Bye Again

There's something about buying an airline ticket that's extremely stressful. A short walk on the Coastal Trail helped.

I'm leaving again Wednesday morning for TN. Mom doesn't seem to be any better since she got out of the psych hospital–in fact, she seems worse. She's in another, better, hospital now. I'm excited (and scared, too) about seeing her. I'll have my laptop with me so I can draw before and after visiting hours. Thanks, Aggles, for taking care of so many things lately!

Spooky But True

My Halloween book (written by Janet Schulman) has just come out as a board book! The board book is definitely my favorite format. It's chunky and fat. You can throw it at your little sister, serve cupcakes on it, use it as a shield–and at the end of the day you can still read it.

p.s. from Janet: And if baby is really hungry–or didn't get enough treats in his Trick-or-Treat bag, he can chew on it. Board books are actually very good for teething babies. And Random House uses nothing but the best non-toxic ink.

Birth Control is Important

Here's why.

Ruff

This ceramic is in Mom's apartment, displayed on her bookshelf beside her cache of Molly Ivins' Bush books and another book by some guy named Barack Obama who I had never heard of when Mom first told me about him.

It's Ling, her childhood dog. She made it in school. Aggles, had you ever noticed that she had written his name on the bottom right hand corner? I had never seen that until I spied it in this photo.

All my friends who I seem to be ignoring: it's been a ruff time. Aggles was here all last week dealing with doctors and social workers. She visited Mom and took care of all the paperwork so that this week I would be able to spring her from the psych hospital. Now Mom's back in her apartment at the Terrace. She's sad and confused and asking to go back home (to her home on Forest Avenue–that's where she and Ling lived).

Saturday

Graffiti Mondo

To get up close and personal, go here.

Farmers' Market

Today Tom decided to try a new farmers' market–the one at Stonestown. Since Stonestown is a mall, I decided to accompany him. I'm sorry to report that this farmers' market was as miserable as any other I've struggled through. But they did have a cattle corn booth where the guy popped the corn in a giant vat on the spot. And once the mall finally opened and I was able to escape, I discovered a wonderful tea shop called Lupicia Fresh Tea.

It took a long time to get home because the Great Highway was closed. By the time we drove up 45th Avenue we were starving and not in very good moods. After lunch I took these leftover berries out on the back porch and set the camera to macro. When I look at little things up close it calms me down.

A New Walk

This evening we walked on the beach at Fort Funston. A great discovery! The landscape is much different from what we're used to at Ocean Beach. There were hang gliders on the cliffs above ready to take off, but the fog was too ferocious. I used the macro setting on my camera to shoot these pictures, and came home with a pocketful of sea glass.

Mysterious Package from Holland

We all know that Holland is the underwear capital of the world. They have many, many more Bjorn Borg patterns available than we do here in the states. But really! Is it necessary to remind me not to let it shrink? Yes, it is.

Happy Anniversary

Our anniversary was actually yesterday, but we were too shell-shocked to celebrate, so we decided to celebrate today. This morning I asked Tom if we could go for a walk this evening–that low tide was around 6:00. He said, "But what about our anniversary celebration?"

I said, "There's nothing I would enjoy more than going for a walk, getting some great takeout food, and watching a movie on TV. Do we have anything?"

We went in the living room and found a video called Sunshine Cleaners from Blockbuster. Having a normal evening sounded like the perfect way to celebrate an anniversary to me.

By the time it was 6:00, all I wanted to do was sleep. I asked Tom if we could celebrate our anniversary tomorrow night. He agreed wholeheartedly. I took a nap, and so did Tom. At 7:00 we actually headed to the beach for our walk. It was windy but incredibly beautiful.

From our walk: these flowers washed up for our anniversary, which we will celebrate tomorrow–I'm sure of it.

p.s. When I talked to Mom today, she said that the people who worked at the hospital were very kind and helpful, but the others seemed kind of mixed-up.

Seeing Spots

I've been drawing tiny faces–hundreds of them–all day. I'm illustrating the exponential function. Yes, me, the one who failed algebra. And now I'm seeing spots before my eyes.

My phone rang at 5:15 a.m. yesterday. Mom suddenly was being admitted to a psychiatric hospital for 5 to 10 days. Ja-Lene had planned a picnic with her grandmother and my mom at a park, but things happened fast. She ended up helping Mom pack a suitcase. Instead of going to the park, she managed to pull off the picnic outside at the Terrace. And then the van drove up to pick Mom up, and the driver said that no suitcases were allowed!

Ja-Lene wouldn't take no for an answer, so she and her grandmother jumped in their car with Mom's suitcase and followed the van all the way to Jasper, TN. Then she and her grandmother stayed with Mom while she was admitted. Tears of gratitude for this person named Ja-Lene.

Walk After Work