Nouvelle 55: Downsized

 With a tip of the hat to Ruth at Synch-ro-ni-zing, here's a Nouvelle 55.

The painting is a very recent one by my brother, artist James Gurney.

Mike lost his firefighting job when his department downsized.

The bank foreclosed two years later. He loaded his TV and his tools into his pickup and covered the load with a black tarp.

He muttered to Jane, “At least the truck’s paid off—sure wish the tank was full,” and they drove south to Tennessee.

Link to my brother's blog, Gurney Journey is in the column to the right under "Blogs I Read."

iWalk Sebastopol

We all want to "save our planet."

Don't wait to start! 

Do something.

It's way better than worrying.

Here's something we did: 

We stayed out of our car and enjoyed a walk!

If enough of us stay out of our cars, no one would drill for oil, right?

We, my wife and I, happen to live in Sebastopol,

a haven for artists of all sorts—

painters, musicians, sculptors, actors, and dancers

to name just a few.

This weekend artists around here open up their studios to the public, a sort of Artist's Open House called "Art at the Source."

We like to walk with friends and meet new people,

We love to meet artists.

So we decided to lead two walks: one this weekend,

and one next weekend 

to visit some of the many artists who live nearby.

A group met in the town plaza at 9:00.

After a few speeches, we were off on our way out of town. 

Here we are on our way past the Post Office Building.

Half an our later we had walked out of town to our first stop,
Maggie Ballad's home and studio. That's me in yellow with the
funny hat and my two pals, Richard and Guy. Richard is our
inspiration for walking, and Guy's the Vice Mayor of Sebastopol.

Richard, Sue, and I are standing in the corner of her beautiful home as
Maggie, in foreground on the left, talks about her paintings.

A short while later the sun came out and we found ourselves at Gen's studio. Jen had so many paintings that her back yard and garden were pressed into service.

After several more stops, we found ourselves back in the heart of town where there is a custom Stoneworks and brass foundry. That's my wife, Sarah, Mayor of Sebastopol, holding the iWalk sebastopol sign.

We had fun, chatted with good friends, met some new friends, and saw a lot of beautiful art.
Next week we'll do it again, but visit a new suite of galleries an studios.