my summer vacation

The chihuahuas and I were guests at the Arnim/Hucks estate on John's Island. No roads or running water in a cabin, hand built by Bill Hucks and his family within a grove of Madrona trees and a sea of native grasses.

This is a shot of my notebook, my muses (Maximo & Lulu), and Haro Straight (to the left). I went swimming in Haro Straight. Was that ever refreshing! After fifteen minutes I lost the ability to use my limbs. Coming ashore, I fell back into the water, my legs were so uselesss! I staggered up onto the rocky shore and Dana, and her daughter Kate, buried me under the rocks, hot from a day in the sun. The cold in my limbs surrendered to the sun's residual heat.

What is heaven on earth but moments, and minutes, such as these?

king of the wild frontier

Maximo got into another fight with a raccoon. This time, the wounds looked like nail punctures in his meaty thigh. Maximo is fine now (four medications and ten days later), but as the wounds heal, he wants to lick them! In reality, he doesn't wear a coon skin cap, but a cape covering his itchy haunch.

I could draw Maximo wearing the cape, but the difference between being drawn wearing a cape and a coon skin cap* is significant, given the cape is really a wrinkled napkin.

Lulu is as obsessed with the spot where Maximo vs. Raccoon 2012 took place as Maximo is with the spot on his thigh where the fight left its marks. She runs to the spot and barks at the memory, tirelessly telling off that nasty wild beastie.

Maximo was so lucky (again!) as a raccoon could so easily kill him. Maximo! King of the wild frontier! Let's hope it stays that way.

*The animal who inspired the coon skin cap drawing still roams free. Beware all domestic animals on night patrol! The danger is real!

PICKLE by kimberly baker

Kim Baker, author of Pickle, The (Formerly) Anonymous PRANK CLUB of Fountain Point Middle School, had a book launch party at Secret Garden Books last night.

Pickle is about a boy, Ben, and his team of motley pranksters, who come together at their middle school under the auspices of a pickle making club, their creative cover for a focus on pranks, and in so doing, get to know themselves, and each other.

Put it on your reading list. It's FUNNY! And FUN! And guaranteed to encourage and inspire the prankster in all of us.

The illustration (at left, by me!) is of a limited selection of hors d'ouvres (aka bizarre treats and unmentionable eats) Kim and her Posse created for the book launch. The pickled (of course!) quail egg escabeche with jalapenos was my personal favorite.

I took three rubber roaches home and am excited to use them in a prank. This morning, I saw them on the table, where I left them last night, and had a split second freak out before I remembered they were rubber!

My question is: what is the difference between a prank and a con?

the aspens have eyes

will the real yoda please stand up.

Funny how things happen.While walking around Woodland Park, M, L & I found a Yoda sticker in the Zoo's west parking lot. I picked it up and put it (grimy as it was) in my jacket pocket. We walked through the Zoo's new entrance and a tiny snowbank begged to be the platform for Lulu's best (yet) Yoda impersonation. The sticker is not superimposed!

snowstorm

Nik and her dogs are caught in a snowstorm, lost, but only for a little while. Soon they will run up against a wall and follow it to the front door of a cabin wherein fire and food awaits, tended by the winter wise lady who lives there with a young deer she saved from a certain death at the side of its starved and frozen mother.

kick ass

One of my favorite movies is Kick Ass, about an ordinary adolescent who wants to do good. He fabricates a costume,  broaching the safety of his bedroom (where fantasies run rife) to fight crime where he finds it.

In this film, our hero doesn't have superpowers. He can't cling to the sides of buildings or destroy his opponents with superhuman prowess. His only "super power" is his desire for justice. His own ass is kicked many times over by run of the mill thugs before he encounters his nemesis, and rises to the occasion (quite literally, because, come on, if you don't have super powers you totally need the latest in technology). Right (with technological might) prevails and the world is safer for it.