Lassie's neighbors

Sometimes I obliterate my to-do list altogether by painting over it, and just hope I remember what it was. This started out as a rumination on poodles, clotheslines, British back yards and bomb shelters.

Lassie's neighbors

                                       

The earth shook. Under my feet.

We had an earthquake! It wasn't so bad where I live, but it's always... er, interesting.

Friday night quake

Punctuation doing its job

Punctuation doing its job. Ironically, I mis-punctuated that! 

Emerald City

My father worked as an engineer at the Amoco oil refinery most of his life. I remember how he once made a scale model of the refinery out of balsa wood, and I thought it was just about the coolest thing I had ever seen. I don't recall much else about it, except the nice lady who was a secretary (or something) there, and a company picnic along the York River. In my mind,  it looked like Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz, and for some reason, I still think of the refinery when I hear the music of George Shearing.

Emerald City on the York River