Hello, José!

I finally got to meet José via Facebook. The only problem is that she speaks Dutch, so I have to draw for her.

The Sky Says Happy Birthday, Mom!

MAD Magazine Goes Quarterly

Today’s economy is tough enough to even make MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman worry.

MAD announced that starting with issue #500 in April, it will move to a quarterly publication schedule from its current monthly schedule.

Editor John Ficarra: The feedback we've gotten from readers is that only every third issue of MAD is funny, so we've decided to just publish those.

To read more, step over here. (Matt Brady / Newsarama.com) Thanks, Aggles!

La Cocina

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Flight of the Whooping Crane

From: Barbara

Subject: Flight of the Whooping Crane

Date: January 22, 2009 6:11:48 PM PST

To: Linda

Today I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove to Dunnellon (86 miles away) to see seven Whooping Cranes being led by Ultra lights to their wintering grounds. They have 1 more leg of 26 miles to go and the Whoopers will be (finally) at their wintering grounds. The migration took unusually long (3 months). The team split the 14 birds up into two groups. One group is wintering in St. Marks and the other at Chassahowitzka. It was 19 degrees Fahrenheit ... but spectacular. Larry had an appointment and could not go with me so I had to take the pictures. I wore my black BB underwear.

ultralight-led bird migration

Graffiti: True Love

Linda Davick
For a week I've been drawing all kinds of things in Facebook using Graffiti. I never realized–until Deb posted a dog I drew for her–that you can play your graffiti back and watch it being drawn. I was astounded when I saw my dog drawing itself on her blog and I begged her to tell me how she had animated it. I need to get some sleep.

Stay tuned: Q&A with Deb coming soon.

Need Drink? Must Focus?

You need a drink. But you're on deadline and must maintain focus. The perfect solution:

Ingredients

• 1 part focus vitaminwater kiwi-strawberry (a+lutein)
• more or less vodka depending on how soon your deadline is
• ice cubes
• lime sliver (protects liver)

You might also try this recipe if you're learning to meditate, but need a drink before you sit down and set the timer.

I circled the name on the label for you because I had a hard time focusing the camera.

Guest Photographer

Today we're having a guest photographer named Tom Davick. I couldn't go outside so he had to take a picture for me. Thank you, Tom. And thank you for going to the store and buying Barbara's Shredded Oats so I'll have something for breakfast tomorrow.

Dear Chris. Please Help.

© Chris Georgenes



Chris Georgenes is the king of Adobe Flash. (We all know Sally's the queen.) Often when I have an emergency question and Sally's at the race track, I try bugging Chris.

Last time I emailed him I added a p.s: Do you use a Mac or a PC?

Chris: PC.

Me: Do you use a PC because it's a better machine for animation?

Chris: I wouldn’t say better – I look at it like Ford vs Chevy – they both are good platforms that get the job done. When I worked at an animation studio we were PC based except for the editing machines which were Mac (Avid). We used a dos based program called Animator Pro (defunct). So I got started in the world of computer animation on PCs.

The main reason today is because they are so darn cheap – since I do animation I always need the high end machines and they are quite expensive when you max out an apple. My newest machine is a custom built one – I ordered the components from www.newegg.com and built it myself (uber geek). Now I have an ultra fast machine with a clean operating system (win xp) and none of the popup ads and trial software that comes bloated on pre-built machines.

Mac vs. PC: A Morality Tale

My therapist had a new laptop. It was an HP and he had assured me that he would never be seen in public with it. One day at the end of a session I convinced him to show it to me. He reluctantly opened a drawer in his desk and there it was. I shook my head and walked out the door.

A few weeks later I sat back down on his couch. He excused himself to go get a drink. I was alone in the room. Suddenly I remembered I had a sheet of Apple Computer decals in my bag.

I didn't think. I simply saw what needed to be done and acted. I jumped up, opened his computer drawer, placed the decals on top of his computer, and sat back down–all before he reappeared.

To make a long story short: If you go to a psychotherapist it probably isn't such a great idea to go through his desk drawers while he's out of the room.

New Year's Celebration

Last night we were invited to a New Year's Celebration at Anne & Peter's. (We're running a little behind.) We got to see four of Anne's new paintings and finally were able to convince Peter play the piano for us. He played a few songs, and each time he'd begin one Carmen would jump up and put her paws on his shoulders. My favorite was his last one–That's All–and the way he jumped up from the piano when he finished it and declared: "That's All!"

It was a magical evening in every sense. Not to mention the dinner which was not only vegetarian and wheat-free, but somehow delicious. (Tamales, buckets of salsa and guacamole, salad, zucchini, wine, ice cream, and chocolate.)





























Carmen dances with Anne

Mark Ulriksen and his Teenagers

The High Life by Mark Ulriksen

Sally and I met Mark Ulriksen at Boulange yesterday.

Twenty-five years ago I assigned an illustration to Mark. The article was about raising teenagers, and he illustrated two teens sharing a milkshake.

Now he finds himself raising two teenagers of his own. I had some questions for him.

How old are your teenagers? And if you had to describe the personality of each in 3 words, what would those words be?

Emma, 16 (almost 17): Never enough clothes.

Lily, 12: Happy in pajamas.

How does having teenagers influence your work and work habits? Do they wander in and out as you're working?

They do wander in and out all the time. Often when they see I'm painting they'll want to join me. I'll set up 2 more easels for them in my studio, which is about the size of our table.

Also I have to admit that I never thought I'd be spending my evenings doing 6th grade algebra homework instead of painting.

Do they criticize your work? Have they ever made suggestions concerning a piece you're working on?

The Classic Emma criticism: That's pretty good, but can you make it pinker? Also: Dad they have more wrinkles than that.

With Lily it's more a comment or confirmation about a subject I'm painting: You like painting baseball more than football or You don't like George Bush.

Once when I was working on a jazz series she stared at the portraits for a long time then asked me: I have two questions: Do they have tongues and are they wearing underwear?

Later as we were walking down the street, we noticed this week's New Yorker cover (above) on the newsstand.



Mark and Sal

The Red Toaster

Discovered by Tom at Cole Hardware yesterday ($39.95)

It brings to mind a poem by William Carlos Williams:

so much depends
upon

a red toaster

I don't have to
wash

the cookie sheet
every day.

Nap Time

Seen on the corner of Union and Fillmore this afternoon all peacefully napping. (That's a rat the cat is resting his chin on.)

p.s. You've got to see this video of these very animals. Thanks, Christy!

I Joined Facebook

You can join here.

The Writing on the Curb

On the corner of Seal Rock Drive and El Camino del Mar this afternoon.

But what does it say?

Grate!

Subject: Christmas Card
From: Linda
Date: January 3, 2009 10:51:21 AM PST
To: Deb & Eric

Sorry it took us so long to get your card to you. We just couldn't find the right Christmas tree for the photo until UPS showed up yesterday. Thank you. It's the most beautiful grater we've ever seen.

p.s. I was very happy last night to dispose of our old cheese grater that smelled like a rusty piece of playground equipment.

photo Linda Davick, necklace Andrea Scher

What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

Aggles and I decided to take Mom out of the memory unit and to a wonderful cabin on Harrison Bay for five nights.

From: Aggles
Subject: Re: how are you?
Date: December 31, 2008 8:12:51 AM PST
To: Linda

I'm fine now. Sorta. Trying to change my focus and just remember the really good things about the trip. How are you? I hope you get a quiet moment to kiss off 2008 tonight. 2009 is going to be a much better year.

When I got this email from Aggles yesterday, I wrote her back and asked her to tell me the good things she remembered about our trip. At the same time, I thought I would list the good things that I remembered about our trip:

• One night after Mom was in bed, standing under the stars (very bright) with Aggles as she pointed out Orion to me. The Seven Sisters were up there, too.

• Christmas Day lunch of leftovers: Thelma Lou's broccoli casserole (Thermal Lou's to us), turkey sandwiches, potato chips, cranberry sauce, beer

• Su's visit Christmas night

• The big fireplace with an on/off switch that absolutely fascinated Mom

• The clerks at Bi-Lo the day after Christmas. (One carded me. I told her how pleased I was even though I knew she had to card everybody buying beer and we proceeded to have a lively exchange of carding stories). Another clerk came over to load my groceries and she expressed dismay at how busy it was. She said, "I thought everyone would be at all the good stores like Belk the day after Christmas." There were maybe six cars in parking lot and the store appeared empty to me.

• The extraordinary takeout bar-b-que sandwich from Kevin Brown's that came with the fat french fries from heaven.

• I want to take a nice portrait of Mom, Aggles, and me. We decide that the best place would be on the front porch, although it's a little chilly and the wind has picked up. We bundle Mom up and are waiting til the last minute to bring her outside. As I come in to get her, she says: "Wouldn't one of these poinsettias look lovely in in the photo?" We're delighted at her great art direction, and set a little table up for the flowers.

• Calling Clare, the owner of the cabin, and asking if we could pay a late fee the next day, as we could not fathom getting Mom up and dressed and the car packed by 10:00 a.m. Clare telling us to stay as long as we wanted–that in fact her husband had just suggested she call and tell us we could stay an extra day for free.

• The Holiday Inn Express that Aggles made me stay in, even though I would only be there for 6 hours. (I had planned to stay on Mom's couch and get up at 4:00 a.m. to go to the airport on my last day.) I was so happy to be in that little room that I walked back and forth for at least an hour touching things and moving things around and taking photos of the bed and things in the bathroom.

the harder things

• Mom telling me she was afraid she was getting a cold when I first arrived to help her pack for our stay at the cabin. Her being scared to go to the cabin: "We're not sure what it has in it! Does it even have heat?"

• Mom's anxiety in the car about getting lost on the way to the cabin. (She has every reason to be anxious with me driving–especially somewhere I've never been, as I have a worse sense of direction than she, and no TomTom.)

• Once inside the beautiful cabin, Mom's saying over and over that she doesn't deserve this–that she's not good enough.

• As Christmas Eve dinner was being served, sitting with Mom in the bathroom while she was ill.

• Tom drives down to spend Christmas Eve with us. Helping Mom get ready for bed that night: "That man out there–is he your husband?" "Yes, Mom! Who did you think he was?" "Well he doesn't seem like your husband!" Me (very curious): "What do you mean, Mom?" "Well ... I thought your husband was kind of a smart aleck. This man seems taller. And ... dignified." (Maybe the gray hair is a good thing.)

• The same evening: "Did I know you when you were in high school?" "Mom, you knew me long before I was in high school. You knew me from Day One. You're my mother!"

• Christmas Eve is my dad's birthday. In the bathroom with Mom that evening helping her get ready for bed: "I wish Kenneth could be here. I wonder why he died?"

• Every night after helping her get ready and get in bed, we would go over again where everyone was sleeping in the cabin. "Where are you sleeping?" she'd ask. "Right down the hall," I'd reply. "That way?" she would point. "Yes." "That's up the hall, to me." "Oh, OK then. I'm sleeping up the hall." "And where is Margaret sleeping?" "Right across the hall from you." "And ... isn't there another person?" "No, there's just the three of us." "Who's sleeping up there?" She would point to the ceiling. "No one! There's not a room up there." "There's not a room above me? Where is Clare sleeping?" "She has another house on Signal Mountain where she lives."

• The mornings. We would come in to get Mom up, and she would say: "I don't want to get up. I want to die." "Well that's tough, Mom. You're getting up! It's not easy for any of us to get up in the mornings." "But Honey, I'm not good for anything." "That's crazy, Mom. Please don't say that. It makes me feel terrible."

• Mom's asking "What am I supposed to be doing now?" was probably the hardest thing.

• Kind of funny: Her "Are we eating again? Why are we eating again? It seems like all we do is eat!"

•••••••••••••
Last night I was walking on the beach and my phone rang. "Hello, Hon! I wanted to be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!" It was Mom.

Will somebody please explain this woman to me?!