HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!

February 28th was mom's friend, Linda's birthday! Linda is the artist in San Francisco who first introduced mom to book and paper arts through the magical, hand-crafted cards, books, and gifts she has created and given to mom over the decades! Recently, Linda's art transcended style into an entirely new dimension of personal expression: mom was the beneficiary of a heartbreakingly beautiful collage which we will feature once a studio is set up to photograph art. Mom cried the first time she laid eyes on it, she was so deeply moved.

We guinea pigs make art everyday, especially YumYum, who rearranges his cage continually, changing it's shape, the placement of his toys, and moving things about to customize his play area. It's not a book, but it does express the story of his life! And how valuable PLAY is to him!

Meantime, we don't know what an ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINE is, but Village Books in Fairhaven now has one.

So, to celebrate Linda the book artist's birthday, we honor her with this ESPRESSO BOOK MACHINE and hope she can tell us what it does because...

We like espresso but are not allowed to drink it.

And we love books but are not allowed to eat them or chew off the pages.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA! We wish you a new year full of creative, artistic inspiration drawing you whimsically into New, Unexplored PlacesWithin, inspiring you to express your visions in exciting, imaginative, unexpected ways! Isn't that what birthdays are for?!

WE BID GOODBYE TO OLYMPICS

Video | Neil Young performs | NBC Olympics

Mom waved Edwin off at the bus station this morning, a bus full of Olympic fans traveling back South of the border; each with their own special memories. Clad in Canadian hockey jerseys, accents from all over the world, the travelers now include Edwin and his travels include us.

Long may you run!

BEAR THE BEAVER PIG

Bear bonded with Edwin during the Olympic traveler's stops at the Guinea Pig Hilton.  He loved cuddling up in Edwin's lap and just stretching out before telling Edwin what it is like to live with his two "little brothers," YumYum and me.

He also instructed Edwin in the fine art of vegetarian delicacies preferred by the Herd that Hears and Edwin complied.

Now we are all spoiled: WheeeK:happy!

PANDA OFFERS THANKS

thank you, am, for inspiring a new way to see everyday beauty with wonder,
an artist's eye
and encouraging me to write poetry
love,
PandaPig

I SPY WITH A LITTLE PIG'S EYE

i spy with a little pig's eye
spring sculptures reaching
with wings toward the sky.

I SPY WITH A LITTLE PIG'S EYE

i spy with a little pig's eye
color just floating
like wood ducks
nearby

MY LITTLE PIG'S EYE

i spy with a little pig's eye
dreams dance like cloud beams
across a blue sky

JUST A LITTLE GUINEA PIG

I'm just a little guinea pig
but mom says I have Big Thoughts and should publish them

And it scares me to say Big Thoughts aloud
because we laugh at YumYum's Big Thoughts

And we wonder at Bear's Big Thoughts

And I am afraid what will become of mine.

Mom says, "Be brave, little pig, and tell the world how you feel."

Is this the face of Brave?

PANDA'S POETIC MOOD

METHINKS IT IS TIME TO COMPOSE A FEW LINES ON SPRING.

but, when?

ARCS AND CURVES

do we look old to you?

we are brown and curled up

we are survivors

we are beautiful

we are leftover from last year

we bear the seeds of today

EAGLE TREE

windblown, knocked around, shaken up, their nest endured
awaits spring, eagles fly by, new branches in their talons

SOFT RAIN COMING

soft rain, old leaves, cattails reborn, life renews.