Yesterday’s poses were held for 13, 12, 10, 7 and 5 minutes.

Watercolour and pencil in my Saunders Waterford (rough) sketchbook, 28 x 38 cm

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, a US federal government research institute whose mission includes “bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction,” has officially admitted that marijuana extracts can kill cancer cells.

The institute has revised a page on itswebsiteentitled “DrugFacts: Is Marijuana Medicine?” citing a recent study conducted by a group of scientists at St. George’s University, London.

“Recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others,”the NIDA report stated, adding that evidence from“one cell culture study suggests that purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors.”

The study, published in the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics journal in November, discovered that cannabis helps “dramatically reduce” the growth of new brain cancer cells.

“The benefits of the…

Yesterday, I expected to see the rain, because of the weather report. Not uncommonly around here, the weather report was wrong and, instead, I saw the light.

Yesterday, I forgot my cell phone when I went out into the light to meet my childhood-through-present-day friend Barbara for brunch, so no photos of that wonderful meeting will see the light.

During my time with Barbara yesterday, we talked about many things — from the light to the heavy — including:

• memories from our childhood,
• medical issues,
• coping strategies,
• many people we’ve loved over the years,  including our parents,
• this blog,
• how to do better accepting the light of other people’s praise and positive feedback, and
• vacation getaways, including this one:

I told Barbara how, during some dark days I was having last week, that video of the Underwater Room in Africa had lightened my mood.

Talking to Barbara for hours yesterday…

The funniest and wittiest quotes from Ambrose Bierce’s comic masterpiece, The Devil’s Dictionary

We’ve read the whole of Ambrose Bierce’s wonderful The Devil’s Dictionary and, below, have distilled the book into 25 of the very best entries in this classic lexicon. The only stipulation we set ourselves was that the quotes we selected had to be short and pithy – preferably no longer than one sentence – to ensure maximum quotability. We hope you enjoy our selection.

Admiration,n. Our polite recognition of another’s resemblance to ourselves.

Barometer,n. An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having.

Clairvoyant,n. A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron – namely, that he is a blockhead.

Comfort,n. A state of mind produced by contemplation of a neighbor’s uneasiness.

Consult, v. To seek another’s approval of a…

I have Red Zazen Cat Buddha
up on RedBubble!

And a handsome husband
who is willing to model
his shirts for me!

We have men’s, women’s,
tanks, and hoodies —
and other products as well!

922/1000 #landfebruary
The view from platform 6 at Milton Keynes railway station
Pen
10 x20cm

On Wednesday I took a drive and reconnoitered the train station to see the post-blizzard parking situation. The lot was plowed but there were many spots underneath the huge mounds of removed snow and the parking meters on the street were almost buried and necessitated climbing gear to get the quarters in the slots. I decided that the next day I would have to go to the station extra early in order to snag one of the spots. No problem – it would be a good chance to sketch some actual breathing and fidgeting people. Plus, I don’t want everyone to get too used to actual faces on faces.

A redhead, in the Penn Station waiting room, was sitting across from me. Well, I guess I purposely sat opposite her. She was engrossed in her book and stayed very still. Finally, her train was called and she vanished.

Someone else…

This piece of digital art changed dramatically as I was toward the end of working with it.  I was sharpening the image when I decided to fiddle with colours, switching from a deep blue to the rather serene green and turquoise colours of the final image. I liked the idea of it representing the haven our heart offers us from the time we’re born – to love ourselves, to be confident in who we are, to be able to offer love to others as part of the human community, to offer us succour when we are wounded or grieving, and to heal us on our life’s journey as and when healing is needed.

“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.”

— Lawrence Block, WD