looks like rain


Nice big downpour last night. Baseball game with the "prep team" was great. Perfect field, wonderful coaching, the boys all in good spirits but very serious about the job they were doing...However, we lost. But, losing is a good incentive to move forward, so there is much to gain with practice.

Starting a bunch of Christmas images for a client. New tactic from last year. One, do a bunch of images that are appropriate. Meaning: tasteful, non-denominational, and seasonal. If some things are red and green or if snow or pine trees are in it--that qualifies as seasonal. I will present 8 ideas. If none will be acceptable to the group, they will need to lob a direction this way (maybe something a little more friendly than "global" and with no religious, sect, geographic region orientation) to take it further. If we start out with all the no-s on the table, nothing will happpen. I have to make a stab at it and truly consult. We'll see.

The Baker Institute Annual Report samples delivered yesterday. Nice! We used a really nice #3 paper (which means not the premium) for price--and it is a lovely silk finish we then put a matte coating on. All the color pops, copy is legible and the final looks better than the comps (except the epson puts down a matchless matte black that really cannot (or I havent seen it) be printed on a printing press. This publication should work for the folks at the Baker...and we now have to start thinking of topping this one. I have ideas. But how can you miss when the images one can show is of horses, dogs, cats, llamas or camelids (goats, sheep and camels are in that group), wild cats and foxes? Plus, the Baker does phenomenal work, so why not show it off?

The peonies have popped. Hosta are expanding. Bought a bunch of big (and inexpensive) salmon pink zinnias yesterday and plan on socking them in today along with 3 dicentra (bleeding hearts), and 2 hellebore. Will also plant some additional peonies that I think I will try and naturalize with other wild plants as the deer truly do not (or havent been tempted to) devour them. What with the 500 daffodils and 50 allium we put in last fall, it made for a very happy spring with vases filled with a diversity of color and shape that hopefully will continue to revisit us every year.

Maybe now is the time to get the snowtires off the wonderbus?