The Ladder Herald

A Handsome Fellow

Looking for a pic of a rooster to copy for making Rakim's hat for the Winter Show. Came across this Impresssive Guy.

The Brooklyn Aunties

Shout out to Brooklyn. Justine and Boo, some of the world's bestest aunties (tied of course with Bean and Cake) were here this past weekend. We had Elephant Thai and we made spiders out of water bottles, and we had Bi Rite ice cream and we practiced on our two wheelers and chalked up the sidewalk and admired the baby and drank at Nihon (just the grownups). It is so fun to have them around, those ladiez.

Didn't get enough photos of Justine. Were you hiding, girl?

And—

We miss you!!!!!!

I Really Don't Know Clouds, At All

More from Eliz'Abeth

Leah Shahum, our queen:

G'Abe:

The Abraham Lincoln Brigades

I had the best time Saturday night with G'abe:

(He's on the phone, the other guy is my other boyfriend)

And

There were a lot of us (30? 40?). And we roamed around the mission before going dancing. Here are a few Abes (and either a cross-dresser or a pretty lady, I can't tell the difference)—

Psychic Childhood Story

Just remembered this. We've been talking about children's spirituality in Human Development and in Therapeutic Communication and it always makes me so half-irritated/half-fascinated.

My Mom's Grandmother was Isabel Egan. I called her "Big Grandma". She did not live close by, but I saw her once in a while. She died right after my little sister Kate was born, when I was three.

My Mom got the call that Isabel had died late at night, and then she and my Dad went to bed. In the morning, at breakfast, she and my Dad decided not to tell me about it right away, becuase they weren't sure how to do it.

They heard me wake up and come downstairs later. I walked into the kitchen and said, "Where is Big Grandma?"

My Mom insists there is no way I could have known what was going on.

I love this story!

Loving Lynda

Lynda Barry is the frosting, man!!!!!! (click to enlarge)

Celebrating the dance party, since 1981.

Maryls Magazine (all comics here)

Monday's Drive to Point Reyes.

Over the river and through the woods to the psychoanalyst's house we go!

More photos of the drive up and back. The "second session" we call it. Unless Rye, who truly hates the car, is with me. Then we call it: "two hours of crying."

Today's Grocery List

There's this great collection of "found" grocery list on line at:

Found Grocery Lists

They also just published a book called "Milk Eggs Vodka".

Day Dreamzzzzzzzzzz

Do you daydream all the time like I do? Recently I have had the following fantasies:

1. We can somehow afford to buy half of the 4 unit building we live in and I convert half the downstairs into an office for my therapy practice. We live here for years and years and get a plot in the community garden and our boys come home to see us in our cool old apartment.

2. Jonah grows up to be a musician like the man in the movie "Once". I can see him on the street in Dublin with a beat up old guitar, roaring his heart out.

And, also, that I get to be a singer in a band, like Neko Case and Her Boyfriends.

3. I am somehow not allergic to cats anymore (or they invent a hypoallergenic cat!) so we can get a pair of kittens for Jonah. This is J and a neighborhood cat, communing.

4. I get 2 minutes alone with George Bush and I manage to convince his neanderthal religious-wacko self that I am an angel of God who has come to give him a message directly from the Lord. "You must reveal the truth about your war and end it. You must make a speech to the country calling for the Republican Party to be dissolved as a morally bankrupt and evil institution. And you must make fighting Global Warming the first priority of federal funding starting tomorrow."

5. They invent a pill to keep you from gaining weight and everyone takes it (including me, of course!) and then plumpness comes back into fashion.

6. A private one about Pullo, from the ROME series on HBO.

Alphabet Town by Mike Perry!

I love my letter, the letter E house:

Go find your letter house—

Mike Perry

(via Swiss Miss http://swissmiss.typepad.com/)

What Are You Masking?

Jonah's obsessed with masking tape. He used an entire roll today, making sculpture, toys & necklaces for Rye, boats, water pipes, bridges, houses, scones, wheels, and crowns.

When I asked him why all the tape he said, "because when I try to draw it doesn't come out like what I see in my mind."

He calls them his "projects", as in "I can't give you a kiss! I'm too busy working on my projects!"

He's inspired me to remember my old paper tricks: fortune tellers and newspaper hats. It's fun to make stuff. It's incredible, actually.

Here's a link to a good explanation of how to make a fortune teller out of paper:

Enchanted Learning

Some of the fortunes we've written are:

1. You will eat trash soup at Yukky Restaurant.
2. If you turn around quickly, you will see the invisible Splorgak. Too late!
3. Sneakers will soon be edible.
4. Your robot's name will be Zaza in the year 2040.
5. You will find a secret cave where you can hide your treasure from the pirates.
6. A guinea pig will follow you home.
7. You will invent salad ice cream.
8. You will go camping on the moon in the year 2050.

If this seems adorable or precocious in any way, let me just add that he is also farting continually, really stinking up the apartment. This includes times when he is sitting on my lap.

Babies Who Wear Glasses, Are Gasses.

Also kind of wanted to call this: Rye-Colored Glasses.

Wry Rye.

Here is Rye in my favorite picture ever. Wearing the pipe cleaner glasses that Jonah and his teacher Miho made for him. They made a pair for everyone in our family. Mine are yellow and pink. Maybe we'll all wear them for a Christmas/Hannukah card photo.

I think it is so cool that Jonah includes Rye in our family. He's new, but he's already one of us. When we get glasses, he gets them too.

I am sure I am going to learn about rage and destruction in my Human Development class at CIIS when we study siblings, and I certainly have memories of my own, as the older sister of two younger girlies. BUT, it is still a blessing when your kids love each other, in addition to the other feelings they may have or will have...