Edvard Munch

The Scream

I was surprised to learn that this famous painting was painted on ordinary cardboard and that is one reason it is so fragile. Even so, it has survived being stolen and eventually recovered. There are several versions of this painting.

Twisted German Cast On

This is the cast-on used for "Six-Socks" last sock - The Handsome Devil. I'm still working on it and havent started the current one (Autumn Lace). I Like the Handsome Devil pattern. It goes really quickly. (I got a late start) -- and can't work on it very much now, as I working on paintings for a show.

Maybe a Cicada?

He doesn't look exactly like the images I have found, but pretty close, and there are a lot of variations. (A friend emailed me and gave me this clue!)

Can you tell me this guy's name?

He's not very pretty. Definitely not a June bug. A little bigger, I think. He posed for several pictures and then took off almost straight up into the trees.

Look what they've done to our street!

This was once a natural woodsy area. When we bought houses here, on this one block long street, we were told that nothing would ever be built in the woodsy area at the end because of the sheer drop-off of the land. Then along came a developer who has packed in truckload after truckload of logs and dirt, tearing down all the trees there were there. They'll be putting in more than sixty condominiums in that space. The area will be gated but this street will be their only access out -- so there goes our quiet street.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, a novel

This is a good book - by Garth Stein. Especially good right now. It is about a dog. And his family. And the book is written as if by the dog -- Enzo. That may sound corny, but it really isn't. I'm so glad to have found the book and to share the thoughts of Enzo - a remarkable lab.

It was MacTavish who taught me that dogs really do think, and often work hard to get their thoughts across. And all without being able to voice words. However, that does NOT mean they do not understand words.

Enzo learned a lot from TV, while his family was away at work. He'd seen a documentary about Mongolia that explained a clear truth to him: that "when a dog is finished living his lifetimes as a dog, his next incarnation will be as a man." Enzo loved this idea.

There is a lot about racing in this book because Enzo's owner is a race car driver. Something I knew almost nothing about before I read this book -- There is a lot about child custody -- and a lot about life and love and death and hope.