12/24/2020> + on the 12th day of xmas eve (our 24th anniversary) we release this year's record of our existence, Herd of Birds, on vinyl no less. Even if no 1 else in el moondough listens we're proud of her. If there's 1 thing we halve to be grateful for it's halving our bedder-½ w/ us during this pandemic (not to mention the latter ½ of our life). That + being sheltered in this house that we call home during this insanity of 2020. After we settled into this new home last year we posted pics + a walk-thru video, but a lot has changed since then. We've acquired some new things, made more art + inherited a bunch of our mom's possessions when she died over the summer, so figured we' do another walk-thru to show what this house we've been cooped up in this past year looks like:

As u can see we've gotten a few toys these past few months, for our birthdays, early xmas + anniversary... reckon if we can't travel + we're gonna be stuck here over the holydaze + into 2021 may as well get some toys, mostly musical instrawments inklooting this Alesis e-drum set (getting tired of playing drums on them little pads):

Our exorcise room in the basement is starting to look like a proper man-cave! We also got a tin Turkish drum (upside down on table below) + an autoharp (+ not pictured is a ukulele + flute (more for our bedder-½)):

Most of the new flair on top of the Roman harmonium was our mom's. The creepy clown doll we found in a book box in G-town. The print of the donkey playing the organ our bedder-½ got us for our birthday last month.

The record player is also sorta new (the shitty 1 we had in Rome was 220v so we left it there) + yes, the 2 precarious stacks of books leaning against the wall @ right is our to-read pile that we're ever trying to get thru. This is where we spend ½ of our dayz (where we recorded Herd of Birds), the other ½ we're usually sitting in this chair in the living room:

Far left surrounded by corn is Xul, a statue we got from our mom. Not sure why we call him Xul (pronounced Zool), the name just came to us. Xul has been a rather assertive force amongst our inanimate objets, vying for dominance w/ Singha (the centerpiece on our mantel below, who's been the reigning alpha male of our inanimate possessions for over 30 years). Juanita is the cactus next to Xul, we moved her here cuz she wasn't getting enough sun in the crook of the spiral stairs where she was before. JC (Juan Carlos) sits next to her. The Dogon stork (Malibu) in the window @ right we got @ GoodWood, the used furniture store a block away where we get most of our stuff.

That's Singha (w/ xmas regalia) front + center. Jaguar is @ far left (we always put him nearest to our modem/router since he's our communication liaison, tho we don't have Inurnet issues here like we did in Rome). The Dogon mask @ left we got @ the Georgetown flea market (along w/ the Turkish drum).

The cowrie-covered kora (that we got in Rome) + drums (that we got from our mom tho 1 or 2 of them we're originally ours) are ornamental, can't really play them. The African statue @ left we got @ GoodWood (can't remember what we named her). The magnificent goat lamp below is the most recent GoodWood acquisition (his name is just Got). The pink 2-headed creature (don't have a name yet for her) we got from our mom, as well as the 2-headed dog (Cerberus) next to her. The orange-faced girl above them we got for our bedder-½ for her birthday in October (we don't name "art" that hangs on the walls). The sticks in the milk pail we found in the garbage (behind a florist shop). The Japanese books on the coffee table we blogged about in post #822 + those are the 4 original home-made books we made this past year that got compiled into 4ier X-forms.

(alternate view)

(living room)

(library/dining room)

(kitchen sink)

The small red rooster we got from our mom, we was w/ her when she bought it ~30 years ago in Guadalajara + we got the bigger yellow 1 (both are original Candelarios). The lanky pink wood creature (Dogzilla) from Oaxaca we also inherited from our mom along w/ that plate in the dish rack. And yes, that was our xmas tree @ the beginning of the video.

Normally he sits in the backyard but we put him up on our stoop for the holydaze. Last year he was only like 6" tall, maybe by next xmas he'll look like a proper xmas tree. The "no soliciting" sign we put up cuz we was getting a ridiculous amount of solicitors coming to our door despite covid + we still do despite the sign. Yesterday we heard a ruckus out on our stoop + looked out + saw these kids playing out there by the tree while their mom yacked on the phone @ the foot of our stoop, acting like she lived here. The outside world is fast becoming a strange place. We still go on our walks but mostly we just try to find streets w/ the least amount of covidiots. A few days ago we were walking across the Key bridge from Arlington to Georgetown + heard some guy on a bike yelling @ some woman behind us so we both turned + faced the water + the guy came by us spitting + yelling something about facemasks. He continued on yelling + spitting @ people. Makes u want to never even leave the house + just walk on a treadmill + take vitamin D pills. We're starting to question our one sanity lately, yesterday we poured the pasta into the sauce instead of the boiling water! Anyway, Mary xmas to those that believe in such nonsense.