This week has run me ragged. I have been out in the real world every day instead of holed up in my studio. Now I remember why I quit that and started this hermit-like artsy existence. I’m really much better at it.

So yesterday afternoon I get an emergency request from my kid’s teacher…I should back up. The week before, she asked if I would decorate her door for a contest they were having. The scariest door wins some kind of prize. Well don’t you know that was right up my alley? I carefully chose a theme that would resonate with both teachers and students alike…ZOMBIE CAFETERIA – Night of the Living Meatloaf! Don’t know yet if we won, that gets announced today, but really, no one else even came close to scary. I think some of the preK kids might be scarred for life. So yesterday the teacher calls because she sent out a list of things for the Halloween party, and was hoping I’d fill in a gap in the menu. She asked me to send a veggie tray. Clearly the woman has lost her mind. I’d do it if I thought for a second that she wasn’t going to wind up tossing twenty dollars worth of crudite in the trash. What kind of freak looks over a buffet of Halloween goodies and goes for veggies? The kind of freaky kid who’s lips are already swollen shut for reminding the teacher that she forgot to give homework.

But really folks, would the woman who did this bring a veggie tray?

(for those who might be interested, the meatloaf was made from dog food smeared over styrofoam and then varnished, garnished with rubber eyeballs, realistic looking severed fingers, and spiders.)

UPDATE:  Zombie Cafeteria totally won the contest. I know you were all on the edge of your seats.

First things first, on Monday I am interviewed on the site Etsy Featured Artist. Have a look, in addition to promoting all sorts of artists, Debbie, our gracious hostess makes jewelry herself. It’s never too early to start that holiday shopping. And if it’s past the 27th, go there anyway, scroll down the list on the right side, and I’ll be hovering somewhere near the bottom, questioning the wisdom of choosing Wednesday Wandered instead of say AArty AArdvark.

Speaking of AArty AArt…

Taken on a recent foggy morning in my corner of forest.

I love the landscapes of J.M.W. Turner. The dreamy gauzy quality of his work has always fascinated me and I would look at his paintings and wish I could create something like that. I think I finally succeeded.

No, Sempervivium, which is the Latin name for the Hen and Chicks cactus, which this is…no, really. I wish they were really these colors. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a garden full of this?  I have been cranking out new images, or revisiting some older ones and finally getting them to a form I am happy with. This is one. I’ve added this one and four others to my Etsy shop, so go have a look.

The wildflowers are blooming.

The acorns are huge!

The spotted dog is smiling.

She’s come a long way from the scrawny skittish creature we brought home a year ago.

Last night the kid and I were lazing around in the living room, when he decided our night would not be complete unless we shot a few hoops. Why not? The moon was just rising through the trees, and it was amazing. If we’d stayed inside becoming one with the sofa, I’d have missed this.

You know I am all about the crumbly. Barns, castles, books, countries…the crumblier the better. My ideal day? After photographing a crumbly castle, stop for coffee and crumbly scones, then stumble across and antique shop where I can find an antique top hat, and something like this lying forgotten in a dusty back room.

This crumbly treasure is a book of photos of Venice published in 1898. It is so beautiful I can hardly stand it. Open it up, and it’s like Henry James is standing right beside you. I am going to have to photograph the pages, since I’d have to destroy the book to scan it. But even that is going to require getting someone to stand beside the table holding the cover back. I’ve tried using the dogs, but every time they heard a squirel, they dropped the book and ran. So hard to get reliable assistants these days.

Over the weekend I was trying to find some pictures I shot two summers ago in Italy. I went over with three cameras, and a stash of memory cards and just went nuts. So the search took a little time. I came home with well over three thousand images.

Well, I came home with three thousand keepers…there were at least a few hundred that didn’t make the grade, due to technical things like aperture and shutter speed, and possibly enough red wine to float a barge. Long lunches on sunny terraces tend to leave me a little relaxed about trivialities like shutter speed. But I ran across this shot from the last day before we left. We were walking back to our hotel and there it sat, like one last little gift before we tried to get some sleep before getting on a plane at an ungodly hour of the morning.

I know people who have paid untold thousands of dollars trying to make a new house look like this.

But I think we’re being colonized.

I love these photos. Takes me back the science geek dreams of my youth, that I’d someday

take the cover shot for Sky and Telescope.