Red says:

This week, I have been working on doing things that I can’t do, or haven’t done in a very long time.  It’s been quite exciting stretching unused muscles (figurative and literal) and challenging myself.  Not just challenging myself to do unfamiliar things, but challenging my belief in where my own boundaries are.  The Red Queen advises practice when it comes to believing impossible things, so practice I shall and perhaps one day I will match her skills.

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

For now, I’m aiming for two: I can learn to stay upright on roller skates; my twelve-year-rusty skills for throwing pots on a wheel will polish up just fine.

Patch says,

Between a recent trip to a museum, some casual re-reading of Lewis Hyde’s Trickster Makes This World, and a rather striking portrait Red painted of me recently (from a photograph — it’s been hard to pin me down long enough for a sitting), I’ve had art noodling around in my brain.

So here’s a bit about art.

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Red says:

Lady Gaga seems to be on all the cool kids’ minds at the moment.  “She’s a performance artist,” they say, explaining why they love her, even if her music is cheesy.

So, I go on-line, and watch a few of her music videos, and just don’t get it.  There isn’t anything that makes her stand out from any of a hundred other over-produced music videos.  Puzzled, I let it drop.

And then someone sends me an article, and I finally understand what she’s trying to do.  She wants to be the Andy Warhol of music.  And perhaps she is succeeding.  I must admit that I have never been taken with Warhol either, though now in both I can appreciate that there is thought behind the art.

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Patch says:

I took a nap this afternoon while Red chatted on the phone with her mother. I awoke to find her lounging, with one leg up on the couch where I slept. I was facing away from her, knees curled up, pressing slightly into the back of the couch.

My cat was lying between us, his rear resting against the crook of my knees, his front legs stretched comfortably across Red’s leg, which served in context to temporarily extend the usable part of the couch.

I was struck by how completely the cat had molded himself to the curve of couch and leg. The configuration of bodies was temporary. Soon Red would finish her phone conversation, and I would shift and wake up fully. But for the moment, the cat existed in perfect comfort, with no regard to, or worry for the future.

He would have made a Beatle proud, that cat.

As for me, I smiled, and closed my eyes again.

Red says:

I am absolutely delighted that I get this Thursday’s post, because it means I get to out Patch.

After many years of calling himself a programmer in public, and a writer in private, that can all change.  Patch is published!  He got a short story accepted by Absolute XPress for their Thieves and Scoundrels anthology, which is now in print, and available to buy on Amazon.  (Whoop!)

The publisher is throwing a virtual party on April 10th, which is this Saturday.  They will be running live author interviews all day, Patch is scheduled for 2:45.

They are also looking to create a rush on the book in Amazon’s charts, by having as many people as possible look at the book, buy it, or add it to their wishlists this Saturday.  So feel free to drop by and hang out in a chat room with Patch, take a look at the book on Amazon, and generally help us celebrate this awesome news.

It was absolutely adorable, the day Absolute XPress sent an e-mail asking Patch for an author’s headshot.  He got this crazed look on his face, and went dashing about the house.

“Where are my goggles?  Which ones should I wear?  This is very important, I have to take it seriously!”

And then of course he hit the hat collection; bowlers, fisherman’s caps, safari helmets, and giant leprechaun top hats flying in every direction.  Why does he have three pairs of mad scientist goggles?

He chose, in the end, a very sedate photograph. But that’s no reason for you to miss out on the fun!

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Patch says:

When I was very young, and very religious, and chewing over some things that I had found in the book that my religion centered upon, I remember having two worries.  I worried that I wasn’t mature enough to be as good as I was supposed to be, given the things that I had read.  And I worried that I had no assurance that my older, more mature, self would care enough to be as good, and Good Book abiding, as I was supposed to be.

My worries were well founded.  My younger self would undoubtedly be appalled by the godless heathen I grew up to be.

When I was a bit older, and becoming less religious, I observed several behaviors in adults that I considered to be quite silly, though for some reason, it never occurred to me to worry that I’d emulate them some day.  (more…)