What made me jump up and down and clap today

Brilliant.

My sister

Today is the last chemotherapy appointment in my sister's treatment for breast cancer. She is still in a lot of pain from the last batch two weeks ago and is struggling to the finish line. If you can send out good thoughts in the coming weeks or visit her blog and leave a comment, she would appreciate it and so would I. Thanks.

Sister Corita Kent

Tom and I wandered through the Ludwig Museum when we visited Cologne this weekend. There was an exhibit of work by Sister Corita Kent (1918 - 1986). The colors were out of this world and I loved everything about what she made and what she believed about art and activism.



This is from the exhibit catalog:
The wide range of activities that Sister Corita and her colleagues initiated at the Art Department at Immaculate Heart College brought her the admiration of her contemporaries, such as Ray and Charles Eames, and Buckminster Fuller. And to this day, artists such as Ed Ruscha and Mike Kelley have continued to reveal the influence of her concept of art. Apart from developing innovative silkscreen techniques, which show parallels to the work of Andy Warhol, she organised discussion series, celebrations and »happenings« that welded aesthetics together with socio-political issues.

The work was surprisingly modern, but reminded me of my Northern California childhood as well.In a museum with Warhol silkscreens and Matisse paper collage, the posters were just the right mix of art and craft, high and low, Christianity and spirituality.


There is a book that accompanies the exhibit -- the printing is great and the day-glo ink bright in all its glory. You can find it at Amazon.

What I saw on my ride to work this morning

Cuteness.

I inherited my grandmother's love of jewelry, travel and owls. She would have appreciated the sheer adorablability of these pins.

It is so much better with two

I don't know quite where to begin. If you blog about happiness, are you tempting fate? Issuing an invitation for misery? Screw it. My heart is too full to care right now.

At this moment, Tom and I are watching the Yankees vs. Cleveland game (live on North American Sports Network) with stomachs full of kick-ass burritos from The Taco Shop -- shops in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and on the Pacific Coast Highway -- where there is a surfing sticker from Cannon Beach on the door. Perfect chili verde and refried beans that made me do a dance of glee. It is raining outside but still warm and I actually had a strange sense of being at Black Butte when I went upstairs to change into dry clothes when we got home. This is what made my heart full -- to feel like I am home and also at home -- both at the same time.

And this follows a perfect Sunday. We met friends at Amstelpark after biking to the center and buying me my first tennis racket in 20 years. We brought gloves and a softball, rackets and new tennis balls, along with a few bottles of wine, and rode out of town and along the river to such a lovely spot. Alison and Snapper had friends over from England who have two great kids, so everyone lounged around and played catch or tennis or generally goofed around for many hours. The look of surprise on Tom's face after I warmed up my throwing arm and managed a few good catches and fast turnarounds back to him was beautiful. It is great to have a reason to use my glove again. I have missed playing catch and was happy to realize that the skills I carved out during the softball season of 2004 didn't disappear. The tennis was fun as well and I can not wait to start playing Tom regularly. I think I could take him...my own little Bobby Riggs.

Life with Tommy is fantastic. As much as I learned to love life in Amsterdam on my own over the course of the year, it is that much better with him here. It is so easy to be together and there isn't any drama about it. It is just good! We laugh and talk and kiss all the time, with breaks for reading and music and games of catch. It is better with two, no matter how fiercely independent a pioneer woman I claim to be.

Amsterdam has pride to be proud

Yesterday was the Pride parade and it was fabulous! More synchronized dancing than last year, delightful drag queens, lovely bodies and just a feeling of pure joy everywhere you went. It was the first proper summer day with sunshine and temperatures above 75 degrees. That helped the glee along, as the entire city shook of two months worth of clouds and rain and said, "HELLOOO!" It was gay chaos and I was super happy.

Tom said it was the best parade he ever went to and was sad to leave it to go see a football match with our friend Peter. But I was with my fantastico friends Marco, Pasquale, Vanessa, Adam and Nicola. The night was nice, but nothing compared to the sparkle of the day and all that was gay. There are more photos of the fabulousness on Flickr

It has been a week since Tom arrived and it is going well. Poor guy had to take care of me while I was really sick with bronchitis and we celebrated together when the antibiotics kicked in. It seems so normal for him to be here, but it will be great when we get our own place and can start fresh with more closet space. And he brought the sun with him!