The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Two of my hens wanted to do nothing but sit on their nest and hatch babies. The only problem was they could sit there for eternity, but no babies were gonna hatch. I would put them outside, and they'd end up right back on their nest, even with no eggs. So I gave them to someone who had eggs to hatch. In return, she gave me two Partridge Cochin chicks. I'm hoping they're females, or else I'll have to give them away. Please be girls!

They're about a month old now: Half fuzz, half feathers. Here's their first day out. Tentatively, Petunia and Daisy.

"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy."
-Lope de Vega

Helena Bonham Carter says, "I'm the Antichrist of fashion."

It's so funny that lots of these photos are from "worst dressed" lists. I love her look!



Helena and her mother at the Chelsea Flower Show. Her mother looks great too.

( more Helena looks )

1. Why can't we just go from spring right to fall? Is that so much to ask? Summer does bad things to me. It smothers and suffocates my soul. As long as I can remember, I've had the feeling during summer that everyone is out doing fun things, except me. I don't even know what those fun things are, but I feel like I'm supposed to be doing them. Instead, I'm a lonely summer hibernator.

2. I'm watching Edward Scissorhands right now. Yay. I want to live in the castle. A good place to hide summer!

3. I watched the best documentary yesterday on Netflix instant thingie: Man on Wire. It was beautiful and inspiring. It's a little sad too. I love Philippe Petit's passion for life. You must watch it! I promise the love.

4. I miss my daddy answering the phone with "Joe's Poolhall. Eight-ball speakin'."

5. I keep seeing Helena Bonham Carter on Go Fug Yourself. I just don't get it. I love the way she dresses and looks! I want to dress just like her. I just need someone to help me find clothes like hers.

6. I'm reading a really good, southern book: All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. I haven't read anything in forever. I've never read this little in my life. I don't know what happened. I'm ashamed.

7. I still love Winona Ryder. I don't care about her stupid shoplifting. I wish she were still doing lots of movies. Winona Forever!

8. I don't know if I've ever shared my Tom Jones love here. I love him, and I'm not embarrassed about it!

9. I have two baby chicks. They are Partridge Cochins. I had two hens that wouldn't leave their nest. They wanted so much to hatch eggs. I would put them out, and they'd fuss and want to go right back in. So I gave them away to someone who had eggs to hatch. I hope they're happier in life now. They just wanted to be mothers. Anyway, when the girl picked them up, she brought me two babies! I'm sooo hoping and praying they're going to be hens. I can't have a rooster and will have to give them away if they are.

10. LiveJournal is still my favorite website. I've missed it lately. I'm going to make a better effort to update more often. I hope others will come back to it too.

“No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved”
by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib


No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved.
If I’d lived longer, I would have waited longer.

Knowing you are faithless keeps me alive and hungry.
Knowing you faithful would kill me with joy.

Delicate are you, and your vows are delicate, too,
so easily do they break.

You are a laconic marksman. You leave me
not dead but perpetually dying.

I want my friends to heal me, succor me.
Instead, I get analysis.

Conflagrations that would make stones drip blood
are campfires compared to my anguish.

Two-headed, inescapable anguish!—
Love’s anguish or the anguish of time.

Another dark, severing, incommunicable night.
Death would be fine, if I only died once.

I would have liked a solitary death,
not this lavish funeral, this grave anyone can visit.

You are mystical, Ghalib, and, also, you speak beautifully.
Are you a saint, or just drunk as usual?


(Translated by Vijay Seshadr)

It doesn't get much better than The Gourds singing "Gin and Juice."

My Buddha fountain, mossified!

In front of me this morning.

Remembering my daddy on Memorial Day.

My glorious lotus. I can't wait for a bloom!

Listening to the rain.

Does anyone else want to see Angels and Demons?

I've always wanted a really good microscope.

I really need to make something. Not sure what.

We need UK stamps!
www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/shop

Henderson and I have just had that kind of week.

I just found a tick crawling on me. And I think I have poison ivy on my face. And I have cramps. And my head hurts. And it's hot in here. And I just got my feelings devastatingly crushed. And and and...

I'm going outside to dig a hole.