Very Sad News

My beloved cat, Callie, died early this morning around 4 a.m. 8 months earlier, her little bro', Max, died. He was 15, Callie was likely 17, 18 or 19 years old.

This is very hard ....

Yvette, a blue point Siamese, needs a home!

Sad ...

See the old orange tree in the previous post? Well, it just died and went to tree heaven. It's sad coz it's way over 50 years old and was part of the original orange grove.

I have to have it torn out and the stump ground tomorrow. Or actually, it's today (it's after midnight). I'm going to miss this tree ... I have a picture of me as a baby, being held by my mom, with the tree in the background.

Memories ... are the color of my mind ....

Sentimental, ain't I?

The Backyard Re-Do

Here's the before photo. You can see all the rocks lining the planter bed. Oh, see that huge hole right where the old orange tree is? That was "dug" by Sable when she would race by, with little Milo tearing after her. Now you see why I need deer fencing! I have my own, private "deer." LOL!

Here's how it used to look. The straggly cactus was near the corner, and the rocks were haphazardly thrown there ... and the rest was dirt, coz I had taken out all the old plants. Sable loved to dig and throw dirt all around. It was always quite a mess.
These were taken towards the end of the first day of work.
The guys took the rocks that had lined the perimeter of the old planting bed, threw out the little rocks that were dangerous and then leveled it out. Then they filled it up with rocks. There were 3 cactus in the corner, so they scattered them T/O. What's great is that Miss Sable (or Sablelinsky, as I call her) will no longer be able to dig and I don't have to put sprinklers here. Yeah!

Can you imagine that my parents brought home all these rocks? I mean, I don't get it. How many trips did they make? They didn't have a truck, my dad must have been in his 70s, and yet they brought these home from Lytle Creek. I can just see my mom pointing out the rocks to Dad and telling him to pick them up. And I'm sure you're not supposed to take them, anyway!

Anyway, so far, this is my favorite part of the yard. It's my own little rock garden, and better yet, the dogs can no longer dig here.

This was taken on the next day. The pavers were taken up and more sprinklers were laid. Click on the photo, and you'll see Sable peeking out from behind the old orange tree.

OK, let's put this to a vote. This orange tree is very old - at least 60 years old or more - and was part of the original orange grove. It's probably the only one from the old grove left in the neighborhood. It's dying, but still gives off small oranges, etc. Should I tear it out and replace it with another tree? For a better look at the tree, scroll back up and check out at the first photo.

If I replace the tree, do you have any suggestions? I'd put the new tree a bit father back and over more to the left. I don't want too much tree litter, and I'd have to consider the dogs. They eat everything.

Here's my new logo for my graphic design business, South Coast Design. I'm still trying to decide between these two colors for the sun. Which one do you prefer? Leave comments and let me know!

Well, I'd write more tonight, but Sable just nipped me, the little brat. Well, she's not so little. She at least 81 lbs. and is a GSD/greyhound mix. Seems I better let her out to go play with Milo.

Later!

I'm Back!

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've blogged, but I just wanted to say hi and to update everyone.

Since I last touched base, I took on two foster dogs, Sable and Milo. It's been quite a ride so far ... my hair has practically turned white! Well, almost. I'd post their pictures too, but if you read on a little further, you'll find out why that's a little difficult right now.

Sable swallowed a rock while out with her future owners, but after a stay in the hospital, she passed the stone. Well, then a week later, Nikki had to follow suit, but she ended up having surgery! She's got the biggest cone on her head in the world. My little goofball.

Here I've posted a couple of photos of her. Note the rock in the plastic bag - that's what I call the million dollar rock! For more details, check out Nikki's diary, photos and videos on Dogster. Plus you can check out Parker and Sable's pages too.
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/359223

Then my computer crashed and I lost all of my files (including pictures) ... and then Sable ate a lamp cord ... let's see, what else?

Oh, I adopted a new cat named Baxter. He was hangin' around my house and made his way into my heart. Now I just have to introduce him to my 3 cats ... they'll just love that, I'm sure!

Well, back to finals!

Ciao!

Illustrator Creations

Did some work in Illustrator during the past couple of days so I figured I'd post them.

















Glass bottles in various shapes and sizes. I love the feeling that you can see through the glass.



















A logo for a mythical company using specified elements.

The next piece is a drawing of a maid. Creating the maid was more complex than it looks. First I drew her, using an old clip art with horribly jagged edges as a template. She was then filled with black and then basically the details (face, dress, legs, cuff, etc.) had to be drawn and filled with color. Then the highlights were added. It felt like I was drawing and re-drawing her numerous times. The time consuming part was really magnifying the drawing, sometimes up to 1600X, and tweaking all the points. So in other words, you draw it and refine it.




















The original clip art that I used as a template.




















The maid, as drawn by me.




















Here she is with some fun effects and a background added.



















The American flag as a bowtie and as (gasp) a flag!



















A menu for a restaurant specializing in spicy foods, again with specified elements.


Here are some Illustrator works that were created about a month ago: