more spring cleaning

Here's something I found. We have four different autographed figure skater photos that George got in 1997. He was working for Ray-Ban at the time. They fit the skaters with new sunglasses, and then we got front row tickets to Stars on Ice.

Ekaterina Gordeeva signed this for George in Russian.

It says, "Dear George, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Ekaterina Gordeeva"

more spring cleaning

I'm still digging through a bunch of old stuff, trying to get my office back in order. I unearthed some old sketches of some family members. They are not very good, but anyone in my family should be able to tell who these people are.
Pool Party

some new doodles & stuff

Last night a choir from the college my brother graduated from sang at our church. I'll bet they had no idea their music could inspire such doodle masterpieces.

I took this photo right at the end of the last song. My phone's potential as a spy camera is ruined if I don't figure out how to get rid of the camera sound it makes when it takes a picture. It's not that noticeable unless, as I've now found, you're sitting in a quiet atmosphere, and everyone hears the "Catchch--chch" and then turns around and looks at you.

child psychology

On Wednesday mornings I've been volunteering at the preschool that's at my church. Last week we had to ask the kids a list of questions... questions like if they know what their last name is. One of the questions was if they have sisters or brothers, and how many? It was interesting to see how not just one, but quite a few girls reasoned out how many sisters they have. "Well, I'm a sister, and my sister is a sister, and my mom is a sister. Three. I have three sisters."

a bunch of boring stuff

Every day I want to post something new on here, but lately I'm just not sure what to say. So here is an assortment of the boring stuff that's been going on.

I finally bought myself a new pair of sneakers. I've been wearing these Sketchers for five years... maybe longer.

I like these Pumas I bought at Lady Footlocker. They need to be broken in though. They are leather, and the flap on the inside (tongue) is sharp and pokes my ankle.

Last Friday we finally got a new carpet put in our basement. The October flood destroyed our previous carpet. After a huge waterproofing job, we are finally able to get our house back in order.

Unfortunately, they did not actually finish our carpet... that would have been too easy. The installers didn't order enough carpet. They need to come back this week with more and finish this area along the wall where they ran out. I am getting used to being patient.

This back area of the basement is actually much cleaner than it used to be.

Last weekend I took a ton of stuff out of the back and used this space under the stairs as storage. We never throw away the cardboard boxes that things come in... they come in handy someday when you want to sell your old stuff on Ebay.

I've got a bunch of ugly still life paintings that I painted in college. There was a class where we painted one ghastly still life after another.

I decided I am going to do away with them forever... I'll keep those two up above, those were actually the best of the worst. But I'm painting over these other canvases and I'm going to create something new and abstract. I'm not sure what yet, but I'm inspired. I need to get the rest of the canvases out of my parents' attic so I can paint over those too.

The first signs of spring are here... the emerging of the winter dog poop. I have been out scooping poop that dates back to October, all gathered together where I shoveled some walkable space for Skippy when the snow was four feet high.

I finally got my camera phone, and I've yet to post any picture from it until now. Here's something, but it's not even that interesting. This is from last Thursday morning. What a morning that was. I got up at 5:30 am because George was getting an upper G.I. procedure done at 7:00 (acid reflux problems). He woke up from the thing, I was driving him home, he said he felt good, wanted some breakfast, but then he suddenly got really sick. I had to pull over a bunch of times so he could throw up, and then I drove him back to the recovery room.

They put us in a corner where people were in beds all around us recovering from their colonoscopies. A nurse kept encouraging them to let out their farts. So there I sat for a good hour or so, surrounded by a chorus of farts. Every once in a while the nurse would walk by spraying pink air freshener. George was lying there sick with oxygen up his nose, and didn't even know what was going on until we got home and I explained to him what all the noise was.

The picture is of a flock of turkeys that walked by the window while I was sitting in there.

weird doodle of the day

I've sketched a lot of ketchup bottles over the years while eating out, while waiting for the waitress to bring the food. This must have been an especially long wait, because it seems I must have started hallucinating.

art exhibit continued

Here's some more weird stuff that would probably never see the light of day except for this blog. I bought this little frog guy as a birthday gift for myself some years ago. The top of his head opens up and there's space to put stuff inside him. Right now he is holding on to some Cottonelle "puppy points," in case I ever buy enough toilet paper to earn free stuff.


Here he is as a pencil sketch.


And pastel.

more closet cleaning

I don't like these sketchbooks. I think they are annoying. I used to think I would like them, because they are pocket-sized, but something about the small size of paper and large ringed binding makes them very uncomfortable for me. There are not many good sketches in these, but here's a handful I thought I'd hang on to. In chronological order...

Some people in the chapel at my college. This is when all girls had the same hairstyle, just pull back the two sides and put some kind of clip in the back. Then poof up your bangs. Floofy bow optional.

My roommate Kaori studying with her hair sticking straight up in a clip... this style was for inside-dorm wear only.

Dr. Gladin (my sociology professor) and a guy named Yo.

A couple of sketches out of the window of the lobby of the Bausch & Lomb building in Rochester. George used to work there. For a while we were sharing a car. I was probably sitting in there waiting to drive him home.




This guy was the speaker at a church in Nantucket. We took a vacation there for about a week when my brother was working there, and we had a free place to stay. Maybe Chuck remembers who this guy is.

cleaning out my closet

This old sketchbook has some interesting memories in it from the 1997/1998 era.


I drew these people in the Barnes & Noble Cafe. The lady's face got smooshed.

I used to work in the same plaza as this Barnes & Noble. I remember sitting in there sketching this. I must have been really bored.

I was a volunteer at my church's AWANA program on Wednesday nights. This guy was always entertaining the kids with his "Sparky" puppet. I don't think the drawing is that good, but it's a fun memory. Here's a sketch of some folks at an indoor soccer game. They really pack the bleachers at those games.

This is my Uncle Bill. Christmas day, 1998.

I'm always drawing at Christmas cantatas.


We were at a friend's super bowl party when I drew a number of sketches of their dog, Jack.

I might keep posting these sketches as I find them. They are an interesting record of my life. And not much new is happening here these days. So this entertains me.

A comment I have about the new blogger... I have yet to understand why it is better than the old blogger. One annoying thing, I keep telling it to keep me logged in, but every day I have to sign in again.