Ignoring deep depression related to the horror passing for government at home and around the world, 2017 didn't start off too badly here at Chateau Kitty Cat. 

BGH in 1995, except for the huge magnolia (which was, of course, already there) was actually green.  Summer of 2016 we finally reached out to the sidewalk.  Bobbie built a beautiful dry creek to drain runoff from between us and neighbors.  By 2017, having recovered from hauling tons of old cement around back to reinforce our Smith Canal bank, our big front yard remodeling project's basic plantings were beginning to settle in.

Fall deluges had proved the dry creek could carry water quite nicely.  

By February, spring was setting in.  One of our favorite times as fruit blossoms appear, birds return, and we watch hopefully for bees, key to a good harvest.

For third year I participated as an organizer and artist in Draw It Out's Art Against Violence exhibit:  Our Anguish, Our Resolve.  Each year Draw It Out's parent organization, Cleveland School Remembers, works tirelessly to bring sane gun regulations to our country.  Each year we honor those who have died from gun violence.  This year's exhibit, conceived early in the summer, found its focus in Orlando . . . 

My own artwork was a KINTSUGI, broken pottery mended with gold, the golden repair designed not simply to return the piece to functionality, but to make it more beautiful than before.  I used the technique to restore the Peacock Pot, made by Bruce Linder and cherished by me for many years, until . . . kitties.

Then spring and summer found me hard at work on bringing the Teen Leadership Council and Teen Impact Center into the participatory arts events at StocktonCon -- our local pop-culture convention.  Jagged Lines of Imagination has been part of StocktonCon since it began in 2011, providing selling space for young artists and a kids drawing area where artists of all ages can create comics of their own.

Thanks to Ann, and Dale - excellent companion, driver & birder, I got away for a few days of hiking in the Gold Lakes area.  In 4 days we visited 5 lakes and 5 waterfalls, saw and identified innumerable flowers, and lots and lots of birds.  Also caught the Crane Festival and later the Central Valley Birding Symposium (simply outstanding, and right here in Stockton too).  Birders are simply amazing, and I am not.  Perhaps I'll remember a fraction of what I supposedly learned, but mostly I was impressed by those who could bird-by-ear while I struggled to hold my binoculars steady.  None of which matters when one is outside in beautiful surroundings.

Final grant project of the year was a doozy.  The goal was to share some teaching techniques with practicing artists, recruiting more art teachers for Jagged Lines studio at the Teen Center.  Working with that small team of artists we produced 2 workshop series:  Watercolor Techniques in September, and Things to Do with Paper & Glue in October.  Fun fun fun.

Reached mandatory withdrawal age - bought a new car with safety features appropriate for an antique such as myself, and complexity to match the cell phone I carry but do not understand.

Taiji keeps me relatively healthy & sane.

Still a wood freak, Bob's focus is smaller now - no boats, no furniture, just pipes.  Bob collects antique pipes, mostly rather battered, then restores and rehabilitates and sometimes re-purposes them.  

He does detective-style research trying to trace the origins of individual pipes with a plan to write an article detailing some of the intricacies of the pipe making trade during the early years of the 20th Century.  He's aiming at a rather select niche audience . . . 

Mostly though, Bob is "the feeder" managing the orchard and the kitchen for me & kitties.  We have fresh fruit picked daily and bread baked nearly as often, with croissants and other elegant goodies as treats . . .  Oh, by "we" I mean Bobbie & me.  Kitties share an occasional steak with Bobbie, but are mostly satisfied with, you know, cat food.

Bob does not do pictures.  Here's what else matters.