... ... ... ... 

i love the words to this song... it's such a beautiful song... happy with a lilt to it... almost like a nursery rhyme... but the lyrics are really pretty grim if you take them literally... "i was following the pack, all swallowed in their coats, scarves of red tied round their throats, to keep their little heads from falling in the snow..." it sorta reminds me of ring around the rosie

i can tell you right where i was the first time i heard it... it was a freezing morning... winter of 2008 in northeast minneapolis... i turned the heater on high in my car and was hit in the face with that frosty snowy stuff that sometimes collects in the vents of your car... a giant blast of it that froze my face... but whenever that happens it kinda makes me giggle/smile anyway... someone had just given me the cd... i put it in and started to drive to work... it was sunny... every time i hear it... i can't help but think of that moment and the image i have in my head of the little kids walking in the snow... their heads about to roll right off their bodies... one time when i was in quebec city... there was a beautiful young woman sitting on the cobblestone streets selling paintings of little children in colorful winter clothes they were more like little blobs... like that malt-o-meal kid from the commercials when we were young... i asked her about the paintings... i couldn't afford any of them but i loved them... they reminded me of home and growing up in minnesota and playing for long snowy days at my grandparents house. she said her father painted them... and that he would be there tomorrow if i wanted to meet him. of course i couldn't i was leaving town... but i always remember those little snowy blobby kids from the painting when i hear this song... that's how imagine them... red scarved, puffy kids and me with a face full of frost on a sunny morning... i love song memories

i spent a little time in the studio on monday. i am having car problems... which means i have been working from home a little more... which means... i had some time to paint! i have been playing around a lot with shadow... black and whites... quick paint sketches... and some photos from new york.

normally there's snow on the ground this time of year... i am not complaining... but i have had a few romantic thoughts about snow lately... something i thought would never happen again after the onslaught of last winter

life is pretty cool isn't it... so much to see... so much to do... so much to feel... even the bad stuff is still living... it's hard to remember that all the time... but just when you forget something awesome happens... don't you agree?

i spent a week in new york city. i have never seen so many people wanting that badly to connect to something or someone and completely unable to reach out a hand to the thousands of people they pass everyday. all alone in a crowd. maybe it was the season or the time of day i frequented the subway... but i had an overwhelming urge to give the entire city of new york a hug and invite them over for dinner. they could all use a fireplace and a safe spot to relax. i guess this theme has been following me for a while. the world could use more smiles in general and a little more love. i don't know what everyone is waiting for. this is it.

but oh new york, what a beautiful mess you are... a dirty mish mash of graffiti and glass... in constant motion... dangling a curious carrot in front of everyone that lives or visits... that pushes us on... just one more block... and then twenty... 

at sunset one night i took the ferry to pier 11 alone... $5.50... half the price of my vodka sour at the st. vincent show the night before... clearly something is askew

New York reminds me of this... again: 

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia

"... if you're gunna stay show some mercy today... Blow a little breeze on my face" ~m.ward