Pick a peck of paintings

I met Kathryn through Organic Athlete. When I was shopping at People's Coop, I went upstairs to the deli and noticed that her paintings were on display! She paints sweet still lifes, lives? {smile} Here's a note from her:


Thanks for taking a look at my artwork! There's still time, the exhibit is up until May 9, so there are still more than 6 weeks left. So definitely do spread the word to anyone you think might be interested. I've sold a lot of work there, and as it sells, I replace it. I'm really enjoying it, getting all that great feedback.

Plus, a Writer's Collective from a local college was having a meeting there about a book that they're publishing, an anthology called "Hunger and Thirst". They saw my work there and contacted me, wondering if they could use my work on the book cover and within the text. So I said absolutely, and it's in the works now! Will be published in the fall. You can see a preliminary mock-up and links to more info about the book here: http://kathrynlaw.blogspot.com/2008/03/book-cover-mock-up.html

And, I just had another painting--a plein air landscape in Balboa Park-- accepted into a juried show in Fallbrook, opening this Friday. So things are going really well with the painting.

Day off in Poppy Land

Last Thursday I had a day off. I ran errands in the morning then Larry came home for lunch. We hiked just half a mile up Cowles Mountain in the San Carlos section of San Diego. Larry's been up it a few times on his lunch break. I came up on a cluster of California Poppies and said, "Ooooo." No, just you wait! he said.

At about the half mile point are little fields of the yellow poppy. I took pictures facing the mountain and then turning around to overlook Lake Murray. Our house is a little bit more left of the red dot. We walk to and partly around the Lake, but it's more of a hike to the mountain before you even start your climb, so sadly we drive there. An oxymoron, as I see it.

Succulents explode

Succulents are interesting enough on their own, but this time of year they are exploding with color. With the rainfall the Southern California has received this winter, it is predicted to be a nice year for wildflowers. This is a yard in the El Cerrito community of San Diego.

Duck, duck,

We're less than a mile from Lake Murray reservoir in the San Carlos area of San Diego with approximately 170 surface acres of water, but these two water fowl chose to land on our pool on Wednesday morning. They took a few laps, hopped up on the side to check out the grass, then took off.

Lake Murray has many types of birds along its shore. Larry says he saw a swan last week.

Oh, and we had the juniper taken out. Where you see the dirt line along the back is where a serpentine of juniper bushes grew. Before, it was like walking a tightrope around the far side of the pool. Just one step at a time; not sure how we'll landscape it. More fruit trees are certainly an option.

Now is the time to ask yourself

Why do you eat meat? The Humane Society of the United States investigated a Southern California slaughtering plant and documented many unfit cows being tortured and abused. Dr. Michael Greger explains in this video how these practices can contaminate a large quantity of meat. He even wrote in 2003 how USDA regulations do not go far enough.

While you many be outraged, disgusted, saddened by these practices, this is business and there is a demand for the product. By simply asking yourself at every meal: Do I need to eat this piece of meat? you are making a conscious decision to continue or to end these practices.

"Veganism in a nutshell" explains the top five reasons people go vegan (abstain from meat and animal products). What we choose to eat has an impact on human rights, animal rights & abuse, the environment, and our health. I first went vegetarian for the selfish reason of health. I choose to be vegan for the far-reaching impact it has on many facets of our lives.

You already don't eat much if any beef? Congratulations! So you know that you may lose your taste for a food after cutting it out for two weeks. Now how about showing some respect for chickens and fish, the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the animal world. Dr. Neal Barnard of PCRM discusses the benefits of a vegan diet on a variety of health issues, most recently diabetes.

You may choose to close your eyes, but please don't close your mind.

* * * * *

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 Wall Street Journal article on page B1 ("Oversite 'Flaw' Led to Meat Recall") explains factory farming as a business with suppliers and quotas: "The plant for years was a major buyer of older, spent dairy cows from the many dairy farms in the Inland Valley, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles." and "In a statement he gave to Chino police before he was arrested, Mr. Navarro said he felt pressure to ensure that 500 cows were slaughtered each day. If he didn't meet that quota, he said, Mr. Salas would get angry."

Thank You Percy

Percy passed away peacefully in his sleep at 4:30 this morning, Sunday February 3rd. Percy had his routines and he was in his favorite sleeping spot at the top of the bed. I've never had a cat pass away naturally and it's very beautiful, at least I hope it was for him.

Percy was 6 years old when we adopted him from the Connecticut Humane Society on April 14th, 1999. The form from the society placed him at 5 years old but our wonderful vet changed it to 6 years. So Percy graced us with his presence for 9 years and lived for about 15 years.

In 2003, he made the trip cross-country on the back seat of the mini van. He took the trip the best. Toward the end of the trip we were all getting a little bratty. In Arizona, we had to move the bed to extract all the cats, including Percy.

Percy was getting around well, but walked with a hitch because of his arthritis and "shot" knees (he kept his back legs straight most of the time.) I'll miss his squeaking at 6:37am (a very good little alarm clock) for morning feeding. Aww, last night I needed to blend up Cappuccino's food so I made a smoothie for all the cats. Percy did love smoothie day.

My friend Cherie reminded me of a game we used to play in the younger years: "I'm gonna getcha little Percy!" I'd say that line and he'd squeak and race off like a bunny rabbit until he stopped/I caught up with him and pet-pet-petted him. He did love a good game of string too, although it was mostly an upper body workout in the later years. Thank you all for the heart-felt condolences and for sharing your own experiences of your furry companions.

I'll miss seeing Percy in his favorite spots, his favorite routine. After eating, making his way to the living room and then to the futon for a morning snooze. I didn't see his daily routine, but would come home early some days to see him snoozing in a sun spot in Larry's sunny office. The days I was later, he would be waiting by the food bowls and greeting me with a squeak. Or he would already be on the futon again because I was really late and Larry had fed the kitties. Evening hours he would make at least one trip back to the kitchen for crunchies, then back up the stepped containers to the top of the bed, down to the litter boxes and water in the master bath, back up again, not always a restful night.

Percy didn't have much that was "his". We just all lived together and made accomodations for each other. He was a definite presence who is missed. Thank you, Percy.

Here's some links to some Percy stories:

Smoothie Day

Percy by the Pool

Percy loves to be vacuumed

Teeth cleaning

Cirque de Soleil in Del Mar

I had the priviledge of attending the "Corteo" performance by the Cirque de Soleil troupe in Del Mar last Tuesday. It is performed under le grand chapiteau with two entrances to house the circular stage. The stage is divided in half by curtains which also allow scenes to be performed in a dream-like state. The stage itself has a trap door in the center for appearing/disappearing acts. Concentric circles of the stage rotate to give the audience a full view of this performance in the round.

No photography is allowed; see the NY Times review for photos of the acrobatics. I was gasping and dropping my jaw at some of the surprising performances. The supported cartwheels in the giant hula-hoop were more amazing than my simplified naming. Acrobatics, juggling, high-wire walking, tumbling, musical performance, a great treat for the eyes and ears and all the more appreciated by me from attending yoga and stretch classes.

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Seeing the tree trimmer work, I'm reminded of lyrics from "If I had a million dollars" by BNL. Well, he did have climbing boots and was strapped in good, but he also looked like a monkey up in these palm trees. He climbed two trees and swung or rapelled to the other three. The front palm tree was trimmed by a man in a bucket truck. Hey! That's cheating! I was more impressed with this man's climbing talents, but the owner says because the other guy can operate the machinery, he gets more money.

We had the trees trimmed just in time as that following weekend was a monsoon of a rainstorm for San Diego. Rinsed things off nicely. The neighbor said it was good timing too. The fruits on the palm would have rained down like hail.

New Years Day Spa

Happy New Year! The filter was running. It was a sunny day and fairly mild in San diego. I thought I'd see how long it would take to heat up the spa. It started at 55 degrees. I turned on the heater to high. I waited. some more. Actually, people are surprised to hear that it heated up to 90 degrees in about an hour. We'll be looking into a solar cover for the pool which will extending the swimming season from March to November, our pool man estimates. That, and it helps with evaporation, preventing it.

We took down the fencing that was around the patio. You see just the poles here. It really opens up the backyard. There's lots to do if we want to and a little bit each weekend makes it managable.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I managed to forget my camera as we were on our way to the San Diego Zoo. Larry said he didn't get any good still pictures but did get this video of the new panda cub, Zhen Zhen. She's almost 5 weeks old now and weighs 18 pounds. Hmm, she looked a little bigger than our 20-pound petite baby Puffin. Must be all that fur that the keeper says is 20-times more wiry than sheep wool and 50-times more smelly.


San Diego Zoo Panda Cub Zhen Zhen

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