Friday, November 04, 2005

good art on first friday

what a flurry of activity week we've had.

tashi was home for most of it with the afore mentioned chicken pox. lucky for all of us it was a relatively mild case. i gave her rhus tox throughout, which seemed to control the itching and proliferation of pox. she was very energetic each day and today was well enough to return to school. she didn't like the oatmeal bath or the calendula ointment (though both helped), but she loves the cat sewn from left over halloween fabric and stuffed with wool and lavender.

one night we were visited by tad mondale and adele borie (and their sweet pooch lily munster) en route to their home in new orleans. even though they lost their boat and their basement, tad and adele seem to have fared pretty well in the aftermath of katrina. the basement, which contained a great deal of their belongings, suffered under six feet of water. but as adele explained, upstairs from the devasatation was their bright and beautifully unscathed living quarters. tad and adele are planning to pick up a new washer and dryer in alabama, and return to new orleans to mend the damage and resume their life. adele runs a very cool performance space/gallery on clio street called the big top. the big top was also unscathed, and no one even looted the fully stocked bar. dan and i saw an awesome band called the tin men while at the big top in february, and viewed a whole lot of demented baby doll art.

the next two nights we were visited by san francisco laugh riot, sonic. she is on a two month road trip all across the country with her dog, cha cha. cha cha suffered a spinal injury over the summer, but was rigged up with a doggie a wheel chair and some diapers. cha cha still likes to chase squirrels and enjoys a rigorous walk around any neighborhood.

my cat loki (the alpha male) was none too pleased by the doggie visitations and spent most of his time upstairs or outside. alternately, his sister luna (the shy one) did quite a bit of flirting and hanging close with cha cha.

sometime amongst all that was an armed robbery around the corner on shamrock avenue. it's refreshing to live in a neighborhood rife with crime and intrigue.

tonight we ate some dinner at neighborhood mexican restaurant, guadalajara. hefty servings for a fair price. it was delicious. and we made it to our car safely.

afterwards we headed downtown to check out the art walk which takes place every month on the first friday. i got kind of agoraphobic in the first gallery we were in, but dug christoph vorlet's haunting topical illustrations. we moved on to the more spacious quarters of the mcguffey art center where we talked to painter, cynthia burke. she has traveled all over the globe observing animals, and creates these incredibly ornate and odd animal paintings. most notable were the goats and owls in elizabethan costume. do check out her most enjoyable website, studio burke.

we (and particularly tashi) were exhausted after hitting just two galleries, but i'm so pleased with what i saw tonight that i think i'll smile until the next first friday.

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