a friend indeed

November 15, 2009
Published Work
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she's crafty

hanni with her creations + the baby blanket we made together

Another month, another Moonshine. Yep, it’s time to check out my latest DiStill Life column in Moonshine Ink. While I try to put a personal touch on everything I write—by attending the art opening, taking the art class or simply covering an artist whose work I am really in to—this month’s musing on the North Tahoe arts scene takes the personal cake, you could say.

Hanni, one of my best friends and “partner in craft” (as I dub her in my story), recently moved back to Alaska. Bearing witness to her many talents over the past year inspired me to be more crafty, and I reflect upon our partnership and many other duos creating great things in our community. Read my column on page 69, or view it online (I’ll post the link as soon as it’s up).

screenprint @ crafternoon

November 13, 2009
Art + Culture
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up to dry
Next week’s Brickelltown Crafternoon brings the basics of screen printing with Bryan Hassemer of Green Bikes North Tahoe. I’ve admired his work for some time now (see his designs at Truckee’s Riverside Studios), and plus he’s just an all-around amazingly nice person. In fact, he was instrumental in helping my old roommate screenprint the save-the-dates for her wedding. Think of what he can teach you!
Here are the details for the class; RSVP today as spots fill up.

Basics of Screen Printing: how to print & make your own tools at home

Tuesday November 17 4:30 p.m. @ Truckee’s Brickelltown

*cost: $20 (additional supplies available to purchase)
*bring: paper to print on, stencil ideas, exacto knife (if you have one), high contrast b/w photo
RSVP to truckeecrafternoons[at]gmail.com

one night, lotsa art

November 10, 2009
Art + Culture
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Man's head filled with wires and circuits, high section

Everything happens at once, they say, and for me, ’tis true this coming Thursday (November 12) when I’ve already RSVPed to the Artists Unite event sponsored by the Arts and Culture Council of Truckee Tahoe, and then this gem comes up at Sierra Nevada College’s Prim Library: A College Collective: Cyborgs and Dandelions.

A non-themed juried exhibition, A College Collective will bring student works from Lake Tahoe Community College, Sierra College, Western Nevada College, Truckee Meadows Community College and, of course, SNC. Though I’ll miss the opening reception this Thursday, the show runs through December 10. yeehaw!

Artists Unite is at Truckee’s Carmel Gallery from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and is like an artists’ mixer and plus they’ll be an update on the work of the Arts and Culture Council of Truckee Tahoe.

goodbye fall

November 9, 2009
General Me-ness
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eagle rockwinter tomorrow

It’s so sad to see the deciduous trees lose their leaves (well, they actually don’t lose them but push them off says NPR). Check out the same view off Eagle Rock, taken a few weeks ago and this past weekend—brings a tear to the eye doesn’t it?

Yet fallen leaves take on a life of their own for a brief few days, and I was lucky enough to catch some flanking the lakeshore on Saturday.

a fall shoreline

Yet with the departure of those fall colors we love comes the white stuff we love even more. Skiing is much more fun than tromping through leaves. (Though I would have to argue that raking leaves is more fun than shoveling snow.) Enjoy the last few days of the season!

fresh pressed

November 8, 2009
Art + Culture
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Just catching up after a long weekend with family in town… very relaxing to not touch my keyboard in a few days. ahhh!

But with all this time off, loads of publication-related news piled up in my inbox and Twitter feed that I must pass along. It seems that fresh voices on paper are popping up all around us these days.

the bona fide logo

1) Bona Fide Books, a new publishing company in South Lake Tahoe, is looking for literary essays about working in our nation’s national parks for their Permanent Vacation collection. Submit! Plus, Bona Fide has put a call out for guerilla acts of literary compassion, which I am totally into. I think I’ll start with my favorite poem, Seamus Heaney’s Postscript. Read more on Bona Fide’s homepage, linked above.

my cure for the kitchen blues?

2) Remedy Quarterly just launched promising to bring stories of food and recipes for feeling good. Right now, they’re taking pledges to get the first issue off the ground, but have already reached their goal. Can’t wait to flip through the first volume—I surely need some inspiration in the kitchen.

3) And last but not least, The Nevada Review literary journal launches November 19, bringing 100 pages of essays on all things Nevada: history, politics, environment, culture, people, the list goes on.

Hooray for words and the folks who bring them to us!

death of a pumpkin

November 1, 2009
Domesticity + Craft
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owlette at 1 hour old

We should have seen it coming. Tahoe—especially its West Shore—is known to see some bears. Chris’s uncarved pumpkin received a flesh wound from a bear about a week ago, and our friends down the road were recently victims of a break-in, losing some $400 worth of food to an ursine belly. But, it was Halloween after all, and we displayed our freshly carved pumpkins proud last night.

Yet, upon waking, a ghastly scene greeted us on our patio. My pumpkin’s hat left on the front porch, a trail of guts leading to the body, FACELESS. Yes, some sicko bear decided to rip off the face of Owlette (so she was dubbed for her small stature) and leave her hallowed body lying prone to the sky.

what remains of owlette

And what’s even stranger is that the bear decided to leave Chris’s pumpkin unscathed, except for the earlier wound it likely inflicted (you can see the marks on the pumpkin’s back in the photo below).

the crime scene

At least Owlette lived a glorious, though short, life. Last night, she dutifully greeted our trick-or-treaters and a few passersby earlier in the evening. And her seeds, which we toasted, topped our salads last night. R.I.P.

you were a good pumpkin

moonshine ink, october edition

October 26, 2009
Published Work
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SPIRIT (fire) by Douglas E. Taylor

SPIRIT (fire) by Douglas E. Taylor

If you  haven’t picked up the latest Moonshine Ink, it would behoove you to do so RIGHT NOW!

It’s a great issue packed with goodies like the feature interview with adventurer Doug Stoup, info on local ski swaps and my DiStill Life column on the talented artist Douglas E. Taylor, owner of Vista Gallery (page 61).

Due to space constraints, this photo I took of the artist and his dog, Denver, didn’t make the print version, but I just have to show it here because Denver is one of the cutest gallery dogs around…

douglas and denver

Not in Tahoe? Read my column here.

new house 1, me 0

October 23, 2009
General Me-ness
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the scene of the crime

I think my new house is trying to kill me.

It all began on Sunday morning when out of nowhere, as I went to grab a towel from a bucket on my bathroom floor, the slanted ceiling jumped out at my head. Five days later and I’m still feeling the post-concussive syndrome. Don’t worry, I finally went to the doctor and he saw nothing too amiss, but I cannot exercise (no walks even!) until the symptoms reside.

So pardon my silence on the blogosphere, but my home got me good.

bound printed matter

October 15, 2009
Published Work
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[picapp src=”0274/a0aa2af2-b9f8-427a-97d8-033410fb5232.jpg?imageId=278325″ width=”380″ height=”253″ /]

I’m super pumped to announce that I’ve finished proofreading a book for UNR’s Center for Basque Studies—the first such task in my editing career to date.

The book, Alejandro Aldekoa (1920–96): Master of Pipe and Tabor Dance Music in the Basque Country, written by a Basque ethnomusicologist, covers the life and music of Alejandro Aldekoa, from Berriz. Reading it certainly brought me back to my days of traveling in the Basque Country. Did you know that I’ve been to Pamplona during the running of the bulls?

Stay tuned for the book’s release!