ThanksComfort Giving Day at the Park Ave Family's.

Thanksgiving went off just as I planned.  Is that a malevolent way of saying it? Perhaps, considering the circumstances it is.  I planned the coziest, best-tasting, sleepiest, and most wine filled thanksgiving and that is what I got.  Early in the morning Stef and I prepared our home to welcome the waifs and wanderers of this city, that is, our friends.  While Stef pulled the guts out of the turkey (A side note here: we were surprised at how much stuff they store inside the turkey (bags and such)), and danced it about the kitchen I peeled potatoes into a paper bag and watched the Macy's day 
Parade.  We turned the volume up so Stef could hear in the kitchen thus our conversations went something like this: Stef:"Ramumble unmble uh nub, Bumble mumble?" Christy: "Sorry, what?" Stef: "RaMUMble unmble unumb, BUMble MUMble?" etc.  

(It's a habit of ours for Stef to continue to talk to me while I roam from room to room.) We're just like a REAL family.  Anyhow, we then scrambled about cleaning various surfaces with varying amounts of bleach (a ration directly depending upon how much turkey juice had 

spilled on to the surface). 

The first guests arrived early to play games but didn't intend to stay for dinner.  This didn't surprise me greatly since "playing games" was a huge platform in my "come to our house for thanksgiving day" campaign.  So we did.  After the first wave left the second wave or the "nouvelle vague" arrived--and they came to stay.  We busily set about drinking wine, eating pizza as an appetizer, and discussing how good a hostess Stef is.  She plays that role for us, and I am eternally greatful every day.
Dinner time finally arrived after the unprecedented freak storm that ravaged the street with hail, high winds, rain, and lightning for about 30 seconds (The same 30 seconds that it took for our guests to come from their cars into our house, actually).  Thus renewed by our reinstilled awe of nature we sat to sup and found that our awe was renewed again and again with each bite.  Then something really remarkable happened.  We decided it was "quiet time" or "nap time" or "whatever" and each and every guest got up from the table and immediately set about cleaning the kitchen. I was so impressed. I have never seen such well behaved boys and girls in my life.
Finally we collapsed in a well crafted pile of blankets which I had installed on the floor of our living room for just such a purpose as napping.  And nap we did in the coziest puppiest pile of all.  Shortly thereafter we played "football" with a "football." Then we tucked in desert, played games, and settled into a nice viewing of Fried Green Tomatoes which mostly resulted in a lively discussion of Lesbianism's presense in films from the 1990's.  Also, mid-film, we had yet a third influx of guests.  The final scene of our Thanksgiving day included Kristen wrapped in blankets rolling about in the center of the room, an interactive discussion of astrology, and another lovely bottle of wine. The End.

Molto Bene

I discovered a flat woman on my wall outside. And I took the photos to prove it. Take that Wendy.  
I also discovered a lake in the middle of nowhere. Bryan helped discover it so we named it Lake Bryan. We went back later to put up a sign, and realized that it had been a mirage after all.
Long long ago we didn't know if Obama was going to win the election. So we waited in line for 6 hours to give him our magic beans.  
This blue-green looking algae was growing all over the lake. It was the grossest lake I've ever been to. 
I found these photos in my backyard. Who put them there?

Conjugated Photographs

I am gregarious with my Italian because my Italian is so very small.

Yesterday, to remember, I walked home jabbering away in French and alternately Spanish.

I look out my little windows. I look at the moon, in November.  I turn my attention to la muerta y la tooth brush.  I found the bird that was lost. 

These are the people I look at all of the time.

Mystery Maps

I have 35 pictures to show you.

I have a cold winter night

dry hands

6 letters taped to the wall (but one of them is from me)

and I have one really big yawn.

I also have a couple of maps:

I found this on googlemaps.

It's in Alamosa, Colorado. 

I think that it must be a lake , right?

But it doesn't have a name and neither do the roads leading to it.  And when it comes down to it the roads don't really lead to it at all.  They just kind of stop and round off at the ends. 

Is this just a nice little graphic addition to the world, courtesy of google?

If so, have they made more of them?

Take a close look at that lake or grouping of water in towards the middle.  Does that look like a normal body of water to you? This is taken from a map of the Albuquerque area and I'm pretty sure there are NO lakes near here, at least none that look like clumps of yarn.

I would be delighted to visit these mysterious bodies of water and find out what they're really like. In Colorado I might find an enormous shallow puddle at the end of some sidewalk, or possibly a large damp parachute.  If I follow the map to the spot in Albuquerque I might find an actual body of water with an actual habitable island in the very middle! Or perhaps a giant water slide park...

I will have to visit to know for sure because google hasn't taken satellite pictures of the area yet.  Huzzah.

4 Reals.

This exists because Robin hurt her arm, because we bought too much gin and Bryan started to "glow," because Bethany had recently been given a guitar, because Mary was excited and sitting on a desk, because Laureen was falling asleep in the next bed and we had to record it before it was gone, and because I had been in the sun too much that day.  All of these things made this thing. So enjoy.

La Capra Campa

Buongiorno!

Today I decided to learn Italian.  This is what I got so far.

Piacere!  Mi chiamo Christy (But I think I'm going to go by Chiara in Italian circles).  Sono di Oregon ma abito a Albuquerque, e insegno la arte a gli bambini! Si?!!!  Anche mia famiglia di ABQ é felice tutto il giorno! HEY!

I'll either be practicing over breakfast or late in the night.  Those are the natural times for me to practice language after four years of doing so in college.

If you are reading this and would like to correspond with me in Italiono, I would like that!

yellow light at 4:28

The light is Just right. It is coming in my window on to my keyboard, and I feel like I was just skiing because I was racing my bike down the Albuquerque hill to my home, and the wind was blowing in my face and I could feel my eyelashes blowing in it.

 

Alright.

The days are growing shorter. But I am waking up earlier.  This morning I was dreaming of guitar music. It was a very detailed kind of melody repeating and repeating.  I didn't think it was a dream and I was listening intensely when "Knock Knock Knock!" I roused myself and looked around.  I glared blearily at the window across from my bed.  Was someone outside and wanting my attention?  I listened for further knocking and slowly, relaxing into my bed I came to the conclusion that I had dreamed the knocking.  But why? Why did I feel the need to drive myself out of that sweet dream melody at 6:40 in the morning?  

The best answer I have come up with today is that the sun wanted me up.  The glazed light reflecting into my window was reminiscent of those delicate wandering repeating notes I heard in my sleep.  Was it the sun's dizzy melody then wandering into my sleep? If so the song was too engrossing to wake me.  So the music hardened into a cool hand which laid three resounding knocks (simultaneously) on the window, my chest and the edge of my dream.  

President Obama

I just can't help it.  I watched twenty online videos today about Obama winning the presidency, and I just want to watch more, and read the paper and congratulate my friends.  I know the picture below is dramatic, and I'm not even sure why he's crying (It's a pre-election picture) but isn't it GREAT!!!  When we heard the news last night we took a collective shot of tequila, and wandered into a spontaneous dance party on Central street in ABQ.  It was covered by the channel seven news and even though they somehow edited me and my friends out here's the link: Albuquerque Party!!!

I hugged several strangers, ululated, danced and shouted the word "Obama" rythmically with everyone else.  A crowd gathered around the drummers, car horns blared, and people took pictures with their cell phones. It was very moving.  It's a strange feeling to actually like the president of the united states of America.  Part of me wonders if I am just dazzled by his dashing good looks, and intelligent sounding sentences.  I think that could be it, but I mean, those aren't really bad things.

Looking Small in the Desert.

(A precarious and specific art.)

Up Up and Away

I must tell you:

  In two days I learned to walk on three foot stilts, and celebrated all hallows eve in a gallery show leaning on the walls, and drinking wine from my precipice.  The work wasn't at eye level so I just sort of floated around in my own world, occasionally inserting myself into conversations only to drift away when I started to teeter.  Being really tall is exactly like being a celebrity, and I will admit that I loved it.  I shook hands, cheered up children, posed for the camera, and made really dramatic faces.  I didn't however have any real/meaningful conversations while I was nine feet tall.  But it didn't bother me that much...

Then:

    Having challenged my legs to double in length I found my original height to be both stocky and limiting.  I got over it however as we watched the most amazing dance performance I have ever seen.  Les Angles Morts was the name of the performance and I don't know what else to say, because I cannot really get it to come across.  

To Mention: 

In Gallup New Mexico I won a ride in a hot air balloon.  There I am standing in the basket after we landed.  The man behind me was the captain.  Six Americorps participants got to go up in two balloons.  Two of us were from VSA, where I work, and afterwords they initiated us into the balloonists society.  An initiation that resulted in the earliest drinking I've ever done!

NOVEMBER!

 Obama is iconic and hip.  Graphic designers love him.

My sister sent me some links to Obama posters. I like em' I want to tell you about them too.

Try this

And this too!

I counted signs today and got 25 Obama, 5 McCain.  7-11 is polling with paper cups which leads to a lot of Obama cups laying around.  Both players came to Albuquerque last week and I heard McCain had a small crowd.  I stood in line for about 3 hours however in order to hear Obama speak.  The whole time I was in line people were still going to the end of it.  When I finally got in I couldn't even see stage.  I was clumped together with people of all ages and dispositions.  A baby behind me who was literally a baby was crying "Obama." Her mother looked proud. I think it was the first word they taught her. Today I found a big round flyer on the ground instructing people to please vote for Obama.  I attached it to my purse and called it a pin. "Just a little pin!"

So in about two days we'll know.  I'm going to vote on election day, then go to a bar with a television and watch this play out.