My own van Gogh list

OK, as promised, here's my first crack at a van Gogh list. I've winnowed it down to 20 people, mostly to keep from trying your patience -- it could have been much longer. This list contains all manner of folk: teachers, writers, actors, artists, comedians, kindred spirits. Some of them you may recognize; others you probably won't. All are, to my way of thinking, amazing in some way -- and sometimes in several ways.

If you feel inclined, you are certainly encouraged to make your own van Gogh list -- but first, a few rules of engagement:

1) No family members. If your folks don't already know how awesome you think they are, quit being a dirtbag and go tell 'em so. (Right now, if necessary. I'll wait.)
2) No dead people. Do your best to make sure the people on your list are still kicking, at least at time of publication; the point of this exercise is to show appreciation for the living.
3) No deities, please. I'm religious myself and have no problems with worship, but that's what prayer is for. This list is for mere mortals.
4) No fictional characters. Even if Frodo Baggins does seem more real to you than your co-workers, he doesn't really care what you have to say about him. Sorry.

That's about all the caveats I can think of... so now, on to




Soozcat's van Gogh List

(in alphabetical order by surname because, hey, blessed rage for order, pale Ramón!)

Ray Bradbury
(photo credit: Alan Light, Creative Commons)

There are many reasons to idolize Ray Bradbury. Of course, there's his fiction -- he is principally a master of the short story, and his Martian tales, Elliott family stories, and idealized youth experiences bound together as Dandelion Wine are like delicious live coals in the brain, glowing with life and full of burning poetry. On a personal note, I'm indebted to Ray Bradbury for revealing that authors actually get paid to write; after this epiphany, which came around age 11, my fate was pretty much sealed. At the time of this writing Mr. Bradbury is coming up on 92 years, but I fully expect him to live forever, just as Mr. Electrico once promised.
ETA: Mr. Bradbury passed away on 5 June 2012, some 4 months after this list was composed.

Wesley B. Carter
(photo credit: Mark Snyder)

Wes is one of my longest-running friends. We met in high school, where we did a lot of walking and talking, hanging out, goofing off, stealing flowers from public places in the middle of the night, swapping books and wondering aloud about various mental mysteries. Wes is talented at nearly everything he sets his mind to doing, whether it's painting, drawing, costuming, ornamental horticulture, gourmet cooking or crochet. He has that mellifluous talent, rare among friends, of being able to pick up more or less where we left off; no matter how long it's been since we last spoke, within five minutes it seems like it's been no time at all. He has not forgotten the dying art of the handwritten letter. In addition to being thoughtful, he's also extremely loyal and forgiving of past injuries, including one that would have destroyed a lesser friendship. (Plus he is secretly Harry Potter.)

Tara Larsen Chang
(photo credit: Tara Larsen Chang)

First and foremost, Tara was a good friend and kindred spirit. Over time I discovered, through the many little handmade gifts and notes she tends to share so generously, that she was also a talented artist and illustrator. She is constantly seeking to improve her talents, has a gift for growing things, a knack for finding the most magical hidden nooks and crannies in a city or town, and (as can be observed in the photo above) shares my enthusiasm for all things steampunk.

Annie Dillard
(photo credit: Phyllis Rose)

If you don't think the essay format can match or beat fiction for intensity, read A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Annie Dillard neatly demonstrates that the power of a specific genre is subservient to an individual author's talent for storytelling. I admire her writing not just for its attention to detail, but for her ability to choose precisely the right detail for the story, and she proves that writing about everyday life observation can be mind-blowing.

Fen Eatough
(photo credit: Mitch Eatough)

I've known Fen longer than I've known my husband; it was, in fact, thanks to Fen's BBS that I met Captain Midnight in the first place. She's a talented writer, a voracious reader, fun-loving, thoughtful, generous of spirit, fond of pointing out the surreal in everyday life, unabashedly passionate about the things she loves, and one of my most loyal friends. My family considers her and her hubby to be extended family (Miss V regularly refers to Mitch as "my favorite uncle"), which almost knocks her off this list thanks to Rule #1.

David Lance Goines
(photo credit: David Lance Goines)

The legitimate successor to Alphonse Mucha, William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Japanese woodblock printers (not to mention the owner and maintainer of an epic 'stache), David Goines demolishes the notion that there is or should be a definable line between fine art and illustration; his work proves by example that good illustration IS art. If you haven't looked up his poster work yet, best get crackin'.
ETA: Mr. Goines passed away on 19 February 2023.

Joel Grey
(publicity photo; photographer unknown)

Mr. Grey is a tremendously charismatic actor, singer and dancer. Just recently I discovered he's also a skilled photographer. (Next I expect to find out that he speaks fluent Swahili, paints in oils and plays the clarinet. What can this man NOT do?) He has successfully pulled off a wide range of characterizations from charming to chilling -- sometimes both charming and chilling at once. In my opinion, tragically underutilized by Hollywood since his creepily unforgettable performance in Cabaret won him an Oscar.

James Lileks
(photo credit: unknown)

In top form, Mr. Lileks is hi-frickin'-larious; he has a gift for zeroing in on the odd, the random and the inexplicable in 20th century American pop culture and merrily toasting it from orbit. His weekday blog, The Bleat (which he denigrates as "dashed-off tripe"), is filled with nuggets of pop-culture trivia that infomaniacs like me eat up with a spoon, and his writing runs the gamut from hysterical to remarkably touching. Why this man isn't nationally known, when humorists far less funny than he have achieved household recognition, is frankly a modern mystery.

Gretel Parker
(photo credit: Andy Macauley)

This blog is titled "Confessions of a Laundry Faerie" because I needed a public blog to join the Society of Secret Fairies, a short-lived but wonderful experiment in mysterious gift-giving, back in 2006. One of my first SOSF parcel exchanges was with Gretel, an English artist living in the Cotswolds. In addition to her evocative, melancholy paintings of well-loved and forgotten toys, Gretel creates beautiful paper-cut cards and limited-edition prints, takes wonderful photos of her neck of the woods, and maintains a couple of great slice-of-life blogs. She's also become known for her handmade needle-felted toys, one of which appears in the photo above. Gretel kindly encouraged this blog when it was new. We got to chatting back and forth in email, and when Captain Midnight and I finally went to England we took a day trip to visit her and Andy. It was easily the highlight of our stay. I'm so pleased to have discovered her work, and I'm proud to call her a friend.

Jenny Ruhl
(photo credit: Jenny Ruhl)

We don't know each other, but this woman has quite possibly saved my life.
Diabetes is our family curse. Complications from type 2 diabetes killed my maternal aunt at age 53, and have done serious damage to my mother's health. Last year the disease finally caught up to me. Days after I was diagnosed, I discovered Ms. Ruhl's website, Blood Sugar 101: What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes. Her analysis of numerous diabetic research studies, ability to point out the difference between studies with good and bad methodology, and patient work accreting the experiences of hundreds of diabetics online have helped many people stay as healthy as possible with a chronic, incurable disease. (After reading the site, and on the advice of my doctor, I took a diabetic nutrition class; when the nurse handed out bad information about "healthy" blood sugar numbers, I immediately called her on it. To her credit, she admitted I was correct.) Thanks wholly to Ms. Ruhl's advice about eating to one's blood monitor, I've kept my A1Cs in non-diabetic ranges since shortly after I was diagnosed. If you are diabetic, go ye and do likewise.

Michael Rutter
(photo credit: Michael Rutter)

I tend to quote randomly from poems (including Wallace Stevens' "The Idea of Order at Key West") thanks to Mr. Rutter, the creative writing teacher at Provo High School -- though his class really should have been titled Poetry Appreciation. He had a reputation among the students for being crazily intense, so that on my first day of class I was a little cowed by him -- but that passed. Through example he fostered a love for T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens, a greater appreciation for Emily Dickinson, and he thoroughly cemented in our heads the notion that you must divorce your writing from your ego if you ever want to rise above mediocrity as a writer. And during a time when I needed encouragement in most areas of life, he told me he believed I had a future career in writing. Thanks, Rutter.

Jon Schmidt
(photo credit: The Piano Guys)

As I've written before, there are many piano performers -- but this man is the only one I know of who truly plays the piano. I can't say that he makes it look easy; rather, his obvious enthusiasm makes the effort required to play at this level look worth it. (The image above is a still taken from a video where he's in the middle of performing a piece; that is the face of a man doing what he was born to do.) He and his cello-playing cohort Steven Sharp Nelson, along with the other members of The Piano Guys, are doing some amazing things on YouTube these days -- not least among which is proving the concept that an independent musician can make a decent living online without signing away distribution rights to his own work. You should go there. You should go there NOW.

Ms. Shore
(photo credit: school district photographer)

I wish I could give you more information about Ms. Shore, second grade teacher at El Monte Elementary in Concord, California circa 1976. She was the right teacher at the right time, probably for many of her students, but especially for me. I was a precocious, awkward six-year-old who had learned to read before I entered kindergarten and my teachers didn't really know what to do with me; during reading time, they usually punted me to the library, where I discovered plenty of great books but wasn't learning the social skills I so desperately needed. Ms. Shore, by contrast, took advantage of my early-reader status by getting me to peer-tutor other kids, excusing me from class to read aloud to the kindergartners ("...but Drummer Hoff fired it off!"), introducing me to the Chronicles of Narnia and encouraging me to write. I remember few specifics of the things I was taught in second grade, but I will always remember and appreciate the teacher who cared about me as a person and wanted me to succeed. Sadly, she's the only person on this list I haven't been able to find online; I imagine her surname has probably changed since the Bicentennial.

Linda Stuurman
(photo credit: unknown tourists)

You know Linda pretty much had to be on the van Gogh list, as she is Dutch by birth. (And as we know, you ain't much if you ain't Dutch.) I've only known Linda a few years, but in that time I've been continually impressed by her application of talent, her zest for challenges and her incredible drive to succeed. Linda can do hard things, and do them well. She has managed to keep more balls in the air than I would have thought possible, running a major fansite, holding down a job and earning a second bachelor's degree on a highly compressed schedule all at once. She's also an ardent cyclist who will some day move to San Francisco to ride her bike all up and down its hills. I'm convinced she can do pretty much anything she sets her mind to doing.

Mack Wilberg
(photo credit: Pete Wright, Creative Commons)

If you've heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform any time in the last few years, you've witnessed the handiwork of Mack Wilberg. His original compositions, inspiring arrangements of familiar hymns and songs, and powerful direction make the Choir what it is today. I've been a fan of his work since the late 1980s, when I used to sit way in the back of the class and listen to the BYU Men's Chorus practice, and he just keeps getting better. Plus, he seems to be on a one-man crusade to ensure that "Come, Thou Fount of Ev'ry Blessing" makes it back into the LDS Hymnal, based on his joyous arrangement (and the Choir's frequent performance) of this hymn.

Robin Williams
(publicity photo; photographer unknown)

Yeah, I've written about him before. If you think he only does wacky comedy, go see One Hour Photo. You will be thoroughly creeped out, yet unable to look away (and left wondering why this movie didn't get at least an Oscar nomination).
ETA: Robin Williams passed away August 11, 2014.

James L. Wright, Jr.
(photo credit: Marie Case Wright)

Jim is a man of many abilities, not the least of which is something I could never do in a million years: stand-up comedy. He's successfully done family-friendly routines before a clean and sober crowd -- one of the hardest groups to please in comedy -- and made them laugh. If anything he's even funnier in person, with a wit that tends to manifest unexpectedly and send everyone into paroxysms of involuntary beverage snorting. His appreciation for Korean cuisine made me curious to try the food he once described as "not user friendly" (but soooooo gooooood, omnomnom). He's also a talented author, and I wish he had more time and inclination to write short stories; the reading public is missing out. And, of course, he's a good friend.

[IMAGE COPYRIGHT NOTE: Before posting this list, I made a good faith effort to obtain permission to use all photos strictly for illustrative purposes, or have used Creative Commons-licensed images; if you would like to create and illustrate your own van Gogh list, please do the right thing and get appropriate permission to use any copyrighted images. Also, I have no desire to violate anyone else's copyright -- so if I've inadvertently used your copyrighted photo above and you would like to be credited for it, or if you'd prefer to have it removed, please let me know.]

What came today?

Forsooth, no need to wonder, for I shall tell you.
It's a package from the UK! From Gretel, in fact. I particularly love the mouse and the "yipe"-lines coming off his head.

Inside we found a number of lovely things, including some RFE cards, a rabbit cookie-cutter for Miss V, and the star of our show:
Eloise, Eloise, the pink-point Siamese! Who proceeded to sit on one of my cookbooks, very much the way my cat Chamomile used to do (with a look on her face that clearly said, "What can possibly be in this book that beats the pleasure of petting me?").

Miss V was quite taken with Eloise and immediately began squeeing joyously over her.

She doesn't usually look this lunatic, but that's only because she's exceptionally delighted.

I think it's love.

Houseguests and other goodies

I've discovered that, apparently, I am not a multitasker. I can handle only one major thing at a time -- and at the moment, that one major thing is houseguests. My mom and two of my sisters are here at the moment, and their being here has taken up most of my time.

Which is the best excuse I can make for not sharing these goodies sooner:Oooo, a package from Down Under! What could it be?

Why, it's a lovely SOSF parcel from Jo, of course! The contents included three Dilmah tea bags (peach), a beautiful handmade card, a recipe book featuring some delightfully decadent desserts (mmmm) and Jo's own recipe for chocolate and coconut crackles. Oh yes, I am quite pleased. And Australia's best cakes and tarts will soon be mine!

As if that weren't riches enough, within days I also received a parcel from the lovely and talented Gretel. It included some luscious stem ginger cookies, a packet of Red Flannel Elephant cards, some love hearts, some fruit-flavored farm animal gummies, a sherbet fountain and two beautiful handmade scherenschnitte cards (if you haven't already, I highly recommend you go buy some of your own, plug plug). Not shown: the four Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars that were immediately and gluttonously snarfed by hubby, niece and me. Also not shown: the three of us looking poised and dignified with yummy British chocolate smeared all over our faces.

And now it's nearly time for dinner. Navajo tacos tonight. Partially created and consumed by an authentic Navajo, no less (Miss V). Off to eat dinner, enjoy company, and revel in goodies from the post box!

SOSF!

Captain Midnight arrived home from work today, wielding a mysterious Royal Mail package that had come in the post. Hmmmmm....

You can bet it didn't take me too long to rip that thing open. When what to my wondering eyes should appear...

...but an extremely groovy-looking package. It was open in a trice, revealing

GOODIES!!!

Look at all this fabulous swag! I feel a song coming on.

Oh, the SOSF is the bomb!
It has got all of what's goin' on!
Alas, I'm no poet
And now you all know it
But at least now my song is all done!

Li'l Blue the Dalahäst says, "Thanks, Joy! Now I finally have a friend my own size!"

Seriously, many many thanks and kisses to the lovely (and talented!) Joy of Jamjar fame. This is a right fantastic haul!

Caught in the act / Goodies galore!

Woo! Just received in the mail what may well be The Coolest Thing Ever:
Apparently I am a blonde. (This is not the first time such a thing has been suggested, by the way.) Thank you, Gretel; I am framing this one.

Also, I was visiting Tara over the weekend and she proceeded to bestow upon me a sack of princely goodies:
These are, clockwise from left to right: hot chocolate mix, pirate bandages (arr!), a card and chocolate-themed stickers, an advance reading copy of the first book in a series Tara is illustrating (plug, plug), and some handmade cookie-cutter soaps.

She shouldn't be giving me goodies; it was her birthday! Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Very, very happy to have stumbled upon the SOSF. I feel very blessed indeed to get to know such wonderful and creative people. Thanks.

SOSF packet!

Well, we got back to Oregon on New Year's Day. There was no mail the next day, since it had been declared a national day of mourning for the late President Ford. But on Wednesday we received all the mail that had been waiting for us since we left... and among the bills and cards and other flotsam?

Yay! A Christmas packet from Joanna! (And yes, Joanna, it did come on time -- Christmas doesn't officially end until Twelfth Night, January 6, so this packet arrived well within the Christmas season.)

Included herein were the following delights:

1) card for li'l ol' me, complete with a sketch of Captain Rupert nibbling fairy lights
1) handpainted garland of Christmas stockings and trees
1) small Christmas charm of two bells, which I will be wearing as a necklace next Christmas
3) printed Higglety Pigglety cards, one of which I have already pressed into use
and 1) handmade and handpainted Christmas card which is far too lovely to use!

I am cavorting with glee. Many thanks, sweet fairy Joanna.

Also I am inordinately pleased with the look of our hall closet. Behold the mighty stack of Christmas cards (garnished with origami stars made by Gretel, who assures me she's getting her 'gami game on in 2007):

All I need now to complete the festivity is a fez. As they point out in the video game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, "With a fez, one becomes truly fez-tive!"

(No, nobody needs to send me a fez. I suppose I could make an origami one...)

Jiminy Christmas!

Well, there's another life experience under my belt. I don't think I ever need to repeat the questionable delights of catching pinkeye, thanks.

Now that I can see again, it's time to share the joy! Many goodies have been coming here in the mail as of late: some Christmas cards, two huge and delightful bundles of yarn for making gifties (I hereby promise this will not turn into a knitting blog), and a luscious parcel from the UK.

Thank you, thank you, a thousand thanks to Gretel! I love my "Three Kings" cards, and ate up the Schoolgirls' Adventure Library comic (it's a Nancy Drew-style story set in a '50s-era English public school for girls, and yes, our spunky heroines save the day). Too much fun.

Gretel was also kind enough to send me a set of upside-down cards from the "triple bugger in a marmalade sandwich" print run, and since she mentioned she was curious to see what I'd do with them, I hereby present a quick before-and-after photo:

On the back of each one will be the following verbiage, giving proper credit where it's due:

"Three Kings" by Gretel Parker
courtesy of Red Flannel Elephant Cards
www.redflannelelephant.com

Hope that'll work. I'm thinking about mounting each one on a different-colored background, just to see how the focal colors of the artwork change.

Now I've got to be crazy busy. Christmas approacheth post haste, and I got essentially NOTHING done while I had pinkeye (not even the bills, alas). Time to play a frantic game of catch-up.

Tips and tailings of everyday life

(Don't ask. Just enjoy the Mystery Texture of the Day.)

Ever since we've lived here, we've come to expect a particular sound during the rainy season (read: three-fourths of the year). Somewhere in our neighborhood there lives one little frog, who likes to sing in a small, happy voice every time it gets moist and soggy. We hear him on a regular basis, but have never seen him.

Today, while I was out sweeping up the copious (and HUGE) leaves that have collected on my front walk, I noticed something -- a little ceramic frog, sitting in the narrow flowerbed outside my front door. He's a dark brownish-green color, almost the same color as the earth on which he rests, and so is nicely camouflaged. And I began to wonder. Hmmmmm... perhaps the invisible froggie is our little ceramic guy, who only comes to life when we're not watching?

Just then the real frog started croaking half a street away. Ah, another whimsical notion bites the dust.

We picked up some savory and numptious burritos al pastor, loaded with grilled pork, avocado and other goodies, from our favorite local taquería/tienda/dive for dinner tonight. The nice man behind the counter added some pickled peppers and spicy pickled carrots, a few cut radishes, the usual goodies. He also inexplicably threw in some salt packets -- apparently for those poor souls whose taste buds were shot off in the war; this stuff is perfectly spiced as is -- and I had to grin at the dual-language labels. IODIZED SALT, followed by the Spanish equivalent, YODADA SAL. I noted to my honey that "Yodada Sal" sounds like a Star Wars character who didn't make the cut. Or perhaps it's actually Master Yoda's given name, which he later shortened, fearing no one would take him seriously. (It doesn't matter that you can throw around Sith Lords like they're tin cans and pull an X-wing fighter out of a swamp by sheer mental might; when you're already green, 1 1/2 feet tall, and sporting ears like Spock on steroids -- not to mention that you put sentences together like a Gilbert & Sullivan lyric -- a few credibility issues you may wrangle with, yes.)

[This concludes the sci-fi geek section of our blogging day. We now return you to our regularly scheduled meandering.]

In other news, I am doing a little happy dance because I have a new fairy match for the SOSF! Hmm, guess this means I'd better get crackin' with a card and ornament. AND I have Christmas cards coming from Red Flannel Elephant, which makes me even more happy. La la la, I'm a happy nutbar!

The morning, and what came of it

It's been a dark, gray, drizzly morning, quite a letdown from the crisp Halloween night preceding it.
In this light, the decorations I placed on the front door the night before look rather pathetic.

It looks like the once-golden ginkgo has sneezed.

Feeling a little deflated by the day, I went out to check our rather grim mailbox.

Bill, bill, more election materials, advertisement... and a bronze key, indicating I had a package in the big box. Hmm.
Looks like those cheeky fellows at the Royal Mail are sending me mash notes again.

But wait... what's this?
This was no ordinary parcel!

I hastened inside, my spirits beginning to lift, and forthwith commenced ripping. Pretty soon I had revealed:
The Box of Delight! Yes, complete with cuppycakes!

Here's what was inside:
Oh, and I suppose you want to see it all unpacked, do you?

OK.
Lookie here! And even more treasures to open up!

Here is the whole resplendent shebang:
This delightful fairy package contained:

* a paper lantern and information on the Chinese zodiac
* Halloween greetings and a chocolate lollipop
* a packet of peppermint tea (from none other than HRH the Prince of Wales himself)
* a wonderful little tin of fairy treasures (including buttons and hard candies)
* some luxurious-looking salt scrub for the bath
* a mini Dairy Milk bar festooned with Freddo the Frog
* a wee, white Sugar Mouse with green eyes
* lovely origami paper and a bookmark
* a packet of Milky Way Magic Stars
* some small notes with inspiring fortune-cookie-like sayings inscribed thereon
* some teeny Laundry Fairy clothespins with wooden flowers and ladybugs on them
* a dollar for my sister (yay!)
* and a box of Walker's Shortbread (how did you know? I LOVE this stuff!)

Not shown: the Curlywurly bar that somehow got overlooked in the box. Mmm.

Many, many thanks to the kind fairy Emma Faulkner for sending such a delightful packet! I feel like my birthday's come three days early!

Some fall color

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I took advantage of the good weather to wander outside and snap some pictures of the fall foliage. Both of these pictures were taken on my street.

Western Oregon is a bit odd, in that most of our native trees are evergreens. Consequently the best place to see fall colors is not on a winding country road somewhere, but in the cities where deciduous trees are planted.

The golden one on the left is a ginkgo; they're supremely beautiful in fall. Someone ought to make thin, hammered gold coins shaped like ginkgo leaves. I'm not sure what the other type of tree is -- an elm, maybe? -- but our street is lined with them.

Another example of tree whose species I don't recognize (probably a maple -- thanks, Tara). This beautiful tree is just next to my mailbox, so when goodies from the SOSF arrive, they pass beneath this tree!

Woohoo!

Remember all the bad things I had to say about today? Forget 'em. Wipe the slate clean. Today was my lucky day.

For today, something arrived in the mail for me!

Burning with curiosity, I ripped it open to reveal...

All manner of delightful things Halloweenish! (Thank you thank you, kind fairy Tara!) I proceeded to do a joyous happy dance, greatly befuddling my husband in the process.

This tears it. Looks like I'm going to have to break down and finally get my ears pierced.