The week of Christmas

It's Monday - Christmas is Sunday.  There's one week to get ready and really enough time to do it in.  If I am a wiseman with the clock.

My place is all decked out with festive decor - lights up, snowmen and Santas abound; the presence of a glowing fire in the hearth.  A plate of scented pine cones gives fragrance as I come and go.  Parties have been attended and hosted.  Lots to do over the next 6 days.  And this week has the potential of being the loneliest one of the year.

Hear, hear for the Holidays.

Christmas on L Street, it's a ball.

Yes - you get another...

In Air

and Presents Under the Tree

Angels We Have Heard On High

The Lovely Poinsettia

jolly ol saint nick

The Hylozoic Veil

Check it out.

The Hylozoic Veil 

Awesome.

I Heard the Bells

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

Ho Ho Snow

Christmas Images

It feels like December.  But not necessarily Christmas.  Not sure if it's the no snow factor, or if it's just that I haven't put up any decorations, but nonetheless - the Christmas Spirit still has yet to jump out and say boo.

So I will jump out and say boo to it.

Boo! 

Every odd day I will post a Christmas related pic I take (or have taken), the last day being Christmas itself!

Cheers to the season - let's all find the Spirit and fast.

It's interesting

I am not sure about this template - I feel like I couldn't ever write anything too serious, ponderous or melancholy here amongst this jolly theme....maybe I should try it for a month and see what happens!  It's such a happy-go-lucky looking blog, maybe it will rub off.

Could be interesting.

Dur.

I am so tired of blog templates.  I have been trying to figure out what to do about my Lorien Original blog-site - because I am not 100% satisfied with it but I am SOOOOOO not a computer-wiz.  So I moved over here to this one and started changing things.  Changing and then changing it again.

I had better stop now.  This is turning into madness and getting in the way of functioning as a healthy human being.

PPPHHHHHTttttttttttttttttt...............................

AND OH MY IT'S DECEMBER!

....it's December....

Back at it

So I started exercising again today.  I always start shortly after Thanksgiving and go until....about....oh - end of April.  During this period design work is slow so I have more time than usual to include other activities into my life - like exercising.  I'll switch off between the streets of the Avenues and the gym and go 5-6 times a week.  Running, lifting, yoga, whatever really.  Cheers to this time of year!

I am thinking I should start practicing my violin or banjo or guitar everyday as well - just 15-30 minutes to keep the fingers loose you know.  Plus, it's probably good for my brain or something.

Other than that - I'll be dedicating more time to each painting I do for TLP so that I have more paintings like that of last week.  People liked that one and so did I.  Well, I like all of them.  It took me about 8.5+ hours to produce that little 6x6" square!  So next time you think original art is overpriced, think again!  (okay, some artists really do overprice their stuff, but you find that in any field).  I am realizing that being a painter is totally not lucrative - it's going to take that one lucky day when someone wealthy decides my art is worth buying, and because they buy it, other wealthy people figure they should too.  Until then, I'll keep practicing!

If I could ride a bright lemon-yellow bicycle right now, I gladly would.

From a strangers perspective

I wonder what kind of person I seem like from those who read my blog without personally knowing me.

I guess I could ask Dawn and Davey, but I feel like they have been around long enough and have read enough to have an idea of who I am.  Hi Dawn and Davey!  I am so glad we're friends.

As I was pondering on what I stranger might think of me if they just randomly hopped onto my blog, I went back and read my posts from the past year, which certainly didn't take too long.  The year 2011 definitely hasn't been the year for posting frequently.  Keep going back stranger, you'll find some good ones.

I realize some people might think me to be a motorcycle chick who is frequently not feeling well, aside having her heart broken.  Huh, with a little ha ha.  It's funny what makes it to the blog and what doesn't make it to the blog - and how we choose to present ourselves, even without meaning to.

So what would a stranger think about moi?  I don't know - If you're a stranger here for a visit, you might let me know.

Now it's past my bedtime.  G'night!

Good Grief it's November 23rd.

I am happy that the weather is warm and dry enough to rake leaves today.  I don't like Gloria going into the winter with leaves smashed into the lawn...sitting there under the snow all winter.

One reason I like to throw social gatherings is that it keeps chez moi pretty clean.  I really like preparing for these events and I enjoy being a hostess.  I like baking things for people to enjoy as well.  I am not a social butterfly or really outgoing in the loud way...but I like people around me, I like to make them happy - and make them laugh or just laugh with them.  It's a part of life I find quite pleasant.

When I got back from Seattle this last time - I forgot about how bright the sun can be in Utah.  It was like - pow!

Enjoying the new Coldplay album.

I love this photo...he seems to be enjoying the winter and the cold.  I wonder if animals ever complain about the weather like us humans seem to do - and too much at that.  Living in Utah I am always reading weather complaints on facebook.

This what I posted on Lorienoriginal.com earlier today:

“The Japanese view of life embraced a simple aesthetic that grew stronger as inessentials were eliminated and trimmed away.”  ~  architect Tadao Ando

When people told me that spending time in Japan would change my life I didn’t discount it completely, but I pretty much gave it a shelf to sit on.
Well, they were right.  Absolutely right.
I spent about three weeks in Kyoto/Tokyo/Osaka in the spring of 2010 and had such an impacting experience that I went back for another 3 weeks in the fall of that same year.  It’s a never ending wealth of learning and experiencing in Japan, especially in Kyoto.
I was just starting out on my fall journey exactly one year ago today…my how I wish I could go back for just a few days to catch the colors and immerse myself in the garden language they speak so astoundingly there.
One thing that you learn about while studying Japanese gardens or culture is Wabi-Sabi.  I hesitate to even write a post about this for fear that I won’t do it justice.  But here’s a few excerpts of what other people have written about it:

Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional…
It is also two separate words, with related but different meanings. “Wabi” is the kind of perfect beauty that is seemingly-paradoxically caused by just the right kind of imperfection, such as an asymmetry in a ceramic bowl which reflects the handmade craftsmanship, as opposed to another bowl which is perfect, but soul-less and machine-made.
“Sabi” is the kind of beauty that can come only with age, such as the patina on a very old bronze statue.
It is the cracks in the bark of trees that lets us know it is a mature and healthy tree, harboring an ecosystem while protecting itself from many of the denizens of the ecosystem. It is the lines in a persons face that lets us know how much they have laughed, considered carefully, grimaced in their lifetime. Krishnamurti speaks of our souls each being of the same paper but that which makes us unique is the creases left in the paper from all the folding and unfolding of experience.

A few years back a gentleman that I knew from the green industry had switched careers and was now making a ridiculous amount of money selling a product to keep your skin tout and “locked-in” to a young age…never ending twenties…

He had seen me give design presentations in front of large crowds and thought I would be just the right kind of person for the job.  He saw my passion for what I do as a designer and thought I would be able to translate that into helping people stay looking young.  After careful consideration (I always do carefully consider offers) I told him I couldn’t be passionate about his product and that I loved what I was doing, even if the money was much better on his side.  “I like my wrinkles,” I told him.  He wasn’t sure how to respond.  He just didn’t get it – he didn’t get me.  (Besides, never ending twenties??  No thanks!)

Wabi-Sabi to me just isn’t an aesthetic to be talked about or read about – but it’s a way of living and being, it’s a quality of character.  And with my landscape design work I aim to embody that way of being, and infuse it into each of my designs through materials used both hard and soft, through the way I cluster aspen on a hillside, or how I arrange the water passing over a rock. 

The result of designing a landscape with Wabi-Sabi as a driving element is an authentic and soulful space to be in.  And you feel it.  I want my clients and others who pass time visiting to feel something that improves their quality of being, enhances their daily routine, and maybe even changes their lives a little.

And that what keeps me going.

Paradise

This is pretty much my favorite music video.

Someday I hope to escape and find my fellow elephants.

I love the elephants.

My trip to the Northwest

Okay folks - I have been on the road since Friday morning and I'll be out several more days.  In the past I have posted about my travels on this personal blog, but since I have lorien original  and this trip is for research/work - that's where you can find me these days.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to hear from you while I am on the road - come on over, you have a lot of catching up to do:

http://www.lorienoriginal.com/

Nuff Said

Nightfall Advances

It's hard to cut off the arm to save the body.  It would be preferable to just keep the arm really.  Was it necessary, I wish not.

End of September arrives and the sun is leaving us earlier than ever before and I am quieted by this.  Less daylight to live by, but it reminds me that time is precious and better to make it an asset than a liability. 

It's good to have big dreams.  People without dreams, well - I feel sorry for them.  But are there really people out there who don't have them?  I think everyone does - some people just maybe don't know it?  As a teacher (Jan-Apr) I ask my students about their dream jobs.  Some people light up with delightful answers and a hope.  Others seem directionless and too realistic....but what's realistic about being realistic sometimes?  These individuals may have a dream, but figure it will never happen so they don't smile big about it.  Well, all I have to say is if someone out there is doing what their dream is, why not them?

And what makes a guy, walking down the street - walk with folded arms the entire way?  There must be some psychological reason behind it.

But I do try to make the most of it....

 

...best gum ever.

Mars

Dry Ice Pits on Mars - this website really is fascinating.

Off to a Bad Start: Is it Monday or What?

Although I have to wonder, why is everyone just sitting there?  The dude's on fire.

September Lighting is the Best and Yeah for the Equinox!!!!

Gosh, I think it's time for a new post just so that the weeping angels aren't the first thing you see every time you come to my blog.  They are a great representation of how we all feel sometimes, and I was definitely feeling the weight.  But not today.

Today and yesterday and the day before and the day before that and.....have been happy days.

Yeah for happy days.  It's the middle of my work day so I won't go into all that's been going on, but it's all happy things.

But I will say that the lighting in the air during September is the best.  It's magical.  Even at 2 in the afternoon, it's magical.

Cheers for magic.

Here's some real magic:

This is from "Astronomy Picture of the Day" - it's titled:September's Aurora and has this explanation with it:

Explanation: September's equinox arrives today at 0905 UT. As the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south, spring begins in the southern hemisphere and autumn in the north. And though the seasonal connection is still puzzling, both spring and autumn bring an increase in geomagnetic storms. So as northern nights grow longer, the equinox also heralds the arrival of a good season for viewing aurora. Recorded earlier this month, these curtains of September's shimmering green light sprawl across a gorgeous night skyscape. In the foreground lies Hidden Lake Territorial Park near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Calm water reflects the aurora, with bright star trails peering through the mesmerizing sky glow. Of course, shining at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, planet Earth's auroras are visible from space.

Pretty darn awesome this website is!

About the Angel

The angel you saw in the previous post is the “Angel of Grief” and stands in the cemetery behind the historic Old Ship Church in Hingham, MA - I'm pretty sure.  I can't find the site where I pulled the pic from (probably should have credited it).

There are various "Grieving Angels" around the world - the original being in Rome, Italy and is over the tomb of Emelyn Story.  It's a 1894 sculpture by William Wetmore Story, Emelyns husband.  It's found in the Protestant Cemetery, tucked up against the Aurelianic Wall near the Piramide Metro station.   I haven't been there myself.

There's good reason why there are several replicas.  And I don't think I need to explain why. 

We all feel it. 

So much for bucking up

Buck Up

It's Monday mid-morning...but I still look like it's 7 am or something.  Look and feel like it.  Meh.

The painting is up for The Lorflor Project, my Monday post for Lorien Original is giving me grief, so I am putting it off til the end of the day,  I have bills to pay and checks to write...and I have very important work to get done today so this feeling crappy really can't be happening.  Deadlines are deadlines and when your Client is in town from their Canadian home for a very limited time...you can't take them lightly. 

So I'll just watch this a few more times then buck up.

This past week

Going backwards: today has been a very anti-productive day.  Sometimes my body and brain disintegrate and I become rather useless.  After getting back from a night on the Salt Flats...I pretty much became confined to that mode all day and I don't think I took enough Advil this evening.

But the sunrise was amazing.

Friday I had a successful meeting with some Clients - for which I had stayed up until 2:30 the night before preparing.  And with having to wake at six for the meeting....no wonder I turned comatose today.  Although I have been pretty drained this whole week.  Wednesday evening I was so exhausted from the first half of the weeks work events that I went to bed at 8:30 (yeah, yeah - I know you mothers are saying what a luxury I have at being able to go to bed at 8:30).

I am so worn and exhausted - I wonder what vitamin or mineral I am missing.  What it would be like to regularly have energy and a focused mind.  My elbows and knees hurt.  My head.  Sometimes I am just in pain.  And it's tiring.  I have been wanting to drive out to San Francisco to see some gardens - then up the coast to the Redwoods and back to Utah.  But today I was wondering how successful and viable a trip like that would be going alone...this tired business does not make me a good long distance driver, especially if I am solo.  I would probably come back addicted to caffeine.

Monday I rode my friends Ducati for a little bit and realized the Royal Enfield I have had my eyes on for awhile is not the bike I am looking for.  Up into the streets of the Avenues I went. Riding along 11th was awesomely satisfying as the views out over the valley are really great.  I was smiling big the entire time.  I felt great and the bike felt good.  And that was probably the highlight of this week.

My friend has this bike, but in red.  I would love a white one: Ducati Monster 696.

Before and After

Before and After pics of a past project.

And I'm too tired to think of anything else to say.

August

On August 1st I was wishing it was anything but that.  I needed two months of July, back to back.  I wasn't ready for the end to start.  I needed more warm nights and that feeling that summer is never ending. 

I wanted to suspend summer in a jar.  And hold it close.

But today I am smiling because I accept August for what she is, and will make the absolute most of it!  The lid has been opened and summer is fleeting...but I can run with it.

Yeah So

I am not in bed yet and am still surrounded by potentially harmful fumes.  I just have to post this.  Then I'll go.

This was the kid picture wall at my parents house.  It's in the dining room.  Full of typical senior portraits. 

While my parents were away on a four-day trip we modified it a little.

MUCH better.

Much.

Here's the thing

I just finished pouring 64 ounces of epoxy and polyester resin - and now I have in-fumed my living quarters.  It's 10:35 p.m. and I have a long work day tomorrow.  I need my sleep.  I might just have to park it outside and my bathtub just clogged.  I really needed to take that shower.

Well.

I am a happy person.  Sometimes I get worn down.  Sometimes I cry.  Stressed, yes.  But I am a happy person.  I have a work acquaintance who, whenever I ask how he is doing, is never great - or well.  He's always 'hanging in there.'  I know that feeling...just getting by, barely making it, go go go, etc.  But even when I am short of breath and brains due to life circumstances, I am still happy about life and what causes my shortness of breath and brains.  So to always just be getting by, and not really enjoying it - seems like a sad thing.  Maybe it's not always like that for him, maybe it's just like that whenever I call.  Huh.

Well.

I have been enjoying The Lorflor Project and am endlessly grateful for everyone who is participating.  I can't decide which is more stressful - creating the painting or choosing a title.

Choosing a title.

Most definitely.

Speaking of a good nights rest.  I have had my Japanese bed for over a week now.  Oh yes I need to post pics - I should have taken them while it was still functioning as a true-er Japanese bed though.  But now my American queen mattress is on the awesome frame while the tatami mats are against the wall, hopefully all cool-like.  I love the smell of tatami.  I did sleep on the futon on the tatami for a week - but I woke with slight headaches.  I think I was too close to the floor.  So I substituted out the mats and futon for the good old mattress and woke with no headache at all.  So - I might have to save the romantic idea of sleeping on tatami until I return to Japan.  I love the smell of tatami.  I love the feel of tatami.  See that's the thing - to reach out while you are falling asleep and run your fingers across the woven rush is a magical experience.  Bummer.  Maybe I'll try it again in a week.

Maybe they make little tatami squares that I could just keep next to me while I sleep.  Like a blankey.

Well, this resin odor is really starting to get to me.  So wish me luck in finding a place to dream. 

Crit of the week

Critique of the Week @ Lorien Original

So someday soon - maybe tomorrow or Saturday - or Sunday - I'll get around to writing a personal post here.  I need a break from being all business.  I just want to talk.

It's Architecture Tuesday

Architecture Tuesday: the three-point turn

Yet another website(s)

So here's more websites to check out that are.....mine - yeah my stuff....more of me.  hee.

It's my professional website/blog.  I still am lacking photos of my work and travels and there's some editing that needs to me done, but it's a start and it's live and I am going to get going on it anyway and let people watch me edit, etc.

Woohoo!

It was a great day at the beach

So busy

So Busy Working That I Don't Even Have Time To Sit In My Chair And Read.

That Is Too Busy.

My Creative Space

Aside from not hanging out with Older men, (all that is supposed to be comical, by the way - don't take it all too seriously - cause then that seems interesting in a not so good way), I have been organizing my creative space.  This is what I've got so far.

It's a work in progress and the next item to tackle is putting up my drawings on the walls.  It's a good space to be in.  Come over anytime and sit in my chair and read a book while I paint.  I'll put some water on for tea.

Not quite a senior citizen.

He was two bar stools down when he gave his friend a note to give to me.

"Is this a note?"

"I don't know."

I open the twice folded sushi menu: "Can I buy you lunch Monday?"  ~ Steve, # included.

Uhhhh........my track record for 50+ year old men is on the rise if I say yes.  I wasn't sure what to do - so I re-folded the paper and let it sit there while I continued to enjoy my tuna tataki.  And then we all finished our lunches, and our conversations about Japan and flying and gardens and not working 9-5.  I still wasn't sure what to say in response to the note - so I didn't say anything.  He winked.  Hmmmm.  They walked out, then I walked out....then we were all in the parking lot - I said see you later and left.

I am still not sure what I am going to do.  What do men over 50 want anyway with me - who is 30?  I probably should be sticking to the 40 and under crowd.  And some people would say 40 is pushing it.  But it's a lunch, a simple lunch - and it would be free (uh, I think I meant fun).  But what if he asks again?  Or wants to take me flying?  Then you have to have that conversation...

****

Before leaving the sushi counter I left a note with the sushi chef, Akira, to give to Kuro, Tony and Toshi - my friends whom I meet up with for lunch occasionally on Saturdays.

They are all over 50.

At BYU I have been called the Simon Cowell of the professors by the students.

At Rivendell, an estate I design and whose grounds I manage I am known as Lady Lorien, and have been compared to the elegant Saluki.

Among my local friends, my people I dine and chill with the most....I am the Cramer of the group.

Do we see any similarities here?

Yeah Yeah

Yeah Yeah MrDavey.  I am here.  I have been working on some stuff on the side, ya know....in the dark, undercover...that may or may not bring a revenue in the far future....

Part Uno to this "stuff" will be ready for it's debut here in a little bit, like hopefully later this week, or at the latest next Monday, so stay tuned.  Part Dois, Deux, or whatever, will be ready probably in a few months - hopefully sooner.  Just depends.

I have been staying up way too late working on other landscape projects/deadlines - which really is a good thing because it means $$.  It just will be much better when I can get it under control, and go to bed at a decent hour...which could happen tonight if I decide to log off and go to bed, NoW! 

What funny or interesting story can I share first?  Oh well, I have none.  I have been all business lately.  Getting things really going - and it's pretty excited.  But I'll try not to be too business-like and get on here more regularly to share some humor or wisdom or both.

I turned my shrubby shefflera into a little tree.  I'll post pics tomorrow.

.

.

It's a good thing sleep exists. The weight is still brooding, but it's much more manageable after some rest!

Somewhat heavy times

It's 1:28 am.  I'm awake.

Today I have been lulled over by the heavier part of life.  It's been hanging around for awhile, but it seemed weightier today, like when a towel gets sopping wet.  Slop, slop.

I have sat down to write several times in the past week.  But my loss of love still hangs on my heart and so many times I still can't write adequately.  If he were on the other end - I would have a post for every day of the year...it's happened before that way.

I am curious about this year - about me as a business owner, and other things business related.  That's been weighing me down for several weeks or months, or something.  Worry is mixed in with that curiosity - and sometimes overshadows.  My concerns are multi-faceted, and I have a lot on my mind...and today was just another rock in the bucket.

My friend told me about another friend this afternoon.  About a car accident he was in.  He was physically okay, but after seeing a body fly across his windshield during all of the confusion, and moments later when he was out of the vehicle and dazed, he found the little body of a 10 year old boy.  Half his head gone, "daddy," the boy cried to my friend, "help me."  Then he died, and my friend held him.  When he got back up to the road the boys mom started banging and beating on my friend, thinking he was the idiot driver who crossed the double yellow line.  Sometime later that same friend had to decide to pull his father off life support.  And that same friend lost his house.  And most of his business.  And that's not all of the story.

So yeah.  Life can be raw sometimes.

What 'To Do' list?

Violent stomach pains send me into a Saturday afternoon coma. Now I'm a bag of cement. So long since I've experienced this. The staying April rain cocoons me.

Sometimes you've just got to give in. And agree that's it has been productive time well spent.

Motorcycle class starts April 20th! (Again...yes...hi dad!)

Now we all want a Royal Enfield.

March thus far...

.....what I have been up to.....

Rocking out to music
Making the yellow lights
Sipping organic tart cherry juice
Imbibing Chinese tea for the flu and cold
Going out with three different guys on one weekend and more
Working out at the gym at 5:30 AM most mornings with an ex-marine
Teaching at the University
Working part time at a CPA firm until the tax season is over (please come soon)
Not doing my taxes (oops, Lyn)
Commuting aaaaaa lot
Making new girlfriends
Eating sushi
Being a regular with other regulars at a restaurant where it's me and several older single Japanese men
Getting free high-quality chemical peels
Patiently growing out my hair
Thinking of acrylic nails
Motorcycles on the mind
Keeping my place clean
Eating right, but including blueberry cheesecake
Getting ready for the landscape design season
And wearing bold, bright redhead lipstick

And that's what I have been up to for the past month.

Any questions?

Font Size

Which font size does everyone prefer?

This font size, which is what I have been using.

Or this font size.  

Sometimes I wonder if my font is too small - and if people are having to strain to read my posts.  But maybe this is too big.


What's the vote?

Regular?

or

Large?

(don't they have something in between?)

a fight, sore mucles, wanting, and Alaska

She works at a nearby gas station and he came by to see her.  They were outside arguing when I pulled up to the pump.  He wants to be hugged.  He wants to be told that he is loved.  He wants them both at the same time.  Is that too much to ask for?  Affection?  She is so angry and says couples just don't do that.  That that's not reality.  It's not the real world for someone to hold you and tell you they love you.  After several minutes of raised voices he gets her to somewhat calm down and pulls her in and gives her a few kisses.  A few seconds later she's back at it.  Angry and mad.  She pulls away and yells at him as he drives off.


The guy I met at the gym a few weeks ago is an ex-Marine officer and now my muscles are letting me know that our regular and early morning workouts together are effective.  Ouch.  Tomorrow I hope I can get out of bed.  Funny thing is, about three weeks ago or so, I was wishing to myself that I had a personal trainer.  Huh.


I learned yesterday that to say you want something is to say you lack something.  So maybe instead of saying "I want a bowl of icecream," say, "I am going to get me a bowl of icecream." If you don't have icecream at that moment and can't afford it - say, "I am saving my quarters for that bowl of icecream I am going to eat next weekend."  Instead of focusing on what you lack - focus on what you are going to do, and how you are going to acquire that trip to London or whatever.  Not just that you want to go.  'Cause that isn't action oriented and won't produce results. 
Something like that.


I've been studying about Alaska.  About blue-green algae, moss and the beginnings of creation.  Plant succession.


Don't read the next section if you don't want to read about a bear violently killing another bear.  I came across it in my Alaska reading.

Bears also have a fierce sense of hierarchy; when fishing, the largest and oldest bears command the spots where the salmon are easiest to catch.  The other bears wait their turn or fish other parts of the stream.  If his prerogatives are challenged, an older bear can react violently.  A few years ago at Brooks River, near Brooks Camp, a young bear made the mistake of venturing into an elder's domain.  The larger bear lunged at the interloper, disemboweled it and then drowned it.  All this happened in full view of the three fisherman, one of whom filmed the event.  At the end they watched dumbfounded as the big bear dragged the soaking body of its victim 25 feet up the embankment and buried it.

For whatever reason, I found this violent occurrence somewhat interesting.  Why is it the killer bear took the time to bury his victim, the innocent (from my POV) younger bear?  Was it out of some sort of respect for a life even though he just killed him?  Or was he just getting him out of sight so they didn't have to be around a dead bear?  Was he hiding his actions?  Nature is a wondrous and sometimes mysterious thing.  

Just because you decide to take up knitting again doesn't mean you actually do it.

I may never have a knitted red scarf - we'll see.

It's rainy today.  And that's fine.

Lately I have been scheming a plan for my 2011 coastal experience.  I think it may involve loading up the Element, heading west on I-80 until I end up in San Francisco with time spent enjoying the coast line at Point Reyes.  San Francisco has lots of great Japanese gardens that I think I should see.  And the food, right?

If I have the time, I will take the PCH south and enjoy the sunny beach near San Diego - then route home through Vegas.  If I have the time.  San Diego has nice Japanese gardens to see as well, I hear.

Either I'll do the above or take it further north and do Vancouver and Seattle - maybe ending with Portland.

To combine all of the above would be lovely....but to do it justice I would want a month to travel.

But I'll take what I can get.

Earthwork: Map of Middle Earth

Misty Mountains upper left.  Mirkwood upper right.  River Anduin coming through.  Fangorn on left.  Emyn Muil on right.

Mirkwood in left.  River Anduin.  Misty Mountains on right.

View from the West.  Sea of Rhun on the lower right.  7 Palintir on left.

View from the Northeast.

Closer view from the Northeast.  Upright stones are memories of those who bravely fought for truth in Middle-Earth.  Artists liberties.

View from the South.  Unfinished.

River Anduin.  Emyn Muil in upper right-hand corner.  Fangorn in background.  Lothlorien, the Goldenwood on left side of river in the middle - crosses both sides of the tributary that flows into Anduin.  Mirkwood on right.

Iron Hills upper left.  The lonely Mountain front and center.

Echos.  Artist liberties.

Oh here we are again!  I must really like this angle.

Shire.  Hobbiton is the brighter patch where the sun is resting.

This is my earthworks project that I have been working on for the past three plus years.  Middle Earth.  These pictures were taken late summer 2010.  I didn't take any pictures of the eye, or Mordor, Gondor, or Rohan, Helms Deep, etc....sometimes you don't realize what pictures you didn't take until you are going through them and looking for specific shots.  This year I'll get it photographed real well and post the pics!  It's almost finished.  My Client has been so kind and patient to allow me the freedom in creativity and time that it has required to produce this artwork.  I have really enjoyed it, especially those Saturdays when my dad and sometimes siblings came to help - even my mom came up with my dad once.  My dad really enjoys working in the map, and it's fun to have him be so excited to make the mountain drive and dig rivers and seas, or give ideas on water, etc.

See - so right now, I love my job.  How could you hate doing this?

Oooh - one more.  The seven palintir.