of church and state. It kind of puzzled me how there was all the stuff about the sacrifices and ideals of the founders and then a whiny badly written badly executed song decrying what the founders fought for as the big grand finale, saying there is no separation between church and state and we owe all our money and "freedoms" to God and not anything else.

I guess they lost the right to force all bars to be private clubs you had to pay and fill out a form to enter so they have to tell us they're still in control somehow. :P

Last night at around 1:40 a.m., thunder right over the house woke me up. After the storm rolled through and I had a cup of hot milk and later a generous shot of vodka when the milk didn't work, I finally got back to sleep. I was awakened by the cannon type clap of thunder at around 6 a.m., but when the house didn't shake, I realized something else was up. It happened several more times until I realized that it was percussion from test shots for the town fireworks tonight, extra loud because of the low cloud ceiling. I gave up on sleeping and went out to paint.

This town loves fireworks. I watched the recent ones for the Utah Summer Games out my front window, since they are launched near the base of the hill, and usually they are similar to the ones for the 4th so this year's display should be good. It's shot from the airport, which is at the base of the hill on another side, and everyone parks their cars all around that rural area and sits in or on their car to watch while fire crews stand ready with tanker trucks to put out any brush fires that might result. We'll have to go early since the town is "full" this weekend. By full, I mean that for whatever reason, everyone and their grandma is in town and even the homes that are only used as vacation homes are occupied. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to which holidays fill Cedar City up, but you can tell by the jam packed supermarkets and heavy traffic when it's happening. There were even enough people streaming up the mountain to make it profitable for the police to set up a heavily manned "safety checkpoint" complete with paddy wagon to check cars for illegal fireworks, alcohol and seat belt and child car seat violations.
Coming from southern California, where fireworks are banned in most areas, the relatively out of control fireworks situation amazes me.
There are firework stands open all month here because of the Mormon holiday "Pioneer Day" later in the month which is also a fireworks holiday, and they sell fireworks in the supermarkets the whole time too (and there are usually pioneer day specials on beer...go figure). But this is not enough for explosives-loving Utah, so people trek to the Indian reservations to buy the few types that are banned for consumer use in Utah. The Moapa tribe conveniently sells discount liquor and any firework you can imagine at a handy dandy freeway-side truck stop/Casino between here and Las Vegas- they even provide a location for shooting them off which is usually littered with empty cases of beer and spent fireworks. So people bring back shells and all kinds of things that shoot into the air between late June and Late July and the police frantically follow the explosions in a vain attempt to catch the people firing them off. Last night, there were drunken hoots and hollars echoing through the neighborhood and some almost professional display quality shells were fired into the air. Based on the frequency of wafting wood smoke, the fashionable thing to do this year is to have a campfire in the yard. Down the hill, people even built a campfire on their wooden porch in a bowl of some sort while simultaneously another neighbor shot off fireworks in their back yard. And the town is full of cavorting people. People even shoot off fireworks around their cars while they wait for the town fireworks.
Fortunately, we have been having cloudbursts and everything is damp.....

I hadn't ever shown my work in Southern Utah before, but the show of regional artists at the Braithwaite Gallery at Southern Utah University has changed that. The reception was Friday, and it was fun to finally meet other artists from the community. I think one really striking thing about the show is the wide variety of subjects and media represented- from Emily Bradley's delightful fiber sculptures to Russ Fawson's photo realistic wildlife paintings and fabulous leatherwork and saddles to J. Brad Holt's evocative paintings of regional scenes, and too many more to mention, the variety and quality of work is really amazing, especially considering that this is such a small town! I have 6 pieces in the show, which runs through September 5.
The show includes artists from both Artisans- Cedar City to which I belong and the Cedar City Arts Council.
I'll also be setting up a tent at the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Festival this year. It's a small faire, but admission is free and it's probably one of a very few Ren Faires where you can get a Navajo Taco. :P

I was going through old boxes I'd never unpacked since moving to Utah, and came across a cache of pins I made between the late 80's and mid 90's when I used to do carousel restoration work and attend carousel conventions. They are individually made of polyclay, hand painted to match the original antique they are based upon. They are backed with velveteen fabric for extra sturdiness. Making these was labor intensive. I used to sell a lot of them but I could never justify spending that kind of time on them now, so these are probably the last I will ever make. There are a bunch of different animals available in my shop. The boxes they are in are 3.5 inches square which will give an idea of their actual size. I'm posting pictures of a few of them here, they look nicer in person than in photos.
Bear based a circa 1900 figure by the Gustave Dentzel co.

( More under the cut )

I've entered the time of year where I paint all day long, with breaks to collect 101 eggs on Facebook (yes, I backed off of my no-more-social-networks stance, and like I suspected, Facebook is a time sinkhole.)breaks to fix and eat meals and a little time for some casual games. I keep up on the news via NPR on the radio as I work, so I'm not totally in a bubble.

I finished a new piece for prints yesterday, and hope to finish another today. I'll post them when I have several done.
The reception for the Braithwaite Gallery invitational show of regional artists is tomorrow, and I'll probably go.
We've been busy decorating my new canopy tent in anticipation of setting up at the local Ren Faire in early July. It's a very small Faire, but it's right here in town and we'll be home for it this year so I figured "why not?".

My backyard robin population has recovered after the temporary residence of a hawk, who ate a number of them. This year's crop of babies has fledged, and they are hopping all over the yard doing stupid things like pecking at various items to see if they are edible. I saw one peck a grasshopper and then jump back in total surprise when it leaped up into its face. No veteran robin would be shocked by a grasshopper hopping. Another naive new robin looked in to the kitchen from a cottonwood branch and then freaked out and fluttered to another branch when it saw me.It peeked cautiously from behind some leaves and watched me with apparent fascination and made alarm calls. Jaded veteran robins just boldly stare and sit there. I like robins, and I'm glad they're back. The antics of the babies are pretty funny.
I startled a deer again in the yard when I opened the curtains this morning. It had bedded down, and got up and panicked when it saw a person. I'm not sure why such totally skittish deer decide to live in town, but I think it's the succulent lawns that they're after. Still, they're terrified of even being seen.

I've noticed bats on my evening walks lately. They've been out earlier than I've seen before, so it's been light enough to watch their aeroBATics (snark). They really are amazing flyers, turning so quickly and catching bugs at such a furious rate.

It is such a luxury to have such quiet and uneventful days. It won't be long till I have to plunge back into travel and chaos.

When I lived in Orange County, I knew a number of Persians. It seemed like half the upper and middle class formerly from Iran lived in Southern California. I have a special affinity for Persian food, especially its unapologetic lack of green things- meat on a stick with rice, what more do you need?
My biggest Persian faux pas happened at a friend's parent's house when a lavish spread of food went strangely untouched until someone finally whispered "until the guests eat, no one else can" and I realized with horror that I was what was holding up all the eating. Of course I immediately dug in after that.
After the feast, the disco balls, lights and the sound system came out, all the women danced in a sort of trance like ecstasy, even the moms of my friends. Persians know how to party.
Every year at ComicCon, we still go to a really good Persian restaurant in the Gaslamp district in San Diego. The night after the con, a marinated Cornish game hen served kabob style with a mountain of saffron rice has become my ritual. But when the disco ball descends and the fog machine come out, forget even trying to have a conversation.

On a serious note, I think a lot about what's going on now in Iran. I don't know how brave I would be facing down armed riot police. Most of my Persian friends had been in the US for a very long time, but others paid a horrible price for the turmoil there. I'm not in touch with any of them any more... my life veered off in a different direction. But I think about them and hope they're all doing well.

The Donkey Wonder Will Solve Your Problems. Yes, you read that correctly. This vintage donkey fortunetelling machine promises to solve all your problems, and to do it for the bargain price of one thin coin. And an exact replica of it and many other wonders could be had at the Victorian Casino Auctions which are held every few months in Las Vegas. After attending a few, I now struggle to avoid them because it is too easy to come away with large stuff we really have no more room for. The siren call of these auctions began a few years ago when I ended up snagging a 1909 C. W. Parker wooden carousel horse in outstanding condition for a few hundred dollars. The next one we went to, we ended up with another Parker horse and two large vintage pinball machines. The pinball machines were going cheap, and well, it was just a crime to let a 1939 New York World's Fair edition Keeney "Red Hot" pinball machine go for less than $225.

I checked the auction catalog for this weekend's auction and I thought we were safe...no carousel horses besides some mass production fiberglass pieces. We really don't need more large antique stuff so I was proud of myself for not even going to the auction. I was minding my own business answering email when Barry walked in and asked if I wanted to go somewhere for the afternoon. It turns out that thanks to the wonder of internet live bidding, he had placed a $25 bid on a "Keeny's Favorite" 1948 horse race pinball game...and won it. No one on the floor outbid him, even at that price. He admitted he had no idea how big it was or if it would fit in the vehicle, but we needed to go pay and pick it up. So off we went to Las Vegas. We got there in time for the last dying rounds of the auction. It turns out the Donkey Wonder replica had gone for a respectable $9500, but as usual at these auctions, items of lesser interest go for pretty low prices.

Faced with a very large vintage machine and armed with a few tools, Barry managed to partially disassemble his new treasure and with the help of auction staff, managed to get it safely tucked inside the SUV...barely. It's still in there because we haven't decided where it will fit in the house. Before returning home, we stocked up on stuff at Trader Joe's since there is no such animal in Utah because of the state monopoly on wine and liquor sales, made a quick trip to Micheal's and stopped at the buffet at the Eureka in Mesquite, near the Arizona border just before you pass into Utah.

For a sampler of what part of the drive is like, click here.

I admit I was slightly irked to make an unplanned trip yesterday, especially when I thought we were avoiding the lure of the Victorian Casino Auction, but I'm glad I got out of the house. It put me in a better mood.

I finished painting for the day yesterday, made and ate dinner, cleaned the kitchen and then announced that I was going to do nothing a be a slug and watch some mindless TV for the whole evening. A phone call and an email later, I found myself instead pondering the general unfairness of life, the nature of random misfortunes and other deep questions. One situation made me sad and concerned, the other, I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel. I finally sat down with my crusty old cancerous kitty and a gin and tonic, and proceeded to have the worst cat related allergy attack I have ever had, involving red inflamed eyes, endless sneezing, welts forming where she nudged my face and the insides of my ears itching. I unhappily faced the fact that my crusty ancient 20+ year old kitty is probably my final kitty.
This morning I popped an allergy pill, managed not to trip over the kitty as she did her "food dance" between my feet as I got her breakfast ready and then made fresh blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup. I feel better allergy-wise, but I'm still pondering the deep questions of universal (dis)order and probably will be for a while.

Maybe tonight I can fit in some mindless TV viewing, but I sure won't boldly announce it beforehand! :P

All the buzz about the Land of the Lost movie made me think of the Sid and Marty Krofft shows I watched religiously as a kid. It's been many years since I've seen any of them, so last night I did a little poking around on Youtube. Just watching the credit sequences brings back all sorts of memories.

I wanted to be the girl Bugaloo. I thought the boy Bugaloos were cute.

( More Kroffty goodness under the cut )

So they removed a huge killer bee colony from a home a block and a half away. There were 150 pounds of honeycombs in the eves of the house and the hive apparently had been there for at least four years. So all the bees in my yard for the last four years have been killer bees. They didn't act any more aggressive than regular bees, they just buzzed around and did usual bee things. I guess we should have been tipped off by the fact that honeybees can't survive the winters here... now we know. But a small twisted part of me is also kind of disappointed that after all the hype of the 70's and panic in the media and movies, I lived near killer bees for 4 years and they seemed just like regular bees, happily pollinating my apple tree and rolling in yellow pollen in the wildflowers. Somehow, in my mind, they should have looked more sinister...with some kind of special stripes, larger size or little villain's capes or something.
Even so, I'm very glad no one got hurt.

EDIT: Link to news coverage including video and pictures. I should note though that contrary to the caption, Cedar City is not in Utah county. :P
Click here

I'm irked for two reasons.

1. Pine pollen and privet hedge pollen are making my eyes water and my nose stuffy.
I've taken an antihistamine but it still looks like I've been crying. There is so much tree pollen that there was yellow powder all over my driveway until the rain washed it away, but the rain caused more trees to start blooming.

2. The Cooper's Hawk that hangs out in one of my trees near the studio.
He ambushes robins and jays from the tree. I know he's just doing what hawks do and is just looking for dinner, but finding broken backed robins staggering around the yard and robin parts and piles of robin feathers where he plucked them before eating them on an almost daily basis is getting old really fast. Nothing like getting up in the morning and walking to the studio only to find some form of robin carnage along the path. The hawk watches me through the studio door and I just know if I was small enough he'd try to eat me too.

I was glad to finally get in to my hotel after yesterday's 5 state odyssey. It began with a drive from Utah through a corner of Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. It was about $600 cheaper to fly out of Las Vegas than take the Cedar City flight to Salt Lake and then Delta connection that was our only option from there, and we try to at least keep costs down for the cons I'm a guest at when we can. But the Las Vegas airport is busy, and it didn't help that they were filming a movie featuring George Clooney in front of my gate. By going to our flight " we had consented to be filmed," yadda yadda. There was such a mob around the filming that the crew had trouble getting everyone's attention and loading the plane. If you see me looking annoyed in the background of Oceans 15 or whatever it was they were filming, you'll know how that happened.
The flight took off over the Grand Canyon, and I got some of the best views I've ever had from an airplane. We were admonished to "close the windows" so the immediate showing of a really bad chick flick could keep the plane occupants safely ensconced in the media bubble so they wouldn't notice canyons or other things out the window lest the electronic trance be broken. I wasn't the only one who refused, considering the incredible views, and there was no halting of the plane and no ejection of passengers not hypnotized by the apparently now mandatory constant media stream. Other than screaming babies in stereo for about 45 minutes, it was a nice flight.
We spent an hour in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I have been through the airport many times, but never to the city itself. Then it was on to NOLA's Louis Armstrong airport. It is damp here in New Orleans.. the contrast between the aridity of the desert and the humidity of the gulf is probably about as extreme as you can get. It smells like an old library filled with ancient books.. a faint genteel mildew smell. When we got to the hotel, the bar was filled with oil rig workers drinking and laughing. The flight crew members leaving work for the night who were in the hotel shuttle van with us assured us that the oil rig workers would be in the same stools still drinking in the morning. I haven't been down to check.
The restaurant at the hotel was closing when we got in but kindly prepared some delicious pulled pork sandwiches to go. Sleep wasn't far behind.
So now we're waiting for noon so we can pick up our rental car and see some sights. I peeked outside, and sure enough, there are large tropical houseplants being used as landscape plants. We're definitely not in the Mojave anymore!

This coming weekend, I'll be artist guest at Mobicon in Mobile, Alabama! Larry Elmore, last years artist guest, who could not make it to last year's con will also be there, so you get a twofer on artist guests this year if you attend!
This is my second guest appearance in Alabama- the last was a couple of years ago at Con*Stellation in Huntsville, which was lots of fun. This will be my first visit to the Gulf, and the first time I spend time in Louisiana and Mississippi so I get to cross two more states off my "states visited" list. We'll be flying from Las Vegas to New Orleans, and then will drive to Mobile, stopping to see some sights along the way. We have found some restaurants we want to go to on Diners, Drive In's and Dives including the Blow Fly Inn, I've checked with a former local to verify the yumminess factor, and Restaurants.com coupons have been obtained. My only disappointment is that the New Orleans City Park antique carousel will be closed since it's only open weekends. But we can't have everything, or life wouldn't be such an adventure! Anyhow, I'm looking forward to it, and looking forward to having at least one serious helping of southern style banana pudding. Today, I'm finishing my work for May, packing and doing some neglected housework. This evening we plan to see the new Star Trek movie since there will be no way I can get through a con without it being spoilered. I'm taking my laptop on my trip, so I hope to be able to keep you my intrepid readers updated on my adventures. I hope to post my next post from NOLA. Laissez les bon temps roulez!

There are a few new additions to my online shop.

Out of the Night is double matted to 8x10 inches, from an acrylic original. Signed and numbered limited edition of 125.

I also have a new pair of griffin mini prints:

They are double matted to 5x7 inches, signed and numbered in an edition of 250 each. The originals were painted in acrylic.

There is also a painted feather featuring a purple and black dragon in the originals section.