Type: Black and White

Not subtle.

Today's type selections are lessons in contrast, in more ways than one. Black and white is the first typesetting we know of: black ink rolled onto type blocks and then pressed onto paper. Simple. Or is it? 

I don't know the characters, but....

Just as there are many ways to print a book, so there are many ways to render letters, due to the natural complexity of human vision. We see an enormous range of information quickly and very well, just like any predator with eyes set in the front, creating an unobstructed field of vision, which is great for fighting. And other pursuits.

....I know an arm bar when I see one.

Enjoy the fights tonight, battle hounds.

Sticker Art: Dead Head

every day is a holiday for 'los muertos'

Happy Christmas

"Merry Christmas, Marie! Shake hands?"

A row of tiny Charlie Brown trees. 

Merry Christmas, from the town of friendly people. 

From The Land of Ice and Snow

Red berries, green firs, and white snow.

A natural wreath tied with red string.

Decked out for the holidays.

Christmas scenes from 2013.

Secret Santa

I've written before about my feelings regarding Christmas, and it is typically a lot of "Bah Humbug", but occasionally I'm reminded that there are many people out there who feel like I do, and highly influential ones at that. Why buy more stuff, stuff that the people in your life don't need? After the first addictive rush of "Gimme!" wears off, they're left with an awful, empty hangover feeling from a binge that gets them no closer to where they really desire to be. Do something real for them this season by giving to someone who really needs it. They may not thank you immediately, but what you're doing lasts far longer than whatever piece of cheap (and toxic) plastic they'll eventually toss out. Hang in there and go the distance, because that's where the real good stuff is.  I'm with you on this one.



Here's yet another "secret" (that's not so secret) from a real life "Santa" who always gives :) Facebook users, click on the link for a great Xmas tip: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152091712840590&set=a.336319760589.197360.114205065589&type=1&theater 

This is 44

A Japanese horror movie.

Every year on my birthday, I keep to a tradition that honors my ongoing commitment, and the promise I made to my family, that I would make taking care of myself a priority in my life. It's not easy, because even a casual reader here knows that much of my life is devoted to helping others. It is my pleasure to serve, but every good mom out there knows where I'm coming from about giving until it hurts.

Before getting it chopped.

I've learned the heard way that if I do not take some time for myself, I will eventually crash and burn, which sends those around me who are dependent on me into a tailspin while I rebuild, and at this age, I don't have the time for that kind of a long process anymore.

One last look at my grow out.

At the salon on a snow day.

So every year, I do something that's just for me: get a massage, or my nails done, or a haircut. This year, I did all three in the middle of a snow day. I got my hair cut first, then a manicure and pedicure, followed by a ten minute chair massage.

Steeling myself: this ain't nothing for a Warrior Princess.

Later in the day I ordered pizza, drank a glass of beer with a couple of pepperoni slices, and watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with my mom. It was brilliant, by the way; we were riveted. 

All in all, it was a pretty good day :)

Thanks to Katy for the great bob and the chat (sorry gals, no hair color was added, it's just my iPhone settings), and my new friends at the nail salon who gave me some prettily packaged lotion as a free gift.

Winter: Snow Dogs

Check out this Malamute pup playing in the snow for the first time. Guaranteed to make you happy. How many things can you say
that about?

Can you spot the Malamute? Flawless blending in.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/dogs/

A Walk in the Park: Fall

Dr. Henry V. Borst Park

Here's a shot from the early Fall that I wanted to post, because looking at it reminds me to take a walk outside whenever I feel stressed, or tired, or frazzled, or down. A nice walk in brisk, cool air always makes me feel better, health and weather permitting. Go for it.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/nature/

Hudson Valley: Snow Day

Winter Wonderland

Free

For Madiba.

Little Red Birdhouse

The Little Red Birdhouse that could.

Now that the leaves have dropped, I can see the bone structure of certain things better: trees, houses, and little red birdhouses. I love that my neighbors share my penchant for Our Mother Mary, fun dog statues, and as many charming birdhouses as they can sometimes cram onto branches, or perch helpfully atop other structures.  
We so love animals here!

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/birdhouses-and-treehouses/ 

 

Nature: Winter Flowers

Black sunflowers in winter.

Sunflowers that have lost their bloom have a beauty of their own, set against a bright and chilly crisp winter sky. We often hear how depressing and "dead" our climate seems to outsiders, but it is a full-on sensory experience: there's birds chirping loudly and calling out, chasing away crows, flying overhead from tree to tree, and squirrels that play, and rabbits that hop about, collecting acorns fallen to the ground and bright red berries that remain on the vine. Pines give off their strong scent on cold days that smell like "snow" and woodsmoke from fireplaces, something I can't explain to you if you've never experienced it fully. There's plenty to see, if you open your mind.

Wintertime: Black Hole Sun

A dark winter sun.

There's this bruised, yellow sky in winter that holds a dark sun hidden behind the clouds, creating long, dark, stretching shadows everywhere the weak light meets the earth. That kind of spooky weather makes a fun atmosphere for us here in the Hudson Valley. Oftentimes, I don't need a horror movie with a fog machine. I just take a walk outside.

A hidden winter sun.

Cottages: Halloweentown in Wintertime

Enter at your own risk.

I love scary old houses, especially the kind you find in small Hudson Valley towns that were settled many, many moons ago. There was a day last week that reminded me of the song "Black Hole Sun": the far away star seems to spin wildly around a dark cloud sky, like something out of a witches fable that farmers told wayward children for centuries, huddled around a fireplace in the kitchen, as the snow swirled outside, and the barn door rattled in its' hinges with every strong gust of chilly wind. Yeah. Like that.

Type: Time/Travel

Titanic Sans Serif: big, clean, eye-catching, well-spaced for easy reading.

I saw the bulk of this monster special one night streaming video online, because the title caught my eye. I thought it was another gloriously bad SyFy monster movie of the week. Even better, we go back in time millions of years, when actual living monsters roamed the earth. It's got plenty of wacky humans though, if you desire that same level of human engagement typically present in the modern day scifi flick. Here's a tip: poorly dressed scientists hunting snakes in the wild. 'Nuff said. Check it out. It's gross and scary and awesome.
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/full-episodes/titles/16708/titanoboa-monster-snake

For the armchair traveler: "Come on in and take a look."

The next excellent type sample came through the mail, in the form of a travel catalog. It's a simple but extremely effective form of visual communication; a seemingly average piece of printed information that masks an underlying intellectualism that's quite keen and very sophisticated. It's warm, inviting, and friendly, asking a timeless question to its' audience: "If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would that be?" The expectation is thus: some practice winter flight, a panic brought on by the cold and the snow, indicative of someone who is at odds with themselves and their locale. Many will see the high price tags and be satisfied with a cheaper (and easier) form of travel that's available to the armchair traveler; a wishing and hoping that's a pleasant form of dreaming not needing actualization to have a lot of value to the viewer. Still others, would-be adventurers and wealthy donating alumni surely, want "in" immediately, for their future. What kind of trekker are you? Think on it, and dream.

 http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/travel/

Street Art: The Sewer Monster

It crawled out, from within.

I found this particular nightmare walking back from a real estate excursion around town. Whoever thought to pair a Cthulhu-type octopus creature with the faceless body of a businessman in suit and tie is one twisted monkey, and my type of freak. We know monsters lurk in more places than the dank depths of a city's bowels. Sometimes, they even live and walk among us, perhaps secure in their anonymity, but no less evil because of their every day banality.  
Who is it that walks among you?

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/street-art-sacred-spaces/ 

Thanks

I was 19 years old the first time I made an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself. I came home from college to a note on the kitchen table from my mom. She left town quickly, going on vacation to Florida with her then-boyfriend, our widowed next door neighbor that we, her kids, loathed for many good reasons, and his wild teenage daughter. Great. Now what? My middle brother was distraught when he came home from his upstate New York school. He's someone who enjoys comforts, rituals, stability, and routines. What about Thanksgiving? 
He asked me, tears in his eyes from shock, growing more emotional. Are we not going to have a holiday now?! He's a lovely, sensitive boy, and he was struggling with being away at school, while I thrived under my own domain, because I'd already had an enormous amount of life experience and responsibilities for such a young girl. I felt terrible. Well, I said to him, let me call Grandma and Grandpa, and see what they think. My grandparents lived within ten minutes of us, and they often served as surrogate parents in the absences of my mother and father. My father had left the area years ago for points out west, establishing a business and another family, so he was almost completely out of reach of us, in that time before cell phones, computers, emails, and the Internet. 

When I reached my grandparents on the phone, they were taken aback. My mother had left town without telling them either, typical for someone with her issues. It was a cowardly thing to do, but not unlike her to leave such a huge parental burden on my shoulders. My grandparents weren't much help, either. At that point they stopped hosting big dinners with a lot of cooking because they were elderly (like they had warned us they would do for many years, as part of their retirement), and they no longer had the energy for such large family affairs. I took a deep breath. OK, I said to them over the phone, I'll do it. I'll make Thanksgiving dinner. After all, I reasoned to myself, I'd made gravy with my grandmother on Thanksgiving before as a little girl, and she'd be with me in my mother's kitchen to give me moral support. Vegetables were easy, they would bring dessert, so I just had to manage the bird and the side dishes on my own.

And so I did it. I went to the store and bought everything I knew I'd need. I smoothed the nice white linen table cloth over the dining room table, took out the good china from the wooden sideboard, polished the fine silver like I'd done countless times in my youth, and washed the crystal glasses that I took out of the glass case where the special occasion tableware was kept. I woke up early the next day, put on one of my mother's aprons, got the heavy stuffed turkey in the oven, sewing the bird shut just like I'd seen it done before, saving the giblets in the sink like my grandfather taught me to do for soup and gravy, and I then made an entire dinner by myself. My grandparents drove over to the house, and I was there to greet them at the front door to usher in the holiday with them. I took their coats and hung them up in the hall closet, just like my parents used to do with guests. I remember feeling grown up, helpful, competent, and very much in command of the day's events. We went into the kitchen. We opened some wine, and my brother and grandfather drank beer. I put all the food on the table as they sat down. When the last dish hit the table, I breathed a sigh of relief, pulling my chair up to the table, placing the linen napkin on my lap. My grandfather said "Grace" at the head of the table. Afterwards, I raised my glass in toast to my grandmother, grandfather, and brother, smiling widely at each of them as we clinked glasses. 

I thought about that time again last weekend at the grocery store, having dragged myself there from my sick bed because I didn't have any food to eat. The cashier was deep in conversation with the lady in line before me about typical holiday family drama stuff, of a kind so common to this area and particular to this culture, that when she was done with her groceries, I stepped seamlessly into the conversation, picking right up where my neighbor left off. The clerk couldn't understand why her sister wouldn't host, but OK, why not have it at her house? What about her mother's house? She has plenty of room! We laughed exasperatedly over our predicaments, as I told her my teenage tale of woe. She chuckled ruefully about it, saying tiredly to me, as we bagged my groceries: "All I want to do is put up my feet, have a beer, and order pizza." Oh, yeah, that sounds good. I sighed as I shouldered the heavy bag for my walk back. "Me, too", I said, and then I hoped we would both get our holiday wishes this year. It looks like I will, because this little mommy desperately needs her rest, if only for one day. Thanks.

On the Mend

$.99 Halloween candy.

The first cold of the season I catch comes right on the heel of fall allergies. It's a long bout initially, but after that bad brush up, I tend to be set for the rest of the winter, minus a cold here and there. So, what did I do? I read some, but I find I lack the proper attention span when I'm really down and out for the count. Thanks to a WiFi connect, I used my iPhone to surf while flat on my back for a few weeks. It was a fruitful journey. 

The Nature Conservancy's magazine.

I caught up with Game of Thrones and some of True Blood, played video games (won a belt in Bejeweled Blitz!), searched online for a new place to live, took breaks to eat and occasionally shower, going out only to get groceries, leftover Halloween candy, and new fuzzy slippers, and take a look at an apartment that didn't pan out. In the meantime, my hair grew and grew, like something out of a fable.

Mother of All Dragons.

Then, last weekend, I broke with my health rules to drink some very strong caffeinated green tea, so I could stay up and watch the fights for UFC 167. It was a wild ride, just like my illnesses tend to be: not often, but violent, and going the distance. I'm still working my way back to a 100%. Stay tuned.

Hudson Valley: Store Signs

....unless you're a Mixed Martial Artist.

I love store signs, especially the antiques, the more retro, the better: neon ones, hand drawn ones, and those tall peeling paint signs from the last century. There's an abundance of great store fronts in my town. Have a look for yourself.

Peckman's Wines & Liquors.

Sneaking down the alley...

A small town sign: the homegrown militia.

Type, glorious, type, of all shapes, colors, and sizes.

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/type/

Humor: Bear Hugs

Hi there. Just hanging out.

I walk by a child's day care center most days, with its' lovely complex of old farm houses on a wide stretch of land. In the afternoon, you can hear the cheerful sound of children playing in the big back yard; it always makes me happy to hear their sport. This morning when I walked by, the bear was hanging out again, this time on the roof of a car. I wonder what child he belongs to, or if he's simply a mascot for the house, the toy that gets passed around to whichever child is most in need of a big bear hug that day. You know the feeling.

Hello again. Just doing my job.

Need a good laugh today? Same. 

http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/humor/