tempus fugit

May 30th marks three years since I started this blog, and the time really has flown by. Counting today's entry, I will have written 242 posts, which averages out to about 80 posts per year, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.72 posts per month, way more than I ever would have thought possible when I started. Definitely not in the same league as this blogger, or her, or him, or even close to my favorite blogger, Bossy, but in the course of those three years and 242 posts, I've discovered that I truly enjoy writing, even though I find it to be an infinitely more painful process than drawing or painting or making teeny tiny little fairy shoes.

I'd never even read a blog until early 2007, when my nephew took a trip to Costa Rica and started a journal to document his adventures south of the border. (It's all your fault, Seamus!)

It was while reading Seamus' blog that I noticed the little "next blog>>" button at the top of his blog and clicked on it...which randomly brought me to her blog, and suddenly a whole new world opened up for me.

The other day, a friend of a friend, who I see maybe twice a year, told me she really enjoyed reading my blog, and I couldn't help but feel astonished. I mean, I know that there are people who read it...I have a site meter that tracks the numbers, but I'm always shocked when someone I know tells me they read it.

I can't guarantee how many more words I have left in me (I've been struggling lately) but I want to thank these bloggers who inspire, entertain, and make me wipe the coffee off my keyboard daily:

• Bossy
• Foolery
• Doves Today
• Mo "Mad Dog" Stoneskin
• Notes From Inside My Head
• San Diego Momma
• Tootsie Farklepants
• Talk About Change
• Artsyville
• Cupcake Murphy
• Written Inc.
• All Adither

And thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this blog every once in awhile...leave me a comment occasionally, would ya?

I don't bite. Usually.

Love,

Petunia

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)