Ghost With A Green Thumb

No bunnies in the garden, Easter bunny statue after a visit by the ghost, April 2009, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. On Easter Sunday night, the night Patty came over with my ugly rabbit in tow, the ghost was active. We sat in the great room, exhausted but satisfied. The party had [...]

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A Journey For Bill

By Teri Blair St. Paul’s Icelandic Lutheran Church, Minneota, Minnesota, where the services for Minnesota writer Bill Holm were held, March 2009, photo © 2009 by Teri Blair. All rights reserved. Early on a Sunday morning in March, I drove three hours to attend the funeral of writer Bill Holm. Since that day, I’ve wanted [...]

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Kansas City Writing & Bob’s Scalloped Oysters

Bob’s Scalloped Oysters, dinner at a writing retreat in Kansas City, Missouri, April 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.   Last weekend I was in Kansas City, Missouri for a short writing retreat with three other Midwest writers. We did Writing Practice, slow walked, sat in silence, and recalibrated our project goals [...]

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This Is Your Tooth On Pepsi

Goodbye Teeth, What’s left of Em’s tooth after 48 hours soaking in a Pepsi soda (one can), photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. This has been a rough week as far as Em’s concerned. First we had to tell her that there is no tooth fairy and that, in fact, we had in [...]

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That Time Of Year Again — Turklets

  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Zzzzzz…. Ah, corn, cookies, mashed potatoes… Harumph…. Huh? Who’s there? Wait, where am I? Wha? I was just dreaming…creamed corn… Oh my, what a big eye you have… Are you my mom??? Postscript: Six poults hatch from among the couple of dozen eggs the mama turkey lays on. Turkeys are big and clumsy, [...]

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Midwest Poets & Writers — When Can You Call A Place Home?

River Painting, drive-by shooting of dusk along the Mississippi River after a walk with two Midwest writers, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 2008, photo © 2008-2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.   Last week I finished reading writer Patricia Hampl’s memoir The Florist’s Daughter. It is set in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. The landmarks are [...]

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Inspiration Can Be Found Any Ol’ Where

I feel a bit disingenuous. QM asked me in this post where I got the idea to use spray paints on my Flower Power painting. I told her it was a fun medium to use. What I didn’t tell her was that I use spray paint all the time, on odd pieces of furniture. My [...]

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Flower Power Haiku

Flower Power, second in a series, gouache and spray paint on gessoed canvas, image and painting © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.   Mr. President: Yes you can. Give peace a chance. My message to you. -related to posts This, That & The Other, The Making Of A Painting Painter, and haiku 2 (one-a-day)

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A Conversation With Lisa Loeb

  On Wednesday, February 11, QuoinMonkey and ybonesy interviewed singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb. It was shortly after the end of her whirlwind tour of the U.S. and Japan following the June 2008 release of her second CD of Children’s Music, Camp Lisa.  The CD follows Loeb’s early 2008 reissue of The Purple Tape, an acoustic, ten-song demo she self-released [...]

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This, That & The Other

This. This is our wisteria vine just about this time last year, right before a hard freeze zapped the blooms. We’re hopeful that we’ll see the wisteria go wild this spring, yet the vine’s tender young buds already froze once, last month, and a second set is barely sprouting anew. This is the time of [...]

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egg-stravaganza haiku

easter eggs (two), eggs my niece and her three sons (tie)dyed for Easter, April 2009, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. five color tablets add vinegar and water wa-la, egg-citement!     easter eggs series, (tie)dyed eggs by my niece and her sons, doodled eggs by my daughters and me, April 2009, photo [...]

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Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat

Pulling A Rabbit Out Of A Hat, drawing by writer Ann Patchett, St. Paul, Minnesota, January 2008, all photos © 2008-2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. I was watching WCCO’s Good Question: What’s With The Easter Bunny? when it dawned on me that I had this old snapshot of a drawing by Ann Patchett on [...]

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WRITING TOPIC – FEET & TOES

Pink Toenails, my feet and toes after I painted my toenails a frosty pink, Denver, March 2009, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. Toes and feet are odd things. Some people adorn them; others adore them. Sometimes we joke about them. Did you hear about the guy who was born with two left feet? He [...]

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Postcard From Billy Collins — Kicking Off National Poetry Month

Postcard From Billy Collins, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. In February, we read the work of Billy Collins in our monthly Poetry & Meditation Group. Though he was the United States Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, I had not been introduced to his body of work (with the exception of [...]

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From The Earth, Back To The Earth

Poppy, brick found in our flower bed, April 2009, photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. From a comment this morning, QM writes: I am heading over to two of our friends’ house to be there when they put their cat Kaia down. She’s been under the weather for a few months. And after [...]

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Of Thirsty Snakes And Ducks With Dry Bills

Baby quenches her thirst (one), Baby the Bullsnake drinks her fill of water on a warm spring morning, April 2009, photo © 2009 by Jim. All rights reserved. The other morning Baby the Bullsnake was lying in her empty water dish, breathing hard as if she were panting. (Do snakes pant?) I’d gone into the [...]

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Less Than 1 Calorie Per Bottle

Less Than 1 Calorie Per Bottle, outside the Birchwood Cafe, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2007, photo © 2007-2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. I had planned a post on writing for this sunny Friday afternoon. But the day felt like Summer, and I ran out of steam. So with fans blazing across the studio, and windows [...]

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