Earthquake

About an hour ago there was an earthquake in So Cal. It was the biggest I've ever felt. B and I were at the zoo, I was opening our car doors and the car rocked in to me and the ground shook. I went over to Bronson in the stroller and he was looking around confused.
When we got home, many of my paintings had been shaken off the walls, plants had fallen over and stuff had fallen off the top of the fridge.
The radio tells me it was felt from San Diego to Las Vegas, the epicenter was in south LA and they say it was a 5.8.

I'm glad we were not home for it, it would have been scarier to have to hide under the table, and if B was asleep that would have been hard.

Matthew was observing at Palomar Observatory last night so he is up there sleeping today, not sure how he's doing, but probably just fine. Observatory's tend to be prepared for Earthquakes, when he was in Chile he felt one nearly every week.

Wanted to let everyone know that we're fine, if a little shaken. Our new neighbors Margarita and Daniel (and their week-old daughter Amanda) were nice, Daniel checked to make sure we were ok, so we are in good hands :)

Bronson rocks the harmonica

We've had a pretty quiet weekend, yesterday morning we went to the zoo in time for opening, which is the best time because it isn't crowded and it's not too hot, so lots of animals who mostly sleep during the day are still awake, having breakfast and excercise. We also saw the Bird show, which was fantastic!
In the afternoon we played inside because Bronson is covered with red dots from heat rash, and it got worse after a morning out.
Early evening we had a movie night, the three of us, we watched 'My neighbor Totoro', an '80s kids anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, the same guy behind Princess Mononoke, etc. His films are really great, and this one was suitable for children because there wasn't really anything scary in it.

Today we are at home all day because Bronson's rash got worse, he is covered with red dots everywhere except his diaper area and his forehead! They're much redder today so we are staying in and keeping him cool. Playing music, having him run obstacle courses and we'll have another movie night today too. Then it's astro board game group tonight when kiddo goes to bed.

Hope y'all like the new look of my blog, I decided to individualize it with my own art and layout.

The Long Beach Aquarium

Last Sunday my internet explorations led me to discover that the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is open late on Sundays for reduced admission after 5pm. Since Bronson now stays up until 7:30 ish, we were spontaneous: loaded ourselves and a picnic dinner into the car, made the 45 minute drive and arrived in Long Beach.

Bronson was really happy to have a special picnic outside in a new place. And then we went in and he was so overjoyed that he was bouncing off the walls with excitement, it was incredibly humorous. He strutted around pointing things out and explaining everything. Of course we had no idea what he was saying, but that's why he looks funny in the pictures, he just kept blabbing and blabbing.

It was alot of fun and took about 1 and a half hours to go through most of the exhibits before bedtime. Outside they had low pools where you could pet sharks and many types of rays, it was pretty cool.

I love coming home to our Pasadena apartment

After being away for a while, it still has that new apartment smell to me, it makes me think of newborn babies, reading magazines while pumping and guzzling chocolate soy milk. Good times being a new parent on a new adventure with all the necessary energy that entails.

My Canada day cheesecake

We had a very nice trip to Canada this summer. 2 weeks in Manitoba included trips to the zoo, boat rides, a visit to the cabin, a family reunion with the best pizza I've ever had, waterslides, flying cows, visiting mennonite heritage village, a day out with Thomas the train, great food, family, fireworks from a canoe, Canada day party, animals and lots of kids to play with. During our time in Portage I rented studio space from the local art gallery and got a ton of work done, which I forgot to photograph, but is hanging in Diane & Terry's art gallery/hallway for the time being.

2 weeks in BC without dad included 8 boxes of kleenex, sickness, a trip to the ER, croup, runny noses, phlegm... there was good stuff too, visiting friends and family, 3 nights camping at Rathtrevor, hanging out in my parents brilliant backyard, the pool, the hammock, mmm soup, Bocce, SKY!!! (cousin Sky), tall ships festival, harbor quay, library visits, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cars, Coombs, sushi, train ride, movies and of course, cats, dogs, parrot and guitars (all of the babies currently residing in the Barker household).

Here are a few pictures of Bronson during the trip to show how he's grown. I am not going to post pics from every outing, etc for 2 reasons: 1) too many and 2) we ran out of camera space in Manitoba and I was too ill and too busy nursing my son to get my act together and put the photos on a cd to clear the card so I have no photos of the BC portion. (Mom, dad, jess, Amy, Melissa, Sabrina please pass on any nice ones you have for my scrapbook.) I only touched a computer maybe 3 times all trip, and I'm proud of that fact.

Visiting Thomas the train:

Hey, look, it's Aunty Denise and cousin Ethan!

The zoo, heritage village, etc.

Here Bronson is sitting next to an old woman. Really, the statue's to the right of grandma.

Bronson loves to play with his friend Will. A big thank you to Will and Kristin and Patrick for lending us a playpen, bedding, pool stuff, toys, a car seat, their van... and everything else we could possibly need during our visit.

2008 Pasadena Chalk Festival

Well, it's been a long, extremely hot and tiring weekend. I worked from 8 am - 6 pm on Saturday and 6:30 am - 12:30pm on Sunday and finally completed my mural.

My area of cement was pretty tough to work with, rookie mistake choosing a high traffic area where the ground has been worn smooth. Other artists kept coming by and saying they were so sorry I got stuck with that spot. But, by the end I picked up new techniques for working with the smooth surface, so on future I'll know what to do.

I am still glad that I did it, even though my body isn't, it was good publicity for me. I got 1 job offer to teach, and 1 request to interview for a position as resident artist. Hundreds of people photographed my piece and told me it was their favorite. Lots of kids were able to recognize it as Diego Rivera's work which I though was amazing. I was even invited to an invite only chalk festival in Carlsbad in September, not sure if I'll go.

Anyhow, here is my final product:

And here is the painting it was based on:



Another part of the festival is that each artist is given a 1' by 1' canvas and asked to paint it. These are put up for silent auction with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. I am proud to say that mine was bid on 4 times and ultimately sold for $65. I would have priced the piece @ $40, so maybe I'm underselling myself!









And here is a short video showing the stages of completion over 2 days:

There wer over 150 murals, here are some picutres of other pieces there:

This was my neighbor, it was their 5th year at the festival, she won for most inspirational. They were very helpful to me and encouraging. Thank you!

Because a festival isn't a festival without an appearance from Chuck Norris.

Matthew Stevenson, BSc, MSc

A sweltering 2 1/2 hour convocation in pictures.

The procession

Ola Laura!

The glee club performed 2 songs, Matthew was up there with them

The two key points to keeping Bronson occupied: Peanut butter and...

Peekaboo!

Peanut butter...

Peekaboo!

Congratulations Varun!

Congratulations Walter!

Congratulations Laura!

Bronson spotted Laura before I did and started pointing and shouting.

Congratulations Matthew!
Matthew, Walter and Laura when all is said and done.
Here they are showing off the difference between a real diploma (the glowing ones) and a regular piece of paper from the Bursars office telling you that when you pay off your account they'll give you your diploma.

Congratulations daddy, we are so proud of you. It was alot of work raising a newborn and getting your Masters, but you did great.

FYI: Matthew came to Caltech to get his PhD and will be finishing that degree in another 3~ish years. Many astro students don't get their Masters degrees, but Matthew's class decided they wanted to. Missing from my shots are Yacine and Eli who also walked with their Master's today.

Sweet home California

Well, our week has been busy. Just as I start to recover my hearing, Bronson's eyes start leaking goo. Yes, he has pink eye. Oh, and a bacterial ear infection. Poor kiddo. He's pretty happy in any case, however we did have to quarantine him from children for the past few days and boy did he miss the neighboring kids. He was so glad to finally be able to play with them again. The doc is worried about the ear infection with respect to our upcoming flights, but another visit on Wednesday should give us a better idea of the extent of his recovery, so fingers crossed that he'll be a happy traveller. Just so you know, these pics were taken a few days ago - he's looking alot better now.

We've spent the quarantine time watching Curious George, playing legos and with a new special 'pretend' Diego camp set. We don't let B watch much t.v., but he did enjoy watching Bend it Like Beckham with me yesterday...he enjoyed the soccer scenes and was intrigued by the mother. Here are a couple lego structures he made, aren't they really unique and creative...aren't you so impressed?!??!

I am preparing for the upcoming Pasadena Chalk festival. I did not initially realise the largess of my designated work area and was overwhelmed to realize how big 8 feet by 8 feet is. So I have been diligently practising my technique this weekend and making a list of the supplies I will require for my 2 days of artistry.

Matthew graduates on Friday with his Master's degree. He has his cap and gown, he's rsvp'ed for the various social functions (hors d'oeuvres at the Presidents Garden, check.), all that's left now is to decide whether to bing Bronson across the stage with him, or go alone.

Well, I have 4 days left of work (Friday off to go to Matt's convocation) and alot to do. I got my first California sunburn today (sorry mom), since moving here 21 months ago, but it's not too bad. Just very, very suprising. I didn't get much sleep last night between changing my theme for my festival painting at 2am and waking with Bronson at 7:45am, so it's off to bed now.

Bronson loves milk. He also loves milk mustaches. His absolute favoriate food (at the moment) is yogurt. We actually have to limit how much he gets - only once a day after dinner, because if he could, it's all he would eat.

Bronson Simpson

Matthew Simpson

Jenn Simpson

OK - to bed! Really, this time.