Curious squirrel.  This photo was taken almost a year ago when I first moved to Santa Monica.  My fiancee and I were living at his daughter’s apartment, and this squirrel was a daily visitor – to her kitchen.

For many weeks now I have been clinging to the mantra "AUGUST", because I have held firm to my commitment to keep my calendar open for the month of August as much as possible.  My wide open calendar is starting to be infringed upon a teensy bit, but they are for things I cannot avoid.  If anything, it makes me that much more committed to making the most of every single open day I have in front of me starting next week.  When I say "making the most of every single open day" I mean "creating as much as possible."

In the meantime, I am being filled up creatively in many ways.  My dear, dear friend and soulmate Melissa is here visiting from the east coast, and she has been a great sounding board on many ideas that are swirling about in my brain.  She has also been a patient companion, as I take detours here and there in my quest to capture all kinds of different photographs.  I feel like I am filling a trunk full of creative tools – new books she helped me find at Hennessey & Ingalls, photos I have been taking since she arrived, and ideas she has helped me refine.  With every outing, field trip and wandering, I discover something new and think about a new idea.  Tuesday it  was a walk along the Venice Boardwalk that added to my creative treasure chest, today it was the bookstore and the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know.  Tomorrow we are going to H.D. Buttercup to see what’s what, and who knows what else her final few days here have in store for us.  Her presence – and our meanderings about town – are feeding me, and starting next week it will be time for me to start putting all of this energy into a lot of new creations.

I have spent the summer being filled and being fed, and the month of August is about giving back.  Giving back to the world creatively to the best of my abilities; giving back in as many different ways as I can.