"Line of beauty"... hmmm... one of those things Southerners picked up on and believe to the core! Many people have tried to "explain" beauty, but I don't think anyone has succeeded yet. (If someone has, the world is not listening or on the same page.) My gut reaction to Hogarth was that he was a long way off from identifying the cause and structure of beauty....even though he was immersed in thoroughly analyzing some of its components. I attended one of Mike Lin's LA graphics classes back in the 80's. He'd delve out an assignment and we'd all work like crazy for barely-enough-time and then everything would be posted on the wall for a critique. Mike would always get a laugh because of his ultra-simplification of the notion of beauty. When critiquing student work, he'd say in his great Chinese accent, "What wrong with this??"...the answer was always, "Because it LOOK BAAAD!" And of course, the converse, "Why you like this??..."Because it LOOK GOOOD!!" Few of us could say WHY something looks good, but most of us could agree that it does, if that's the case. I find that something automatically looks bad to me if: ...its connections look structurally or mechanically weak or inferior. ...or if an object looks not built to last as long as it should... as when the "edges" of an object are weaker (or no stronger) than the "field"... so that the object looks insufficiently "self protected." Masonry walls where the cap stone is no thicker than the wall stone fall into this category for me. ...or if something looks like it is without purpose. Every bleeping bloop of wiggly bed edge is especially bothersome if it's going around nothing in particular...just stuff! Why is it there if there's no thing for it to go around? If there was some specific thing in each bulge, it would seem that, at least, it was trying to conjure up some purpose. My thinking when routing the edge of a bed goes something like wondering, "after here, where am I going next?" if the answer is left, I will not go right first. I may go straight and then left or I may go left and then straight (relative to the original position)... but I will not go right. Thinking of the same issue in the vertical, it always seems wrong/silly to connect two differing elevations (that are relatively near one another) with a path that causes one to go both up AND down (or down and up) in order to reach the other destination. It seems pointless. Just go up. Or just go down. Of course, there seem always to be instances where one must "break the rules" (even though they've never been properly laid out and recorded.) This all means that Hogarth left work. There's still plenty to do.

Oh, i wish I had seen this thread before posting a similar request on another. Last year a strong wind came through and snapped off the entire top of a gorgeous pine tree in my front yard. This left me with a 22' (apx) standing trunk (no branches), that is about 2.5 feet thick, which I cannot bear take down. I am wondering if there is something I can do to make this tall standing trunk into something a little more attractive. I was thinking maybe I could slice (? with a chain saw???) it down from the top to aboout 2 feet and then outward to make a sort of throne with an extremely tall back, maybe even paint the inside with something attractive. Or, maybe I could make it look like a living tree again placing a potted bush on top of this tall trunk. Is there some kind of big bushy plant like that which would survive a NW winter? Or maybe something fanciful like topping it with some kind of fake palm frons or fake willow branches. Of course whatever it is ,it would have to withstand cold winters with snow and survive on natural perception for water (or be fake). Or, maybe put a steel rod through it and hand a couple swings??? Has anyone ever done something like this? I'd really love to keep the tree trunk if I can make it a little more appealing to look at. Ideas from all artists are welcomed and appreciated :-) Wendy only@wildwendyworld.com

I'm sorry, sable! I don't get reply posts sent to my inbox so if I space a thread I won't know if anyone's replied. Well, if you think about the coming water crisis as the earth warms, Arizona will look less and less attractive, IMO. Some predictions have folks moving en masse to areas like the Willamette Valley and western WA where there's less of a shortage of moisture :) Interesting theory about Teri, too. I'm thinking if I were in her position, if I'd been treated decently and offered 9 mil, I'd probably take it. But if people had treated me the way they treated her, I'd say sod off to any bids those condescending sobs deigned to toss my way. I could easily see myself thinking "after all the bs I've taken from you, now that you think it might be valuable you're running to me with insulting lowball bids. Nice try." awm, re realities of family life -- it sure isn't how I grew up, but then again my parents were pretty nonexistent in my childhood. I'm imagining DD will get to talk to her therapist about how Mom was always repainting or remodeling or tiling something in the house LOL...

My old kitchen has one circuit for everything but the stove and lighting. You cant run the microwave if the crockpot is on, the dishwasher is on, and the fridge is running. I have to prep with my back to the stove. The cabinets are falling off the walls. The stove is right against a cabinet side. You cant open the oven and dishwasher at the same time. There is one sink. It is only 27"wide. I feel nothing but glee at the prospect of my addition. We paid hundreds of thousands less for this house than the going rate because of this stupid kitchen. Fixing it is a long time coming! I am trying to be careful enough about my choices that in 20'years, I will need to do no more than replace the cabinet fronts and maybe countertop if it's dated. If I get the layout right, that will be the case. :) But I'm choosing cabinets that look a lot like the originals. So hopefully not even that! I am the only one in my circle who keeps cars forever. I don't like them. I got super advanced safety features when I got mine. When I have to get another, I'll do it again. But I've had housekeepers with much nicer cars than mine. :)