I was raised with 3 of them.  They were a huge part of my life.  Now, when dogs are around, I have a hard time socializing with humans.  Here are some pictures of a friend’s dog who does a terrific job of making me anti-social.  

Feeling Christmasy one night in December, I decided to stop and photograph the lit up houses on my way home from work.  I was impressed with how many houses were decorated and how much spirit San Franciscan’s seemed to have — or maybe I was just projecting.  I love Christmas and want everyone else to love it too.  

I took all of these photos with my phone, so they’re pretty grainy or fuzzy, but you get the idea.  It’s not as if you are going to mistake that nutcracker in the first photo for a cop or somethin.’  Merry Christmas a few weeks late, everyone!  And Happy New Year!  

My stepdad, Jaimie, has this incredible Canon camera that I used about 40% of the time I was at his house on the Central Coast.  It really cut down on my socializing time, but man, was it satisfying.  Here are some of my favorites from the trip.  

… and I owe it all to Pookie. (If you know me, you know Pookie).

 Here are some recent pictures I took of sea birds in Morro Bay near San Luis Obispo.

I’ve always been drawn to pelicans … as you’ll see here … 

Listening to KQED this morning I came across this very, very cool story.  Folks in Portland and the surrounding areas are getting to know their neighbors in order to reestablish a sense of community.  Their focus is in areas of gentrification, where familiarity is going out the door and newness is knocking.  The artist’s approach is to take photographs of neighbors, blow up the photographs to banner-size, and hang them off the sides of buildings in the neighborhood.  Each photograph contains a quote as well.  The idea is that once you meet your neighbor via banner, you’ll be more likely to say hello when you see them on the street, in the cafe, at the market, etc..  How awesome is that??? 

Click here to go to Hello Neighbor website.  

a note from the project’s artist (taken from the website):

What happens to neighborhoods when your neighbors aren’t your neighbors any more? When interviewed about his rapidly changing North Portland community, my neighbor, Charles, said he didn’t mind the streets being safer, the businesses returning, or the houses being fixed up. What he did mind was that people didn’t say hello anymore. 

When I moved into the neighborhood in 1991 with my husband and 6-month-old daughter, I was a new neighbor. As an artist, I wanted to find a way to publicly address the changes I was a part of. 

My idea was to work with children to seek out neighbors of all ages. I wanted to begin a dialogue about community from their point of view. The resulting artwork would be displayed throughout the childrens’ neighborhoods. Mural-sized, black-and-white photographs with text would introduce the neighborhood to its children and neighbors to each other. 

It all begins with a simple hello. Julie Keefe, Artist

This San Francisco Chronicle article just had to be shared.  Thrifty’s was a huge part of my childhood in Southern California.  It was a simple drug store like Walgreens or Longs Drugs but they had this little ice cream counter inside.  Oh, the twenty-five cent scoops, the cold, sugary smell of the freezer, how it stung your tongue to lick the cold jagged chocolate bits in the mint chip, the cute mini malt balls in the Chocolate Malted Crunch … what a memory.  I agree with everything the author of the article says about the whole experience.  By the way, I think Thrifty’s is just a West Coast thing, so for anyone who’s not from here, next time you’re around I’ll buy you some.  (Thrifty’s no longer exists, but you can find it at some Rite-Aid stores — for local folk, go to the one in Corte Madera’s Town Center).    

Subject: Thrifty’s Drug Store

06/20/05 at 2:52 am

Does anyone remember these stores? It was a drug store but they sold alot of different items. They also had an ice cream section where you could get a single, double, or triple scoop of ice cream. It was really cheap, but the best ice cream in the world. I usually only went there for the ice cream. The last time I seen a Thrifty’s was in 1991. Does anyone else remember them?

Aw, boy.  Being sick is a drag.  I can can stare out into nothingness for 10 straight minutes, come-to again and not recall one thought that went through my head.  Keeps you in check though.  Keeps you grateful that you don’t regularly feel woozy every time you stand up, you don’t have excess fluid in your eyes and throat and you don’t want to fall asleep every other hour.  

My entire body has been sensitive to all elements.  Last night I put a fork full of food in my mouth and my whole mouth tingled — my taste-buds were doing backflips!  I think my eyes even watered.  When I shower, my skin is so in love with the hot water that I can’t bring myself to get out — a moment out of the hot water is frigid when you have fever-like symptoms and if you stay in it for an extended time you feel faint afterwards.  

The transition from sick to healthy can be so subtle and rest assured we all take it for granted.  The health usually shows up in the form of energy; you laugh more easily, you stand up from sitting with more spring in your step and you want to get out a bit more.

I’m feeling the subtle energy tonight.  I’m going out for dinner and I’m not sure how it’s going to go.  Either way, it’s a good step.  I’m putting myself in a setting with more energy than I can find at home and I’m feeling a bit more energetic as well.  Hopefully, the restaurant and I will mesh.

My sister just got back from Oahu and these are her toes.  Yes, I feel jealous but aren’t these the cutest toes you’ve ever seen?  

If you don’t already know, I’m engaged to wonderful Ricardo.  [insert heart here]  This is our temporary “Save the Date” card that I made on Illustrator.  This card is for all you people who keep on askin’ when we’re getting married (an absolutely natural, normal, expected inquiry)!!

So, when I get busy I don’t have as much mental space that enables unique thought.  The mind’s doorway narrows and gets crowded with odds and ends:  calendars, schedules, post-it notes, undone to-do lists, dirty kitchens, crumby, cluttered floors and year old cobwebs.  I’m not implying that I’m a brilliant poet/intellectual when I have free time.  I’m saying that I’m really not brilliant when I’m busy.  No, that’s not true.  I’m in a different sort of busy these days.  I’m “busy” with quotation marks made by both your hands.  I’m “busy” and I’m reacting to “busy” in a strange way.  

I’m way past that “Wow, I’m unemployed and man, is this fun” stage.  I think I’m at the “I should really start working now” stage.  I think I’m thinking of all the things I should be doing.  I’m working a little each week, but I still have a good amount of down-time every day.  I think the less I do, the more I stress about things, and the larger the tasks seem … and the more incapable I feel.  Here are pictures to match the thoughts:

If I were on Hell’s Kitchen I’d feel a true sense of busy.  No quotation marks needed. Where do I sign up?  Naw, I’m way to scared of Chef Ramsay.