Off to See the Lizard - Saturday 8/9/2008

Yeah, I'm hanging out with the lizards again. This big guy came to listen to us sing.



Weekend under the trees. It's hot, but if you sit very still and drink Arnold Palmers, you'll be okay.

Succulents - Friday 8/8/2008

Lovely succulents abound in the campground in which we spent the weekend. I love getting there on Thursday nights and having the day to laze around. Kept trying to finish up a novel I'm reading, only to doze off.


Succulent parrot enjoying being outdoors and having people stop by and visit. Why do they all make such strange squawking noises, he wonders.

They think they're talking parrot, dear.

Into town for dinner with friends. We actually do that every night of camping.

I love cooking. You know I love cooking. But I don't so much like cleaning up afterward when camping.

We didn't even go grocery shopping until we got to Fillmore. No time to prep. But that's okay. I've learned not to stress about it or to feel inauthentic because I'm not doing it by someone else's standards.

We're so happy to be in our little home away from home.

On the Road - Thursday 8/7/2008

Hydra brought me roses in a vase that fit perfectly in the cup holder of the Tahoe. As soon as I got done working from home, we set off for camping with our music friends. It was an awful workday. I actually cried when I realized I'd missed sending out an entire report and had to... Oh, it doesn't matter.

The roses are in celebration of our 21st anniversary, which will be tomorrow. Perfect!



I just find this interesting. There are some kind of seedlings getting a moister start under these strips of plastic in the fields along the 126.

From the Stairs - Wednesday 8/6/2008

Looking out the window next to the double doors that lead into the building where I work.

Work has been really hard this week. Too much of it.

Meet the Doris Day - Tuesday 8/5/2008

It's quite possible that someone else has come up with this refreshing beverage and has named it something else. But since I've been on a celebrity-named beverage kick on an online community, when I was making this the name just popped into my mind.

This is a very loose recipe...

For one glass:

Cut sweet watermelon into 1/2 inch cubes (about 2/3 of a cup per glass)

Put into 6-8 ounce wineglass

Pour in enough chardonnay or Riesling to cover the watermelon

Crush some of the watermelon against the side of the glass with a fork, and add any watermelon juice that escaped onto your cutting board.

Wait about 10-15 minutes for the wine to infuse into the melon. Drink and fish out the watermelon (with a spoon or fork, please) in a way that works for you without dismaying your friends.

Best enjoyed sitting on a front porch. Back porch, patio, balcony or open window will also work.

How to Read in Bed - Monday 8/4/2008

I had a rough day at work on Monday. Eleven hours straight--except for walking to El Torito to pick up a salad--with clients questioning all kinds of things and me having to explain to them how and why I do my job the way I do. Aaagh.

Tomasina had kindly offered to pick up Thai food and a banana meringue pie for Braveheart's writing group birthday dinner, so when I got there, I just enjoyed myself. We dished up curry and egglpant and beef and pad thai and checked in. We wrote a little from a prompt. I read them some of my current project. We had pie. Braveheart opened presents.

Where was my camera in all of this? Mostly in my back pack.

After calling Hydra from Braveheart's lovely front patio, I was happy to roll into bed with a book that's destined to be a favorite (So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger.)

Do you like my book light?

If you get one like this, you can play War of the Worlds with your sweetie.

Giftwrapping and Nostalgia - Sunday 8/3/2008

Wrapped Braveheart's birthday gifts. Used some of the Viennese art paper that resurfaced as I cleaned and reorganized my studio for hours and hours and hours over the weekend.

I have boxes full of writing dating back to when I was about 10. Stories and poems mostly. Too funny, some of it. The adventures of Marco Mondoux are so clearly influenced by my reading of The Count of Monte Cristo between 8th and 9th grades. There were all these references to actual places in France, and I seem to have picked real French names... guess we are who we are from a very early age. Research is kind of in my bones.

One day I'll dive back in and organize it more. Now, just having it vaguely divided by big eras is good.

I found an expenses ledger from around 1998 when it cost $12.51 to fill up our Taurus and $5.32 to fill up our Escort.

Sigh.