chattanooga, rock city!

today, on the emphatic recommendation of our friends missy and raoul, we visited a magical place called rock city in chattanooga, tennessee.

although this was another mildly-too-expensive outing, it did not disappoint.

the experience begins with all sorts of walking around rock formations.



this was all pretty cool except i found the loud new age, schmaltzy music they pipe through the gardens to be a bit much and eventually pretty irritating. still, there was a lot of cool stuff to see - lover's leap, historical markers, seven states, carnivorous pitcher plants, a rainbow tunnel...











...all sorts of things i really go in for. it was fun, but still...i had to ask myself why missy and raoul were so particularily smitten with this place. and then this happened:



as it turns out, the founders' daughter was a big fan of gnomes and fairies (and a black light enthusiast, too, it would seem). her additions to rock city really made the experience happen for me. these impish aesthetics were best exemplified by fairyland caverns - a sort of magical kingdom of germanic folklore with a hillbilly twist.









we also learned that one of rock city's historical distinctions was the innovation of barn roof advertising. this roadside attraction was one of the first to bombard surrounding (and even not-so-surrounding) areas with captivating billboards. we even found the remnants of some old ones on our way out of the city.

so long, atlanta.

well, it was a long stay in atlanta and an even longer stay in the state of georgia. in spite of that picture up there, we would like to extend some heartfelt thanks to all those who housed/put up with/got illnesses from us. that's you, raoul, missy, matt, stacey, matt & stacy (yes, atlanta is all matts and stac(e)ys).

we ended our elongated trip to atlanta with one last splash into the city's food at nuevo loredo cantina. this is one of my favorite places in atlanta and not only because it doesn't just serve ribs. i like it because it is totally catholic (even the garbage can housing is covered in crosses) and the decor reflects this both inside and out.





it is also located in this middle-of-nowhere area across from the pepsi bottling factory. for this reason, it is also one of the few places in atlanta that doesn't serve coca cola.

we were joined by our friends matt and lucky and i can't think of better way to say our sad farewell to one of our favorite cities. oh, atlanta, we miss you and your valiant citizens already.

hopefully chattanooga will find some way to take the edge off...

postal round-up.

so, a few weeks back, we gave out the mailing address for dad's garage theatre (where i was performing in atlanta) in the hopes of getting some much-missed postal affection. aitor and i have both come to miss mail during these many months away.

but man were we over-spoiled by the avalanche of mail we received when we got to atlanta (and it kept coming in over our stay).

first of all, there was an amazing care package from shannon gerard filled with life-affirming post-it notes, my favorite tea, coffee for aitor and a little handmade marvel to help me keep up with my beau:



i would imagine that these creations will be available at some point via shannon's etsy shop. she's such an inspiring crochet dynamo. thank you so much, shan!

if you were looking closely, you might also have noticed that cigar box in those pictures. that is the housing for my own personal portable library project. i hope to start it tomorrow, but we will see. i am now hacking up some serious lung butter so i am going to see how i am feeling before starting more activity.

speaking of lung butter (an image i think i stole from my friend lauren bride), we also got a couple of great letters from miss lauren. they were a swell surprise filled with tales of death and redemption from her subterranean apartment.

but the quantity prize goes to melissa, who showered us with feats of rubber stamping prowess, newspaper clippings and tales of high drama from the trenches of public school instruction:



thank you so much to everyone, especially leah who forwarded all of our mail from home. which reminds me...i owe you some postage money.

really, this has given me much to do while i have been feeling so ill. hooray for mail!

tonight in atlanta.

photo by stacey bode

just a quick fevered note to say that aitor and i will be at the very first kraftwork hosted in young bloog gallery's brand new space this evening. we are really excited to be participating and getting a chance to check out their new digs.

i have also updated my upcoming shows page, so you can now stalk our travels lightly before they happen.

in other news, our friends at something's hiding in here have a new project that you can involve yourself in. i already did. it's easy.

see you tonight, atlanta!

who is doug dank?

photo by stacey bode

doug dank is an improv show in atlanta that uses real-life monologues from real-life people as its basis. tonight, the real-life monologist will be our very own reverend aitor. come out and see it. it should be fun.

dress up photo fun day in atlanta.

photos by stacey bode

today, in feverish delirium, we all decided to make good on plans to do a silly photo shoot with one of our hosts, stacey. stacey is a pretty rad photographer so i was quite honoured to be posing for her. that said, my brain is so overheated parts of the session are a little blurry.

did i mention i have had a cruddy cold ever since the curtain dropped on the festival i was here performing in? yes, this is all true.



but back to the photo shoot...when i rolled out of bed in the early afternoon, stacey was scraping foamy tape off of some wood panling with a rusty razor blade. this, apparently, is how you make photographic magic (as evidenced by the ensuing photos). we then raided the weird crap in our car and some fake birds of staceys (she apparently has a thing for fake birds in photos). she also ended the afternoon by taking some magnificent photos of my buttons and aitor's art. we shall never be denied from a craft fair again with these!

small press, big logo.

just a very quick note to thanks the lovely folks at the toronto small press book fair for profiling my small press. i know it is not always apparent, but the sweetie pie press started out as a zine making operation that was soon eclipsed by buttons, art and other crafy projects. a profile like this is both flattering and shaming. i have to hammer out some new zines at some time. january? good grief.

i also keep missing the book fair for various scheduling reasons. i will be missing the next one, for example, which is november 1st. you might want to check it out.