Simple Beauty....

on my early morning walk with my dogs.



photos by Helen Young

Afternoon Activity

Here's what I did this afternoon -



Flowers for the side altars for my church (Cathedral of Christ the King) for a Cardinal's Mass tomorrow.

Easter Flower Frenzy!

Here's what I've been up to since Thursday:













Happy Easter everyone!

Bringing the Outside In

Spring is coming, or so the weathermen tell us. Today in Atlanta the forecast calls for us to reach 69 degrees F! Thinking of Spring reminds me of one of our decorating recipes for success - bring the outside in. By that we mean, fresh flowers and plants help a room to come alive - literally. Having fresh flowers and plants in the home brings the life and the beauty of nature inside. Flowers need not be fancy or extravagant (although that is fun once in a while) - a simple arrangement or house plant will suffice. Some photos to inspire -









The flowers in this Amelia Handegan living room above are simple and elegant. See mantle flowers in the mirror? (Image courtesy of Southern Accents)

These orchids on Handegan's own mantle are simple and perfect


(Image via Southern Accents)

Enjoy this beautiful day!






Unless specified otherwise, images from Whitehaven

Flowers on Friday

It's a dreary, rainy day here in Atlanta - cold too! Most of the East Coast is socked in with some kind of weather. Flowers always brighten my day...so here's some flowers to give everyone a boost!









All flowers arranged and photographed by Helen Young

Pittsburgh Beautification Project Warhol Flowers, Bob Ziller

A great video on the project can be found here.

To get involved and/or donate call 412.606.1220 or email BobZiller(AT)gmail.com

Pittsburgh 3rd Annual EcoFest October 10, 2009

ECOFEST- Saturday, October 10th, 2009 10:00AM-2:00PM

Our 3rd Annual EcoFest is bigger than ever!

Featuring the Pittsburgh Power Flower!

Drop off working and non-working computers, printers and TVs thanks to environment-friendly Goodwill

Donate bikes you've been meaning to get rid of to Free Ride, and attend a bike workshop

Learn how to make inexpensive, safe, environmentally-kind cleaning products for your home

Hear a representative of the Sierra Club speak and take your questions about coal energy

Start tracking your ecological efforts as PennFuture brings the “Black and Gold City Goes Green” campaign to Regent Square

Hear representatives of the Frick Park Nature Center speak about Frick Park and bring your children for Nature Center activities

Be involved in a Children’s Art show

Donate perennials for our hillside, and help beautify our neighborhood


at the Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Avenue in the Regent Square area.

Painting Parties for the Pittsburgh Beautification Project Sept 18, 19 2009

from bob ziller:

Aloha -

There'll be Painting Parties for the Pittsburgh Beautification Project

on Friday & Sat. from 7 til midnight this weekend (18th -19th) at 4810 Penn Avenue

(the old Red Star Iron Works garage in Garfield).

Templates of Warhol flowers are laid out, and you get to do whatever you want with them.

Many will be installed wrapped around the G.C. Murphy building downtown in time for the G-20 summit.

All the paintings will eventually be installed on abandoned/neglected properties throughout the city.

Bring the kids!

BYOB!

Hope to see you there.

Thanks!

Bob Ziller

This project was funded in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.

Pittsburgh Beautification Project Painting Parties Sept 4,5,6 2009

Pittsburgh Beautification Project Painting Parties

Templates of Warhol flower paintings on chipboard will be filled in by participants, coloring book style, easy enough for kids and non-artists to have fun. The paintings will then be installed throughout the city. Painting Parties will be held on: First Friday, Sept. 4, 7 pm - midnight, Sat. & Sun., Sept 5 -6, noon - 6 pm., Sat. & Sun. Sept. 12-13, noon - 6 pm.

Location: 4810 Penn Avenue (the old Red Star Iron Works)-East Pittsburgh

RSVP: Phone: 412.606.1220 Email: BobZiller(at)gmail.com

on facebook here

Art in Public: Expressing Youth Voices in Pittsburgh Contest

Art in Public: Expressing Youth Voices in Pittsburgh

Art Energy Design's Pittsburgh Power Flowers

from Rick Byerly:

this is something i'm really excited about. several months ago i was fortunate to have been approached by artist david l edwards with an incredible idea to merge public art with sustainable energy. since then i've joined on and will help with marketing, sales and community relations. the goal in general is to raise money to then sell these sculptures to already interested parties like Phipps Conservatory.

the first one he has already built is a 12 foot metal sunflower sculpture with the petals functioning as the wind turbine and the leaves as l.e.d. lighting. it lights up at night and will have the capacity to charge cell phones and the like. in the next few days i will be photographing the working model.

the details on the Pittsburgh Power Flowers are here.

we have an opportunity to receive a $25,000 grant from the grable and pittsburgh foundations to involve pittsburgh youth in the design and use of these power flowers and are excited about the possibilities. after the initial grant we will be donating 2 of the 5 power flowers to pittsburgh organizations which best support youth voices. just today we picked up an important pittsburgh public school connection. one of the things which makes our project stand out is it's financial sustainability. the other 3 flowers we will sell and plow the money back into creating new flowers of different designs and colors to sell to interested parties.i'm asking for your help in registering at the changemakers website and post comments as you see fit about the Pittsburgh Power Flowers project.

the register link is here and the link to our entry is here.

the window for relevant comments is very short as they start considering the applications May 21. the voting begins june 8 and everyone who registers at changemakers will be eligible to vote. i'll send a reminder that day.we will also be debuting the working model at pittsburgh technology councils' art and tech kickoff on june 18, 2009. more details closer to that date.thanks for your time!

rick byerly, http://www.artenergydesign.com/

The Competition:

The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Grable Foundation are partnering with Ashoka’s Changemakers to build a movement that will use public art to capture the creativity and activism of youth in Pittsburgh. We’re looking for projects that empower youth to demonstrate what’s important to them through well-designed, sustainable public art. The most inspired projects will be publicly recognized and two winners will receive $25,000 grants to fund their projects. We are looking for artists and those who love art to create a new type of innovative public art in the greater Pittsburgh area. Most of the public art in our region does not reflect the experiences of young people and their responses to the issues they care about. If you believe in the power of art to transform public spaces, engage youth, and inspire social change in our community, it’s time to get involved.details about the changemakers competition:

Art in Public: Expressing Youth Voices in Pittsburgh entries will be accepted until May 20, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time. Individuals and teams are encouraged to submit ideas early so they can receive comments, questions, and insights from the Changemakers and Pittsburgh Foundation communities, which can be used to improve their entries before the final deadline.

Here’s how the Challenge will work:

Entry Stage, April 8 – May 20, 2009: Entries can be submitted until May 20, 2009, 6:00 p.m. US Eastern Standard Time. Entries may be submitted by teams or individuals. Supporters are encouraged to nominate entrants, add comments and participate in the online review discussion with the entrants.

Online Review and Judging, May 21 – June 5, 2009: Online review and discussion continue during this phase. Simultaneously, a panel of experts and community members from the Pittsburgh region will select between 5-10 Finalists. Finalists will be announced on June 5, 2009.

Online Voting, June 8 – June 24, 2009: The Changemakers community votes online to select the 2 grant-winners from the slate of Finalists. Anyone who registers with Changemakers online is eligible to vote and Finalists will be encouraged to mobilize their supporters within the Pittsburgh region. Everyone who enters the challenge will receive increased exposure to the Pittsburgh Foundation, regional grantmakers and others who are interested in public art and youth expression. Participation in the competition offers the opportunity to receive feedback on your idea from fellow entrants, Changemakers and Pittsburgh Foundation staff, judges, and the Changemakers community.

administered by:

pittsburgh galleries is a project from
pittsburgh photographer rick byerly, www.uniquetake.com

1 2 3 4 5 6

buy art, not flowers

buy art, not flowers.

Getting snarky about "that" mall...

There is, on occasion, nothing quite like a damned good snark. So bear with me while I continue Friday’s saga… C’mon, at least it makes a change from guinea fowl!

To cite Baino… the Goddess Vanilla has been wielding the Hammer of Thor. She has, to quote Terry Pratchett’s Nac Mac Feegles been doing some o’ the pursin’ o’ the lips, foldin’ o’ the arms, not to mention some tappin’ o’ the feets… And she has been looking for The Explanation. (This might make more sense if you’ve read Pratchett’s wonderful Wintersmith.)

I have managed, rather in the way of pulling teeth, to extract an apology from the Marketing Manager and the Centre Manager of the Blue Route Mall. The Operations Manager, however, who was the first person I spoke to (having erroneously being told by staff in the manager’s office that he was the centre manager…), was having nothing to do with any such thing that remotely resembled an apology. In fact, I rather got the feeling that if he ever ran into an apology in a dark alley at night, he’d shoot it. Then ask questions. He was adamant that when someone committed a crime it was okay and necessary to chase them through the mall and too bad if shoppers were harmed along the way. Charming.
“You don’t know what it’s like on the ground,” he assured me.
No, I don’t, nor do I care, because that ain’t my problem.
“The woman was a known criminal,” he told me, trying to defend his actions.
And this is my problem, how?
“She’d used a fraudulent card in a store,” he said.
And I should worry about this? When I can’t breathe, or sleep for coughing.
“She was carrying crystal meth.” As if this was supposed to make the guard’s actions justifiable.
“The security guard’s life was endangered,” he announced.
Well, with all due respect and I’m very sorry for the security guard, but just how is this my concern? I’m presuming when he took the job the guard realised it was a high risk position. Or had he been told he’d be helping little old ladies with their shopping trolleys? I suspect not.
“None of this is acceptable,” I snapped, “and I expect an apology!”
“Well I won’t apologise,” he said in the manner of all small boys who’ve just broken granny’s favourite vase. I suspect there might have been some stampin’ o’ the feets at that point – from him, not me. “Our actions were entirely justifiable.”
Uhuh? “And just think how justifiable they would have been if the perp had sprayed bullets instead of pepper?”
“Well, we’ve had a case of security guards being help up at gunpoint in the mall before,” he replied.
Oh charming, I’m sure. And this is supposed to make me feel better?
“Anyway,” he finally said, “I don’t see any point continuing this conversation because you’re clearly not willing to accept anything I say.”
Right on there, buster.

I had another chat with the manager of the store where the incident took place – really, really nice guy. He got onto the centre management and I got a call from the Marketing Manager – who in the way of most marketing managers actually understood the concept of customer relationship management, especially when the customer mentioned she was a freelance journalist…. She apologized and promised to talk to the Centre Manager. A few minutes later someone barked at me down the phone line… on the defensive – and the attack – reminded me rather a lot of SOF.... Really not a bright place to start. But I recognized the type, so barked back three times, snarled twice and said Centre Manager backed down to something only marginally resembling a cranky bulldog – as opposed to a slavvering pit bull or an irate guinea fowl… (she said mixing her metaphors with gay abandon).

The odd thing was, when pressed on the matter of “security protocol” he acknowledged that perpetrators should be dealt with off the premises. Hmm, what makes you think that the left hand and the right hand have never really crossed palms… Still, he offered an apology, assured me that a full investigation was underway but pointed out that incidents such as these “are part of the nature of the country we live in”, by way of wiping his hands of the whole business.

See, and here’s the thing, so long as South Africans wander around saying, “Oh well, this is just the way it is, crime happens”, crime will continue to happen. It’s complacency and acceptance like this that really pisses me off. Crime becomes the modus operandi. And then it does become my problem. I may as well just wander around with “Rob me, shoot me,” tattoed in bright colours on my forehead! Or I suppose I could just mace anyone who gives me a funny look…

Anyway, the letter to the press is written, I now just have to decide if I will achieve anything constructive by sending it.

Right, now I’m going to cease tappin’ my feet, stop pursin’ my lips - just in case someone thinks I want a kiss - and I’m going to return Thor’s Hammer. Then I’m going to wander outside to count the guineas and take some photos of flowers. Being a goddess is just so tough, I’m not sure I can keep it up.





And here he is - the real SOF, hot-footing it around the pool, seeing someone off, as usual, cranky, as ever...

Ba-kaaaaaaak!

Bees in the pink

I thought we'd stick with the spring theme, even though after one day of Sister Spring being bright and gay, Old Man Winter fought back with a vengeance. Once more it's piddling with rain - and today's supposed to be National BBQ Day - or, as we call it here, "braai" (pronounced as in "spry"). It's chilly, the garden is sodden and there are an assortment of very damp critters pootling about the lawn. Yuck. Enough already. I need sunshine!

Still, that said, I took advantage of the sun on Monday and had a fine time snapping the wee beasties below.

Rainbow wings

Head down

Busy Bee

Flower Feasting

I do love bees, I think there's something quite magical about them. And bee-rescuing is a popular past-time in our house. They inevitably end up in the swimming pool, so it's out with the honey, lots of warm breath on very frail bee bodies (sort of mouth to mouth resuscitation...) and a bit of sunshine - and then it's such a joy when they revive and fly away.

The Massed Pink of the Indian Hawthorne

What I love about the mass flowering shrubs of spring is how they attract bees. If you stand next to them in the morning you have the pleasure of hearing the bees singing. Sigh, so good for the soul, that.

Bee in pink

Yep, much better focusing on nature than the nuttiness of markets, politics and similar such shenanigans. At least nature is real, whereas the rest strikes me as being an awful lot of hot air and all smoke and mirrors.

Everywhere

I met God today.
He told me he was from Burundi.
His face was dark and shiny.
He said he had no money, asked if I could give him a job.
He said they were going to evict him from his house if he couldn't pay his rent.
I said I had no job for him but I gave him some money and promised that if I heard of anyone who could offer work, I would come and find him.
As I drove away he smiled. His face lit up and so did mine and the heavens shone above us.



I hugged God today.
I touched the vastness of all we beheld.
He whispered love and peace to me, as I wrapped my arms around his girth.
As I gazed at him in wonder he scattered golden leaves in my hair.



I smelled God today.
She was fresh and pure and took me to ecstatic heights of chocolate, vanilla, peaches and roses.
My heart sang as I swam in the scent of love.




I cried with God today.
She told me she was from Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe had burned the market where she worked.
She has a six year daughter whom she'd left behind.
She came here to look for work and her husband ran off with another woman.
Now she has no place to live.
She looked at me with eyes filled with pain.
And I felt her heart crack and ache.

On Beauty and Balance

Given that yesterday's road rage event (see yesterday's post) has left a bad taste, I decided to follow up with something altogether nicer and brighter. Nothing like trying to find and keep the balance which is feeling decidedly wobbly at present.

These are some recent photos taken by way of trying to find a creative solution (following on hellish medical expenses last month) to some Christmas gifts!