OSU BEAVERS COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

Yay Beavers!! They did it! After 3 games they've beaten North Carolina, and come out on top to take home the college world series championship!! Watched the game downtown in the air conditioned comfort of "Tommy's" with a pack of fans, and though it was not that exciting of a game mostly, it was a nail biter the last few innings, as OSU finally pulled ahead again from a 2-2 tie most of the game---then NC tried to catch up & pass the 3-2 lead OSU was barely hanging on to, but they never did and Tommy's exploded with relief and delight as the Beavers managed to win the game! They were pretty evenly matched as teams, but OSU played a terrific game, and we were so happy for them!

It's been a fun season, starting with free tickets from our daughter, to one of their last games, which helped them become the Pac-10 winners. We listened to most of their games after that (no cable tv, so unless we go out, we're left with radio reception of the games, which we didn't mind since we like to multi-task anyway!), spending the last two nights out in our backyard listening to the first two games against NC in our kiddie pool, floating on lounge rafts, sipping margaritas! We decided for the last game we had to see these terrific players, & that's how we ended up at Tommy's (besides the pool was beginning to get to that scummy stage---we cleaned it out this morning & it's filling up as I write!) We'll have to venture over to campus this afternoon for the big 3:00 festival planned for the returning team---hopefully it won't be too hot today!

berries and flowers

Ah, berry season is here! We picked the last of the strawberries last night (boy were they hard to find!), then moved to the raspberries---and all the ripe ones had been picked that day! Kinda a bust picking-wise, but we have a few, and we'll go again to get more raspberries earlier in the day when they're not all picked out... Kinda sad we missed the strawberries---might order a flat pre-picked from a place that still advertises they have some---then we can put up some freezer jam. I'm wanting a year of strawberries where each one is an exclaimable treat ("Wow, look at this one!!") like I remember once or twice in years past... maybe next year!



On the walk home from the farmer's market today I discovered this crazy flower in a neighbors yard---he said it was some kind of lily (looks like a mutant Calla lily to me!)---luckily my sweetie was packing his camera so we captured these shots---pretty wild! If you check out the little California poppy in the first photo you can see the size of that lily---much larger than a calla! Happy Saturday!

Pony farm

This week we painted at a pony farm just west of town---tremendous bounty of possible painting choices---multiple tractors surrounded by daisys, out-buildings in various states of disrepair, old cars half buried in vegetation, and ponies and cats scattered all around. My third time there in the past 4 or so years. I came upon this magical scene and decided it was IT for me---spent my morning painting this wonderful model---she was standing near the tree initially & as I set up, she decided to curl up and take a nap! How lucky was I?!



I shot multiple digital pics of her shifting one way or another, then did a few quick sketches on the back of the canvas board I used as my drawing/painting board in case I made it to the point of being able to slip her into the painting before noon.



I was able to do just that, and though I still have more to work on the painting, I'm pretty satisfied with the tree & pony at this time. It was also the first mostly sunny day we've been out this year, which made for some great back-lighting and shadows for a change!





Semi-quiet weekend ahead of us after all the graduation hoop-la last weekend. Hoping to get out strawberry picking one of the days, walk to the Farmer's market, putter around the house, maybe play with art stuff :). Hope you have a nice one too!

Self-portrait day

Ok, I know a while back I said I'd post some photos of my latest haircut---it was pretty dramatic, and to illustrate I've decided to share several "before" photos---the one on the beach is with the wind at my back, so what you see is not really what it usually looked like, but does give an example of how much hair I once had!

Second "before" photo shows how it usually looked---I can't stand having my hair flop in my face so as it grows I tend to tuck it behind my ears, so this is how I usually wore it.

Third "before" photo shows my hair sneaking out from behind my ears---and is probably the lastest photo before I got it chopped off!


This photo was taken 6 days after the haircut---so it's almost a week old. Shortest I've ever had my hair I think!

And lastly, here's an example that's 2 weeks after the haircut (what I thought was a pretty good hair day ;))


I've been blessed with quick growing hair, so I like to play around with styles every now and then---have always loved guys hair when it's thick and brushy on top, so have wondered what my hair would do if it was cut extra short---now I know! My inspiration came from a Vogue cover photo of Natalie Portman (http://www.tias.com/cgi-bin/google.fcgi/itemKey=1922881871) which I made a copy of & gave to my terrific hair-cutter Jo Anna. I know I don't come close to looking like Ms. Portman, but the hairstyle is very cute, and I think Jo Anna did a pretty good translation upon my head :)! She suggested using a lot of product to get the chunky "messy" look and avoid the fuzzy look---kinda fun to play with! So, there ya go, will I keep it for a few years like this or let it grow out? Only time will tell.....................

I Made It!!

Oh, by the way, forgot to mention I was accepted into the juried art show I applied for written about previously....! I'm excited all that effort paid off!! Now I need to work on framing---oh boy...!

Happy Father's Day, and Happy Graduation!

Just a quick post to show I'm still alive and kickin'---spent a lot of last week dealing with the last days of school---jr. year at high school, & college + graduation, along with an opportunity to paint out 2 days instead of the usual 1 + planning a graduation party---my oldest is now a college grad---she's working as a preschool teacher and dreaming of MOVING OUT! A lot of her grad gifts were aimed at that new goal of hers---now that final's week is over, and graduation, she's going to spend some free time apt. hunting. After 22 years, it's about time---we're excited for her, and ready for this change in all of our lives!

Father's Day has taken a bit of a backseat to everything else this week, but we're going to my folks for dinner, and I'm hoping to throw a little something together so my sweetie doesn't feel too neglected!

Hope to catch-up a bit this week---I'll post some photos of one of my paintings showing the work in progress while painting plein aire this week (battling rain showers...) along with the graduate!

Yay Miss M!!

Crazy Day!

Ok, so I knew I was a flake, and took in the slides a touch pushing the deadline last Sat., with the knowledge they'd be available Tuesday noonish, but then to forget about them until too late Tuesday! Flake-O! Yes, the slides needed to be in today, but I didn't panic and knew I could pick them up this morning at 10:00 when the camera store opened, select the best 2 slides of my paintings of choice, and hand deliver them, still making the June 1st art show jurying deadline.

So, it's raining, my initial plan to walk & pick up the slides slipped away with the drizzle, so I hopped in the Subaru & arrived 5 min. later, no problem, slides were in. Paid happily & headed home, arriving 5 min. later---all's good, or so I thought.....

The slides of multiple paintings (it was a roll of 36, so probably at least 15 or more paintings represented on the roll) were all real weird looking....they were not positives, they were negatives!!! What the ????? I began to doubt my film---it was slide film wasn't it? Ok, maybe it was old film?? Debated about just calling it quits, then remembered a local photo shop used to develop slide film in a day, so called to verify-YES, so hopped back into the trusty Soobie & arrived at previous camera store to show them slide film and ask questions.

She called their developer & discovered they'd probably run the film thru the wrong machine (great, my luck...!!) She said they'd give me a free roll of slide film & offered to develop it for free. I said fine to the film, but mentioned I'd have to take to a competetor's photo shop to get it developed in one day. That was the processor they send their film to!! Oh, great... She said to let them know of my issue and that they'd not charge me & would reimburse her for the film she gave to me. I zipped home, took a roll of film of several different paintings on the front porch with the rain pouring down, finished in 45 minutes then zipped the film to be developed, explaining my issue & getting the cost credited, all before their noon deadline.

Ok, deep breath... After a quick lunch, I headed to my hair cut appointment, not realizing Jo Anna was running late (guess she'd called, but in my rush in & out of the house, never noticed...). As I sat there for 10 minutes w/out anyone talking to me I was beginning to doubt my schedule---was my haircut today??? (notice a pattern here---why am I always doubting myself?!) The hair salon is in an old house, so the waiting area is a small living room area separate from each hair cutting station---Jo Anna finally came out & apologized to me for running late & mentioned she had called. I was supposed to be at the gallery to work in an hour, and had hoped to take a quick shower after the hair cut to wash away the pokey neck hairs... She loved the photo I'd brought in for an example & quickly went to work, washing my hair, then chopping it off. Probably removed about 4-5 inches, bringing it down to 1-2 inches long! Shortest I've ever had it---will put in a photo as soon as I get one :).

Well, had just enough time to fly home, take a quick shower & fly to the gallery where I relaxed an hour or 2 before having my daughter come baby sit the gallery while I ran to pick up the slides at 4:00. It was just 2 blocks away. Returned with the slides, selected the two I needed for the show then remembered I'd not gotten that cool aluminum tape you can use to cover parts of a slide you don't want to show in a projector...Dang! Sent daughter back to photo shop to buy some, while I filled out the jurying forms, & she returned saying they have it, but don't sell it--I needed to bring in the slide & they'd let me use some of theirs!! Augh! The art center where I needed to deliver these closes at 5:00, and I needed to have my envelope there before they closed---it was pushing 4:30 so I zipped quickly back to the photo shop, borrowed their tape and light box, (cool---I've never used this tape stuff before...!), zipped back to our gallery, checked in w/daughter then drove to the art center to drop off the envelope---barely 20 minutes 'til closing. *Phew!!! I'm happy to report, as I got back into my car, another woman was walking in w/her little envelope of slides in her hand, so I wasn't the last to turn in mine!! (We've only had these notices of the jurying date for 2-3 months...) I am probably the only one with the date "May 31, 2006" on my slides though....

So whether I get in the show or not, I feel like a winner already for not giving up! Looking forward to a less hectic day tomorrow....