March

After the bandages are removed

Before

Dorene sent me this photo of Don reading to Giacomo, Bruno, and Junie B, the Boston Terrier. A classic, innit?

The End of the Year

That’s our Santa Linda Claus on the left and Max on the right.

I was so happy to finish my Damien Hirst-inspired painting the night before Christmas! I obviously have a thing for spots. It’s painted on one of the two 30” x 40” canvases that Kathy gave me when she left. Bill and Holly have the other canvas. Kathy, I need some more canvases.

And why, when I was in high school, did I think I would never need math? It took me as long to map out the painting as it did to paint it.

Major Event! The 8th Chirri & Chirra book came out on December 27.

Do you read the NYTimes? This is what you miss if you only get the online version (above). On the other hand, though, if you only get the paper version you miss out on Wordle.

Anne Herbst Ocean 1  watercolor 26.5 x 35 in.

Anne’s show ends tomorrow, Jan. 1. She has sold 22 paintings as of today! Below are posters I designed for the next show. I love the work I do with Anne for her gallery.

The Three Owners of FOG

Maya, Anne, and Peter run this San Francisco art gallery.

I work with Anne on publicity (posters, weekly newsletters, the website, things like that). We’ve made it work for seven years, and three of those years I’ve been in Albuquerque. Thanks, Anne, for sticking with me.

How Lucky Am I?

Dorene introduced me to Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson. Jeanne is a children’s book writer, a professor of children’s books–she’s simply the Albuquerque Expert in children’s books. We walked and talked for two hours.

My sister and I made a plan

Another Christmas gift exchange plan: This year Aggles and I decided that we would each spend $50 on our gifts. To avoid taping and wrapping and standing in line at the P.O, I was to choose my gift myself and she would choose her gift. Then we would take our presents home and, in my case, wear them immediately. It just so happens that I found my present from Aggles (green shoes) yesterday at Ross Dress for Less. Deeply discounted. If anyone would like to participate in this particular plan, email me. I’ll allow you to spend $50 on yourself, and to give me the red shoes.

 

Sam's Thesis Exhibition

Before the show

After the show

We flew to Denver last Thursday to see Sam’s BFA Thesis Exhibition. It knocked us out. He had made 102 planets: all sizes and each with a different glaze.

There were six of us–sometimes seven, and we’d meet in the hotel lobby in the evenings for wine, then head out for dinner. Our last night we had pizza delivered to Sue & Bill’s suite, played cribbage, and read books.

The best meal was breakfast at the Urban Farmer’s: French toast 8 inches high, and bottomless bloody Marys. After that, Tom and I stumbled through the Denver Museum of Art (last two photos).

Did I tell you that Tom broke his right arm? On Wednesday we spent all day at the urgent care clinic. He got a gigantic brace wrapped in 50 feet of elastic tape. We were distraught. Today he went to the ortho doc that they recommended, who said that it wasn’t a terrible break—just a little one. Nothing was out of alignment. They gave him a small wrist brace to use. He can even take it off if he needs to. We were so happy that we met our neighbors Dorene and Don at Papa Felipes for margaritas and dinner.

 

Chaco Canyon

Our 25-footer.

We used the Sunday Times to decorate the interior.

Walking back from the Visitors’ Center, having gotten permission to duct-tape our mirror back on.

This structure was on the edge of the campground.

Melinda from next door, and Tom

I planned to made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and for the drive home, but we forgot the peanut butter!

Hahahaha!

We thought we could drive to Chaco Canyon.

We rented a 25-footer. The first thing we did was back it into our next door neighbors’ stucco wall. In the process we wrecked the ladder on the back of the RV.

Neither of us had ever driven anything like this.

We had heard that the last 20 miles to Chaco Canyon were rough, but we had not really anticipated it being this rough. It took about two hours to go that last 20 miles, and by the time we got to camp everything we had packed was scattered out on the floor. It was like a tornado had picked up the RV, swung it around in the sky and slammed it back down. The mirror on the driver’s side popped off.

There is no internet or phone service at Chaco Canyon.

The first morning we opened the door, and everything was covered with snow! It was glorious.

We didn’t want to have to take the RV out again without the mirror, and then have to back it back into our little camp spot.

So we walked a couple of miles to the Visitors’ Center in the freezing cold to see if we could use their phone. We had not been able to replace the mirror, even with the camp manager’s tools.

The ranger said their phone was for emergencies only, and added that the service had been out for two days anyway. But when he picked up the receiver, the service was back! And so we got permission from the rental company to duct tape the mirror back on top of the paint once we hit the highway on the way home.

The next day was brilliant. We hit the road in the RV and spent the whole day at Pueblo Bonita. When I first walked into the pueblo, I felt its spirit. It’s massive and beautifully built. It was lived-in from 850 - 1150, and no one is quite sure why it was deserted.

I had been leery about staying in a campground. Who knows who would end up on either side of us? As it turned out, Melinda and another Tom moved in next door and I felt like Melinda could have been a good friend.

Everyone we met at the camp seemed interesting and generous. Kyle and Beth gave us a jar of homemade salsa and we loaned them a lantern so they could read at night in their tent. Someone else loaned Tom an axe and a fire-starter brick.

We had wine and chips (and Beth’s salsa) by the fire on our last night.

The sky was full of stars–I had never seen anything like it.

I'm the Grinch

All I did was suggest that we might try skipping presents this Christmas.

This is how my friend Larry responded:

Dr. Seuss

I feel it’s only fair to mention I’ve taken the advice of the economic experts and begun the holiday shopping for this year, in order to take advantage of the many early bargains available…

For you, the choice was clear the moment I laid eyes on it. In fact it would be perfect for your house, too. In an obscure gift catalog I receive once every two years or so, there it was — a complete flea circus in a splendid large diorama, four feet in diameter! Encased in a circular, sealed glass display, it has all four seasons depicted with the most expected activities of each season. Exquisite, down to the tiny woolen snow hats and miniature skates of winter to the little creatures diving into a sunny Summer’s lake, zipping around on the surface on mini-scaled sailboats!

I did my research on this treasure, it’s none of the “Humbug” type, but real fleas performing as only their species can. There is the challenge of feeding them, of course, but even after they expire, which must happen at last, the music continues to play automatically 24 hours per day. I insured that the display was properly and permanently sealed, as the very most unsatisfactory quality of the flea circus is that the little beggars were to escape through a defect in the housing, “going forth and multiplying” as it were. It will fit perfectly on the low table in your living room.

Visitors

That’s Amy’s sister, Meg, on the left, visiting from San Francisco. Then out of nowhere, David walked up looking for Tim.

 

Gallery Hopping

 

Here’s Dorene at Sumner & Dene

 

…and here she is at Mariposa.