The Secret of the Whispering Bivalve

Everything is growing.. our front garden is completely consumed with mint and strawberries, while the poppies find room to spring up here and there. My walk around Kamilche shores this morning yielded native flowers in shades of pink and purple:


Columbine.. delicate and pointy at the same time! An old legend says that lions ate columbine in the spring to gain extra strength.


The rhododendron is the state flower of Washington. They're everywhere! People are infatuated with them. They make me feel like I'm living on a lush tropical island. I have just uncovered an interesting factoid: honey produced from bees feasting on Rhododendron produces both a hallucinogenic and laxative effect.. hmm.

The best part of the walk is always when we get to The Big Field. It looks like it used to be an orchard, and is always well-manicured, though I have no idea who it belongs to. Perhaps the mysterious Taylor family, whose name appears on a multitude of mailboxes along the road. I want to write a Young Adult book series that takes place in Kamilche, about a girl and her dog who solve mysteries: canoes, haunted islands, and evil shellfish tycoons abound.. I'll keep you posted. Anyhow, when we get to the field, I get to watch the best thing ever: a dog who was on the brink of death 9 months ago, running full speed ahead, happy and healthy.


Oh yeah, I also bought art!! From Eric Fleming, who lives in Olympia. He made this beautiful papercut of an old oak tree on Legion Way that was chopped down a few years back:

Book-A-Thon

I smell summer.. and you know what that means:


Short hair time!!


I got a bunch whacked off today. It feels good to purge.

Summertime at Kamilche also means reading on the deck.. lots of reading..


..I was reading non-fiction and magazines for so long that I kind of went crazy and binged out on fiction. Bestsellers. Book club reads. Basically, whatever I could find on the shelf at the Shelton thrift store (which isn't much, unless you're into romances or cats that solve mysteries). This is the pile I have read in the past two months! There were some standouts, and some clunkers. Highly Recommended: 'Reservation Blues' by Sherman Alexie and 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay' by Michael Chabon. 'Dogs of Babel' was good also.. but sad. And 'The Bird Artist' by Howard Norman! The language is totally sparse and hilarious, and if you're a word-nerd like me, you'll love the characters' names: Orkney, Alaric, Fabian, etc. Does anyone else have fiction suggestions? Send them my way! Also, if you know of any home remedies for sinus infections, I'm working on my 3rd one this year. I've been taking bromelain as suggested by a naturopathic text.. I'm beginning to wonder if this is related to my broken tooth??

Searing, Ripping, Blistering

Back in high school, we used to call these types of guys 'hair farmers':


That's David Scheid and J. Mascis. The Scheid is managing Dinosaur Jr. on their world tour, and yesterday they were in Olympia! I've been listening to the new D-Jr. record a lot, thanks to the configuration of my studio-- it lives above Phantom City Records, so I jam along with whatever they're into.. and lately it's been a lot of J. and Company. The only way I can describe the guitar work on that record is BLISTERING. Although I've also considered ripping, searing, shredding, and 'like a helicopter landing on your head'.


We hung out in my studio and sure enough, the record store started playing the Dinosaur album. They can't get enough!


David and I fell in love sometime around the peak of Ricky Martin's hit 'Livin' La Vida Loca'. I remember, because I mailed him the cassingle. That was years ago. We were talking yesterday about the amazing connectedness of the universe, how so many of the same, seemingly unrelated people are woven in and out of both of our lives. And how there are four billion atoms in a sugar cube. About the controversy surrounding Hot Yoga, and how many inches per hour the tide can fill up an inlet without you even noticing, until it's full.

David, good luck with your travels, and come visit this summer!

Full Spectrum Day

This is Kanako:


She's super happy because she's going to buy this crazy property on Oyster Bay!


It's only about 5 miles from my house, so in Mason County terms (or Los Angeles, for that matter), we're neighbors-- sweet!

The property comes with an insanely beautiful bamboo forest..


..which is probably where we'll have our Sacred Womyns' Spirit Circle and do naked yoga underneath the full moon. Speaking of (nearly) naked yoga, I just started going to Birkram, aka 'HOT', yoga classes here in Oly. The instructor is a very scantily clad, extremely sweaty Swiss (Austrian? Russian?) man named Anatole. He says 'Yes, yes, wery beauteefulll Sarah. Try to grab your fot more.' He says 'fot' instead of 'foot'! It's really intense.


Well, well.. look who's in town! It's the original surfing Serbian, Stefan Simikich. He surprised Olympia by swinging into town for a couple of days.


We checked out the inside of the house that sits on Kanako's future property, it's an old brick beauty that has been thoroughly ransacked by time, squatters, and barn owls:


Stefan's like, 'hmm.. should I clean my room?'


There's a boathouse too..


..I can't wait for our Totten Inlet canoe races and celebratory oyster bbqs!!

I can see why she's so stoked on this project. You can imagine how beautiful the house will be like when it's restored... and there's wisteria everywhere:


Way to go, Kanako. And Stefan, we'll see you in October at your Reef photo show!!

Working the Un-Jobs

Coming up in July is an important anniversary for me. It's my 3rd year of not having a 'regular' job! I can't believe it. When I took the super-scary leap of faith right before I moved to Los Angeles, the one that says 'no more mind-numbing servitude.. I will paint every day', I have to admit: even I was skeptical. But it's one of the best decisions I've ever made.

In the past, I've been a server, a driver, a boxer, a stuffer, an entertainer, a writer, a watcher, an opinon-giver, a stocker, a cleaner, a button-pusher, a number-cruncher, a pourer, a teacher, a scrubber, a deliverer, a roadie, a folder, a typist, an opener, and a closer. I've worn a bow-tie, an apron, a nametag, and pulled my hair back. I've worked part-time, under-the-table, weekends, holidays, breakfast, swing shift, nights and for free. I've sold jellybeans, removed graffiti, and booked strippers. I've worked with wolves and with young girls. I think maybe I do miss wearing the bow-tie a bit.

Somehow this guy convinced me to do some temp work, as mentioned in the last post:


I use this..


..and make these..


..and this pile too:


Then I go work on these..


..and fold some of these:


I head home and walk these..


..and feed these:


I like my work.

Chocolate Chip Weekend

It's been a long week, friends. I spent a good portion of it buried deep in cardboard and packing tape, sending off pre-orders for the Elliott Smith record, 'New Moon' over at Kill Rock Stars headquarters. Tobi, warehouse boss, went on tour with the Old Haunts and Justin was up to his eyeballs in orders, so I picked up some temp work. I kind-of enjoy mailorder; there's something comforting about someone else far away (in Estonia or Sylmar, for example, both of which I sent packages to) getting so excited waiting for their box, or ordering both the cd and the vinyl just so they can get the bonus poster. That said, I'm glad to be getting back to painting.. I'm about finished with two new small paintings, both of which will be sent off to the www.artforemptywalls.com show I'm doing in June.

And while I was poking around the KRS offices, I found some vintage Bangs shirts.. score!


So, after a week of papercuts and filling out those little green foreign package slips, I needed a trip into the woods. Luckily, they're right across the street from our house:


Mossy branches everywhere. And there was a little snail friend, too:


Check out the pattern on this bark!


Today was all about two things: 1. Picking flowers in the yard for the dining room table. I love the poppies..


...and 2. Homemade oatmeal-chocolate-chippers and a side of coffee. Weekend comforts.