JJ Worden

circumstances threw me down the hole.
even though I screamed, "Watch out for the hole! Watch out for the hole!"

it's fucking dark down here.
and I forget where I put the goddamn ladder.

it's raining. again.
and the forecast is for a solid week of rain.
again.

my stomach feels squicky.
and I'm on the verge of tears.

I've got that gulping for air bubble in my throat.
and I feel like lying down and never getting up.

things have GOTTA be better in Australia.

(fwiw, I thought of not posting this. but ya know what? this IS my world. fucking deal.)

Before triathlon there was cycling.
When my two guys became involved in the local racing scene, I learned to master the fine art of the feed zone. Or how to hold water bottles with aplomb and grace and a grip of death to be released in a split second as a cyclist traveling close to 30kmh grabs it out of your hand.

The pass

Not for the faint of heart.
And I became a devout fan of The Boys of Summer (aka Le Tour de France).
Because we were all involved in cycling in some way, we talked over the years of being in attendance for the 100th Anniversary of the Tour.

Well guess what?
That's 2013.

So in a little over a week we will all be headed to France for 2 weeks.
Some of us will head directly to Saint Laurent du Pont.
Some of us will be starting out in Paris and riding down to the house we've rented.
Others will start their travels in Zurich then Bormio, Italy before finding their way south.

We will all converge here:


St Christophe sur Guiers, Isere, France

les Hautes Alpes

The only concrete plans are to see the TT in Embrun (Stage 17) and Alpe d'Huez (Stage 18) where for the first time ever, they will climb the fabled mountain, not once, but twice w/a mountain top finish. Be still my heart!

Le Tour 2013

Rest assured along with the glory that is boys on bikes, there will also be hiking and cafe-ing and market-ing and eating. and yep prolly a bunch of drinking too. But mostly BEing.

Excited? Oh. I think so!!

... I hadn't realized it'd been 2 weeks since my last update. I knew it'd been awhile but ... yah... that flying time thang. oy!

One of the downsides of moving this blog thing closer to reflect "art" than "life" is I feel I need to show stuff to you. And while I have a metric buttload of stuff done. I just couldn't seem to get photos taken. I know. First World problem or what?! geez.

Anyway. I finally FINALLY finished the next pieces in the doggie series.
These have taken waaaay longer than the first 3.
My standards are going up I guess. heh.

Without further ado ...




uhm. yep. they're Green Dogs. :D
I don't know why. I simply chose two colours (Pthalo Turquoise/Nickel Azo Yellow) plus Payne's Gray/Titanium White. What? No Quin Gold?!? Nope. Not a titch! I know. Right?!? heh. (okay clearly I'm a bit loopy cuz no one would get that. ever. only it makes me giggle enough not to go back and delete it. so there. like I said. loopy!)

I have some other stuff to show too but I think truly 3 things at a time is all anyone can tolerate.
Am I right?
aaaaaaannnnndddd... I'll try to get over that whole Show'n'Tell mentality.
cuz it's not like my life has just. stopped.
in fact ... rather full to the brim right now.

and I haven't even TALKED about France.
2 weeks.
2. freakin. weeks.

so much to do.
so little time.

(yep. def loopy!)

Okay. so it's cloudy today.
but all weekend? sun. and heat.
be still my heart.



I love these late Spring, early summer days.
Such potential.
Such rampant growth.
It fills my heart so full I can barely breathe
Or maybe that's the pollen-laden air.
Either way? Love!

I got some of my vegetable garden in over the weekend. I was remiss not starting any plants this year but was thrilled to find some good heirlooms at a local nursery. They also happened to have ground cherry transplants. stoked about that as I'm not sure mine will self-seed this year given the hard winter.

If you haven't eaten ground cherrys before? you are totally missing out.
I've heard they make a delightful jam but Stella and I always end up eating them directly from the garden.

Stella loves peas!

Hmm... thought I'd posted this photo before but guess it was elsewhere.
It never fails to crack me up. This is Stella waiting for peas. She sits waiting for her share and if I take too long there is much wookying. She loves her veggies that dog!

This week is shaping up to be busy ... I have a few art projects to get finished and out the door this week as next week we'll be gone for a few days helping Son#1 with house selling touches.  I also want to get my Doggie Series ready for sale - touch ups to the edges etc. And I have another 3 in the works. And if the sun comes back, it's going to be tough to stay inside. Better get a move on for today then! TTYL xo