well duh....

this just in, from my home state....
" Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican recently turned Democrat, said Sotomayor's much-maligned comment reflected a woman standing up for women and someone exhibiting ethnic pride. "I didn't find fault with 'wise Latina woman,' I found it commendable," he said.

I am hoping she sails through the rest of the approval process, I see a joyous swearing in ahead for Democrats, Latinos, WOMEN, and Liberals taking a second ride of pride for things moving forward in a positive and balanced political spin.
Here in paradise we are breaking records heat wise, seriously hot and demotivating upon impact. And thats what it feels like, a wall of heat..we have considered exiting back to the coast but the reality is I am on a good wave of production on the August issue, since the deadline was pushed back a week.
Its all about being inside and hitting the AC button in the afternoon.
Ruthie is in San Francisco sailing and I am watching her cat, Mia.
Who never comes out from under the bed. Here is a photo of her taken by Ruthie on one of Mias' good days.
Ruthie has taken some fantastic photos with her iPhone and put together a website called Summering in Southern Oregon. linked here.
I must confess, Ms Mia, I have those days too......

Beating the heat

Back from a too short trip to the Chetco this week, mainly because I am supposed to be on deadline, but as has been the case of late there is a question as to wheter the paper will be printed on time or if I will be paid for my time.... three weeks behind I don't know where to draw the line. It is a job, and I am enjoying the work I do but scheesh, bills pile up and I wonder if continuing to invest my time in this job or finding another is the way to go.
Triple digits and the grass looks parched.
This is what I eek through the winter for...

The Chetco ahead...

Triple digits have crept into the valley and while we are barely cracking the 100 mark, areas of the southwest are in the 108-110 range, the mere thought makes me wilt. Its fortunate we cool down at night here and the saving grace is a window fan and closing up the house in the day, the brick house is also a bonus, keeping the place cool through the late afternoon when during these heatwaves around 5, I have to breakdown and hit the AC button.
Finally got paid from last months issue and starting the August Young at Heart today.
Today Julie lands back in Oregon, for a friends wedding. We haven't seen her since she left in 2001 and it was at a farewell dinner at her house that Dave and I met. We are looking forward to meeting her and Dwight at the coast in a few days. They have rented a cabin at Loebs for two nights and we are pitching a tent on the Chetco, just down the road. Oh boy, sun and fun ahead.
This past week, a too short visit and BBQ with Paul and Jamie and friends, Ruthie returned from a week in San Francisco and today we headed to Jacksonville, one of the sweetest towns in the area, to lunch and afterwards connect with a line sitter for a Britt concert on Thursday night. We took a drive up on Sterling Creek Road, one of my favorite roads with sweeping vistas (see photo above) and suprisingly, we ended up in Ruch, completely the opposite direction I expected to pop out in. Following a garage sale sign we landed at the home of Misty Stone were we spent at least an hour chatting and delightfully discovering she is an amazing illustrator. She showed us their private swimming hole on the Applegate River, and invited us back anytime to swim. Incredibly beautiful, Ruthie took this picture with her iPhone.
We all exchanged cards and hope to connect with her artistically in the near future. All in all a delightful day, and now I better start pulling out the camping gear, I'm so excited about meeting up with old friends and sharing a special place.

Seizing the Moment

Its hard to keep track of the amount of guests visiting this summer Deb, Hope, Geoff, the Pies and of course, RuthAnn moving in for the summer months to my downstairs studio rental, which she has totally transformed with her furniture and artwork, not to mention exzuberant spirit.
Last week Martina and Dylan, now 8 years old, came up for a numbingly short visit. Include a scheduled vet appointment in Eagle Point -always a day trip due to the 45 minute drive and assorted activities normally included, Costco, any yard sale along the way, and a primo spot along the river to stop, walk the dogs and watch the river flow, and I barely saw them.
Dylan bonded with Maggie and she with her as you can see in this sweet picture above taken of the two of them and the circle of love, her hand on her head, her paw on her chest. Martina, Ruthie and Dylan did a number of fun things and one of their creative accomplishments was creating a video of Maggie and Rowdy, shot the day before he went to live on Genevieves' farm, it can be viewed at the website Ruthie set up entitled Summertime in Grants Pass
I decided to try and place Rowdy, after six weeks, it was apparent that they were not bonded, but in fact, she was bullying him and simply put, he just wasn't getting the love he deserved for the cool dog he was. Two days after posting him on Craigslist I got two emails, both elderly individuals that had recently lost their dogs and Rowdy was placed with a sweet and charming 70ish French woman on a 5 acre farm outside Medford. It was quite the drive there, he was a totally different personality than when I rescued him up in Lebanon, Oregon the beginning of June... and I believe it was a good decision.
I watched him walk into the house with her, never looked back, Maggie didn't register any separation anxiety either.
The dynamic is better around the house, and with Dave and Pepper around a lot of the time, two dogs are plenty to handle!

Music on the Applegate

I am logged in and waiting on this weeks online illustrator class to start, hard to believe its been a week since last weeks class. Presented by Creative Techs in Seattle its an interesting update and tutorial for two hours on CS4.
Here is the link to log on.
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/585486272
They have a number of excellent classes and a schedule on their website, www.creativetechs.com/training

Last Wednesday evening we headed out to see the Rogue Suspects at the Applegate Inn. Also wanted to show Ruthie another one of the more wonderful venues to enjoy music on a summer night. It turned out the music was instead two very talented musicians, one on guitar, one on sax.
We arrived at the Applegate River Lodge as the owner, Joanna, and Mr Kim, her PR man were finishing up a photoshoot outside. I mentioned that I worked for Young at Heart publication and was there to snap a picture for the article I was writing, about driving through the Applegate Valley via 238.

We were graciously given the tour of all the wonderful rooms, and then retired to the deck for some wine and music.
It was a great night in a special place, once again, on the river.

July 4th

The weathers been hot and sunny and after wrapping the July issue of the paper last Friday, I spent some time in and on the river, a necessity when its triple digits in Southern Oregon. Dave inflated my little kayak thats been packed away for a summer or two, and repaired another inflatable bought a few summers back that needed some TLC. Saturday and Sunday we went by Joans and Bills stretch of the Applegate with Ruthie, who is up for the summer. The July 4th holiday weekend was a delight, made a pie, scored some tiles at a garage sale to finish the kitchen backsplash, shopped the Growers Market, picked rasberries at Daves, paddled around in the Applegate and grilled salmon and zucchini.
I have been really enjoying the CREATIVE TECH online classes I have been taking for the past 7 weeks, InDesign, Illustrator and soon Flash is coming up. Even though I have been using these programs for years, the tricks and tips alone are worth the time and I'm learning new ways to use old tools. Its such a reason to upgrade to CS4 as well, since that is the Creative Suite version they are covering each week.
I just downloaded an animation software 30 day trial called Lightbox 3d I'm about to check out and see how it can be applied to the Mokie redo planned for his 10 year anniversary.
Company coming tomorrow, Martina and Dylan, looking forward to seeing some dear friends and the weather is cooling off significantly which makes it all the better.

The Rub

Scheesh another one of those stretches of time flying wheter you're having fun or not. Its been an exciting few weeks of activities, and working on the downstairs studio with Dave in anticipation of my friend Ruthie moving up from San Francisco and into the rental for the summer. Each time the rental turns over we get a window of opportunity to do a few more things to improve it, this time we painted the bathroom, not been painted at all since I moved in thirteen years ago.
Also on the 4th of June I headed North to rescue two dogs I saw on Pet Finders. One named Maggie and with a remarkably similar face and her seven year old companion Rowdy, a 74 pound butterball now on the Jenny Craig diet.
Its taken them a few weeks to settle down, especially since there have been a stream of dogs visiting and creating new challenges daily for them.
I was lucky to have my dear friend Hope come through on her way to San Francisco and back and spend the night. Her sweet dalmation Dominique is eleven and I remember going up to Hood River when Maggie was still a youngster and them rolling and tumbling and playing like the wild childs they were back then.
Ruth Ann (and Geoff who drove the truck) arrived a few days ago and after selling her loft, she rolled in with all kinds of presents, the very best being a couple of queen size beds for the upstairs bedrooms.
This week its been a flurry of company and cooking and starting to work on the July edition of the paper starting in earnest with the articles and last minute ads coming in. Attempting to create order and guidelines into a production that is understaffed and busy with the Senior Fair that the paper is sponsoring in two days at the local college has been a challenge.
Its summertime here in paradise, Julies' jasmine is blooming and there is a stream of friends visiting, I love this time of the year when my porch light is always on!