Degs

Ollie enjoying a cool drink of water on a tiresome walk.

Wacky Jack doing the same. Those crazy degs.

Lawrence, KS

Last weekend Melissa and I went back to Lawrence, KS, home of her alma mader KU. We went out to visit her friend Monique and to visit our inspiration Sylas and Maddy's. We also stopped to hang out in Kansas City and to visit Shawnee. This is a photo of Massachusett street, the main drag through town with all the cool shops. The week before our trip Lawrence was struck by high winds and tornado's. We witnessed lots of damage to campus and the surrounding town.

This was bleecher seating for the soccer field before the storm. It's the worst example of the storm we saw. Looks like someone just balled it up in their hands.

The stadium parking lot served as the dumping ground for all the downed trees around campus.

This is Sylas and Maddy's, the best ice cream you'll ever taste. We were in Lawrence for two days and had to go there each day. They whip up their own ice cream daily and have about 40 different flavors at a time. The new featured flavor: Ladybug Crunch; Strawbery ice cream with Oreo cookie bits. Mmmmm.....

This chalk board shows all their wonderful flavors.

Mexican Cowboy

I was compiling my flickr badge the other day (check it out -bottom left corner), and I came across some photo's I took while still living in Chicago. My brother and I lived in the East Village neighborhood which is kinda in between a big Ukranian/Polish population and a big Latino population. There are lots of Mexican cowboy/westernwear stores. I was feeling unproductive so I decided to start a photo project focusing on those Mexican cowboy stores, but never really went anywhere with it. This is my favorite image from that effort.
Oh yeah, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

S-Q's

Ollie goes nuts over squirrels (no pun intended). All you have to do is say the word and he gets all excited and looks everywhere for them. He's even figured out our code word "S-Q". If there's a tree around he looks up into the tree (who ever said dogs can't look up is wrong). We have a painting on the wall I did years ago that apparently he sees a squirrel in. When we say the word he immediately goes to the painting to find it. In the kitchen he sees his reflection in the pots and pans and thinks it's a squirrel. Luckily some genius made a squirrel dog toy that he enjoys immensely.
This scratchboard drawing was inspired by Ollie's love for squirrels. It's in progress, and I think it will look more like a squirrel once I get a tail on him. I'm sure Ollie will appreciate it hanging on the wall.

Ollie!

Ollie got a haircut. He's all ready for St. Patrick's Day.

Ollie says: "We can do it!" He's a feminist now. Good for him.
He's such a good model. He would be a good dog for movies and commercials. He's just so obedient.
Melissa just pointed out that Ollie is the star of my blog. So much Ollie!
Though I don't think I've reached the level of pet obsessed these people are operating on... I especially like that you can turn your cat into a lion...

Everybody SCREAM!

Sunday Melissa and I made our second attempt at making some ice cream. The results were 100% better than last time. We mistakenly used whipping cream rather than cream last time. This batch is Traditional Philadelphia Vanilla (with the little specks of real vanilla). It was a really simple recipe, only three ingredients, but also really really good. The only thing we have to perfect is the slight buttery film left in your mouth at the end. I think some lighter cream will cure that. We have a dream to someday open up an ice cream shop. We're on our way...
(You all really need to get a taste-a-vision...cause it's good!)

(Attack of the) Giant Squid

I finished this oil pastel drawing last week.

I'm really happy with it. It's the first

piece of art I've made in a long time.

Inspired by the Giant Squid that crept

out of fantasy and into reality in 2002.

I hope to get some feedback on it....