San Diego Wild Animal Park

On Sunday Dan and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and took lots of pictures. First, we took the Journey into Africa tour that replaces the Wgasa Bush Line Railway. The tour is shorter and only covers the African section but it is still a good way to see some of the larger herds. The cheetahs were out this time (first picture) and we got to see one of the baby giraffes (second picture).

Next we walked through the Heart of Africa section. We saw a number of exotic birds and spent a lot of time watching the flamingos (third picture) and feeding the ducks. The colobus monkeys were out on their island (fourth picture). We also saw the warthog, bat eared foxes, gerenuks, okapi, duikers, and gazelles.

We had lunch by the lagoon and watched the water birds including the shoebill stork, and a family of pelicans (fifth picture). The park was the most crowded that we have ever seen so we only got glimpses of the lions and elephants. Even the condors had a large crowd. Still, it was a fun day at the park.

Cool Culture Trip

Dan and I took a trip last weekend to Escondido. On the way we stopped at the Orange County Museum of Art to see Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury. The exhibit was extensive and included painting, sculpture, furniture, photographs, film, music, architecture, and design. They played music in the Jazz Media Lounge and had film clips like Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom and Gerald McBoing Boing for viewing. I especially enjoyed the paintings by the Abstract Classicists. The second image shows one of my favorites, Black Pillars, by Karl Benjamin.

Culture Trip

Today Dan and I went to the Pasadena Museum of California Art. They have some interesting exhibitions that are showing until January 6, 2008.

In the Main Gallery was Beyond Ultraman: Seven artists explore the vinyl frontier. This was a collaboration with the Los Angeles Toy, Doll, and Amusements Museum and featured the works of seven contemporary artists. The collection consisted of vinyl and plush toys as well as drawings, paintings, and photographs. There was even a small section on vintage vinyl toys.

In the Side Gallery was California Colors: Benjamin Chambers Brown. There was a lovely collection of California landscapes painted in an impressionist style.

In the Project Room was an installation by Susan Silton titled Inside Out. It was set up like a store with various striped items for sale. It was very colorful!

The Back Gallery had an exhibit on an artist named Jess. The collection consisted mainly of collages with drawings and paintings in various mediums. We didn't spend much time in there as the light was dim so it was hard to read the descriptions of the artworks.

We purchased the books for the Beyond Ultraman and the California Colors exhibits, a LATDA t-shirt, and Spider Baby Boom figure. The figures are in boxes so you don't know which figure is in the box until you open it. The one we got is in the second photo at the top. His name is Softyboom.

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a good Christmas!

Cookies!

We made cookies this weekend, sugar and ginger. The sugar cookies have been decorated with red and green sugar sprinkles. Dan got a little artsy with the candle cookies! The ginger cookies have been decorated with brightly colored butter cream frosting and a variety of sprinkles and candies.

Holiday Cookies First Day Covers, Part 2

Here are two more FDCs I made for the 2005 Holiday Cookies postage stamps. I could have kept making the stars but decided six different designs were enough. This is also the first appearance of Walf on a first day cover.

Holiday Cookies First Day Covers

Here are some FDCs I made for the 2005 Holiday Cookies postage stamps. They were created with Illustrator. I had fun designing these from memories of the cookies we used to make for Christmas. There are two more stamps in this series that I made FDCs for and I will post those later as well.