She sees you, little one.  She sees all she surveys. There is a passage in the first chapter of A Coffin For Dimitrios where Charles Latimer, the mystery writer, has been feeling sorry for Colonel Haki, who has been making a fool of himself over a proposed book idea to Mr. Latimer.  After dinner, they go to the colonel's office to get the plot summary when the colonel excuses himself for a moment while he deals with a small matter, the body of a wanted criminal that has been found floating in the Bosporus.  As he is reading the file Latimer notices that Colonel Haki's face has taken on the appearance of an old and very experienced cat watching a young and very inexperienced mouse.  He remembers an acquaintance telling him that there was 'something about torturing prisoners'.  He realizes that he does not need to feel sorry for the colonel at all.  Then Haki looks up at him and asks, "I wonder, Mr. Latimer, if you are interested in real crimi...

      The Rabbit's Schoolroom.  Walter Potter. 1880's.  This stunning collection sold not too long ago at auction for about half a million pounds.  There was a lawsuit filed by the owner when he found out that Damien Hirst had offered a million and it was turned down.  It turns out that the offer may not have been for real.       Detail. The Kitten's Tea Party.  Would that those kitties had a few years of life than immortality behind glass. What fun!  Farmers would bring Potter their drowned kittens. The Lower Five.  Check out the window! https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2013/sep/13/curious-world-walter-potter-pictures-taxidermist-victorian  

   Legionnaire body armor.  This is a Lorica Segmentata, a self explanatory name.  Mass produced, light, and very effective, it is the opposite of gladiatorial armor.  Gladiatorial armor, the other need in Roman culture, was heavy, showy, and designed to be worn for just a few minutes.  Legionaire armor was designed to protect vital areas, to be light and inconspicuous, and might be worn for weeks on end.  Armor for the games was made to keep arms and head safe, yet leave the torso open for a death blow.  It was also gilded, heavy and beautiful.      A perfect example of the opposition of gladiatorial defense vs. military.  No chest protection, damn near no vision, eyecatching decoration, weight and bulk no problem at all!   The helmet shown here is that of a Thracian, or possibly a secutor (chaser), they are the same thing.  Of course there were no hard and fast rules on the sand as nov...

Today the back porch was all over lizards.  I was trying to get a photo of one who was crunching a June bug in the most leisurely manner, when I espied movement and saw this fellow peeping over a silver plated pitcher I obtained for two dollars 30 years ago.  That's polish all over it, I've been meaning to shine it.  The pitcher, the lizard is supposed to be dull.  That I even saw him demonstrates his lack of focus on the imperative.  As expensive as this camera is, like all digital cameras there is a lag between pressing the button and getting the picture.  All the others were blurred, a real shame as he is a handsome lizard and this does not show him in all his leathery glory. This is a phone camera, but a camera nonetheless.  Oh for my Voightlander again! Lizards R Us. A life of serenity and contemplation. Time held me green and dying      Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

Friends don't let friends exact vengeance.  This goddamn camera is fucking useless.

  Scamp # 5  May 1958 Adorable anthro puppy action from Dell, from the month and year when I was born.  Note the price.  I have always thought this apropos for me.  I found this in a warehouse I was cleaning out c. 1996. Bob Grant did the pencils until 1961.  There were many artists and I am not getting straight answers so this is as much credit as I can give. Just yanked this off the net.  Lively, great linework, typical Disney. A Sunday strip. Bill Berg, Scamp Sunday page layout, 1960. # 9. March 1, 1959 Scamp # 8, 1958 Scamp # 8, Dec1 1958 https://youtu.be/P_y6tCxnerQ Scamp # 1, 1955 http://www.toonopedia.com/scamp.htm

The only piece of glass I have left.  This was from a pattern, my originals were things like the Major Arcana, Rider-Waite deck.  I made this for my parent's house c. 1990, workmanlike with poor solder joints, I got in a hurry.   I thought I had a trade, glass does not pay well unless you work for a really good studio.  Too many people are capable of basic cutting and glazing, and anything else has to be sold as custom pieces or fine art.  Screw it, I'll glaze these for myself and stack them in the corner before I ever let myself be cheated again, people want artistic skill but they don't want to pay for it.  Doubt me?  Ask anyone who has ever spent years training for the stage how well they get paid.  Ask anyone on an art site how often people beg for free art.  People will pay big bucks for the venue but skimp on the artists, not realizing or caring that they are getting exactly what they pay for in the way of talent.  If...

  This is my sister's house in Austin.  The house on the right of the one in the pic, out of camera shot, is where Charles Whitman stabbed his wife to death.  It has been extensively rebuilt but for years it looked just like it did on the front page of the Austin paper the day of that horrible event.  This is now an upscale neighborhood but I worked with a guy who said it was not paved until after WWII.  In the above I have captured a raccoon who had been living under the house.   Me and my brother took him to an Episcopalian church that sits in some woods a few miles away and let the beautiful, stinky animal go.  He went off like a brown and white flash.  He almost exactly matched the saddle shoes visible behind the cage, a good thing because I wouldn't want us to clash.  I am very fond of raccoons but they can do enormous damage to a house.      Bon chance little one!      (An aside....

This phone thing is driving me nuts.  Fuck!  This drawing is not good anyway, but to have it turn out blue just sucks.

Jean-Honore Fragonard.  His paintings are the very essence of life and joy.   The Reader The Shepherdess The Progress of Love.  Stunning. Perseus and Andromeda The Lover Crowned Winter.  This is great stuff. Happy Accidents Of The Swing.  I was in my thirties before I realized what was going on here.  One of the greatest paintings ever. I feel sure this guy would agree with me. The Storm Fragonard painted 550 pictures and dated 5 of them.

This phone nonsense is driving me nuts.  My scanner, after years of faithful service, is gone.  Well, I will have to rescan all these phone photos.  Anyway, Billy and his friends improve the shining hour. Frustrating.

          My murderous sweetheart Patches is watching for lizards in the grass while her arch-enemy sips nectar and laughs at her, the view from my computer table.  This is a female Blue Throated Hummingbird.  I let the grass grow so tall and lovely because the lizards like it and I dislike cutting grass.

Game on.

The Demon Bunny of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.  This is Collingwood House on Dean Street, rear entrance.  Built in 1901, there are no other statues on the structure.  This has been painted and the ears replaced. He overlooks a place called Amen Corner that was a cemetery.  The building is referred to as the Cathedral Buildings like we are supposed to understand that it is part of the built up area around St. Nicolas Cathedral.  There was a Roman fort guarding a river crossing here. In the eighties he was repaired and his ears were replaced to give him more of the appearance of a hare. Tinseltoon by Christopher Goulding.  The statues of Newcastle come to life one Christmas Eve.  Grainger the Cat is witness to all this brouhaha.  This is the Vampire Bunny.  Art by Chris Mabbott. Amen Corner. Nice.  Collingwood House, part of Cathedral Buildings, was built back in 1901 by architects Oliver, Le...