Wildflowers

Sandy invited me to go on a wildflower walk at Fort Baker Ranch earlier this week.  Here we are taking a break from our looking at wildflowers.  It was such a treat to roam those beautiful hills with our hostess, Peggy Rice, a knowledgeable and kind guide, and other nature lovers.  I wish I could say that I remember (or paid much attention to) the names of all of the flowers that we saw, but I was content to take lots of photos in preparation for an upcoming watercolor series (more on that later), and just enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

North Coast Open Studios

This weekend is the beginning of North Coast Open Studios.  Studios all over the county will be open two weekends, June 2,3 and June 9,10  from 11-5. 

I'll be showing new work---especially recent drawings of the World War II Veteran Portrait Project, which is my real focus these days, and of course a few dog paintings, plus some florals, contemplatives, and recent archival prints.  Come on by!  We might even have a couple of agility demonstrations. 

Eugene AKC Agility

Mike, Emma, Raleigh and I spent four days in Eugene at the Eugene Kennel Club's AKC Agility trial.  It was a great weekend and Raleigh once again showed himself to be a steadfast competitor.  He ran 11 times and qualified in ten of those, earning two titles.  Oh, and he placed first each time.  He is shown above with some of his ribbons.  It would not be honest to omit the fact that often there were only three dogs in his class, and sometimes only one, so it wasn't very difficult to come in first place.  But, he ran well, and considering the unimpressive skill of his handler (me), it is pretty remarkable that he does so well.

Emma on the other hand, continued her pattern of zooming all over the course, jumping off of obstacles, and being pretty out of control.  In spite of this, she did title in Fast, which at this point is her only real attribute in the sport.  Raleigh's performance took a bit of the sting off of the fatal fault received by one judge (definitely deserved), and being whistled off the course by the other (again, totally in order). 

Cassius Smith

This is one of the veterans who was on the second flight.  Cassius, who also goes by Ed, is a great guy with some remarkable and very moving stories about his experiences in the Pacific.  He enlisted when he was 17 years old and soon after was send to Wake Island where he was a prisoner of war for four years.  He is a true American hero, and a heck of a nice guy.

It was not my intention to post this photo of my cat Zoe, but as I opened up the program, I remembered that I had promised a friend to show her how well this cat is doing. So here you go, Frances. Zoe will be 19 years old pretty soon and as you can see, is aging quite gracefully. In fact, sometimes it's difficult to see that she is aging at all.

Weekend in Lake County

We went to Kelseyville this past weekend for the Lake County Kennel Club Dog Show. The deciding factor about attending was that our dear friend, Fr. Leo Joseph lives nearby and we wanted to visit him. He serves St. John's in Lakeport, so we attended Palm Sunday service (note the large palm cross on my lapel). It was a lovely service and a very meaningful beginning to Holy Week and such a joy to spend time with Leo.

Now to the mundane. It was cold this weekend. Really cold. And wet. The dog show was outside, and the weather changed every 30 minutes or so. It never got warm, stayed in the high thirties/low forties, and alternated between rain and hail. The course was not covered, so we huddled in the covered area hoping that it wouldn't be hailing when it was our turn to compete. Quite honestly, the weather was better than our performance. For some reason both dogs were distracted, finding really interesting things to sniff in the lawn or the breeze, or the rain come to think of it. The worst part was that Emma was fascinated with the judge on Sunday. It may have been her British accent or red jacket, but Emma kept heading towards her and ignoring my directions. Very frustrating. Amazingly, we qualified in all four runs. On Sunday, Raleigh took a fourth, and Emma got second place. The only thing I can figure is that perhaps the judges couldn't see the real performance due to the hail, and they gave us the benefit of the doubt, which I appreciate very much. Oh, the photo is of the presentation of awards after Raleigh titled in Advanced. Notice that he is looking right at the camera. I wish his focus were that good during the competition.

Leisure

Lest it seem that my entire life is consumed by vets and dogs (although there could be worse things) here is a photo taken yesterday before my Book Club convened. This is a lively group, and we are dedicated to reading, honest discussions, and good food, with a tiny bit of emphasis on the latter. Dan, the Executive Chef at the Ingomar Club is shown above presenting our Hawaiian themed hors d'oeuvres, shrimp in coconut. This tasty beginning set the stage for our discussion of this month's book, Moloka'i (which everyone except me really liked). We ended on a sweet note with delicious coconut butter cookies. Not a bad way to discuss literature.

Walt Pieper

Walt was one of the three veterans on the first flight who served at Iwo Jima. Aside from being a warm and elegant man, he is a real supporter of Honor Flight, and it is always good to see him at our reunions.

Hardy Wallen

Hardy also had a 90th birthday party recently, and it was great to be there with his friends and admirers from all over the county. Hardy is quite a guy---and I try to stop by Alder Bay, where he and Phil (another vet soon to be on these pages) live--when I am in Eureka. Friday afternoon is the time to be there, as the two of them preside over the weekly TGIF (Johnny Walker Black label being the beverage of choice)

Art Wilson

Mike and I had the pleasure of attending Art's 90th birthday celebration on December 30. It was a dance at the Moose Lodge in Eureka. In addition to being an all around great guy, Art is an excellent dancer!

Honor Flight Veterans

After the last Honor Flight in October, when North Coast Honor Flight chartered a flight from the Arcata Airport and took nearly 100 local WWII vets to Washington, making a total of nearly 150 veterans, it became apparent that it was time for me to get back to the studio, and let some other local folks have the privilege of being involved with this great program, and meeting and serving these American heroes. What I didn't anticipate was that it wasn't the end of my involvement, it was simply the beginning of a new phase. Along with my other artwork, I have been working on drawings of the veterans, mostly those that were on the first flight back in May. I'll be posting them on this site, and we are considering various venues for a show and possible slide presentation of this series. In the meantime, I continue to draw, and will be posting them on this blog. If any of you have ideas for a venue, we welcome them.

The first drawing above, is Bob Brown. Next is Carl Zander, who passed away a couple of months ago.

After the agility weekend, the dogs and I paid a visit to our friends, Andy and Sandy Westfall in Ferndale. Andy is the author of the fabulous book, Humboldt Heartland, and Sandy is a professional organizer extraordinaire. We knew each other when we were students at Cal Berkeley many years ago, and then, as now, they were a bright spot and people that I feel privileged to know. In addition to their other vocations, they are ranchers and live next to a dairy ranch. This was the first time that Emma ever saw a cow up close, and she, well, she went nuts. Come to think of it, her behavior was a lot like it was at the trials the previous weekend--a little out of control. You can tell from the photo that they cows were really intimidated by her. They nearly knocked the fence down trying to get a closer look at this odd little dog running around in figure eights and circles. I don't think that this is the kind of bovine behavior that a cattle herding dog is supposed to elicit.

More teacup folks

Two other teams---I especially like the row of trucks behind them. You meet the nicest people in agility---it takes a certain kind of person to spend the weekend in a truck barn with a bunch of small dogs and their handlers.

By the way, the group shot and video were taken by Susan Fan-Brown, who does beautiful work, and was a great asset to the weekend.

We recently participated in the first TDAA Agility Trial hosted by Pint-Sized Agility. The trials took place in Santa Rosa, in a very large building, that I think is some kind of a truck garage, well I know that it is as there were a bunch of trucks parked next to the arena. TDAA is for small dogs so you agility folks out there will notice that everything in the course is downsized. Unfortunately, this more appropriate scale did nothing to improve Emma's performance, as evidenced in the video. Out of eight runs, she did not qualify once, and several times, didn't even manage to stay on the course. It did take a bit of the fun out of it as there was no happy anticipation before we started each run, but rather, a mild sense of dread and apprehension since there was no telling what she would do next, and odds were that it wasn't going to be something good. Raleigh on the other hand was on his game---the first day anyway. After three "q's and one title on Saturday, he celebrated that night by sneaking into the jerky treats and consuming nearly the entire, Costco-sized container. He did this while we were visiting friends, and he was in the car, so I had no idea until that night.. When he started consuming great quantities of water and looking pretty puny, I really thought that he was diabetic and was quite concerned, until that is, I started packing the car the next morning and found the tell-tale empty container. He paid the price for his gluttony by only qualifying once. He was so bloated that he looked a bit like a bratwurst trying to run the course. I have never seen him run so slowly.

Frank Hlebakos
March 4, 1920- December 1, 2011

Sitting in Starbucks, this sunny morning in Monterey.

My tea is finished, but I am not leaving just yet.

I have internet access here

and I am logged onto the online family album

looking at the photo of my dad taken around 1942.

He looks so confident and handsome in his sailor suit,

his whole life ahead of him, destined for great things.

This was just before he was shipped off to the Aleutian Islands

where he served as an airplane mechanic during the war.

He also had a still which he and his buddy, Dan the Mexican, tended.

From what I understand, they generously shared their moonshine up there in that cold, barren place,

which made them quite popular with the other sailors.

As tough and scary as it was, I think it was one of the best times of his life.

Dad died yesterday at the age of 91.

The last ten years or so, he was someone I didn’t really know.

Regret and resentment took their toll.

Anger and hatred popped up in unexpected places

and there was so little joy or happiness.

I never could completely understand it,

and came to accept that it only made sense

in the dark closet of his memories.

Interesting that he seems to be here with me now

just hanging out in this coffee shop--

the dad that I loved and admired when I was growing up,

the one for whom anything was possible.

And now, finally, that may very well be true.

No longer imprisoned by what might have been,

he is free to live in the eternal now,

content and at peace with what is.

Blob revisited

Judy, shown here with her award winning dog, Chip, is one of my agility teachers. She recently received an IPad from her very generous and thoughtful daughter so has renewed interest in the internet. Judy is a really good teacher and employs the same positive reinforcement with us as she encourages us to use with our dogs. Operant training. Emphasize the positive, ignore the negative (to the extent that is possible and practical).
With the onset of the rain season, practicing has become a little challenging. However the raccoons which have been terrorizing our place lately seem undaunted by the weather. Every night they tear out my tulip bulbs and throw them all over the yard and I often hear them stomping and cavorting on the deck. A couple of nights ago, they were lined up outside the French doors staring at us as we ate dinner. It is as if we are being invaded by Orcs and frankly, it is a little unnerving. We have tried the cayenne pepper mixture, the Scarecrow (motion activated sprinkler). Nothing seems to work. In desperation I have sent my smaller tulip pots off to a friend's for the time being, but I would like to solve this as I fear they will go for the koi in the pond next, if they haven't already, and I have to be really careful about letting my fearless corgis outside after dark (I keep them on a leash so they won't go after them which could be really dangerous) I welcome any thoughts or suggestions any of you may have.

Wynonna

Last night Wynonna Judd was at Humboldt State and Mike and I went to hear her. Quite honestly, I had never listened to much of her music, and didn't know that much about her. She was part of the Judds, the other part being her mother Naomi, another gorgeous redhead. Years ago I was seated in an airplane and a man sat next to me and started to chat. He very proudly said that he was with the Judds, to which I replied, who are the Judds? He couldn't believe that someone hadn't heard of the Judds, but there I was. He told me they were the hottest thing in country music, and now that I have heard more of their music I can understand why. But back to Wynonna, the music was great (too loud, but great---we were glad we had our custom earplugs with us), and she is, well, she's a trip. She came out glorious in black velvet with sparkles everywhere. She was a vision, and frankly, it made me want to get some of that stuff and sparkle a bit myself, but it's not really my style. She is a down-to-earth, right there kind of performer and was genuinely effusive as she expressed her gratitude for all of us turning out for the show. And she can really belt out a tune. I think the most moving moment was when she asked the audience to sing the refrain back to her, and they did. Many of those there knew the words and had obviously been singing along to her recordings so they sounded great--it was like a chorus of angels singing the refrain---"Love can build a bridge between your heart and mine. Don't you think it's time?". She just closed her eyes and let it wash over her. So did I. It was a great evening and she was inspiring in many ways. Thanks, Wynonna!

Vets, Conventions and Corgis

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This past weekend was full. In fact, I don't think I have ever had such disparate activities back to back. I'll work backwards. No, I'll start with Friday which was Veterans Day when I attended the
event at the Municipal Hall in Eureka, which is presented by the Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka. Stu Russell organizes that each year, and it is always a moving tribute to our veterans. This year, Steve Colwell was the keynote speaker and he spoke about his experiences in Viet Nam, and the deep connection that veterans have with one another. He is now involved with several worthwhile organizations, and many there were especially moved and inspired by his work with Wounded Warriors. My hunch is that Humboldt County will be doing something with that organization and if you are interested, please contact me or Stu and we will put you in touch with Steve. They do great work. I am pleased to say that we had quite a few of our Honor Flight vets there as well and it was great to see that sea of WWII Veteran caps and royal blue shirts. It was a honor to have the opportunity to say a few words about North Coast Honor Flight.

My car was already packed so as soon as that finished, I drove to Redding to show my work at the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. I was showing work that was featured on the cover of Forward Day by Day this past year, as well as other contemplative work, and introducing new digital prints. As always, it was good to see folks from around the Diocese that I only see every year or so. When that wrapped up (earlier than expected), I loaded up the car and headed to Dixon (near Sacramento) to show my work at the Corgi Faire. Now that was quite an experience. Imagine a very large room full of corgis. I never would have believed that corgis, who can be a little snarky, would get along so well together. It was a visual delight. Activities included races, where they tied little jockeys and cowboys on the backs of the dogs (I am including a photo so you know I am not making this up), as well as a costume competition with various categories. Proud to be an American (three corgis decked out in flags) fit right in with the patriotic theme of the weekend, and the three little pigs was pretty cute.
They also had booths with information on proper care of corgis, and I hope lots of people paid attention. There were way too many overweight corgis there (see above) as they LOVE to eat, and it takes real effort and restraint to keep them healthy and in good shape.

So, if this post seems a little disjointed, that is how life has been lately. Good, but really scattered. Now that those events are behind me, I am looking forward to studio immersion and making and posting artwork. I have some very interesting commissions and am very excited about getting back to work.

TDAA Tournament

Agilit

Dogs as Body Warmers

This is Lisa, my neighbor and mentor at Del Valle a couple of weeks ago. Please note Simon, who spends a lot of time in her jacket, as shown. She makes and sells custom dog collars and leashes, and my two corgis are quite dashing in their new Celtic look.