Poor Boo Boo

No dignity, no dignity at all.

then you shoulda put a ring on it

I've been obsessed with Beyonce's Single Ladies video for a while. And then I found this:

Gunter and Dieter Friends Forever

Dieter is 3 weeks old! And walking well, but no solid food yet. He's quite a little chunky monkey. Can't wait until he is big enough to squeeze!

And a video of Gunter of course!

Poetry Friday!

I Knew a Woman

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I’d have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;
She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:
I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
Coming behind her for her pretty sake
(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)

Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:
Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;
Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:
I’m martyr to a motion not my own;
What’s freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:
(I measure time by how a body sways.)

Theodore Roethke

I'm a Bat, I'm a Pug!

IF Illustration

Theme: Contagious

I want this!

I want to buy this house and move to Nashville. Should I?


I don't really like brick, but this is priced so good, three bedroom, finished basement and work room which would be perfect for my studio workshop. It would be awesome!

Daddy Jack

This, dear readers, is my father. He sent me this photographic portrait of himself today via a text message. Since he specifically suggested that I not post it on my blog, here it is.

Poetry Friday!

Bone

1.

Understand, I am always trying to figure out
what the soul is,
and where hidden,
and what shape –

and so, last week,
when I found on the beach
the ear bone
of a pilot whale that may have died

hundreds of years ago, I thought
maybe I was close
to discovering something –
for the ear bone

2.

is the portion that lasts longest
in any of us, man or whale; shaped
like a squat spoon
with a pink scoop where

once, in the lively swimmer's head,
it joined its two sisters
in the house of hearing,
it was only

two inches long –
and thought: the soul
might be like this –
so hard, so necessary –

3.

yet almost nothing.
Beside me
the gray sea
was opening and shutting its wave-doors,

unfolding over and over
its time-ridiculing roar;
I looked but I couldn't see anything
through its dark-knit glare;

yet don't we all know, the golden sand
is there at the bottom,
though our eyes have never seen it,
nor can our hands ever catch it

4.

lest we would sift it down
into fractions, and facts –
certainties –
and what the soul is, also

I believe I will never quite know.
Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,

but looking, and touching, and loving,
which is the way I walked on,
softly,
through the pale-pink morning light.

Dieter Tries to Escape

So the lady who I'm getting Dieter Pug from sends me picts of him every week and this is by far my favorite of the last batch. There were a bunch of these with a head on view, and in this one it's obvious that he's had just about enough of being photographed and is ready to move on. Cute! His eyes are just opened, so he's still really, really young. He's the smallest of the litter, which I like since Gunter was also the runt and he turned out perfect.

On a slightly related note, Andreas and I have started kayaking lately and we've come up with a new name for otters: Sea-Pugs!

Gunter the Great Striped Hunter

A Tardy Illustration Friday

Theme: Hierarchy

Poetry Friday!

The brain is wider than the sky,
For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include
With ease and you beside..

The brain is deeper than the sea,
For, hold them, blue to blue,
The one the other will absorb,
As sponges, buckets do.

The brain is just the weight of God,
For, lift them, pound for pound,
And they will differ, if they do,
As syllable from sound.

Guess What That Little Black Goblin Is!

That, gentle readers, is Dieter Pug (Deeter). He was born last Wednesday in Oregon, and he will be joining our family in June. He is a dark brindle color that I'm sure will look good with Gunter Pug. A matched set of brindle pugs! It will be like Christmas every day!