Wednesday, November 28, 2012

maybe i am being a little too harsh with gus

(this afternoon, in the car)

"please?"
"no."
"please? please please?"
"no."
*sigh* . . . "pleeeeease?"
" 'it is not that which you hate that will ultimately destroy you, it is that which you love.' "
"oh my god, mom, this is not a philosophical question, i just want a doughnut."

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

vintage thanksgiving postcards FTW!

 i'm not sure what kind of turkey needs this type of attention, but this looks remarkably similar to how i was handled in ob/gyn 6 and 12 years ago at the UIHC.  FYI guys: no woman wants to receive this card.  EVER.

happy thanksgiving season!  an annual tradition at work here: displaying a few vintage postcards to make you scratch your head and wonder why on earth anyone would have ever sent these to their friends and loved ones.  or perhaps they weren't so loved--whatever.  enjoy!

"dude! that new guy who just moved here has like a 20 pound turkey he's not sharing! i'm calling him sir heap shitty neighbor from now on."

"what the...?"

(no comment.)

sometimes confusion is the best way to handle the holidays, and even the dog looks befuddled at this one

american maid holding a flaming...plate of molten lava? seriously, what is that?

a knife-wielding child ≠ a peaceful thanksgiving


and now for some international flavors:

  "HABEN SIE EIN GUT THANKSGIVING!  MACHT SCHNELL!!"

 the british are coming!  and they've brought a dressed turkey.

 well, at least the turkey is accurate...although chinese turkey might be delicious

and a cowboy thanksgiving!  that's international, right?

Thursday, November 1, 2012

halloween 2012

homage to great-aunt mathilde, who was murdered on hallowe'en night...

happy halloween! this year in the triangle we had a flappity bat, an escaped mental patient, fay wray with king kong hand 2.0 and a guy in a pumpkin shirt. we didn't have a ton of trick-or-treaters, but gus and sophie hit up the neighborhood for about 2 1/2 hours and brought in quite the haul. all kinds of halloween shenanigans abounded, culminating in the explosion of a 100+ pound pumpkin sometime around 10:00 pm...but no one called the cops--bonus! now the holiday recovery begins in earnest.

 a flappity bat, hard at work
 
aaah!  scary flappity vampire bat!

 (amazingly, i shot almost the exact same picture of her last year!)

sophie's sweet little 1st grade class

 elementary school neighborhood parade

i'm not sure who should be more frightened in this picture
 
vomiting pumpkin...an annual classic at our house!

cannibal pumpkin, lit by road flare (this is before the fireworks got it)

 
...and this would be the fireworks...

 ...and this would be its final demise.  rich + axe = adios giant pumpkin!

Monday, October 8, 2012

it's coming up on halloween...

...and we're getting ready! we're still recovering from our nuclear-bomb of a house sale in new mexico, but overall things seem much more positive than they have in a looooong time. and while our costumes will probably be nowhere near as mind-blowingly awesome as these, nor will our aquatic skills be as groovy, we promise to put forth some effort. at the very least we will have flaming pumpkins (again).

NOW...who wants to go water skiing?

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

three years and 26 days...

...is how long we kept our beautiful house in new mexico without being able to live in it. 1,122 days total; too many heartbroken hours to count. i still miss my friends and new mexico desperately--in some ways i think we all do--and i have to say this has been one of the most protracted, difficult times i have ever experienced. i am glad it is over. we closed our deal today, selling our home to a lady from new york who is undertaking a wonderful new adventure in the land of enchantment. i truly wish her all the best.

i chose not to live in the place that i loved but rather to live with the person i loved (rich) and to have my children properly educated, hence we live in iowa, and it has definitely knocked me down a few pegs. i'm not as free here, but i don't expect it to last forever...our new mexico adventures, however, have come to a definite end. we ultimately closed the deal underwater in our mortgages and it will take us many months to recover financially. i do wish to punch albuquerque's housing market in its metaphorical nuts. but we have to look forward and be thankful that it wasn't worse--we could have gone bankrupt, abandoned the mortgage, lost a lot more than we did. i'm thankful we did not.

so, starting today, i am an iowan--time to change my driver's license and also finally time to start healing and try to get back to who i think i used to be. there must be something good to be found at the end of this story other than financial solvency.

me and gus at los poblano's lavender festival, july 2009

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

it's fair time in iowa!

a 6-year old's wordless covetousness.

gus, sophie and i spent our last day of summer vacation at the iowa state fair...and it was goooood. we always love the fair: food on a stick, large mammals, obscenely expensive yet surprisingly fun carnival games--all the things that make iowa in the summer great. this year our culinary endeavors only strayed to a pork chop on a stick and a couple of corn dogs, but they were super tasty. next year i'm trying the fried oreos.

spin art!

sophie with the third largest pumpkin at the iowa state fair

flying high above some serious farm equipment and a shit-ton of ag science

miniature flurries/sundaes

miniature skylift chairs

miniature motorcycle, literally

bouncy cords--the amazing thing about this picture is that gus is actually doing it, too


it didn't take sophie long to figure out how to properly use these

games! gus won sophie a stuffed clownfish on this froggie-in-the-lilypad game

yes, yes, we all love boobies

given the opportunity, gus would stay here all. day. long.

shooting star

bumper cars!

sophie had a blast--i think she liked the freedom of finally driving her own car...

...whereas gus took the challenge of bumper car a bit too seriously...but loved it in his own way

Monday, July 16, 2012

ravine: spring

i have been taming the swamp for three years now, and i think it is time to start calling it a ravine instead. these are some images that i shot this spring while attempting to manage the site (something i need to be doing rather than posting pictures). i've neglected the ravine for the past month while in the south, and after looking at these i realize that there is so. much. work. to. be. done. yet.

i think these will be migrated to argusgallery.com, but until then i would love to hear your comments!