The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht – I’m almost finished with it. It’s so good it makes me kind of sick.

Ramona, my love – won’t you be mine? I want this, I want this, I want this – but I cannot have it!

I also want every single one of these bird cigarette cards!

Mardi Gras 1983 poster. Yes, yes – I covet this, also.

Back of the taxi cab disco goth Cleopatra realness goin’ on…

Late night drawing. Sideways roots.

Moon moth cuffs. Done & nearly done. I make jewelry, y’all. For sale, soonly.

Le bain – my happiest refuge.

Bath pavilion, dusk de-glittering.

The Brooklyn-based artist Swoon, who may know from her beautiful wheat-pasted cut-out street art (and the following flotillas:
Miss Rockaway Armada, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, Swimming Cities of Serenissima) is bringing a landmark, permanent
sculpture to the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. This “house” also functions as a musical instrument. A growing group of
local and national sound artists are creating interactive instruments that will be built into its walls and floorboards so that visitors
can bring the house to life through their touch. How does a house sing? How does it keep a beat? Can a house be played like a trumpet?
These are the kind of questions will be answering this fall when we launch The Music Box – A Shantytown Sound Laboratory, which is the
first incarnation of what will evolve into Dithyrambalina. Our prototypes will gather together in a musical village of singing shanties!

Swoon’s “Ice Queen”, (currently debuting at MOCA, Los Angeles’ Art in the Streets exhibition).
Screen print on paper, coffee stained and hand painted, 2′x3′, signed in an edition of ten.
Happy to say that all three of these beautiful pieces went to each of our awesome Kickstarter backers who pledged $3000 or more!

We are very excited to be collaborating with Elizabeth Shannon, a hero of the New Orleans art world since the 1970′s on the shanty
that will shelter our piece TINTINNABULATION STATION. This temporary installation will run from October thru early January and will
be built on the future site of the Dithyrambalina in the New Orleans Bywater neighborhood. Over the course of the exhibition we will
welcome visitors, hold children’s workshops, and present a three-part series of performances featuring local and national musicians who
will orchestrate original works on the devices. Check out our fellow artists, also – we’re amongst great company of some dear friends and many future friends! I’d love it if you’d take a moment to go read more about this project – the whys and wherefores, the inspirations, and the spirit behind it. I’m so proud to be a part of this beautiful thing! The Dithrambalina Kickstarter Campaign ends Thursday Jul 28, 8:49am,
and not only did meet our goal, but nearly doubled it! However – any and all additional pledges are appreciated and needed! Additional funding will go towards build costs for the Dithyrambalina house, developing more instrumentation, and paying our artists and musicians
for all their hard work. We would all be so grateful for any donations, and for any help spreading the word about this project!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Swoon and Sound Collaborator Taylor Shepherd Discuss the Project

P.S. Have you been wondering why Swoon calls the musical house Dithyrambalina?
The root of the name comes from the ancient Greek work dithyramb. A dithyramb
was the chant of wild abandon sung by the devotees of Dionysus to call for their God.

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest and wine, and he connotes ritual madness
and ecstasy in Greek mythology. He is generally depicted as an enchantingly beautiful
man attended by a debauched procession of animals, dancers, and music makers.
Suffice it to say that Dionysus has never missed a Mardi Gras in New Orleans!
– from the Dithyrambalina blog, which is chockablock with good stuff – go see!

The ring! Colin picked it out himself, (with input from Tamera!) I love it so much.
It’s Victorian – imperial jade and rose gold, all hand-fabricated with delicately-chased
swirling elements that resemble twining leaves or the tails of frolicking sea-creatures.
I’ve chosen to wear it on my center finger, because it looks best there, symmetrically,
and because it fits that one perfectly. I don’t want to have it re-sized, since it won’t
really want to share a finger with the wedding band. We’re planning to make our
rings in mokume-gane, with some ancestral diamonds and gold from a gaudy
ring that belonged to Colin’s grandmother Ruby. I’m not much for diamonds and
gold ordinarily, but it’s super special that they have been passed down, especially
since there’s nothing really like that in my family – plus I like the recycling aspect.

Sometimes the only cure for the down and dirty blues is some giant glittery shoes.
At least that was my reasoning a few weeks ago, late at night, when my heart was
feeling so sorrowful for the state of the world, and for all my friends in New Orleans.
Silly, yes – but it helped, somehow. I feel cheered up just looking at them! They’re
very Diamond Dogs Biba-glam – which is an era of fashion that I have infinite love
for. Perfect for enacting Cockettes Fantasias, and actually remarkably comfortable.
They’re made by Jeffrey Campbell, and smell like really intense glue. Only downside!

Lots of altar-work lately. Home and hearth. Make the space for the sacred,
for the great work to manifested even in the smallest and humblest of ways.
Sweetgrass rope from my friend Sam, Lux Perpetua from Sienna. Love.

She’s a sweetheart, little painted clay goddess. She reminds me to heal my own heart.
to love unconditionally, to forgive and let go, to see the good in people and try to help
them, and to take care of the moment. Hard lessons. Lighting the candles, trying to do
the work, and asking for help with it from the universe. Little queen of roses, help me.

Cobwebby fox friend and wee ghost girl. Spirit-friends.

Magic egg and pyramid that was once my mother’s. My altar needs a dusting!
I can’t wait for springtime, when my garden is full of flowers I can adorn it with.
Do you have an altar? How do you work with it? What do you keep on it?

Dana and Raven were the most perfect winter maidens! Being surrounded by my beloved sistren,
family and friends and having the honor of sharing a birthday celebration with my lovely Dana was
beyond amazing, but little did I know that the best was yet to come! If I waited any longer to share
the news, I might just burst in a shower of crystalline confectionery, and that wouldn’t be any good, so….

We step like Plush,
We stand like snow,
The waters murmur new.
– Emily Dickinson

We’re getting married! Colin surprised me by proposing last night, after an exquisite birthday dinner, in our kitchen,
surrounded by the shining faces of dear friends. Holy moly. I think writing it just actually made it feel real…
I was so stunned at the moment he told me that he “would very much like for us to be wed”, I thought
I might just spontaneously combust with joy. I could only laugh with delight, and kiss him my answer, which I
truly gave him long ago: the first time we kissed. Everyone in the room was crying I think, and then there was
much celebration, but me – I’m crying with happiness as I write this, as I share this now, because telling it makes
it true, makes it hit home that I’m not actually dreaming. As I see it, having a wedding is a form of ceremonial magic
that solidifies a bond between two lovers, and also between their families, communities, their paths. We’ve been together
for five years, we have a home together, we create together, and in the eyes of Texas common-law, and for all
practical purposes, we are already married. But doing this thing together, the two of us, and everyone we
love – it makes magic. It brings all that energy together to send sweetness and strength along with us as we
travel on our shared path. Marriage ceremonies are the only form of ritual magic that are commonly practiced
by most people, and there’s a reason why we need them – and why we need a party, too – with lots of dancing
and merry-making! Being married isn’t just about the two people who already know they want to spend the
rest of their lives together – it’s about radiating that personal love outward, and making it manifest in our lives,
our lifetimes, and beyond. I can’t tell you how excited I am about that prospect, and about joining hands with
Colin, who is such an amazing person. We both got real lucky when we found each other, and we know it.
So, consider this a save the date of sorts! 11-11-11, it’s on – here in Texas! Folktale wedding in the country, y’all.
Get your fantastical ensembles together, and find me some deft elves to embroider seed pearls on a silver gown!

Yes, so – best birthday, ever. All I can do is glow.
I think I might be able to illuminate broken lightbulbs with
my little finger, I’m glowing so hard! This is the face of deep,
deep happiness. This is the face of a woman in love.

Oh yes, and there was a party! It was thronging with gorgeous ice nymphs (like Kitty, here), and strewn
with white lace, fairy lights, fir trees and white doves – unfortunately, I didn’t get too many pictures because
my camera seems to have finally bitten the dust! I was able to borrow one for the evening, but wasn’t too
familiar with it, and also enormously distracted by wonderfulness at every turn! Hopefully more photos
will emerge soon, and perhaps then I will have a moment to go into greater detail about the delicious feast!

The beautiful Sarah Killz on washboard. I love having friends make music in my parlor.
Nothing makes a house as warm, or as happy – many thanks to That Damned Band and friends!

Frannie played her musical saw – she’s really good at making it sound like a mermaid singing!

Miss Hailey Tuck, one of the prettiest, sweetest little ladies I have ever laid my eyes on.
I’m going to build her a gilded miniature castle in my backyard so we can drink rose-raspberry
gin fizzes all day and brush each other’s hair. She wore white with tiny red vintage heels, so perfect!

La Bella Seed Terranova, snow princess extraordinaire!

Melanie presented me with this astounding ram’s skull! I’ve always longed for one!
Maybe I should bronze it and have it mounted on the front of my car, eh?

Jason Darling + Dominique Vyborny, professional wood-elves.

This is my fairy god-daughter Pearl! Isn’t she just so beautiful?

Mark and Dana being here for our birthdays made it the most special.
They are such beloved friends, and having them there when Colin proposed
was so perfect, especially since I performed their wedding ceremony! Dana
inspired me so much with her kitchen alchemy – she’s a trim little apron-wearing
hearth-goddess, whipping up flurries of salted caramels and beef bourguignon!

Silky Shoemaker + Sym Prole. Big love.

Miss Kelley in her magical moss hat!

Charlene is a bad-ass DJ! She set up in our Korean War disko-tent, where we had also installed a big old
wood-burning stove (upon which infused hot mulled cider and wine), and it was definitely the place to be!
Charlene is also an incredible massage therapist. She came over on my birthday and gave me a serious
massage in the kitchen because it was the only warm place! Then everyone came home and started peeling
potatoes and making birthday cake, and it felt like we were Transylvanian peasants in a one-room hut, with
everyone talking, laughing, cooking and doing healing work – all together, chaotic and beautiful!

Kitty doing her Stevie Nicks impression! Twirl, twirl!

More to come, soon – (ring pictures, as soon as I can do it justice!) Right now, I just really need to absorb
the magnitude of everything I’ve experienced over the last 48 hours, and to let it sink in that this is really
happening! I really do keep pinching myself… I had a feeling that this year was going to be good, but I
had no idea it get off to such a wondrous start! I definitely feel like 2011 is going to be incredibly auspicious,
and not just because I was born at 11:11am, on the 10th day of the first month! My friend pointed out today
that my birthday was a palindrome this year: 1-10-2011 and if that’s not lucky, than I don’t know what is!

These hairpins are made from kingfisher feathers. They are beyond words.

The store’s motto is: “Find what has disappeared”, and with Gabrielle’s eye
for exotic treasure, you are sure to find it here – whether it be exquisite alabaster
pendant lamps that once hung in grand ballrooms, or ancient carvings from foreign
lands. There is a strong appreciation here for things well-made, and clearly loved.
Any object designed or created with an love of beauty, and a desire to make things
that would last a long time. Between these solid, comforting pieces flits the ephemeral,
taking the form of a faded love letter, or a shattered-silk parasol. I’ve been to hundreds
of antique shops, and there are certain ones that really just get it. The aesthetics, the
passion, the joy of the hunt, the deep browse – it’s not an easy combination to nail,
and very few actually even try. I love a dusty, ramshackle hodge-podge any day,
(especially when the prices fit the atmosphere) but those are a dying breed, and
sadly few and far-between these days. More often than not, you find the neon-lit,
sterile antique mall filled with aisle after aisle of overpriced depression glass and
arrays of offensive saltshakers. Or, it’s the quaint “shoppe” run by a coterie of biddies
on a straggly small town square. I prefer these to the former, but the aroma of potpourri
and desperation can be overwhelming. When I tell people I deal in antiques, I always
wonder if they flash to places like these. I imagine many picture one of those fancier
places, always very quiet and chill, with never a speck of dust on the perfect Edwardian
sideboards or exquisite carpets. I guess there’s Antiques with a capital A, junk, and um-
“junque” (oh yes – I see it all too often in some “shoppes”) which can be identified by
sponge-painted country geese. Thankfully, a new breed of curio shops has emerged
from the detritus that manage to combine the rare and fine with the imperfectly exquisite.
Natural objects like wasp’s nests might find themselves priced alongside woven gold tapestries
with the same reverence for the genius of both their makers. I’ve been lucky to have worked and
sold in one of the best – Uncommon Objects, where I’ve learned so much about all the beautiful
things humans have loved or used long enough to treasure, and the business of dealing in them.

The Tree of Life mural on the back wall was painted by Gabrielle’s mother, if I remember
correctly, (& I may not.) I love the lamia tucked up in the branches on the left-hand side.

Sailing away to a fantasy-land of flapper beads and reliquaries!

Lichen-love.

I want these girls to be my doll-friends. I love picturing them flopped on pillows in elegant boudoirs, clutched to the
feverishly rouged cheeks of sleeping jazz-babies. Stuffed in trunks of rotting satin, awakening here – together.

I would wear this heart on my hip everyday – paying respects to Marguerite Royer rather fabulously.

I like my saints softened with pink ruffles and frills. It suits him, don’t you think?

This guy is my wax boyfriend. He’s very quiet, but I like the way he looks at me.

The perfect setting for a tea party where only absinthe, cockle-shells and silver bells are served.

La belle Gabrielle, lost in thought, more luminous every time I see her. She comes from the moon.

We ladies: myself, Gabrielle, and Mlle. Dana Sherwood.

Oh, and I can’t resist sharing my favorite picture of Miss Ekedal (age what, 16?)
I’m guessing snatched from a high-school yearbook. What a wild elf! Gorgeousness.
Go and see her:
at Gypsy Honeymoon
1266 Valencia St
(between 23rd St & 24th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 821-1713

This house was decorated so wonderfully for Hallowe’en + Dia de los Muertos,
I had to stop and gawp at it for a bit. I wonder who lives there? I like them already.

A view from the back of Rusty Lazer’s trusty minivan, on the morning we left
New Orleans: my bike was secured by ropes, my bed was an amazing vintage
Peter Max quilt, my breakfast – a delicious Hubig’s pie. The factory is a street
over from my old house, and I miss standing on my balcony and breathing in
the sweet aroma of juicy fruit-filled fried pies being baked in the morning. Hu-dat!

This is my new boyfriend, Orestes. He and his sister Electra belong to Pandora,
and they are super high-fashion designer glam movie-star cats. They’re famous.

Miss Pea’s kitchen is a minature ocean, sailing high above the rooftops.

Her red-ribboned leather shoes share space with bottles found in her excavations.

Flying fish made from sequins.

You can sing sea-shanties while you do the dishes and swab the decks.

Rabbit lace! Do you swoon? I swoon.

I was invited to a miniature tea-party hosted by velour-flocked rabbits, but all they
served me were anise pastilles, arsenic and dust. I had a pastille. Wouldn’t you?

Turkey buzzards overhead as Amethyst Deceivers played (our traveling
soundtrack was nearly exclusively Coil, both before and more poignantly,
after we learned of dear Unkle Sleazy’s passing…) I saw a giant carrion
bird gleefully gnawing on a smear of roadkill while listening to these lyrics:

Pay your respects to the vultures / for they are your future

I felt happy remembering that – that we are all one day fine feasts
for vultures and worms. I love the completeness of these cycles.
I wish less was wasted – time, material, energy. I wish sky-burial
could happen in Texas as well as Tibet. I’m happy that Sleazy’s
shell will be treated in accordance with his wishes in Thailand.
It is my dream that one day, we will all be able to complete that
cycle with our bodies, and feed something else with what we
leave behind. Our systems for dealing with death, and our grief
and burial rituals severely need massive restructuring, and soon.

Thanksgiving feast for a lone butterfly…

…and also for me!

I love how persimmon trees look festooned with bright ornaments on cold days.

Despite what might seem like morose maunderings, my Thanksgiving was
remarkably sweet and filled with good company, and much comfort and joy.

I am extremely blessed to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice,
with two amazing families – (both my own, and Colin’s) and to be
able to enjoy caffè corretto alla grappa and discussions about nuclear
physics in the parlour with Colin’s papa, and stay up until 3am talking
about everything under the sun with his mama. They are so lovely.
My own folks also just blow me away with their strength and positivity -
my dad’s dealing with chemotherapy right now, and he’s been taking
it all in stride and maintaining his jovial nature. Send him a good wish,
won’t you? He’d be very grateful to you. I am so thankful to be a part
of such good families, and to be surrounded by so many amazing
friends. I love my life. I am so glad I chose it, and that I get to share it.
Thank you for reading, thank you for being a part of it. Goodnight!

Related posts:
Huexoloti Honey
Russet + Bone
Lone Grove Lullaby

Eulogies for Sleazy:
From Coilhouse – So Long, Sleazy
From John Coulthart – Peter Christopherson, 1955–2010

This is Annie. Isn’t she adorable? I love her a lot.
She is wearing a Metallica shirt and is covered in bees. This makes me love her even more.

A golden eagle, little puppet, and globe lamps.

I love this antler lady sculpture. I’m not sure who made it, though! An etsy-seller, I believe.

Doll-babies and a skeleton hand that I’ve seen Annie wear on her head as a fascinator.

More tinies.

I am very covetous of this Balinese headdress that Annie found at the bins for a buck and quarter!
(If you are not a fan of North America’s only marsupial, please do not look at the last photo!)

This is the famous Halloween hat that I adore. I wish she’d wear it all the time.

See also:
Feral Honey
and
Nectarine Dream

From the Ephemerata site:
This Museum exhibition is an earthquake that rends the ground to expose the UNDERGROUND.
A hole opens up, and we are walking down into the damp dark unknown. Descend into our show-cave
through normally hidden strata! Beneath our city is a crowded metropolis of graves, pipes, cables, tunnels,
sewers, and landfills, and as we travel down past the aquifer, a glowing lake of magma! The mysterious
corridors of our subterranean journey branch off into political undergrounds, the subconscious, and the
Underworld — lair of monsters, land of the dead. By spelunking through these passages, we come to learn
that humans are strange creatures like earthworms, ceaselessly dedicated to the circulation of vast undergrounds!
The earthquake of industrialized humans has reversed the strata of land and sky such that what was underground
has become our atmosphere. Please watch your head for low-hanging rocks.

The Museum is open Thursdays (4-7pm) and Saturdays (1-4pm).
We are also open for appointments — call 320-0566
or email mnae@mnae.org for availability.
$4 suggested donation

Beware the wasps at the entrance! Behold their marvelous architecture!

A panoply of stone gnomes are there to greet you when you arrive. I think they might bite.

A new addition to the Ephemerata family has been created this year: baby Kai, who is a player piano virtuoso!
We loaned them the piano a while back for their Wondrous Instruments show, and they’ve very kindly kept it
for us. I fear we’re going to have to figure out what to do with it soon! In keeping with the them for the show,
it plays “There’s a Goldmine in the Sky” – “Take your old time mule / I know you’re growing lame /
You’ll pasture in the stars / When we make that claim” Sad songs for desperate miners!

Enter the crystal cavern – but watch out for the troglodytes!

Some excellent mineral specimens – including the “dubious minerals” – Pyrite, Citrine, and Chrysocolla.

Some Civil War relics, old bones and blood-stained dice. Flotsam buried in ancient battlefields.

We also lent a Tailless whip scorpions from our collection, though I have no photo of the actual article,
the beautifully done guidebook illustrates the beastie. I’m not disturbed by spiders at all, but these guys
are actually quite horrifying to behold! They are extremely intelligent, and have developed brain stems.

The plastic descendent of stereoscopic viewers – a 3-D viewmaster depicting Carlsbad Caverns

In the Impermanent Collection you can view this death-defying feat rendered in ceramic!

Ephemerata Gardens out back are lush and overgrown with sunflowers and fig-trees. A bunny lives there.

As well as some very impressive spiders! Arachnophobes, I apologize for the spider-surplus:
they just seem to keep popping up everywhere I look, and I’ve always seen them as very good omens.

I want to go here very badly! I love caves and their beautiful stone formations so much.
We are lucky to have some really excellent ones here in Texas. Imagine how many are
undiscovered, or on private property? It’s our fantasy to have a subterranean nightclub
one day. We have dreams of excavating under our house and digging down. Oddly enough,
a guy in our neighborhood did just that – this 70 year old man dug 30 feet down below
his house, by hand! Just brought out buckets of dirt, one by one until he had created
three underground levels! Pretty impressive. Now the City is filling it all up with concrete.

“The magnificent underground cave system traditionally called Reed Flute Cave
and known today as the Palace of Natural Art lies beneath the city of Guilin, China,
and is over 750 feet (240 meters) long. The first recorded visits to the cave took place
over 1,000 years ago during China’s Tang Dynasty. Artificial lighting is used to enhance
the stunning rock formations in the cave, which has been officially open for visitors since
1962. One of the largest parts of the cave system is the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King,
which can hold up to 1,000 people and was used as an air raid shelter during World War II.
The grotto features a solitary stalagmite that resembles a human being –
it’s said that a visiting poet attempted to write about the beauty that
greeted his eyes but took so long to find the right words he turned to stone.”

The full set of photos from our Underground tour are up on Flickr: have a look…

Reginald the rooster.

A bevy of peacock feathers from Lone Grove.

This is where I do tarot readings. Would you like to make an appointment?

My favorite hour. I require this light. I arrange my day around it.

Little altar.

Genie, the wild child – made for me by Pandora Gastelum.

Fox bag.

This is who watches over the garden.