Read a great review of Anne Applebaum's new book, "Iron Curtain, the Crushing of Eastern Europe"  in the New Yorker. I clicked right over to Amazon to discover that it isn't in paperback yet. I can pre-order for August delivery, but the hard copy (21.00) or Kindle (17.00). I don't have an e-reader, guess I'll have to buy hardcover. On the other hand, I am in the habit of reading in the evening, I wonder how reading about the crushing of Poland will affect my dreams. Applebaum's "Gulag" is also on my reading list -- hardly light reading.

And in the interest of comparison -- both books are cheaper on Amazon than on eBay.

Heck of a week! I was part of a BIG group show in Seattle -- the 30-Day Art Challenge  and I mean BIG -- 107 artists, each of us made thirty 8 x 10 works and on December 5 and 6, the opening was a eyeball blowing cacophony of color and pattern.

The VIP Friends and Family opening was Dec 5 -- which was crowded, but nothing compared to the crush during First Thursday, December 6. I could barely move -- the gal doing the counting said she'd clicked in 167 people in a single 15-minute period. That's more people than I see in a months on end here on the island -- with the exception of Saturday Markets in summer.

The cool thing? If you liked something on the wall, you could take it down and buy it -- $50.00 bought you any piece of art you fancied and mid-evening the line to buy art snaked around the foyer outside the gallery.

Ah city life -- sometimes I miss it, meetings with cool folksa bout cool projects, coffee with friends. What I don't miss is this -- can't go out the door without spending money. And... always walking on a hard surface. Quite the contrast to my muddy life here; and there's no place to spend money unless I buy eggs!

Life on an island....