How's your plumbago?

Photograph courtesy of Kim Snyder.

 



Dear Dodoistes,

Have you seen one of these lately?  In your drawer or pencil cup?  In your glove box, or under the sofa cushions?  I set one on a curb at the beach for you, and a bench at the train station.  I hope you saw it and picked it up; it's yours.

If you'd like to sharpen up your knowledge of the history of the pencil, you might try this page, or this page.

If you haven't any time to unpack the history of the pencil, then keep on writing and drawing, and don't dilly dally here!  Until next time....

Hay nadie como tu.

Dear tu,

And nothing like nadie como está cancion, tambien.  ¿Te gusta?  Más.

The black freighter.

Dear Readers,

Oh, I know, I have been thinking only of myself, and now I have gone and burned your toast!  It's not that I've forgotten you, it's just that I have been scrubbing all these floors, and stacking all these books, and running over questions in my mind.  But, I know what we need; it came to me in a flash as I stepped through a door this afternoon:

Pirate Jenny 1

 Pirate Jenny 2

 Pirate Jenny 3

 Pirate Jenny 4

Pirate Jenny 5

 

Pirate Jenny 6

Another Blog.

Dear Everyone,

Once in a while I send you places that I think you might want to visit in the www.  This is one of them- this Knowledgeable & Nice Person has a very lovely blog on California's flora and fauna.  I found it in the usual way, by wandering around with a vague notion of learning something about Parry's Larkspur.  Try it, you'll like it.  In fact, when you see what a wonderful job can be done on such things as a blog, you will want to make one too!  Think of it as a kind of scrap book perhaps, or a sketchbook; not to hold every little bit and piece, not to give the whole picture, but to shine a little light here and there, on the things you love best.

Cherry: jam & tart.

Dear Orchardists,

Here it is, the Montmorency cherry crop for the year!  I know you and the birds and deer have been waiting anxiously since this time last year.  It's a veritable avalanche compared to last year, and so we made jam.  Then we made a tart with the jam.

 

 

 

 

 

Both recipes are from David Lebovitz's excellent blog.  Here is the jam, and here is the tart.  Both were easy as pie, but I know you don't choose things based on the difficulty level or the labor-hours required to complete them.  I know that when you have cherries you let the winsome color of the fruit direct you to the appropriate use.

The Oft-referenced, Much-studied Effect of The New on The Old.

Dear Bandmates,

Isn't this the bomb? 







Isn't it delightful to see someone making music with this retired technology stuffs!?  It will be our song for today, and you can hear another version here. 










PS

You'll laugh, of course, because you are so much more mondaine and world-wise than I, but this 'novelty song' is one of my favorites from my impressionable youth, and its symphonic sound and operatic narrative always catch in my throat.  I was such a lucky one to be suckled on pop music that was so prescient and innovative! 

Remember Those Days?

Dear Whoever You Are,

Pretend you just got this desperate message attached to a rock that I threw up to your window in the middle of the night.  Pretend that you don't mind and that you are happy to help me make my escape from this world where I cannot understand the words and actions of anyone.  Pretend it is okay that we are surrounded, because we have each other, and a few others now and then, to form a club or a band or a pact with, or at the absolute least, to have a few drinks with.

I am feeling so much better already- how about you?  Read this for inspiration (or instruction, if you are as youthful as that).  If the Dodo was a real thing in our culture, a thing with currency, if it was a thing that had real writers, I think this author would be one of us.

Remember, don't worry:  If you hear a thunk, it's just me with my message tied to a stone.