And then there was this one time . . .

we stopped by Niki De Saint Phalle's Magic Circle of Queen Califia



Did you know that California was named after an island populated by black women (no men), ruled by Queen Califia, in a Spanish romance novel?



It was news to us, but it's totally true.



Ted and I enjoyed acting like children. . .



experimenting with mirrors. . .





and exploring the work.

The Clothers (minus one Fin)

A little while ago we met up with our dear friends, the Clothers, in Santa Barbara. They were visiting from Portland, for the opening of Chris' show at Westmont.




(The lady in yellow is a close friend of the Clothers, and the curator of this show.)



(A piece of work)



(The man, the myth, the legend)


After seeing Chris' work through plexiglass lenses, we ventured (the long way - getting very, very lost) to get our first taste of Chumash cave paintings.



Then we all went to the Ellwood Butterfly Preserve. . .


and to the nearby coast, for a special ceremony for Sir Simon. . .



and then Chris and Ted learned how to fly.

Wednesday at the Painted Rock

Our plans to hike Sequoia being foiled by the snow, we decided instead to go see Painted Rock

After driving to the middle of nowhere,


we walked along a muddy path for miles,


but it was totally worth it.



The rock itself was really beautiful,





and so were the paintings.




Ted and I spent some time talking about graffiti, and the human compulsion to make a mark,




and then we tried to make friends with an owl.


We walked back to the car,


and took a lot of the muddy path with us.

san francisco, two eri(k/c)s, a wind harp and free speech

A couple weekends ago we took a quick trip up to San Francisco to catch our friend, Erik, in town from Chicago.


The three of us experienced the sights, sounds and good vibes of the wind harp.


(the harp was very secure)




Per Stacy's recommendation, we feasted at Gracias Madre for dinner.



It was mindblowingly delicious.

Eric generously welcomed us to stay in his home.

And, as if giving us a place to stay wasn't enough, Eric made us hearty bowls of lentil soup.


On the final day of our quick trip, we ventured over to the Prelinger Library - "an appropriation-friendly, browsable collection of approximately 40,000 books, periodicals, printed ephemera and government documents"






A brief but fun filled weekend.

{the end}