Some posts don’t require words, just one sweet picture.

The drama of a summer sky as seen from a parking lot can be a beautiful thing. When the mundane meets the magnificent, something magical happens. Here, in the midst of an errand, I paused to examine the sky – all beauty and prettiness and painted by the hands of God. How else to account for such majesty? Maybe God is Mother Nature. Or vice versa. Regardless, the entity responsible for this has much mad respect.

These particular cloud formations erupted one night when the atmosphere turned itself upside down, threatening tornados nearby, and shattering the summer sweetness with some driving rain, ending as soon as it began. Volatile stuff, more fun in retrospect than in the moments fraught with potential danger. The sensations of worry become more pronounced the older we get.

As soon as they formed, they dispersed and dissembled. I could barely get these shots in time before the beauty passed. That lends another layer of meaning to them. There will never be another time when the sky looks exactly like this. It was, and will forever remain, a once-in-a-lifetime image.

The week of my birthday begins with a not-so-nostalgic look back. Let’s get that over and done with so we can focus on this coming Saturday… and what better place to begin than with this year’s birthday wish list!

A summer gathering with extended family proved good for the heart and soul.

Dinner and a show with immediate family is pretty good too. 

Alan vs. Allen vs. Allan.

A lobster roll in downtown Albany.

Southern Sweet Peach Tea: a summer cocktail recipe. 

This is where I hang in the summer. 

A PSA from my workplace. 

Madonna celebrated her birthday, because August babies are the best.

There was also a new Madonna Timeline: Batuka.

Once upon a promise kept: a new project goes online. 

Mmmmm, grilled cheese.

The sexiness of Simon Dunn on full display.

Dress for the job you want. 

A little frond for a little vase.

I love that Betty Buckley is in Boston as we speak, and that I get to see her on my birthday this Saturday!

Hunks of the Day included Erwan Heussaff, Danny Walters, William McLarnon, and Rome Flynn.

One doesn’t necessarily need to go big if you’re already home, and sometimes the littlest things are the most beautiful. This simple ‘bouquet’ is created from the smallest vase in our home (a whimsical work of shell-like grace, procured from Faddegon’s a couple of years ago) and a single frond from a Japanese painted fern (which had sprouted up via spore beside our pool heater). The impossibility of all those elements coming together and forming a rather hardy bouquet makes it extra appealing.

Ferns have proven to be tricky things in arrangements. Sometimes they last for weeks, other times they wither in the span of minutes. There’s nothing consistent about it, as both results have been gleaned from the very same species, clipped at the very same time, and given the very same treatment. Ferns can be finicky.

The variety of Japanese painted fern seen here has generally proved to last more than a few days, particularly if cut early in the morning after a damp night. Coupled with this wonderfully-ribbed off-center vase, it makes for a striking visage, and has me completely rethinking my outdated notions of perspective.

A promise kept adds a certain sparkle to one’s karmic evolution, and here, as promised, is my most recent project, online for all the world to see. (I can send you a link for a rather expensive hard copy to be printed if you’d like.) This is ‘Once Upon A Watercolor’ – my family-friendly project for the summer of 2019. It was officially released at ‘The Flower Party’ earlier this season, and now finds proper placement in the pantheon of projects here.

There was a minor promotional roll-out for the project (see this delusional interview – Part One and Part Two, along with this fantastical press release) but keep in mind that this was nothing compared to the hype and hoopla built up for the ‘PVRTD’ project a few short months prior to ‘OUAW’. They’re both on the projects page, which means darkness and light can co-exist, whether you take the pink pill or the blue pill or no pill at all.