I was so bummed to miss Poux, especially since it meant not being given
one of the much-coveted commemorative handmade glass medallions,
a grand Poux-doubloon if you will. Lucky stars for me! My dear friend
Forest had kept one warm and close to his heart for me. Good thing
I went out Ash Wednesday, eh? So here are my treasures, which oddly
enough I never cared about collecting until the hurricane blew me west.

Typical Poux antics. I believe this is some sort of trebuchet, no?

Randall and Drew in their amazing ensembles. They make me so happy.

Tanya Solomon (aka Dr. Flummox) is a great clown. Not the bad kind. The good kind. Really!

Liser is the big bad wolf and little red riding hood simultaneously. It happens.

Ratty and Oops were the King and Queen of Poux!
This year they won their crowns again (yes, the
naked knife-fight!) and continue to reign triumphant!

Myrtle von Damitz III, odalisque-ing out with Drew’s giant neon head.

Laron + Kelvin, two of my favorite NOLA/NYC darlings.

Jock is the leader of the 9th Ward Marching Band, a gentleman and a great dancer.

Haley Lou Haden has a stick ‘em tattoo of toast, and I love her.

Hungry for more Lundi Gras Poux?
★ Here’s more photos from Lundi Gras 2009, just for you!
★ Lundi Gras Valentine
★ Lundi Gras (A pictorial essay on the nature of debauchery)
★ Vicissitudes from Cradle
★ Voila les petites creatures musicales qui se cachent dans les fleurs!

This past weekend, in honor of my dear darling Francesca’s birthday
(and that of two other beloved Aquarian ladies, Cole + Lali!)
we ventured to the wild northern tundra of Dallas to partake of
the waters at the fabled Korean King Spa – a wonderland of truly
epic propotions, as evidenced by the gigantor silver stallion
that greets you when you walk in. Unfortunately, you can’t quite
make out his cubist testicles in this photo. This fella’s about 30 feet
tall, and his word bubble (apparently) reads “I am the KING!”

King Spa is a truly magical place, decorated with bulbous gourd sculptures
that jut out at intervals from the wall. Lots of pumpkins are arranged on shelves.
This naturalistic approach to decorating is somewhat at odds with the etched
glass partitions in the women’s spa area that depict key scenes from favorites
Simpsons episodes. The ceiling is a light sculpture of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
It made sense to someone! Then again, when you’re being cooked in 113 degree
mugwort infused water, you cease to be picky about the decor. I actually kind of
adore it, for all its randomness. I am a big lover of saunas and bath-houses,
but I had only ever been to Russian versions before. I love to sweat in insanely
hot little rooms with total strangers, and I love being transformed into a
big buttery noodle by older Koran women in their underwear. They scrubs
me with abrasive mitts until grey eraser peelies of skin rolled off me, and then
pummeled and pounded my muscles into submission. My friend Peggy said
afterwards, “Laying there with my face smeared with raw cucumbers,
a bag tied over my head, and a big woman straddling me, I couldn’t help
but think: this should probably be a lot more expensive!” Hah!
Perhaps it is, at some of the mysterious neon-lit bordello-looking dives
in the neighborhood, with provocative names like “Hula Hand” and “Blue Star”.
King Spa is not that kind of place at all, though! No happy-endings here, folks!
It’s about $85 for the scrub and massage, but only $18 for a 24 hour pass
to the facility, which included many strange and wonderful rooms in which
to get your sweat on. It’s so very worth every penny. After about 14 hours,
I felt like I was floating, and had no desire to ever leave. I want to live there.

Apparently, it cost $50 million to build and outfit the place. There are giant
slabs of amethyst geodes embedded into the walls every which way, and
golden pyramids guarded by staunch bronze lions.

This is the aforementioned golden pyramid, and my personal favorite,
the salt igloo! I need to build one in the backyard, pronto. Total bliss!

There are these huge pink rococo Miss Piggy nightmare chairs everywhere.
Perfect for impromptu tea parties with delicious juices and traditional dishes
like sudatorium-baked eggs, bibimbab and fish eggs over rice (al-bab, mmm!)

This brave knight guards the living “elvan” stones and the many amethysts.
The horse eats only mugwort and wormwood, which there is plenty of.
I am a total Jjim-Jil-Bang convert. It’s just wrong that we don’t have a King Spa
in Austin! I would go there every day. It’s a very healing and magical place!

Tonight I read Lady Lavona’s writing on Dark Energy + Dark Matter,
and was very moved by it. Winter is a dark time for me, marked by
remembrances of dear ones passed and untenable weather.
Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of a good friend of mine:
Pandora Pumpkin (née Katherine Hastings) who was very beautiful
and amazing. I miss her so. If you would like to know more about who
she was, here are some writings about her, with many lovely pictures:

♥ In Memoriam – 2007

♥ In Memoriam – 2006

♥ Dear Pandora

♥ Dies Cinerum – Day of Ashes

July 22nd, 1975 – January 25th, 2005

It’s incredible what you find on the ground when you take the time to look.
We found beautiful rocks (Lone Grove is rock-hound paradise!)
and treasures buried in the sand. One day, maybe we’ll find
some arrowheads. My Grampy used to find lots out there.

More fodder for my mycological fixations!

We finally managed to bring home this gorgeous stained glass window
that was my mother’s. New Year’s Eve is her birthday, but it feels like
she gave me a present instead this year. I can’t wait to install it in our parlour!

We were treated to three very beautiful sunsets, all very different but each
very spectacular. This was my favorite though, taken while driving the
Willow City Loop! If you get the chance to take that drive, I highly recommend it.

Lovely Miss Amelia joined us for the holiday – always managing to be the
picture of elegance in satin peignoirs and kiss curls around the campfire.

She took this picture of me in front of my favorite blasted tree.
I got these Posture Magnetic star leggings recently, and I wish
I could wear them every day! I don’t know if Brian Erickson is
still making this stuff, but if anyone finds any – please let me know.

It doesn’t get more celestial than star pants + singing bowls, you know?

Colin is the singing bowl master – he made tones come out of that little bowl
that made me laugh with elation and had my eyes streaming tears.
Have you ever played one? They are amazing. I want a really huge one!

Like my antlers? Miss Jolie Holland made ‘em for me!
They are so simple, and so perfect – I love that lady.
I hope that your celebration was marvelous, and that your year is off to
an auspicious start. Any resolutions or goal-makings for you? I have lots!
Hopefully I will do a better job of accomplishing them this time round.
I am being helped a lot by the teuxdeux, an excellent to-do list maker.
(Thanks for turning me on to this, Gala!) I love it. Perfect for the obsessive
list-maker who spends too much time online!

This year I intend to:
✶ cook outside more often –
it’s so fun and satisfying!
✶ dance more!
✶ dress with specific intention every day
✶ write lots of letters and postcards!
✶ be more engaged with my body,
through yoga + exercise – oh yeah!
✶ read more – I have heaps of wonderful
books awaiting me, so delicious and tempting.
✶ make lots of jewelry
✶ re-design this bee-log – soon, soon!
✶ start selling off a lot of my vintage collection,
and keep selling interesting curios
✶ additionally, I would like to be more
patient, serene and positive in general.
✶ oh yes, and I’d like to DJ lots more!
I could keep going, but I think that’s a
pretty good start. Now is the time.

By the way – if you haven’t gotten a copy of the latest issue
of Coilhouse yet, (Issue 04) you had better hustle!
I am so proud to have two articles in this one:
the interview I did with Larkin Grimm, with an
additional piece on the Musicka Mystica Maxima Festival,
and an interview with Christopher Brosius of I Hate Perfume.

One day, I must get to back to Detroit!
I have family there – I visited them by train
when I was very small. Have you ever been?
Check out these incredible photographs
of abandoned buildings – I’d love to explore them!
The Grandiose Decay of Abandoned Detroit

I enjoyed reading this excerpt from a biography
of super-tragic supermodel Gia Carangi and her teenage years as a David Bowie fan.
I’ve always loved thinking about the tidal wave of glam and glitter
and the fever that swept up the restless youth in a sea of glitter polyester!
Can you imagine? What a crazy time to experience, eh?

One last thing – if you still have not seen Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973),
then we need to talk. It’s been on my top ten favorite films of all time list
for many years. Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen are incredible, and
I adore Terrence Malick’s work. I wish the soundtrack was available,
it’s great too. Man, I need to see it again soon! I wish Criterion would
release it – the only copies I’ve seen have been real scrabbly.
Right! With that, I bid you goodnight! I go back to work on the morrow,
and must figure out what the hell I’m doing for my birthday – it’s only
a week away! Ideas? I’m fairly stumped, though I may have just nailed it…
This trip into the wild was pretty inspiring – perhaps the tipi will play a part!

I went to the marvelous Observatory Room for an opening
of James Walsh’s show regarding plague clouds.

“A series of letterpress prints, the black cloud, will be presented in the gallery.
Late in life, the English writer and art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) became
obsessed with what he called variously the black cloud or storm cloud
or plague cloud or black wind or plague wind or evil wind or black fog,
a new and unexplained weather phenomenon that cast a pall over nature
and human affairs and had something to do with the advent of modern times.
It was a purely meteorological occurrence, to his mind, though no meteorologist
had noticed it, and it was not produced by his loneliness, his failure in love,
or his increasingly common and sustained bouts of madness. He brought
all these observations together in his essay “The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century,”
and his journals from this period contain minute descriptions of this phenomenon
and its effect on the landscape and his mind and spirit.
Working from his journals, fragments of text relating to the black cloud were traced,
made into printing plates, and printed in an edition of ten on a Vandercook proof press.”

I found a strange correspondence between the apparition of looming
thunderheads above and Ruskin’s black clouds, as far as my sudden
malaise in New York was concerned. It was brought on by a vicious
encounter with cheap, poisonous incense and sustained for weeks
by an acute wind-fire deficiency. It really put a cramp in my style.

This pretty much sums up my feelings for the duration of my journey,
sad to say. Between falling horribly ill and being hog-tied by one of
the most brutal Mercury Retrogrades in recent history, it was kinda
one of those trips – with incredible flashes of magic and wonder
interspersed amongst the chaos and stress. I met and connected
with some incredible new friends, and that made it all worth it.
Also, I had a gift from the universe in being blessed, every single
time, with the kindest and most magical taxi drivers. It was amazing.
They helped me over and over again, even if we were totally lost.
Thank you, universe, for helping me flag down the most generous
and convivial cabbies in all of New York. They consistently
under-charged me, were great conversationalists, and showed
me much sweetness. Thank you, especially to the Tibetan lady
who gave me a yellow rose at 5am – it was an honor to meet you.

Public transport, I have not so many nice things to say about.
Usually, I love the trains. This time, well- they were not functioning
properly, and it was enormously frustrating. I did love crossing the
Brooklyn Bridge everyday, and seeing the sun shining on the water.

Speaking of kindness, my wolf-nurse-magic-friend-sister, Miss Shine Earnesty
made me brunch in bed! She took care of me when I was sick. I love her.

We went to see the new works at Socrates Sculpture Park
on Governor’s Island. There were many fine pieces there, my favorites
being the huge flensed vinyl whale, the subway stop and David Brooks‘
wooden path through a copse of trees. Still, it was this sloppy concrete tower
of cakes that stuck with me- mainly because of the lyrics inscribed on the side:

“MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down…
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
’cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh, no! “

Well, it was only a tiny excerpt really, but it was enough to jog
my memory… Miss Violet used to rhapsodize about that song,
which is constantly stuck in my head lately.
It is so weird, and so great- especially when sung
by Donna Summer, in an insane disco extravaganza!

I also really love The Three Degrees,
performing it live in London, 1975.

Headed out to Disko Nouveaux, for a night of dark-sparkle
dancings. I met the fabulous Shien and Miss Allison, as well as a whole
bevy of beauties. This is one of the only pictures I took of myself while I
was in New York, except for the languishing in bed photo, and one I took
of myself in Frida Kahlo’s mirror, which really didn’t turn out, alas.
There’s this one, though, taken by Gabi, in which you can see my shaveness better.

I love the beavers of Astor Place.

Oh Topshop, why are you so evil? I so wanted all your insane platform shoes
and sequined leggings and beaded shrugs. Why can these minty metallic
sorcerous shoes not be mine? There were so many things there to drool over…

While we’re on the topic of shiny wonders, if you happen to be flying into
or out of Austin anytime soon, check out my sweetie’s amazing organisms.
His nickel plated hand-forged steel sculptures are on display at the airport!

Coming home in my silver capsule. Flying is so surreal.

Oh New York, next time I see you, things will be better.
We’ll have coffee, and talk and it will be like no time has
passed at all. You know I still love you, right?

(Stinky Herman the hedgehog hangs out near a Galliano Diptyque
candle, hoping his musty death-smell will not offend passersby)
As soon as I rolled into town, I started going out every night-
dancing until dawn at the Rubulad Boat Party, and the next
evening at Disko Nouveaux, which no doubt contributed to
my run down system. Combine that with allergies, climate change
and general neglect, and it’s no wonder I’m sick as a damn dog.
I’m trying not to be despondent, and just hope to kick it soonly,
but my sinuses are just built wrong or something- and this sort
of thing tends to linger. Acupuncture appointment in Chinatown
is set for tomorrow, plus a visit to Congee Village! The horror
of not being able to smell or really enjoy food, (not to mention
feeling snot-ridden and unglamourous) is a bit of a problem.
How am I going to haunt the hallowed halls of Aedes de Venusta
and I Hate Perfume with a blocked-up nose faucet? Really, now.

(Dana and Mark have more Victorian taxidermy than anyone I know.
Quite an impressive collection, amassed on their various travels.)

Other highlights so far have included an immense steak dinner
at Peter Luger’s, walking home from the train at dawn, hearing
the multitude of birds singing in the eaves of a grand theatre
turned church. Getting very lost with the Tibetan lady who
was my cabdriver- the ineffable experience of connecting
on a deep level with total strangers in this huge/tiny city.
She gave me a yellow rose. The same night, I happened
to sit down next to the lovely Miss A., and offered her a
Choward’s Violet Pastille. Hours later, our wonderful
conversation unabated, I remembered the mantra I set
for myself as I was preparing for this trip: BE OPEN
– to experiences, to people, to the energy of the city.
So far, it’s served me very well indeed, as I’ve met some
wonderful people I never would’ve encountered by being
shut off. It’s so easy to pull down the shade here, to not
interact, not make eye contact. You’re never alone here,
even when you want to be, so people make that privacy
for themselves — so as not to go completely mad!
Too often, however, that solitude becomes complete –
a black impenetrable wall of protection, and we find
ourselves too alone, too isolated. I’ve been reminding
myself all the time to smile, instead of just staring,
and it’s been rewarded every time with warmth
and recognition. Try it and see what happens.

(Dana’s gorgeous wax orange blossom bridal wreath and hair collection.)

Oh yes, I also went to go see Nick Cave do an interview and reading from
his new book, The Death of Bunny Munro. His boy Jethro Lazenby Cave
was there, striding gloriously in my direction at one point, ooh-la!
I must say, the proximity to the Cave père et fils gave me quite a frisson!

More precious treasures, bisque babies, hair flowers.
Did I mention it’s Fashion Week here? Could’ve fooled me.
I’ve been completely oblivious, not gone to a single couture show,
fool that I am. Crikey. I hope I won’t miss it all! Living vicariously
instead through Yvan Rodic’s wonderful photographs, and
feeling The Gawker’s pain. Stupid sinus infection!

Dana and Mark tiny kitchen is quite inspiring. It’s like being inside a pastry
shell stuffed with antique lace and snails. They have the most elegant
refrigerator interior ever, lots of crocheted doilies and rush baskets.

I spent all of yesterday languishing in bed. Luckily, the bed is very luxurious-
I have the honor of staying in Miss Jolie Holland’s room while she’s out on
tour (go see her if she comes to your town! You’ll be so glad you did!)

Stefan Jecusco playing his magical banjo (goat-headed, handmade from ancient wood)
and Jolie on her Strohviol at a wonderful potluck here. My dear friend Jana
is taking really good care of me. I’m so glad I’m staying here with her!

I’m laying around, feeling awful, listening to city sounds, the neighbor’s laundry
waving at from from out on the line. The tinkling of brass coins, car alarms,
children playing, a man screaming. Slowing it all down, and resting.

Sunlight on the chandelier, reflected over the courtyard from a windowpane.
A whole day passes, and I’m still here. Make a wish that I get better soon?

I can’t wait to go to my favorite Indian restaurants:
Milan I and Milan II – otherwise known as:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIAN FOOD! If you know, you know.
So magical. It’s like being on the inside of a piñata.

I get to see my beloved Dana Kitten! My ravishing sister with the most
incredible stormy blue violet eyes. It will be so lovely to see her and
her dashing beau, Mr. Mark Dion- I haven’t seen them in ages and ages!

She is an amazing artist, and creator of confectionery oddities.

Wild Irish Rose, gone feral in the bogs! Beware her thorny parasol!

The incomparable Lord Whimsy led us on a fantastic tour
of his favorite stomping grounds, the eerily beautiful Pine Barrens.
We spent a lovely day there, hunting for carnivorous plants,
fungi, and the ever-elusive Jersey Devil! I’d love to camp there someday.

Sadly, I cannot recall the name of this very rare bloom! Whims, refresh me?
We parted ways at dusk, after an afternoon of tromping in the woods,
and junk hunting! We bought an enormous (4 or 5 feet tall!) glass bell jar
that had originally housed a waxen saint doll, who tragically melted
years before. Oh, how I wish I could’ve seen her! I ought to mention
that in a fit of folly, we um- attempted to have this incredible thing
shipped. How foolish we were- of course it shattered en route.

We rushed back for a dinner party, and what a soiree it was-
always attended by the most fashionable zombies, of course.

Dana and Mark’s elegant apartment is filled with all manner of exciting
taxidermy, and their collection has grown exponentially since my last
visit here. More pictures to follow! I’m in a paradise of artful living here.

It’s enough to make you swoon- especially if your waist
has been narrowed to 18 inches by silk and whalebone!
Too tight? Of corset is!

Sadly, my sweetheart wasn’t able to accompany me on this trip..
I took this picture of him when we were last at Coney Island,
and it remains one of my favorites. Isn’t he dreamy?

Little lost goat, wandering through the blue dioramic mountains-
don’t you wish you had a guide to the big city? Luckily, I have
a long list of favorite places to re-visit, and new things to explore..

Rachael Gibson’s (Fur Coat, No Knickers) Super-Big New York Guide
is proving to be extremely helpful, however! Anything else
on your personal New York list I absolutely mustn’t miss?
I’ve fully entered the whirlwind, and am running literally
from dusk ’til dawn- more current updates as soon as I
can catch my breath! Until then, back into the fray!

Afterwards, we strolled in a rainy garden- feeling like we’d walked into a Gorey drawing.
Lunch was had at the old Liberty Bar, a leaning edifice with serious food
that came highly recommended by all who knew of it. They did not lead us astray.
We Blenheim Hot Ginger Ale (the best!), mission figs and goat cheese,
venison burgers, portabellas and wild boar sausage. Serious food, indeed.

“Structural problems plagued the place from the get-go.
Cobbled together quickly by unskilled labor out of cast-off materials,
the building appears to have been designed and constructed by children
whose milk was laced with laudanum. (And who immediately changed
their minds and removed the entire store front so they could add ten feet.)
The flood of 1921 left water standing above the mahogany bar and a thick
layer of river bottom silt around the cedar posts and oak sills of the foundation.
The weight of the floodwater warped the walls and, over time, some of cedar
foundation posts rotted, giving way, warping the floor. By this time,
Grandma Boehler had fallen down the stairs, broken her neck and died,
leaving Fritz a corner room recluse in his daughter Minnie’s care.
After his death the daughter rented out the building.
There was no significant repair or maintenance for over fifty years.
Time went by and the building did a slow hula as in laws took over.
A family cousin encouraged the troops in rented rooms upstairs
while black waiters carried fried chicken and tamales out to cars
parked in the hackberry shade. Old rodeo clowns and Saturday
morning matinee cowboys drank beer, smoked cigars and cracked jokes .
They grew old and die but to a few mossbacks from
the brewery and the perennial under-age adolescent.”

It’s such a beautiful old building- I’m sad that they’ll be moving away from it soon.
The whole thing leans heavily, and the floor is so wonky and crooked
that you feel drunk as soon as you walk in. All the angles are wrong,
but the place is so oddly calming. It’s like being in a Texan version of
Through the Looking Glass, if you can imagine that.

It was there that Frannie and I discovered the enigma of the conjoined cornichon!
Funny thing is, just yesterday I found another one, in my salad..
Must be an epidemic. Siamese twin baby pickles everywhere!

Jordan Moser and Frannie Brown, two of my favorite folks-
both brilliant dancers and old-tyme musicians who love
silent movies and slapstick humor, and it would seem- each other!

Case in point. So gol-danged cute. Jeez, Louise!

Ain’t love grand?

★ I recently discovered the work of Aquirax Uno through Tara Sinn-
she does a fantastic interview with him that you can go read on her blog.
She’s got a shiny new portfolio, and her work is fantasmic, go check it out.

★Also, Thirty Book Covers from Poland from A Journey Round My Skull
is really inspiring- in a design-sense, but also makes me want
to go to Poland and nose around used bookstores looking
for some of these! Might help if I learned Polish, I guess.

★ David Lynch’s window displays via John Coulthart’s Feuilleton
are wonderful as well. Love that man. Let’s go to Paris, eh?

★ Oh yeah! I almost forgot- I got my ritual haircut done today!
I freaking love it. It’s better than I ever could have imagined.
Pictures soon, I promise. Hooray for coiffure bravery, I say!

Right-o, back to packing for my trip to New York- I leave on Friday!
Please do let me know your favorite people/places/things there,
and in general! Seen any art you loved lately? I’m going to be
meeting with and interviewing artists when I’m in the Big Apple-
so tell me about anyone you think I might dig, won’t you?

So, remember when I went to Chicago?
I’m just now finding a minute to write about all that,
so forgive the vast rewind- as per usual, I create my own
time-space continuum and all that.
I find myself in a hulking city packed with bodies
and marvel as I let myself be buffeted like a bit o’ flotsam
down the human river. So many facets of life’s vicissitudes
moving all around me. I love to get lost in that thick
stream, to wonder about lives and languages and stories.
It’s what I love most about big cities, and what would no doubt
drive me mad if I lived in one for a long time.
If you’re even a little bit empathic, it can be quite overwhelming
to be constantly surrounded by minds on all sides-
though in smaller doses, it’s a sublime delight.

This Egyptian Temple had been converted into a climate-controlled storage unit facility.
Guaranteed to keep the contents of your canopic jars fresh, and your mummified cats
perfectly preserved for all eternity. The night-watchman’s a Setian Priest, no doubt.

We had the pleasure of staying in the marvelous sprawling apartments of Elena Brocade,
though she was on honeymoon in Cairo until the very end of our visit. Romantical!
It was wonderful to explore her world- it is truly a wonderland of exotic plants, ostrich
feathers, intriguing books, mannequins, puppets and fancy hats. In other words, paradise.

Elena is a very talented and inspiring creature- she’s an aerial artist, amazing all with her
feats on the static trapeze, silks, and Spanish web. Strength, grace and incredible fashion sense-
all wrapped up into one sassy package of sinew, satin and sequins. We totally raided her closet,
which has a whole section devoted to nothing but jumpsuits! Her costumes are the best, ever.

Check her out! Also, if you saw Public Enemies recently, that was her looking all dusty and consumptive
and clutching at Johnny Depp’s arm after making him egg-salad sandwiches. She’s a movie star!

An amazing shop window downtown- little did I know, it was done by a
good friend of Lady Lavona’s. Infinitesimally small world we wander through.

This was glued to the wall in Elena’s kitchen. Sexy!
Appetite-stimulating! I wish I could read the whole comic.

Grandmother Wolf.

Al and Raven, (very tipsy and adorable) were our trusty guides to Chicago’s nightlife.
It was so good to hang out with these dear ones- I had missed them both enormously.
We went new-wave dancing at Neo, and it was hilarious.
Chartreuse + soda and Bauhaus. Almost like being 15 in New Orleans again!
Hunger in our bellies led us to a glowing bastion in the night, the only thing open-
(aside from that hot-dog stand where all the drunk asshats harass the hot-dog ladies.)
The Golden Nugget! It was filled with faux-art-nouveau stained glass,
southwestern themed frosted glass and grumpy waitresses!
Also, greasy blinis! Perfection. Latkes at 3am, so happy-making.

Obligatory 4am post-nightclub late-night diner bathroom photo.

Back at Elena’s the next morning we discovered some grisly evidence.

Curtains, for you

Magic doorways.

Have you ever tasted durian? Do you adopt ancestors?

I want this iridescent peachy wallpaper, please.

Elena’s sad soldier sculpture. He looks like a peat bog man to me.

This is Diana. She works at The Red Apple Polish Buffet.
She became our friend, first because of her amazing outfit and hot accent-
but then because she played good music just for us in our private room,
and was totally amenable to being kidnapped and taken to the beach.
Diana, we love you! Run away with us, and then take us to Poland with you!

The Polish toy shop, where I had to get dragged out of here, and was thus prevented
from buying heaps of faded birthday cards with kittens and indecipherable greetings.

Lukewarm Dude Puma. Need I say more?

I sat by this window, and read this book about Michael Jackson. It was strange.

Okay, next time I go to Chicago it’s going to be for more than just a couple
of days- so I need lots of suggestions for wondrous and interesting things
I need to experience there. Pony up! I love wandering around aimlessly,
but please make me a magic map of destinations. It’s such a fantastic city-
tell me your stories about it, won’t you? What must I simply not miss?

♡ It finally rained yesterday! We’ve been in a terrible drought lately
down here in Texas, so if you happen to have any extra rain, please
send it our way. We would be extremely grateful! Summer thunderstorms
are the best! Shivery bolts of lightning + broody dark sunset skies.

♡ In other celestial events, there was a total solar eclipse the other day-
(I’m not sure where the following is quoted from, sorry-
Miss T. Verhext sent it to me! I must ask her!)
“This extra-long eclipse, occurring at a degree that implies a pressure for resolution,
is in the sign of Cancer the Crab, who clings with tenacity. It seems, with all water signs,
that we do best by recognizing some emotional experience. Cancer, the first water sign,
hints at the most primitive emotions or stages of development —
the earliest in time or the most deeply buried in the unconscious.
Thus, both our personal histories and our collective or ancestral memories
may be the ground through which this potent eclipse moves us forward along our life path.

Eclipses are known to bring things to a head or indicate a release point.”

Um, yeah. Dead on! It was an extra intense one for me,
and brought up a lot of memories and thoughts about my mama.
Which brings me to the next amazing thing:
Sweet Miss Gala Darling did me
(and a lot of other ladies) an enormous service by posting an open letter
from Francesca Lia Block- go read it:

♡ forty-five thoughts for my daughter and my virtual daughters
Reading this was so good for me, and so powerful-
I cried like I haven’t in awhile. I didn’t realize how much I needed to
read those words. It was like unlocking a floodgate.
I love Francesca Lia- she was such a magic beacon for me when
I was was, and still! I wrote her a letter when I was seventeen,
dangerously pregnant (an ectopic) in Los Angeles- and very young + afraid.
She wrote me back immediately, and made me feel so much better.
I think I would feel very lucky to be a daughter of hers.

♡ Okay, in more quotidian news- I finally broke down and got a freakin’ Iphone!
Guess what? It’s magical. I don’t think I’ve ever been more delighted and amazed
with a piece of gadgetry before. It is a good tool for me. Future-sorcery!
Also, it has a pretty killer camera for a celephone, eh?
(All of the following pictures were taken with it!)

♡ I love my jewelry class.
My teacher is a sage. He is truly the best teacher (in many subjects) that I have ever known.
I feel so lucky in his classroom, tinkering away at my various intricate projects.
See that bulbous-headed tool in the lower right-hand corner?
That’s a snarling iron! Bob made it for me, so that I could make one
of my visions real. That’s just so incredible- I feel very honored.

♡ I found this record at the shop recently:
Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band-
man, I ought to have snatched up this album when I had the chance!
The nice fella who bought let me snap a picture before he took it away.

Look at “Sweet Emma” Barrett!
(March 25, 1897, New Orleans, Louisiana – January 28, 1983)
She was nicknamed Bell Gal, because she wore a red skull cap
and garters with Christmas bells that jingled in time with her music.
She was featured on the cover of Glamour magazine
and written up in publications on both sides of the Atlantic.
She’s my latest inspiration. Time to make bell garters!

♡ Who is this fine fellow? Adolphe Menjou, perhaps? Maybe not.
Whoever he is, I think he’s mighty fine.

♡ Oh, Follies!!
Go see the treasure trove of chorus girls that Miss T. found!
Talk about inspiration! Miss Virginia Biddle + Marjorie Leet
were too, too gorgeous and had diskostani style in spades!

♡ Found this wonderful wall in an old building that had been converted
into a yoga studio in Chicago. Acme bricks. Solid. A good stairwell for singing.

♡ So yes, we visited Chicago recently – and I promise to share some of those adventures soon,
but first things first: after 24 hours of no sleep, dancing late into the night, frenzied packing
and all day travel, we were ushered by our dear friends into a cool, calm bastion
of deliciousness known as Province. If you get the chance, go check out their fabulous food,
and truly stunning cocktails. Strangely curative tonics for weary and travel-tattered urchins such as we!
My favorites were these:

Pimlico Grid – Pimm’s No. 1, Hendrick’s Gin, lemon-lime juice, ginger beer, cucumber slice

Yellow Moon – Death’s Door gin, Benedictine, St. Germain, lemon juice, lemon sweetened rim

Lapsang Sazerac – Old Overholt, Herbsainte, Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters, lapsang souchong syrup

♡ Also, they have walls made of moss, trees hanging from the ceiling,
and hot pink accents among all the black, white + neutral. So lovely.

♡ Oof, one more thing! My favorite meal of late! – Hoi de Bap!
Actually, I have no idea how it is transliterated from Korean-
but it’s raw sashimi chunks with salad, rice and smelt roe.
Perfect. I wish I could eat it every single day! If only.

We were the Cupcake Brigade!
Of course confectionary won over in our circle, and ingenious cupcake lanterns
were constructed from umbrellas, chiffon and buckram! It was so magical
to see them illuminating the procession through the streets- I wish I could storm
the alleys of the Vieux Carre with my gang of sugar-crazed cupcakes every night!

I was a minty bonbon cupcake- with pink cake inside, my favorite!
(I really did ask for a strawberry birthday cake with mint icing one year!
Pandora made it for me, and it was bizarrely delicious- if a little toothpasty..)
I made my costume that day- the glue on the bonbon fascinator and epaulette
was still not dry even as we were rushing out the door! I was terrified I was
going to lose all my candy in the shuffle- but a Mardi Gras miracle occurred!
I think I lost maybe one? After a night of dancing in the streets? Amazing.

My teeth are black because I ate too much candy! That’s what happens, kids!
Isn’t Miss Angie’s wedding cake costume mindblowing? I wanted to eat her up.

Lester was the cutest damn cake- if only you could have seen this incredibly
tall man bouncing through the parade- he was happiest cake in the whole world!

Miss Raven was a whipped cream cupcake- too delicious, ooh la la!

Sansa Asylum was the Pineapple Princess! She plays accordion
and sings songs with The Yard Dogs Road Show, and has super-human powers.
Seriously. I licked her eyeball when we first met and it was salty. Naturally.

Renee Angelica (aka. Stella Lithe)
her maquillage was truly hypnotic.

I wish I had gotten better pictures of all the fantastic floats and things-
alas, they were moving to fast- and I was dancing! The crazy hungry mouth
above was a receptacle for hundreds of tiny golden goblets that were filled
with homebrewed apple cider. The cider spewed from a spigot on the side
of an enormous gilded apple! There was also a dinner table and chairs
set for a fancy meal of.. poop! Well, chocolate and dates and things that
looked like poop, anyhow. All served on fine silver with white lace tablecloths.
Two ghostly ladies with blackened teeth (Megan + Claire)
were joyfully handing out coprophage-friendly snacks!
It was beautiful and gross all at the same time. I love my friends.

Nina, Lester and Betsy frolicking- footloose and oh so fancy!
The Krewe of Eris was named for the Goddess of Chaos-
She who flung the golden apple. Harbinger of change,
androgynous troublemaker, the all wise mischievous girl-child,
perpetually defiant, protector of insurgents, patron of miscreants,
spinsters, seers, tipplers, dandies, tomboys, vagrants, vandals, and spies.

Pandora was a Devil’s Food Cupcake- is this making you hungry yet?

Pea + Alix, in a moment of hysterical laughter- which there was much of,
despite a few frustrating encounters with the police- Eris prevailed! Hail, Eris!