My Dog Spot!

My Dog Spot Photography is born!  The web site is up and running.  I'm excited and curious and scared.  I am learning so much and isn't that what makes life really fun?  The style of photo I create is with a white background although certain props can be optional.  Family members can be included in a few of the shots as well. We've had fun adding a couple of "extra legs" to a photo.  As time and interest go on I will be trying out different styles, so stay tuned.

Public debut will be at the Holiday Craft Fair at the Monterey Bay Aquarium this Sunday (7-9:30pm if you're a local).  10% of my proceeds will be donated to the educational fund established in v's name at the aquarium.  

Other vendors will be donating 10% to an educational scholarship being set up by the aquarium itself.  Since 1985 the aquarium has hosted school groups with students 18 years and younger at no charge to the students. 

Please wish me luck!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

My Family and Home Life

I've spent a few days working on the upcoming My Dog Spot Photography web site.  I have such a headache!  I am amazed at all the new things I need to learn and even more amazed that I learn any of it.  What is the best of all that comes out of this is the amount of support I'm getting from my friends and associates.

So much has happened in my life since I decided on the title of this blog, or more to the point, the sub-title of this blog: a home and family life, and not necessarily blood ties.  It's good I added that.  At the time it was because v and I had such a small family: we were the two of us and r, his beautiful daughter, in Portland, Oregon.  Now it is just r and I and that extended family of non-blood ties.  Home life is me and my two cats and the succession of possums that come by in the evening for a small snack in reward for keeping the garden organic and snail free.

Home life is my circle of friends; a friend who would come by a few evenings a week to help break the new and crushing silence that had become so rare in this house since v moved in those years ago. With her help I've eased into the rhythm of my own movement and the sound of my thoughts.  It is my kind and thoughtful neighbor dropping by to see how I am and to share his own small business adventures and woes (please remember Fog's End Distillery's Monterey Rye and California Moonshine!). Another neighbor who has taken the time to attend to my apple trees. It is the daily emails with the reconnected life-long friend now in Georgia, the morning texts from my oldest friend still in Southern California, and the wonderful letters from a dear, dear friend in Pennsylvania who also lost her husband way too early--another gentle, loving, and passionate Italian... lucky us! My weekly connection to the aquarium and my new, but no less dear friends, who have become a part of that non-blood family. Home life is my two cats, one sweet and one crabby (there always has to be a balance).

And now home life is about re-inventing myself and trying to succeed with a new endeavor.  Fingers crossed!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Into the Unknown!

Big breath and deep sigh...I'm starting a small business: pet photography.  

I figured there are any number of wedding and portrait photographers around.  I have sent the card designs to the printer.  I have my contact info blurred because I haven't quite gone live just yet and most of you who drop in aren't exactly local, though if I'm ever heading back to Europe I will make an announcement.  (And for those of you in Russia, v would have loved practicing his language skills with you!)

Once I have the website up and running I'll publish the address.  I will keep this site in the loop as far as any successes I may have.  I am nail-bitingly nervous. v was the impresario and had all the courage and hutzpah.  He was a born salesman though his heart was in wood working and his vocation was teaching.

So, I'm soon to launch in a quiet, modest way.  Fingers crossed!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

BiondoBags

Another one of the projects I've been up to lately. These are shopping bags, or totes if you will. They are made of laminated cotton, are extremely lightweight, and can fold up and be tucked in a purse or pocket.  Easy to keep in the map pocket of the driver's door in the car.  There is a three inch pleat on each side making them expandable for groceries or several items of new clothes.  They can carry a lot of weight. I've recently toted home two half gallons of milk in glass bottles along with four glass bottles of root beer (brewed locally I might add), in a single bag along with a loaf of bread and a few vegetables.  I happened to only have had one bag with me at the time.  They are washable.  They make nice gift bags too.

I make them in several ocean related prints (the one at top I consider "beach umbrellas").

Each and every one is designed and made by me.  They'll be on sale at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Craft Fair on November 16.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

A New Endeavor

Step 1: going to print tomorrow.  One of several designs we're trying out. So, does anyone know what this is?  Comments in any language are more than welcome. v is multilingual.

We are embarking on the unknown here, we're excited and having fun regardless. We are probably moving incredibly slowly...if only we knew more.  Good thing we are very fast learners! And that we have so much support from our friends.  Courage, you know?

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

End of the Day

Another long day of business with v and Fog's End Distillery.  We are rewarded with such beautiful scenery on our drive home, I just had to pull off for this.  Happily sales are up and the Giants swept the Dodgers. This last is for v, he's very loyal, there are radios stationed anywhere he may be working or relaxing. 

Business took us to Santa Cruz and a drive past the historic Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  I really have to take the time to photograph not only more of the Boardwalk, but many of the beautiful neighborhoods and beaches throughout Santa Cruz so I can share them on future posts.

A long and tiring day, but so beautiful.

In bocca al lupo. m & v

A Moment in the Sun

Is there anything nicer than a sunny spot to spend a summer's morning? A pleasant room filled with the reassurance of familiar objects and memories of time spent silently reading, time spent in laughter, time spent in boisterous conversation.  On this July morning my mind drifts to the scene of v on a ladder stringing lights on our tallest Christmas tree so far with the floor strewn with the glints of gold, silver, red, and green balls yet to be hung on that tree. No rushing the seasons, however. These summer moments in reverie of past seasons and anticipation of future joys we hold greedily for as long as we possibly can.  


We take these domestic portraits to hang on our walls as our personal gallery of treasured moments and in future to make matted prints available.  Let us know what you think.


In bocca al lupo. m & v

Fog's End Distillery, Gonzales, Ca.

Our neighbor has a distillery in Gonzales which is toward the southern end of Monterey County.  It's just a small town along Highway 101 established a hundred years, or so, ago by Swiss-Italians who found the region reminded them of their homeland in Northern Italy.  They established farms and dairies and many are still in operation and continue to be family owned. It is Ag Country.

Craig, our neighbor, is a retired Deputy Sheriff.  He was young enough, when he retired, to begin a new career and he decided he'd become a distiller.  He is virtually the only distiller in Monterey County, his product line now includes five lables: California Moonshine, Monterey Rye, White Dog, Primo Agua Ardiente, and a kit called Fog's End Hand Craft Your Flavor which is sold with oak sticks to add to the bottle and age at whatever length of time the home crafter prefers.  

Fog's End Distillery is a one man show.  Craig does it all, the brewing, the distilling, the bottling, the sales and the marketing. He drives out of our neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning to be at the distillery by 3 a.m.  He puts in many 18 hour days, sometimes more. He is meticulous, surgery could 

be performed on the premises it is so clean.  V got involved when Craig got his idea for the kits. He needed the sticks cut to specific proportions and v's got a nice little woodworking studio just beyond the garden.

A year, or so, ago Craig was featured on a cable television show called Drinking Made Easy.  Business began taking off.  The kit was a hit! V was making sawdust and Craig was shipping cases.  So it has now evolved that v has taken on some of the sales and marketing. He has many connections with the restaurant trade in the area and is also well known in the theater community. His showmanship and natural Italian charm makes him a natural salesman.  

Aside from really wanting to see our friend and neighbor succeed, we are very excited that this is a local, artisanal,  product! Buying a Fog's End product reduces our carbon footprint on the Central Coast and all over California. Less carbon is dumped in the ocean.  How good is that?  If you see it please try it. Many area restaurants and bars are stocking it. Nepenthe and Post Ranch in Big Sur serve it, Mission Ranch in Carmel and the Clement Intercontinental Hotel in Monterey have it on their list as well. I'm excited that chefs are developing recipes using it. 

It's just nice to see such a mild mannered, soft spoken man like Craig, succeed. 

Thank you, Craig and v for letting me get in behind the scenes to take my pictures.

In bocca al lupo. m & v