Sunday Evening Company

Famed architect Louis Sullivan has widened his circle of friends to deal with some "unresolved issues" that have been lingering since the beginning of the year. It's still not clear if this is a good idea. Please feel free to weigh in on the topic.

What Animal Do You See?

After his return from Sacramento, Mr. Sullivan agreed to another session with Dr. Baumgartner.

"First, I vahnt you to imagine an animal. Any animal. Don't give it too much thought."

Baumgartner had become involved in animal visualization therapy that swept Vienna in the late 19th century and the U.S. in the late 20th century.
"So, vhat animal are you imagining, Mr. Sullivan?"

"An elephant."
"But don't you see a little pussycat?"
"Yeah, don't you see me?" said Billy the Blunder Cat.

"Yes," Mr. Sullivan said, "I see a cat, but you told me to imagine an animal, and I am imagining an elephant."
Suddenly the elephant lifted Mr. Sullivan as he let out a girlish giggle.

"Ah, I see it too," Dr. Baumgartner said. "And vhat an enormous trunk it has!"
"Hey, what about me?" Billy whined.
"Yes, Billy," Dr. Baumgarnter said. "Vhat about you. Vhat was your childhood like?"

"Hey, Doc, mind your own beeswax."
Baumgartner returned to Sullivan and approached the elephant. "May I please touch that big, pink trunk?"

"Get your own visualization animal, Baumgartner!"

The Feline Redemption of Louis Sullivan

Many a great artist has died in obscurity or, perhaps even worse, found a glorious peak early in life only to face horrific ruin in the final years of life.

Few have embodied this as dramatically and sadly as the great Louis Sullivan. In 1890 when, at the age of 34, he unveiled the Auditorium Building, he was introducing to the world the most tremendous man-made structure on earth up to that time. At 17-stories, it was the world's tallest building. At 110,000 tons, it was the heaviest building in the world and had over eight million cubic feet of space.

When Sullivan died on April 14, 1924, died penniless, his friends coming up with $600 for his funeral and the six months past rent due the Hotel Warner where he whiled away his final days in a small, pathetic room of no architectural distinction. Those who don't believe in a resurrection or an after life need only look at the sudden returning praise of his work after years of being out of fashion and his surviving buildings for which there is a tactile afterlife for his vision and imagination. There may not be a heaven where the dead may go, but Sullivan left behind bits of heaven for those living after he died.

The pathetic last days of his life belie the fact that he did not find ways out of the hell of his final quarter of a century. What is not widely known that cats watch over fallen artists and taken them out of their quandary both in life and afterward. Though suspicious of the international style, Sullivan was no fuddy duddy. He was particularly fond of the work of Jim Flora, who was ten years old when Sullivan died and did not come into his full stride until the 1940s. He had a reputation of drawing hepcats that were cute -- and deadly.

But some nights in the teens and twenties -- and even some nights today when the spirit of Sullivan is feeling blue and in search of inspiration -- the cats come to him and transport him into paintings and rooms filled with the work of Flora. This commercial modernist came to greatest note designing covers of RCA and Columbia record albums primarily after the Second World War, a conflict Sullivan did not have to live to endure.

Though he died at the dawn of the Jazz Age, Sullivan was no square to swing and cool, and many nights he can be found swinging with the cats in some room designed by Flora. The creative spirit may come to mold a tower or sculpture or play or "So What", but more often it is still swinging out there beyond the lifetime of the creator, sometimes capturing the imagination of someone today who has no idea of its source.

Just before he died, Sullivan felt compelled to write a third book, The Autobiography of an Idea in which Louis Sullivan writes of Louis Sullivan in the third person while the idea tells his story in the first person:

"That IDEA which had its mystical beginning in so small a thing as a child's heart, grew and nurtured itself upon that child's varied consistently continuing and metamorphosing experiences in time and place, as has been most solicitously laid bare to view in detail, in the course of this recital. For it needs a long, long time, and a rich soil of life-experience to enable a simple, single idea to grow to maturity and solid strength. A French prover has it that 'Time will not consecrate that in which it has been ignored,' while the deep insight of Whitman is set forth in the line, 'Nature neither hastens nor delays.'

Junk Thief Board of Directors Retreat Concludes

This was the scene this afternoon as our board of directors headed down to San Bruno to catch flights and to deal with tighter security screenings. They demonstrated a very effective technique to full body scans: "Wah! No, I don't want a body scan!"
Here we see our Board Chair (left), Vice Chair (right) and treasurer (center). As you can tell, our board of directors adhere to a very rigid hierarchical structure.
Sadly, our two newest board of directors members arrived just as the others departed due to weather related flight delays. We think they have a lot to add, and we had a great discussion over dried salmon. Here are Tilly the Thunder kitten (left) and Billy the Blunder Cat, niece and first cousin respectively of our founding board of director member Miss Millie the Glass Eyed Wonder Cat.

Fashion, Life, Before Anna Wintour

Click to embiggen both for captions.

The Princess and the Tom

There is always a bit of theater and drama here at the Junkplex.
Bow, sometimes called the Duchess of York Street, thinks she's a bit higher up on the scale of royalty as her "charmed to meet you" limp paw demonstrates.
Lately, Sam, the peeping Tom from next door, has become braver about spending time in Bow's garden though never brave enough to be out there while she's there. Fortunately the two have yet to meet face to face.

This Is How We'll Get Out of the Financial Crisis

This is also why I keep more money at BoA than at Wells Fargo. I need to order my new checks and check card today. You can too.

Kitten Video That Even Basenjis Can Love

Thanks to Tugboat Dave for tipping me off on this one. Now Bow wants to make one of her reading her favorite book.

Friends Don't Let Friends Taunt Tigers

Tatiana has been gone for a year as of today, and we miss her. I can't say the same for those drunk jerks that led to her death.

JTTV - Season 3, Episode 4 - Just Us Kitties

With a cast of superstars and an amazing soundtrack, here's this year's holiday special. Hope you enjoy it and, more importantly, enjoy your holiday. Thought you might enjoy a couple of stills from this episode.

Bow Reacts to the Jingle Cats & Dogs Video

Soon Returning to Junk Thief TV

Anybody remember Miss Millie the Glass Eyed Wonder Cat who appeared in the premier episode of Junk Thief TV two years ago? Get ready folks, she's in the wings ready to make a come back!

Interactive Monday: To All the Girls I've Loved Before

There is much debate about which is easier to handle -- male or female basenjis. With just over 48 hours together, I don't want to say too much too soon, but I am becoming a sucker for the lady basenjis.

It got me to thinking about the trends of canines in my life. In reality, there have been only three, two of which were officially mine and both of those were hounds, all three of which were girl dogs. I love male dogs as well, but not having a dog in my home since my college years, I'd forgotten how special it is to have a lady pooch around.

Mind you, I dearly loved my two feline boys who gave me nearly 20 years of close companionship, but my house is feeling so much more like a home with my new special someone who is snuggled up to me as I write this.

So here is the proud line of she pooches that came before her, and feel free to share the stories of yours.
JULIE (1964 - 1969) This lovely girl was the best possible first dog for a kid to have, and her early passing was a huge tragedy. She loved to terrorize gophers and was mainly an outdoor dog.
NINA (1965 - 1979) The little ones are always the bravest and longest living ones. Nina was a smart but devious little dog who was officially my sister's but very much the family dog. She was part of one of the first waves of Chihuahuas as a teenage girl fashion statement, and she ultimately became the close companion of my grandmother.
NATASHA (1974 - 1985) This lovely Basset fit to a T all the funny and sweet characteristics of the breed, including becoming overweight. Only after several years of my family's attempts at increasingly aggressive exercise and diet that did not work, our neurotic neighbor finally revealed over dinner "Oh, I just love that dog. She comes over every morning and I feed her 4-5 doughnuts." Just as Nina evolved from a high school pet of my sister's Natasha became more attached to my parents in my early 20s as I grew to think I was "too hip for a hound", a trend that has since reversed. If you've ever seen the movie "My Dog Skip" you have something of our relationship.

And by the by...though I'm pretty cynical and have more or less given up on internet dating, I encourage you to check out Bow's Dogster profile where she has a growing fan base. I would screen any boyfriend before she went on a date, but I know many boys are smitten by my gorgeous girl.

When it comes to Bow, all I can say is, "She had me at baroo."

Face the Dog

Yes, there really is a...Dogbook, a parallel Facebook site. Oh, dear. Thanks to the introduction from Joy of I've Got a Crush on...ME! Now her Basil and Guru are at least cyber friends across the continent. Bunter and Whimsey's "In Loving Memory" profiles are still up over at Catster. Perhaps I should look for Gardenster so my agapanthia can make friends with others in New Zealand or something.

An amazing thing, these interwebs. I bet I can already predict Tugboat Dave's reaction to yet another wacky San Francisco-fused trend.

If you've not friended me already, my Facebook profile is here.

Brothers Reunited Today

Pretending There Is a Star in Me to Be

Saturday afternoon, I had my short memorial for Bunter, scattering his ashes in the back yard near where his brother's are. Above is the video tribute I made to him.

His passing, after nearly 20 years, was peaceful. I found an incredible vet who made house calls and was a poet/philosopher as much as a vet. I won't indulge my readers in all the details of this farewell, except that in his final moments, Bunter let out loud purr as he wrapped his paws around me with the excitement of when we would share a late afternoon together.

He and his brother came into my life in 1990 barely a year old when their first guardian left them with me for a weekend trial. There was no immediate bond, and I was ready to take them back until I saw them staring at me with pathetic longing and I decided to give it another week. They kept their distance from me for at least the first six months. It was close to a year before I heard the first purr directed towards me.

They became a constant during the next two decades, following me to three different states until we finally settled in their native California. (They were born Smith Ranch.)

The bond grew slowly, and when Bunter's brother Whimsey had to be put down two years ago he seemed to assume I was his feline sibling, never wanting me to leave his side. It followed the loss of both of my parents, my aunt and a few friends over the course of less than two years.

So many memories eventually were embedded into their presence -- as much joy as there was loss, betrayal, anger, regret and fear. Their lack of judgment and unconditional love was something that was slowly earned and unexpected. I've struggled to write more about what these two companions meant to me and have feared appearing to be the wretched, crazy cat person as I rhapsodize them. The words haven't materialized, and I apologize for the sentimentality of the video.

Have You Seen Taco?

Bunter - August 9, 1989 - August 15, 2008

Harmony

The three pets of my childhood (from left) Julie, Nina and Sugarplum.

Lost in Bernal