Wayward Art and a costume

Almost Home. Pardon the poor quality pics, I was shooting in low light.

Raspberry Barvarian and Zucchini Fritters ...

... and Ginger-Orange-Oatmeal cookies. Needed more crystallized ginger, but chopping it up is a pain.



While I normally don't "do" fried foods, the neighbor's gift of giant zucchini meant I couldn't steam them. The big ones are ... weird when steamed. I suck at making zucchini bread, so I went with fritters. Couldn't find my coarse grater, had to whip out the Japanese cleaver and do a LOT of fine slicing. yes, they were delicious with poppyseed dip. Yes, that's a combo of olive and canola oils. Tasty, MyLarry really enjoyed them.

In this summer heat, the raspberries go over-ripe on a hurry. You have to cook with them, so I gave a Bavarian a shot. I made mistakes. I should have set aside a little whipped cream for garnish. I don't care, it is a tasty beast. I even grew the strawberries!

And don't look at my kitchen too closely, the camera adds ten pounds ... of dirt!

The wheels on the bus...

At 100 degrees and the swamp cooler laboring, I find it too hot to write much. So you get pictures of the wheels of the happy Hippie bus.

Goodbye Cricket.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Could I be any lamer?

On a whim, I googled myself. I knew my real names, married and maiden, wouldn't bring up much, there's more impressive Margarets out there than I. Ah, but maggiemayday and Anti M? Both are names of bands, those come up first. Anti M has all sorts of antibody links. As for the rest, well, it is a good thing I'm not job hunting. I'm blushing a bit over my fangirl tendencies. Just so ... geeky. At least I don't go to cons. But you know I would if Burning Man and Dragoncon weren't held on the same weekend. I'd love to see Deb and just unleash my inner fangirl with her as a guide. Geeez. Never going to happen, I may be geeky, but I drank the Kool-Aid in the desert, LOL.

As for the burner stuff, hell, not an eyeblink. I am proud to be a burner, I'm one hell of an outsider artist, and like all jaded old burners, a rockstar. All burners are rockstars. That's the beauty of a radically inclusive community, we all have something to contribute. I must say, I stand in awe of my burner friends, they really, really are rockstars. I mean, Apokiliptika, the Booby Bar, Zsu-Zsu, U-Me, Barbie death Camp, the mutant vehicles, the art installations? I can't begin to have that type of expertise and energy. Although I am pleased my modest Home for Wayward Art is a huge hit. That means expectations, and we all know how expectations work in the desert dust. They do not.

Busy summer. I've slacked off on the art, but I truly need to pick up the paintbrush. The trip to San Diego is bad timing, but we all agree the four of us need the break. The kids will be moving into a new house two days after we come back. Then there's Baby Burner Bootcamp to teach the newbies gently and hands on what the Ten Principles mean. Leave No Trace sounds easy until you're picking up feathers and sequins from the ground. In June we have the Utah burn, Element 11 (sodium, salt lake, get it?). Not only do I have the Home for wayward Art, I'm on fire safety as the fuel master with MyLarry, and I'll be one of the co-Artery coordinators. That volunteer position makes me nervous, I don't know exactly what the Utah artery will do, a work in progress. Then July will have Z coming in for a visit. August into September is Burning man, and of course that means art, art, art, prep prep prep. Feels good to have so much going on, but I am stressing just a hair. I shouldn't I have plenty of support. Hawaii in January is beginning to look really great to me!

Mayday, Mayday

Okay, this is before the weed mats and the white rocks got put down. I'll take more pictures after it stops raining. What is this? Seattle?

The compost beds and composter. The old Christmas tree was the neighbor's, we can burn it.

A month and I've not posted? Is it the Twitter? The Facebook? A little, but mostly just a hectic and crappy month.

The superhero fundraiser was alright. We personally raised very few funds for ourselves, in fact, I spent too much on paint. It was fun. Larry looked amazing in his batsuit, but I don't have a picture. Perhaps that's a Good Thing, he was Bat Girl in stilletto boots.

I came down with a terrible cold just a few days later. I was so sick I didn't get out of bed for three days except for needs (bathroom) and wants (liquids). I still have a lingering cough. his may be related to hay fever and asthma, but the overall effect is that I've been down for several weeks. Oh yes, and that Aunt Flo thing. You'd think I'd be done with all that.

Larry's been home a lot, some weeks he wasn't, like when I was ill. This week there was only one steel load. Sure, he had a day of training and a local or two, but that makes it hard to pay the bills with joy. He did do a lot in the garden for me. He worked over the compost beds, and raked and has been clearing the mess around the back fence. Put down weed mat and started containers, put up a fence to slow down the dogs, and I got my solar lights placed. The peas are already up and the lettuce is beginning to show. I could harvest rhubarb right now. And chives. The strawberries have buds!

The Happy Hippie Bus stalls out. Kinda.

The work on the bus stalled for a bit. First, I was doing all that stuff with the fast heart rate, the bad medicine, and the heart stress test. Distracting. Ranger Borderline usurped my workspace to paint her black cat lamp. We kept trying to yell at the cat on the table. One thing, then another. I've been doing mundane and boring bits; white trim for the roof, beginning the wheels, the door, layer after layer of bus yellow paint. Dull. The exterior murals will be far more entertaining.

The weather has been odd, warm then snow, snow then warm. Argh. MyLarry tilled the garden last week and moved the wisteria vine. We hope it survives the transplant, but it could not stay where it was, against the back fence. The vines get wild in the summer, and the Evil Bitch who lives behind the vinyl privacy fence has her garden guys lean over into our yard and hack away. They don't trim, they slice deep into the woody heart of the wisteria. So one way or the other, the poor thing was being brutalized. Now there's a discrete and happy little dogwood shrub in the vacated hole. Shrubbery! I have a shrubbery!

Getting ready for the Element 11 fundraiser is keeping me busy too. I have a painting station for kids, although I wish I had a wider selection of things for them to paint. Plenty of boards, but also masks, canvas mats, birdhouses and some wooden heart shapes. Plus the Home for Wayward Art; I have plenty leftover art from last year. We shut down a day early because of all those intense dust storms. Not very good art, but wayward indeed.

The Super-Hero theme should be great fun, although as usual, MyLarry has a better costume than I do. He's just so tall and slim and has no shame or inhibitions. We found him the greatst pair of shiny over-the-knee stiletto boots on clearance at Hot Topic today. Nine freakin' bucks! Add the PVC hot pants, the mask and a silver cape? Super Larry! I need to make him a super shirt with an "L". Yes, yet another project to delay the bus.

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