48 days

It's the 3rd day of Kwanzaa and Christmas merchandise is 50% off. Holiday retail sales were not as dismal as predicted, but it appears there wasn't any "growth." And that's what it's all about. Drug stores and boutiques have pushed Santa aside introducing Valentine's cards as snowman and reindeer replacements. It appears the potential profit of kitch and cards celebrating New Years, Cuban Liberation Day, Al Hijra, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Candlemas, and Chinese New Year have yet to be fully recognized.
You have 48 days to pick the perfect Valentine card. Plenty of time to come up with something better than a dusty rose photo topped with

I love you for the person you are

in ornate non-union print shop calligraphy.

In other would-be sweet news that we found depressing, today, the shelter has no pet rats.

Hot chocolate + almond late + an hour out of the wind and rain = consolation.

cafe bella

You know what they say about pictures

In September, December held promise of down time. Lingering coughs, experiments in employment and a surprise trip to the ocean devoured every possibility of surplus time. So, we're considering sending New Year's or possibly Valentine's cards and wouldn't have it any other way.



We trust the pictures to tell the story. Consider it an Encyclopedia Brown/choose-your-own adventure type plot and feel free to write your ending.

S to the 4th power

Snow
Samarya
Show
Sea


Before live model Father Frost, a santa-type- regal in blue, took his pose at the drawing jam, the snow began. The pirates and nudes and musicians held series of short poses, we observed or exited quickly, quietly. We weren't official event photographers, so didn't document Ukiah's charcoal sketched wings or Aslin's print making process. Soap-making filled the multi-media studio with evergreen then chocolate, a combination inspiring to the camera. Snap shots out the window only.



We missed the snowballs but had plenty of time in the slush. Ukiah, Aslin and Brad hiked through the dark to meet me at Samarya's holiday party/fundraiser where sparkling cider ran short but the chocolates lasted all night. I tried to look nonchalant when Aslin pulled first one, then two of my raffle tickets. We haven't been to the Volunteer Park Cafe and will happily add it to our next conservatory visit.

"Can new people join next quarter?" Aslin asked, no doubt hoping another girl or two will join her drama class. Of course that would mean Queen Aslin would have to share the female roles in the end-of the-season performance showcase. I especially appreciated the inventive use of character props in the kids' adaptation of the picture book, My Lucky Day.

Snow turned to rain and eventually, a little water in the basement. The kids and I braved the elements again, bussing to the aquarium where the diver in the Washington Waters exhibit assured us she, swimming in 120,000 gallons of water, was drier in her suit than those of us waiting to watch the octopus feeding. The speech for school groups included discussion of the territorial disputes between the wolf eel and the octopus. Behind us, away from the preschool ears, other aquarium folk described the method the octopus uses to stun his prey. I shuttered at the eye removal and joined the kids at the touch tank.