Neckwear

Here's what we're wearing around our necks and on our feet this first chilly Aville morning.  And below are two dream sketches that are as strange to me as they probably are to you.

Yarn

Sunset Steers

Standing in lush, tall grass and slanting sunlight, these steers and a mule are unperturbed by the news that Repubs are yet again barking and spitting about emails.

Hydrangea Bloomlets

Quick Before the Downpour!

Sheep, cows, and Lila the watch mule as a thunderhead moves into valley--

Weekend Sightings

Yesterday while helping people register to vote I spotted this lovely old door.  It was leaning against a front porch wall.  The two narrow panels were made of weathered wood with small arrowpoint -like pieces of perhaps oyster shells hammered into slits.  I know nothing about the door, but it looked old and African, and I want one.

Today at a party at our friends' place these things begged to be drawn:  fresh ginger root, a tiny ceramic bowl, a cinquepin nut, hull, and leaf.

Twining around the railing of the porch where we were eating was a moonflower vine full of buds.  The buds were purple and green , with a cream-colored spent blossom.

On top of the birthday pie was a whirling singing lotus blossom of a candle.  The box it came in said Rainbow Colored Musical Birthday Exciting Candle-- and it was!  We had to dismantle it to get it to stop playing the birthday song---

I'm out of blank pages, so I drew right over some penciled numbers.  This is B playing his fiddle.

B, P, and D playing music, only their instruments aren't in the picture:  B on fiddle, P on mandolin, and D on dulcimer.  Fun!

What We're Wearing on Our Feet These Days in Aville

Here and There

My friend M came over to hike at noon and we first pooled our resources for lunch.  Then tonight P and I joined D and H and Maya and Jacob at Ichiban to celebrate Jacob's 17th!  

Acorns Launched

The big news in the woods today is that virtually all of the acorns have popped out of their caps today.  The only ones that I saw still attached to their caps were a few immature ones such as 8214.  I would love to have seen the detaching.  I did see a few still sitting near their caps and  one with the umbilicus detached but the cap still loose on the acorn.  What could the signal have been?  My son M with whom I was discussing this matter thought shrinking of the acorn due to dryer air.  Makes sense to me.  

Acorns Like Easter Eggs

Arborvitae Cones

Okay, arborvitae are not that exciting in the general scheme of things.  But if you ever find yourself shopping for some, go to a good nursery and buy single leader trees.  These seem to be better able to handle winter and grow taller than the multiple leader trees that show up in big box store plant sales.

That (Un-Named) Thing

All seven of these are called That Thing, as in That Thing that hangs at the end of the Venetian blind cord, That Thing that they give you at a museum to clip on your shirt, That Thing that pins the corner of the duvet to the duvet cover, That Thing made out of clear plastic that has been in the junk drawer forever,  That Thing that looks like a safety pin only it's rounded, That Thing that says Ciao,  That Thing that you use to hold your graduation cap on your head.

Letterpress Miscellania

I was sitting at the front desk at BookWorks this afternoon and these  objects were in little metal and cardboard boxes.  Seven things begging to be drawn--

At Crit Group Plus a Couple of More Buckeyes

Beautiful crit group people,  and a buckeye that has been cleaned out by a worm;  plus a singleton buckeye in the bottom section of its hull.  Did you know that buckeyes come in singletons, twins, and triplets?

Buckeyes!

People

At Think Tank

and at a restaurant 

and more rally people, this time drawn from a video that I took.

Nothing better than drawing people.  

In Which a Day That Begins with a Sublime Hibiscus Goes on to the Ridiculous

A dinner-plate-sized hibiscus has bloomed every year for the last 14 years on a spindly stalk that seems to have come with the house.

This year there are three more blossoms in process.  As I was sketching them in the back garden this morning Jesse moved behind the flower, and when I glanced up at him, this is what I saw:

Three baby steers calmly munching English ivy about twenty feet away on the edge of the hedgerow between our yard and the field.

These are very rough action drawings.  I especially like the steer scratching his face with his hind foot.

Eventually the three settled down and I spent a while drawing them as they rested in the shade near the broken style that they had escaped through.

I don't mind at all  having them back there, but I eventually called campus security and the farm manager showed up and nudged them back into the pasture and propped up the style.

Here are a couple more drawings of cud-chewing babies.

Then at mid-afternoon I went downtown to check out the political rally and its protesters .  My plan was to draw people.

That was fun, but I soon made a sign andjoined  the protest!  And when the rally started and  the police told us protesters they were letting people in without tickets, we went in.  A very surreal event!

Afternoon on the River

My neighbor E, who is in third grade, wanted to go on an adventure.  She had ridden her scooter down the street, and we were sitting on the grass in my front yard.  She taught me how to make a duck call with a blade of grass.  We shared her apple and peanut butter.  Then we went down to the college garden, where we drew sunflowers together.

Here are E's.  And then a very presidential hen came and visited us.

Next we hit the trail and clambered down a bank to sit on a rocky beach and draw amongst the mosquitos.

E jumped in and I waded in to get cool water on our bites.  On our way back to the car we drew a few more chickens.

Presidential Chickens

Which chicken looks the most Presidential to you?

Things That Have Overstayed

Mosquitos. Fleas. Mildew. Waist-high weeds.  Boring boxy white black or silver cars in lines at stoplights.

The garden with its brown choking un-dead-headed blossoms.  The wretched witless repetitive ranting of some politicians.  The black mildew blooms on the back porch screens.  All the hot air.

Late Late Summer on the Farm

Almost every animal has its head deep in the lush green grass this afternoon.

Even the two students sitting in a field are shoulder deep in grass.

Cartoon Cats

Warm ups

Three minutes

Still loving those boxes.