Bloom

Saw this bloom on this succulent in my yard and thought it was pretty.

Art That Fits

Driving home from an exhausting day of serious art making/teaching, this truck drives up along side me in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Art That Fits . . . what? I amused myself all the way home with the fill in the blank.

oil cloth

Found this tablecloth while cleaning the garage; perfect fit for my outdoor cafe table; great timing too!

My Classroom (Part 2)

weeds

Noticed the weeds were taller than me-time for some serious weeding...

Sasquatch Was Here

Sasquatch was here?

Greasers

Beauty School Drop Out- entry in costume contest for Grease at the Hollywood Bowl.

My Classroom

catch all

My bedroom has become a catch all and there is a growing mountain of stuff blocking my closet; how did a blender box end up here?

squirrel

This little rascal caused quite a stir with one of our dogs but he didn't get frazzled; held on to his treat and even posed proudly for the camera.

Old Linen/New Fashion

After taking the Fashion on the Fly class (using only tablecloths, old drapes, scissors and staplers to create fabulous new garments), I now look at my linen closet in a whole new way. Where's my stapler . . . ?

tour bus

Didn't know TMZ had their own tour bus.

summertime fun

A good and fun way to beat the heat.

street performer

I admire those who put their talent out there.

Cucumber Aliens

Yesterday we watched the movie "Signs."

Today I cut a cucumber from my garden and sliced up some cucumber aliens.

Wrinkled

"I can make a peach pit with my chin" - look - and I rub softly at the wrinkled knob. "And I can do THIS with my tongue." Reid imitates the clover leaf tongue trick and we gaze at our images in the big mirror across from the dining room table. "Listen" he yells, and we quiet down expectantly, young and old, my dad with his comb poised in mid stroke, Pam pulling her long hair into a loose pony tail, Heather with a spoon hanging, balanced, from the end of her perfect nose. "Listen and he opens his mouth wide and knocks a tune out by rapping his knuckles on the top of his head.  Laughter, squeals, oohs and ahhs.  "Look what I can do" we all seem to yell at once and we all in turn, or more often together and overlapping, show off our silly talents as our dad watches and our mother giggles and we believe the look in his eyes and the smile on her face. We believe them, that we are the most wonderful, the most talented. The next day I will show the group of people at school my wonderful new-found talents, and somehow they won't care; it won't be fun.  But even when I realize I'm not the most wonderful, I still know I am the most lucky.

(This was an 8 minute, Lynda Barryesque writing from the word prompt "wrinkled.")

Promo

Promo for Iris Cirque du Soleil- found the film reels cool.

Banner

Banner outside a home welcoming home their son.

Still the 4th?

I'm not sure that I actually enjoy 4th of July anymore. We spent at least as long cleaning up as we did watching the sparks fly. And please, would someone tell my neighborhood that the holiday is over - I'm tired of being woken up every night by the loud booom of illegal fireworks.

seeds

My sweet peas have finished their blooming season but left behind many seeds in anticipation of next seasons blooms.

Mockingbirds are My Favorite

The other day, I was wasting some time, casually flipping through a book "Attracting Birds to Your Backyard." The page that caught my eye was "What to do if you find a baby bird." The book told me not to worry that a mother bird might reject a nest that smells like human - it's just an old wive's tale. If it's obviously too young to be out the nest, it said, pick that bird up and put it back in.

Wouldn't you know it, today I found a baby bird in my back yard. The purplish kind, with no real feathers, tightly shut eyes, and wide open mouth. I thought it was dead, laying in the sun under our avocado tree. I looked closer and it was breathing. What to do?! What to do?! Then I remembered the common-sense advice: "Look around for a nest." And there it was, about 10 feet up in the avocado tree. I picked up that little bird, climbed a ladder, and tucked it back into the nest next to his sleeping baby brother.

I couldn't even tell what kind of bird it was. But when I came back with my camera, I saw a grown-up mockingbird with a bright red berry in its mouth swoop into the tree, then heard two little peeping voices.

Computer Blues

We went out of town to the in-laws for a few days to celebrate the 4th. Seven different households all hanging out under one roof - a million kids running around. I brought my camera and I've got pictures to share. The kids are getting along wonderfully, but I can't make the various electronics play nice together. I'll be back posting on Friday!

Trifle

My patriotic contribution

jewelry pouch

I have one of those pouches that hangs over the back of a door and has tons of pockets to hold jewelry which I rarely utilize but today as I passed it I noticed these poodles watching me and I thought maybe they wondered if today would be the day I'd take them out.

Good Impression

I like to remind myself that it isn't always about perfection.

Construction or Sculpture?

It's all about context.

Usually, when I would see something like this on the street, I would hardly notice and just think that some city construction project must be getting ready to happen.  But this was outside of Otis, an art school, and instead I found myself thinking about the cool minimalist sculpture that must be in the works. Construction or sculpture?

custom guitars

For $9.95, you can choose your favorite color and get it customized ith your name....

Painting the roses red

Saw this city truck applying some type of greenish color to the grass and all I could think of was "painting the roses red" from Alice in Wonderland.

I went to church today. Yep, you heard right - church. The sermon was on compassion. Ok, that's sounds like a typical morning at church. But this sermon was given by a ukulele strumming, blues harmonica playing Buddhist monk. So good.

Toast

As I was making dinner tonight, after a hectic and technology frustrating day, I noticed that the toast I intended on having for breakfast was still sitting in the toaster; no wonder by 1pm I was hungry!

Family Camping

I can't wait for our family camping vacation this summer. Maybe this is where I get my love of camping from . . .

Buds

The buds are growing!!! It won't be long until it's guacamole and margarita time.

Coyote Skull

The coyote skull is soaking in water. Looks kind of prehistoric, doesn't it?

Prayer card

Attended a cousin's rosary tonight; this is in her memory.

Hummingbird in My Studio

For some reason, hummingbirds sometimes fly into my studio. Today it happened again. They've always found their way out again. This one didn't.

Sculpture

Saw this sculpture on Lake Blvd in Pasadena but it was too dark to see what it represented.

Candy machine

Prop candy machine on the new Buena Vista Street at California Adventure.

Shapes and Light and Color

I started a new painting in a series today. All very serious, everything intentional, nothing just for fun.

I took a break and sat in the backyard eating lunch, staring off through the trees, thinking about nothing in particular, only noticing shape and color.

And I thought, "That's what I want to paint. Just shapes and light and color."  But that's not how I paint - at least, not usually. Although it might be how I will paint tomorrow.

34,000 Feet

JFK => LAX

Somewhere over the middle of the country

34,000 Feet

Virgin Atlantic

Surprise Mystery Squash

A few weeks ago I planted a few garlic to see what might happen. I used some dirt from the yard, some bagged garden soil from the store, and some compost from our kitchen waste. We don't really "take care of" our kitchen-waste compost. We don't have a fancy recepticle - just a trash can with air holes drilled in the sides. It rarely gets turned or mixed. We don't harvest worms. We just let the scraps do their own thing and pretty soon it looks good enough to mix in with the other dirt. I'm so glad we don't do it "right" because what we get is just too much fun to miss. Yes, the garlic that I planted seems to be growing just fine, but I've also got about eight mystery vines growing among the garlic. Two, I think, are pumpkin, which is surpising because we almost never have pumpkin in our kitchen. Maybe they're acron squash - that would make more sense. Another, I'm pretty sure, is butternut squash. I love butternut squash. Then there's this one which appears to be turning into spaghetti squash. We eat lots of spaghetti squash. Wonderful to have so much food growing in our back yard. But what's really best is the fun of going out to water the garden and finding so many, many surprises.

Video games

It amazes me how kids as young as 2 know what video games are; he hasn't quite gotten the concept but "plays" with his mom and has a blast. Give me an old fashioned board game anyday....

Fashion of the Fly

I've never been very interested in fashion. And I hated the Home Ec class that I was forced to take in 7th grade. But . . . give me some old curtains, a pair of scissors, and a stapler, and apparently I suddenly love all that! Took a class today -  "Fashion on the Fly" - and this is what I got to take home! (Plus a new pair of scissors and a stapler.) Can't wait to go through the linen closet and start hacking up those old table cloths and stapling away.

Monorail

I noticed the Monorail at Disneyland now has a face; I thought it looked like Dori but my daughter says no.

Washington Square Park, NYC

Washington Square Park

NYC

6.23.12

430p

Duckling

Yes, I am your mother.

Summer Window

I love summer. Love it. Love it. When I wake up early in the morning and see blue skies already out to greet me, all I can do is smile.

Love bugs

Came across these roly poly's that my husband swore were doing the bug deed yet when they separated there were 3! Menage Trios?

Hidden Birdbath

While walking along an out-of-the-way trail today

we came upon this birdbath

hidden in the bushes

I guess birds like a little privacy when they bathe, too.

Favorite Flower

These were always my mother's favorite. Now they're mine. Nothing brings back memories of my mom as strongly as the smell of gardenias.

coconut mail

My husband, the letter carrier, had once told me how the post office will deliver pretty much anything that had the proper postage on it and told me a story of a kindergarten class that mailed a banana to prove the point but it wasn't until I saw this coconut with the proper postage on it that was mailed to a restaurant of a friend of ours; pretty cool.

Construction workers

Even though I'm approaching middle age

in a fast and furious way,

a part of me is still a young boy.

I think the youth in me loves this image

construction workers, carving thru the earth.

Cool.