Float-eee he he

Floaty

Birds

Thanksgiving

This turned out to be one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever....and there wasn't even turkey...

Let's Skip Thanksgiving, Okay?

A few days before Thanksgiving, and I'm already so over Thanksgiving! Well, the truth is that the decorations are no good...turkeys....guords...and besides it's hard to tell what the heck time of year it is here....the subtle ways that I have seen the seasons represent themselves here are through the sandcycle and the waves...and the animals (which ones are here and which ones leave). I live in what amounts to a really big bay and at sometimes of the year there are sandy beaches just over the cliff here, and then at other times like the winter, the rocky reefs are exposed.

Maybe this sudden rush to Christmas decorating has to do with the fact that I've been out to shopping ares in recent days and television commercials are starting to reflect the coming hollidays....Everything is so shiny and lit and holidayish.....I've been mediated. But, it's a hoot.

Banana

I'm working on promotional materials today....I haven't actively promoted myself for...gosh, years...it's a serious short coming on my part careerwise...But, now I want to move into some different directions and not just let the current sweep me along...it's really sort of a madening thing I am finding. I can't settle on images because I keep thinking that, "this could be better".....know what I mean? It's different from working on a book because for that, there are definite deadlines and you just have to get rolling and not overthink it- when it's approved, you roll....I'm second guessing too much...

The image of Annamouse has nothing to do with seconf guessing....it has to do with revisiting the massive box of sketches in my closet....

Tree

Mermaids

This afternoon I scootched on down to SLO to go to a party for Jay Asher's book Thirteen Reasons Why. The author and his fellow Disco Mermaids; Eve and Robin, were there. I thought that they were charismatic and very charming. The author read a chapter out of his upcoming book- which is very original and fabulous, and thanked the people in his life for their support...I stood in the back of the room filled with family, friends and assorted supporters and thought, you know, that no one does this alone, not really. The people we rely on in our lives to give their honest opinion, to prop us up a bit when we're feeling down and keep us going, they are the reason can attempt to make it in this tough business...

sketch

Day's End

All Better

Cool winds are blowing outside. That crisp fall air is back...I feel like the world is a little less off today.

It's funny how peoples lives touch and then mingle for awhile and then set off in different directions again and then there are new people...I have had this core group of friends since I have been living in this spot and recently it's been dawning on me that we're in that last phase before we all set off in different directions again. We all started off a few years ago being new to the place, coming from different corners of the world. We were all learning how to surf and live this beachy sort of lifestle. We were all in love with the place, with the weather and hills and the ocean. Now many of them have children and many are looking at different corners of the world to live to raise them. Different things have become important like being closer to family and good schools. I've been thinking about changes also...being closer to family, a weird sort of yearning for foul weather and more dramatic seasons...but for me, things are changing in a differnet way, and I am going to stay put for the next 2 years now (probably)...there are things happening in my personal life- and now I'm trying to look at the area again through new eyes and see it full of possibilities and novelty again...you know how it is when you almost train yourself to think in a certain way about something? And now doing it again...it's a good thing. It feels good again.

Today I"m back to work- that was a nice long week or so of doing other things...getting to sort through stuff , take care of other concerns, sit and read, wander around just to wander around without and errand to run....It's time to get back to it though, I'm ready.

Cooling

The temperatures topped out at the coast at 91...96 in town. I have all of the windows open and am hoping the promised cool air arrives before heading for bed.

I saw as I watched the news tonight that Faith Hill gave an honest response to that Karaoke American Idol chick winning at the CMA awards- Go Faith Hill! Tell it like it is- just because someone can sing Karaoke and has been packaged by the music industry, doesn't mean they are an artist...

I spent the day drawing pictures of shorter, younger people...and lots of animals.

Melting

The temperature is looming near 90 today (and that's at the coast!)...hot Santa Ana offshore winds are blowing and it's flipping hot in here...It's so hot that I am going to find some airconditioned somewhere to be today...maybe a movie theater? There isn't a wave to be found at the beach...it's a super high tide today...besides putting a 4/3 neoprene wetsuit on in this heat sounds horrible too- I don't know...It's hot and it's already drained my creative energies, so I'm posting a repeat image (the first one I've repeated on this blog)...I think it describes the day perfectly....

"The Historian" goes to Lake Bled

When I was a kid, we lived in Belgium for a time. While we ere there, we went to Yogoslavia on a vacation (when it was Yogoslavia). On one day in paricular, it was rainy and windy when myself, my sister and my mom ( I don't remember my father taking the little gondola ride with us), were fairyed to a little castle in the middle of a big lake. I remember that it was so gray and foggy that we couldn't see the mountains and I remember being very frightened on the gondola ride out. I remember being fascinated by the casted and being horrified by the princess in the glass coffin with the sword in her head...wait? Did I really remember that right? A sword in head? I'm not sure...but, I'm reading The Historian right now, which is this really delicious book about Dracula and it's in there.........Lake Bled and the Castle

Hello, Gorgeous!

And History Repeats

I can remember the day that John Lennon was shot very clearly. I was 12 years old and the day before I had convinced my mom to drive me to the department store so I could buy a copy of the brand new album Double Fantasy. I was and am a huge fan. I was only 12, but I cried all day and could not understand why I still had to be in school and why none of the other kids seemed to get what had just happened...I don't know that I really did, but I knew how I felt about it.

I just came back from seeing The U.S. vs. John Lennon. A few weeks ago I listened to this interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The FBI were such a bunch of bumbling fools (that were personally set to get Lennon on Nixon's orders) that they had the wrong picture on the wanted poster. Can you imagine? One of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century and especially that time period and the FBI had some other guy's photo on the wanted poster.....

Time to Read

Today I was surrounded by mothers and small children all morning at a brunch I went to. The brunch was nice, but after hour 3, I reached saturation. I couldn't take any more. I came home to blissful quiet. I poured myself a glass of wine and pulled out my pile of books to read. My schedule has been so nuts and my eyes too worn out to read after a long day of creating pictures that forgot how great it is to curl up with a good book. I'm reading Gossamer by Lois Lowry and it's the first book in a while that I have really gotten into. Next in my pile are Fragile Things and The Historian.

I noticed that after months of drawing toddlers, it's very diffecult to draw anything that isn't big headed...

Time to Doodle

The week is flying by so fast. I haven't had a deadline for 3 days noe. It's already Wednesday evening and I'm just now starting to turn my attention to stuff that I don't have a deadline...I spent the first couple of days tidying and paying bills and doing laundry and stuff like that. Today I did a little of that but also got to play a little bit.

Ugh- and I finished voting. The California ballot is 2 sides of a sheet of paper I would guess is 11 by 17 inches. Both sides are filled with stuff to vote on. All in all it probably took over 2 hours to fill out. I'm so glad I vote absentee, atleast that makes life a little bit easier. But, hurray! I voted. Go Arnold, go!