Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 105

Dark on Mondays

All of a sudden I can only prevent my iBook's screen from going dark by keeping one finger constantly on the brightening key. Obviously, this will never do. My five-year-old computer has been giving me subtle signs of its ancientness lately, but this little trick may be the last straw.

Also, a God damned buckmoth caterpillar just stung me on the ass. This does not seem to be my lucky day.

In the Garden

I sometimes go to Mass at the non-diocesan church St. Mary's Assumption, but it's not the same as Our Lady of Good Counsel. The only thing that gives me a peace at all comparable to that of OLGC Mass is working in the garden. I love getting my hands into our rich, black, wormy dirt; I love seeing the plants grow and change; I love watching the wildlife that comes because of what I plant. Thank God we didn't move into the more expensive house I wanted on Ninth Street, that only had a tiny strip o

Book-Shaped Treasure Box

Finally put the book-shaped treasure box I keep talking about on eBay, then forgot to say I had. There is no black velvet to be had in this house unless I wanted to tear up a nice dress, which I didn't, but I found a piece of lovely wine-colored velvet to photograph it on.

Gardening Tip

When you transplant your catnip from a small hanging basket into a larger one, be sure to bring the old, intensely catnip-scented basket into the house and absent-mindedly place it on a shelf behind a bunch of loud bangy objects that can be easily knocked down. This will provide great entertainment and exercise for both you and your cats. (Your exercise comes from first dashing to see what the huge clatter was, then bending over to pick up all the bangy things.)

Cucumber Trellis

When it comes to hands-on endeavors, I tend to be hopeless at those that don't have some whiff of the artistic. As a cook, artist, and gardener I am at least competent. As a repairman, computer geek, and participant in any kind of sport -- just to name a few -- I am of very little use. So it was with great pleasure yesterday that, about halfway through the project, I realized I was actually building a decent-looking and functional cucumber trellis. (Yeah, it's gardening, but it's not hands-in-di

Ahhhhh

Finally got the damned cucumbers in. My mother told me not to plant in the ground until Easter, and yesterday there was too much loud shitty rap* coming from a street party to work in the yard. I'm growing Yamato Long (a lengthy, thin-skinned green cucumber of the type I know as "English," but which I'm guessing from the name is actually Japanese) and Crystal Apple (a white, egg-shaped cuke). Also tried to grow Mexican Sour Gherkins, which look just like tiny watermelons, but found them too chal

New eBay Descriptions

One thing I forgot to mention about this new round of eBay auctions: I've dispensed with the third-person item descriptions, which are fine for selling collectors' editions of books but felt increasingly weird on one-of-a-kind artwork. Instead, each auction will now include a paragraph (or at least a couple of sentences) where I talk about what inspired me to make the journal or other piece, what materials I used, and so forth. I hope people find this interesting.

eBay Auctions & Good Friday

I finally got some new eBay auctions up. I usually like to do it earlier in the day, but this was when I had time, so I apologize if this is bad timing (I know it's not too great for my British and European customers unless they are serious night owls). These are all blank books I've made recently: a "Carnival mask" one, a wetlands-themed one made with nifty, realistic alligator-look paper, and one about New Orleans/home that I especially like, a hardcover journal that comes with a .925 (jewelry

New Phone

So I have a shiny new iPhone, but the nice people at the phone store have so far been unable to retrieve my phone numbers. If I had your number before, PLEASE e-mail it to me (Yahoo or gmail address), send it to my Facebook inbox, or, failing all else, send it as an eBay question. No matter how well I know you, I almost certainly did not have your number written down, and the only ones I had memorized were Chris' and my mom's. Without your help, I will be like some Oliver Sacks character, cut of

We Have Pupage!

The Black Swallowtail caterpillar on the esperanza made this chrysalis overnight. It so resembles a leaf on the plant that I don't know whether I could have found it if I hadn't seen where s/he went yesterday. I haven't seen the other one so far today.

I did take biology and read bug books as a kid -- hell, I still read bug books -- so I knew that all this weird, magical reproduction was going on, but it is far stranger and more fascinating when seen close up in a habitat I helped to create.