big hair

Big Hair & Plastic Grass…
the false set up
to simulate The real

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'astroturfing.'

I wanted to sketch pink fluff underneath the katsura tree - that's what the fallen autumn leaves smell like - but will leave it to your imagination.

budget cuts

city budget cuts —
late summer dust motes float
through the library

. . . . . . .

Passing up 'boat ax,' the OED word of the day to say how sad it makes me to have Seattle libraries shut down for a week due to budget cuts.

the usual

the pleasure
of showing you the Poems
is the usual procedure

. . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'punta riversa.' This fencing term is from the Italian, but does not - the Oxford lads point out - appear in any Italian dictionaries. Perhaps OED really stands for Obscure English Dictionary.

This is the final version of painting posted yesterday (larger version on Flickr) and my entry to Waterworks 2012. With deadline tomorrow, no time for a new sketch!

intervention

Abstract—
an intuitive idea carried out
with creative intervention

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'Turing machine,' named for an English mathematician with an idea for a computer in the 1930s that was never built. More confusing than this urban abstract...

laughter

miraculous Life …
express Spirit in laughter

. . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem | commentary is 'Owlglass.' 

If you, too, are saying, "Hunh?", that's an Anglicization of a legendary German jester called Till Eulenspiegel.

Sometimes ya just gotta say, "WhatEVERRR," roll your eyes and hope the Oxford lads come up with something better tomorrow.

babuina

In 1939, the Logansport (Indiana) Pharos Tribune asked, "How many of you know that a female baboon is a babuina?"

Whoever knew that did NOT know that 73 years later, babuina would be the OED word of the day.

No babuinas in the Schmitz Preserve Park today.

Doh!

description of Daily pictures

“Damn” 

frustration that things have turned out not as planned,

Again.

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure commentary is 'doh.'

trillium

deep in the forest
a patch of spring moonlight —
trillium

September

September —
the smell
of old leaves
and new books

September is easy

September is easy

fasting on a full stomach.

a day full of the
glorious poetry
of simple Times

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'preach.'

The Seattle Plein Air meetup group convened at Fishermen's Terminal today. From mid-morning to early afternoon, it went from dark gray to bright light, four layers of clothes to two... I said to Peggy that it was like trying to paint in a room and having someone come in and turn lights off, then 10 minutes later turn the bright ones on, turn on the aircon, turn on the heat, change the lights again.

I note that "plein air" is one vowel away from being an anagram for 'real pain'! :)

tame (the verb)

to overcome
the wildness of a thing
Let 'em run large

. . . . . . . .

Took these cab grapes to the Columbia Winery today... hopefully they won't get stomped.

drawing

drawing
the draw bridge
drawing

. . . . . . . .

Fortunate to be able to sketch today with Peggy, a fellow Urban Sketchers Symposium attendee. We were having withdrawal pains, and needed to get out there...

charmed

The forest
charmed me so often

The stream,
a track of moss.

Nature,
the secret Cause of kindness .

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'trace.' Nothing here was traced, but I am playing with alphabet stamps. Experiment to be continued.

creaking

tai chi warm up
the wooden floor and my knees
creaking

. . . . . . . .

After vacation, back to the real world of tai chi class and grocery shopping.

Sketches

With some Sketches
the struggle is
the working of doubt,
and ceases
when belief is attained.

A line
might influence
man's view of prayer

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'premise.'

Back from the 1st Annual Urban Sketchers Symposium in Portland. My sketches from three days in the Pearl District are online. It was a high energy event, and great for all of us to connect in person 18 months after Urban Sketchers was birthed online.

hummingbird feeder

deep in the woods
the nurse log feeding
a hummingbird

. . . . . . . .

Still conflicted about taking my laptop to the Urban Sketchers Symposium, so if the blog goes static until August 1, I've gone 'naked' to Portland.

Mystic Wreath

the Moon

A Mystic Wreath
in bold relief
on a dark ground

The MOON

I love its simplicity,
on a Sunday in July

. . . . . . . .

After erasing 7,544 words explaining 'reverse,' the OED word of the day, these 23 words were all that remained.

no half-measures

Art well created
observes no half-measures

it balances
reality with poetry

and calls man to his existence.

. . . . . . . .

The OED word of the day for the erasure poem|commentary is 'economical'; as usual, more reality than poetry from the Oxford boys.

chinos

wearin' chinos
drinking 'chinos —
summer @ starbucks

savor the new

savor the common, the new
to give it a spirit
abounding with
rare Flowers,
radiant and perfect

. . . . . . . .

Today's erasure poem|commentary comes from the surprising OED word of the day "flosculous": pertaining to, or of the nature of flowers.

Did that add to your vocabulary too?