421 Identity theft

Libraries, churches and educational institutions that use our Social Security Numbers to track members, clients, students and staff with huge accessible and hack-easy databases need to rethink this very risky method of record keeping.

On August 5, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed H.B. 204 to establish what will be called the Ohio Privacy/Public Records Access Study Committee. The effective date of the legislation is Nov. 3. Establishing a study committee 4 months out that won’t report for 12 months may not be much of a change in a practice long overdue, but it is a first step.

“The purpose of the study committee is to discuss concerns related to personal information contained in public records, including identity theft and fraud, and dissemination of such information through the Internet. The study committee, which will have 12 months to report recommendations to the governor and Ohio General Assembly, will also review legitimate uses of personal information contained in public records by businesses, government, the legal community and the media.” (Bulletin, ONA, August 13, 2004)

Why libraries and universities like Ohio State haven’t figured this out on their own with their usual committee structure, I don’t know. All those talented and politically savvy folks and they can’t clean up their own backyard with a little common sense? I intend to make my voice heard on this one.

Another privacy issue is having all our homes and neighborhoods (photographs, plot plans, floor plan sketch, and land plats) on the internet. As a business, we used this service (state gov’t) many times and sometimes I’d pull up the color photo and floor plan while my husband was still having a first interview with a client. But it is also available to all sorts of mischief makers who might not have gone to city hall and requested the information for a fee the way we used to do it.

420 Republicans elected Bill Clinton

I voted for Bill Clinton (first term), but I was a Democrat then, so why wouldn't I? I didn't dislike George Bush (41), but party loyalty kept me from looking too closely at the man who we would put in office. I liked Al Gore and thought he balanced Clinton's very obvious (even then) personal failures. Later, when my Republican friends ribbed me, I reminded them that it was the defection of conservative Republicans over to Ross Perot who moved George and Barbara out of the White House. Clinton could not have won without the Republicans.

Now it looks like it could happen again. Harold Lamb in his August 14 column says it better than I could, but I do see the defection among some of the most prominent bloggers who formerly were strong Bush supporters. Some don't like the Federal Marriage Amendment; some don't like his wild spending on social programs (me included); some impatient pundits think the war hasn't had the intended results (conservatives should look at the 15 years following our Declaration of Independence). Lamb warns Republicans that it could happen again--they'll put another really poor Democratic president into the White House for 8 years.

419 Myth Mary Ann

We haven’t seen the “Mary Ann Knowles” chemotherapy-myth ad from Kerry around here. The myth the Kerry people are touting here in Ohio is that Bush is shipping jobs offshore. Pathetically angry actor/workers gnash their teeth over an Indian with good English taking jobs. This is one ad I’m surprised the Republicans don’t speak out about and identify the big lie. Maybe they aren’t lies at the level of Kerry's Purple Heart, or his Senate testimony as an angry ex-soldier, but they are lies, and they are more recent.

Even Kerry-friendly fact checking websites know it is incorrect and have said so. The legislation that encourages US corporations to set up shop elsewhere is decades old and President Bush had nothing to do with it. Plus, they left because corporations were being taxed out of competition with foreign companies. Do you suppose “President” Kerry will lower taxes on corporations?

“US manufacturing employment was in decline for nearly three years before Bush became President. It actually declined by 544,000 between the peak reached in March, 1998 and when Clinton left office, even as the economy added nearly 7.8 million jobs in all categories during the climax of a roaring economic boom that ended a few weeks after Bush was sworn in. In fact, 238,000 of those manufacturing jobs were lost in Clinton's last six month alone, showing that the decline was well-established even before Bush had spent a day in office.” (FactCheck.org August 11, 2004)

FactCheck.org has numerous examples of the Kerry ads attributing words to Bush he never said.

418 If I'd only known

There was a period of time in the 1960s when we didn't own a car--only had a bicycle. Then there was a period of 2 or 3 years when I'd let my driver's license lapse (another story, very sad). Finally, it looked like I'd need to start driving again after about five years as a passenger/pedestrian. So we selected the rock bottom, cheapest American car on the market--a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere and the end of the year sell-off. It had a heater, but no radio. That's how basic it was. Light, bland as oatmeal with skim milk, blue. When we were through with it, we sold it to my Aunt and Uncle in Illinois and they drove it a few more years.

Imagine my shock and awe last week when I glanced through the full page ad in the WSJ of August 4 and saw one listed in a Collector Car Auction.

417 A new book on Bush--Who Knew?

Ron Kessler's new book is titled A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush . An interview with the author appeared on August 9 at National Review Online. I was particularly interested in what Kessler says about Bush's interest in reading.

Kessler: Besides the diversity of his friends, I was amazed at how deeply Bush personally researched why kids can't read. Nationally, 40 percent of fourth graders cannot read a simple children's book. Among blacks and Hispanics, the proportion is as high as 65 percent. The reason is that in the 1970's, liberal educators decided that teaching kids to read with phonics — sounding out words — was dull. Instead, they said kids should simply be given books to read. Somehow, they will become excited by the books and guess what the words mean. In other words, under this approach, called whole language, kids are not taught to read at all.

Bush personally called experts in the field to try to figure out what was wrong and develop a program to restore phonics to reading instruction. The result in Texas was a drop in the percentage of third graders who could not read at grade from 23 percent to just two percent, including additional help when needed. Bush is trying to do the same thing through the No Child Left Behind Act, which John Kerry voted for but now says he wants to gut.

Ironically, the New York City public schools still use a form of whole language, yet I found the toniest private schools in New York all teach phonics.

"Of course we teach phonics," Beth Tashlik, the head of the Collegiate School's lower school, told me. "You can't teach reading without it."

So you have parents who most oppose Bush sending their kids to schools where kids are not taught to read because the schools refuse to adopt the method Bush is trying to abolish.

I'd make just one suggestion, and that is that "whole language" was being taught in the 1960s, and a version of it in the 1950s. There were four children in my family, and depending on who we had in our early grades, some of us were taught phonics and some weren't. My husband was not taught phonics in elementary school in Indianapolis in the 1940s. It is a crippler.

416 What are Libraries up to now?

Shark Blog comments on August 9 about some libraries plans to use September 11 for anti-administration purposes:

"The employees of our nation's taxpayer-funded libraries are turning their communities' public intellectual spaces into an outlet for partisan propaganda. The September Project, which I mentioned a few weeks ago, attempts to trivialize the September 11 attacks by using the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 to forget about the Muslim terrorists who slaughtered 3,000 people and instead fixate on the imaginary administration attacks on civil liberties in the course of preventing future acts of mass murder."

The programming that he lists is all in Washington state, and he closes this blog with the following:

"It's unfortunate that our public libraries are turning themselves into fountains of Michael Moorish partisan propaganda. If you live in King County outside of Seattle, you might want to think twice about voting to approve the King County Library System bond levy, on the ballot this September 14. Naturally, the people who work for KCLS will do whatever it takes to confiscate your money so they can indoctrinate you about civil liberties. But you can still vote no. For now, at least."

The Shark Blog

415 Update on Trip to Buffalo

Day Two, Friday

When you tour Frank Lloyd Wright sites, you get an earful of his colorful history which included financial disasters, personal tragedies, love affairs, devoted students, and love-hate relationships with his clients. His career took place during a time when people communicated in letters, not by phone or e-mail. This exchange between Wright and his client William Heath in 1927 about a proposed gas stations for Buffalo is a classic example of what researchers have to work with:

"Dear Mr. Wright: Your letter of the 12th received, you say herewith sketches etc., but the herewith were not therewith, whereof we do not know wherewith they are; so we can not return them or comment upon them."

The long letter is quoted in the excellent article "An Ornament to the Pavement: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo Gas Station," by Patrick J. Mahoney, Western New York Heritage, Summer/Fall 2003, Vol.6,no.3, pp. 18-35. Mr. Mahoney, a practicing architect, is the Vice President of Graycliff Conservancy and our very informative tour guide when we visited that home south of Buffalo on the cliffs of Lake Erie in Derby, NY.

We'd arrived at Graycliff at the end of a busy, exciting Friday that had started with a tour of the Butler Mansion, across the street from our hotel. Buffalo at one time was the 10th wealthiest city in the United States, according to our local tour guide, Marilyn. On Thursday evening after we'd checked in, she gave us a walking tour of the historic district, Allentown, where we saw many colorful turn of the century (the last one) homes, more modest than the mansions lining Delaware Avenue, but certainly quite posh and lovingly restored.

On Friday morning we had the Butler Mansion tour, now used as Jacobs Executive Development Center, which has been through extensive renovation. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White and the original drawings which were discovered in 1990 were on the wall.

We visited two neighborhoods that had FLW homes (no tours, private residences), the Davidson residence (1908) and the Heath residence (1904). We toured Forest Lawn Cemetery, which offers historic tours called "Sunday in the Cemetery." We were there to see (but not photograph) the construction of the only mausoleum designed by FLW. It was not built because of the client's financial losses during the Depression. It is now under construction and the 24 crypts will be sold to help finance it.

Then we had lunch at Ulrich's Tavern, Buffalo's oldest tavern, sort of a German-Irish, blue collar-white collar pub that only locals like Marilyn can find. From there we drove to the restored Larkin Warehouse. The owner gave us a tour of this wonderful old warehouse now used for law offices and businesses. Larkin was a soap manufacturer that developed a marketing scheme that used premiums which soon became an industry in and of itself. An area of the first floor has been set aside as a museum of Larkin products and premiums. This is also the site of FLW's famous Larkin Administration Building. The link will provide its interesting design, history and demise, which I encourage you to read. The closest we could get to this masterpiece was to visit this pier.

Day 2, Afternoon and Evening

Then we drove to the lovely old community of East Aurora, NY to visit the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community. Wright and the executives and their families of Larkin were all bound together. One of the Larkin executives was Elbert Hubbard, a brother-in-law of the founder, John Durrant Larkin. Hubbard was the brains behind the premiums with soap marketing scheme. After making his fortune, he sold his share, and founded Roycrofters in 1893. He and his wife died when the Lusitania was sunk in 1915. Hubbard wasn't divine (as he claimed in his personal credo), but his influence on the arts and crafts movement and Frank Lloyd Wright was significant.

From East Aurora we drove to the lovely "Old Orchard Inn" built in 1880, snuggled in the hills of western New York, with some exciting moves by our bus driver Roseanne, who didn't like narrow roads or low viaducts. We didn't have much time as we needed to be at Graycliff before dusk, but we had a wonderful meal--ham or chicken, with carrots, potatoes, salad, and drinks.

After snaking our huge bus out of the Inn's parking lot and detouring around underpasses Roseanne thought were too low, we finally got to Graycliff where the pleasant staff gave us flashlights, because we were losing the sun setting over the glorious Erie. No photos allowed on the inside, but we got some good shots of the outside of the Martin's summer home (another Larkin executive who first brought FLW to Buffalo) and the chauffeur's cottage.

Frank Lloyd Wright had a 33 year relationship with the Martin family, and designed the home of Darwin and Esabelle Martin in Buffalo. She apparently thought the house not easy to live in and too dark, so she wanted something to capture the sunlight on this cliff on Lake Erie because her eyesight was failing. Our tour group had visited this site in 1995 when it still belonged to a Hungarian group of monks and was in very poor condition. It is being lovingly restored by the Graycliff Conservancy. Our 2 hour "hard hat tour" was superbly led by Mr. Mahoney, whose personal collection of FLW drawings hung in the visitors' center and gift shop.

An exhausted, but fat and happy tour group, returned to the hotel in Buffalo, to rest up for day 3.

414 Frank Lloyd Wright Tour

We'll be leaving to do a short bus tour of some Frank Lloyd Wright sites and some other places along the way of interest to architects. Here's the plan, but it sounds a bit fluid.

Thursday

8 a.m.-- leave Columbus, drive by the Penfield House in Willoughby, OH, drive to N. Madison OH to the Staley Residence for a tour and lunch with owner

Late afternoon-- arrive in Buffalo--stay at Holiday Inn

Walking tour of historic Allentown district

Friday

9-11:30 -- Tour Butler Mansion and the Wilcox Mansion, site of the T. Roosevelt inauguration

noon--lunch at Ulrich's Tavern

1-2:30-- tour Frank Lloyd Wright designed Mausoleum, Gas Station and Boat House

2:45-5:15-- Drive to East Aurora to visit Roycroft complex and Vidler's 5 & 10 store

6 pm-- dinner at the Old Orchard Inn

7:30-- Twilight tour of "Graycliff" the Darwin Martin summer home on Lake Erie

Saturday

9-noon-- hard hat tour of the Martin-Barton complex

noon-- leave for Canada, lunch along the Niagara River

afternoon-- Niagara on the Lake--walking tour, shopping, boating

Evening-- Dinner at Betty's in Chippewa, ON, CA. Stop at Table Rock to view the lights on the Falls

Sunday
mid-morning-- breakfast/brunch at the Towne Restaurant before leaving Buffalo--possibly drive by the Rubin, Feiman and Dobkins Residences in Canton and/or the Weltzheimer Residence in Oberlin, OH

Early evening-- Arrive back in Columbus.

413 Gas explosion increases neighborliness

There was a gas explosion on Columbus' west side (Hague Avenue) Monday afternoon. It took 12 hours to cap it and 1300 homes lost power. Homes were evacuated. The power surge blacked out many homes beyond the danger area, and the outage stopped on my daughter's street--the south side, and she is on the north. Three of her neighbors are storing perishables in her basement refrigerator, and the next door neighbor (the only one on that side that lost power) has a power cord running to her kitchen from our daughter's home.

412 Foster Rose

On June 29 I wrote about having friends (clients) over for dinner at Lakeside. They gave us a lovely small blooming, deep pink, rose plant. As I gave them a warm thank-you, I whispered a quiet good-bye to the poor dear thing, knowing I would kill it within a week. When it started to look droopy, my husband took it outside and dug a hole beside the house and "planted" it. "It needs a lot of sun, and I don't think it is an outdoor plant anyway," I opined.

A few days later it wasn't there. I really hadn't expected it to disintegrate--just wither and die. "Where's the rose plant?" I asked. "I took it over to Dick's house," he said. "He's got a small white rose plant blooming along the drive-way that looks just great." Yeah, sure, I thought.

Dick agreed to foster our rose plant. It loves it at his house and is blooming like, well, like it never wants to go home again.

411 It will never be September 10 again

We were married on September 11. Apparently, people who choose that date today can just about have their pick of accomodations, because who wants to associate a wedding anniversary with a tragedy? Even in 1960, I knew life would never be September 10 again; my life would be forever changed by what happened on the 11th.

And so it is today. It will never be September 10 again. Even if Osama is caught, or killed or brought to trial, his movement of hate for western values will outlive him. The security measures we've seen this week in New York is our future, regardless of who is our President.

We have two candidates. One says we will respond when we are attacked. The other says we won't wait for an attack--we're on the offensive. Lives will be lost either way. But the one candidate sounds like he is living September 10 all over again.

410 The Longest Month

At the reception on Saturday some people commented on my poem that had been published in The Lakesider, July 31. Of course, I assumed it was my "Last day of July" poem, because I'd submitted several. But it wasn't, as I discovered when I looked through the paper that evening. It was my poem about February.

The Longest Month at the Lake--February
In the winter
when the snakes sleep
and the deer run
to the islands
on the ice flow
and my blood's thick,
cold and lonely
I will welcome
any stranger who waves,
any acquaintance who stops,
and any mail addressed to occupant.

There are two possibilities why the editor chose this one. 1) She is from the area and lives there in the winter, unlike the vacationers who just see the "perfect days." 2) She's of the school that believes poems shouldn't have rhyme or meter. The third possibility, I suppose, is that it fit the space!

409 The Perfect Day

Sunday, August 1, was the perfect day. The sky was clear with wonderful views of the islands and cool breezes. There was an ice cream social on the lawn of the Hotel Lakeside which drew such crowds the Friends of the Hotel raised $5,000. On the lawn was a band from a neighboring community playing rousing Sousa marches with lots of oompas from the brass section, and up the street the Ladies Club was having its annual book sale, $.50 a box after 4 p.m. There was an inflatable jumping gym set up in the park, and the three blonde child prodigy violinists were also performing in the park.

We four moved some chairs around on the pavilion deck as the sun changed positions and enjoyed the crowds, music and watching the children frolic on the sandy beach with our visiting Indiana relatives. Yes, a perfect day.

408 Client appreciation reception

About 60 people gathered at Hotel Lakeside yesterday afternoon to hear a thank you from my husband for being his clients over the last 10 years. It was a lot of fun, and the photo albums we prepared of the job sites were very popular, with people looking not only for their own homes, but fascinated by the other cottages that had been designed, or rebuilt or renovated. Our son had to make two trips back to our cottage (only 3 blocks) to pick up items we forgot, like the guest book and camera. People who RSVP'd at the last minute showed, and some that had called far ahead, didn't. But in general, it was a good turn out. He designed a t-shirt using the drawings of all the projects arranged in a design (front) with a list of the clients and their addresses (back), sort of like the "last tour" of some rock groups. We provided a map with key to all the projects (about 25 completed). T-shirts were also given to the Director, Bud Cox, the Programming guru, Keith Addy, and the various contractors, one of whom had done 9 of the jobs.

407 The last day of July

Lakeside streets and cottages could tell you a thousand love stories--the community is over 130 years old. The vacationers seeking a beautiful place to worship, learn and have fun first arrived by steamship (ended in 1939), and rail (ended in 1930) and interurban (ended in 1939). Bridges and high ways brought changes that come with automobiles, but they didn't change why people come here. Our neighbors (in Columbus) stopped by the cottage yesterday returning from upper Michigan. They had never been here. "We've been here an hour and a half," Jane said, "and I want to buy a place."

And there are other love stories--this poem was inspired by a young couple I saw under the street light last summer on the last day of July. This one, however, is about a summer love story from the 1940s.

It was too late for summer love,
They cried that day and said good-bye.
Cicada announced at sunset
It was the last day of July.

As August waited at the door
The sun slipped down more quickly now.
They strolled along the Lakeside dock
and to each other made this vow.

"We'll dance and swim and sing once more
when next July we'll meet again
with kisses sweet in pale moonlight
on the corner of Third and Lynn."

He shipped out for the Philippines;
She left for school at OSU.
During July in years to come
They both recalled that lovely view.

The lovers young did not return
to stroll the lakefront side by side,
'til this year each saw the other
with great grandchildren at Lakeside.

It was too late for summer love,
After hello they said good-bye
with a kiss for their own sunset--
It was the last day of July.

406 Stories about family

Another nice vacation story from one of my links, Shush, written by a young librarian, Greg. He tells of his family get-togethers of the last 35 years, and gives it a book twist by pointing out a collection of family stories written by his uncle. A nice, thoughtful piece. You'll enjoy Sunday July 25 titled, "Overhome." The book, by the same title, sounds like something my writing group which meets at the library to discuss publishing memoirs, might want to look at.

405 Entertainment just steps away

At Lakeside, I can get a year's supply of culture and entertainment just by walking down the street. I grew up in a home with a lot of music, and I miss that. Last night at Hoover we enjoyed pianist Michael Chertock who has performed at Carnegie Hall and with the symphonies of Cincinnati, Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit among others. Some concert pianists seem to take themselves awfully seriously, but he was quite charming, chatted with his 6 year old daughter in the front row, and played a very nice variety including Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, themes from two movies, Gershwin, and provided us with a stunning encore at the organ. The audience was wild about Michael, and he is cute enough to have groupies.

Sunday night the Scioto Ridge Boys performed their gospel and praise music. One member is retired from the OSU College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (where I was once a librarian). Here's a little piece about them at the Scioto Ridge Methodist Church website.

The always popular OSU Alumni Marching Band is the largest all brass band and percussion college alumni band in the United States, and they always pack the house at Hoover. Each year they return to the OSU Stadium for the first home football game where they can still perform "script Ohio." They don't do that at Hoover, but two drum majors did that twirlly thing Saturday night.

Friday night we took a trip back to the 50s (happens often around here) with the Diamonds, their do-wop and excellent instrumental skills (2 trombones, trumpet and sax). They began in 1956 and two of the guys in the photo in the Lakeside News weren't on stage, so they must be somewhat interchangeable. This photo looks like the group we saw. I thought they did a good job of keeping their act contemporary while not losing the nostalgia. Their signature hit "Little Darlin'" is remembered by most people from 50-70.

Eye, yi-eye-eye-eye
Yi-eye-eye-eye
Ya-ya-ya-ahh

Little darlin', oh, little darlin'
Oh-oh-oh where a-are you?
My love-a, I was wrong-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
To-oo try to lo-ove two
A-hoopa, a-hoopa, hoopa
Kno-ow well-a that my love-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
Wa-as just fo-or you, oh only-ee-ee-ee you

SPOKEN: My darlin', I NEED you (la-la-la-la-la-la) to call my own and NEVER do wrong. To
hold in mine your little hand (la-la-la-la-la-la). I'll know too soon that ALL is so grand.
Please,
hold my hand

My dear-a I-I was wrong-a
To-oo try to lo-ove two
A-hoopa, a-hoopa, hoopa
Know well that my love-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
Wa-as just for you, oh only-ee-ee-ee you

Technically, this is the first "rap" with a spoken voice over, according to Lyrics XP.com.

Tom Chapin was the program on Thursday evening, July 22. I've seen him here several times, and Thursday he had a "back-up" guitarist whom I thought added a nice touch. He tells funny stories and always provides a good family show with good audience participation. The local story says he has performed for the American Library Association, which this year made the unfortunate choice of showing Michael Moore's disgusting and shameful movie at its annual meeting in Florida.

404 The complementary colors

In art class today we were told that surgeons' scrubs are green because it is the complementary color of red, the color of blood, and therefore soothing and calming for a tense atmosphere.

So maybe we should have left the red walls and green carpet in the family room and halls of the condo. Soothing. Hmmm. We found the color combination a bit jarring. Even the ceiling was red.

The big news from art class: Sharon says I'm bold. She looked at my painting, and was, I think, speechless. Instead of saying "Yuk," which might have been off-putting and discouraged me, she said, "It is so bold."

Last summer I wrote a poem about painting still lifes based on an article I saw in American Artist. When asked how she paints a still life, the artist said she paints first what will die first. I read it to the class and gave it to our instructor.

The artist’s eye
August 17, 2003

“What do artists paint first?”
And she would then reply
to questions they asked her,
“Whatever’s gonna’ die.”

Apple before basket
and rose before the bowl,
the dog before the pup
and mare before the foal.

Worm before fisherman
and wave before the storm,
Stars before horizon
and fog before the horn.

The creek before river
and leaf before the tree,
finally I’m painting
my lover before me.

For life is not forever
we do the best we can,
I squint my artist eye
and always have a plan.

401 Enmity at the Archives

In Friday's Wall Street Journal there is an article, "Enmity at the archives" about the book store at the National Archives. It carries lots of books about presidents like Jefferson, Lincoln and LBJ. It also carries smear titles about our current President. "The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military Industrial Complex;" "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." And then the oh so non-biased "Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia," (left wing essays); "Hoodwinked: The Documents that reveal how Bush Sold us a War;" "The Great unraveling: Losing our way. . ."; and some polemic, boring, academic titles which the author lists.

The author, Jonathan V. Last, says there is not one neutral or admiring book on President Bush, just the anti-Bush, anybody-but-Bush, bashes. I've seen these political tables at Barnes and Noble Bookstores, but they at least make an effort to present a variety of views. Last said something to the clerk, who apparently assumed he was approving of the staff choices, and he responded, "We tell [the people who complain about the titles] that they're not anti-Bush. They're just correcting the facts." The accompanying cartoon shows a puzzled customer at book tables labeled: Harangues, Screeds, Conspiracy Theories, and Rants. Last's final paragraph is priceless:

"It's possible that George W. Bush is an illegitimately installed fascist monster leading America's military-industrial complex on a nuclear crusade for world domination. But what kind of dime-store dictator can't even crush dissent at his own bookstore?"

Convention Behind the Scenes

In an expose story that would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I were the party faithful laboring back home, ABC News (6:30 EDT) just featured a behind the scenes look at the partying and bankrolling of the Democratic convention--parties, golf outings, concerts, paid for by donors who don't have to make an accounting of it as political donations to influence votes. I'm sure ABC will be even more heavy handed with their coverage of the Republican convention--but Peter Jennings will smirk more. He rushed away from this one as quickly as possible.

403 What are great vacations made of?

Take a look at Hip Liz's blog for a great road trip through California, Oregon and Washington. Hip is a guy, a dad, and a native Californian going through some values turmoil in his life (according to his bio). So it isn't like he hasn't done some road trips, but he's got some interesting stuff about his vacation. I met him in a writers' group and liked his stuff.

It is gray and cloudy here and I'm doing laundry and listening to reruns of Ellen (from Christmas time). Also, took a 2 hour nap. Where does the time go!

No masterpiece forthcoming from this morning's art class. Sharon set up some great still lifes, but because all my paintings usually tell a story (standing on the corner talking, sitting on the pier fishing, 4 old bikes for sale, children sitting on rocks in front of the lighthouse, middle age man watching a freighter, etc.) I'm having a hard time getting this straw hat and gloves to talk to me. I loved how they looked. I think this is the problem with most of my still lifes--they are so still. I picked lint out of the hair dryer for awhile, changed water in the jar, and admired Connie's painting, but still it didn't come. Sigh.