wall of green

Ugh, just look at that sick wall of basil and catnip.

Everybody's happy.

multicolor flowers

I guess I'm a sucker for seasonal stuff. I've been enjoying haunting garden centers, taking more photos than are strictly necessary, and taking home a few plants that I suspect I might not kill.

Last year we got this same kind of flower, but in a yellow-orange-pink-fuchsia colorway.

I'll break out the macro lens another day.

Sometimes I just need proof that I took home a flower, put it in a pot, and didn't kill it. 

It's only been in my care for two hours, so far.

new watercolor set

There's nothing quite like a new art supply "high."

They're called "confections" and they do have a candy-like appeal for the rabid art supply collector. Hoarder.

Half un wrapped.

It comes with this cute little perfectly-palette-sized cheat sheet for you to fill in, and all the pans are numbered, but...this is not the order of colors I would choose. So I'll be scrambling them later, and probably trying to cram in some extra half pans in the center section. Eventually I'll flip over that perfect little card and fill in the map for the final resting place of each color.

Are they really artist-grade? I don't know. They were inexpensive, and I bet they'll fade with too much light exposure. But they feel nice while I'm working with them....so...probably I'll get the "pastel" color palette when it goes on sale. Ha.

basket case

I thought it would be fun to try basket making.

But, like, without buying a slew of supplies. 

And I've got tons of paper, sooooooo...

Yeah, I'm definitely taking apart the sides and I'll try something else - smaller - probably yarn.

In cat news, I got to hang out with Peter today.

Like all cats across the globe, he knows when his photo is about to be taken, and prepares to lick his nether regions. Cats!

Meanwhile, upstairs, Taco was watching birds, unaware that I was cheating on him with another cat. 

That's enough cat butt for today. 

😉

basil mania

It has begun - the great basil mania. 

I used to be in charge of the basil, but my husband found out I was apathetic at best, when it comes to taking care of plants. My plants need to take care of themselves...like a cactus. Or they only get watered when it rains. 

Basil under my care did okay, but basil under my husband's care does fantastically. So he's in charge of plants, now.

I'm just showing off the cast-offs from his seedlings. 

They all have names, too. 

I told Taco that these plants are his little brothers and sisters, so he should keep an eye on them.

write on in April

I made an honest woman out of myself, and actually purchased a write_on kit from Egg Press and Hello Lucky this year. 

It is pretty fabulous, but I am a sucker for letterpress and designs about postage and designs involving hands. So. I might be biased. ;)

I didn't quite manage to mail 30 letters in the 30 days of April, but I got close (high twenties?), and I've been in a bit of a mail art slump, so even that was impressive, to me.

Here you can judge for yourself the beautiful write_on cards from their kit.

My mail art has been a little lazy lately - I've just been making the addresses big and bold, and then doing some lettering on the back.

I got into this weird-for-me color palette of blush, goldenrod, hint of umber, and lime peel. 

And turquoise goes with everything, right? I use it like a neutral. Since it is basically the color of the sky, and nobody says, "hey, you really clash with the sky today." 

Or maybe they do say that. I've never met anybody that mean. :p

I'm also enjoying pairing postage stamps with envelope colors. Or....maybe I just like yellow. ;)

Taco might actually be a dog

Isn't that a face that dogs usually make?

Friday night venting...come for the art, stay for the tirade!

Some people are dumb. Like, really, dangerously dumb. Let me make a report for you with links.

First, there's this article about how the anti-vaxxers are "winning" and trumplestiltskin should be nominated for sainthood.

http://bolenreport.com/trump-congress-propose-cancelling-funding-us-childhood-vaccine-program/

Don't worry, it's just some blog, not really an article. There were some amazing things in there, though - highlights include the fact that "The View" is where Democrats get their information from. 😆 I can't even. 

Then, the comments section. A few woo-hoos in agreement, a surprising argument from Natalie, saying that we need to convince the other side and unite, and then KARMA. An actual dude named Karma, who basically called all liberals "sub-human" and stated the need to cage 'em up. Hooray. I love a good argument for dehumanizing a whole group of people. So I clicked on his name, which led me to his site.

http://www.harmonyenergyconsultants.com/web/en/products_overview.html

This is where he sells books and CDs with titles like, "Cancer? So What?" And I can only guess that Karma himself has killed more people with terrible medical advice than have ever died from vaccines. 

I hope regular karma comes for Karma.

And because I'm basically never going to fix the links so that they'll work, here's a screen shot of Karma's comment.

A phrase I really love in juxtaposition with his message is "blessed be." 

Anyway. That's my vent for the night.

Goodnight, and please know that not everybody out there is quite that mean or scientifically illiterate.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💗💗💗💗

Science is real. 

Vaccines don't kill your children.

We're going to get through this.

The truth is out there. (You're allowed to binge watch the X-files until your palate is cleansed.)

Taco looks good on red

Taco says hi. 

Figured I should throw in a cat post before throwing down a bunch more resistance art. 

😉

and so can you

(A tip of the hat to Stephen Colbert.)

But really, with the exception of the people who literally walked to America, when the land masses were joined, pretty much all Americans are descendants of immigrants or slaves. 

So why not treat undocumented immigrants the same as the citizens they aspire to be? 

immigration

"Let's not deport future Americans."
Why not just make it a more clear-cut path to citizenship? They're already here, and working hard, soooo....

If there is such a thing as "common law marriage," why not common law citizenship? Like, hey, you got here and lived here for a specified number of years, do you want citizenship? Ok, cool. 

Take this image and use it to #resist

what do you love?

Equality for everyone, for real, this time.

postcards

There is a blog, called design crush, that has a great collection of printable postcards that you can use to get in touch with your representatives.

Here's a link...or at least the web address (haha, we will see if I can turn it into a link in a minute)

http://designcrushblog.com/2017/02/20/print-write-mail-printable-resistance-postcards/

So, I am definitely on the postcard bandwagon. There are two in my etsy shop, and they look like this.

For the representatives that you need to pat on the back.

And then there's this one:

Which is obviously for sending to the president. On March 15th. Not that there are a whole bunch of people doing that, or anything. 😉

And then I felt a little bad that I hadn't designed a free printable postcard, sooooo...

There. You'll almost definitely need to format it to print at the right size. Luckily, a lot of printers have a 4x6 inch setting. 

Oh, do you need the address for the White House?

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20500

You're all set. 😘

love is love

Feel free to borrow any of these as a Facebook cover image, or something else. 

science

I am really concerned that so many people don't  "believe" in science.

 As if it's a religion. 

It can exist alongside religion.

Actually, science exists whether you believe in it or not.

Ugh, America, stop being dumb.

think

free speech

Might be the freedom I worry about the most. Sort of a foundation for all the other rights.

Take this image and use it to #resist

stronger together cover image for Facebook

Well, you can use it for something else, too, you'd just have to crop it. 😉

Take this image and use it to resist.

nice day for a hike

You deserve a Taco Tuesday! :)

"What....

I feel a...

Yawwwwwwwwwwn....coming on."

But he finishes with a perfect goofy grin.

But also...

Don't resist the love. Figure out how to resist with love.

This one is about cats, I pinky swear promise you

I am pretty convinced that Taco has an extra tooth sticking out of the roof of his mouth.

Can you see it? Does your cat have one? Maybe Taco is just lucky.

Anyway, he is passed out like a champ, and I hope you can sleep as peacefully as he does.

Seriously, no nazis should be allowed on the National Security Council

Steve Bannon is a threat to democracy, a threat to America and all of its citizens, and quite possibly the whole world.

Especially if he does destabilize the government like he wants to.

So please call your Senators and House of Representatives members and let them know that someone who hates nearly everyone probably shouldn't be on a council about security. His presence on the council does not make me feel safe. 

And, please do take this image and use it to #resist and #BanBannon