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I finished a new painting about a week ago. From a scene in a small town on the North side of Lake Chapala in Jalisco, I've been thinking about working from a small photo of this subject for some time. This was an old Mexican and his old dog, selling something from a table by the side of the highway. The multiple electric meters on the pole repeat a theme I usually try to include in my Mexican scenes, of flaky infrastructure (especially electrical).

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. Took about three days, somewhere around 15-25 hours I guess.

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Mona knows how to start the day, and Christmas day was no exception. Ginger (on the left) and Silkie stand guard while Mona reads something of substance. This is the only place Ginger is relaxed around me and willing to let me pet her.

We were invited to dinner at ranch neighbors Jim And Sande, and Sande had decorated her house to a high level of seasonal cheer, with her large collection of Christmas artifacts. We brought along a few contributions to dinner, but Sande had an abundance of wonderful holiday foods that left us all groaning from overindulgence on the way home and for a while afterward. Sande's generosity extended into the next day, as she sent us home with goodies for later.


Mona helps Sande out in the kitchen, while an lively winter scene animates a countertop.


Sande, Mona, and Clark warm up for the main event.


Hungry visitors forage outside in the cold while we feast in Sande and Jim's warm home.

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We drove up to the ranch yesterday, on Christmas eve during what appeared to be a break in the weather. The roads were scary for the first fifty miles or so, with lots of patches of glaze ice and only one lane on the interstate more or less clear.

After crossing the Wyoming border, the pavement was mostly clear, but there was continuous blowing snow across all the roadway. According to the forecast before we left, the wind chill out there was about -20. A bleak scene.



Mona prepared a nice dinner as the light faded outside, and we spent the evening watching bits and pieces of Christmas TV programming. Tonight (Christmas) we're going to dinner at a friends house about a half-hour from here.

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I am so tired of being lied to, and fending off legions of shills for our tired plutocracy trying to cheat, swindle, manipulate, and generally lower my quality of life while maniacly enriching themselves and their masters at my expense.

The last few days watching HR3590 being eviscerated while the few advocates I thought we had finally elected to represent our interests stood by like spineless half-wit dolts has been discouraging beyond words. At least my words...as he has done before, Keith Olberman has given voice to an outrage that so many of us feel but are powerless to express...

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I thought we had at last sent a few people to Washington who might suppress the tide of rapacious charlatans who have been picking clean our middle class carcasses for so long. I also thought we in the U.S. had some big advantages over Mexico, where corruption is said to be so rampant. Now, though, it seems that we here are afflicted by a form of corruption made all the more repulsive by efforts to color it as something else.

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Last night we went to a fundraiser for the Center for Justice, Peace and the Environment. It was a potluck and silent auction, and was probably more fun than that sounds. It seems that our local craft breweries donate to virtually any non-profit or fundraising activity which always contributes to a more festive atmosphere.



This young guitar player donated his time and provided a very pleasant background for the evening. Much of his work was intricate and fairly intense - I felt a little bad that folks weren't just sitting quietly in rapt attention. We talked a bit about his touring days in Illinois and surrounding states, before he and his wife relocated here. They have day jobs at the Whole Foods store, but clearly his heart is in his music.


While the past few days have been extremely (sub-zero lows) cold, they have been pretty much snow-free. That changed overnight with about six inches at daybreak followed by gently falling snow all day. Forecast is for another extremely cold week to come.



This crappy weather led me once again this morning to have a look online at other geographic areas to live (like southern Oregon). I also have been thinking that since there no longer seem to be many sound investments available in the realm of fraudulent securities, ponzi schemes and swindles that permeate the financial markets, perhaps real property will offer some sort of financial security in the future. The debasement of U.S. currency leaves a guy who doesn't want to mess with gold or silver few options for hard assets, and if the era of cheap abundant petroleum is drawing to a close, I would like to live in an area with a long growing season and decent agricultural land around my home. Off-grid power and a moderate climate would be nice.

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