Backyards, Brooklyn

The title of this painting by Ogden M. Pleissner (American, 1905-1983), painted in 1932. This is a detail from our 2007 Metropolitan Museum of Art agenda, New York, New York. Given to GG's editor by a dear friend. Many wonderful images, all owned by the Met. We overlook a weeping cherry, a tiny finger of Rock Creek Park in the urban jungle. The tree in the painting looks like a tulip tree.

Mostly posting images for the next few days as computer troubles continue. Real cherry blossoms beckon., too. (We are in Washington, after all.) Please visit humanitarian sites on this page & elsewhere. Some sorely-needed good news: yesterday late afternoon, some members of the Enough Project met with President Obama & new U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Gen. Scott Gration. Here is the link. Keep up the pressure.

ciao-meow/GG/mgmt

Fog Owns the Morning

From Tiffin for Tea, Lorry for Truck by Reetika Vazirani (from her second book, World Hotel). The line is Fog owns the morning and you can't travel. We've had foggy mornings & evenings the last few days. The computer & GG's editor are still befogged, as well.. GG, though, is in top feline form. Hope to see you later. Please check out the Darfur news, here. (Foggy Barn by Vermonter Paul Moody)

It would make a cat laugh - Week's End

There's too much going on (& the computer will not cooperate anyway) to post more than have a great weekend. GG the cat is goofing off & we thought, it's enough to make a cat laugh. This vintage postcard is hilarious & we wish it could be clearer, but it's a scan. Alfred Mainzer's vintage Comic Dressed cats has a website.

ciao-meow/GG/mgmt

Felinity, Part II

More charming illustrations from our Italian book....see here for part one. Computer troubles again.

ciao-meow/GG

Just out of reach...

(photo credit)

Still Waiting as Darfur Deteriorates

Enough Project executive director, John Norris posted in the Enough Said blog, We Failed. Do you want us to be failures? We're hearing that not enough of a fuss is being raised in Congressional home offices & Senate offices. Not one journalist called on at last evening's Presidential press conference asked about Sudan. If you've been emailing & calling, then we apologize. And we do know that things are bad everywhere--hey, you needn't tell us.

Here's a link to Enough Project's Speak Out to Congress. Channel your worries & frustration by turning in to a constructive pest. It probably burns calories, too. If you're outside the U.S., still visit Enough Project but also contact your foreign office & raise holy hell. For that matter, everyone can contact news organizations...they respond but it has to be a push. It may seem like there's unlimited time/space but last time we looked, there are still 24 hours in a day. African-based reporters have to "sell" their stories, they have to fight to be heard/read/seen. It's not easy for them either. More hits on a Darfur/Congo/Zimbabwe/ story link (especially, sadly, from outside of Africa) help that reporter & their editor argue for more space/time/attention. Really. That's how it works. Now go get'em!

ciao-grazie-meow/the mgmt.

(photo courtesy of Italian Blogs for Darfur)

Ruffly Ranunculus

GG the cat has been busy rearranging a bouquet purchased in a weak, weekend market moment. (A little bricolage post, Golden-yellow ranunculus here.) Wordsworth wrote about wild meadow ranunculus--lesser Celandine--not just daffodils. Here's a link to UK Timesonline holding forth on green gardening, Wordsworth, & ranunculus ficaria (lesser Celandine). The things you find out when you don't have time. (photo credit)

ciao-meow,
GG's editor

WWAD (What would Audrey Do?)

It's not just about manners, little black dresses, & Cary Grant. It's about what she did with her life. GG & her editor think WWAD a lot...not just sartorially speaking. Take a visit to UNICEF & see what's happening. See you later today! (photo via scan/audreystyle/by Steven Meisel)

ciao-elegant-meow,
GG/mgmt

Update: Apologies to all who have tried to leave comments on this blog & bricolage. Have no idea what is wrong but investigation has commenced. Thanks for stopping by! (Meanwhile, you could visit UNICEF:) xo, GG Central.

Purple Crocus

Forgive our haste...a busy day but we will return. Meanwhile, this purplish-blue flower-jewel (by Gertrud K.) inspires thoughts of spring renewal, even on a morning when it seems winter is trying to make a return. Begone winter!

The following is by Linda Pastan (originally in Atlantic Monthly). More about Linda soon, but we don't think she'd mind if we reprinted it here.

Crocuses
They come
by stealth, spreading
the rumour of spring --
near the hedge . . .
by the gate . . .
at our chilly feet . . .
mothers of saffron, fathers
of insurrection, purple
and yellow scouts
of an army still massing
just to the south.

ciao-meow,
GG/editor

Jerusalem - Week's End

By the sorely missed Yehuda Amichai. From Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems. If you have some time this weekend, it would be great if you would visit one of the humanitarian sites on this front page. Happy first day of spring...

Jerusalem
On a roof in the Old City
laundry hanging in the late afternoon sunlight:
the white sheet of a woman who is my enemy,
the towel of a man who is my enemy,
to wipe off the sweat of his brow.

In the sky of the Old City
a kite.
At the other end of the string,
a child
I can't see
because of the wall.

We have put up many flags,
they have put up many flags.
To make us think that they're happy.
To make them think that we're happy.

translated by Stephen Mitchell

ciao-shalom-salaam-meow,
GG/mgmt

Update: It looks like comments are enabled on this site now. Please feel free to test it! Thanks.

Blue hyacinth

Computer troubles continue but this blue hyacinth macro by Tracey Tilson of Images by Tracey cheers us up immensely. It also reminds us that, cold rain notwithstanding, spring officially begins this Friday! Thank you Tracey for your permission to use your beautiful image. Please visit Tracey's site, here, for more gorgeous sights. Now if we could just have a hyacinth on the desk like in this post, everything would seem ever so much better.

ciao-sniff-meow,
GG/mgmt

Felinity

Well, the book to which we refer is titled Giochi per gatti di casa (Games for house cats) by Rita Persichini & it was a gift from our friend Maria Caterina di Perugia. Here are some of the darling original illustrations by Lorena Dominici. We keep the book propped up on one of the bookshelves...not that many people notice; there's quite a mash-up on those shelves. But someone noticed recently & GG immediately started to show off her silly ability...she didn't need the book, of course. It's just for our amusement. For lots o' cat drawings (& other art), visit Small Expectations. We do every day.

ciao-meow,
GG/mgmt

(images in the collage via scan; we've searched high & low for a way to give credit where it's due. The booklet was published in December 1996 & says "Copyright MCS editore, Perugia."

She Moved Through the Fair

It's not a St. Patrick's Day song but it's one of our favorite traditional Irish songs. This last minute idea on a crazy busy day comes from The Clever Pup's post with a Van Morrison song. (Thanks, Pup!) We have about 10 versions of Fair & love them all (including Van's). But the one we just played is Sinéad O'Connor's from Long Black Veil by The Chieftains (with guests). Here's a link to a performance on YouTube from a festival in 1997. We can't vouch for it as we have dial-up... but just in case you want to hear one version. Give us chills. (Note: Swans are often a symbol of death in Celtic myth...)

Update: well, blast. No time to look for fabulous vintage photograph or drawing of an Irish festival. The one in our mind is just too complex for us to draw. So here is the 1997 video (the cookie is disabled unless you click on the video to play). We could hear some of it & it's lovely.

ciao-craic-meow
GG/mgmt

She Moved Through the Fair (trad.)

My young love said to me "my mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind"
And she laid her hand on me and this she did say
"Oh it will not be long, love, till our wedding day"

Then she went away from me and she moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there
And then she went onward, just one star awake
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in
So softly she came, her feet made no din
And she laid her hand on me and this she did say
"Oh it will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

It's always a moka morning...

What would we do without our Bialetti? Shudder. Yes, it's St. Patrick's Day but we'll be with you later...after our espresso.

ciao-blarney-meow,
GG/mgmt

Urgent Action - 5 Minutes of your time, please!

Normally, we wouldn't do such a quick cut & paste post (really), but this is an emergency.

******************

In response to the government of Sudan’s expulsion of humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur, leaving an estimated one million Darfuris without water, food, and medical assistance, Congressmen Capuano and McCaul have written letters to three key Sudanese allies: Chinese President Hu Jintao, Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa and African Union Chairman Muammar Gaddafi. These letters urge these three leaders to send a clear message that putting Darfuri lives at greater risk by denying access to life-saving humanitarian assistance is unacceptable.

Here’s where you come in: The more signatures the letter has, the more weight it carries. Between now and noon on Tuesday, call 1-800-GENOCIDE and urge your representative to sign Congressmen Capuano and McCaul’s letters to these key international leaders demanding action to get humanitarian aid back into Darfur. When you call and enter your zip code the hotline will connect you with your Representative and give you specific instructions on what to say.

Take five minutes and call this free anti-genocide hotline right now. Lives depend on it.

******************

materials from Enough Project

photo © Claire Mc Evoy/IRIN]- courtesy IRIN

Randomly Green blog

A sweet new blog on the scene: Randomly Green. GG & her editor love the Daily Kitten & the Endangered Animal of the Day features. Last evening, the Daily Puppy & Fairy Tale Art were also on the site but our computer, as anyone who will listen knows, is on the fritz. We think you should take a peek & perhaps become a follower. We'll be looking for other tasteful, cute sites by pre-teens & welcome any suggestions. Congratulations to Bella on her first blog. (Photo credit)

ciao-meow!
GG & her editor

On Angels - Week's End

day draws near/

another one/
do what you can.

The last three lines of Czeslaw Milosz's poem, On Angels. In case you're thinking, "I can't do anything because there's too much to do & I'm freaking out at all the bad news." We sympathize. We're not leaving you for the week-end (& who knows how long if the computer crashes) with an image of Bashir, Mugabe, Kony, et al. No. Something from Rome .Somewhere GG & her editor love. To the "...but I can't do anything..." Yes, you can; it's not that difficult. Listen, Milosz was very smart. Read him. And then visit the Enough Project, DPDO, Raise Hope for Congo, & other sites on the right sidebar.

Also, if you can, owning a copy of Carolyn Forchés anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness is helpful. (Of course, Carolyn is also a wonderful poet.) It's a tragedy that a new edition with the 21st century will be necessary. But, like Scarlett, let's think of that another day. Meanwhile, have a great week-end, no matter where you are, what you do.

ciao, bambini
GGCM

(We decided on shots from Giampaolo Macorig; to those of you snickering that Rome is the last place to look for real angels, yes, well, point taken. But you can find just about everything in Rome:)

Listen to the radio...

Sings Nanci Griffith & we agree. We'd be lost without it. Especially with computer trouble.

ciao-fume-meow,
The Management

(Cat sitting on radio, 1930s Sydney photo by Sam Hood/via we heart it)

Blue Balloon

We'd rather be doing anything but trying to fix the computer. On our own. It's not going well & GG's secret opposable thumbs seem to have vanished. If you can't go outside & play, visit some of the humanitarian sites on this page & check them out. It won't take long. (photo credit)

ciao-meow,
GG/editor

Backyard Bunny

Rabbits. Yes, they eat your lettuce but you have to admit it: they're so cute. And our favorite cartoon character of all time is the Renaissance Rabbit himself, Bugs. (photo by Tom Grim)

ciao-meow,
GG/editor

Details, details, details

Doors, windows, walls, addresses, too. Details? set from Giampaolo Macorig of Rome. Giampaolo seems to wonder if they're important...yeah, we think so. Darfur events & things-you-can-do coming Thursday. Meanwhile, visit Enough! & their orange-y website. You want details about Darfur, South Sudan, & more? Well, that's where you should go. Please.

xo, GG/editor

Venetian Room With a View

Good morning. From Alice Lucchin's Without Soul series, "The view from my brother's room..." (Vista dalla finestra della camera di mio fratello...). Lovely composition, shadows. Hope to see you later today.

xo, GG/mgmt

The Rehearsal

Is this chipmunk rehearsing a theatre role? We don't have a source in his world, so we will never know; but he's cute, cute, cute. Reports from friends that chippies are bopping around their back gardens looking adorable (yes, we know what they can do to your yard, get over it). Good morning, busy day, but we shall return. Which might be what the chipmunk is declaiming above; it's true: they do return.

ciao-chip-meow (couldn't help it)
xo, GG/mgmt

(photograph by wonderful Tom Grim of Pennsylvania)

Yellow Mimosa - Week's End

We wish International Women's Day (March 8, Sunday this year) was celebrated in the U.S. as it is overseas...particularly in Italy. Everything we read says that men give women yellow mimosa flowers...but our experience is that women also give yellow mimosa to their female friends & relatives. Some years ago, when March 8 also fell on a Sunday, we raced around an unnaturally quiet Roman neighborhood, desperate to buy a bouquet to take to a friend's luncheon (having just arrived from Naples & running late). We finally found a flower shop with mimosa bunches. At the end of the encounter (for every such purchase is a social event in Italy, especially the South), the flower seller presented GG's editor with a bunch for herself with a hearty, "Auguri, bella!" And no, he was not being devilish. Just festive!

Have a great weekend & ciao-auguri-meow to our friends & sisters!

(photograph from Deirdré Straughan's blog Countries Beginning with I)

Italian Bloggers for Darfur

We're not giving up & neither are the Italians. Visit their site; if you don't read Italian, some blogs are "translated," sort of...We love their banner, above (used with permission). When things seem hopeless, we look at this joyful photo.

ciao-buon-giorno-meow.

Moroccan morning patterns

Good morning. Busy day. Photographs from only alice's Moroccan set. Would love, love, love to be there right now.

a rushed ciao-meow, GG/editor

Worlds collide...

We can't bear to put a photograph of Bashir of Sudan on the site today; we have to look at photos of him every day. As anyone who reads this knows by now, the ICC issued the arrest warrant this morning. This is a new chapter starting; it may take a long time, but he will be in the dock to have a fair trial--someday. It is complicated but here is a link to Nick Kristof's blog on the New York Times; you will find it very concise & succinct & updated as of this afternoon. Nick has been several times, so he knows whereof he speaks. Also, as always, Enough Project.

good night, buona notte, baci...
GG/editor

(The Rome photograph is from Giampaolo Macorig's fabulous flickrstream.)

One foot (or paw) in front of the other...

...is the only way to get there, anywhere. Especially in an ancient, storied town like Matera, southern Italy (a UNESCO Heritage site). (Photographs by miki**) Good morning.

ciao-meow, GG/mgmt

Blue mosaic

We're very busy trying to dig out from under snow & piles of paper. This fabulous blue typewriter collage is by Yvonne Stehle (she also has an etsy shop, moline) & we thank her for her permission to use it.

a ciao-hurried-meow,
GG's editor

Tagged: Seven Random Things...

Lovely Tina of The English Muse has tagged GG's editor for this...& of course she also tagged others that we would. So we may do that later. For the record they are: automatism, A Cup of Jo, The Clever Pup has already done hers, Hidden in France, Small Expectations, oh everyone on the right side of this site (except the White House blog:) baci, bisou, xo

We (must continue with this conceit, sorry)...

1. ...have never had a driver's license
2. ...have been newspaper & magazine crazy since very, very young
3.....wear our maternal grandfather's Liberty of London paisley silk scarf from WWII-era London
4.....gluestick all ticket stubs, fortune cookie slips, other effluvia into daily agenda book. 15+ years of them.
5.....keep fairy lights up around apartment's large picture window
6.....carry an old French centime in our coin purse...given for good luck by stranger in North Africa
7.....write drafts long-hand with a fountain pen

Random collage of personal scanned photos on desk waiting to be used for something, except for the Olivetti Lettera 22 (which we had but no longer, alas) & that is by Peter Lindberg.

Berries in the snow

This is what we expect to see later today/tonight (as we type on Sunday afternoon). We 'd ordered snow for February not March! Apparently more arriving later, along with high winds; therefore, so tiresome: perhaps power outages. Hope not. GG is enjoying the snowflake watch, though.

ciao-meow/the Management

(photograph by Mariane Perdomo when on holiday in Scotland, taking one of the dogs with her from Gran Canaria. Lucky dogs.)