Isn't she cute?

I just love this chicken. She's like 95 chicken-years old now. You'd never know it, though. She even laid an egg the other day. I love to watch the feral cats out in the backyard. They just stare at her. They know she's a bird, but they also know that she'd kick their butt if they tried anything. So they keep their distance.

No News was Good News for awhile

For a whole two weeks I was able to have hope about that job, but you can only say "no news is good news" for so long, so I finally e-mailed the art director whom I interviewed with to find out the status of the job. She wrote back saying that they've hired someone. No explanation - she'll "keep my resume around." What a bummer. This was the job I really wanted; of all the jobs I've interviewed for. This gets old and depressing after awhile.

I do have a couple of little freelance projects going. And I'm taking a super-wonderful class at the JC called "photo restoration." It is the most advanced Photoshop class I have ever taken, the teacher is amazing, and comes from a photography background. Most of the students are super smart professional photographers, and I feel like I'm finally using photoshop to its full potential after all these years of just scratching the surface.

Tonight I had hula, which greatly helped ease my misery. Hula is incredibly fun these days, as we're learning a fast-paced sassy choreography to Amy Hanaiali`i's "Hale`iwa Hula." Also our little `ukulele group is having a lot of fun and picking up speed a little.

So all-in-all life is good, and I've decided to beat myself up too bad about the job. There's some reason it wasn't the right job (I just wish I knew what it was.) And I have hope that something better will come along, and I'll look back and say, "Man, I'm glad I'm not commuting to Petaluma."

Visitors with Aloha

I love blogging when I have something to blog about, and boy do I this week! No, I didn't hear about the job yet; this is just plain fun stuff. I'm gonna embarrass the Hell out of Amelia, but sometimes a parent just has to do it. She'll never tell anybody I have a blog.
Earlier this week we had visitors from Hawai`i. Our old friend and hula sister Judy, who used to live in Forestville, came with her friends Led & Sharon Ka`apana and Mike & Malissa Ka`awa. Led & Mike were doing a West Coast tour. They'd just played Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on Sunday night (great show!) and had a couple of days off before their next gig, so they came up to Sonoma County. We went over to the Napa Valley on Monday and toured the new Castello di Amorosa; a winery in Calistoga. Apparently the winery owner is a Medieval Architecture fanatic, and had this castle built exactly as the castles in Tuscany were built. The architect and the artists who painted the frescoes all came over from Italy, and it took 14 years to build. You can't see it from the highway, which is good, because it is pretty extreme. Something like 107 rooms, 7 levels, even a torture chamber (yuk) Although flamboyant, it is authentic and artfully done. Under the castle are 35,000 square feet of tunnels for wine barrel storage. Yeah, they really make wine there, and it's good. The acoustics alone are amazing in these rooms made of stone with arched ceilings. Something to see if you're in the area.
Then ... Then!
On Tuesday night we had a party for Judy with all her old hula friends. We had it at a great little English Pub in Railroad square called "Toad in the Hole." We had hula class that night only a block away, so after hula everyone walked over to the pub. Led & Mike got up and played music and we got to dance. After 15 years of studying hula, I can honestly say that dancing to Led live doing "Ikona" was my hula hightlight. By far, bar none. I don't usually like to perform, but this felt comfortable because it was mainly just us, the lighting was low, and there were probably 10 or so of us who jumped up to dance. There was very little room, so we were dancing all over the place. They took a short break and then invited Amelia and a couple of guitar players up to play with them. Oh Wow. Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Dave & I must have been beaming! (Although, if Dave were writing this, he'd mention how they didn't have the sound right.) She just jumped in and knew what to do. I asked her later if it was hard, and she said it was pretty easy. The worst part was the nervousness before going up. She did so great, and I know that it meant the world to Judy too, to see Amelia up there with her buddies Led & Mike. I was a lame photographer that night, because I just didn't want to miss the experience, and besides our friend Peter was shooting left and right. I don't have pics from Peter yet, but here's one I took, just to prove it really happened - oh, and a few from the Castello too.

--click to view larger--

Schollenberger Park

Today after my interview I drove down the road, changed my clothes and rode my bike around Schollenberger Park. I was in birdie heaven. I can't believe I've never been there before. The interview went well, and I really want the job!

There were white swans, Canadian Geese, Sandpipers,

and Redwing Blackbirds!

Looking towards Lakeville

Finally got my portfolio online!

Finally, finally, finally!!! I have been wanting to put my portfolio online for years now! I've been putting it off because I am not a web guru, and it just seemed like such an insurmountable task to learn Dreamweaver (not to mention expensive.) Especially when I have so much else to learn about everything else! And when I got laid off this time, it was one of my first goals - no excuses now. I was going to have it done by January. Around mid-January, I remembered that I hadn't started yet. Thanks to iweb, I finally got it done. I've been consumed by it for the last couple of weeks, barely able to tear myself away from the computer, working late, late, late into the night and giving myself eyestrain headaches, but... finally it is done. If you would like to take a look at it, I'd love some feedback. It's at http://web.mac.com/nancylorenz

Job Interview!

My last job interview was really disappointing. I'm sure that he was as disappointed as I was - not a good match. BUT! Next week, I have an interview here:

http://www.dauphinepress.com/

I love their stuff. I'm super excited.

Nice Weekend

Enrico and Marit, needle-felted

Saturday was the 17th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. I went down to SF with Amelia and a new friend whom I met in my Architectural sketching class, Diane. We spent the day in Chinatown & North Beach. Aproximately 65 sketchers gathered in SF, with many more groups gathering around the world. Diane is an architect and does amazingly beautiful buildings, street scenes, trees, people, shading, you name it. And she's fast. Amelia did probably her best sketchcrawl work yet. I intentionally left my camera at home so that I would sketch. Most of these people are art students or professional artists, and the work we saw at the end of the day was simply amazing. My sketching is nowhere near the same league, but I try not to beat myself up too much about it. I don't like to share my work at the end of the day. Fortunately, only a couple of people asked to see my sketchbook. Diane & I both felt like it was such a gift to just dedicate an entire day to sketching. What fun. It's sort of like shutting out the rest of the world when you're concentrating on drawing, and I love the peace that it brings.

I had a little gift I had made last summer for Enrico and Marit, and this was the first time I'd seen them since then, so I was finally able to give it to them. Enrico is the mastermind behind Sketchcrawl. I had made little needle-felted likenesses of them, based on Enrico's charicatures in The Venice Chronicles - a cartoon documenting their trip to Italy, ending with a proposal of marriage. I was so charmed by it, and by the couple themselves, that I made them these dolls. I think they liked them. Since I made them, I learned that Marit is pregnant with a baby girl. So I'll probably be adding a little pink bundle of felt in the near future.

The Venice Chronicles: http://enricocasarosa.com/wordpress.1/VeniceChronicles/
Sketchcrawl Forums: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/

Mail truck ... it drove away before I finished, but that's ok. Colored in Photoshop




Francis Ford Coppola's "Zoetrope" building, Columbus & Kearny. Colored in Photoshop.
We had soup at "Nanking" across the street - reputed to be the best Chinese food in SF. Soup was great - will have to go back there again.

Today we went to visit Jo at her new place in Sonoma. Dave & I brought our bikes & Amelia brought her new scooter, so we rode from Jo's to the square, and met her there for a little lunch at Basque Boulangerie. Now I know where General Vallejo's home is and the Sonoma Overlook trail. I love being a tourist in my own county!

Missing Jim

This week marks a year. Here are a couple of pictures of Jim doing his favorite things with his favorite people. These pictures are from our last visit with him. We had so much fun.

Doni, Jim, Lindsay & Kyle in the studio


Paige & Jim going into "It's a Small World" for the 2nd time in a row

Weathergrams

I had never heard of Weathergrams before I saw some hanging on Velva's tree by her front door. They were really sweet, unique and obviously hand-made. To me, they called out for you to stop, and take some time to read them. They're a little bit quirky, and reminded me of the book "Remember the Night Rainbow," that we bought Amelia when she was 3. Velva's Weathergrams were made by her neighbor Judy Brooks. When Judy heard from Velva how much I liked them, she made some for us.

These have been hanging in our Oak tree out front for the last year or so. I don't think anybody but me appreciated them, but I think they are sweet. They were beginning to get tattered and torn, and I found a couple on the ground, so I rescued them. I will probably recycle them as gift tags or something. If anyone would like to have one, let me know, and I will pass it on. Click to zoom in and read them:

The weathergram is written on paper cut from grocery store paper bags. The strip is 2 1/2 x 10 inches. Current Cursive Italic is the letter-form for the weathergram - not formal calligraphy. Acrylic vermilion is used for the initial, & Higgins waterproof India ink for the rest. The writing will last as long as the paper does or longer. Any other color or ink will wash out or fade away.

Here are some excerpts of information that Judy included for us, from the book "Weathergrams" by Lloyd Reynolds, Reed College, Portland, Ore.

The Weathergram is a very short poem of about ten words - or less. It comes as a sudden insight; & hence brevity is essential. Furthermore, no one will stop to read any lengthy statement while standing in the wind & rain. The Weathergram is hung on a bough or branch in the garden, at a campsite, or along a mountain trail. Raw & incomplete when just written, the weathergram needs the graphic touches of wind, rain, sun and ice - depending on the season. It may fade to an off-white, old bone color, & ragged edges gie it some of the qualities of a faded leaf. The origins of the weathergram go back to 1926-27, when I first found translations of Far Eastern poetry. After developing weathergrams I discovered that the idea had been anticipated much earlier & with great artistry, by the Japanese, who send tanzaku with thank-you notes or exchange them with friends. Like weathergrams, they are given away & are strictly non-commercial.

"Daddy went winsnurfing"

That's what Amelia used to say when she was a little girl. Today Dave worked from home in the a.m., and then went out to Doran before going to work.

First storm of the season

This is what happened at 4am Friday at the end of our street. It was a Douglass Fir. Fortunately did not fall on a house, but snapped the power lines, and we were without power till mid-day Sunday. Dave hooked up the generator a few times to run the refridgerator and the well pump, so we got showers and kept food from spoiling. Our trusty wood stove kept us cozy warm. More storms forecast ahead, and now that the ground is saturated, everyone's nervous about all the rest of the big trees around here.

Backyard rendezvous

Happy New Year!

Bodega Harbor Sunset 12/31/2007

I consider any year that has no death in the family or no major illnesses a very good year. I have many dear friends who did not have such a great year in those regards. Here's to all of us having a wonderful and healthy ʻ08. I celebrated the last day of 2007 by taking my new car out on my favorite drive - to Occidental, then Coleman Valley Road and down the coast. There were lots of people out there enjoying the last of the light of 2007. It was sunny and nary a breeze. The sunset was unbelievable. We considered having a few friends over tonight, but after having 29 people here for Christmas, we're done with that for awhile. We'll go out to the front porch at midnight and blow the conch shells.

I live on Coleman Valley Road and I am wearing my winter coat.





"Mommy, some lady's taking pictures of me."




It looked like somebody airbrushed a squiggly in the sky



Last sunlight of 2007 on the town of Bodega Bay.


Sunset on Bodega Bay

Egret or a Heron? Must learn my birds.


"X" Marks the spot.

Sick

I can no longer brag about not having a cold for the last 4 years. Since I never get sick, I'm a total baby about it when I do, and I've done nothing but shower and lay around in my jammies today. At least I helped Amelia put away the Christmas tree decorations. We were smart this year, and actually separated out the ones that we never use. They are boxed up for Goodwill, and our Christmas stash is now much better organized.

Yesterday, Dave, Ross, Sibyl & I took a bike ride from Graton to Forestville, back to Graton, over to Sebastopol and back. 18 miles. We dawdled around Sebastopol for awhile by getting a bagel sandwich for Amelia, who was working at Earthchild, and getting a tour of Medteck(?), where Ross works. I saw two ex-co-workers: Karina from the PD and Tim Gonzales from HP/Agilent. It was super cold (in the 40's,) and we just got back before the rain began. I'm not sure if that ride was a good thing for my cold or a bad thing. I think a good thing. But today a good thing is jammies & blanket & Toast & tea. If I can snag the TV, I'll watch Keali`i's Kukahi that Judy sent today.

Christmas '07

The core Lorenz group
Velva, Jo, Sandra, Suzanne & Dave

The Christmas gathering was at our house this year. It was our biggest one ever - 29 of us total!! Almost everyone could make it, except for Linda, Karen & Family, Nina & Lorcan, Andrew & Adrian. It was nice to have my brother Glen & his family join us. We rented tables & chairs and set up out in the "Dave's Garage." We even rented steam chafing dishes to be able to keep the food warm, which was a good idea, because there was ..... too much food. Way too much food. If I ever do this again; I'm going to remember this and mastermind a way to "slim" it down a bit. I'm totally guilty of over-creating, as I got into a baking and cooking binge for a couple of days beforehand. So did everyone else, apparently. It just seems like cooking from scratch is the thing to do this time of year, so many of us really (over) enjoy it. The food was fabulous. Someone suggested channeling our creative energy into a charitable cause next time. Good idea. We had 9 kids, so they all got presents, and then of course the adults did the White Elephant. It was chaotic as ever, but thankfully we had Santa Clause (aka Keith) doing crowd control. We had 2 performances; our friend Ernie did his political-satire Puppet show, totally appreciated by this crowd, and Rachel and Kim did some piano/violin duets. I even heard some singing by Velva while they did "Amazing Grace." I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all, and we are lucky to have all these people in our lives.

RIP Chicken "C"

We lost "C" last week. She didn't come home to roost like she always does, so we knew something bad had happened. I looked all around the yard, but she was nowhere to be found. When the doorbell rang, it was Diane Davis from the Christmas tree farm next door, standing there holding a small wreath. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you," she said. Then she explained how some kids had found Chicken C in the Christmas tree farm; violently mutilated by some animal; probably a raccoon. She was so big that the kids thought she was a turkey. Diane had one of her guys bury her. She expressed her condolences, because her family had grown accustomed to having our chickens hang out on their property over the years. She said they called them "The Spice Girls!" It was nice of Diane to come over and give us the news, and the beautiful wreath. It's really hard to accept that she was attacked and killed in a violent way. Chicken "C" was about 7 years old. She was number 3 in the pecking order; hence her name "C." She was large, and black with long shiny golden feathers on her head and around her neck. We will miss her. We are down to one chicken now; Chicken A, our big-old kick ass Red Hen. She's the boss of only herself now. Weʻll have to get her some company come Spring.