One of my favorite Art writers, lays out the impact of the internet on art:

John Berger

The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter and model -- even if the model is a mountain or a shelf of empty medicine bottles. Mont. St. Victoire as seen from Aix (seen from elsewhere it has a very different shape) was Cézanne's companion.

When a painting is lifeless it is the result of the painter not having the nerve to get close enough for a collaboration to start. He stays at a copying distance. Or, as in [DEMO]ist periods like today, he stays at an art-historical distance, playing stylistic tricks which the model knows nothing about.

To go in close means forgetting convention, reputation, reasoning, hierarchies and self. It also means risking incoherence, even madness. For it can happen that one gets too close and then the collaboration breaks down and the painter dissolves into the model. Or the animal devours or tramples the painter into the ground.

Saturday without plans.

Well, outside plans that is... I'm folding yesterday's laundry & am gearing up for today's laundry. As soon as I can finish all of the laundry, I can go back to doing dishes as my house chore. I'm looking forward to the fallout from our experiment - a while ago, Jason and I swapped chores. He's been doing dishes & I've been doing laundry. (Jason and I have specific chores we're responsible for, thus - there are chores we're not responsible for). There'll be things neither of us liked and more interestingly, things we don't mind so much or even enjoy, and presumably, we can become more flexible than before.

I'm listening to StarIQ's weekly astrological radio show. If you can listen to audio shows online, then go here for the show I am listening to while I write.

This week has been tough, Jason's been feeling ill & so we've played most of our weekend by ear. On the whole, it's favored naps & quiet time, so that's been rewarding. We've also had the great luxury of spending Thanksgiving with Richard, Greg, Barbara, Sheila & Amabelle. That was after we spent 4-5 days with Jason's parents, including a trip to Mt. Rainier. We had so much fun with those folks. Amazing, actually, it's been a very good couple of days.

I've been slowly putting the house back together. We sort of dismantle everything when J's parents come to stay. I moved a bunch of stuff to the basement, to make it more comfortable for us & it worked. With our schedule so tight during work time, it falls to these family visits to rejigger the house. It'll probably take the rest of the weekend to finish fiddling around with the furniture.

There's also the half-marathon tomorrow. We're talking about going running today, around 4 miles, which works for me. But I'm really on the fence about running this half-marathon. I don't want to get sick after & with Jason feeling so sick, I've been knee deep in germs. I would like to start working out again, without a goal for a while, & so am angling to do either the run - or get back to working out. Whichever I can do without getting sick is my choice.

I've taken so many pictures lately. It's been a real pleasure, because I've been printing out photos for folks, so they can have a copy. It's more fun, even, than posting the galleries.

Finally, it's time to corral the gifts I've been daydreaming about for family. It's that time of year.

I've created a new gallery for Mt. Rainier shots from September:



and here's a photogallery for my sister, starring folks from Veronica Mars:




Had a very great time this weekend. Lots of good conversation & company. I'm wiped out by it now, but am very grateful - which, frankly, is where I'd rather be.

More stories soon.

I know other folks have received stuff like this, but I just got an email from "Christian Dating" saying "You're compatible!" with the following body text:

"Sometimes powerful spirits come and check on us, to see how we are behaving and getting along," Bert once said in a way that caught me by surprise.
Members were quick to awaken to the depth of their financial karma, and this was reflected in the one-way cash flow to Keishu in Japan, which grew enormously.

huh?

also, two things on the election:
first, sorry everybody: http://www.sorryeverybody.com/
second, with the margins so close in this election, Boing Boing has provided a color coded map that captures the state by state votes in a less polarized way: http://www.boingboing.net/images/Purple-USA.jpg

I can't sleep, which is a problem.

So, I've put some images up that I've not had a chance to edit yet. Still need to update the Mt. Rainier shots & get J's marathon pics up. In the meantime: