Year of the Ox?

Since our last blog post a month ago, Rachel has been besieged by viruses (those preschoolers are carriers, no doubt) and busy with a big editing project, and thus has pretty much ceased to function or communicate with anyone. Apologies. She is not feeling better yet, but is hoping that day will soon come.

In the meantime, dear readers, some photos will have to suffice. We've posted a new album, titled Winter 09, which you can link to from the list on the right. Some highlights, to spark your interest:

One day we took the first-year art students to Emigrant Lake, where we stumbled upon this enormous, angry llama. Jacob tried to herd with him a stick, but soon thought better of it.

This crazy man swinging an archaic wooden instrument is Steven, Jacob's boss, playing traditional Chinese music during the Jacksonville Chinese New Year Parade. For some reason, the parade also featured lots of Mexican women dancing in bright dresses, and several llamas. Not angry ones, though.

Look, a cute girl in a tree! Rachel's cousin Jodi came to visit from the Los Angeles area, hoping for some good ski slopes but finding great weather instead. We ate a lot and dragged her to a million art galleries.

As far as winters go, this is the easiest we've ever had it. At least once a week the temperature climbs above 55*, and the snow never lasts past noon. We're sympathizing with any of you who have been snowed in, without power, or just generally subjected to the rigors of winter.

In other news, we've recently learned how to play the '90s card game Magic (Rachel wins, every time), and Jacob has started a weekly Conceptual Artists Forum for all the art students and other people in Ashland who want to critique each other's conceptual art designs and learn more about the conceptual art industry (illustrations for games such as Magic, for example). We'll keep you updated on the happenings at that forum.