Oliver

I was in the dog park with Sasha last night -- don't you just love Daylight Savings Time? And we met Oliver, a male English chocolate lab. He is 8 months old. It is the first time we've ever encountered another dog with the same blood line. We couldn't tell them apart as they raced around. We compared notes -- the first few months were the same -- the diarrhea, up many times at night to clean the crate. And the voracious appetite, the loyalty and great disposition. It was a chocolate love fest! Oliver is not neutered but Sasha is -- I was regretting that we didn't meet earlier -- they would have made perfect puppies!

8 inches of fresh snow!

Mark took this photo of me and Sasha today when we were snow shoeing. This has been an incredibly warm winter with hardly any snow. It has snowed just a few times, so most of the season we've had bare ground. So it was delightful to drive out today and find lots of the white stuff! Sasha goes wild in the snow -- she races around, totally crazed. It is fun to watch her enjoy it so much.

I met with my Russian teacher for the 4th time today. It is finally starting to stick -- initially I got very confused between Russian and Portuguese and at work would find myself saying "da" rather than "sim". The patients must have wondered what was wrong with me! I worried that I only have capacity for one other family of languages (Latin-based) but the more I study and speak Russian, the stronger it is. I find myself thinking -- how do you say this in Russian?? Simple things, just vocabulary and simple sentences. I visited the Angels on Wednesday night and taught Zoey to say "it is snowing" in Russian. She loved that! She told me how to say it in Spanish as she takes it at school -- or maybe from Dora the Explorer.

I am in the midst of extreme busyness with the "Creative Couples" show but it continues to be very engaging and fun. I am still selecting who I want to be in the show -- and it's hard! So many fantastic artists have expressed interest.

The Iowa girl in me came out tonight -- I made rhubarb crisp. The last bit I froze last summer from the garden. It is so delicious on a cold night -- a nod to winter ending and anticipating spring. 

"Creative Couples"

Here is an encaustic painting that I finished in late December entitled "Strength Beyond Hope and Despair" (title borrowed from a line in TS Elliott's "Ash Wednesday"). It is one of the images that we are using to promote the April show at Atlantic Works Gallery that I'm curating. I tried to upload the postcard and press release but the files are too big and I don't know how to do that! (Mark is traveling on business and returning today -- I depend on him for all "technical" assistance.)

And here is Mark's photo entitled "White Wall, Moscow". He took it last August when we were in Russia.

I am spending innumerable hours getting this show together, but I really enjoy it! If this goes well, I would look for more curating opportunities. It is really fun to come up with an idea then bring it to fruition! The preview show is tomorrow night at a friend's studio in the South End.