blue and violet do thanksgiving

blue sat with santa. violet declined.

she opted for frosty instead.

and a dash on a reindeer.

blue logged his first ever hole in one

and i added more photos of water, sand & sky to the collection

and i watched the movie "elf" at least twice.

and these are the faces we got when it was time to go home.

a mountain stroll

When we moved last spring we lost the mountains.

We never lived in the mountains but for all my years we've lived with them resting on our horizon. True, the trees tried their best to hide the hills, but they were always there and all it took was a walk across a field or a quick drive down the driveway to reveal Hogback or White Oak or some other strangely named mountain. It's an image I didn't even realize was a part of my visual vocabulary until a few years ago when I did that one-drawing-each-week-for-a-year goal. As I looked over the 52 drawings, most of them had a hilly horizon somewhere in the picture plane.

Out on the new plantation we have some hills within a short walk but we have to drive to the next exit up the interstate to get a glimpse of those same mountains. My makeshift running path is mostly flat. This is a realization I just had today. Before today I would have described the path as slightly hilly. I assumed I was running up small hills and down small hills and that I was getting a good workout for my legs. Today, however, brother Daniel and I ran the "Gobble Your Gibblets 5K" at USC Upstate in Spartanburg. Now I am convinced that someone moved their campus into the high mountains just for this race. My legs are screaming. There were hills there that came out of nowhere and the inclines looked like something out of an evil geometry book.

These races are so strange. I run this same distance at least 6 days a week, but there's something about running with other people who are itching to outrun you. I try to tune them out, I try to pretend I'm running at home, I even closed my eyes a few times (not one of my better ideas) but I still ran faster than I normally do. Faster is good for time but not so great for the heart. At least that's how it felt during the last few hundred meters. There was this one absolute killer of a hill on the last kilometer that eventually tapered out to just a regular hill that remained almost all the way to the finish line. I would swear I heard that hill laughing at me.

We did well though. I think we both improved our times from last year and I was happy to finish 2nd in my age range. Of course, 2nd is just the first loser, but after that last hill I think we were both happy to just be walking upright after the race.

There's brother Daniel crossing the finish line in noble fashion. And since it's shopping season, I'm sure he'd love for you to come to his store The Tangled Web across from Westgate Mall in Spartanburg. If you need comics, games or anime, he can hook you up. www.twebcomics.com

the one with the shameless self promotion

Three shiny new sculptures added to the website and ready for viewing. www.dougmcabee.com

just a few of the Raku results

these are all hand-built using the coil method of construction. 8 inch minimum size...

raku and raku too

The ceramics class is so large this year we had to split the Raku firing into 2 events. Photos of each event below...

The first night, before Daylight Savings Time ended...

KJ, one of the lid lifters all scrubbed in and ready to go

Shunny looking like some kind of ceramics bandito. She volunteered to be the photographer for the first firing.

Jonny Cupcakes on the left, me in the middle, KJ on the right.

Putting the first few pots in the cans.

Adding one more to the can. That might be Erin, Lydia & Abby behind the cans.

Abby's lid stuck and it took 3 people to free it up.

And then it exploded! Just kidding. This was the "burping" of one of the cans.

Ashley "The Wisk" doing her victory dance

The second night, after Daylight Savings Time ended...

A scary bunch. Brandy, Tavern-E-A, Josie, ElizabethE & Anne

I gave them the safety talk and this was their response.

Waiting on the cones to fall. I lack patience. AnnieBob took this photo to compare the reflective surfaces of the kiln and my head.

Just as the second cone was falling, suiting up and making sure no skin was exposed.

Devin on the left and EllenBess on the right. They were the gatekeepers for this round.

Cracking the lid open.

Pulling the first pot.

Very warm.

Still pretty warm.

Making the white crackle crackle better.

This is the part everyone likes.

AnnieBob and Bethany photographed the second firing. No one was singed at all and everyone was anxious to see how their pots turned out. Everyone did their job well and I may have even been a little proud of them. Of course, I'll never tell them that.

seen at secac in savannah

Fiber artist Beth Melton. She gave a great presentation and she said she'd send me some of her "Pee-Paw's Pecans".

The river. Nice to look at but very cold to run by early in the morning.

Sculptor Ann Hamilton. The Lander gang plus Beth sat down front at her keynote speech.

The longest Veterans Day Parade I've ever seen. The marching bands punctuated the talks on Thomas Kinkade making them even more goofy to experience.

SCAD's reuse of old stuff. Great use of existing structures and great use of color on the new stuff.

Churches. Southern city....lots of churches.

Liza Lou's trailer exterior. SandySingletary and Beth wait while Georgie views the interior.

Liza Lou's trailer interior. Very shiny. Very impressive.

Mapplethorpe photos. Naked flowers, not people.

Kehinde Wiley's massive paintings. Just as slick as they were in the art magazine but even more perfect and awesome in person.

River Street. Newly acquired fact: Running on cobblestones is not fun or easy.

Some real life "Occupy" people. Not impressed with their level of dedication. When the drizzle started they ran away.

This. War monument and lots of other public art. Public art rules. It appeals to people and makes them want to come to your town and walk around.

A pirate ship. It wasn't really a pirate ship but when Blue sees this photo he's going to call it a pirate ship and I'm not going to rain on his parade.