Last Day of November Sky

Field Trip

Today we went on a field trip. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, then walked across the swinging footbridge to the Point Bonita Lighthouse. The rangers were excited because they saw a bird they had never seen before down on the rocks. They let us use their binoculars. The bird had a bright orange beak and orange feet (not webbed), and its body was solid dark gray. What was it, Barbara?

Then we drove back across the bridge and downtown to the Metreon to see Robert Cameron's huge photos. He just died (age 98)–and 3 months before his death he was up in a helicopter shooting photos with his Pentax. Besides taking photos, he wrote The Drinking Man's Diet. The diet is "a work of staggering brilliance" according to Forbes, and I have to agree.

One of my favorite views of the city is when you walk out of the Metreon into Yerba Buena Gardens and look across toward the SF Museum of Modern Art. (That's the museum in the very middle with the round roof.)

New Beach

Late this afternoon we found ourselves at the end of Sloat, so we parked and walked out on the beach there. The terrain was completely different from our beach! I think I had gotten tired of the rocks on our stretch of sand. These were different–bigger and smoother.

And it happened again. I set the camera on macro, and when I'd push the shutter halfway in order to focus, suddenly I'd see all these magnificent details that were invisible to the normal eye. It was enchanting. At the same time, the tide was coming in–so I had to be on the lookout. Very exciting.

Leftovers for Wayne Thiebaud

Tom's Pie

This pie has no wheat in the crust. I've made some terrible-tasting gluten-free pie crusts. This one isn't bad. Especially if you pile ice cream on top. Here's the recipe in case you really like someone a whole lot who's allergic to wheat.

p.s. I didn't have tapioca flour or potato starch flour or margarine or butter-flavored Crisco or sweet rice flour, or Guar gum. So I improvised using gluten-free all purpose baking flour, butter, regular Crisco, organic brown rice flour, and Xanthan gum.

Happy Birthday, Emmy! ...

and Happy Thanksgiving, too, to you.

Long Shadows

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down;
The notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass.
–Emily Dickinson

That poem came to my mind when I took the picture. I googled the poem so I'd be sure to get it right and stumbled upon two things I didn't realize. The first is kind of nice, the second is unfortunate:

1. Look at the first line of the poem; don't think about meaning. What do you notice about the way it looks? It's considerably longer than the other three lines in the poem; Dickinson's duplicating the length of a shadow in the length of her line.

2. Emily Dickinson died when she was 55.

I Won. I WON!

illustration © Lisa Horstman

From Oh, my lard.:
What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to present the winner of The Squawking Matilda Centre Halloween Story Contest with her very own puppet illustration of her wonderful story? Linda, your artwork print, signed copy of Squawking Matilda, and Annie Oakely Action Figure are on their way to you in San Francisco!

p.s. That's me in the illustration above. I'm cutting my sister's hair. Yes, on top of winning a signed copy of Squawking Matilda and the Annie Oaklely Action Figure (which I might send to Sally), Lisa created my very own puppet illustration to go with the story. Go here to see how Lisa creates one of these illustrations. But don't expect her to make one for you too. Oh yes, and you can read my prize-winning first place story here.

Soft

Sunday School Lesson

A friend asked me if I thought life had meaning. I said yes. He wasn't sure. So I asked another friend. She said no.

This morning Elizabeth e-mailed me from her phone and attached the photo above: Can u believe that someone would sell this magnificent frog pitcher–or that I would be so lucky as to buy it?!!

I ask you: Can you look at this object, marked down to $10, and doubt that life has meaning?

note to Elizabeth: I hope you weren't at the flea market instead of being in church.

Rent This Movie.

Facebook Update