Bring on the Rain

Some long awaited rain on the Central Coast and what

better way to spend a rainy afternoon than with black cats,

tea in my favourite mug,

 in front of a toasty blaze,

and plenty or books!

The Last Leaves of Fall

As December begins, we bid adieu to
 the glorious colours of autumn.

Wild turkeys on Thanksgiving Day.

 Vineyards preparing for their long winter's nap.

All these shots from Sebastopol,
about an hour north of San Francisco.

five by five

When Seth Apter's first book came out, he invited all the contributors to make a 5x5" piece of artwork based on one of the questions we had answered in the interview section of the book. I made mine and sent it in.  Now many of those pieces will be in an exhibition at The Empty Spaces Project in Putnam Connecticut during the month of December. So I'll be in my first show on the east coast!

Happy Thanksgiving

Vintage holiday postcard from my grandmother's collection.

Small World!

My good friend and writing coach extraordinaire Judy Reeves  recently taught a workshop in La Mansanilla, a tiny fishing village on the Pacific coast about 90 minutes south of Puerta Vallarte.
Margot and I spent a couple of weeks there in 2005 and had a wonderful time - fresh caught shrimp, Mexican beer and lots of relaxation. Judy posted the above picture on faceBook and I realized we'd been there for breakfast.

In fact I'd done a quick sketch of it while waiting for

 our food to arrive. Pequeño mundo.

Life on the Coast

Morro Rock from the beach in Baywood Park.

Favourite Toy Friday

Writing about my red and yellow buckboard 

in the last post, made me think of this.

My dream toy when I was 10.  The Marx Civil War set. 

 It was a bit expensive, so I didn't have one. 

 But the little boy next door did - 

 and I occasionally got to play with his,

Ten years ago, my older daughter found one on eBay 

and surprised me for my birthday!  Every now and then I order 

some extra pieces to add to it, a dead horse, an ambulance wagon.

I was so amazed by the gift.. Even almost 50 years later,
 the magic held.  I love setting it up and playing with it.
 One of the best presents ever - 

and definitely one of the biggest surprises. 

Past Recaptured!

 I was playing around on eBay the other day and just for fun I entered some clues into the search box to see if I could bring up one of my favourite toys from over 55 years ago.

And there it was!  My good ole red buckboard with yellow wheels. Exactly the same.
Just like I remember it. We had some great times, playing with my miniature farm set and all my cowboys. Pretty cool when you can recapture such a happy part of your childhood for less than $10.00 and free shipping!

Still Hunting and Gathering

Still going through my stash to find
 goodies for the latest project.

I've got it all sitting on the studio table, marinating away!

Had a four day hospital stay that slowed me down a bit, 

but feeling better and ready to get going on this new artwork.

Welcome Bronwyn!

My daughter Bronwyn is arriving this morning all the way from Missouri. We'll be having a family Thanksgiving a week early, and this year she'll be making the dinner - not just eating it as in this 1982 shot above.