Eye candy

Jude Law

Like father, like daughter

Do you think their faces will freeze this way someday?

Gloria Coker Dancing in the Garden, oil , 24x18

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely, in a pretty and well preserved body; but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow ---- What a ride!!!"

Fishing on the Illinois River

Guys fishing on the Illinois River - watercolor by D Bowden

Find the Doggie

Mary can do just about anything to this cat!

Doggie Loves the Deck

Mary's cat Doggie LOVES to go outside
and laze around on the deck.
Isn't she a FATTY???

Boat in Harbor

Boat in Harbor watercolor by D. Bowden

Sweetness - I love this photo

Photographer unknown

Astronomy Quilt

Credit & Copyright: Judy W. Ross, Point Roberts, WA

Explanation: Demonstrating her mastery of a traditional astronomical imaging technique quilter and astronomy enthusiast Judy Ross has produced this spectacular composition of "Astronomy Quilt Piece of the Week". Her year-long effort resulted in an arrangement for a six by seven foot quilt consisting of 52 individual pieces (11 inches by 8 inches), one for each week, which she reports were inspired by her steady diet of APOD's daily offerings. Some of the pieces are based on actual pictures, such as the Hubble Space Telescope's view of planet forming AB Aurigae or Bill Keel's image of the nearby Pinwheel Galaxy. Others, with titles like the Blue Carpet Nebula and Duck Contemplates Black Hole, are from her own creative imaginings.
Atronomy Quilt of the Week - 2005 October 16

Mary's friend's new iSight webcam - Yes, these are all my beautiful and crazy Mary!

Happy Valentine's Day

Conversation Hearts

Such meek
Little tokens
Sugary white,
Shy green, prom
Yellow and pink.
But spiced with
Mottos: SURE
THING, OH BOY ---
Each one like
A reckless wink.
Valerie Worth

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY JASON!

Strange Buddies

Bono's Armour Glasses

I love U2. They are one of my favorite bands. But I always wondered for my own curiosity, "what's with the glasses, Bono?" This is a bit of information that does not affect my life one iota, however I needed to find out. Johnny Cash wore black for all the sadness in the world, Elton John wore glasses are part of his glam-rock image (and to hide his true self behind), Mark Twain wore white because of his disdain for the conventional black suit of his times. So, I wondered about Bono's reason for the goofy glasses, indoors and out.
Here's what I found:


Bono has confessed he uses his ubiquitous glasses as 'body armour'.

The U2 frontman - who is rarely spotted without his dark shades - admits he prefers viewing the world from behind his dark specs - and doesn't care if people mock him for it. He revealed: 'They're always going to laugh at me, whatever happens. 'Look, there are practical reasons, it's body armour, it's a note of necessary insincerity, and the eyes are a giveaway, and although I have got used to the stares I get, I quite like not having people who I don't know looking right into my eyes, as if they might find something out about me. 'They walk right up to you, and stick their head right into your face. So it's good that there's a barrier.' But the singer also confessed he has another reason for hiding his eyes... his vanity. He added to Britain's Observer Music Monthly: 'And of course, the light, and the drink, makes my eyes go red, there's a bit of vanity there, I don't want people to see my all puffy.'

Copyright 2005 BANG Media International

Another Painting in my Livingroom

~ Dance Me to the End of Love ~

stop and smell the rose
contemplate the velvetness
of its fragrant red

D. Bowden

Recital Time

Mary's graduate recital at Yale University's Sprague Hall was awesome! She performed works my Maxwell Davies, de Falla, Fenton, Bitsch, and Frescobaldi. She was accompanied on piano by Eri Nakamura and performed duet with Hugo Moreno. For the last piece she was accompanied again by Eri and James Deitz on marimba. She has come a long way after studying trumpet performance for six long years, first at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelhia and is now graduating with her M.M from Yale University.

Winter Returns

This is what it is supposed to look like in Chicagoland in February. Though the mild weather was nice while it lasted, it was quite unusual not to have to wear a heavy coat in mid-winter. When I was a child, February was a freezing month with snowfalls that buried cars and caused schools to close. It seems our winters are getting milder and milder with each passing year and should be a warning to us that global warming is indeed a reality.