BBQ for DJ & Mark

Pre-lunch chit-chat: (L-R in chairs:) Jen, Lise, Mark & Lee; (L-R on grass:) DJ & Boojum

Back on the 4th of July we had a BBQ for DJ & Mark, who used to live here, then moved to Philadelphia, and were now visiting. DJ does cool videocast gearhead stuff for the Exploratorium. She had just spent 6 weeks in the Arctic before she got here, making cool things like this.

The BBQ was a low key affair, just a few close friends.

Jen, DJ, Lise, Lee, Susan & Mark.

DJ & Mark shutterbuggin' me.

Lise makes fun of my "repaired" birdbath.

DJ, Lise & Lee picking corn out of their teeth.

AAAAARGHASM AHOY!

Our neighbor down the street built this pirate ship float for this year's Pride parade. Jen & I like pirates & we like puns, so the HMS AAAARGHASM really floated our boat. The quarterdeck is a bed frame.

Here are Jen & Sierra getting a close-up look:

Family Photos

My father's father's mother, Cristena MacIver MacLeod, who lived to be 91.

My aunt Louise joined us all up to Geni.com, a geneaology website. Build a family tree etc. The interface is kind of clumsy but it has its benefits. What I like is that people have been encouraged to to post photos that I have never seen before of people I have not really been aware I am related to. Seems my Scottish roots include a bundle of MacIvers & MacIvors. Anyway here are some nifty photos of boys & girls of my bloodline:

My father's mother, Jennie Moser MacLeod, lived to be 82. This was her wedding day, she was 19 years old.

Here Jennie is again, on the right, looking a little bit more the way I remember her, though I don't think I was quite born yet when this was taken. Here she is with her sister Evelyn May Moser Richardson, who lived to be 71.

My father's younger brother, my uncle David, all geared up.

My father's father Walter Ernest Gunn MacLeod, fireman, lived to be 97. And my favorite, below, my father's mother's father, my great-grandfather Fred Hartwell Moser. I never met him. He is my new role model.

Fred Moser lived to be 91. My father's father had eight siblings. His sister Katherine lived to 102 & his sister Cristena, whom I met the year before she died, lived to 103.

Homer's Window

This is maybe my favorite image from Franta Skala's marvelous book "Cecil's Quest." The evening before, somewhat desperate, Cecil stumbled upon Homer's home in the woods. Homer fed Cecil French cheese, fresh crowslip, seedcake, jelly and other woodland delicacies, talked out his problems with him and let him rest the night. In the morning when Homer woke up, Cecil was already gone. Here in the tableau above, Homer is sitting looking out his window, slowly deciding to leave his safe, warm home in order to catch up with Cecil and help him with his dangerous quest. For me this sequence captures much of the power of accidental friendship.

Here I am below, in Jakub Kalousek's studio in May, with bread, cheese, cherries & some of Franta's kelp heads.

Studio view

I'm in the studio a lot (above), working hard on stuff for November show at Soap Gallery, but awhile ago I took time out to hang an old painting of mine up on a wall at Linda Wilson's house. She finally got her office all organized, so there's a little room. So my painting didn't have to hide behind the refrigerator anymore.

Swimming Hole

Speaking of dogs, here's Boojum swimming at the Albany bulb.

MR. GREENJEANS

My friend Andrea spent the last ten years or so working as a nutritionist in Burmese refugee camps in the mountains of Thailand near Chiang Rae. Now she's moved back to the USA & brought her "Thai terrier" Mr. Greenjeans with her. Here's Mr. Greenjeans on her first day ever in the USA, just hanging out at Pt. Isabel. She seems like a good mellow little dog.