2009 Car Show Highlights

Bumblebee!

Donald IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT of BUMBLEBEE the famous Transformer's Camaro.

Here's the logo on the car (the flash made it not yellow.)

Donald swooning over his dream car, the new Lamborghini Murcielago. ($400,000)

Meanwhile, Dave and I were interviewed about "our next car": the Nissan Leaf (click on the clip with the car picture) - http://www.ktsf.com/en/ - it's mostly Chinese...

At lunch Donald and Ben, wearing the Scion beanies they won by knowing a lot about Scions, read Road & Tracks Donald dragged along. After lunch, I have a big surprise for them....

I know the lady who watches over the Lamborghinis....!

Shock and amazement. A 12-year-old's ecstasy.

Tears of joy.

"Don't touch ANYTHING!"

Kings of the world. Thank you, Kristi!

I like the black one. (Took off my baby-blue Nissan Leaf t-shirt for this shot.)

Donald tries to stop smiling.

This thing's more my style. I can put a pink Smart Car in my purse when I'm not driving it.

The coolest thing we saw... a restored 1932 "zeppelin" motorhome.

Here's the car we can all agree on: an electric 1950 Porche Spyder! It's vintage... it's electric... and it's coooooool!

Uplifting Work 2009

I haven't blogged in ages. I haven't sent out an email to my fans since the reading of my musical in March. (Shortly after that, progress screeched to a halt.)

My day job has been keeping me busy. My incredible, enterprising mother, Louise Hart, started a new career (at age 70, mind you!) as a publisher, and I'm her graphics department. She's brought her friend Pat Palmer's books back into existence, in a twenty-first-century kind of way. People (especially school counselors and child therapists) are writing and thanking her because their old copies are worn beyond repair!

Then there are my artistic clients, Amanda Lockwood (painter), Pope Flyne (musician) and Merrill Collins (musician/publisher), who all have launched websites, albums, or other projects. I'm a big fan of all of them and glad to be part of their success.

I'm also publishing two, not one, monthly newsletters for non-profits: Bret Harte Middle School and the California Writer's Club. I'm soaking up the compliments but wondering if I've gone completely insane.

In my spare time, I've been hard at work on a memoir of my cartooning career. Perfectly Revolting: my "Glamorous" Cartooning Career (working title) is coming out in March. March 14th, to be exact. Mark your calendars. Come to the party! I think you'll have as much fun reading it as I've had writing it.

Oh Challah

Ode to a Perfect Breakfast
by Donald Max Caven and his Mom
in the waning days of summer
August 17, 2009

Oh, Challah, you wait for me
As my fingers fiddle with plastic parts.
A dry gooey-ness awaits me,
Twisty, mouth-watering, sweet, buttery,
My mouth will explode when I fill it with you.
Your yellow air-pockets pull away in layers,
Each to dissolve between my teeth
Like night fading into Don.
I beg for thee like a panting dog.
I scoop my cocoa with your tender crust,
Breaking the thin skin of tortured milk.

Oh Cocoa, painfully hot but incredibly sweet.
Cold thermometer spoon, a cooling pool
For the windstorm of my lips,
Which vaccuum you to my eager tongue.
I have no patience for you, spoon!
My straw makes whirlpools as I drink
An inch with each sip.

Oh, Nectarine, I can't eat you!
You're so perfect!
Round, porous, red-rimmed, shiny yellow meat,
Then again...
Slippery sweet, juicy...
Gone.

Oh, Challah, why are you so perfect?
I'm so sorry when I've devoured you.