This isn’t just another birthday…it’s entry into the club. For my sister upon turning 50

You are the 

Interpretation of modern femininity

Gentle yet radiant

Daring. Spirited. Embracing. Provocative.

art warrior and earth mother

authentic woman of strength

little sister,

who listens 

to the drum of raindrops

colliding with song

…melody like floating in a field of lavender.

Breathing it in, you breathe it all in

And find an elegant silence

within the canvas of your mind

of what you can create.

And everywhere

everything is inspiration

for your resilient voice.

Open the secret door like Alice

and jump in. 

We are there in the clubhouse

with a glass of wine and a map.

The Big Dream Adventure

with Michelle Magdeline & Molly

The Sleep Adventure begins

Michelle Magdeline and Molly try and try

But they can’t fall asleep when they close their eyes

So they think up adventures for dreams so sweet

And travel to lands of adventures and treats        

Do you want to come too?                                         

But of course bring a friend!                                      

Cuddle up in your blanket  

Back home we go.....poof!     
                                                   

Night 1

Bouncing ballet on springy mushroom tops                                         

Made of marshmallows, fruit juice and sour gum drops

Molly floats by on an orange jelly ball    

Singing a lovely tune I recall

And fluttering beside me

A whisper butterfly

I close my eyes laughing        
                             

And here we go….whirl!

See Michelle Magdeline and Molly?

Night 2

On the juicy plum sea Molly and I float

With my purple umbrella in our favorite boat

We watch pretty gold fish dance and fly by

As we snack on fresh picked blueberry pie

I love to be lazy

On our dream summer day

It makes me sleepy

Back home we go….whoosh

Michelle Magdeline wears a long wig

Night 3

The Big tent played a tune as we soared in the sky

Powered by bubbles, super favorite surprise

And all the circus animals came with us too

Happily drifting in the sky of light blue

Let’s borrow a bunch of bubbles

Put them in our bath tonight

Fill them all with wishes

Back home we go….splash

Michelle Magdeline LOVES bubbles

Night 4

If I could be as tall as a stately giraffe

And nibble on a licorice forest perhaps

I could wave to Miss Molly who would meow in reply

Let her climb in my arms and swoop her up high

You can see the whole world

From the highest perch

Look! our house over that hill

Back home we go….swoop

Night 5

I love to ride my red bike with Molly out front

We search all over town on a fun treasure hunt

Some flowers, a book, an old key in a chest

Are part of the fun time clues that we guessed 

We will pop into the bakery

Share a cake for our snack

Wrap up all our treasures

Back home we go……munch

Night 6

We skip along brightly colored mountain tops

Made from four flavors of squishy gum drops

Fireflies zip around heart loop de loops

Making magical magnificent stupendous swoops

Molly sees a lollipop

Just ripe enough to pick

Off we bounce along the path

Back home we go....spring

Molly likes to sit up high

Night  7

Sweet smells of strawberries wind through the breeze

Blueberry birds chirp in trees of swiss cheese

Fruit juice and sunshine tickle my nose

Molly purrs happily among the many rows

We will plant a small garden

Under the bedroom window

See it grow as we grow

And here we go…..tip toe

Night 8

Sitting in our treehouse watching clouds glide by

Balloons floating slowly up to bring us apple pie

Sparkle dust settles on my sweater sleeve

Did we spot a pink fairy giggling in the leaves?

What I can imagine

Is magic everywhere

Let us fly with silver wings

Back home we go…..swish

Night 9

The air tastes like mint gum and candy canes

A dusting of icing sugar falls from cloud planes

Molly finds a prize by our giant hat house

And I climb a ladder as quick as a mouse

Catch a falling cupcake

Chocolate frosting and sprinkles

Molly loves to slurp her milk

Back home we go…..munch 

Molly has found a treat on the ground

Night 10

Swinging on mosaic moon, the stars on display

A rainbow of light shines along the Milky Way

Molly zips by in her little rocket ship

Meow, she says, let’s jet home for the trip

The night is like licorice

Dipped in silver sprinkles

Taste a bit then next stop is earth

Back home we go....vroom

Molly loves her rocket

Back Home

Molly and I are sleepy, our thoughts are put away
The big dream adventure is done for today
Big stretch, bigger yawn, cuddle up close
Molly will purr meowzzzz which tickles my nose

Close our eyes and smile
Snuggled in our bed
Tomorrow is another day

And here we go.....shhhhhh

In memory: Andrew Kuntz 1985 - 2007

Little comfort in Angels

He is gone

and my heart is exposed to the cold bitter winter

cold as clay

easily shattered like the ice hanging from the headstone

of my sister's young son.

If I could cry anymore

my tears would break too.

If I could cry anymore

maybe the memory of him will quit

the hurting.

She is all swollen eyes and ashen face, my little sister

and we hold each other

holding off insanity maybe

and I look down at the blood on my hands

where her fingernails have bitten through my palms

feeling nothing

but grief.

Everyone is grief.

I notice my father standing helpless by the grave

mute

he who is the family orator on every occasion

has nothing to say

his silence is uncomfortable, like a bad taste.

The air is filled with reality meets regret

with moist gray memories

and snapshot moments

a hand full of wistful collections

transforming the faces of my nephews, his brothers

into colorless old men….

And standing here

on the extreme edge of human angst

there is no comfort

at the thought of angels.

Painting samples

First half page

The Book: page 1/2

My grandmother lives in a country of locked memories. She was forced to reside there like a displaced person in a refugee camp wandering aimlessly between what was and what could have been.  I am keenly aware that my own journey may end this way as well, born again as an old woman and child at the same time, in a country I don’t know, surrounded by no one speaking my language.  A few things happened awhile ago which threw my life into that kind of chaos where even gossip mongers can’t best the story for fear of missing a single note. I wanted to write it down. Write it all down so that my children could laugh and cry with my sisters and I, well beyond the time limits of my fragile memories.

On September 28, 2011, a Wednesday, I won the lottery. Sixteen million dollars. I have not told anyone yet.

Two days later on a very dark Friday, my nephew of 22 years died suddenly. He lies in an undignified state at the coroner’s office and whereas he sleeps, we stay awake in horror.

The family has allowed me to begin recounting the paths that led us here, embracing the sweet aroma of home grown from the House of Pot (details forthcoming), on the patio of Tammy, former cult member, grieving mother, my sister.

Savory Sausage Stuffing with pine nuts

Savory Sausage Stuffing

 

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For families that have always favored a traditional white-bread stuffing, this side dish will seem both familiar and exotic. The Italian sausage provides a savory note that goes great with the fresh fennel (if you've never used it, think of it as celery with pizzazz). The optional toasted pine nuts are rich and buttery, but mild enough not to interfere with the other flavors.

Ingredients

• Loaf of sturdy white bread (1 pound)
• 1 pound Italian sausage links, mild or hot
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bulb fennel, finely chopped, or 2 cups finely chopped celery (or a combination)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 bay leaf

• 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (use mostly parsley, plus sage, rosemary, and/or thyme)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, pan toasted (optional)
• 3/4 to 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• Salt and ground pepper to taste
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Slice the bread into 3/4-inch cubes and allow to air-dry for several hours (or dry in a 350º oven for about 10 minutes). Transfer the bread to a very large mixing bowl and set it aside.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Poke each sausage several times with a fork and drop into the boiling water. Boil for 13 to 17 minutes, until the center of the sausage is no longer pink. Transfer to a bowl and cool. Score the casings and peel them off. Quarter the sausage lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a very large sauté pan. Stir in the onion, fennel, carrot, and bay leaf and sauté over medium heat for 8 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the mushrooms and sausage. Cover and sauté 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
4. Remove the bay leaf and add the sautéed mixture, fresh herbs, and toasted pine nuts (if desired) to the bread. Gently toss the mixture and add the chicken broth, 1/4 cup or less at a time, until the bread seems moist but not soggy. Taste the stuffing, adding salt and pepper. Add the eggs and mix gently. To stuff your bird, see the Herb-roasted Turkey recipe. Makes 10 servings. Test Kitchen Tip: To cook the stuffing on the side, spoon it into a large, shallow, buttered baking dish. Cover with buttered tinfoil, buttered side down, and bake in a 350º oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, until crusted over.

The Art of Time: Twitter book club discussion article

The Art of Time: Twitter book club discussion article: "iPhone Tracks Your Every Move, and There’s a Map for That By Brian X. Chen April 20, 2011 1:30 pm Categories: Phones An une..."

Twitter book club discussion article

iPhone Tracks Your Every Move, and There’s a Map for That

• By Brian X. Chen
• April 20, 2011  | 
• 1:30 pm  | 
• Categories: Phones

An unencrypted file stored in iPhones and iPads constantly records a user's location data. An open source application was used to plot the location data from an iPhone belonging to a Wired.com reporter.

Update 4 p.m. PT, Thursday: Wired.com has obtained a letter from Apple explaining how and why iOS devices store geo data and transmit it to Apple.

Your iPhone or 3G-equipped iPad has been secretly recording your location for the past 10 months.

Wired.com can confirm that fact: The screengrab above shows a map containing drop pins of everywhere yours truly has been in the past year.

Software hackers Peter Warden and Alasdair Allen discovered an unencrypted file inside Apple’s iOS 4 software, storing a long list of locations accompanied with time stamps. The file is labeled “consolidated.db.”

“Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps,” Warden and Allen wrote. “We’re not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it’s clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations.”

Warden is providing an open source program “iPhone Tracker” for iPhone and 3G iPad customers to output their location file into an interactive map, like the one above, so they can see for themselves. All you have to do is plug in your iDevice through USB and run Warden’s application. The software requires OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The iPhoneTracker application features a sliding bar for users to see where they were in specific times of the year.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. Apple has not previously disclosed that iPhones and iPads are constantly tracking and storing user location.

The discovery is the latest in a series of alarming incidents that serve as cautionary tales about privacy in the always-connected mobile era.

Recently, German politician and privacy advocate Malte Spitz sued his phone carrier Deutsche Telekom to get every piece of information it had about him. The carrier delivered to him a gigantic file containing 35,000 data points of his location for six months. Later, a German publication plotted Spitz’s data onto an interactive map.

This iPhone and iPad privacy leak is eerily similar, and creepier, considering that Apple has sold over 100 million iPhones and 15 million iPads.

The location data stored inside “consolidated.db” cannot be accessed by Safari or any apps, said Charlie Miller, a security researcher known for discovering vulnerabilities in the iPhone. However, the data file is sensitive because a thief who gains physical access to an iPhone or iPad could look at the file and see everywhere a customer has been, or a hacker could remotely break in and read the file, Miller said.

It’s not simple for a hacker to remotely access an iPhone to get to that file. But in the past, Miller found an exploit that would allow a hacker to hijack an iPhone just by sending a text message to it containing malicious code. Apple later patched that exploit, but security researchers say there are plenty of vulnerabilities in the wild left unaddressed.

Sharon Nissim, consumer privacy counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said it is possible Apple is violating the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act, which allows telecom carriers to provide call information only in emergency situations.

“By asking for permission to collect location data, Apple may be trying to get around its legal obligations, by asking people to give up privacy rights they don’t even know they have,” Nissim said.

She added that a potential privacy concern is that law enforcement would be able to subpoena these types of records from people’s iPhones or iPads.

The Art of Time: The art of list making

The Art of Time: The art of list making: "Like baking the one-bowl chocolate cake, list-making is effective and produces great results when you have: § Appetite: I WANT to do t..."

The art of list making

Like baking the one-bowl chocolate cake, list-making is effective and produces great results when you have:

§  Appetite: I WANT to do this

§  Desire: I’m GOING to do this

§  Ingredients: all the items on the list

§  Tools: something to record with and on

This process is a way of getting control back in our lives; of identifying and managing our commitments to ourselves and others so that we start WORKING TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE!

Before we start, there is one ground rule: We are not creating more work for ourselves with impossible lists attached to disproportionate timetables.  This is the beginning of a transformation into stress-free achievement and efficiency. 

Time is one of the most valuable things we have! And guess what…..EVERYONE’S time is valuable!  If you are the CEO of a corporation or COO of your home, no one can be productive when feeling overwhelmed and disorganized. 

The journey, therefore, begins at home…..keep your pen and notes handy at all times…..initially you will need some uninterrupted time in whatever environment stimulates thinking…we are beginning small....

LET’S GET STARTED!

1. Record EVERYTHING you need to do this week (or think you need to do)

§  regardless of what day it is, end your week on Sunday

§  don’t worry about order or priority for now….just get it all down

§  this isn’t a wish list….write down what you actually have to do

Example:

Based on full-time working (outside of home) mom, two teenage boys (high school), full-time working spouse who shares in household responsibilities, no outside house cleaning, hobbies

            1. Feed family

            2. Grocery shopping

            3. Laundry

            4. Clean house

            5. Job interview for son

            6. Purchase cleats for boys’ tryouts

            7. Haircuts

            8. Birthday cards for extended family March birthdays

            9. Twitter, facebook, gmail, blog

            10. Personal hobby time: finish painting for auction

            11. Exercise

            12. Pay bills

            13. Shovel sidewalks

            14. Garbage

            15. Recycling

2. Record EVERYTHING you can think of that needs to get done this month

Example:

            1. Pay bills

            2. Dinner party

            3. Birthday gift for niece

            4. Fix caulking in main bathroom

            5. Organize winter/spring clothes – donation of excess?

            6. Take in vehicle for windshield repair

            7. Orthodontist

            8. Eye appointment

            9. Review household budgets

            10. Start thinking about themes for the art show

            11. Volunteering at art gallery

            12. Lose 5 lbs (ha ha)

            13. Exercise plan for family?

            14. Call sisters

            15. Call parents

3. Record EVERYTHING you can think of that needs to get done this year

4. Record EVERYTHING you can think of that falls on your wish list

Think of list making as a way of having a personal assistant…..of getting control.

Next we will explore how to manage the lists you have created and I'm doing it as well!