Not that i’m even remotely Catholic, [well technically, I suppose, having been dipped, sprinkled, splashed, or whatever it was] but I recall Ash Wednesday being a topic of conversation last night in the bar, [it being Fat Tuesday and all...].
I’d taken the cello out for its weekly exercise, plopped down still groggy from traveling back from Maui, only to hear a demand issued: “Ya gotta have beads on if you’re gonna play in the circle tonight!” I blinked and looked around, and sure enough, everyone had Mardi Gras beads on. I’d completely failed to take notice of that fact upon plodding into the bar. Someone to my right kindly slid a string of beads in my direction, which I dutifully placed around my neck before skittering off for an adult beverage. Later in the evening I examined them a little more closely, only to discover it was a golden chain of mermaids, which seemed fitting enough considering my recent aquatic adventures.
I thought of this mermaid drawing that I’d done ages ago, so I decided to stick it to this entry. In my sketchbook, there’s a section of a poem by Keats on the opposite page which had something to do with the creation of the image, but seeing as I can’t find the sketchbook at the moment, I can’t post it — although perhaps I’ll hunt it up online and shove it into the Dead Poets section later. *shrugs*
***edit: here’s the fragment from Book II of Endymion***
But this is human life: the war, the deeds,
The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination’s struggles, far and nigh,
All human; bearing in themselves this good,
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make us feel existence, and to show
How quiet death is. Where soil is men grow,
Whether to weeds or flowers; but for me,
There is no depth to strike in: I can see
Naught earthly worth my compassing; so stand
Upon a misty, jutting head of land –
Alone? No, no; and by the Orphean lute,
When mad Eurydice is listening to ’t;
I’d rather stand upon this misty peak,
With not a thing to sigh for, or to seek,
But the soft shadow of my thrice-seen love,
Than be – I care not what.
My lack of ability to find things in the studio indicates that perhaps I should tidy things in here today. It being the first day of Lent however, I’m sorely tempted to give up house cleaning for forty days. 
