The Fine Art and Design Blog of Darren Daz Cox

So I’m on the beach with my camera on this beautiful day, not for any particular purpose except that I wanted an excuse to not walk too far or fast, just fart around and soak up the sun and think. I took some pics of the sky and randomly thought about Billy Meier, the Swiss photographer who can supposedly take photographs of ufos by telepathically asking them to show up. So I asked for a ufo to show up.

It was too sun-shiny bright to see in the window on my digital camera so I was just pointing and clicking and basically letting serendipity aim the camera , then after a few snaps I saw a ufo. I swear to God this photo is un-tampered with.
I realized it wasn’t the Pleiadians, the aliens who visit Billy, when the thing looked like it was being tossed about by the wind. I thought it was a skydiver doing tricks then it looked like a hot air balloon that had lost the basket and was deflating, which is a pretty unusual sight and a little worrying!
It was falling fast and ended up about a mile down the beach. I rushed down there to see that it was a balloon, a tissue paper job almost six feet in length!

I’d never seen a balloon made out of tissue paper before and heck, I saw it first so I took it!
It’s hanging like a big trophy fish from the ceiling in my apartment thanks to the convenient piece of string on the top of the balloon.
I think I’ll bring it over to my niece this weekend and see if we can inflate it somehow!

~**~

When humidity reaches 100% the water starts to drop out of the sky right? This morning it had to be close to 99% humidity here in magical Keansburg NJ as the mist was still thick on the home stretch to noon! Walking on the beach when you can only see about 30 or 40 feet ahead of you is a nice change from the usual long vistas.

I found a nice shiny quarter yea! (that’s 25 times more than Laura Ingles Wilder got at Christmas you know). I also found a pocket full of trinkets and treasures and then I found a really nice big feather, it is a seagull feather and while I’m sure Laura had 25 times more pretty feathers, it’s still a nice one.  Seagulls might not be as flashy as peacocks or magestic as eagles but I can see them anytime I want and makes them far more inspirational!

Then I found a perfect piece of driftwood, it was light like the feather but it has a perfect spiral in the middle just made for fingers to grab and the feather fit perfectly into the end. Suddenly I realized that it was now a magic wand and I used it’s magic to stop it from raining ha! it now sits in my bedroom window awaiting its next use!

You should make one too, you don’t have to use a feather, you can put a flower or something else magical in your stick to activate it!

I also found a balloon with a card on it ha! Congratulations young Gaurav of Chesterbrook Academy Elementary School in West Chester , PA, your balloon ended up on the beach in Keansburg NJ!  I’ll send the card back to you on monday!

It’s "dandylion season", the non-corporate, non-religious time for celebrating early spring, you can’t buy anything for this and many people are actally anti-dandists *gasp* oh well, more wishes for those of us who celebrate! here’s a poem from 1990 i wrote about dandelions.

The Dandelion Poem

If you were a flowering thing which one would you be?

honeysuckle, an orchid, cherry blossom or rose?

perhaps something so exotic that nobody yet knows

or perhaps all traditional like the magnolia tree

I ask you to decide which one would you be?

remember choose wisely tho’ this is a game

think of all the great choices

the colors the perfume the poetic name

and centuries of lovers voices.

will you be the kind that is cut off at bloom

and sold along with the dog food and cleaner

or one of the many that are neatly lined up

by the house where the grass is so greener?

I’d be the dandelion - anarchist of plants

growing in places that others just can’t

for the dandelion cares not for the row

is not bought or sold, needs no ‘miricle grow’

not delicate nor dainty, no perfumey smell

a headache for landscapers and it smiles in the sun well,

always one there to give to your lover

with organic gold brilliance glowing

a favorite of kids to give to their mother

and pressed in a book there is forever love showing

a favorite of the guinea pig, the rabbit and bear

who munch down ‘cos they find ‘em delicious

a godsend and example of something to share

and even humans can find them nutritious!

So I’d be a dandelion-a common weed

considered plain when compared to a rose

but strong roots and sunshine give it all it needs

for the magic that everyone knows

‘cos other flowers when dead soon lose their beauty

but the dandelion sure aint like this

as in exchange for survival from your mighty breath

the dandelion gives you a wish!!!!

^~**^~

~*Tree of Life oil on canvas with magic wand and morning crystal rainbows by Darren Daz Cox*~

This art is by Chris Brogan, an artist who has found a more ‘useful’ identity bringing people together for business and pleasure by blogging on social networking.

I know Mrs. Chili will like this pic!

Chris meet Chili - Chili meet Chris!

My niece says "bawwoon".

~* *~