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what to do?

You know you live in California are a slacker when you have to decide,

    Should I spend tomorrow morning with the kids, stockpiling water and other necessities, reviewing emergency procedure, in the face of a 30% big aftershock possibility (which, incidentally, lasts until Tuesday?) or…
    Should we skip school and drive to the beach for the 7 foot swells at Manresa?

I mean, after all, Ford has a cold. And what kind of parent am I to send a sick child to school? Oh, the stress! A tent, a sleeping bag, thermos of tea and a tote full of books–Tsunami risk aside, the cool, salty mist sounds very therapeutic.

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A Small Plate of Afternoon

garden caprese salad

The kids pick their own tomatoes and basil off the vines and bushes that have, in three short months, overtaken their once-huge terracotta pots. I am sloppy; I quickly slice the larger tomatoes and the buffalo mozzarella, throw it onto a plate and shake olive oil and salt atop the pile. We walk barefoot back out into the garden, around the back of the house, and sit in the shade on the upside-down red canoe. There are no forks. Why should we need forks? We eat with our fingers and talk about next Saturday, when we’ll be inside this canoe paddling up the big river from Russian Gulch.
But the heady tomato-basil-olive oil fruitiness anchors us firmly to the present; and before long, we’re nothing but giggles and dirty, greasy fingers leaving shiny happy prints atop the dusty canoe. Maybe the slick fingerprints will make the boat glide faster, we postulate.

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Fall florals in the sketchbook

Fall Florals in the sketchbook

Bless her strong 93 year-old heart, Mamaw is in the hospital. In Beaumont, Texas, where she has lived her entire life, a strong fabric of friends and family binds her. She’s asking me how the garden is growing while she receives a blood transfusion, her voice thick under medication. I can’t really post much right now, but I’m thinking a lot about her. In fact, by strange coincidence the other day, I was thinking about her 50’s dining room drapes. I was thinking, I really like those drapes. I was thinking I’d do a few paintings about those funky retro drapes. I did a little painting on friday, while the boys watercolored in our kitchen. I’ll leave it here to remind myself of where I was going with my thoughts, later, when I get back to the computer. Do you ever feel so distracted? You have an idea, but need to attend to other things, and leave yourself a little note on your desk: “Paintings. Kitchen drapes. Autumn florals. watercolor? encaustic?”
I hope your weekend is more focused than mine!