Ice cream/Ice in French: La Glace

I could use some ice cream. Matter of fact, think I'ma gonna go and get some banana walnut or butter pecan or chocolate fudge ice cream RIGHT NOW. Cause it's hot.

Yum. I could lick my arm the thought is so good.

Oh yeah - "Summer" it is definitely here. Jessica was making her way to the drained Barton Springs when I stopped her. She nodded in assent when I asked her if she wanted to write a word.

Summer.

Before I say anything, I should ask you if you can spot the difference between these two photos.

So Amanda rightly stated, the first photo I posted on here had the wrong date. The actual date is June 5, 2007. I used some of that spiffy dry line liquid paper stuff to correct it. It actually works nicely on polaroid film. I find that working with a camera, I'm actually thinking about technical stuff in a new way. Different kind of appreciation for camera artists aka photographers.
Today's word, barely visible: Pride.

Nuff said.

For now at least.

It's been an intense word day. I got "love" today. That is awesome. But what trips me out is how the photo came out. I know that happens with Polaroids sometimes, but I still think it's trippy - the face coming down from the corner to kiss my arm.

A friend of mine called me earlier today to tell me she had dreamt of writing the word `zohar' across my left breast. She's out of town, or I would have loved to have that word on me. It's such a powerful word - as powerful as love. If not one and the same.

I didn't share any of this with Caroline when she chose to write `love' on me. She was very sweet. "Nobody's asked me to do this before." she said. I smiled.

This is how ridiculous I am sometimes. I've been home ALL day. Reading. Talking to friends on the phone. All of a sudden, I realized it was 8.30pm- and I had no word. I was desperate. Thinking - "maybe I'll knock on the neighbor's door. Ask her for a word. "(except, as W. pointed out, it was almost 9pm on a Sunday in Texas, which is probably the wrong thing to do to stay peaceful with my neighbor) or "well, maybe the neighbor downstairs." (cause I know them and we run into each other at crazy times) I even thought, "I'll have my dog Flower give me a paw print." Des-per-ate! Yes. I see the approaching lightning overhead, the tremble of thunder that signals a Texas thunderstorm. So, what did I do? I went to the grocery store.

It was all fine leaving my house. The rain had not yet started. I'm wandering through the vegetable aisle - pick up some carrots, broccoli. A couple of green plums. Wander over to the frozen food section. And that's where I find him. Dongjae. He was super cool, his hair tucked back, also wandering through the frozen food aisle. Did the standard intro, and he was like, "sure." so he wrote: on my write arm. It's "hello" in Korean.

And then, it hits me. There is a raging Texas thunderstorm that is shaking the grocery store roof. And I have to get home. And not only that. I have to protect the word. Alas, I had not brought my camera with me. I wrapped a fruit bag around my arm and darted through the rain, just barely making it. Everything was soaked. My T-shirt. My pants. My shoes. There was a waterfall by my front door. My dog refused to have anything to do with me. But,

I had the word.



And, not just that, but it was written in a diagnol so that I had to take two photos to capture it. Okay - I know. You can barely see the words in the photo, but still, isn't it cool just to know that it's there?

By the way - those dots you see in the photo - it's not your eyes - it's the rain.

Today Sharon was the featured artist for the Salon I coordinate here in Austin. At the end, I asked her to write a word. She wrote `gratitude'. I didn't even see it until Zayna Green, a young woman at the workshop, took the photo. Here it is, gratitude in some of its glory:

Hey Steven - I don't know if you lost the paper I gave you in the river, but here's the photo! I was at the river today, in Zilker Park. It was hot, and the river was rushing. Went there with W and our dog Flower. Those are his black ears sticking out just behind my arm. I don't think the guy with the tug boat knew he was going to be in the photo - I didn't know either. But hey.

Steven was on the path on his way up to the big rocks on the river. I stopped him and his friend who was lugging a small tube to float in. Steve had some really cool braids. I asked him if he wanted to write a word. So he started by responding, "Only one word?" and then, "What will you do with this word?" and then, "Are we the first?"

Yes.
Photograph it and put it on the blog.
No.

Those are my final answers Steven. Thanks for "cooperate". That's a theme today. And a good one for the river, too.