new posts in all blogs
Viewing Blog: Living it up in Bankrupt California!, Most Recent at Top
Results 1 - 25 of 347
Follows my family's journey from a small town in upstate New York, to a city in South America,( Bariloche, Argentina), and our adjustment back to the United States, in San Diego California
Statistics for Living it up in Bankrupt California!
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 2
As of yesterday spring is officially here. The breeze dances with the scent of citrus trees in bloom all over the city, and this is a common sight again....
No, we're not experiencing flooding and these people don't have a burst pipe.
This is how many homes, businesses and parks in this region water the lawn. It's water pumped in from the Salt River that once a week floods the grass. So, if you're in Phoenix there's no need to pound on anyone's door in a panic about the flood in their yard.
Last Friday I sat at the table again for the Mutant Piñata show. There was a buyer for my piñata for all of one day, but that fell through, hopefully he will find a home. Anyway as I sat I spoke with the curator for the show, Beatrice Moore. She invited me to participate in the "Hanging trees and Woven fences" festival in October down on Grand St., which sounds exciting.
She also was kind enough to explain "Swamp Cooling" to me, which is how they cool the gallery (and many people here cool their homes). It's a machine that pulls hot, dry air in from outside through wet pads that cools the air and propels it inside. It's something that only works in dry desert like environments, and is MUCH cheaper than air conditioning. I believe it was invented in Iran.
Anyway, the weather is still very pleasant here. Some days are above 90ºF but most aren't. We have our own plans to get out of the city this summer, though. We have conventions in Albuquerque and San Diego to look forward to. Happy Spring!
Two of my kids were on Spring Break last week while one of them, Chloe, is on break this week. This makes coordinating a vacation impossible, so we went out here and there and tried to make it interesting ( I guess you call it a "staycation" but that always sounds so stupid). On Thursday we went to the "Festival of Creativity" at the Mesa Arts Center.
This band playing under a giant blimp with a face greeted us as we entered.
As we walked through the promenade we saw that someone had knitted some snug wrappings for all the trees. Poor trees, it was 93ºF out that day!
My kids were "starving" so we immediately got some food and settled down in front of the dinosaur show.
We brought Oscar, who plopped down next to us and watched the crowd. It's a new experience for us to have such a well behaved dog (our last dog was such a wild one compared to him.)
This is a man with a baby dinosaur..... puppet.
The group was from Australia, and was hilarious, and entertaining and knew a lot about dinosaurs! This one is an ancient dragonfly. I for one am glad they're not this big anymore.
Even though they were puppets they moved so smoothly and looked so realistic, it was easy for the kids in the audience to forget.
In the end they brought out a juvenile sized T-Rex. He roared and stomped about, it was pretty cool.
As you can see he has feathers, which makes him a more current design. In this photo you can see the puppeteer. Still an amazing show.
After that we walked around a bit. There was A LOT to see.
These very colorful people moved VERY SLOWLY through the crowd.
There were also these white people slow walking their way around.
Sometimes the white ones would stop and pose.
Actually there were interesting characters everywhere you looked, and which one does my daughter, Chloe, come running to find me and bring me to see? The Rasta guy playing in the band with dreadlocks down to his knees! Teenagers are so silly.
Phoebe and Naomi took the time to add to the community landscape art pieces they were building.
After that they headed down to the courtyard.
Where Naomi constructed a guitar while the sun set.
Activities didn't end at sunset though, things started lighting up like this optic eyeball art piece.
Which was very beautiful on the inside. However my oldest daughter still had school the next day so we headed home. The Mesa Arts Center sure knows how to put on a festival!
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 3/14/2013
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
artist studio,
wind chimes,
foundry,
art studio,
architecture,
ceramics,
bells,
Paolo Soleri,
Cosanti,
dog park,
Add a tag
This past weekend had perfect weather so we decided to head out to Paradise Valley.
 |
| by the parking lot. |
|
|
To visit the Cosanti Bronze Foundry where these beautiful bells are created.
We also wanted to get the kids out of the house for the start of their Spring Break.
Like the bells the buildings are also a work of art.
The grounds and shop are the studio of artist Paolo Soleri.
It's more than just a bronze foundry, it's also a ceramic workshop. Here you can see some of the tiles on display and for sale.
These are some of the molds in one of the back studio areas. No demonstrations today though.
We followed the walkways around the unusual buildings. Some areas were marked "private", as the artist does live here with his family.
It was incredible to see the inner workings of a place like this.
It sometimes felt like a maze, an unusual, and sometimes beautiful maze, however.
Paolo Soleri began work on these amazing structures in the 1950's and was later assisted by his students.
As we followed the winding path around and through the little buildings we found this enormous parrot lurking in a grapefruit tree.
It never takes long for my kids to start acting goofy.
The chimes were quite enchanting and made some incredible sounds.
The girls found the warped wall (we've watched too much "Ninja Warrior").
Phoebe also found a cute kitty.
After wandering the grounds we returned to the shop.
A visit to Cosanti was a great afternoon!
Since Oscar had to wait in the car at the foundry we decided to bring him to the Scottsdale dog park. Unfortunately it was closed due to wet conditions (notice the fantastic day in these pictures).
So we took a walk around the park that wasn't closed.
There was some pretty interesting terrain.
I guess we'll see the Scottsdale dog park on a different day.
As I walked the dog I saw a "MetLife" blimp dipping and wobbling over the city, steadily getting lower and lower. I think it may have been crashing, but I didn't have an hour to watch a blimp crash. Besides I've already seen that slow motion action in New York city and wrote about it here.
It's been six months since we moved to Phoenix, so now I'm a bit worried. We moved here and watched the weather go from sweltering hot, to pretty cold to extremely pleasant. From here it goes hot, hotter and hottest. I decided to get the girls signed up for camp in the mountains so they can get a break from the heat. Chloe actually chose a beginning horseback riding camp, as she made a New Years resolution to try new things. I hope she has fun, they're only allowed to shower every other day at camp. That might be unpleasant if your spending a lot of time on horses.
In other news my new e-book "Little Scotty Scaredy Cat" is up on Amazon!!
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 3/7/2013
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
shipping,
packing artwork,
Little Scotty Scaredy Cat,
childhood fears,
cat painting,
School of Visual Arts,
wall hanging,
egg drop,
eBay,
ebook,
Add a tag
Here it is the re-release of "Little Scotty Scaredy Cat!" My e-book about a child who's terrified of mascot characters. It used to be a free download on my website, but it's been re-edited, reformatted and has a number of additional illustrations.
Years ago when I attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, I took a 3D illustration class. One of the assignments was the egg drop. We had to design a vessel that would keep an egg safe for a 9 story drop onto East 23rd Street. Since this was art school it also had to look really good. We weren't training to be engineers, so at the time I thought this was ridiculous. It turns out I use that lesson often whenever I have to ship fragile artwork through the mail...
Anyway, we've been been watching obscene amounts of Star Trek lately. While we do this I've been painting.
This is called "Moon Cat"
It's up on eBay right
here!
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 3/4/2013
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
paper mache,
Frontal Lobe Gallery,
piñata,
First Friday,
mutant,
Art Detour,
sculpture,
art opening,
Mutant Piñata Show,
gallery,
Add a tag
Friday night was the big night, the Mutant Piñata Show was opening on "First Friday" at the Frontal Lobe Gallery!
The whole front of the building was decked out with piñatas!
You could see them from blocks away.
Of course the show wasn't in the trees, it was inside.
Here I am on First Friday with "Bajumba the centipede". He was in the back, but definitely making an impression anyway.
He spins in a circle, so when I walked in he was in the back facing the wall. I was pretty alarmed, but then I realized he rotates around.
Any art show in Phoenix has a phoenix in it. This was really beautifully done though.
This is another bird piñata. Nicely done, I think the mutant part is what he's holding.
This is one of my favorites. It's called Cecilia and this photo really doesn't do it justice!
This is the best photo I could get of Naomi with her piñata. "The Ball That Sees All" was way up overhead!
I'm calling this one plastic man, but I don't think that's the official name. It's distorted in my photo, but this is a perfectly proportioned figure. The artist wrapped himself in clear tape then cut it off and reassembled it. Hanging in the center where his heart should be is a clear bag of candy. It's pretty cool (in person-again my photo is LAME!). The curator of the show was saying she met the artist and he looks just like that!
This is an eyeball flower. It's really nice in it's simplicity.
Mike, of course found Cthulu swinging overhead.
Some interesting standing mutants.
I didn't get photos of all the mutants, there were too many, but on "First Friday" over 1,000 people walked through the gallery. Then Saturday and Sunday was another art event for downtown called "Art Detour Weekend". On Sunday afternoon the piñata show had a big piñata smashing event, with a crazy piñata made on site during Friday's opening. My kids, of course wanted to be there.
Naomi was up first and gave it a brutal beating. After her they gave each kid five whacks.
Phoebe waits her turn. After gathering large amounts of sweets on Sunday the girls walked about through the galleries doing crafts at the craft fair nearby, while I volunteered at the front table at the piñata show. The whole time I was there people streamed in to see the show at a steady pace. I'm so glad to be a part of it. Now here's hoping he sells!
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 2/27/2013
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
yoga,
centipede,
washing machine,
pigeons,
piñata,
underpass,
leprechaun,
toothache,
nesting,
Mutant Piñata Show,
Add a tag
Last weekend I unwrapped the plastic off my centipede piñata and was happy to see he survived the storm.
So I proceeded to paint the bottom half.
Here he is all painted!
After this it was just a matter of waiting till Tuesday to drop it off at the gallery.... Or so I thought. Then,
at 3am on Sunday, high winds started whipping through here, so groggy and barefoot I went outside to tie this guy to the table. Tuesday could not come soon enough!
In the meantime Naomi finished up her piñata for the show. She calls it "The Ball That Sees All".
On Sunday we walked through the park and saw many unusual sights, including this crowd doing downward dog near some "Vitamin Water" vendors.
Under the underpass we discovered pigeons nesting, which was interesting as I've never seen a pigeon nest before.
They use the lights that have been lined with some very ineffective spines to prevent them from making themselves at home. The other interesting thing I saw was a man dressed as a leprechaun, and a girl dressed as a washing machine. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that!
In other news I had a terrible toothache this week that disappeared when I got to the dentist's office, thus making me look like a crazy person. He said cracked molars can sometimes be hard to locate, whatever that means. It just doesn't hurt when I'm biting down-just the rest of the time! Also Mike has a new interview out this week
here, and my centipede is safely sitting inside the gallery... finally!
Monday is coming up fast and so is the next show of Art of The Red River.
 |
| Shroom Skulls by Sinful Edge |
|
Our first guest is the artist known only as Sinful Edge.From Phoenix, Arizona, the young visionary paints what he calls metal influenced art. His disturbing imagery will haunt you as it inspires you be sure to see his horrific visions of other worlds. To fully experience it I suggest you follow him on tumblr at sinfuledge.tumblr.com and listen in to our show for his unique outlook.
 |
| The Zullo Gallery in Medford, MA |
|
|
Our second guest will be William Pope, the owner and director of the Zullo Gallery and Center for the Arts since 1988. Over the past 23 years the gallery has presented more than 100 art exhibitions. Shows have featured members of The New England Watercolor Society, The Copley Society of Boston, The Boston Printmakers as well as individuals from The Fort Point Arts Community in South Boston and The Brickbottom Artists Cooperative in Somerville.
 |
| An Ant's Day Off illustrated by Nina Laden |
|
|
Our final guest is Nina Laden, an award-winning, best-selling children’s book author and illustrator who lives in Seattle and on Lummi Island, WA, but mostly she lives in her imagination. She grew up in the New York city area, the daughter of two artists and received a BFA from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. She has over a dozen books in print including “The Night I Followed the Dog,” “When Pigasso Met Mootisse,” and “Roberto the Insect Architect.” She also visits schools and inspires students to be creative. Join us for great conversations in art.
In other news, my centipede piñata survived our big storm cocooned on my patio. The storm was madness, it actually SNOWED in some parts of Phoenix!! This is the valley of the sun, we put up with living in a convection oven all summer-the trade off is no snow! No sliding on ice across the highway!! Anyway the snow is gone and I'll be posting more pics of my piñata finished and hanging in the gallery soon!
Since it was a three day weekend I kept working on the piñata (I'm trying to only work on this project on the weekend.) Here you can see on Monday I started painting his face...
Then I began working on his stripes....
 |
| Stripes from front. | | |
 |
| stripes from side. |
|
|
By the end of Monday that's where I stopped. Then I learned of the storm that was due to arrive Tuesday night. I had wanted to paint all the areas I could reach without moving him too much (he is only paper mache, after all.) So I decided to get all I could done on Tuesday.
So I worked for hours. Here I've added the yellow (plus one purple dot).
This is the same moment from the back.
Hours after that I finished as much as I could. I've added all his dots and black outlines. Phoebe was home sick and has helped me paint many backdrops so so came out and helped me finish.
 |
| side view |
|
|
 |
| from the back. |
|
So now that he's done I was ready to move him.
If you look closely you can see his bottom half needs finishing.
But that's a task for next weekend. Right now I have to cocoon this guy.
So here he is wrapped in two dropcloths and pushed under the eves of our house. Right now it's pouring rain and please keep your fingers crossed for me..... This centipede will definitely melt in the rain.
This weekend has seen a lot of progress on the giant centipede I'm building....
 |
| Me attaching his head. |
|
After I added all the legs on Friday I propped him up and attached his head.
The paper mache dried quickly in the Arizona sun.
With all the pieces together he's really taking shape, now.
The next step was to paint all the accessible parts a base green color.
It certainly makes him look more buggy (Is that a word?). I guess I should say insect-like- buggy's an old timey car.
Here it is from the back- ( My patio is a disaster, don't look at that part).
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 2/16/2013
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Tie Your Shoes,
children's book,
dog,
sketching,
shoes,
drawing,
laces,
shoe laces,
class visit,
book,
Add a tag
I hate shopping, and since I do it all the time for my girls I never buy anything for myself. Lately I've been down to my old sneakers I bought when I lived in Argentina. As I walked over to the pharmacy with Phoebe 2 days ago we saw an old sneaker sitting on the edge of the road. Phoebe said "Look Mom! It looks like yours." "Kind of, except that one's nicer!" ..... The point of this story is I bought new shoes.You'll notice that my shoes have no laces. This is because when it comes to keeping my shoes tied I seem to be highly incompetent. I remember being stopped, sometimes twice a day, when I lived in New York City by well meaning citizens who didn't want to watch me fall on my face on the sidewalk. "Your shoes are untied!" "Thanks." I'd mumble and put forth the effort once again to tie my shoes. This is why it's highly ironic that I've actually written and illustrated a book for preschoolers to teach them this valuable skill....22 pages of instructions on how to tie a proper bow...
It's pretty cute and told in rhyme (one that works), so repeated reading is a breeze.
It also comes with the "learning laces" that are half red and half blue and work with the book.
I spent the last few days dying them to sell my back stock of the books on
eBay.
This week I also visited Madison Rose Lane Elementary School's 3rd Grade. We drew monsters and practiced drawing faces. The kids were great, they wrote me all thank you letters. It was Naomi's class and the teacher made her write a letter as well. It went something like this....
Dear Mom,
I don't know why I have to write you a letter when I could just thank you at home. My teacher says I have to, so thank you for coming to my class and drawing monsters.
Love, Naomi
This week I've also been watching Mike grade his students' life drawings, which inspired me to do some life drawing. I used the easiest model available, Oscar. Mike says I get an "A".
I'm still building my giant centipede piñata and began work on the body this weekend....
First I linked some of the balloons I'd paper mached last weekend.
When they dried I linked the doubled balloons together to create a large curved body.
Then I added his tail piece. Next weekend I'll attach the ten legs and giant head, then it's on to painting this guy! I'm excited to be showing in a local gallery. In the mean time you can see photo's of last year's mutant piñata show
here. It's always an interesting experience getting involved in galleries. I remember when my kids were babies (6 and under) we all went over to Woodstock, NY to meet a gallery owner who wanted to show Mike's work. She was very younger woman with wild hair, by that I mean REALLY wild. She had just rescued some baby birds and was keeping them in her curly locks. My preschooler and toddler were fascinated and amazed. I was also amazed, but a little disturbed. Perhaps it was because at that time I had babies of my own and I knew just how much adorable little things pooped and peed.
I made a little video. It's only 45 seconds long, but hopefully it's disturbing enough to stay in your subconscious. :)
Last weekend we went to First Friday again.
As usual it was quite crowded and exciting with more bands showing up to play on street corners this time. Chloe and Naomi were both feeling run down so they skipped it, but we brought Phoebe and her friend and Oscar, of course....
First Friday was a much different experience with a dog. He couldn't go in most of the galleries, but he enjoyed the festival outside. Also we met SO MANY other dog owners. They were all so friendly too. We met one dog that seemed older and I mentioned it to the owner.
"Oh no, she's not old, she just has 'Valley Fever'".
"What's that?"
"Ahh! You're not from around here are you?"
It turns out it's a mysterious illness in this region that comes from when they cut into the desert soil. It put microbes in the air and causes a respiratory illness in dogs and people. Fantastic.
Never the less, Oscar, and the rest of us enjoyed our evening out. The weather has hit a sweet spot lately, and most days are in the 70º's (F), and the nights never get below 60º(F).
Over the last month or so when Naomi walks home from school each day she passes by a big sour orange tree and reaches up and picks one. Slowly my fridge has been filling with yummy smelling, but very sour oranges. I tried juicing some and mixing them with sweet oranges and sugar, but while it tasted ok, we all wished the juice wasn't so sour. Then I candied some slices and dipped them in chocolate. It was like the original sweet and sour chocolate, but too intense. Finally this weekend I candied the peels and gave up on the sour center. I dipped those in chocolate and "Eureka!" Just like a chocolate orange!!
I've also been busy building my giant centipede for the "Mutant Piñata Show"! Here you can see I started on some of his legs this weekend...
 |
| Before Paper Mache | | | |
|
|
 |
| After Paper Mache | | | | |
|
|
Next week I start putting together all the body parts. Stay tuned, and Happy Monday!
We're returning this Monday with our third season of "Art Of The Red River". Our co-host,Wade Zahares will be traveling so Mike Dubisch and I will be launching us into our third year! It's sure to be some great conversations in art on Monday...
 |
| Kevin Clark at work on a mural in New York |
 |
| Danceland, dance floor mural in Albany, NY |
Joining us this month is professional muralist and decorative painter, Kevin Clark. Kevin has been a full time muralist and decorative painter since graduating from Syracuse University in 1990. His paintings, murals and faux finishes are seen in breweries, shopping malls, schools, sporting arenas and countless homes and businesses in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts.
 |
| by comic book artist Kraig Rasmussen |
|
 |
| Kraig's "Storycraft" event and podcast |
|
|
|
Also, Kraig Rasmussen returns to discuss with us his new podcast series "Storycraft" currently running on MonkeyGong.com . He describes himself as “a life long comic book artist, writer and rabid film geek.” He is a fixture at Bay Area comic conventions like the Alternative Press Expo and SF Zine Fest. Rasmussen is the creator of the popular character Rocketboy, and is also a founder and contributing artist of White Rabbit Magazine, a comic book anthology featuring the works of seven creators, perfect bound and printed in full color.
It should be an enlightening and interesting
episode!
When I said, 'Can my day get any worse?' it was a rhetorical question not a challenge.
We woke up to rain, an odd occurrence here in Phoenix, and even though I rushed her, Naomi was late. Again. As I walked home with the dog I stepped in one of those puddles that looks an inch deep and then you're up to your knees. So I walked home slowly with one drenched, cold foot in a squishing sneaker. Then the craziest thing happened as I came around the corner with Oscar. There was a woman (maybe 30yrs old) with 2 huge dogs, that immediately got very excited upon seeing my dog. They starting pulling her about so I pulled Oscar back. Suddenly they were dragging her on her stomach. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" is all I remember saying as I pulled Oscar out of sight and behind a wall so they couldn't see him. I just hoped she was able to get to her feet and get control.
The afternoon wasn't much better. After picking up the kids from school I found our COX bill in the mailbox. We had cancelled our cable last month in order to save the extra $60 they were charging for it, and this month instead of being $60 less it was over $500 more! I didn't have time to deal with it though as I needed to get Naomi to the eye doctor. She failed the eye screening at school, twice, so I decided to get her checked. Two and a half hours later and $54 poorer I learned that she has 20/20 vision!
Oh well, that was yesterday. Today is is a new day, and a better one. Mike's been hired to teach for The Academy of Art in San Francisco. It's online, so there's no commute! Also both Mike and I will have our art on TV! The TNT show, "Perception", is setting up a fake comic con for a scene in their next season and they needed art to fill the different booths with. I'm hoping I'll be played by Kate Winslet.
Now here's some gratuitous pictures of my cat, sleeping on a giant bear...
Have an excellent weekend!
I spent the 3 day weekend getting the head to my mutant piñata complete. Since I had most of the pieces already paper mached the next step was to put them together.
This is a photo of attaching the small globes as eyes. I also put in the ropes to add dimension.
Next I attached the horns I made to the top of his head.
While the horns dried in place I cut the second big globe to be a lower jaw, and attached the tongue.
The last step was to connect the 2 halves of the head.
 |
| from the side | |
|
|
(Naomi is working on her own project in the behind the head.)
Anyway, the mutant piñata head is done (for now)....
...But there's still lots more to do!
"We may all have come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." -Martin Luther King
I looked up quotes by Martin Luther King and out of over 300, this one jumped out at me. Mostly because it's still so relevant to civil rights struggles today in this country. In 1963 my Dad marched on Washington with Dr. King.
Someone even snapped a picture of him and ran it in the paper (probably because he wore one of the ridiculous paper hats they handed out!). It was something I've always been proud of him for.
Today we decided to go down to a local festival honoring Martin Luther King...
When we got to the park we were greeted by this saxophone player.
We walked about.
Then we spent all our money on expensive burritos and lemonade.
While we watched one of the performances, we got kicked out because we brought the dog and dogs weren't allowed in the park today. What about animal rights? Oh well, I guess they could tell we'd already spent all our money.
By:
Carolyn Watson Dubisch,
on 12/31/2012
Blog:
Living it up in Bankrupt California!
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Ruins,
mountains,
Christmas lights,
Montezuma's Well,
Montezuma's Castle,
Red Rock Fantasy,
snow,
snow storm,
Tuzigoot,
Add a tag
 |
| Phoebe with her cousin Roy Peter |
|
|
For Christmas we traveled north to visit family. While we were there we took some day trips.
 |
| Chloe near the entrance of Tuzigoot |
|
|
With a storm brewing over the mountains we headed out to the Tuzigoot Ruins. It's an ancient city near the top of a mountain.
 |
| Chloe with the storm coming behind her. |
|
|
This is the path to the site.
Phoebe led the way. The clouds are threatening.
There was a lot to see.
Many winding staircases and paths.
It was like a mini Machu Picchu.
The girls loved showing their little cousin around!
 |
| Snow on the cactus |
While we milled around the visitor center the storm hit us. First it hailed and then it snowed hard and fast. Naomi was too thrilled for words! (My kids like to moan and groan that they don't remember
snow). Anyway it snowed repeatedly while we were in the mountains.
We also visited some other ruins, while we were in the area...
Here we are on the path to Montezuma's Castle.
Phoebe posing by the rock face near the castle.
 |
| Naomi with Montezuma's Castle in the background. |
|
Montezuma's Castle is definitely an amazing site to see. It lacked the intimacy of Tuzigoot, though, where you could walk around inside it.
These are some rock windows.
Naomi studying the ruined, and ancient rooms, (or maybe she was just looking in that direction).
I think at one time they allowed visitors inside some of the rooms, but things started to deteriorate quickly so now you just peer in from outside.
This I think is a beautiful photo except for that annoying thing in the lower right.
Near the castle is "Beaver Creek". Didn't see any beavers though.
Not for lack of looking though.
Montezuma's Castle was an incredible place. It's amazing that people used to live inside the face of these cliffs.
After the castle we decided to go to Montezuma's Well.
We had to hike up the hill to the top.
The well is a collapsed limestone cave that the native tribes used for centuries.
On the full moon they do special events here with luminaries. Perhaps we'll come back for that, since this is where my camera died... So no more pictures of the well.
 |
| Me in the foreground with my new hat and Phoebe in the background | . |
|
On our last night in Sedona, Mike's Aunt and Uncle took us out. First to "Pizza Picazzo" where the waiter took one look at Chloe and said "Where are you from?" Chloe looked a little panicked for a minute and after a very pregnant pause said "Phoenix." Since we've moved so much that's a loaded question.... Do I give them my life story or just tell them my latest address?
Anyway, after dinner we headed over to "Red Red Fantasy"....
Most of the displays had a special theme. This one was called "Small World" (no, they were NOT playing that incessant music!)
This is a "Andy Warhol, Pop Art" display.
Other themes were harder to pinpoint.
Each display was one you could vote for. I guess the families or groups that did them can win a prize.
This fountain was very pretty but there were extension cords running through the water...
Here's a picture of Naomi trying to electrocute herself. (GAH!)
It was a cold (I'm such a baby since we lived in California), but beautiful walk.
Tonight is New Year's Eve, I hope everyone has a wonderful night!
Christmas break has come and gone, but most of what came has stayed past the lazy vacation days. In particular.... This guy....
 |
| Phoebe and Oscar |
Without tags or a microchip, Oscar (or Oz as we also call him) is here to stay.
We've learned from the vet that he's a year and a half old, so he's not getting any bigger. He hardly barks and like many rescue dogs he follows us around. Especially Mike and I.
We're treating the ear infection he acquired from his days on the street . He doesn't like the treatments.
He walks to Naomi's school with us each day, because he really likes the kids.
And everyone likes him. Except my cat, Izzy, but she's watching him.
"Someone's been sleeping in my bed and he's still there!"
This giant bear is also still hanging around.
In other news I've been busy painting more mandalas. This one is up on eBay this week!
It's going to be year of the snake in 2013!
Today my kids returned to school and I got stuff done! Lots of important stuff!!!
... And I'm sure they did too, which is good because they watched so much TV over winter break I was quite sure they'd jellied their brains.
In other news, Mike and I were needing an author photo for a recent interview about "The People That Melt in The Rain", so we took these....
They're not perfect, but not too bad so I thought I'd share. :)
Anyway to all you students out there, Happy Second Semester!
・*:•.★.•·*☆ ┢┦aΡｐy New Year ☆★. •·*★. •·*
The New Year crept up on us and we were going to go out to an old west ghost town for an event, but we were feeling too rundown from Christmas travel, so we followed our usual tradition of making ridiculous hats.
Naomi's hat was very clever. She attached a list of crazy resolutions.
Phoebe made a panda hat (and numerous others)
Chloe was apparently too old for this activity but agreed to wear one Phoebe made for a photo. Next year she says she's determined to go to a party for New Years (I guess staying in was way too lame.)
This is the hat they made for Izzy. Here she is doing her best impression of "Grumpy Cat".
... And of course we made some hats. Very silly hats.
Since the kids are on break still we took them hiking over by the Salt River.
Which was great for photos, but a little dull when it came to walking.
So from here we went up the road to Papago park.
There were some pretty good trails over there.
And some pretty hills.
I wish I could say she was studying the ancient petroglyphs, but it's just graffiti .
We hiked through this tunnel that had been befouled by horses.
Up the cacti trail.
 |
| Phoebe at the top |
|
|
To the top of this hill.
Chloe and Phoebe enjoying the view.
It didn't take long to find the horses that stank up the tunnel.
It was good to get everyone out of the house.
Lately my kids just been reading and watching too much TV while Mike and I try to meet deadlines, ship art and run errands, which is exactly what we were doing down at the huge (5 lanes) intersection of Indian School Road and 7th street yesterday. As we approached the light we saw a small brown dog running on the sidewalk with no collar. Mike quick pulled into a parking lot as we watched the little dog jet straight into the road. He survived somehow and made it back to the sidewalk. We pulled out trying to get over when suddenly he was in the road again and next to our car! Mike threw open his door and we called him in. He jumped in and collapsed exhausted in my seat.
Here's his photo. As you can see I'm clearly ready for a job as the photographer over at animal control. (All their photos are this crappy!)
Here's a better one of him sleeping. We're calling him "Oz" for now, but if he has a sad and desperate owner out there, hopefully we can find him. If not, well, he's welcome to hang around with us.
I've decided to enter the "Mutant Piñata Show" at the Pie Factory. Sounds good right?
Anyway, yes, it's a real thing, and I made two designs for possible piñatas. However, I'm leaving it up to you, my readers, as to which one I should build. The choices are below so be sure and vote!!
I'll be documenting the build on here of course and the show when it opens!
In other news last weekend we headed over to the last day of Glendale's Glitter and Glow event.
For the entire month of December and half of January Glendale's Historic District is a crazy festival with beautiful light displays, and glowing giant hot air balloons.
Here they are steadying the basket before inflating the balloon.
In the back you can see this balloon as it inflates.
It makes quite a spectacle inflating these giant, glowing balloons and filling the streets with them. It drew a huge crowd as well, even though it was freezing cold that night.
There were other things going on as well. Such as these odd plastic balls children were rolling about in.
Of course my kids wanted to try, but I bought them some overpriced fudge instead. We also brought the new dog, Oscar,along that night to see how he'd do in a crowd. He was a little shy, but overall, he did really well.
I think we'll try it again next year!
I've started building my "Mutant Piñata" this weekend. I've decided to start with the head.
I paper mached the base and hung it out to dry.
The next step was to prepare the tongue, the horns and the eyes for paper mache.
I just taped together some balloons for horns.
Here they are drying.
This evening I added the upper teeth to the head.
Still a long way to go, but it's a start!
Yesterday we got some great news, Chloe will officially be attending The Metropolitan Arts Institute next year! Her place is secured.
At 9:28am as I made beds and gathered laundry, a loud BOOM! shook the condo. My dog jumped six feet in the air and the cat bounced off the walls. I was sure a meteor hit our roof. I peeked out the window and saw a young Asian man look straight at me through the window as he drove a big truck down the complex driveway. My husband, Mike ran outside in a panic and saw that he'd hit the eves of our roof with his truck....
So now the roof looks like this.
Mike was sure he'd stop as his whole front end was pretty damaged but he just cruised down the drive and out of the complex. So now we're just waiting for the police to show up. It took me awhile to stop shaking (it's been hours and the cat's still freaked!).
In other news, the vote for which piñata I should build for "The Mutant Piñata Show" resulted in this one...
So stay tuned for the progress, I'll start the build this weekend!
View Next 25 Posts
That is just so neat!
This was the best festival we've been to is so long! I love this kind of thing, because it's usually all free, except for food and drinks.
An Excellent Blogpost Relevant to the Topic. It really generates a new thinking pattern in the viewers. Please pursue with your Blogging Activities.
Living In Wellbeing