"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Days In A Life


Do you ever wonder what really goes on behind the scenes of our blogging buddies?  I mean, no one wants to hear us drone on about our bone spurs, or dark depression and anxiety disorders.  Right?  But, how many beautiful bouquets and finely decorated tableaux can we look at?  
Case in point - my good blogging friend, Jo, a Brit in TN, posted such a beautiful blog about strawberries.  Well, mine are mush this year because of non-stop, flooding rains.  Who wants to look at that?  And, Sister, my weenie, got in the middle of them yesterday and pooped.  I don't know if I can possibly go looking for any now.  Fertilizer perhaps?  Now that would be a positive way to look at things.  I haven't reached my maximum level for beauty though.  I might if I were to start doing Pinterest.


Please, don't all of you jump ship on me yet.  I am pretty hopeless, er, I am still hopeful.  I do not like technology; need an assistant to handle all of it.  It is so frustrating to me.  Nevertheless, I have had this camera for two years, maybe three.  Different lenses and is an SLR which I used to love before the digital days.  So what's the problem?  I just got it out for the first time today.  I simply do not want to read about it and fiddle with it.  Picture me with my head bowed in shame, but, I am going to fiddle with it today.  If I put things away in a cabinet or drawer, I forget about them (okay, I think about them occasionally), but the alternative is leaving it sitting around and I don't like a messy house.

Same thing with my art supplies.  The only place with enough light to work in my house is the dining room table.  It will become covered with paints and brushes, papers et al, and looks so messy.  I have had it all put away since the fall, but am going to get it all back out and start to paint and create again.  Hopeful huh?


Okay, I'll get off the subject.  I call this statue my booger.  I bought it from a small local shop.  It was made by an African American goat herder in a nearby town.  Probably made from an oak tree; it has goat bones for teeth.  


It has a two sided face, four arms and four feet, nostrils and not sure what other carvings are.  Maybe eyes or ears.


Arms and fingers.


Feet and toes.


A look inside one of his gaping mouths.  It is very heavy; must have been awfully hard to carve.  Was it a way to pass the time or a shamanic creation?  I looked at some other tribal African art and saw some similar horned creatures.  Could the creator have remembered something from a long ago culture?  Had an epiphany from somewhere out there?  I bought it for $5.00 and an old, broken harpsichord.  It must have taken the artist a long time to carve it. And, I do so love folk art.

23 comments:

Doc said...

I got ya beat...our weenie Sophie poops on the strawberries and Popeye the Boston Terrier follows behind and eats the poop. Bet you thought I was going to say he eats the berries, I wish someone would eat the berries. I love your booger, can’t believe you got it for five dollars.

donna baker said...

Well Doc, I feel your pain. My weenies never met a turd they didn't like.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

*giggle*
Dear sweet Donna, into each life, a little poop must fall......
I think you are one of the most talented bloggers I know, your artwork is incredible, I have a hard time reading instructions also, a bit like a fella I suppose.
Trial and error is how I do it, it's the reason I don't own a smartphone :)
Your 'booger' is an usual piece, and yes, I bet it took its creator a blue moon to finish....
Onwards and upwards !
~Jo

RachelD said...

I do believe you have a rare and seldom-captured statue of that old Southern Gonna-Getcha Booger: The Wampus Cat. (Pronounced WAWM-PUS Cat, if you're serious, or dealing with children who just. won't. mind).

Not that I've ever seen one, nor have I ever mentioned that old folk tale in the hearing of children, but that sure and purentee looks like what EYE thought one looked like, when the old folks described them.

Just my Sillies taking over. I just learned that I'll be walking over boxes, with no sink in the kitchen, for at least another week. Baw.

r.

donna baker said...

I love you Jo. That and you are one of the first blogs I started following and have always enjoyed yours so.

Joanne Noragon said...

Donna, I'm still fiddling with my point and shoot. I really don't like the business of looking at the manual on the computer when I'm confused (often), and generally forge on and do not impress myself with the outcome.

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Aww, that made my day !
Right back at you ;)
Hugs,
~Jo

rjerdee said...

I can dig your aggravation over having to read instructions...When I got a Windows 8 computer, I hated having to learn something new again. Had to buy a manual to figure things out...got tired of all that work and took my computer in and the technicians put a classic shell on it so now my computer operates as Windows 7...

donna baker said...

I'm right with you sister.

donna baker said...

Oh lord Becky, I'll have to tell my husband. He says you can't get Windows 7 anymore and refuses to use the new computer I got him for his birthday because it has Windows 8. I've heard 8 is awful. Me, I have a new Mac, which I have never used before and you can imagine I'm having to relearn everything.

donna baker said...

Rachel, I have heard of a Wampus Cat. My grandkids tell me about lots of boogers in different parts of the country. It is definitely from the south and could have been made to scare haints away.

La Table De Nana said...

I don't read manuals.
I learn as I go.
Give me a manual and I lose interest.
My grandsons cannot believe I cannot work all the remotes for the TV after having lived here 14 yrs.
Why should I?
I never watch tv alone..I only watch at night and remotes are J's specialty:)
My camera on the other hand..I play w/ buttons..:) and just try different things..
Have fun w/ it:)
I like different things too;)And different people.

La Table De Nana said...

PS we have Windows 8.. no problems at all..smooth sailing since weeach bought one.:)

donna baker said...

Monique, my hat is off to you. You are a brave and intelligent woman. I guess I'm afraid of messing it up which I would do. I can't work my tv remotes either. After my children left home, I became unable to do anything they had always done. I will try and have fun with the camera. I did love being able to do the SLR things with the lenses pre-tech days. I first need to learn how to download pics from it to the computer. I like different people too. I always told the kids the world would be pretty boring if everyone were the same.

donna baker said...

Good to know. I'm going to nag my husband to try it. Ha!

jerilanders said...

You are cracking me up girl! I don't know if you meant to be funny, but I just got a good belly laugh, that statue!!! Sorry, I just can't help myself.
I hate reading directions and will go to great lengths to avoid it..like cajoling my husband into reading them instead. Mow, about those bone spurs...

donna baker said...

Unfortunately, my husband, a neuroscientist, is worse than I am when it comes to tech stuff. It took me years to get him to use a cell phone. Just being that oppositional child I was long ago.

Lynne said...

Donna, I agree. So much of blogging is "staging". It's best to be real. I try to post images taken by me and weave them with borrowed images that inspire me. I think it is amazing that you keep your brushes on the dining room table, and speaking of your dining room the bit that I spy in your image above looks amazing!

Excuse me while I go pick up a "hunk" of shedding Chocolate Lab hair off of the living room floor.
Have a wonderful day, and thank you for your visits 34th Street!
~Lynne
w/L

donna baker said...

Glad you stopped by Lynne. As an aside to the post, I've noticed that guys' blogs are quite different from the girls. More day to day stuff and less staging. I think they are kind of funny.

Debbie Nolan said...

Okay Donna- you got me thinking about all the pooping that goes on in my veggie patch. Between four kitties, two dogs and possums I would rather not give it to much thought. Sorry that your berries are mush. We don't have any yet-hope soon. Love your folk art. Thank you for making me laugh today. So glad you did.

donna baker said...

Glad you get me Debbie. My kids tell me to self-edit. It's just so hard sometimes. I'm getting jaded in my golden years.

Amanda Summer said...

Mushy strawberries are real and honesty is beautiful. The sculpture does look totemic.

donna baker said...

Oh Amanda, your works/words always make me feel better.