Melinda Downing Design

will and chloe dance recital

I saw two of my favorite people, William and Chloe, perform at the William Saroyan Theatre in front of thousands last night. They were so brave and adorable. After the show.... ice cream.

baby bird

Mary found her in the driveway after yoga class this morning. I put her in a box and brought her to the middle of the yoga room while I decided what to do. She fell asleep and seemed unhurt, just too young to be out of the nest. I called wildlife resuce, they never returned my call. Googled "baby bird out of nest" and it said to leave them where you found them, so I returned her to a low branch in the tree where she came from. (sorry Betty...) All day I checked on her, she came back to the ground and moved around quite a bit. Three birds stayed near her all day keeping the cats and squirrels at bay. I'm confident she'll be fine. I'm letting nature take it's course and hope she's in the air soon. I've named her Mary after the Mary who managed to see this small, motionless gray bird on a gray diveway and saved her from a most certain death by a departing yoga student.

acquisition

: something or someone acquired or gained.

I had to have her and I can't explain why.
She's chipped and cracked and worn out, but I find her beautiful.

june kids

 

easter weekend at the cabin

Cold and dreary, but still a great time. Two days of clearing and burning. Family up for lunch on Easter. Exploring to collect pinecones, found an abandoned quarry. Campfires late into the night, hot tea and Chocolate chip cookies right out of the portable oven/stove and fried potatoes in the early morning. In my book, it does not get much better than this!

more of scott's senior session

 

six sessions in six days

Not typical for me. I really don't like to do more than three sessions a week, tops. This week there was a wedding, a senior session, a birthday party, a baseball game, a headshot session and a location shoot for a website at a Brake Shop. Whew! I have a lot of editing to do. (I broke my "I don't do weddings" rule for the 2nd time in a year)

 

prom night

the dress

getting ready

Looking good...

a few last minute touch-ups

OK, ready to go...

64

To celebrate my husband Michael's 64th birthday, we left the foggy valley we live in and drove into the sunshine of Southern California. First Stop Conan. It was a seamless operation, we checked in at Warner Brothers, got a hand stamp, tickets, boarding card and wristband and were told to return in 2 hours. We had a leisurely lunch then headed back to the taping. We were seated in the 2nd row, about 4 feet from Andy Richter's podium. Sean Lennon's band "The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger" closed the show, and.... he waved at me after the show. This was especially cool because many years ago Michael saw John Lennon and Sean getting into a limo at SFO airport. As they were pulling away, John turned around and waved at Michael. No cameras allowed on the lot so no Conan photos. The next day we window shopped on Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills, ate at cafe M, then visited the Getty Museum.

 

First session of 2011

Mason is one of my favorite little guys. We spent some time in the studio and at the park this week. It was the first day of sunshine in weeks.