Early Forecast

Spin cycle

So we’re only a few days into 2013 and things are already getting interesting. Allow me to give a few examples: Taking a spin on our hearth is a recent acquisition: A strange little chair I call the “string bikini”. Found hanging from the rafters of a local antiques store, it’s a perch tailor-made for Humpty Dumpty. Its frame is welded steel with chippy green paint and the laced bikini top and bottom is a pinkish, outdoor-friendly mesh material. It probably won’t surprise you that I’m itching to update the chair by painting the frame and replacing the seat and back with some other material … It’s project time!

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Almost ready

I fully expected that my front yard’s aloe ferox would be in full flower by now but maybe the frigid temps are making it balky. I mean, even with the sun out I want to stay wrapped up, too. Still I can’t wait for it put on its show; past displays have been spectacular, with blossoms in colors ranging from black to red-orange to yellow — on one stalk … pictures forthcoming.

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Fish-eyed

This amazing image is from a print entitled, ‘Observance’, by desert landscape artist Brent Thomson; Paul and I broke our no-gifts rule and gave each other the framed piece for Christmas. Part of the ever-changing collection of artworks at Terry Elliot’s gallery/atelier downtown, I was instantly attracted to its obsessive detail. From a distance I thought I was looking at a diagram of a microscopic diatom, but moving nearer I realized it was a landscape bristling with cactus as seen through a fisheye lens … Urged by Terry to look even closer, she pointed out that Carlos Castaneda and his Yaqui sorcerer are standing to the right of the central cactus … which is a peyote cactus in bloom: SOLD — MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!

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Crazy ladies

Succulents in fashion alert: High-priced models Karen Elson and Carolyn Murphy grace the pages of the first VOGUE of 2013 in a spread titled ‘HOTHOUSE FLOWERS’. Portraying crazy sisters with a penchant for fright wigs and the latest from Givenchy, they’re lost among the juicy-leafed beauties in their untidy greenhouse. Photos by Steven Klein.

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We’ve only just begun …

If you’re like me, you’re looking at the current year’s calendar offerings well into spring. Granted they’re almost giving them away at that point, may I suggest a more timely solution in this succulent-themed version. A tidy single sheet, this calendar by Curious Doodles of Portland, OR, combines screen printing (the typography) and laser cut-outs that will change character depending on what’s behind them … sounds like a good reason to paint at least one wall agave blue, or maybe aeonium lime … Get your own by clicking here. And check out the matchbook calendars for a totable (and less pricey) version: click here.

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See what I mean? ’13’s looking pretty good so far!