Haircut Time

The summer is here, which means its about time to trim that shag do the boy isn't too hot. Its still a tough sell to take him to the haircut place, but after softening him up for two days and reminding him how much fun it actually IS, its fairly easy to get the deed done. (I just hope that he isn't 23 and still requesting to sit in my lap when he gets his haircut).

He only had a minor freak-out when I didn't sit with him, he cried so of course I folded like a cheap chair. I won the war but lost that battle.

He looks so much older now and got plenty of comments and raves from the Daycare ladies and Kate.

As you can see from the "before" shot taken at Subway, his hair was getting shaggy.


During the cut, he was resigned and paid all of his attention to the video, which was "Cars", the movie, his favorite movie in the whole world.

Midnight Riders

One of my friends at work said I should paint Duane Allman as part of my series of dead musicians. I didn't know much about Duane Allman so she lent me the book Midnight Riders by Scott Freeman.

Freeman writes a concise history of the Allman Brothers Band, not just Duane Allman. I am up to the chapter where Duane has already died in a motorcycle accident, Berry has also died in a separate motorcycle accident a year later and Gregg is battling his heroin addiction and is dating Cher.

The Allmans created their music in a small town in Georgia named Macon. This little town is responsible for Little Richard and Otis Redding. Its also my fathers home town where he grew up and went to college (Mercer University). The cemetery they speak of frequently is named Rose Hill and is the same cemetery that my grandfather was the caretaker for awhile back in the 50's. My father says that he used to say about his job that he had five hundred men under him and not one ever talked back.

The book has now given me a great appreciation for the music of the Allman Brothers Band and I have been downloading their tunes on iTunes and listening to some of the lesser-known songs. Good stuff.

If you like Rock anthologies like Hammer of the Gods (Led Zeppelin) or No One Here Gets Out Alive (The Doors), you would like Midnight Riders.

Oval Sticker

I got an order for some oval stickers from the City of Fairfax Democrats Committee a few weeks ago. I got them 300 stickers and got them in a few days. They chose a blue background with white lettering and their web site in small lettering. Very nice.

I picked Jack up the other day and in the parking lot was a car that had one of the stickers on the back of the car, proudly displayed. Made me feel good to see my work out there getting exposure. So thanks to the Democrats!

Pamakana

Kate has had me working tirelessly on a logo for a venture that Abbie, Jason, Paul and her are all working on. The web site is named Pamakana and comes from two words; Pa (to Give) and Makana (a Gift) in Hawaiian.

The idea behind the site is basically tracking good deeds. Say you are in a Starbucks and someone buys you a cup of coffee, they give you a card with a number on it and you log in at Pamakana and do something else nice for someone else, who then passes that on by doing something nice for someone else. Eventually, you can track your good deed, hopefully, around the globe.

I thought that a bee would be a good metaphor for this since its so small and does the good deed of pollenating flowers while going about its business. Eventually the plant fruits or seeds as a result and the cycle continues. Its taking the "Pay-It-Forward" concept and visualizing it.

Here is the logo as it stands now. I mocked this up to see what it might look like on a black t-shirt with only four colors. Notice the bees wings are actually the infinity symbol.

The Garden

I picked out all my plants for the garden last week and spent all of Saturday tilling, pulling, cutting, digging and trimming. I didn't eat any lunch and man I was wasted by dinner time. Spent. I haven't been that tired in a long time. Cervantes was correct when he said "Hunger is the best sauce of all." I ate every bite of dinner that night. It could have been brussel sprouts, I would have eaten it all up.

Anyway, the garden is all done and I have been watering it, with some help from mother nature the other day that dropped two inches on us overnight. Plenty of sun over the week and the plants are already growing.

I planted some Zuchini squash, Cucumbers, Dill, Basil and Tomatoes. I have four different types of tomatoes so we shall see just what does what. Half are Romas and the other three are Beefsteak Hybrid, Celebrity and another I forgot the name.

I will post a few pics of the progress over the Summer and let you know which taste the best as well. We are already using the Basil, Kate made some homemade pesto sauce and used fresh basil and it was gooooooood. I have a small plant of Oregano and three Strawberry plants out front so hopefully those will fruit-up with any luck as well.

Not much to see now, but wait a few months...

A few plants of Zuchini, Cucumber, Dill and Basil

Perfect Golf Form

We went to Jim and Reets for Mothers Day and let Jack play in the back yard since it was such a nice day. No clouds, low humidity, a light breeze. Jim had just cut the grass and Jack brought his golf toys. I watched him set up and he stops, walks away from the ball and bends down, then goes over to address the ball and hit it. At first we thought that he was making a, a, well, a number two. But then we realized that he was copying what the golfers do on TV and bend down to get a better look at how the green looks when they putt.

I also noticed that he has great form and will squarely hit the ball almost every time. The next Tiger? Who knows? Talk to me in 15 years.

Big Shoes

Jack decided to put some big shoes on and try and walk around. This is funny to watch, much like someone who has had a little too much to drink.



At least it wasn't his mothers shoes this time, he looks like a drunk cross-dresser when he does that.