The CHICKEN

Tate for Nat

James Tate got me to read Hawthorne’s American Notebooks. It’s filled with amazing sentences like: “The history of a small lake from the first, till it was drained.” “A very fanciful person, when dead, to have his burial in a cloud.” “A young girl inherits a family grave-yard.” “A young man finds a portion of the skeleton of a mammoth.” “Herman Melville went away, after breakfast.” It’s a big book, you’ll find great writing all through it.

speedbump rentals

In THE AIR OVER PARIS novel, Mel Blanc runs a business renting out speedbumps. Now it becomes clear there is an actual need for this on 32nd Street. Cars scream by our house especially at night at a hundred miles per hour. If only Mr. Blanc could drop one of his speedbumps on our street. The Tinhorn Prophet strikes again!

Red Riding Hood Support Group

Dog with Thomas Pynchon Book

baby hippo sighting

Spotted this baby hippo in the jungle

WILD KINGDOM

The dog and I were walking yesterday and we spotted a young deer on the hill. We walked closer and saw it was standing just above another creature in the grass below. At first I thought it might be a small mountain lion—we have those visiting every once in a while—but once we saw its tail I knew it was a bobcat—one big as our dog—who dropped her ball in amazement. We both stared as the bobcat backed off into the brush. The deer took a step towards it, then continued all the way into the edge of the weeds to be with it. The cat hopped up onto a low tree branch, observed us for a while, with the deer next to it, and then it calmly left the tree and started to slowly pad away. And the deer followed it like a friend! Off they went into the forest. I was sorry I didn’t have my mobile phone to film that whole thing, it was the strangest episode, like Uri Geller bending a UFO. I could almost hear Marlin Perkins narrating in my head about the mysterious wonders of nature.

what's new?

What’s new with Good Deed Rain? I finished writing the next novel, it’s a hoot. Features a big-budget cameo by Clark Gable’s ghost. I’m proofreading now and Aaron will be doing the cover. I’m also wondering about a big collection of animal stories. That should be fun. Stay tuned!

anytime

The amazon delivery driver was just here, she was playing with our dog in the yard. She mentioned that her dog knows Ukranian. I asked her how her family is doing there. When she calls them, she hears bombs. Her old city Odesa is half gone. I told her she can stop by our yard anytime.

Sightseeing in Tyrol

A great scene from a 1937 Joan Crawford movie. Alas, she fell out the door in back, down the cliff. She was okay though.

AMISH 4000 Review

walking home from work yesterday

The MOON EXPLAINED

indubitably

The AMISH 3000

Also available with pitchfork attachment

The AMISH 4000

The plastic hinges on my laptop screen broke so I did a little old country repair. Presenting the AMISH 4000! Sturdy wood bracing, oak arm rest and solid twenty pound weight. (Also available is the AMISH 3000 TV remote holder).

on walk to work

A Hundred Swordfish

The Sneak

Someone snuck onto our bed

Presenting the Whimbrel

Green Moth on White Tile

summer books

Been reading some good books lately: James Tate's The Government Lake, Ed Wood and the Lost Lugosi Screenplays by Gary Rhodes, The American Notebooks by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Bring them to your beach and be the Hit o' the Sand!

The Clover Los Angeles

potato

I’m looking for a copy of The Tattooed Potato and I discovered another shocking example of cover redesign, featuring a disgraced president? What could have possessed them to change the classic cover??

dewclaw

Took this photo at the grocery checkout line on the 4th of July.

Dunn with Keats

Today, yours truly, Old Eagle Eyes, was perusing the free library boxes around on South Hill and I found a copy of Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine. I’m a fan of the illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. Who isn’t?! But the reason I was slow on the draw was this particular copy is the 1979 reprint. For some bizarre reason they dropped the original Keats cover and “updated” it with Danny Partridge!

Bear Essay

Speaking of the Brunswick library. When I was in school, I went there to do research on my Faulkner essay, comparing 'The Bear' to 'The Biggest Bear.' These were the sorts of essays I was writing when I was 19 or so. See MAGIC ISLAND novel for more.

McCloskey

If I was in Brunswick, Maine I would run to the library to see this exhibit of Robert McCloskey art.

oasis

Last week on my lunchbreak, I followed a miniature camel caravan to this oasis on the bricks.