my kind of town

Going to Chicago is always fun. But this year it was incredibly warm and sunny so I could not stop walking around and around and around the city. I went to the standard tourist spots, but also got to see new neighborhoods thanks to the warm weather. Visiting with old friends, going shopping on the Magnificent Mile, and eating fabulous food was SO worth the blisters.

Pirate's 1st Birthday

Mom and I had a great long weekend (okay, so it was a 5 day extravaganza) celebrating Pirate's first year with me. He got toys everyday (his favorite was the K-9 Kicker), well wishes on Facebook, and lots of playtime. Happy Birthday to my good dog!

I enjoy playful subversions of violent signifiers.
This is a painting I just did to promote that idea.

ingenious innovation: shoe goo

I like shoes. A lot.
I think about them,
shop for them,and
have favorite pairs.

I got these Birkenstocks
in Germany over
TEN YEARS AGO. They
were falling apart and I
still could not throw
them out.
Shoe Goo to the rescue!
They are now good as
new.

on the up and up

a

The annual hot air balloon race was this weekend in St. Louis so Ann, Pirate and me went to Forest Park (gosh I love that place) to have a picnic and watch the slow moving action. We took a paddle boat out so we could peddle around the lake and see the balloons fly overhead while Pirate lounged.

popeye picnic

On Saturday I took a drive to Chester, Illinois, the home of E.C. Segar who created Popeye the Sailor man and developed his characters based on people in his town. Every year there is a festival celebrating Segar and Popeye's clan. This year's theme: Popeye in Little Egypt, hence the Pharaoh Popeye sand sculpture.

lazy days

Labor Day weekend was spent in St. Louis this year, my favorite close getaway. As always, there was a trip to Forest Park to say hi to Mr. Saint Louis. But this time there was even more walking around town: to the older parts of the city to look at the brick homes and sidewalks, the Loop to window shop, to Union Station to see the fish, and the new Citygarden downtown, full of sculpture and plants. Pirate loves vacations because we always seem to find new smells and new pet stores, which means a new toy... or two.