First Cup of Coffee - PEFO

 

This is my first cup of coffee in the Petrified Forest National Park. In my hurry to buy groceries and make it to the park before the rangers retired to their housing units I grabbed a bag of Whole Bean Coffee.  As much as I was hoping to find a coffee maker in the little adobe house the park has given me to live in, I could hardly have expected a coffee grinder. So I made like an Anasazi and found a good rock and smashed the hell out of the beans. Because no coffee was not an option. And I know, Anasazi didn't have ziplocs. But they would have loved them.

By the way, check out my Petrified Forest Journal in the tab above, I'm trying desperately to blog every day, but all this tromping over badlands and through deserts is exhausting!

First cup of coffee

What a luxury to have my first cup of coffee on my own porch with a book on a summery day off.  Sometimes I feel I don't deserve this beautiful porch, which was one of the things that sold me on this house right away, but I can't say I'm not enjoying spending more time here, even if it's with an ice pack on my troublesome knee.

My crutches were ditched days ago, but the most annoying thing about my post-operative recovery is that after standing for long at the easel I am shocked to find my  knee will no longer bend. So I am forced to sit and ice, and wonder what the heck they did inside that knee while I was knocked out cold.

What I can't seem to do is sit and paint.  No sooner than I perch on the stool than I have to step back or over to my palette, or ten feet away, or up on the little step-stool to reach the top of the painting. I can't even draw sitting unless it's a small one or I'm outside without my easel. So I guess I had better stay in good shape to be able to stay in the sport . . .

I did take my first walk yesterday though, after hearing about scandalous behavior down on the beach. Of course I had to see it, so took the 2 block walk to photograph horseshoe crabs in flagrante delicto. Turns out it was a rather dull affair, despite the orgy-like behavior of most of them. It looked like a barge loaded with surplus army helmets overturned, washing bunches ashore to overlap at the tide line. But activity was probably a lot more exciting beneath the shells, as I found half a dozen of the little guys tossed onto their backs as a result of their passion.  Now here was some good photo material! Flailing claws! But I was kind enough to flip them back over once I had my way with them. Don't be surprised if they turn up in a painting, once I get my easel legs back again.

By the way, the book I'm reading is the life of Louisa May Alcott. If all you know about her is from reading "Little Women" you should check out her life story, she was an amazing person!

mug

I was curious about the square UPS box on my porch since I didn't remember ordering anything. I opened it to find this really cool mug, made for me personally by the second Artist-in-Residence at Great Sand Dunes National Park, Sally Gierke.

We met when she took my drawing class on the dunes, then we bunked together in the Park apartment on my last night. I was the first time I overlapped with another Artist in Residence, and it was fun comparing notes, as she had also been Artist in Residence in Margo-Gelb on Cape Cod National Seashore. I guess that makes us Dune Buddies.

The next morning I had my first cup of coffee in it. Tasted great.

Trying to hang on...

I'm having my first cup of coffee at The Coffee Exchange, while typing up my dune shack journal before heading to work, but I wish I were having it here.

I posted some of my photos in a slideshow at right, or you can link to it on Picasa here.

The perfect cup

It's great to have the first cup of coffee in the studio. Unfortunately I had to go to work about an hour later, after putting a coat of paint on my frames. A good way to start the day though!