Karen

Me and Karen at Judahlicious

Karen is a writer I met through TIAPOS. We live close to one another––but on opposite sides of the park––so we met for lunch at Judahlicious today.

She was a good influence on me, but I like her anyway. What I mean by a good influence is: She told me about this drink called Farm. Then she ordered one. So instead of running a few doors down to Other Avenues and buying a beer to bring back to Judahlicious, I ordered a Farm too. It wasn't green––it was red! I was expecting green. I actually liked it, and it made me feel great.

She suggested sitting outside too, so I got some vitamin D.

Farm contains:
Greens, Celery, Carrot, Beet, Daikon Radish, Ginger, and Garlic.

I bet DAK's own homemade horseradish vodka might work out well with this.

Early Valentine

This early Valentine arrived in the mail today from Anna. It's called The Gorgeous Nothings and it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever owned. Read about it here! The book is composed of words Emily Dickinson wrote on flattened envelopes and scraps of paper--thoughts, lists, beginnings of poems.

It always makes me sad to read that none of Dickinson's work was published during her lifetime. I've heard that fact and read that fact over and over and it still comes as a shock.

Better

5:21 p.m.

Sunset Shot

5:26 p.m.

Just Kidding

I could probably get in big trouble for this––more serious than cutting the tag off a pillow, I'm sure.

Today the Caldecott and Newbery medals were announced and I didn't get one. But being in a celebratory spirit, I cut the Caldecott sticker off an old Maurice Sendak cover and tried it on.

Kate DiCamillo's Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures won the Newbery. If you click on the title, you can read the wonderful story about how the book came to be. I'm dying to get my hands on this book.

My favorite Caldecott award winner was actually an honor book: Mr. Wuffles, by David Wiesner. Click on the title and scroll down. Is it not the most beautiful book cover you have ever seen?

kitty-corner sky

5:35 p.m.  kitty-corner

5:35 p.m.  catty-corner

Talking to Larry

When we hung up I looked down. I had drawn 70 birds.

All he cares about is BIRDS. Instead of coming to visit us in CA next month, he and Barbara are going to Minnesota to look at birds. Do you know what the temperature is in MN today?
Four degrees.

For Mary Ann

Our Little Secret

Don't tell anybody about this ice cream (three twins sea salted caramel). Thank you, Anne.

It's never too late to send Christmas cards, right?

Especially when they look like this!

U.F.O.

(see arrow in case you can't spot it)  5:53 p.m.

Fog

found 5:38 p.m.

found 5:39 p.m.

A Choice

Me: Would you rather go to the Unitarian Church and meditate tonight, or watch Episode Seven of Lilyhammer?

p.s. My Life Is Miserable

5:19 p.m.

Jean said this blog gave the impression that my life was one of never-ending joy. Just so you know, my life is miserable. I'm insecure, conflicted––a mess!

Still, I take a hundred photos a day and I like to post the prettiest ones. It's great therapy if nothing else.

The PAC is Back Intact

The PAC = Peter, Anne, and Carmen: all three.

(That's Carmen's tail on the far right.)

Angry

Distractify via Jenn

5:45 p.m.

east

west

Work In Progress

Baby, It's Cold Outside

5:00 p.m.

Friday

clockwise from top left: Katie, me, Jeanne, Shannon

American Genius: A Comedy by Lynne Tillman was the book. The beer garden behind Wildside West was the place.

I didn't have what it took to finish the book. I lost all patience with the narrator and her sensitive skin, though I probably could take a lesson from her regarding her bimonthly facials.

Happily, Shannon had sent a rough draft of her own writing around the day before, and its effect on me was exhilarating. How does she write the way she does? None of us can figure it out, and maybe Shannon can't either. But as long as she keeps typing we'll be under her spell, and I have a feeling someday you might be under her spell too.

Too Cold

Too cold to walk on the beach. We're back on the Coastal Trail.

5:22 p.m.

5:24 p.m.

The Scraps Book

The most wonderful present from my editor, Allyn, who works with Lois Ehlert: The Scraps Book will be released on March 4.

Lois loves color. And spots. And dots. And cats and charms and leaves and all kinds of crazy things she finds when she's out walking around.

There are 35 of Lois's books pictured on the last few pages. She's borrowed scraps from almost every one of them in making the book above. When I asked Allyn how many of those books she herself had worked on with Lois, she said 25!

p.s. The first design job I had was with a company in Knoxville, Tennessee called handprints. Can you believe it? They had hired Lois to illustrate all the animals for signage at the Knoxville Zoo. The signs were wonderful and when people asked me what kind of work my company did I would always say, "The signs at the zoo" before anything else.

Monday

5:18 p.m.

My Personal Holiday Rant

Written especially for the TIAPOS Christmas Meeting at Doug's

DON’T call me DEAR
At this time of year.
What am I, a hundred and two?

That word makes me queasy–
Extremely uneasy–
And I’d never use it on you.

DON’T REACH OUT to me.
I’ll HELP trim the tree
But DON’T reach out to me:
This reaching out stuff is a drag.

Reaching out implies service
And that makes me nervous.
Reach out to me and I’ll gag.

Reach out to people
Who make lots of dough.
It could be a stranger,
Or someone you know.

Reach out to folks
Who have something you need.
But Baby, don’t reach out to me.

But go ahead and GIFT ME.
I bet you find the gifting verb
Annoying as can be.
But I don’t find it worrisome
When it’s applied to me.

Gift me, then.
I won’t be pissed.
What to gift me?
Here’s a list:

Gift me with iPods
Gift me with pills
Gift me with earrings
And treasury bills.

Gift me with cashmere
Gift me with coke
Gift me with sports cars
––In case you are broke,

You can gift me with peanuts!
Gift me with beer!
But never REACH OUT
And don’t call me DEAR.

by your own Linda Davick

East is East

Looking east  5:20 p.m.

Friday Evening

Our sweet neighborhood restaurant, Cajun Pacific

King Tide Low Tide

Peter told us the tide was so low this evening that he was able to walk out and touch Seal Rock.

5:32 p.m.