...here a pea, there a pea...

so far 'little pea' has been translated into french, japanese, korean, maybe german? that's terrible that i can't remember off the top of my head. anyhow, here's pea in italian:


and in hebrew...which is pretty spectacular as the construction of the book works from right to left, spine on the right and opening on the left:


and what i love about this publishing house is its sweet character logo:

...1, 16, 17, 32...

i have a new mouth. well, a renovated mouth.

over the past three weeks i have been getting my wisdom teeth removed...two the first week, two the following week, and removal of sutures on the third. the extractions were performed over a series of weeks because they were done by dental students at the university of washington. it's true. i had my wisdom teeth taken out by students. it's a decision that seems suspect at best, but it wasn't a decision i made lightly and in the end it was a really amazing experience.

the real kicker of this whole escapade is that i didn't necessarily need to get the wisdom teeth taken out in the first place. they were fully present like their second molar cousins, they weren't impacted, there was no infection, just a little decay. recently, however, my brother jason had a wisdom tooth of his removed that caused problems for the adjacent molar. and after his extraction he boldly claimed that wisdom teeth were the mouth's sleeper cells...and eventually they would wreak havoc on the rest of the mouth.

this rang true for me. i could see where he was coming from...especially from my vantage point of being an uninsured individual. and as an uninsured individual i like to be pro-actively preventive. i came to the conclusion that eventually my wisdom teeth would most likely cause me trouble in the future. in the long run it would be better to take care of myself now instead of something more complicated (secret fears of root canals) later on. and when i really thought about it i couldn't really see what my 'thirds' (as they call them in the dental world) were doing for me. they seemed like lazy, layabout teeth, not necessarily improving my food chewing. so out, out damn' tooths.

long story short, i ended up at the dental school after much research and many calls to other clinics and dental offices, folks on the other end of the phone asking me if i understood that i would have to pay for services if i was uninsured, me reassuring that i did, rolling my eyes. anyhow, the student dentists were the best...and that's the thing...i had two different teams of two over the first two weeks and then a fifth student removing the sutures...and there is nothing i like more than variety. i liked experiencing the different mannerisms, comparing and contrasting, creating rating systems...

the first duo consisted of dr. bling and shaky mc gee. unfortunately, mc gee was the extractor that day and lacked the oomph it takes to yank teeth from bone. but dr. bling was very conscientious and attentive to my suction and checking in on me needs. the second team was collectively called 'team handsome'. not necessarily my type of handsome, but there was something ken-doll seeming about them. anyhow, handsome one and handsome two were a tight team. handsome two supported my jaw as he was working on extracting the lower tooth, pulling way ahead in points and stars ahead of shakey mc gee who didn't have this technique in his bag of tricks.

did i tell you that i wasn't put under? that's how i know all of this. i have a long history of surgeries so me and anesthesia parted ways a long time ago...i opted out of it. it was just me and novocaine. anyhow, it was great being awake...i learned a lot, i got to see my teeth...but not keep them, it was like i was giving them up for adoption; they were out and whisked away out of my reach, never to be seen again...and being awake made me feel like a part of the team...maybe the most important part...cooperation.

so dental students rule in my book.

...the fourth...

where i was on the fourth...you know, for photo's sake...

...secondary studio...

reason number one why i and maybe you can't work in the kitchen: sudden urges to make sushi for dinner and bake cookies afterwards.

both are somewhat time consuming and definitely constructively engaging activities. and if you are me, and i am, you make an unthinkable mess.

this all came about yesterday when seattle cranked it up to the mid to low nineties. when it starts hitting the mid eighties around here folks get upset so you can imagine what the nineties might do to them. the news reports were all ablaze with heatwave headlines. weather.com reported the temperature at 92 degrees but that it 'felt like' 90 degrees.

i'm no sissy. i come from the land of heatwaves. they're 95 degrees +, with humidity and they last for a series of days and sometimes weeks...thusly a wave...not a one day slap on the hand. but my house is a tiny box of hot and my studio is no exception. i can't think when i am hot, i mostly want to lie down (which is secretly lesson number two...no working in the bedroom). but as i have things to get to and be working on so this wasn't an option.

here i am...sushi-fied, eating cookies and continually schooling myself on the folly of my ways.

(lesson number three: no coffee before an acupuncture appointment, and by coffee i mean a sizeable americano. just don't do it)

...dreams really do come true...

so, thing is, is that i have had grey hair growing in since the eighth grade. nothing much...just a strand or two.

over the years the grey troops have grown in number. i like them just fine. it's a nice surprise to spy a new smattering when i catch a glimpse in the mirror. they have their own sort of pull because they're not really grey, they're silver...so they catch light in interesting ways...especially the cranky shaped ones.

a few days ago i noticed that up in my bangs a stripe was convening...which is something i have secretly wanted for a long time...a slick stripe in my bangs. it's covered by the top layer of bangs and it's sort of hard to see in the photo b/c of my shiny shiny hair...but it's there. now i just have to concentrate and have the column of grey grow forward. i think i can do it.

...where you been...

so, the seattle move is finished in so far as all of my stuff has arrived, unharmed, uncrushed. and that goes for the pysanky eggs i made over a vermont weekend...one of the earlier photos of this here blog. sure, they're a little stinky, but intact. intact and stinky.

so yes, everything is here and now everything needs its place.

i haven't written anything in awhile b/c i have been running around getting necessities for the house and then working on projects. i had a post i was working on, about the virtues of proper interior painting techniques...and i might finish it, but really, there were a lot of paint fumes affecting my judgement that day.

but since all of my junk is here, including the cable that connects my camera to my laptop, i figure a photo post is what's called for. why not?


poppies on my walk...


towers on a sunny day...


towers on a stormy day...


towers at sunset...



underside of towers...just because...


my stuff's arrived...temporary crap out place for me and the sneak...


the sneak in the kitchen garden window...

going, going, gone...

photo 1: space needle pinata, whole with ringgold st. pizza oven
cemetarily-esquely looming in the back ground.
photo 2: space needle pinata in mid-melee
both photos nabbed from shea's flickr account...thanks shea...and both photos for my going away party for my move to seattle...