Happy New Year! (just a couple weeks late – not too bad considering my blogging track record) Christmas is over and so is the club volleyball season. I would do a “no more volleyball” happy dance, but conditioning for the high school season starts next week. So yeah… the volleyball, unlike the holiday season, never ends. It just changes uniforms. Hey, here is some great news for the new year – Chris has finished his last class and is getting his Masters Degree in Financial Services!! More alphabet soup to add to his business cards. CFP and MSFS – so proud of him! I’m still working on my 20+ year AA plan. One of these days I’ll take that damn Speech class. Really! But this semester I’m sticking with Printmaking. Class starts on the 28th. Can’t wait. In the meantime, thanks to Santa, I have the supplies to work in encaustic (painting with pigmented wax) at home and am trying to find my groove with this new medium. Finished a piece I did at the Wax Works West class last Nov: And the new pieces I created: I also did a small mixed-media painting and have another panel started. So…
Category: Life – it’s bigger
Oh Holy … crap! It’s almost Christmas!
Somehow I missed writing a post in November. Man. I don’t even remember November. There was turkey right? Well let’s see if I can remember December so far… I made it to the opening reception of the “Make Your Own Kind of Music” at The Temp. A miracle as I was fighting a migraine while viewing my migraine painting. So very meta. The show is up through this weekend. Check it out! Got our #kickassxmastree and decked the halls, plus 90% of shopping done. Erin lost 2 more teeth. Rats ate my car! My semester ended. I got an A. Printmaking B next term! Went to San Mateo last weekend with Kyle for the final Power League tournament. They came in 8th in the Gold Division. Not too shabby. And again ended higher than the 17-1s team so yay! Missed Second Saturday, but sold one of my pieces at the Art Under 100 Bucks show at BodyTribe! Still 2 very affordable prints available. ::wink wink nudge nudge:: While we were out of town, Erin got sick. Fever for 2 days and ended up in Urgent Care Sunday night. Diagnosis: flu. Kyle and I got home and then turned right…
Big Fun at the Fair!
So we consulted our calendars and cross-referenced the 7-day weather forecast and determined that this past Monday was the best day to go to the California State Fair. Chris left work early, I picked up Erin from Summer Camp, hats were donned, and off we went. First up: Fine Art Exhibit to check out my pieces and all the other entries. Me and my muse: And then it was off to see the animals and all the things Erin could ride. Like this bear: And a racehorse! She wasn’t too happy way up there. The petting zoo more than made up for that. And riding a real horse! After checking out all the animals, we hit the midway. I don’t think she had as much fun as I did on the Tilt-o-Whirl, but she liked the jeep. And then rode another horse: And the swings! A well deserved ice cream break in the shade: And then the giant slide with dad! We took a tour around CalExpo on the monorail before a final spin on the ferris wheel with dad! Great day!
Don’t Try
I’ve been reading Bukowski before bed. sifting through the madness for the Word, the line, the way New poems from a dead man. It won’t do for the painting on my easel but I’m searching for something. The one poem I loved so long ago when Francis bought this book. I am dead to her now and so she it to me too I guess. It is my biggest regret that great unknown thing that I did. So the Bukowski is fitting. It feels right. I can’t find the poem.
How do you solve a problem like Elfini
damn this blog. At least the zombie genre is still popular, cause this blog just won’t stay dead. And that’s not really what I want anyways, but what to do? Add to my general apathy to write anything (insert Social Media killed the Blog argument here), there is the issue of the name “elfini”. It feels over for me. It was a past life that doesn’t resonate anymore. Yet to change it isn’t the answer either. So I made a new banner. And got rid of a sidebar. There. New year, new look. Still nothing to say. So it goes. But, since we aren’t ready to give up just yet, I will make an effort to post here more often. Something. Even if it is only pictures of Erin for the Uber-in-laws. Hey! Speaking of the Ubers – they are having their 50th wedding anniversary this month! That’s pretty damn awesome. And my job is to scan 50 years worth of photos for a slideshow. I scanned 36 pics this morning and have many many envelopes still to go. Here are a few of my favorites so far: damn. This is making *me* feel old. Look, Hobbits! Aww, a six…
4th-7th of July: a picture parade
The 4th of July was on a Wednesday this year. So this was the first time in years we didn’t spend the holiday in Santa Cruz. We hung our new flag, Chris made abalone, we introduced Erin to sparklers and lit fireworks in the street. A fine day despite the lack of ocean breezes. Erin definitely approved of the sparklers! July 5th. Thursday means more swimming lessons! This was Erin’s last week of her 5pm “Duck” classes and the start of her next session as an “Alligator”. This next session is Tues/Thurs at 2pm for a month. So twice last week she had 2 lessons in one day. That made for a mighty tired little swimmer! Alligator time A little TV between classes And back to the pool! July 6th. Friday. Not having to be anywhere until 2:30 when I have to pick Kyle up from summer school (I still don’t want to talk about that!), I ended up spending the day shooting photos for the next series I’m working on. Shot mostly digital, but did break out the Hasselblad *and* the Polaroid! Proof of Polaroids Took a shot of the flag with the Polaroid. This is the negative! And…
