The Drawing Process – A Manatee

June 29, 2026 / still a dreamer / 5 Comments

Does everyone’s drawing process start out the same – with an idea, and some idea of how you want it to look?

In this case, I did a couple preliminary sketches in pen and ink to get a feel for the manatee’s contours, and then went to a full page to do an underlying sketch in pencil. I figured I’d clean it up and proceed with what I had in mind. What you see isn’t that.

Then I realized what I’d had in mind was never going to happen. I decided to start sketching with just one brush and my watercolors and go from there. See what this little manatee wanted.

Letting one’s art or music or writing evolve is, I believe, what creating is all about. I’m not sure why, after all this time, it still surprises me that the result is nothing like what I imagined. Yet I like it.

I often come back and look at the drawing a ridiculous number of times, as if it might disappear, or maybe I never did it at all. But each time I see it, I smile.

It’s always a shade of me I’m still getting to know. Do you know that feeling?

p.s. Also known as sea cows, the manatee is one of the gentlest creatures on the planet, and a threatened or endangered species, depending on their location.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

June 22, 2026 / still a dreamer / 5 Comments

Isn’t it wonderful to start a new book and find it to be much better than you expected? This is one of those books.

In a tiny Tokyo café, one can time-travel to the past or future to meet the person they’re in a relationship with. There are several rules – the most critical is that you must return before the coffee gets cold. Another is that whatever transpires in the visit cannot change the future.

This tenderly told novel contains four stories about pairs of “regulars” in the cafe – lovers, husband and wife, sisters, parent and child – who time travel to see, know, or share one more thing about/with the person they love.

I am both charmed and touched by Kawaguchi’s debut novel.

Nature Photography Day

June 15, 2026June 15, 2026 / still a dreamer / 13 Comments

Above, a view from a walking path that parallels the Delaware River in Frenchtown, NJ.

Each year, Nature Photography Day is celebrated on June 15. The NANPA, North American Nature Photography Association, was founded in 1994 to bring together people who shared a passion for photographing the natural world and a belief in its conservation value.

The first Nature Photography Day was established in 2006 to celebrate the organization’s love of nature and photography.

The Spotter

June 12, 2026 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Charlie is an outstanding bug spotter.

Rather than attack an accidental intruder, he sits nearby and watches, waiting to catch my eye. Word seems to be out among the bugs that if they can make themselves seen, I will surely take them back outside.

Charlie is definitely on board with the effort.

Unlike dogs, who, in the face of a curious bee or wasp will often snap at it or bite it, Charlie simply moves his position, waiting for me to notice the odd little dance going on between him and the six or eight-legger. If Charlie were a dog, I suspect he would be a Pointer.

The Song that Makes You Cry – #3

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026 / still a dreamer / 7 Comments

What’s the song that touches you deeply – for any reason? Love, friendship, nature, animals – you name it. That one song that, when you hear it, you are always moved.

Here’s one of mine – a collaboration between two legends – pop musician, Ed Sheeran, and revered tenor, Andrea Bocelli. Truly, I love this whole video – Ed visiting Andrea in his home studio in Italy, surrounded by Bocelli’s family, and recording Perfect Symphony in both English and Italian.

The camaraderie and respect towards each other are so touching, as is Ed Sheeran’s innocent awe watching Andrea Bocelli turn Perfect into something else entirely. I always tear up when Bocelli hits certain notes, and again, when they sing together.