tree #11

It's going down to 2 degrees tonight.

I've put out millet and pumpkins

 for the birds and squirrels.

No small wonder we have a squirrel 

the size of a large meatloaf;

I call him "The Gubbner", 

in honor of the big man in New Jersey.

Stay warm, everyone.

Happy New Year!

tree #11

tree #10

Two nights ago, 

the air was crystalline,

and the full moon silvered the snow-covered trees.

Nice planet.

I think we ought to keep it.

tree #10 

tree #9

Aaahhhhh...

I have found the magic elixir!
Guaranteed to boost me through these dark days.

There's a place downtown

 that sells 2 oz. shots of straight

cacao.

WOW!

Pure, unsweetened, unadulterated, unprocessed,

and never heated over warm.
The deepest taste of chocolate.
Xocoatl.

tree #9

tree #8

Ice covers our little river out there.

When I asked the rancher next door

why he calls it Hell's Crik, he said he only does when

it freezes over.

Usually, he's funnier than that.

tree #8

tree #7

What could be colder and darker than here?

Maine.

In Maine, they're having a blizzard.

They sent home the help at the assisted-living place

and are passing out picnic boxes to the inmates. 

My mother's comment:

"Yup, we call it winter."

At 92, she's got those New England understatements

 down cold. 

tree #7

tree #6

It snowed on Christmas (yay!) and got bitterly cold.

Neither fact is a reasonable excuse 

for today's tree being so late in the day,

but I'm using both.

Today didn't top 20 degrees,

the sun was brilliant,

 and the sky was as blue as could be.

tree #6

tree #5

To everyone who reads this blog,
thanks for checking in now and then.
As for those of you who actually leave comments,
you are sublime.

To all of you,
be merry.

tree #5

tree #4

When I was a little kid, 

I'd lie underneath the tree on Christmas Eve

and look up through the branches at the lights.

It was a magical kaleidoscope. 

tree #4

tree #3

tree #3

It's quite yellow.

Hmmm...
Apparently, the dogs got to it.

You knew it was going to happen.

tree #2

The warm-up.

tree #2

solstice trees

I think about trees a lot.

The lungs of the planet.

The Druid in me likes to think of today as their day.

tree #1

I've painted a series of Christmas trees

 with my iPhone Pollock app.

I'll add them to the following posts.

freud at forty

I sketched this portrait of Lucien Freud at forty

from a photo in VF.

What a guy.

who?

Have you seen this guy?

Do you know who he is?

Me neither.

Never saw him before in my life.

Not until he appeared at the end of my pencil.

He looks real enough

to actually be out there somewhere.

So, I'm curious;

who is he?