Doves Versus Pigeons

Yesterday was a confusing day.
Lauren was sure she found a dead dove in the backyard, but I was certain I'd seen a pigeon.

It's funny, as I wrote the name of this post I realized it's the name of a song by my friend Melanie. She had a birthday this weekend (BIRTHDAYS!!!!!) and when I called she said she loves the blog but wants more photos. For example, she wanted to see a photo of the sick pigeon I had seen.

Luckily, I have a photo of the bird, which I forgot at home when I made the original entry.



From The American Dove Association website:
What’s the difference between a dove and a pigeon?
The term “dove” and “pigeon” are one and the same and are used interchangeably. The word pigeon usually denotes a larger bird and dove a smaller bird.

I'll be honest, I don't really get Melanie's song (though it's clearer now that I know a dove is a pigeon!). But she says some pretty (hazily) applicable things to the questions I've been asking. "Yes I would know you better if you could just let me get there". . ."it's a long way to go but its the secret that blows my mind." I always felt good about this bird, and I can see why. I'm glad that it was both a dove and a pigeon; it was beautiful either way.

Thank goodness for Lauren, who allowed me and my emotions to stay on the sideline while she did the burial.




R.I.P., friend.

All is Full of Love

Maddie, you and I must be on the same wavelength. To counterbalance all of the creepy animal deaths and fierce-albeit-friendly book battles, here is a visual list of five things I think are really great:

5.


4.


3.

(Some photos courtesy of Philco.)

2.

1. Ponytail Junction!
[Photo TK, as to my knowledge, we've thus far only been snapshotted in trios.]

Namaste

There may be a dead dove in the backyard but we remain a peace loving community. Even Rachel.

The animals are talking

I have to start with a sidenote:
I love Maddie.
Rachel, that's MY copy of Tender is The Night you're reading, with MY awkward notes in the margins! You're stuck with the Last Tycoon. or even worse, the collected short stories. deal.
Don't mess with the VHS.

Now for the subject-relevant post.
Since my last update, I have had two more sightings! Yesterday while sitting outside at lunch with a friend, a totally crazy 4 inch leopard print slug crawled (crawled?) right up to our table and just kinda hung out, for a long time. Also a first-time encounter, and also way weird for the city.
Then, just now, as I was watering the garden I discovered a dead dove, underneath the white leaves that grow at the foot of our mysterious pod tree. I am going to have to cover it with more dirt, but it's clearly past the point to be moved. I wonder if my act of burying this one will put an end to my encounters?
I'm open to more signs.

maddie threatened to kick us all off the blog.

perhaps you missed maddie's rather sassy, tardy comment below: "rachel, you stole the book that jenni and lauren picked out for me?! who do you think you are? ME??? and jenni, just because rachel read the book first that doesn't make it hers. you picked it for me so its mine. even if i never read it. ESPECIALLY if i never read it."
well, all IVE got to say in HER unflattering biking shorts is














































































and mads, p.s. i'm very much enjoy-ing tender is the night.



and your shorts.

Ponytail Junction Candid Camera

an update on the things with wings phenomenon...

As I was walking home today down our dear little Diamond Street, I encountered a third anomalous creature. This time, it was very much alive (though perfectly still), yet it's place in the series, it's symbolic relevance, and the perfect timing of the sighting have led me to believe that there must be something greater afoot. Also like the other times, I have never seen such a creature anywhere near here. There perched on the sidewalk was a large spotted grasshopper!
How could this be bad?

We Made Stickers

even creepier than emo

my dead-flying-stuff sightings are more bizarre than tearful.

One must consider the odds:
Firstly, the initial sighting was a BRIGHT GREEN HUMMINGBIRD. On 25th Street between 9th and 10th ave! I mean, bright green. Like, super rare and pretty green. It had a blue beak. I thought at first that it could have fallen out of an apartment window or something, but it was not in front of any residential buildings. I have never seen a hummingbird in my entire life. They do not live in Manhattan, or anywhere near.
The second sighting was a dead Monarch butterfly. A common breed, for sure, but I have never, ever seen a dead one before, and certainly not on a city street. Are flying things in New York cursed, you ask? Touche! I saw the butterfly in Philadelphia!
Clearly, these are Omens, and I am being followed by some spirit or guide something. I am willing to believe these are signs. But evil or encouraging? I am so confused.
To truly top off the creep effect, these encounters have coincided with another turn of the tide, and in my own life (which is surrounded by so much embellishment, so many pretty objects) butterflys, birds and things with wings in general but particularly those existing as remnants of the dead have emerged or become apparent as rather the dominant imagery of choice...
I have said too much. Someone/thing is listening...

I guess I am pretty emo.

If I'm So Emo...

...Then why is Rachel the one befriending ghost-birds in our backyard and listening to "Sea Changes" in her pajamas?

Also, sometimes I hear her crying in her sleep. Because, you know, our rooms are connected.

More Emo than Emo Jenni

Friends, let me begin by saying hello and thank you! I am so happy and honored to have become the second longest ponytail! I have here my first post, which may seem too grim emo, but I like to put these things out to the universe so that it knows I'm working on it, not ignoring it. I hope it doesn't get me kicked off the blog.

Lauren recently told Emo Jenni and I about all the dead things (mostly birds) she has seen in the last week. A dead hummingbird on 24th (?), a dead butterfly in the street, there were more. Emo Jenni added to the list, too.

Today as I washed some blinds in our backyard a pigeon fell (from the tree?) and it was so screwed up it already looked dead. A broken wing, all wet or greasy or oily (I'm so paranoid about the Greenpoint Oil Spill), lots of missing feathers, and you could see its spine when it bent over; I thought to myself, if I were a pigeon, I'd think death had come to get me. It hung out with me while I cleaned, drinking water at my feet and unphased by my movements/proximity. If I was moneyed I would have saved it, because it was the sweetest and cutest pigeon ever.

I forgot to mention to Lauren and Emo Jenni that my last week of college I saw one-to-many dead birds a day. The last one I saw was on the way to visit my very dear 92 year old friend for what I knew would be the last time, and I almost stepped on it. This left me standing in the street outside of her house sobbing.

The question is this: the dead birds obviously represented so many things for me then: the death of college, of relationships and memories, of security, of pubescent adulthood. But what's with the strange dead birds now? I feel like my friend today was hopeful in some way. Unless when I bring the blinds in tonight it's lying stone cold on the concrete.

new relations and revelations

First, we are pleased to announce the latest addition to the Ponytail Junction sisterhood: Rachel, by way of Louisiana, Iowa, Washington, France, and then Louisiana again. I think she's tired.
The (con)Junction is complete - next we need super-power rings. If only each of us had a different element sign. oh well.

A unique trend has been observed by Jenni and I, and I feel that it is worth mentioning 1) because I need something to write about, 2) it's funny and 3) to pressure the other half of the Junction to follow suit. The two of us have sharing our obsessions with particular F. Scott Fitzgerald novels. She has read The Great Gatsby six times, once every summer for six years. I have the same deep affection for This Side of Paradise, which I have read five times, also as a summer tradition. I know the book so well that I get scenes or bits of dialogue stuck in my head, like a song. Last week I found myself compelled to pour over the dialogue between Amory and Rosalind. Jenni found me curled up in fetal position clutching the book, enraptured and starry eyed. We so totally bonded.
Now, lots of people really like certain books. okay. But mister F. Scott has had a particularly severe impact on our lives; Apparently, both of us made it a personal rule not to date anyone who didn't also obssess over these books. Really. Not kidding. One has to wonder just what effect that guideline has had on our boy judgement... whatever. I'm fine with it. And I will always, always, fall for the Amory Blaines of the world.
We're trying to get Maddie hooked on Tender is the Night.
There must be a theme party in the works here. I do love a good mint julep (which, by the way, only became one of my favorite drinks because that's all they drink in Gatsby... *sigh*).

I suppose

So I suppose it's about time to add my two cents on all things regarding the house, our ponytails, and I guess that damn chair too.
I've had the last two weeks off and got to use that time to work on the house and get some projects off the ground. One of the things this house is supposed to allow us is some great studio space. This has been somewhat hindered over the past month when our basement has flooded at least three times, leaving it kinda gross and maybe mildly toxic. As a result, Maddie and I have had to forgo are plan to turn the basement into a little cave of creativity. I've instead opted to annex the mysterious first floor closet, one of three such secret rooms in the house. Disregarding all reasoned warnings, I've gone ahead and set up a screen-printing station in the basement - and it is so fun. I work in knee high rubber boots and wear a respirator mask. Here's the light version of the get-up, dust mask only; Solely for the pre-printing sweep.


I should burn some sage down there. That may also help to appease our ghost, which I have only seen in the kitchen. It does, in fact, inhabit our fridge, and creeps between the floor boards late at night. I swear I've sensed it nestling in the attic too, and only on that side of the house, although we are all too timid to go up there. Perhaps that's where we would discover some real evidence. Our mom (v h, no s) researched the house and learned that it was built around 1900, making it all the more likely that something/one could still be here.
I made some Tees in time for our housewarming party - which, by the way, was amazing!!!
Here's an early sketch of one Ponytail Junction logo:

And as far as the chair goes... we've all learned some real lessons. About ourselves, our friends, and the power of internet stalking.
We're keeping the chair.

A Small Update on Maddie's Post

Here is the chair. I had second thoughts spreading evil chair-y simulacra across the internet where it might infect innocent computers and other mechanical bystanders, but then I thought about how it might be like giving Jamie e-herpes and I had to do it. Sorry.



Also, Maddie didn't mention (probably because I've never told her), that there is a screaming skull-face in one of the knots in the trunk of the catalpa tree in our backyard. I want to say that it stares directly into my bedroom window, because that would be dramatic, but it doesn't. Its eyes look slightly askance, at some fixed point in the sky above. Whenever Julie sleeps over, I show her and she says, "Ew, creepy!"