Odds & ends...

There's just a mish mash of stuff bouncing around in my head, so I thought I'd toss a bunch of it out here. First, this Monday and Tuesday I had the pleasure of taking part in a reading of a new musical. Vrooom! – by Berton Averre, Rob Meurer, and Mark Saltzman – is a high-energy, irreverent, fun take on the world of auto racing. It seemed to go over rather well, and I wish them all the best in taking it to the next level.

I've also been trying to get my brain to focus on one of many illustration projects I have on the back burner. It's wild to have so many half-hatched ideas on the brain and yet to have so much trouble getting my hand to make that first stroke. I think this is a universal problem though and I look forward to getting over the hump. Soon. I'm thinking today.

It still feels like summer, but autumn is on its way. One clue is an announcement I received from Riley's Farms (east of LA) that their apples are ready for picking. Among the early pickins are their Gravensteins. Growing up in Lebanon, we had a big Gravenstein tree that hung into our yard from the neighbors'. I have good memories of eating apples off that tree as late summer arrived. I think I'll go out to Riley's tomorrow and see if their apples are anything like what I remember.

I've been trying to live a bit healthier lately and among the ways I'm doing so is to walk Fryman Canyon, a hiking path in the hills nearby. I really like these hikes – getting to feel like I'm getting out in the middle of nature even though I'm still smack in the middle of big ol' LA. Today, I saw two deer grazing in the grass. That was a bit of a shock. Normally, I just see squirrels and lizards and snakes. The photo above is of a tree on the trail I've nicknamed "Pan's Tree" since it reminds me a bit of the look of recent film Pan's Labyrinth. This great little tree is growing out of the top of a cool looking stone upheaval in the cliff. As we move into autumn, the leaves will go away and it will look nice and spooky by Hallowe'en. I also like it since it is near the top of the incline and signals the downhill section of the hike.

Well, that's about it for now. Back to the drawing board. Take care, all! Peace and love.