To hACkME Press 3

What you thought I was giving you some super secret code? HA! Not.





But thanks for stopping by.

New Year, New Datebook, New Game

Please pardon the date inaccuracy here. I actually went to the Nelson's for New Year's Eve to eat, drink, and play games. It was a wonderful treat, and a pleasant way to see 2007 come to an end.


This year, I'm going to attempt to do an illustration on every spread of the datebook. I'll try to find fun quotes to illustrate, or some momentous event either in my life (ha!) or history, or I'll fall back on the Everyday Matters' list of drawing assignments.


So let's hear it: Frosty and Reiner go toe-to-toe, who wins?


Tee hee. It's ok to groan.

Thanks for stopping by!

Into October...Finally

Yep, I know we've been in the month for a bit. Some of us more intensely in the month than others. And for a particular set of someones who are experiencing it a bit too keenly: comfort, hope, peace and love.


The quote: "God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages." —Jacques Deval


The quote: "Sometimes creativity is a compulsion, not an ambition." —Ed Norton


The quote: "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." —Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)


The quote: "Hard work never killed anybody, but why take the chance?" —Edgar Bergen (1930-1978)

Ah levity...what would we do without it? Weep all the time? Maintain the constant flat? Those are no ways to exist.


The quote: "Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood." —H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Deary me.

An observation: We learn things in the course of time, and the things we've put on paper up to that point sometimes gain new meaning the light of the things we've learned. Sometimes too, we can go into the past (on paper) and imbue the things we find there with additional meaning in light of the new information. It adds a new dimension, but for the very life of me, I wish the new information had not come into existence.

Peace and love. A whole lot of love.

Pages!?! We Don't Need No Stinkin' Pages!

I beg to differ.


The quote: "We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us." —Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

This is a quote that, it could be argued, has outlived its time. Skepticism and cynicism are my usual first reactions these days. Of course, I still get suckered every now and again by a certain parent who shall remain Dad, so I haven't lost all the naiveté just yet.


The quote: "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." —Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), in Forbes magazine


The quote: "The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it." —Luis I. Kahn


The quote: "Last night somebody broke into my apartment and replaced everything with exact duplicates...." —Steven Wright

I hate it when that happens.


The quote: "I dwell in possibility..." —Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)


The quote: "Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water." —W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

I wonder if the hairs on the back of his neck tickled as I sketched my fellow commuter...nah.


The quote: "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." —Moshe Dayan (1915-1981)

The church steeple is loosely based on one you'd find in my new hometown. Easily visible from the train platform, I drew this in October. I've been a little behind in my doodles, so I did several all in one day.


The quote: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." —Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

I can't believe you didn't know that...duh! :-D

Thanks for stopping by!

Datebook Dump

And it still won't get us up-to-date.



The quote: "If you take the letters of the word 'coat' and rearrange them, and replace the 'c' with a 'g,' you get the word 'ogat.' If you rearrange that you get the word 'goat.' Amazing!" —Kevin Cornell (www.bearskinrug.co.uk)



The quote: "While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned." —Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)



The quote: "The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before." —Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

I didn't do any of the things listed on the 19th. The concert turned into dinner because the weather was bad.



The quote: "Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art." —From Artist Descending a Staircase by Tom Stoppard



The quote: "Hold on cause the world will turn if you're ready or not." —K.T. Tunstall

There was far more going on than these pages would indicate. Really, there was.



The quote: "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." —G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

I did make it to the Port Clinton Art Festival. I didn't do any drawing for the Sketchcrawl, but I gave myself credit for doing something "artsy."



The quote: "I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound—if I can remember any of the damn things." —Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)



Sorry, no time for quotes!



Still no time...



Finally found time for a bike ride and a BBQ! But not enough time to farm a quote.



The quote: "You're only given a little spark of madness. you mustn't lose it." —Robin Williams

No problemo, I think I have more than one little spark. ;-D



The quotes: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society." —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for—in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." —Ellen Goodman



The quote: "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

I believe I was feeling some relief and optimism at this point.



The quotes: "Let not the sands of time get in your lunch." —National Lampoon

"The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it." —Plutarch (46-120 AD)



The poem: "To see a world in a Grain of Sand,/ And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,/ Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,/ And eternity in an hour." —William Blake (1757-1827)

There will be more datebook posts...have no fear. Isn't this enough for one post?!?

And We All Go Marching Along

No quotes, just the stage winners of the Tour de France, a little pencil sketch of a sweater chest. and one of those awesome maps from Smithsonian magazine.


The quote: "Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'" —Charles M. Schulz via Charlie Brown

Having had a few sleepless nights lately, I can empathize.


The quotes: "Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat." —Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)

He carefully avoids mentioning that sometimes no matter how much swinging and flailing you do, you might not stay afloat. That was probably a little too glass-half-empty for him, and far less funny.

The other quote: "Let us go singing as far as we go, the road will be less tedius." —Virgil (70-19 BC)

I suppose that depends on the quality of the singer's voice. Perhaps whistling is the better option? Just a thought.

Trees in sketch inspired by them thar funny ones they got linin' the sidea the road in France.


No quotes on this spread, just some rides. Every now and then I hop on my mountain bike and have a rejuvenating bike ride. You might remember the variety from your childhood. You're tooling along the bike path and a ferret crosses the path (which one really did on Saturday), so you hop off your bike and watch it run away, stop, look at you while you look at it. Then you get back on your bike and have a go-slow test—you see how slow you can ride before you fall over. Then you take a trail you've never taken. Then you stop to eat a granola bar as you sit by a lake and sketch—the sun beating down and the wind blowing the pages of your sketchbook. Then you get back on you bike, stop to fill up the water bottle and squirt some over your head. You stop along the way whenever a butterfly catches your attention, or at the top of a bridge over the river, or in a particularly appealing bit of shade.

It's a far different experience than taking a road bike out, watching the miles tick by as you regulate your effort and deal with drivers. It's been my experience that butterflies are far less confrontational than drivers. Ferrets aren't confrontational either...in case you were wondering.



If you were sitting where I was in Independence Grove, you'd notice that I'd forced the perspective a bit in order to get the bridge into the picture on the far left side. But you weren't sitting there, so I guess I need not have told you. Ah well, a secret given away is one that doesn't need to be kept.

Thanks for reading.

Patriotism and Other Ponderous Concepts

The quote: "We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez: small, sweet and coming out of a funny plastic head." —Dennis Miller

A sad commentary on the state of the American public's attention span. In our collective defense, however, I must put forward the observation that it is onerous to keep one's attention focussed on the disconnected mental wanderings of certain individuals when those wanderings dribble out of their mouths in odd catch phrases and platitudes. Give me a politician who can step to the podium and convey an intelligent message with captivating prose and I'll listen for hours.

Of course, every politician who steps to the podium promising the hope of intelligent thought conveyed via elegant prose, and who then disappoints should be subject to an atomic wedgie. An effective deterent for pre-election running off at the mouth.


The quote: "Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone an apothegm, at which many will start: 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.' But let it be considered that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretend patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest." —Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson

Let everything be considered in its context. What kind of patriotism are we practicing when we attempt to bring democracy to another country? Perhaps in other leaders' hands it might be successful, but can Bush and Cheney actually be motivated by generosity? Clue: Not in a million years. The best hope in the quagmire that is Iraq is the military leadership doing the real work despite the posing going on here at home.

To the public demanding the military be pulled out because the whole exercise seems to be a failure: Reconsider your opinion of a failure, people. Just because your opinions are as changeable as your clothing, doesn't mean the convictions of a confused and frightened populace living in an entirely different culture are as changeable. This is their country, government and economy we are talking about. It is a bit difficult to convince good men and women to run for office in our own relatively peaceful country because of the stresses and scrutiny they will endure. How difficult is it to convince good people in Iraq to step to the fore when assassination is pretty much a guarantee, not to mention they'll be taking the reins of a country in civil war, with border nations threatening them (i.e. Turkey for the moment), and a foreign power currently in residence? That is a hard sell. Without that leadership in place and an impetus on the part of the populace to respect it, don't expect success any time soon.

Nations aren't built along a timeline, and they certainly aren't built along a timeline laid down by a foreign government. It was a bit naive to think it could be. I can understand why we want deadlines, but did we actually think these deadlines would be met? Commentary is beginning that we are looking at a prolonged effort like Korea. Korea is a rather neat package by comparison because there is a physical border involved. I'm exasperated at the lack of forethought that anyone has/is put/putting into the situation.

I believe I should step off my soapbox now. Thanks for letting me put my $.02 out there.


The quote: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." —John Adams (1735-1826)

In a utopian society, his scheme might have worked. However, John Adams never had to face the reality of a "crumbling infrastructure". Today our sons and daughters must study all of the above, plus they must have a working knowledge of electronics, programming, and at least two foreign languages (not including texting shorthand).

Thanks for stopping by!

"Last Published June 6th"...

WOW, that was a long time ago. Sorry for the wait. I know you're anxious for new stuff (har dee har har). This is one you'll want to read from the top down, since that's the way I wrote it and that's the direction my train of thought travelled.


The quote: "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." —Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

It's the 40th anniversary of the summer of love. This background seems rather fitting for it since it finds it's origins in that time. The background also reminds me of my Aunt Peg and Aunt Patty's room in the house in Potomac. It was all bright yellows, greens and oranges too and it always smelled of their perfumes. I was ever in awe of my aunts when I was growing up, and staying with them on our all-too-brief visits to the east coast were such a treat.

I usually bunked in with my Aunt Janet in those days. She was (and still is) the coolest person I know, and she had the infinite patience to deal with a hero-worshipping neice trailing a foot behind her everywhere she went. She imparted to me a treasure from the flower-power era—my very own copy of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." She handed it to me in a moment of deep solemnity, and entreated me to keep it safe and close for a long time, and one day I would fully appreciate it. I still have it, and I do appreciate it.

It's hard to imagine sometimes that the original intent of the summer of love (you know, that one concerning peace coming from peace?) still exists in this world. I think it does, but it's light is so very dim.


The quote: "What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" —H.D. Thoreau (1817-1862)

There seems to be a theme. There seems to be a theme that has echoed throughout the ages. There seems to be a theme that won't hold mankind down despite the bitterness of its existence.

And by-the-by, I'm happy to bring you the true origin of waves. Next I'm going to work on the true origin of man...it'll be amazing, I promise.


The quote: "Develop an interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music—the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." —Henry Miller (1891-1980)

Wouldn't you just love to lock Miller in a room with Thoreau, and see who came out on top?!?


The quote: "The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said." —Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

So, I've communicated, but what haven't I said?

Thanks for reading and interpreting!

Datebook 5-15 thru 22

Time flows backward on the blog when I have several dates to cover, and it seems strange to me. Seems strange when I reverse the order too, so what's a girl to do?

Anyway, Monday I came home after a wonderful weekend in Door County, Wisconsin. The folks have a cottage up there, so all I had to do was bring the bike and whatever other fun things I wanted. This included a couple of movies and sketchbooks.

The quote: "It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm." —Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

This quote, if you know my Dad, suits him very well—both in the way he was raised and in the way he raised me. It's not a warm and fuzzy concept, but it certainly builds character, self-reliance and, by extension, self-confidence.

This morning the quote has a bit more poignancy because I watched the movie Pursuit of Happyness last night. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, you should.



I drove up to the cottage Friday night, and Dad and Connie didn't come up until Sunday. I'd planned out a great Saturday of sketching and cycling all over the peninsula to complete some sketches for Sketchcrawl 14. Unfortunately, I awoke Saturday morning to a driving downpour.

The Sandpiper in Baily's Harbor opened for breakfast at 7 am, and I was there with morning newspaper in hand when they did. Ate way too much for breakfast and sucked down an entire pot of coffee while alternately reading the paper; working the crossword puzzle; and staring out the window at the birds in the feeders, the rain pouring from the sky and the many shades of gray of the lake and sky.

I couldn't loiter forever, so I headed in to Sister Bay to pick up a few groceries, and then returned to the cottage. I'd recently purchased the miniseries The Impressionists, so I fired up my notebook computer and popped in the disk—what a great series!

Around noon, the clouds began to part and the sun actually made an appearance. I flew out the door and grabbed the bike from the car hoping to finally get in some miles. I took a small sketchbook along too, just in case I was inspired to stop along the way. As it happens, I was inspired to stop along the way, but I didn't because I could see a new crop of clouds coming in from the west, and it felt so good to be riding those quiet roads past the blooming cherry trees that I just didn't stop.

I was only out for about an hour, and the clouds had closed back in bringing with them some cooler temperatures in just the last half hour of that ride.

Inspired by the part of the miniseries I'd seen so far, and floating on a small endorphin high, I sat on the floor by the sliding glass doors and started to paint. My sketchbook holds up fairly well to watercolors. I dove right in with the paints without doing a preliminary sketch. I spent the rest of the afternoon at it as the showers came and went and the temperature continued it's downward slide. I'll post the results in a separate post.

Around 4 or so, I decided it was going to be cold enough for a fire, and went outside to bring in some firewood. I got the fire started, poured myself a glass of wine, cooked up a small Thai chicken pizza (yum) for dinner and ate it in an easy chair with my feet propped up on the hearth. Life is occasionally well beyond good and into the realm of ideal, for which I am deeply grateful.

Coming down the stairs Sunday morning, I happened to catch some movement out of the corner of my eye. Outside in the yard was a wild turkey, preening! Cool! I watched it for a while, and it didn't seem to be going anywhere so I walked toward the back of the cottage to the kitchen to get some breakfast. When I looked out the kitchen window I saw the male. It was very obviosuly the male because he was in full display mode. He was farther away from the cottage than the female, but he strutted here and there while she seemed to ignore him completely.

Dad and Connie drove up Sunday, but they got a later start than anticipated. I headed out the door to do some shopping, stopping at Wilson's Ice Cream Parlor in Ephraim for lunch. In all the many years I've gone up to Door County, I've seen the place and wanted to go in but it's been so busy. Nothing like a little cold and rain to keep people inside, added to which I got there around 11:30 in the morning—a little early for the lunch crowd. The service was very fast, so I really didn't have much time to scribble out my little sketch.


H.D. Thoreau's May 17, 1858 journal entry:
"The rain is good for thought. It is especially agreeable to me as I enter the wood and hear the soothing dripping on the leaves. It domiciliates me in nature. The woods are the more like a house for the rain; the few slight noises more hollow in them; the birds hop nearer; the very trees seem still and pensive. The clouds are but a higher roof. The clouds and rain confine me to near objects, the surface of the earth and the trees."

Little did I know when I read this entry and it struck such a chord in me, that I would be experiencing it firsthand just a couple of days later. I love the phrase, "It domiciliates me in nature." It evokes such a great feeling of belonging to a moment or a place no matter where you are. It's a familiar feeling, and very comforting.


The quote: Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see." —John Lennon (1940-80), Strawberry Fields

The pencil sketch was done from the front seat of my car in the train parking lot. I pulled into the space and looked up to see a tree sprouting lamps. I had to chuckle, and then I had to draw. I think I might have continued to chuckle while I drew because the lamps are terribly crooked. I like that, though, because if they did grow out of the tree they certainly wouldn't have been perfectly straight.

Thanks for reading!