Autumn in the Santa Cruz Mountains

The piece on the left is my experiment with learning how to carve two figures in one. Carved out of redwood it's only 4 feet high. The piece on the right I originally carved in Happy Camp, CA early last summer but the wood was so rotten the front of her face fell off. It took a lot of work (rotten wood is hard to carve) but the little girl is now done and going to be donated to the Happy Camp library. Below are two more views of the couple. They are naked to represent honesty and are standing in water to represent spirituality.





I've collected so many shots of orbs I finally put together a little video on Youtube about them. Mine seem to be different from other people's shots. When I was up in Happy Camp I kept getting pink clouds with orbs in them. Check it out:



I'm now living in the little cabin that I helped Fran and Patti build last year. It's perfect for someone who wants to write and edit videos. I do all my carving and painting on my deck. I'm completely surrounded by redwood trees and often have visitors - deer, racoons and the cats I'm taking care of.



Here's Rocky the racoon who usually brings her 3 babies when she comes to visit.



Here's one of the gang of very tame mule deer that walk up and down the mountain all the time. I was shooting pictures of the carvings when they came by so I threw them some apples - which they love.



I'm leaving tomorrow to spend a week in Ohio visiting my mom, then I'm coming back and getting to work. Patti's dad is dying so I'm staying up here caretaking the cats and gardens this winter while she deals with everything. So, I've decided to spend the time editing my Happy Camp documentary together and writing another book, one I've been thinking about for a long time - my travels through the Moslem countries. In 1977 I spent two years traveling from Australia to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North Africa and loved the people I met. Since then I've really gotten into reading ancient history and have learned the most amazing things about the history of the countries I've been through, which I'm going to try to weave into my stories. I'm going for the woman's view on my travels through the 13 Moslem countries I spent time in. If I don't do it now I might miss the boat. Did you know that the Arabs used to be ruled by women?