The Garden Club

The Garden Club celebrates its first tomato. (That’s Kathy, Anne, & me.) Anne is holding a basil leaf from the garden. We had champagne, the tomato with salt & papper, crackers, mozzarella, avocado, and basil.

Weird Pumas

 

$11 at Ross Dress For Less. In case you don’t have your calculator handy, that’s $5.50 per shoe.

 

Climbing the Wall

There is a girl in our compound named Kathy who is a bad influence on me. So I asked her if she wanted to use Tom’s ticket to Chatter ABQ this morning, since Tom was going to take his sister and bro up the tram. The program was wonderful. (A solo cellist named Joseph Johnson and a poet named Donald Levering.)

Then Kathy and I hit the farmers market at the rail yards, where they had this rock climbing wall. She made me try it. You know how it is - peer pressure, trying to impress a new friend. That’s her below, in her dress and heels, nonchalantly climbing up the wall. But I made it a little higher than she did, as you can see.

p.s. I’m really good at Photoshop as well as rock climbing.

Lots of Laughs

Tom’s bro Bill, his sister Diane, and the man himself

Mimi's Treasure Trouble

The second MIMI book––Mimi’s Treasure Trouble–– went to press today.

Christmas in July

Aggles and I read the Moomin books together when we met in Chattanooga a few Christmas’s ago. Look what I got in the mail from her today. The complete comic strip! Have you ever seen such a wonderfully weird book?

Cloud Burst

8:31 p.m. Made it home on my bike just before the downpour.

A Book I Loved

 
 

From the book Astrid the Unstoppable:

(Astrid is on the phone with her friend Ola.)

“Ola, is that you?” Astrid was whispering. It was best to keep her dad out of it so he wouldn’t have to share any of the guilt.

“Of course it’s me. Why are you whispering?” Ola asked.

Astrid curled herself up even tighter behind the washing machine. “Can you skip school tomorrow and take the boat here?” she asked him quickly.

“Yup,” said Ola.

It certainly was wonderful to have people like Ola, who never think before they do something wrong.

Warning

 

This is what happens to a champagne stopper after it is dropped into the garbage disposal.

 

 

Walking along the ditch / 7:39 pm

 

In the Mail Today

So satisfying to hold this fat little treasure in my hands. It’s an ARC (advanced reviewer copy). Neither the illustrations nor the words are “perfect” – but close enough!

Three Weeks Went By

Two birthdays

Cards (Larry made this card!)

Presents

Dinner at Los Poblanos

Down on the lavender farm

Candy!

Friends (Eric and Deb)

Deb, Tom, Eric on the tram

The REAL BOOK! Allyn, my publisher, always wraps up the first book I see. All the ribbons make it even more exciting.

Kathy, my neighbor here at the compound, had an open studio last night.

The Bouncy Castle

Final art for Mimi’s Treasure Trouble is coming slowly but surely.