Pastelz

Some more drawings from our pastel class (the feet were done by me, the dog, by Patty).

Just finished reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Pretty much everyone has read this book; it seems like "The DaVinci Code" for non-fiction readers, such as myself. I found Pollan's book to be a great summary of the struggle we all face when choosing how to eat in this modern age. We face questions of ethics, health, economics (ranging from global to personal), and logistics. Pollan's writing style is very accessible and enjoyable, as well as thought provoking from a content perspective.

Men = Job Losses; Women = Job Gains

Interesting article on Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/105040/The-Slump:-It

They eat from the same dishes and sleep in the same beds, but they seem to be operating in two different economies. From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.

What's going on? Simply put, men have the misfortune of being concentrated in the two sectors that are doing the worst: manufacturing and construction. Women are concentrated in sectors that are still growing, such as education and health care.

This article also goes on to address pay issues between men and women, which boil down to less pay for women.

The Fine Arts

Today we cooked a large batch of Dal, which is an Indian dish, and a large batch of escarole and beans, which is an Italian dish.

Also shown are drawings we did in our pastel class. After we drew them, we ate the strawberries. Yum!

Real Food

Been reading this book.  The premise is that we should be eating food in its natural state with no processing or minimal processing.  This means fats and oils, such as canola oil or sunflower oil, are unnatural and not healthful.  She makes a series of scientific assertions about how eating food that’s been processed means we are over-consuming nutrients which are harmful in large doses and that we are bypassing nutrients which we need – nutrients which are found in more natural sources.  Some of these natural sources include unprocessed foodstuffs such as butter, lard, eggs, olive oil, beef, chicken (skin included), etc.  Yep – she argues that butter is a superior fat to cook with compared to canola oil, for example.  She certainly makes a persuasive case.  The science I don’t really understand, but I must say it all resonates with me.  The tough thing, however, is that the generous portions of animal-based milk, beef, etc. that she recommends over a vegetarian diet is best consumed totally naturally – and that means grass-fed, pastured animal products, which can be hard to find and expensive.  I do recommend the book.

Sketching

Here's an example of some of my sketchwork lately. This was done for Patty for an art exhibit talk that she's delivering to some young people. Mostly I've been doing greeting cards for family and friends on special occasions.

Bonus Shotz

Vegetables from our garden (above). Our adoring son (below).

Reimer's Ranch / Pedernales River Hike

Patty and I went on a lovely hike yesterday with a group from meetup.com along the Pedernales River. It was at Hamilton Pool Park and/or Reimer's Ranch - not sure which, but it was gorgeous and refreshing and challenging. I took a swim in the river after the hike and it was just a great sensation feeling the cool water and the freedom of jumping into a natural body of water and not worrying about still wearing my hiking clothers. Terrific!

- Mike