strange but true

• More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.
• The Nobel Peace Prize medallion features three naked men, who appear to be wrestling with each other:

• Over 2,500 left-handed people die every year from using products designed for righties.
• People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all copier errors.

• Oreos are the Official Cookie of Nascar.

Just thought you'd like to know...

knee deep in fairy shoes!

This Saturday, I'll be sharing a booth with Gretchen Boylan at the Alberta Art Hop, a fun street fair in the Alberta Arts District in NE Portland.

They'll be closing down Alberta street to traffic from 11 am to 6 pm, and filling it with all manner of artists and crafters and entertainment, from NE 11th to 30th Avenue.

I'll have lots of fairy couture, including little shoes like these, and new one of a kind fairy dresses.

And here's a little example of what Gretchen will be bringing:

So look for the fairy tent on the south side of Alberta Street, between 19th and 20th Avenues.

You won't miss us...we'll be the tent covered in pixie dust!

Sleeping In The Forest

I thought the earth remembered me,

she took me back so tenderly,

arranging her dark skirts,

her pockets full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,

nothing between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths

among the branches of the perfect trees.

All night I heard the small kingdoms

breathing around me, the insects,

and the birds who do their work in the darkness.

All night I rose and fell, as if in water,

grappling with a luminous doom.

By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

by Mary Oliver

it's all in my head

It always begins with a tiny point of colored light, flashing like an emergency beacon in the very center of my vision. Not even noticeable at first. My vision becomes fragmented in a way, and suddenly I realize I can't focus on anything in front of me because it's blocked by an invisible squiggle, like trying to see clearly through a pane of wavy antique glass. I feel frustration and anger at the disruption of whatever it is I'm working on or reading. Such bad timing! It really pisses me off, and I keep trying to forge on, writing out a check for my cell phone bill, but I can't even see the balance due.

I make a cup of strong, hot coffee and swallow three ibuprofen, to fortify myself against the headache that sometimes comes pounding out of left field after the visual disturbances subside.

The squiggle gets larger, turning into a pulsating snake of interconnected, multicolored triangles. It engulfs my entire field of vision from the left side to my right. All I need is the strains of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit piped in to feel like I'm on a bonafide acid trip.

Now I'm typing through the psychedelia, pretty much unable to see the keyboard or the words appearing on the screen. The snake undulates and jumps, slowly retreating out of my line of vision. Sunlight suddenly streaming through the window next to me hurts like hell and I think I'll retreat into the cool darkness of the living room and a comfy armchair to wait it out.

happy trails, bossy!

A famous blogger rode into town Thursday on her intrepid hybrid pony known as (Harrison) Ford.
Bossy is on another road trip, driving 10,000 miles from coast to coast to convene her council in cities and towns across the country. She's been on the road about three weeks or so at this point, and arrived in Portland after a grueling ten-hour drive from Reno looking a little bleary-eyed, but surprisingly fresh and cheery. (The girl's got some serious stamina. I would have been incoherent if I tried to keep up a schedule like hers!) In fact, I'm pretty sure I was fairly incoherent anyway, after spending the afternoon shoveling all the messes out of the house to make it look presentable to the general public.


We shared homemade pizzas, and salads and a fabulous gorgonzola spinach dip that made it all the way up from Eugene (thanks, Elizabeth - it was awesome!)

That's Amanda on the right, an amazing blogger and about-to-be-published author who's already working on her second novel.

There was some great conversation, which is a given, considering all the talent assembled that night. This is Eliza, a fiber artist and soon to be publisher with two blogs: this one and this one.

Bossy was looking stuff up on her iPhone...what did we ever do without the technology to instantly call up facts when we need them?

Here's Sara, who has a wonderful blog where she writes letters to her young daughter.

That's Ann (who's in a marimba band) on the left, and Elise on the right. I met Ann and Elise and Sara a couple of years ago at a mixed up meetup for Bossy's last road trip. We're all glad we finally got to meet her this time!

I wish I'd taken more pictures, but I was way too busy trying to keep the knuckleheads from stealing the pizza off the table, and generally creating chaos. Plus, it just wouldn't be the real Camp Cactus experience if at least one of the cats didn't draw blood or throw up on the rug. (sorry about that!)

Well, I sure hope Bossy has one or two fond memories of the few hours spent with her Portland Council. You can see her famous long-arm portraits of the whole group here.

And as for me, I'm spending the weekend recovering from Bossy's No Book Tour.

Thanks to whoever left the "lemonade" behind...(and trust me, it is not simply lemonade...that stuff has a kick!)

Happy Trails, Bossy!

(Cooper's already taken over your chair)

it's not as easy at it seems

The past few weeks, I wonder if I've died and gone to accessory hell.

I work as a photo stylist, and even though the average person would never know it, the recession has hit the advertising industry pretty hard. Advertisers have been reusing old photos, running fewer ads and scaling back costs, which means less work for the supporting industries like photographers, stylists and graphic designers. After a very long dry spell for freelance work, things seem to be finally picking up a little.

I've been hoping for work of any kind, not just the glamorous and fun stuff like this:

or this:

or even this:

Sometimes, this is the reality:

Socks. Hundreds of them. Days and days of them, punctuated by piles of hats and gloves, and then - then when I thought I would surely go out of my mind, I get to style SHOES!

So the next time you look at shoes or socks or hats or gloves in a catalog or on a website, think of me and those other anonymous stylists out there slaving away,

lacing all those shoes perfectly.

And just in case you're wondering what kind of shoes I prefer:

another camp cactus tradition

Here at Camp Cactus, all kinds of random events become traditions at the drop of a cowboy hat...like Tostada Tuesdays for instance. Years ago, Matt and Caitie invited a few friends over for a tostada dinner on a Tuesday night, and before I knew it, our Tuesday nights were filled with cauldrons of refried beans, whole heads of shredded lettuce, and enough grated cheese to cause cholesterol levels to rise for blocks around. The smell of frying tortillas permeated the house for days afterwards. Also, I learned to never underestimate the appetites of teenage boys.

So this last Tuesday, when one of Matt's old buddies was in town, we revived the long dormant Tostada Tuesday Tradition...

Caitie fried up a bunch of chips...

Check out the elbow action...frying foods in cute but skimpy outfits requires a special stance.

Mmmm...crunchy goodness!

You gotta love Matt's knife skills.

Fresh guacamole - another tradition.

Greg supervised the preparations, then chipped in by grating a mountain of cheese.

The old gang gathered around the table, and we had ourselves a feast.

Mr. Chubbs is a connoisseur of home made tortilla chips.

Cheers!