It’s great to get these little messages now and then to keep you going. Thanks Little Tokyo, our neighborhood Japanese restaurant, I needed this!

All week I’ve been trying to get ready for PechuKucha #6 at the Creamery Arts Center. I’d kind of planned on presenting my 20×20 images of artists’ portraits done in iPhonegraphy, but had to widen it to just iPhone portraits in general.

Finding my stuff sprinkled over the internet, between computer and phone has been a challenge, and continuity is another. Also I’ve had to be careful about my work habits so as not to aggregate my iPhone elbow, lol.

Probably no one will complain about my expanded theme when I show the iPhone of Mochi and her baby groundhog admirer….

Along with me, the PechuKucha #6 presenters will be:

• Andrew Cline, bike enthusiast and MSU professor
• Lane McConnell, Farmers Market of the Ozarks
• Meganne Rosen O’Neal, artist and LemonDrop organizer
• Keith Ekstam, artist and MSU professor
• Kevin Zimmerman, Elementary art teacher
• Kim Flores, librarian
• Avery Snelson, Philosophy student

Since this event is at the Creamery, you’ll have the added bonus of seeing Brad Noble’s fantastic and surreal show of gianormas figurative paintings which will be on exhibit until the end of May!

Don’t miss it tomorrow night – Saturday, May 12 from 7-10 pm, drop in any time. Presentations are only about 6 minutes long each, so no matter which one you catch, you’ll learn something new about creative people in Springfield!

I had a lot of fun doing this drawing – Yoga 101: The Mistletoe Pose, with the crazy tree, the lunar eclipse, and Russ meditating on a peace rug between two extension cords. I think it’s more fun to draw trees than to decorate them in real life:)

Merry Christmas to everyone, or whatever special day you celebrate. I hope you get to share time with your family, friends, and furry family members!

A short video of Mochi playing with a basketball in the snow outside the studio tonight. I don’t know who is more exhausted after running around in the snow — me or Mochi. We both drank a lot of water after getting back inside:)

In case you can’t tell, she’s trying to pop the basketball. She can with other softer balls by biting them, but not a basketball. I have to wear hard shoes when I kick it though, because it hurts my foot otherwise.

Yesterday was a beautiful snowy day, our first real one this year. Everything was covered in white, and the dog loved hopping through the snow like a funny snow bunny.

Where did January go? I guess I slept through most of it. Someday soon I hope that my head will shrink back to normal, and I can quit taking bottles of mucinex. In the meantime, time to get up. There’s a lot that has to be done before the end of the month, and actually there are a few days precious left. Wake up sleepyhead!

grass — springy, boingy green grass
fuzzy balls flying through the air
worms and bugs, but especially worms
crazy birds and baby squirrels
good smelling wind in the trees
warm sun on the patio
late evenings in the yard with light in the sky
late night walks in the dark
my new pink polka-dot collar
but especially flying fuzzy balls
when they don’t hit the cars in the next door parking lot

It’s been busy lately at the studio, trying to get our renovating done for a big May 1 deadline. Yesterday Mochi dropped her bone to vote for the new studio floor. Looks like she votes for the darker color.

Wait a minute! In another room, she changes her vote. How come dogs get more than one vote in the great flooring debate? ….hmm, muddy paws, shedding hair, and scratchy toenails. Oh yeah, real life is not a democracy.

Russ is exploring alternatives to gasoline-powered transportation. Fortunately, we’re not using this to get to the Quilt National opening this weekend.

This trick goes very fast as Russ spins around, so I had to use the rapid-fire-shutter setting on the camera to capture the action. Since Russ is a former gymnast, he understands the mechanics of tricks like this, and has been able to teach Mochi. At first she was able to do a 360, now she’s able to do a full 720.

Dog training in progress… Mochi getting the newpaper. Now the trick it to keep her from chewing it up once she gets back to the house.

A side trip through the grass is a bit of a struggle because the paper is actually bigger than Mochi.

Evidence was found in the house early this morning that there was a teddy bear abuser on the loose.

But who could be to blame? Not this innocent little puppy who spends much of the day sleeping?

Who takes long naps in her food bowl?

Oh, now that she’s awake, we still think she looks sweet and innocent. But I still think teddy bears should beware.

We’ve been thinking for two days what is a good name for the puppy, but haven’t hit on a good one… Any suggestions?