snippets of september.

Oh internet. I'm such a fair-weather friend to you. My apologies for the neglect. It seems I blog the way I ski...all conditions must be right. Blue sky above. Time to burn. Hot chocolate in close proximity at all times.

Here's the update. Things I'm doing and loving.

Chalkin' it up.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a "featured artist" at the annual Forest Grove Sidewalk Chalk Festival. Did I mention I've not considered chalk my medium since 1986!? Needless to say, I was a bit nervous. No pressure, right!?

I decided to attempt a reproduction of a beautiful painting that my dear Grandma Rhea gifted me a few years ago. It's a lovely, soft depiction of Bowman Bay in Washington -- a summer vacation spot that's near-and-dear to my childhood heart. I noted the way the colors all swirled and washed together and thought chalk might lend itself to the same patterns.

Ha!!! Chalk is tough, folks! I had no idea. Turns out it doesn't give up the fight easily. You really must grind it into the pavement to get the pigment to stick in earnest. Halfway through my three-hour experiment I adopted a painting technique (hence the brush in my hand above) that proved slightly more promising, if also more time-intensive. In the end (knees and ankles aching) I think I got somewhat close to a resemblance. If nothing else, it made me appreciate the wonderfully talented painters in my family even more. Lou, Shel, Chris...you know who you are! And, of course, cheers to you, Gram! You're an inspiration.

And though I think I'll have to keep my day job, it was a blast. An honor I'd love to try my hand at again.

The sweetest season.
In other news, I'm savoring the onset of fall. We've been having the most spectacular weather the past few days. Bike riding weather. Pumpkin Chai-sipping with girlfriends weather. Weather than beckoned us out to a fabulous time at the family farm at the invitation of friends (thank you, sweet friends!) for some apple pie and "crawdadin" at the river. It's been crisp in the mornings (no more riding to work in my favorite flip flops) and downright hot during the day. And, perhaps best of all, the leaves are starting to look like this:
Wishing you the same loveliness.