As we ate dinner in the waning evening light on the banks of the Big Sur River, the kids patiently stacked water rocks. They made sixty – sixty – of these little sculptures while we dined.
Here they are looking for more rocks.
I’ll soon post all the sketches from the camping outing, I’ve just been enjoying finally having enough stuff to post daily.
They got mostly craw-dads with slices of hot dogs as bait, but Jack did get a small rainbow trout and a couple of mud-suckers. All were dutifully thrown back of course — after being given proper names like “Dragon” and “Son of Dragon” and “Rocky”, etc.
I like the way the kids sit with their knees up to their chins. I wish I were still that flexible!
This is the view from the “front door” of our tent. It’s a very family-friendly campsite, lots of parents having fun with their kids.
Here’s our home-away-from-home, the venerable two-room tent, veteran of at least eight or nine annual family camping trips. We had a beautiful spot right next to the Big Sur river where the kids could raft down it and catch craw-dads in it. I drew a lot while camping, so there’s lots to post…
We went to the Hollywood Bowl the other night, and thanks to some good friends who came with us, we were able to sit right up front just below the stage. We ate dinner my wife prepared and relaxed to listen to an evening of Ravel. It was great, and a great opportunity to sketch.
Today was a great day. Hanging out with the kids and wife, going to a friend’s house in the afternoon to take a swim in their pool (they’re out of town and nice enough to share). There’s something about the smell of sunscreen and chlorinated pool water that reminds me of childhood summers in the North Valley where swimming pools were so ubiquitous that when the Sylmar Quake hit the streets were drenched with water dumped from sloshing pools. Anyway, I made a little sketch after I got out of the water as the kids played – it’s as near as I’ve come to a self-portrait on this site yet (just the feet!). Here’s hoping everyone else had an equally fine three day weekend.
We went back to put some pollywogs back with their brothers and sisters, and collect some more. We forgot the net, so Jack caught about 10 or so more with his hands. As usual he keeps moving, so sketching him is quite the challenge. Kids are all about motion, that’s for sure.
Anthony Zierhut 