street studies, Philadelphia PA, August 2010

"Perhaps there had been some excuse for him. He, too, had been dressing for the party, and all had gone well with him until he came to his tie. It is an astounding thing to have to tell, but this man, though he knew about stocks and shares, had no real mastery of his tie. Sometimes the thing yielded to him without a contest, but there were occasions when it would have been better for the house if he had swallowed his pride and used a made-up tie.

This was such an occasion. He came rushing into the nursery with the crumpled little brute of a tie in his hand. 'Why, what is the matter, father dear?'

'Matter!' he yelled; he really yelled. 'This tie, it will not tie.' He became dangerously sarcastic. 'Not round my neck! Round the bed-post! Oh yes, twenty times have I made it up round the bed-post, but round my neck, no! Oh dear no! Begs to be excused!'

He thought Mrs Darling was not sufficiently impressed, and he went on sternly, 'I warn you of this, mother, that unless this tie is round my neck we don't go out to dinner to-night, and if I don't go to dinner to-night, I never go to the office again, you and I starve, and our children will be flung into the streets!' "

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

gray studies, Philadelphia PA

Office Supplies, NY NY, July 2010

She was a formidable woman, even at a lunch meeting.

Provincetown MA, August 2010

menu, Chelsea NYC, July 2010

popcorn box (circa 1980) Philadelphia PA, July 2010

Coffee please, very hot...

He was always a bit of a disappointment.

All I left behind

should come as no surprise

to me since I fell

through the black hole of your eyes.

Only little things

inconsequential I could say

of all I left behind with you along the lost highway.

Silver earrings in Wichita,

beaded moccasins in Tonopah

but I had you so

I just let them go.

The flannel shirt I wore

to keep me from the cold

when we drove from Boston all the way to Buffalo.

The leather boots I bought

so many miles ago

I took them off to follow you

into the Ohio.

from All I left Behind

by Kate and Anna McGarrigle

I only wanted to try a small bite.

very good butterfly pin, probably 1960's-70's

"Performance is all I cared about as a child and it's all I care about now. I don't go to see a play to see a great play. I go to see a great interpretation.

Everything is interpretation."

-Diana Vreeland

Saguaro National Park, Tucson AZ, July 2010

pins, Philadelphia PA, July 2010

They no longer shared a belief system.

look at the work of Andrea Modica if you want to see what Bruce Webber might have done if he was intelligent and/or brave.

http://www.andreamodica.com/minor-league/index.html

cement dots, Philadelphia PA. July 2010

ice trays, Brunswick, Maine. July 2010

The moon wouldn't come out and the air was very still.

interior, fruit ice stand, Tucson, Arizona. July 2010

fruit ice stand, Tucson, Arizona. July 2010

"The police said that while performing at Plaid, (Courtney Love) hit an audience member, identified by officials as Gregory Burgett, 23, of Kentucky, with a microphone stand. The owner of the nightclub said Mr. Burgett was cut on the brow and received three staples at Cabrini Medical Center."

"Several people who were at the Plaid concert said they had noticed nothing amiss. 'I was in the V.I.P. area, and Boy George was wearing a very big hat, and I couldn't see over him,' one person said."

excerpts from an article by Shaila K. Dewan,

NY Times, March 19, 2004

pile of cushions, Maine 2010

His little teeth are like needles.

Pegboard, Philadelphia 2010

tootsie roll POP wrapper, June 2010

"When we were introduced to Archie Bell, he said 'Hey, what's happening, ain't nothing to it' in one breath. Later, we learned that is his favorite way of greeting people. We focussed on Archie Bell, because the Drells deferred to him, and because, while the Drells wore a collection of patchwork-denim and polyester outfits, Archie Bell was wearing a smart-looking leisure suit. It was beige, with deep brown stripes running down the pants legs, and the jacket had darts and tucks that made it fit snugly. After telling us how glad he was to be in New York, he said, 'I would like to mention that we have one of the finest tailors in the country. He's from Houston, Texas, and his name is Johnny Burton. He made this suit I am wearing and he made the suits we are wearing on the album cover-the ones with the little bells all over them.' "

from Bells and Drells, by Jamaica Kincaid

a Talk of the Town story from The New Yorker, circa 1976

brickwork on Sansom St, Philadelphia

I don't know what I'm going to do without that button merchant.

sequin, June 2010

" 'This afternoon,' observed Mrs Smiling, leading the way to lunch, 'I think we will go to a flick. Give Sneller those; he will post them for you.'

'No...I think I will post them myself,' said Flora, jealously.'Did you get the brassiere, darling?'

A shadow fell on Mrs Smiling's face.

'No. It was no use to me. It was just a variation on the "Venus" design made by Waber Brothers in 1938; it had three elastic sections in front, instead of two, as I hoped, and I have it already in my collection. I only saw it from the car as I drove past, you know; I was mislead by the way it was folded as it hung in the window. The third section was folded back, so that it looked as though there were only two.'

'And would that have made it more rare?'

'But naturally, Flora. Two section brassieres are extremely rare: I intended to buy it- but, of course, it was useless.' "

from Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons

trimmings on 39th street, NYC 2010

Go to Queretaro and bring me back a fire opal.

buttons, 39th Street, NYC, 2010

sequins, studio of Candy DePew, Philadelphia 2010

candy slices, Philadelphia 2010

tu-tus in the window of Baum's Dancewear, 106 S.11th Street, Philadelphia

They got the angle all wrong and so her calves looked enormous.

The lozenge shape is very irritating.

curlers, Beauty Shop Café, philadelphia. June 2010

Let's just leave that part alone.

toy in the road, philadelphia, May 2010