He’s been wanting to get back to his roots so when he heard about this place called Camp Whosawolf he got very excited.   Basically, you get matched up with a wolf pack and for one week you eat, drink and sleep as a wolf.

Here’s My Little Timber Wolf aboard his bus headed for Montana to meet his foster pack.

Here he is meeting his foster pack for the first time and greeting them as a wolf.

Notice his stern wolfish expression. He’s feeling pretty dangerous.

He’s always loved the snow. Here he’s keeping up with one of his wolf brothers.

Bringing down a caribou has been a life long dream for my little guy.  He finally got his wish!

My pup was never much of a howler, but on his last day he was feeling very wolfish and he was able to muster a pretty good Ha-ruuu!

When he  got home his was tired, his throat hurt and his farts smelled really weird.  But it was good to have him home.

I will post more soon!

When I’m feeling blue and politics, religion and the economy getting me down  I turn to a source of inspiration that has never failed me in my time of need.

Bulldog videos.

First is the famous Tyson.  It’s amazing what this bulldog can do .  While you watch  remember that Tyson taught himself and he is so good at it he can turn corners!  I just love the idea of a dog with a hobby.

http://youtu.be/ziDeUbifKIM

Things can get even a bulldog down.  Here is Floyd voicing his oppinion.

http://youtu.be/Em4Yd_S2wp0

Happy reunions can brighten your day.  This video features Winston meeting his daughter for the first time.  It’s a bit long but worth watching!

http://youtu.be/nN7YWz2RqH8

Sometimes a gift can bring joy to your life.  This video features Gus and his new pool.

http://youtu.be/6EQvofGNcuQ

Final, it can be a real hoot to see someone else more miserable than you.  So here is Marshal,his new sweater and an attitude.

http://youtu.be/vcwJL6m2pWE

I feel better now.  I hope you do too!

A disturbing trend is starting to occur.  When I meet fans of my art or blog they bring me cake.  It’s my fault really, because I have written in detail about my love for the treat.

But here is the problem.  I used to be almost 300 lbs and my back hurt. 

I have lost 80 lbs so far in my attempt to save my back.

I can’t say no to cake.  So please don’t give me any.

If there is cake around I can become a real nuisance.

Then drastic measures must be taken. 

So please don’t give me cake. 

————————————————————————————–

When I turn 72 years old I plan to start the Year of the Cake.  It  will be 365 days of tasty cake eating fun.

 This will be followed by the highly anticipated the year of the nachos.

This last weekend I went to the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) convention in Los Angeles.  At this event there where keynote speakers (Bruce Coville, Jerry Pinkney, Libba Bray, David Small, Judy Blume, Jon Scieszka, Norton Juster, and many more), parties, socials and competitions.

I arrived knowing that I would have my crew from my critique group beside me. ( Charles Eubank, Ella German, Patti Gabrielson, Wendy Kitts, Richard Metzger, Katrin Azimi, and Anna Guillotte).  Soon I was able to add to my crew a whole bunch of new faces. EVERYONE was intensely friendly and supportive.  

I went to several workshops and I entered my portfolio into the portfolio showcase.   On Saturday evening I found out that I had been chosen for the Mentorship award.  Also winning the Mentorship award where Eliza Wheeler, Juliana Brion, Juana Martinez, and Christina Forshay.  Hooray for us!

That night we had a Pajama Party by the pool.  There where a lot of artist, writers, school teachers and librarians that got their freak on.  It was a bit disturbing.

The next day the Mentor-ship winners received personal critiquing from industry professionals, E.B. Lewis, David Diaz, Priscilla Burris, Cecilia Yung, and Pat Cummings.  That night we shared a group discussion.

So now I am very tired.  I have canceled everything that I wanted to do today except to toot my own horn because that seemed very important to me.

SCBWI Award Winners: http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/2011/08/portfolio-showcase-winners.html

Got Story Count Down:  (my teacher Joy Chu’s Childrens Book blog) http://gotstorycountdown.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/awestruck-by-teaching-part-1/

SPECIAL THANKS -  Lori Mitchell (teacher, illustrator and writer) for saying that I should be a children’s book illustrator and turned me on to SCBWI, David Diaz (award winning illustrator)  who critiqued me and said that I could make it in illustration, Joy Chu ( art director and designer of over 20 children’s books)  for teaching me how to be a children’s book illustrator,  and my critique group for keeping me in line.

LINK to my New Illustration blog:  http://www.zuill.us/illustration/

I am going to be selling my wares in the parking lot at Leaping Lotus, located in the Cedros Design District, Solana Beach,CA.

I’ll be there 11:00 to 6:00 so I hope to see you there!

Growing up, like in most families, special times called for special cakes.

Unfortunately, a special cake for us was a store bought sheet cake.  Usually the cake part was not too bad.  But, the frosting was made out of some wierd sweet cement.

On family trips to the coast we would often pass a place called the Madonna Inn. As a child it was the most beautiful building I had ever seen. It was an all wood building painted white with sugary sweet pink trim. On one of these trips we actually stopped at the Inn.

 Let me stop now to go into a little detail about the Madonna Inn. It is legendary in California. It’s probably one of the number one places to stay on a honeymoon. Besides the grandeur of their buildings exterior, what the Madonna Inn is primarily known for is the fearless interior decor. Unlike most lodging establishments that play it safe with their decor, I believe the owners of the Madonna said, “Screw it, lets just go for it!”, and proceeded to decorate the hell out of the inns  interior.

 Please check out the Madonna Inn for yourselves: http://www.madonnainn.com/

 Here you can check out the outrageous decor of each of the Madonna Inns rooms: http://www.madonnainn.com/features.php – My favorite room is #206, the Old Mill room.

 The Madonna Inn is also known for its cakes. When my family entered the Inn’s bakery I beheld the most beautiful, huge cakes I had ever seen. I told my folks right then and there that I wanted a chocolate cake. At the time all they had was Black Forest Cake. I had never had that type of cake before. It sounded suspicious. But it was beautiful. Besides its large size it was covered with chocolate shavings. Much to my horror my folks only bought a slice, which I couldn’t believe they did, because obviously with anything so frickin’ fantastic you MUST buy the whole thing. To my parents credit a single slice would be enough for 6 people being that its size was about half my height.

Like I said, that cake was beautiful. When a slice was removed from the whole cake you could see the three types of frosting/filling in between each layer. One of the fillings was some red stuff that looked like jelly. I had never seen that before. Once again I was suspicious. 

When we got to our final destination it was time to try the cake. (TRUTH TIME: While driving I found that the cake was close enough to me and the wrapper loose enough for me to sneak some of the chocolate shavings off of the cake). I have no idea how we went about cutting into this hunk of cake. But what I do remember is the richest, creamiest frosting I had ever tasted. I mean, you could have just eaten the frosting all by itself. The cake itself was perfection. It was moist and rich. And the filling (chocolate crème, butter crème, and the red jelly stuff) added new dimension to a cake that I never knew existed. 

Since that time I have tried other Black Forest Cakes, but none seem as good the one we got from the Madonna Inn.  I don’t know if it’s because nobody makes  Black Forest Cake as well as Madonna Inn or over that the years my memory has turned that Black Forest Cake into a legend.

Queen by Michelle

  Since 2006 I have been selling my art on Etsy.   Since 2006 I haven’t met any of the people that purchase my prints in person.

But…

Since last December,  I have been able to meet many of you (at least those of you from Southern California).    I just want to say thank you.  I don’t care if you buy anything or not when you come to the events I’m in  but just seeing you guys does my heart good.

Above is a embroidered piece of art based on one of my prints.  It was done by Michelle.  I got to meet her at the Pink Parlour show a few weeks ago.  Well done Michelle!

  Let me start by saying that my dog is actually scared of more than three things.  He  is freaky about brooms, weather (rain, wind, thunder, lightning), bubble wrap,  power tools, blenders, hair shears, any beeping coming from a computer, crowds, and the list goes on.  But, there three phobias that I feel define my dog. 

First, Cats in a Box.

My dog is not scared of cats or boxes, but he is scared of cats in boxes.  If you open the box to expose the cat he will look past the cat and search the inside of the box for the “thing that was scary”.    This fear can be transferred to cats in cupboards, behind doors or under blankets.  But a cat in a box is the worst.

Second, Dead Rabbits

We found a dead rabbit while hiking one day.  Most dogs might consider a dead rabbit a great toy.  Other dogs might want to roll around on it (especially if it’s gooey).   My dog’s reaction was his hackles going up and his eyes getting very large.  He was visibly shaken.  I tried to show him that it was okay by poking it with a stick.  All this did was make him shake in terror and put his tail between his legs.  To relieve his terror we continued our hike.  As we walked he kept glancing over his shoulder just to make sure that the rabbit didn’t become reanimated, or something, and follow us. 

Third, Camping.

I thought dogs liked camping.

From the moment we pitched the tent he was giving us a look that said, “Well, that was great.  Can we go home now?”  This look is accompanied by waiting eagerly by the car door.  To be fair, when I first got him out of the car a squirrel crawled down a tree that was behind us and proceeded to yell at my dog and I.  (A squirrel yell is something like a mighty screech).  After I had taken my boy to do his poops and got back to camp, my daughter stated that as she was setting up camp a squirrel came down a tree and yelled at her.  It was funny until my husband came over from getting wood and said that the weirdest thing happened.  A squirrel came down a tree and yelled at him.  I suspect it was the same squirrel in each case.  We stayed on guard the rest of the day. 

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  No squirrel incidents.  But the dog remained shaken.   

As we returned from camping and turned up our street my dog perked up, stood up on his hind legs, stared out all the windows and screamed.  I am NOT kidding.  He actually screamed!  He was home.  He knows his street and his house.  I think that he thought that camping was how we were going to spend the rest of our lives.  I can’t seem to explain to him the concept of vacations.

Note:  If you have any trouble viewing the drawings just click on them to get them at full size.