Pictures from Santa Barbara

We packed a lot of fun into a couple of days. Here are some pictures on Flickr.

Happy Thanksgiving

In a litttle while, I'm going to turn off my computer and try to get the house cleaned up for the holiday. We're not even having Thanksgiving here, but I'm still making a turkey and my favorite accessories and bringing them to Jessi's house. And on top of that, Jerry will be on vacation and in a few days we'll celebrate our 30th anniversary.


I wish you all the best!

A little Death Valley mojo

Only a pair of energetic twenty-somethings can throw some stuff into the back of a truck and take off for Death Valley for a single night and only part of a day. Michael and Jessi did it, and had a great time. They came home eager to share their experience, and their photos. I was grateful for the vicarious DV vibes.

The story of Georgie

Way back in the magical year of 1974, I wrote and illustrated a childrens story for a school assignment. I had saved the story, which I had put together into a little book, but it got lost along the way. For the last few decades, I believed that it had disappeared at the hands of an old boyfriend, but it turns out it was at my parents' house all along. Time has not been kind to the pages, which have become yellow, spotty, and brittle. I took pictures of each page, photoshopped out the worst of the spots, and put them on Flickr. You can view the pages in order and read the story.

There was another little story book, lost and found together with Georgie. I will upload it when I get a chance.

And speaking of procrastination...

Here's some of the things I could or should be working on:

Digitally preserving 2 children's books I wrote way back in the last millenium (about 35 years ago) that I thought were lost forever, but turns out my mom had them and she gave them back to me.

Figuring out what to do with an antique doll that is literally disintegrating. Should I try to save and repair her, or donate her head, (the only part not disintegrating), to a doll hospital?

Designing a T-shirt for the arboretum nature guides.

Teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator.

Working on the area of my yard where I want to plant vegetables this winter. I have roots to dig out where a large plant was partly removed, and more smaller plants to dig out, and compost to mix in.

And that doesn't even include all the regular everyday stuff that I am continually procrastinating on: Housecleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, exercising. All that kind of stuff. Honestly, some days I'm lucky I manage to work bathing into my day. So what am I doing with myself? Farting around, mostly.

I do my volunteer stuff at school, and at the arboretum. I visit friends. I waste time on the computer. I dote on my 3-legged dog and my 3 legged stick insect, among other pets. I manage to get done what needs doing. There is (almost always) food and clean laundry, and the dog hair never gets deeper than our ankles before I get to vacuuming. The other things, the list above and more, wait patiently. I'll get to them eventually.

Boomer: still in a state of grace

Sometimes I don't post because I've got nothing going on. Other times, like lately, I don't post because I'm too busy, or too full of disorganized thoughts, unfinished projects, and anything else that makes a good excuse for procrastination. But I wanted to make this post about Boomer.

His cancer has returned, in his lungs.

He has shown no symptoms, yet. It was an X-ray that revealed a couple of dark spots.

This is not something unexpected. But we expected it a long time ago, and then when it didn't come, we stopped waiting for it. We just went on with life. Boomie went on with his life. Now that it's here, we are faced with a choice, similar to when he had his leg amputated. Do we just let nature run its course, or do we try to postpone the inevitable with chemo?

A year and a half ago, we decided not to do the chemo. And although the prognosis was 6 months, he's still with us. Now the vet says he may live another 3-6 months without any further intervention. With a metronomic protocol (home-administered chemo cocktail in pill form), he may go another year or more. It's decision time all over again. Or it least it was this past week. We have decided again not to do the chemo. We will continue as we have been for the last year and a half, loving him and keeping him happy and comfortable for as long as we can. This is exactly how we felt last year, except I know his grace period is not likely to continue another 18 months.


Boomer and Marley, hangin' out recently.

Digital scrapbook pages

I made the first layout more or less from scratch. You can appreciate it better if you see the original Emma picture below.


She was sitting under the metal jack o lantern thing. Actually there was more to the picture than this, including part of her mom's legs, shirt and arms, but not her face. So I cropped her
out, and then I decided to really change things up. The next picture is the result:





This was a quick page freebie that I got here. I'm really having fun with these things.

Those 70's ads

Ok, I've been looking through my new-old magazines, and trying to figure out what I am really feeling nostalgic for. I know I long for the energy and creativity I used to have, but these magazines are turning out to be more like a visit to the Twilight Zone than I'd anticipated.

Geez, I forgot how many cigarette ads there used to be in magazines!

Kinda yucky, huh?

Remember these ads, ladies? I sure do. As a young girl, I remember seeing them in my mom's Woman's Day magazines, and wondering exactly what they were selling and how it worked. Or even if it worked. By the time I graduated high school, I was well endowed enough that the ads became irrelevant.

Ok, I don't remember ever seeing a grasshopper ride-on toy for kids. I would have remembered that. Made by the Marx company, according to the ad. I couldn't even find a photo of one of these online. They must not have sold very well.

My childhood dog, YoYo, ate these.

I thought these were pretty.

Oh man, look at that floor! That kitchen needs my green pot, no? I made soup in it tonight, by the way :)