Oh Fernando!

I think Fern's very favorite day was the day I left the studio to go outside for just a few minutes and he saw my computer open on the table. I'm sure he had a blast climbing up the cord then picking away at the keys, flinging them about. He worked as fast as he could because he knew that when I returned the fun would be over. He got almost half of them off before he got busted.

I don't think the guy at the computer repair counter at BYU really believed that a bird took my computer apart. ...sigh

Spontaneous Combustion

I think I almost spontaneously combusted at least once. I really thought I was going to go up in flames from the inside out. I was thinking about it today when I was outside with my face in the sun, feeling that overwhelming, restless excitement boiling to the surface.

Some people are skeptical about spontaneous human combustion. I've never seen anyone actually spark or smoke but the flashes of blue light seem familiar.

As I am writing this, my bird, Fernando, is cuddled up under my chin making little talking noises. He mimics us having conversations. It's pretty funny but I'm wondering, do birds or other animals ever just burn up? What a glorious way to go out.

Artwork by Littlest Kitten

Cute bird...not sure about the monkey.

Whoa, those parrots are big.

Mummification? It suddenly seemed wrong to invade this beautiful, tiny thing. It wasn't mine. The kittens were watching it from the porch when it took it's fatal turn. Hummingbirds are one of our favorites.
We didn't bury it either. That seemed wrong too. It was so pretty and so close to life, stopped en route. We tried an alternative that is somewhere in between. I'll post about that next spring.
I really want to draw it and I wanted to share it with Kate so she can write about it. Maybe what is intriguing to me about mummification is a power I already have, to immortalise. Dan said that to him the the story is what is intriguing. Where was it going with a blade of stiff grass still in it's beak? Hmmm...

Painting is possessed of divine power, for not only does it make the absent present, but also makes the dead almost alive.
Leon Battista Alberti

My Wing Sailing

One of my favorite places, with a couple of my favorite people, doing what we love to do. My Wing Sailing is now on youtube. I used the music of one of my favorite bands, Air Traffic to accompany this little film. To read a little more see She Dreamed in Verse and Rhyme.

Photos by Stella