IF-"Undone"

What makes me "Undone"?

On a clear winter night- looking up and being reminded that

there is a God and He created this wonderful world and

brought His son, as a baby to save it!

Merry Christmas!!

"Riding Yellow Jacket" honored!

Check out the online gallery of Creative Quarterly, where you will find "Riding Yellow Jacket" which was a runner up in the CQ17 competition!

Christmas in the West

Inspired by Karen Davis' description of her Christmas near Bath , UK- on her blog Moonlight and Hares and Tommie Depaola  Christmas preparations on the East Coast featured on his official blog, I wanted to show you a little of what Christmas look like in the Four Corners.

Snow cornices form on our propanel roof after snow storms and take their own sweet time to fall- so sometime soon there will sound like there a bomb hitting the ground, when the blocks of snow finally decide to slid down, watch out dogs and small children- who were trained to never be under them!

Went to the BRB last night

Was at the The Dolores River Brewery last night with friends- nice place to be on a wintery snowy night. We have had so much snow, the crews are making piles of it on the side streets and through the winter it can be an adventure to get into the brew pub.
But once in, it is a warm cheery place- I think in England, they call their pubs- their regular hangouts- their "local" and the DRB is definitely ours. Great pizza, salads, soups in the winter and of course micro beers- though I don't drink 'em- kind of a teatotaller- but Jon likes them- especially their speciality beers- think the one right now is called "Mammoth something" and they only will sell it in the small glasses- because it's proof-  can't see through it- it looks like slug to me.

Yak or Highland Cow?

A family bet is riding on this and I won't say which way I am commiting to- but can you comment on this blog and vote what you think these animals are- Yaks or Highland Cows?

They were spotted when we were going "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go" for Thanksgiving- the _______ were in a ranchers field near Mancos Colorado and the yellow circle on some of their behinds are sale barn stickers.

It should NOT influence you that near Alamosa Colorado there were the same looking animals and a spray painted sign selling YAK meat-  or that the one of the people on the other side of the bet, miss identified goslings for baby ducks at the feed store- thinking them to be "really healthy duck" awhile back and wouldn't believe anyone the long beaked fowl until they started to honk instead of quack!

Please note that there has been NO Photoshop or "Trickiery" going on in  Professional Photo Editing these are "virgin" images.

Luminarias @ Mesa Verde

Each Year, one night in December, the Mesa Verde Park Service light the paths around the Spruce Tree House Museum and Ruin with luminarias ( little candles pushed down in sand in paper bags) and invites the public to come up ( about a seventeen mile drive up to the Mesa and this year it was snowy) and walk down to the cliff dwellings and listen to local choirs and singing groups.

the path was cold and icy this year...

winding down on switch backs to get to the bottom of the canyon, but then you see the ruin, peeking through the trees...

The Rangers use lanterns hidden in the rooms to illuminate the ruins, it is very pretty but  you can't help but feel the "ghosts" that lived there before and wonder if they want to be disturbed by us "uninvited guests"

 or if they like the Christmas Carols, and did  they listen to their children sing, in the long winter nights?

 Thank you Mesa Verde Park Rangers for lighting our way and for the warm and yummy chili and cookies in the Snack Bar, when we had made it back up to the rim of the canyon!

Merry Christmas!!

"The Zen of Messy" Challenge

Inspired by the photos on the bog of  Richard Jesse Watson ( a wonderful author/illustrator and a very nice man) studio- in what he thinks is a messy state- I am posting the "after the storm" picture of my studio- i.e.- I just finished a big project and have not cleaned up- as much as any artist cleans up- but I do like to ceremonially straighten things up before starting my next project.

note the little scrappy on the floor, the stacks of fabric and the lack of usable space on the tables- yup- it is the end of a project! I am not even going to turn around and show you the other side- that would show cardboard boxes waiting for me to organize my family photos- yikes!!

May I Send You a Calendar- Countdown

Wow~ this is a good way to find out who reads my blog!! The  virtual dangling carrot! Eight  NPR Calendars left. I asked my daughter if I should autograph the "June" page and she told me "That would be presumptuous" Guess she thinks her mom shouldn't impersonate a "Real Artist"- ahhhhh, how children keep you real! ( if you don't know what this is about see - "With Thanks"

With Thanks- Can I send you a NPR calendar?

For those who are faithful readers of "Moonflower Musing" or for anyone who comes across it this week and would like...I am "Miss June" or should I say my illustration-"Waiting for Coffee" is and I have about ten calendars I would like to send to the readers of Moonflower Musing. Just email me- in my profile- your name and the address you would like me to send it- and thanks for stopping by!!

I Felt Like A Real Freelancer Yesterday!

Yesterday morning, via a website I was researching for my YA novel, I got brave enough to email a nonfiction author and expert of Mesa Verde, with a real quick question- and now have corresponded with him several times and will be meeting with him personally. Gosh- they are real people too!

Did some more research, did some writing, worked on the lettering of a small illustration the deadline is coming soon and corresponded with the art director and ponder the roughs of my next project featuring a Navajo grandma and granddaughter- who I saw the inspiration for in the "Pet Aisle" of Safeway. The little girl was about ten, long black hair in pigtails and the grandma was traditional with a long broomskirt, Keds and a whole lot of turquoise jewelery. I thought about sneaking a picture with my phone but wasn't brave enough, so just watched them for a moment and tried to memorize what they looked like.

I love my job!!!

Notes from Page Sixty Eight

WORD COUNT: 17,424  PAGE: 68

Grand Gulch is part of the Colorado Plateau smunched and cut off from the rest of the world by Lake Powell and sort of the Grand Canyon in Arizona- though I am too lazy, sipping my tea on my bed at the moment to go get a map and verify I am right- basically it is a huge labyrinth of deep canyons cut by small streams as they find their way to the Colorado River, now under Lake Powell in the middle of nowhere, I am talking the eppa center of nowhere- just where my husband loves to go!

We camped and hiked there a few years ago, and above the contentious nervous feeling I had that I would never see another living soul again- I have to confess it was interesting. If he reads this he will think I want to go back!!

On our hike we went down into a meandering canyon cut by the creek and had to navigate the smaller side canyons, more keeping track of which direction we had come from- the thought I always have is- if Jon get hit on the head- will I know which way the truck is?

The climate is totally different down in these deep canyons, an oasis to the harsh desolate terrain above. You will come across streams that run all winter long and where there is water there is life.

Richard Wetherill, one of the brothers I mentioned in my Notes from Page One post, who helped Gustaf Nordenskiold excavate the ruins of Mesa Verde, went on to be a renowned if uneducated archaeologist in his own right and lead a large expedition into Grand Gulch, backed by the trust funds of Fred and Talbot Hyde, wealthy and bored young Easterners who had met Richard in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition ( World's Fair) to celebrate Columbus finding America 400 years before. But I digress!

A book, Cowboys and Cave Dwellers retraces the expedition, trying to find the exact places through matching of photographs.

We came across  the remains of our own cowboy camp.....

I don't think it was from the Wetherill/ Hyde Expedition- but it could of been. Wow to walk into something that should be behind glass in a museum, or at least have a scarlett velvet rope, around it to protect it, is something else.

But there it was, completely unprotected from anyone who wanted to take or damage what they found. But what I have discovered, the deeper and more isolated a sight like this is, or for that matter a native site, like the cliff dwellings, the more protected they are.

People who have to, want to, drive for hours, hike for hours to see such things, usually, and I emphasize "usually" respect them. The easy to get to sights are the ones that have been stripped of everything they had to offer.

Sights like this cowboy camp bring up an interesting debate, is this now a archaeological site  to be preserved  or just a trash heap that should be cleaned up?

From a different time and place, these cowboys from the 1800's and early 1900's regularly left their marks on the walls right next to the marks left by the ancient people, where is the distinction between preserving those markings and considering them graffiti?

I don't know the answer. I know that coming to a place like this cowboy camp is thrilling to me, I can stand in the middle of it and feel the "ghosts" of who was there, crouched by the fire to take their coffee off, consisting of a handful of beans swimming in a tin can, that probably contained peaches at one time. To see how they made what they needed, from the poles of dried up trees and hung things out of necessity so the varmints wouldn't get it in the night. To look at the ground where they made their beds, certain they would of preferred the cool night air, to the musty shelter if the weather allowed.

The needs of the ancient people that were here first, or the cowboys that came after them, or even me, as a hiker, are no different, we all need protection from the elements, water, a fire source and food. So it should be of no surprise we all find shelter under the same rock alcove, in a lush canyon away from the elements, near a reliable stream.

People really haven't changed that much, when you think about it.

I am fighting for room-"literally"

Here I sit this morning, still in my sweats, the husband and kids are gone, the house is quiet and I try and stretch out on the bed- I can't. Dunton, my white lab has taken over my side of the bed. Molly, our little Rez dog, ( adopted from the dumpsters of Chinle on the Navajo Reservation) is curled up on the otherside of the bed and our big Newfoundland/lab is snoring on the floor.
Jon calls me the "dog lady"- which is a loving insult- because when we lived in Durango, across the street, there was a infamous "cat lady", who lived in a big Victorian, filled to the brim with trash, old newspapers, boxes and such, I think you could get to one room literally through narrow tunnels through the rubbish.
Her car, an old Scout was the same, filled to the brim with old newspapers and salad bar containers she would use to feed the cats nightly in designated spots in the back alleys of Durango and spend her social security on cat food.
Jon would always help her with her taxes and such and we would take goodies to her on occasion, but always the conversations were outside on the side walk, I think I made it in about two feet in her house and my eyes and lungs couldn't take it anymore.
She got a wound on her leg and had to be commited to the hospital for a while, the Sheriff taking the  opportunity to clear out some of the cats- can still see the deputies getting their  Haz-Mat gear to go inside.
So you see why Jon saying "Dog Lady" has some meaning to it. Well here I sit and I am trying to keep Dunton from using the laptop as a pillow.
I find myself "fighting for room in the big sense of the word- what spot do I want in the universe, what spot does God want me to have and then thinking does He even care or need me to have a spot at all, a spec on His eternal time line.
For the first time in my life, I feel like I don't have a "label" ( daughter, college student, wife, mother) My girls are becoming independent, my husband giving me room and time to do my own thing, my friends, their kids growing up too, are pursuing their own interest- all leaves me this Fall with the quesiton, I could be anything I want, what do I want to be, where do I want to make room for myself.
And than I think "life is not as profound and calcuated as I am making it, just get on the road and walk- stop worrying where you will end up."
I think I am motivated in the fear of what will I be looking back on when I'm 80- or...... will I be just known as the "dog lady" and the sheriff will be coming to clear out my house with Haz Mat suits!
( that last bit truly was just for emphasis- you would be very comfortable having dinner over here and not fear for your life, I promise! maybe have a few dog hairs on you but thats all- at this point, look me up in ten years, forty? )

Notes-Page One

I was just sitting on top of the sheets, sipping my tea, not working, waiting for everyone to head off to school and work before I got to work and was reading a post on Editorial Ass ( an Editors Assistant's anonymous blog) about word count and found an interesting comment from Heather Lane, that made me curious about her blog- Edited to Within an Inch of My Life- where she had a great idea that I am going to steal, borrow, give her total credit for but also do! Blog the journey of the  novel I am writing in my spare time, when my real job of freelance illustrating allows ( I actually have gotten pretty good on making the time). This is kind of an "A-Ha" moment for me, I have been documenting my journey in illustrating for years here on Moonflower Musing, and loving the interaction of others, the encouragement of others ( thank you for that- you can't know how many times, knowing one stranger out in cyberspace, saw value in what I am doing, kept me going- ), but some how my writing, maybe because I have an art degree and see myself as not having the credentials to write, did my writing in the dark of the night to speak- who knows. But what hit me this morning, reading Heather's blog, is the journey is really interesting- the research- which there is no way I can use it all, hated that- but  daaaaaaa, I have a blog and can throw it up here, for anyone who wants to know and here is a place I can record the journey, the frustrations and the "A'ha" moments.

So here goes!!

Disclaimer: Some of you reading this are going to go- "What happened to the novel  set in Utah during World War 2!" well.........It got too big and too scary and I started to think I didn't have enough skill YET to write it the way it needed to be- so I'm backing off on it and doing an easier story first ( I will write Moonflower I promise, when I figure out how to do it)

I wrote Come Back to My Valley as a screenplay- which I decided I wanted to write as a novel first so that my take on the story could be saved for posterity whether I sold it as a screenplay or not.

Then I was doing a writing workshop and the teacher encouraged me to pick of the Utah story and put a side the screenplay story- ahhhhh how we are influenced- good or bad from others!

Wise or not- I am going back to my first story- already set in a 120 page 3rd draft screenplay- and turning it into a novel first.

Enough Already- what is the picture about!

Answer: Mesa Verde, set in Southwest Colorado, where the first serious archaeological excavations were ever, Ever conducted in the United State- I am sure some would argue!- by Gustaf Nordenskoild and the Wetherill brothers, a bunch of cowpokes from the valleys below the mesa.

The events of the summer of 1891- spurred on the movement to use the newly developing National Park system for the first time protect Human artifacts, not just natural wonders, in 1906,  but that way to late to protect much of the artifacts up in the mesa where many upstanding people would go to church and then go do an afternoon of pot hunting- or grave robbing.

( side note- if you have not seen Ken Burns' documentary on the National Parks which just aired on PBS, I highly recommend it)

Nordenskoild was the first to document and use scientific method to study the ruins, people did start paying attention to him when he tried to take his collection to Sweden ( largely due to the fact no American Museum, including the Smithsonian was much interested in ancient people on the North American continent)  and the events were  the catalyst for the creation of the Antiquities Act- which did start to protect the ancient Native civilizations in the US.

Thus is the backdrop for my novel- Nordenskoild and the Wetherills minor secondary characters to a romance between a cowboy and am aristocratic young artist who comes to paint the beauty of the ruins, the canyons and mesa.

Tell you more later!

IF-"Skinny"

SKINNY-NOUN: Slang --Inside information; the real facts: "learned the skinny..".

I love this job- freelance illustrating because I have gotten to "learn the skinny" the facts on so many things- and captured them in an image....
- what Surfing is like in Maui, with the crescent beaches made from the lava rock as it flowed down to the sea.

Or getting the "skinny" on the Ancient Puebloeons who once lived in Mesa Verde, researching their artifacts and then trying to illustrate what their lives might of looked like.

Or getting the "skinny" on an activity I would never  do in a million years, but it is sure interesting  to see how those people live.

Guess that is why I love being an illustrator and a writer for that matter!

I just traveled through 4 states in an afternoon...and was back in time to get the kids!

Today, I literally was in four states- it helped that is was a big circle around the Four Corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizonia and Utah. I am starting a new project with an educational publisher- will be doing a really simple little book set in the Navajo Reservation- so took a drive to take pics of all the places I had been a dozen times but never really paid attention to the detail-

so drove from Colorado into New Mexico- it was snowy and a low fog made the red rocks and sky look amazing!

Once through Shiprock and meandering down along the river bottom where the cottonwoods were all an amazing yellow, I headed towards Teec Nos Pos,

a trading post that is in Arizonia and has the most amazing wall of yarn, manufactured yarns to be used in rugs and hand carved Navajo folk art made of cottonwood and in the funniest characters like chickens and horses and other animals. From there I went towards the Four Corners and past there back into Colorado for just a bit before actually getting into Utah- where the San Juan river bottom was also full of brightly yelowing cottonwoods -

Back into Colorado and up Mc Elmo Canyon- -past the Ismay Trading Post where you can still get a pop...

And up the gorgeous McElmo Canyon......

And back to Cortez ans back up to Dolores- whole trip left at 11:00 a

and was at the school at 3:30 to pick up the girls. Not bad for four states!

IF-"Fast"

 

"She danced faster and faster, the red shoes not letting her stop." I love Hans Christian Andersen, though the stories are very dark. My family on my mother's side comes from Denmark and researching the churches and graveyards was really interesting.

Haven't done another fairytale illustration- I should- they are very fun.

Though Christmas feels like it is "fast" approaching- have a bunch of deadlines all in November- then can enjoy the holidays.

IF- "Frozen"

I don't even want to think about "Frozen". Right now the leaves are golden, the air is warm and the sun is glorious- but there is a huge pile of firewood in the backyard and the snow is coming!! Hopefully not to the extent where the Polar Bears wander.

From " Keeping Hearth and Home, in Old Colorado" a little book I found in Durango yesterday- featuring little tips for the "proper" lady of the 1800's-

""... the sleeping room should be so cold that ice forms in the pitcher during the night, the morning bath will be taken without a shudder and the healthy glow that follows will be more than a reward for the resolution, time and effort it cost" brrrrrrrrr!!!

IF- "Fly"

My girls always begged their father to make them "fly". Of course it was their great grandma's job, my grandma Bernice to give a lecture to all her grandson-in-laws that if they swirled their kids up in the air they were probably going to dislocate a shoulder. As the mom, I made sure my husband never let go of the kiddos, was never into the throwing our kids up in the air and catching them. But they were twirlled a lot.
Another "Maternal" theory was not to let a baby too early stand up in your lap, holding onto their hands and let them bounce- they will go "bowlegged"
Another one of grandma and my great aunts theories was if you tickled a baby too much, where they just giggled and giggled you would make them stutter. Taking their advice, many time we tickled our babies, leaning over them as they giggled and kicked, cooing over them and saying " you're gonna stutter, your gonna stutter!" ( both my kiddos have fine speech)

And of course the ever popular, "It's fun until someone gets hurt!" proclamation generated with my Grandma B. - haven't used that on my girls- both have been in karate and the oldest is a brown belt- so they would probably look at me really weird- but I do think of my Grandma B when my girls are goofing around- and miss that she isn't sitting in a nearby chair, " waving her hand their way and proclaiming the "its fun til someone get hurt" speech- she'd be sipping her afternoon coffee and nibbling on her tiny piece of snicker bar, she could make a whole bar last for a whole week, ( that is all Danish blood if you are wondering- practicality, coffee, sweets). Boy do I miss her- Danish is having a lot of mothers, grandmother and aunts "helping" you as a young mother- funny I feel privileged to have had that, learned a lot from them and at the same time don't wish that on my daughters when they are mothers- maybe by the time I'm a grandma- I'll of forgotten the annoying part of it and chime in with the aunts telling the young mothers to not let their husbands throw their kids up in the air cause they'll dislocate a shoulder.

This is Where I Was Last Weekend

We Spent the weekend in Breckenridge,Colorado-Jon had a "lawyer conference" half the time so the girls and I meandered around the town ( where we haven't been back since our honeymoon trip - ahhhhh 18 years ago. When he was done we head up to Boreas Pass and hiked and enjoyed the colors.

IF- "Infinite"

A "Infinite" amount of Sunflowers

One of the many challenges trying to create "realistic" illustrations out of fabric collage is how do you illustrate something like an "infinite" gathering of say sunflowers, or autumn leaves, or people in a crowd, with out spending an "infinite" amount of time doing it, stitching takes a whole lot more time than whisking around a paint brush in a impressionistic sort of way. I guess that is the challenge I am trying to achieve- an "impressionistic" illusions of "infinite sunflowers." How did I do?
The dryland farmers along Hwy 491 going towards Dovecreek in Southwest Colorado, are now growing infinite fields of sunflowers in the red dirt, instead of beans, where spaced every ten miles or so are tiny towns, with a post office and the remains of bean elevator with names like Yellow Jacket, Cahone and Pleasant View.
The model is my friend, Wendy- who had an "infinite" amount of patience- letting me photograph her, not on the roads out near Yellow Jacket, but in her sun room, on one of those bike stands that let you pedal.

I am thrilled in that- Creative Quarterly, a art and design journal, did pick Riding Yellow Jacket as a runner up in their magazine #17 competition- it wont be in the magazine but will be on their website in December- will let you know!

For another Tidbit on "Infinite" read below

I'm sure there are an "infinite" amount of reason why the Durango E.M.T.'s were helping this guy save his bike from a parking meter, the most likely would be " hey man, I got the race tomorrow and lost my key to my titanium bike lock, can you give me a hand." And knowing Durango, Colorado and its love of all things biking- that would be a reasonable request. No Joke was walking down Main Street and had to take a double take-

Apparently there is not an "infinite" amount of bikes you can attach to one parking meter with a standard cable bike lock- five or is it six is all- and you have to stack them just right- took this through the Starbucks window-

There is a huge single speed mountain bike race happening there this weekend- from one end of main street to the other there was not a pole, post, meter that did not have a bike attached to it- don't know how busy the EMT are going to be with bike- with people they might have their handful-hopefully not- this race is insane- check out the Wikipedia right up on it -Single Speed World Championship - the winner on the spot gets not a jersey but a tattoo- whether he wants one or not- don't want one, don't win!

This year in Durango something like 2,500 people are expected to race- that is through the grapevine- Wendy's husband, Matt is racing- Good Luck!!

IF- "Welcome"

I alway feel so "welcomed", when I pull through my favorite coffee shop, The Silver Bean, housed in an airstream trailer at the edge of Cortez Colorado, complete with pink falmingos and red and white umberllas.
It was right on my way to drive the forty five minutes down McElmo canyon to teach art to Navajo and rural ranch kids at Battle Rock Charter School. Would always get a big mug of English Breakfast tea ( the title of the piece is "Stopping for Coffee", sound better and more universal than "stopping for tea",) and one of their great bean and rice burritos.
Unfortunately after six years teaching down there with no complainants, the school decided to drop the Art Program, thinking the regular teachers could just do an occasional craft project- I'll rant later of the importance of Art in schools and that it is Not just a filler class, not in the mood right now.
I think it was kind of like when a new Dynasty came into the ancient world and they needed to kill off all remnants of the old Dynasty- I guess the new parents board and new teachers want to shape their own program.
Though it would of been nice if someone had bothered to tell me- I had to call around in August to find out through the grapevine. Guess the decision was made in the spring when I was running around putting together a gallery show of the kids work at the local Art Center and putting on two end of the year musicals with homemade props and costumes.
Boy am I gonna miss those kids!!
I guess the above is more of being "UNWELCOMED"---- but! National Public Radio, did WELCOME me to submit a proposal to illustrate what NPR means to me for their 2010 Calendar, and the scene I described above, going to get coffee, well, tea at the Silver Bean, listening to NPR as I drive, or drove, down to Battlerock is in their 2010 calendar, along with a quote, bio and pic of me, which was taken by my photography inspired eleven year old who can claim NPR as one of her first photo credits!
I just wish someone had informed me of the schools intentions, which I cleared the whole NPR thing with in the spring, so the description could of been in the past tense!
To read more about it, see Cortez Journal Article

From the Movies

Headed to Moab Utah this Labor Day and headed up to Arches National Park to show the kiddos where the opening scenes of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was filmed. The Boy Scouts as they made their way along, they go past "The Three Gossips", past " The Courthouse" and stop to climb and find the "Cross of Cortez" being looted in a cave in the side of "The Windows". BTW, there is no cave in the "Windows" and if young Indie, whose real name was junior because the dogs name was Indiana, was up at Arches, that must mean that Indiana Jone's hometown would be Moab, Utah, that is pretty cool. What is not cool is "looting" is still a major problem on and near the "Colorado Plateau" second only to the valleys of Eygpt in archeology density, if that is a word.
( Durango Herald Article)People are still reeling from a multi year and agency sting operation with informants still to be revealed that ended in the arrest of twenty five people in Durango, Colorado, Monticello Utah, and Santa Fe New Mexico, the recovery of hundreds of artifacts looted from sites and sadly two suicides by two of those arrested.
Like Eygpt, This land also has its curse, or so the old Utes and Navajos say, that those who disturb the dead will go insane. I have come to think such curses have some merit, there is a diary of the doctor that came with the army when they erected Fort Lewis, between Durango Colorado and the edge of New Mexico- his wife entertained herself pot hunting, often breaking the skeleton to get at the pots below.
But then the doctor writes of losing his baby son and burying him on a hill above their homestead, to come back home and find his wife guarding the grave with a rifle, in fear of the coyotes coming and digging up her baby- he had to take his wife and the body of his son back East, she would not leave the area with out the little coffin.