Last Friday evening Mary was out with the Tarts so Tori and I had a dad-daughter night. We ordered pizza and wings from Pizza Hut (love those Honey BBQ wings!) and watched The Island. Had forgotten how much I enjoyed this box office bomb.

After the movie, around 9 p.m., we started work on the 550 piece puzzle I had stumbled across earlier that day at Hobby Lobby featuring the above image, Eleanor of Aquitaine, a painting by one of my favorite artists Kinuko Y. Craft. I became a fan of Ms. Craft’s work when she began painting works for book covers for Patricia A. McKillip‘s elegant fantasy novels. I was so excited as Tori and I had recently completed a Frank Frazetta puzzle and I was itching to do another one with her. Kinuko Y. Craft’s works (examples can be seen here) are so full of detail and rich color that they are marvelous illustrations for puzzles. A company called Master Pieces Inc. has four of her works made into puzzles. I loaded up a bunch of music on Rhapsody and we set to work. Around 1:30 in the morning Mary arrived home at which time Tori and I figured we better stop working on the puzzle and get to bed! We had 3/4 of it completed and finished the rest Sunday afternoon. It looks wonderful and was a great deal of fun!

As I stated above, the image from Craft’s work is of Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of two illustrations she has done on this fascinating woman. Curious to a fault I decided to find out if said Eleanor was a real person and indeed she was! From Wikipedia: “she was raised in one of Europe’s most cultured courts, the birthplace of courtly love. She was highly educated for a woman of the time, and knew how to read, how to speak Latin, was well versed in music and literature, and enjoyed riding, hawking, and hunting. She became heiress to Aquitaine, the largest and richest of the provinces that would become modern France, when her brother, William Aigret, died as a baby.” She gained notoriety during her first marriage to Louis VII when she led some of her ladies-in-waiting and vassals to the Crusades. Her second marriage to Henry II resulted in the births of Richard the Lionheart and his successor, his brother John. Henry and Eleanor’s story is featured in the play The Lion in Winter by James Goldman that was made into a film starring Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn and later remade as a TV Movie starring Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart.

So there you go, a story about how Tori and I spent Friday night and an art and history lesson about a fascinating woman from history. What more could you want?

This is a day late due to problems uploading picture.

(Pat and I at a work Halloween party a few years ago…me as Sparrow-ish pirate, Pat as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds)

Today is my dear friend Pat A.’s birthday. Pat is a therapist at my place of employ and for a number of years we had shoebox offices side by side on the first floor. I don’t exactly recall when Pat and I became fast friends but she does…she said it was when I recommended Dava Sobel’s amazing book, Galileo’s Daughter. She can tell the story better than I but evidently that moment insured her that I might actually have a modicum of taste and a friendship was born.

For years Pat and I spent time each week in one or the other’s office talking about movies, television, music and books. Pat was the only person I know besides Mary and I who lived and died by NYPD Blue. We all felt, and feel, its loss tremendously.

Pat is one of the coolest women I know, a fact shared by her grandsons with whom she often attends films, because she keeps up with the lastest pop culture in movies and television and has an incredible range of literary, film, and musical likes. She has never shied away from any film or book or music recommendation no matter how crazy it may seem and we have been able to introduce each other to wonderful books and movies over the years. Pat also shares my affinity for P.G. Wodehouse, J.R.R. Tolkein, Sarah Brightman and Neil Gaiman which has made her a saint in my eyes.

Pat and I don’t see each other daily like we used to now that I’ve moved up a few floors (where the air is thinner!) but we do make a point of talking regularly and keeping up with what each other are reading, watching, etc.

Pat’s friendship has been a blessing and a gift from God and I am so thankful that I recommended that book as my life would be much less rich without Pat in it.

Have a happy, wonderful, magical, special birthday Pat.

(I know this is a spring image but I like it as a representation of the Spirit of the New Year whispering in the ear of our inner child encouraging us on to adventurous exploration of our world.)

Today is resolution day for so many people and I found this article on the Comcast home page. My favorites are:

“I resolve that by the end of 2006, people will want me for my body and not just my mind!”
–Tanya L.

Joan Rivers’ saying to her husband (way back when) that her resolution for the upcoming year was that she was going to have sex 365 times. He said, “That’s great, Joan! Put me down for two!'”

As we enter 2006 I had intended to write my own New Year’s wish for you but as I looked over Neil Gaiman’s 2005 wish (one I gave many people last year and one he recycled from himself from 2001) I realized that it continues to evoke so perfectly the hopes and wishes I have for myself and for all of you this year. With heartfelt sincerity:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

and although implied I would add:

Throughout the year make time to watch the sun rise, to breathe fresh air, to visit the trees, and to look at the stars…experience the simple pleasure of really noticing all the wonder around you.

Happy New Year Everyone!

(Norman Rockwell~seemed appropriate on New Year’s Eve, when many will be dressing up in their fancy duds and going out to celebrate)

Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already. Of the things you have, select the best: and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought if you did not have them. ~Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor

The unexamined life is not worth living. ~Socrates

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms. ~Kahlil Gibran

It is almost year’s end, a time when even the least introspective of us pauses to reflect on the past year. Fear not, I have no intention of getting too deep with this but in the interest in spurring you on to self-reflection I list here 2,005 reflections on 2005…give or take a few thousand.

1. On January 28th I did the unthinkable. I started a blog. Thanks to the inspiration of Mosker and the enthusiasm of Jimmy I stuck with something that I would have normally just let fall by the wayside.

2. Thanks to the blogging community I have met some wonderful people that I’ve enjoyed conversing with over the past year. I hope you know who you are…if you’re reading this, its you!

3. I finally got to meet the infamous Rob that I had heard so much about. It was an enjoyable experience.

4. Though I’m not conscious of exactly how it occured my comic book guy Jeff and I took our relationship “to the next level” and we started hanging out. This lead to the introduction and friendship of our families. I also was able to get the Smiths and Dibbens together thus expanding our circle of friends.

5. I got to meet Boba Fett, both he and his wife were extremely generous with their time with the fans. I was impressed.

6. I was able to take a wonderful trip to Chicago, meet my favorite author, go to a Cubs game and introduce Jeff and Keri to Scott…again connecting friendships.

7. Reading garnered new interests as I “discovered” the John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Conan books of Robert E. Howard as well as the wonderful artist Frank Frazetta whose work will rate a good sized post in the coming year.

8. I was privileged to celebrate my first 4th of July since 1998 (due to working in the fireworks stand every year) and Jimmy threw the biggest most amazing and hands down best 4th of July celebration that I have ever been to and I was thrilled to be able to be a part of the show. Thanks again Jimmy, I get giddy just thinking about it.

9. I was introduced to the joy that is Firefly culminating in what is one of my favorite movies of the year, Serenity.

10. I finally joined all my friends who had paved the way, entered the 21st century and signed up for Netflix. Good stuff.

11. Got to see Les Miserables again and it was incredible.

12. Mary and I were able to take a vacation by ourselves this year, a little bed and breakfast in Missouri’s wine country as well as several days off work at home watching movies and relaxing. Wonderful.

13. Wrote and submitted a 100 words story. It won’t get accepted but it was a fun and “out of my comfort zone” exercise.

14. Discovered the joy that is Gene Wolfe…adding to the list another author that I read on the recommendation of Neil Gaiman.

15. Had some amazing, wonderful, meaningful meals and conversations with friends over the year.

16. I grew up some…not alot, fear not…but a little. Some of the things I have heard over the years is starting to sink in and it is at times scary and at times wonderful. Change is in the wind…good change. The Uberlist is part of this change.

Goodbye 2005. It was a year that saw some very good things as well as a year that saw hardships and difficulties for us, family, and friends. Tomorrow I’ll post a New Year’s wish for everyone. Today I am going to enjoy the last day of 2005.