This first one is my summer painting, that I finished last month (or was it only a few weeks ago?!).  It was inspired by the one below, which I got at a junk shop in South Dakota.  I hope that as I work on the two other seasons, they will look more like impressions of the wild than cartoons.  Sadly, there are not seasons here in California like there are anywhere else in the world, or at least the Midwest.  While it has been in the 60s both here and in the dear Midwest, that marks no changes here.  No melting snow or rain, no new buds or fresh feeling.  Sure, there are blooming flowers, but also dead trees- it seems as if nothing truly gets a fresh start.  Aaron helped me get the 'blooming' feeling by dragging me out while he's super-busy, to stop and smell the roses-literally.  We also drove along a water reservoir.  Some neighborhoods resemble South Dakota, while others have enough greenery (aka not too many palm trees, and instead overgrown plants and trees)- which raised my spirits a bit.  We also petted a horse, who was fenced into someone's front yard, as more of a decoration than anything else.  Sorry, no pics of that.  Here's winter instead:

when it takes you four times to get your current telephone # correct.  Or at least, that's what happened to me.  I like it here.  (Then again, I've like every place I've lived).  I want to work and travel overseas, but another part of me really doesn't- the part that says I have a hard enough time keeping in touch w/ the friends I have made.  Last night, I was driving towards the mountains (or are they hills?) and I could have sworn I drove right into a portal onto a street in Washington (spokane, to be exact.)  Everything about it seemed like the night Aaron and I drove around there not even 3 months ago.  Doesn't every place have something distinctive about it?  Does it all start to look the same?  I know the sky is one thing that baffles me.  I used to think that different places had different looking skies, like the tropics had gorgeous sunsets every night (thank-you, postcards)- but at least from what I've seen, that's not true.  It may be cloudy or full gray 11 times more in one city than the other, but we're all under the same sky.

I played a guitar today.  For one of the classes at the middle school, I just hang out in a guitar class, and it's fun, and great to hear, but it can get boring, so I picked up a guitar and learned some of  'America.'  I've been playing the piano rather consistently lately, but pick up notes faster from ear than printed lines- so I have some basis w/ music (besides all those years of choir- maybe I should check out a community  choir- I miss it!)  I have no idea what notes coincide w/ what strings or how it changes as the the finger-hold does.  I just played around 'til I found a place that sounded like it was the beginning- I think it was about the middle of the middle string.  For the most part, I think I skipped a space between notes- maybe they were half-notes?  Anyways, it was just the main melody- since I didn't know how the notes coincided w/ the sheet msuic, I had no idea where to start w/ the bass.  Those guitarists sure most build up their fingers, though.  I probably played for a half hour, and I was ready to call it quits for the day!

This past weekend, Aaron and I scourged? a thrift shop to find good costumes for going out w/ our friends.  We ended up w/ a Western theme- him w/ a cowboy hat and all- me w/ an indescript collaboration of browns as a shirt under a jean jacket (from an earlier thrift store).  Unfortunately, I am not satisfied w/ any pics- fortunately, here are some great pics more recent:
These first two, I'll call "Love." I love dogs, and I guess we've had 3 strays come by over the last month.  This is the first I've seen.  She found me when I got the mail, and just wandered around the house- checking it out.  She had a collar, but no tags.  She tried following me inside.  More people came home, and we fed it bread and water, and called Animal Control.  The time - that hour- w/ that dog was one of my happiest this week.  Sadly, the 2 to 4 hours A.C. was going to taken was closer to 5 minutes.  She was muddy and skinny, but behaved and was furry and loveable.  She's 'Molly' to me, because that was Aaron's dog of long ago, and that's a girl-dog name, but I'm told they look nothing alike.  I was reading Spanish to 'Molly 'in the 2nd photo.

This next photo is of a palm tree- it looked so round from below, when most palm trees aren't that symmetrical.  And lastly, Aaron.  He really liked that bush/fence.  And we met our mailman today while climbing a tree a few blocks away, and then again on my front porch!

The number of members in Orange County's Freecycle hit 4,000 today.  Somehow that seems important.  I'm trying to get a clothing iron from there.

I've felt very down lately.  One day I can excuse w/ waking up on the wrong side of the bed (although I always get up on that side- my bed's against the wall)- but it's lingered over me all week.  I try to choose to have a positive attitude, but I too often get down.

I tried doing my taxes today- somehow I thought it'd be easier to go on-line than buy envelopes to send in (half-way through the process I realized that the forms came w/ envelopes) anyways- today's theme for companies seem to be to get money every way possible.  On one site, I qualified for doing the forms free because of my income and age, yet at the end, they were like "$10 federal, $25 state" when that's about what I'm getting back!  So obviously I didn't submit the application.  Also, I forgot I have to send a copy of my feds w/ state, so somehow I have to copy them. . . I'll definitely get them done this week- the sooner the better.

Maybe I just need to do more.  I have two days off this week- today (field trip) and tomorrow (teachers' inservice)- I want to work more- (I couldn't get ahold of my latest attempt at another job)- and I spend a good amount of time in small groups and hanging out w/ friends (including Aaron) and reading and playing the piano- but there's still a lot of free time w/ no major papers or tests around the corner.  Do you think that's it?  I want to destroy oranges- throw them on the sidewalks and at things 'til everything's sticky.  But messes are bad, and oranges are good, so I won't.