The Metaphorical Magpie

Five Senses Friday

Shari of The Glass Doorknob (now sadly gone from the blogosphere) started this tradition a while back and recently, Abby Try Again has resurrected it this spring. I enjoyed playing along in the past and I'm happy to see it is out there again. When I am  playing along, I find I really stop and fully experience things in a way I don't always do when I rush about pressed for time. For Five Senses, I make the time to snatch a moment of sensation.

Notable sensations in the last week:

See
Robins return. Yeah!!
Fuzzy magnolia buds on a tree high above my head. I so wanted to touch them.
Tulips jostling for sunshine in the front garden. Still no flowers yet.

A rural area of NJ I didn't know existed

Smell

The scent of old  books at a library sale

Freshly laundered linens

roasting meats

Taste
Ginger scallion pancakes with wasabi mayonnaise and soy sesame chicken
Panko parmesan coated tofu cutlets with an amazing yellow sweet potato
Eggplant parmesan put up from our summer bounty. The basil flavor rocked.
Pistachio gelato
Sweet potato fries

Touch
teensy tiny rain drops on my face
smooth handmade pasta sheets
tying a filet mignon with butchers twine before cooking

Hear
Sitting in my car after parking to listen to the spring  rain fall on the roof
Catching up on podcasts of The Splendid Table, KCRW's Good Food and This American Life
Susanna's laugh
Seagulls

whisk against a stainless steel bowl

Inside all of us there is a wild thing

As a child, I read countless books. Some of them I remember, many I've forgotten, but one in particular became part of the very fabric of my existence, Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Occasionally, I will still pull it out for a quick and satisfactory read. I love the color palette, the wild things, Max's suit and crown and especially the rumpus. When I bought this house, I dubbed the upstairs room the rumpus room, not as a nod to the game rooms of suburbia but to Mr. Sendak and his creations.

Knowing Spike Jonze was making the book into a film has had me excited for some time. I just got a look at the trailer and it looks beautiful. I love that the wild things are puppets in a very Henson type way. Any child of the Muppet generation can appreciate that, I think. There is a scene where all the wild things are standing on a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea and cheering. I'd like to join them there having fun, romping around. Maybe after dark we could all tromp into the woods and toast marshmallows while we tell stories of our most awesome rumpuses from the past.

The film is opening on October 16. Save me a seat!

On My Mind Mondays

Five Things I'm currently obsessing over:

1: Fold up bikes: I'd like to get a pair for us to ride over the summer

2: Going on vacation: Our wedding anniversary in May will hopefully find us strolling romantic Montreal. I got three books out of the library to do some research.

3: Coconut soda. Mmm.

4: Espalier. A method of growing trees in small spaces in a decorative way. Right now every exterior wall of the house and garage has me sizing it up as a possible location for an apple or pear tree. I really can't wait to start digging up the garden this season.

5: Waiting for the bulbs we planted in the fall to bloom. I check them like a maniac every day hoping for a bloom. When I spotted a crocus in the neighbor's yard and none in our yard yet, I knew it will be soon.

What's your obsessive delight this week?

Craftastic: The gold lame edition

What would happen if Weinerdog from Welcome to the Dollhouse and Har Mar Superstar had a baby?

Leslie Hall! She specializes in hip hop lyricism and sweater rescue. Um, hello? I'm in love with that.

Craftapalooza posted this video, Craft Talk,  and I nearly fell off my chair.

Someone who worships gold lame even more than me! Leslie, is rocking the lame with some sick dance moves in this video , Gold Pants Lullaby.

You can see more of her gem encrusted videos on her YouTube channel. I admit, I spent a significant chunk of time over there this morning. Her band, Leslie and Ly's will be touring the U.S. this spring, if you are feeling the need to see the lame in person.

For added inspiration, add Welcome to the Dollhouse to your DVD watching schedule soon.

For more fantabulous dance moves from a lame clad chubster, feast your eyes on DUI by Har Mar Superstar.

Isn't he something else?

I'm definitely wearing my gold boots today.

Seeing some light

When I asked you, kind readers, last week what you do to mix things up when in a creative slump, I got some really excellent feedback. Thank you so much. It's given me much to think about and the idea that sometimes thinking is not what I should be doing.

 On the same day I took the bird photos in the last post, I has wandered around the house taking random shots. This one of our fireplace mantel reminded me of pleasant vacations in the Pacific Northwest with my friend, Cyndemouse. When I took this photo of her on the Dungeness Spit on the Olympic Peninsula, at the time I was documenting the rocks we were prohibited from collecting as souveniers. Since then, I've loved the image for the slanting late afternoon light and her outstretched hand which always offers me new delights of friendship and comraderie. Those stones are time worn and smoothed just like our many years of friendship. The photo behind that one, is an all time favorite of mine. I was flattered when Getty Images invited me to start marketing some of the  photos I've posted on Flickr. This is one of the photos they chose. I haven't decided if I want to license Getty to sell my images as stock. But  the offer seemed like the creative validation I needed to get me over the hump.

That small photo of me as a child amongst my mother's rose bushes was taken by my father. I think it is so interesting that although I did not spend many of my years in his company, I somehow inherited his love for photography.

I'm going up to Providence, RI this weekend to tour the Johnson & Wales campus. I'm going to bring a camera with me. Which one, is not yet decided. Your comments in the last week (especially the other Magpie's) helped me realize the gear is not the main attraction. Thanks for that!

I've been taking naps lately, drinking genmacha tea, burning incense, cooking for a friend, walking the boardwalk, making fresh carrot/ginger/apple/celery/parsley, baking up a storm, storyboarding an idea for an Indian themed catered event and peering every day into the garden for signs of life.

What's new with you?

Winging it

Bonus day, today. Hurray for that. I've been feeling a bit down trodden lately. The never ending winter chill has me down. I miss the garden. Someone I have to deal with every day that I used to have a good relationship has suddenly turned on the attack and has been making my days long and stressful.

Having a free afternoon to watch the birds bombard the feeder is exactly what I needed to refresh my spirit. Some coffee, some music, sleeping dogs, phone calls to friends and my feathered friends right outside the window makes for a happy Monday at my house.

All this relaxation inspired me to pull out my camera which has been languishing for a few months. Honestly, I've been pouting because my Powershot bit the dust over the summer and my favorite lens for my SLR, the 20-35, is busted. I've been using a 50mm and I can't stand that lens. I shot these with a 70-200, which I love, love, love but the thing is ginormous and not something I like toting around everywhere.  Now I'm torn between buying a replacement wide lens to use with my SLR or buying a new smaller camera like a Canon G10. To make things more complicated, the new Canon SX1 coming out in April looks pretty sweet, too. Of course, buying the new lens AND a new small camera is really the best course of action but I'm trying to choose one or the other. Until I decide, I'm going to work with what I've got and see what happens. There are a few film bodies floating around the house, too. Maybe I should switch gears to shooting film or medium format to switch things up.

 How do you switch things up when you are at a creative stand still?