Hello To Fall, Goodbye To The Boogel

Well, yay yay, it is the first day of Fall and I am finding my mind turning seriously to pumpkins, leaves, Halloween, skeletons and mummies. Evidently, others are doing the same since I just sold the art altar I made to the Boogel, pictured above. In case you are curious, a Boogel is a cross between an angel and a Boo. I will miss the Boogel altar, but if I get too lonely I can make a visit anytime to another Boogel who flies over the bar at Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island. He's better known as Devil Dude. (pictured below.) He supervises unruly patrons and keeps the spirit of Edgar Allan on tap.

I See You Mr. Bill Murray

"That's It, I'm Retired" by Candace Jean and featured in the "Mr. Bill Murray" art exhibition at the R&R Gallery in Los Angeles tonight. This painting represents Bill as Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic. Love the Sugar Crabs and Crayon Ponyfish.


I don't know why, but the lovable Bill Murray keeps popping up in my life lately. My daughter keeps running into him in Charleston, SC where he lives part time, Groundhog Day is on the TV every time I turn it on for the last two weeks, and then I suddenly get an invitation on Facebook to the "Mr. Bill Murray"art show opening tonight in LA with works featuring him as the honorable subject. The adorable watercolor above by Candace Jean is from the show. It captures him perfectly, I think,... the loveable/badboy combination with that sensitive humor. No one can do it like Bill. Candace Jean got those sad eyes so well. Wish I had a jet... I would be there at the R&R Gallery tonight.

A picture made with Bill a couple of weeks ago in Charleston. The report is that he is talking in this picture...telling everyone to "suck in".

Bar Tales-The Gibson

I have a friend who orders a Gibson now and then, but I never thought until the other day to ask why a martini with an onion is called a Gibson. Well, I got the bar stool report. Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) was a very successful American artist and business man whose famous iconic images of beautiful women of the early 20th century were called "Gibson Girls." His images made him famous and quite wealthy and he worked his way to editor, and later, owner, of Life Magazine. The Gibson Martini is named for him. The story is that Gibson would attend business meetings that included the expected consumption of martinis. He wanted to maintain a sober business sense advantage so he arranged for the bartenders to fix him a "fake" martini with chilled water rather than gin. He requested his cohort bartenders place a cocktail onion in the drink for two reasons: the onion would cover up the lack of alcohol odor and also make it easily recognized and not confused with more potent, olivey ones. Mr. Gibson owned an island off the coast of Maine, referred to as 700 acre island, where he escaped from New York City for the Summer. An artist that makes enough money to buy an island...how unusual and shrewd, this Mr. Gibson.

Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944)

Naughty Apples

It is September, so it's time for giving a little thought to apples. Apples show up in many religious traditions as a trouble making fruit. Since it is never specified in the Bible, it is only a popular Christian tradition that names the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden to be an apple. One factor which may have contributed to the apple being given this bad rap may be due to the Latin word for evil and apple being very similar. The Latin word for evil is malum while the word for apple is malus. The plural for both words is identical-mala. Mythology is full of naughty apples, causing everything from a six year pregnancy to the Trojan War. And on a more contemporary note, what child can't vividly remember the Witch, disguised as a beggar woman, in the 1937 Disney movie, Snow White, handing that poison apple to poor Snow.
But then, when the apple is not busy symbolizing evil, it enjoys meddling in the love department. In Ancient Greece the apple was considered to be Aphrodite's sacred fruit and if you threw an apple at someone, you were declaring your love. If the apple was caught, the answer was "yes". Irish folklore states that if you peel an apple in one continuous ribbon, then throw the peel behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of her future husband's initials.

A painting by the Dutch painter, Nicolaes Maes, A Young Woman Peeling Apples (1655). She's saving those peels for shoulder throwing.

Know The Difference

While riding in the Georgia Mountains, we passed a fenced pasture with animals in it. As my friend exclaimed, "alpacas", I simultaneously shouted, "llamas." Friend then looks at me and says, you're the llama wrangler, what IS the difference? Well, I then realized that if it looks anything close to a llama, I call it a llama. But how do you easily tell them apart? Both animals are Camelids from South America. The alpaca is kept solely for its fine fiber while the llama has usable fiber but is also a very useful pack animal. If an alpaca has been sheared recently, it will look more like a llama. The alpaca is smaller than the llama (almost half the size), but if only one species is in the field, with no reference, this is not very helpful. Here's the tell-tale factor...the ears. An alpaca's ears are straight, while the llama's are curved or banana shaped. Just say to yourself, llama-banama. There you go, impress your friends...know the difference.

Sweet llamas showing off their banana ears.

A fluffy alpaca, sportin' her straight ears while posing with her Bolivian friend. I'm liking the poodle cut.

Cat Dancing

On Board The Llama Train

I have been thinking about a hike to Mt. Leconte in Tennessee. My parents hiked up to Mt. Leconte and spent the night in the lodge when they first met, I believe it was in the early 40's. My brother found their signature in the trail log the last time he was there. Check out the Llama train by clicking on the link below. My favorite is Steve. I think I want to be a Llama wrangler.


http://www.thegreatsmokymountains.org/blog/films/lecontellama.html

Goats Discover Coffee Altar

An art altar I just finished which pays respect to the honorable goat and his role in the discovery of coffee. You may need to refer back to the post done on Jan. 8 of this year about Kaldi and his frisky goats. I'm waiting on the glue to clear up on the beans before listing it for sale. I might miss this one a little since I do some hard core coffee worship each morning.

The Ghosts of the Loyal Carolina Parakeet

"The Indians take a light, and go among them in the night, and bring away some thousands, killing them with long poles, as they roost in the trees. At this time of the year, the flocks, as they pass by in great measure, obstruct the light of day." From A New Voyage To Carolina by John Lawson, 1709.

Just imagine, walking in a South Carolina swamp or woods and suddenly having the sky grow dark. You look up and see a sea of yellow, orange, and green...the sky is full of Carolina Parakeets. Until the early 1900's, it was a possibility. The Carolina Parakeet was the only Parrot native to the eastern United States and North America's only truly native parrot. The last known Carolina Parakeet to exist was "Incus" who died at the Cincinnati zoo in 1918. Ironically, he died in the same cage where the last Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died just four years earlier. Incus had a mate who died a year before he did, but no efforts were made to breed the two, because of a lack of knowledge of their impending extinction.
Several factors contributed to the Carolina Parakeet's extinction, and one is really sad. There was the loss of forests for agricultural space, the birds were harvested for their feathers to decorate ladies hats, and they were killed in huge numbers by farmers who considered them to be pests to their crops. The sad factor happens here...the farmers learned of the parakeets unusual behavior of immediately returning in large flocks to the area where one of their members had been shot to gather around their wounded or dead comrade. Hunters knew this and would wait for the flock to return and kill large numbers at once. Loyalty does not serve well in the animal world, at least not when man is involved.
They were officially declared extinct in 1939, but there are still rumors and folklore saying they exist today in the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia and Florida. All official reported sightings have been declared inaccurate. I still hold out hope.

No living thing should ever be taken for granted.