Monthly Archives: October 2008

Joanne’s Tiger carving is completed…

A few days ago I mentioned that, beginning last Friday, Joanne was taking a 3 day animal carving class. She showed up on our doorstep last night ~6pm, looking a little bedraggled and apparently running on adrenalin, then pulled her finished project out of her carry-bag.

There aren’t any words I can offer her that will make your viewing pleasure any better, so scroll down and enjoy her work. (Hint: Click the pic for the full size, fully detailed view)





If only my photography were as good as her carving….

Very cool, it looks beautiful, luv!

Swan Lake… In Campbell?

A couple of days ago, Springfield Al and I were out for a bike ride in to downtown Campbell (yes, there actually is a downtown Campbell, thank you very much.) and as we cruised past the Perc Pond, we spotted a swan.

A SWAN IN OUR PERC POND?!

We’ve lived in Campbell for 24 years and have been active users of the Los Gatos Creek Trail (Parcourse) and the Perc Pond for much of that time.

NEVER, EVER have we seen a swan in the pond. Kingfishers. Yup. Canada Geese. Check. Osprey, Cormorants, Mallard and Domestic Ducks. 10-4, Roger that.

But never a swan. Until this week.

So I headed back out yesterday afternoon and took this brief clip of the swan cruising the shoreline. You’ll note that I’m trying to talk the swan in to coming closer to me. A number of years ago, Joanne and I discovered that (some) birds respond well to the sound of my voice and at times, even wild birds will come right up to me when I speak to them in an even-toned voice.

Not this one, though… I suppose that’s one of the reasons it’s survived to be this big, eh? 😉

Enjoy.

Joanne’s fresh carvings




Today is the final day of a 3-day animal bust carving class Joanne is participating in. The above pics show the work in progress… note how the forehead / muzzle are “burned”… very intricate and time-consuming to do. If I recall correctly, they are going to complete the burning this morning and then paint the bust. I’ll post final pics when the project is complete (should be today / this week, but sometimes things take longer.)

Hint: Click on the pic to see the up-close, great details of her work. (Sorry the middle one’s a bit out of focus on the close-up.)

New Queen Clare-bee

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Dave asking if I might take a pic of Clare in her Halloween outfit, then email him the file so he could email to her College-girl BigSis. Sure, easy peasy, lemon squeezy – I’m on it!

A few moments later we were out front of their house and here’s the “keeper” photo (posted here with Dave’s permission). Enjoy – our neighborhood kids are growing up right before our very eyes 🙂 (Hint: Click the pic for the high res version of the photo – it’s worth it 😉

Thank you, again…

A quick Friday afternoon post to thank each and every one of you – there have been many – who have called, written and stopped by to offer your support. Without you, the week would have been unbearable. Though difficult, our household is finding its way forward without Dee among us.

Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, next week I’ll put up a post about our first ten years on Walnut Drive – this past Labor Day was our 10th anniversary here and we have many memories to share with you. (I intended to make the post just before being hospitalized in September, but that got away from me 😉

Wherever you are – have a safe and happy weekend.

Dee and me…


This first pic is of me making pies a few years ago while wearing my favorite t-shirt (In case you’re someone I don’t actually know – and there seem to be more of you around these days, thanks – I’m a t-shirt / shorts / barefoot kinda guy through-and-through.)

The shirt says, “Ask me about my Grand Kitty”.

What I liked most about the shirt was that it told people that (1) I loved our TwoBigCats and (2) I didn’t care if it labeled me as a “little strange”… I’m not sure being a little strange in others eyes is necessarily a bad thing. (I retired the shirt a couple of years ago when it was worn out… don’t worry, I’ve saved it in my “lifetime trunk” 🙂


The second pic is the only photo I know of of Delilah and I.

Apparently I was reading the paper in “the chair” and opted to check for light leaks. Sensing an opportunity to catch a nap on a warm – and expansive – lap, Dee hopped up and caught the “light leak express” with me… waking only to see what Joanne was doing as she approached to take the photo.

If you haven’t watched the video of Pan asking to go outdoors with me, you should… she’s quite a cat, our Queen.

Let’s go outside…

Yesterday was a beautiful day and given the circumstances, it was pretty clear to me that I needed to get outside to get some fresh air over my gills, so I pushed myself away from the desk and said outloud, “Who wants to go outside with me?”

In a flash, Pan leapt out of her basket (in my office) and sprinted to the French Doors in the sunroom. I picked up my Flip video, turned it on and voila!

Notice how Pan “talks” to me and verbally responds to my question about going outside… Dee was the same, but most often about food 🙂

Pan in her glory, on her chair…

At this point, we’ve made it outside and Pan is on her chair in the middle of the patio. Usually her chair is on the deck, under the apple tree or in the garage if I happen to be working on something… she loves to be close to us when she’s outside.

If we happen to leave her immediate area, she gets as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs – stands up, cranes her neck and looks around constantly. (Truth be told, she’s probably just worried about not being able to open a can of cat food on her own, eh?)

Anyway, this is typical Pan behavior on her chair when she’s first put in it… lots of marking, chewing, posturing… and then she settles down and heads off to sleep.

Fall ’08 backyard + Springfield Al

Yesterday I thought I’d shoot a little outdoor stuff… though the lighting seems to be erratic… couldn’t be operator error 😉

This clip is ~4 minutes and shows some of the Fall changes starting to kick in around the yard, + me spending a little too much time trying to get “Molly” the hummingbird to settle down. Good luck with that plan: HUMMINGBIRD, GET IT?

Then Springfield Al showed up so we could take a bike ride in to town for a bite of lunch. (My first bike ride since pre-surgery ~2 months ago. Woo Hoo, the old guy’s back 🙂

Enjoy – but bear with me – the completely unedited / raw footage is rough. I guess I’m more of a record-keeping photographer than a production guy, huh?