Hanging out in Mendocino

Above are the book covers I carved on Maui from leftover wood. I am now taking care of an older dog, 14 yr. old Rowen, who has a hard time walking. Anyway I decided to paint the covers to look like Rowen since she has the same profile as Lobo, the dog I was caring for in Hawaii. I was going to fill the book with my dog photos - I have lots of funny ones - but now Laura wants to buy the covers and fill them with her animal photos, which are pretty good. Below is my friend Rowen.
Since my Wooden Books blog went viral I decided to spend time this year making some special new books to update the blog. Below are the covers for GAIA, carved out of mahogany, and will be filled with my favorite photos of women and women art that I've done over the years. The covers aren't finished - I'm still sanding and refining them. I bought a special wood burner exatco knife so I can do the fine detail of her fingers and toes and the veining of the leaves.

Below is one bed of many that I've been weeding and now most of them have started blooming.
This is a funny story. The heron, below, was moved here when it was discovered that her allures were death to Laura's beloved goldfish. Laura was traveling and when she called home her caretaker told her about the amorous heron she saw humping the pond sculpture. Laura learned later that he also ate nine of her goldfish and that he hit two other ponds in the area before moving on.

Can you see the toad that was unearthed when we planted the vegetable garden?

Laura took David and me out for his 50th birthday. We first walked around Lakeport (because I was curious) then headed for a Thai restaurant in another village along the lake. Of course, we stopped along the way to take photos, especially of flowers, Laura's specialty

I went on two trips. First I dashed up to Eugene and got everything out of my storage unit, and because it was one of those very rare days there - one of a half dozen a year that they're allowed to have with a full day of sunshine - I decided to drive home instead of driving farther out to stay with friends. It took me 21 hours total. Then a week later I drove down to do a painting job for my friends Fran and Patti in Santa Cruz and photographed their house which has been remodeled and made large and sunny. Fran also built a huge bread and pizza oven out back, which you can see partly out of the utility room window below. I packed up my truck with alot of stuff I had stored under their mountain house and for the first time in a long time I have been reunited with most of my art and possessions.

Fran is an avid year round gardener. She and Patti are eating the vegetables it produces whatever time of year I visit.

I'm doing a barter with Keith Canova, a musician/music teacher who teaches at the Ukiah Music School. My part of the bargain was to shoot video of his annual student show at the local Playhouse. While doing that this young man, Jalahn, performed with one hand. It's amazing. He's 12 years old and is already writing his own music.