Maya Calypso Durham Talks

Manga

2009-04-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

One day I decided to try some cat anime, I had already done human anime and I wanted to try something different. This picture is actually for a short story I'm writing, those are the bad guys or enemies.

This was the second anime picture I did, I think it looks a bit like the enchanter person from Spirited Away (an anime movie) just younger.
I think that has something to do with her head being to big!
This is my third picture, I call it the fruit salad queen because of the funky hat shes wearing.
Also her hair looks a bit like bananas.

This is the first one I did and I think the best even if her eyes aren't as detailed.
One thing about anime is that you have to do lots of shines and shadows to make it look good and that can be hard.
Anime comics are called manga and Sage got some books out that were like that.
So far I've quite enjoyed manga.

Cat House On The Kings

2009-03-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Cat house on the kings is a place where homeless cats go to get adopted. Their are seven hundred to nine hundred cats i this hole area and they just roam free. Theres a wall around her twelve acres that the cats can't climb. Her hole house is devoted to cats, there are so many cats in the kitchen and living area all though the bathroom is not aloud any cats. We are volunteers so we can amuse the cats and scoop their poop. People can also donate to her shelter and that's the only reason she has enough food for the cats.

I made the cats do exercise if they wanted attention by climbing the tree and telling them to climb it to and i was pretty successful. If Melio liked more attention i could have done it with him but he isn't a super attention loving cat.

This is the cat house on the kings. When we first came in we were astounded by all the sweetie pies so you will see we are pointing at all the cats we see. Several cats we saw several times and the black cat on my lap was determined to be the only one that got attention.

Sage began to pull a stick and quite a few cats liked it. In the photo it looks like sage is being chased by cats in an action movie. Mum says the middle one looks like a wild cat the way it's running.

The white kitten on my lap and darker tabby seem to be every where. All the cats at the cat house seem to be very friendly and sweet.

This cat looks very interesting and has brilliant manners. He was lying down and when i came up to him he went in that position so that i could see his beautiful body. Than he walked of when i was done and then lay down somewhere else as if giving me the sleeping area.

This is the kitten room full of playful, friendly, wriggly, cute kittens. They had lots of toys and loved to come in your arms.
Melio would have hated it.

The cat collage is of friendly close up cats we saw.

Our local farmers market

2009-02-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

The farmers market is open on Wednesday and Saturday. We are trying to go once a week and this is the second trip we took since we've been back.

This is one of the farmers at the back of the market. In the
summer he sells yellow cherry tomatoes, long twisty cucumbers and purple beans.

Right now they are selling different colored carrots, big spinach looking things and maybe potatoes.

They are all organic, but some of the other farmers do low spray. He was always in the same place from now to before we were in Scotland.

The sprouts look very good but we only get the bean mix from that table. You can't see the bean mix in this picture but it's there. In the mix there is chick pees, brown things, pink things and green things. We always get a dollars worth.

This is fresh honey and right now we have the honey that looks bumpy and is not the bear one, I don't now if it's in that picture. They sit at the entrance to the market and only sell honey with lots of bear and bee things every where.

Some people sell flowers or sometimes even paintings of flowers.

We haven't ever gotten any flowers or paintings but i think that they will get plenty. The paintings were water color ones and are always flowers in vases, i saw the woman who sells them painting them.
The person holding the bag with trees on it is mum. I think she's buying something but i don't know what. The person that runs this stall says that we are welcome to visit her farm which is cool.Look at all those greens!

Being Back

2009-02-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

We have now been back in Fresno for about three or four weeks and are getting back into our daily or weekly routines. Some things we have been doing are homeschooling every morning of the week, playing tennis, bike riding and skateboarding. We haven't done any of those activities all the time that we've been in Scotland.

We are having drama classes every Thursday, and at the end of the semester we will be putting on a small performance of Peter Pan, which we just auditioned for. I don't now who I am yet, the teacher will make the final decision.

I am very wobbly on the skate board but getting back in the habit of skid stops, side surfers and skip sides. I haven't really lost my bike talents, I can still ride with both hands in the sky but not for as long as before.

We went camping recently with the people who are living in our old house , one of them is a student of dad's. I heaved huge sticks about and with a little of dad's and Sage's help built a bark and log fort. We found a star fish, looked for crabs and got chased by the great god of the beach for stealing gold.

About a week or so ago I fell in the pool. I don't know how but I did. I was just looking at a spider and all of a sudden I realized I was in the pool. it wasn't cold and I didn't go under because I was in the shallow end.

One of the best things about being back is seeing our cats dolphin and Melio again. Dolphin is still the best cat that we could have picked and totally remembers us and is taking up his usual habits of suckling on my poncho and playing with the rug. He is a sweet, soft, playful, handsome, cute, alert, fit and adventurous cat. Melio is certainly fatter than when we left him so we are putting him on a diet. Melio is very cute, a bit whiny, quite needy and lazy. He also makes the funniest expressions, with his ears back and his eyes wide and glaring. I wrote this poem about cats we saw on trips to the library:

Cats We Saw On The Way To The Library

On the way to the library we saw several cats,
Out of these three wonders the first one that met my eye was a pure white cat with fur so flat and a twinkle in it's eye,
Out of these three wonders the second ones that stole my stare were two tabby cats with tails flapping like bats licking each other like mermaids on the sidewalk,
Out of these three wonders the third kitten i saw was a tiny cat who sat on my lap and dug his head in my arm.

I am sorry I didn't post any thing about Scotland

older art

2009-01-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

white cat on black

detective cat

lion love

tigers and the spider webbed sun

Edinburgh shop

black cat on white

bids on branch number 5663

cats of the kingdom

Birds

2008-09-16T11:36:00.001-07:00

They swoop around with feathered chests and large spread wings,
Beaks, sharp and long or curved,
Wings, used to fly high above the tree tops,
Birds of prey, with large hooked talons and strong stout tail feathers,
Sea birds dive for pray,
Eagles rule the land,
Robins and sparrows nest in neighboring trees,
Feathers, Wings, Beaks,talons.
They're all a part of birds.

2008-09-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sneaky figures in the night,
Tails swishing in the moon light,
Eyes shining ever so bright.

They fight with swipes of their paws,
Staying low and using claws,
and always braking laws.

Their meow is like a song,
Their whiskers are so long,
And their stride is so very strong.

the new skate board!

2008-04-09T09:29:00.001-07:00

I just got a new skate board!
I know 5 tricks, spin around, jump, side up, skid stop and
hand turn. I mostly skate up and down our drive way but
we have started to go to a skate park where I am going up
and down slopes. Last time we went I went down one of
the big slopes! (although there is a vent at the bottom.)
I don't know what else two say except that the cats are scared
of it and they don't run out in front of it like they do with
other things.

Art Show No.2

2008-02-22T15:03:00.001-08:00

This is a cat flag . Cats have a few flags but this is the main one out of all of them .

This is a tribe that live in the middle of the enchanted forest and they ride on giant fire breathing pigs.

The winged fox of the forest.

Lizard

This is a viking ship and they going to Shetland.

This is a picture that I am going to have printed into cards and then I will sell them and donate the money to the wild cat place.

Rabbit by stream.

This is for the same thing that the one above rabbit by stream is for.

Can you see the hidden picture?

Art Show

2008-01-05T15:53:00.001-08:00

Knight On A Horse

Tree In Summer

Bird On Bamboo Branch

City At Night

Colorful Cat

Fish Swimming Through Coral Reef

Melio

2007-12-11T10:40:00.001-08:00

Melio is our new kitten. When we got him he was so tiny he could fit into any nook and cranny. His eyes were so big and he gave the softest little meows. There was another cat that looked a bit like him but we were always saying we liked Melio.
When he was ready to show him self to dolphin we took him out for dolphin to see…….
Dolphin stared at Melio, but Melio looked every where but not at dolphin.

Melio is a real little licking monster.
If you get him happy he will follow you around and try to lick your hands and nose and legs.
One time he was really brave, there was a big black cat right in front of him and all he did was sit there grooming his leg! Even though he was born a street cat he is sometimes pretty silly. He wants to only eat food from his side of the bowl and he sits there meowing for you to open the cat flap for him.
He likes to sleep in nice places like dad’s office chair and up by my and mums head. If you leave a sleeping bag or a blanket on the floor he will curl up in it!……..

Some stuff about my cat Dolphin

2007-11-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Dolphin loves to suckle on poncho! He wants to take up all the room in the bed so he pushes me to one side and lies on top of me! Sometimes he rolls me right off the bed!
When he goes, if I make a single noise he turns around yawns and comes back.
He only suckles in the middle of the day occasionally and suckles mostly at bed time or the morning when I’m still asleep.

I think dolphin is a yarn lover.
He has a special rug.
It’s a small one with a cat on it. The cat looks like a chessboard and there are little cats around it.
He likes to run under it, paws first. When he is under he makes a little peek hole to look out of. Sometimes he falls asleep when he is still under it. He only likes to go under when it is dark out because if it is light out he will want to be out side.

(Dolphin being the cat boss of the city)

Dolphin is the cat boss in the city. If he sees a cat he will chase it away. He has a cat friend across the road that he goes to see around about the time when we are trying to get him in. One time in Three Rivers dolphin was stalking a deer. We have a silly photo of that when dolphins eyes are all lit up.
He hunted one snake and a lot of lizards. Thankfully the snake was not a rattlesnake!

March of the Elephants- a mini story by Maya, Sage and Gudrun

2007-11-27T12:54:00.001-08:00

Olly the world famous elephant composer couldn't think of a new piece of music to write for the annual parade.

So he decided to get some fresh air and see if that would help.

He took a bike ride and along the way met his friend Dolphin and asked if he had any ideas.
"What about a cat chorus?" suggested Dolphin.

Olly did not think this was a very good idea and went to stand on his head to see if thoughts would come from his toes instead.

One thing that came into his brain was to look for inspiration in a book.

He found a book with an elephant on the front which looked interesting.

Unfortunately as the book was in Italian he didn't get very far. Being reminded of Italy he decided to knit with his favourite Italian yarn instead.

His ball of yarn rolled away and found his lost toys however and that made him want to do some playing.

When Olly was tired of his cars he felt like doing some drawing. He drew a picture of an elephant marching and that suddenly struck a note in him.

He quickly went to his manuscript paper and began to write his tune.

Olly performed his song "March of the Elephants" at the parade and it was a stomping success!

Snow Leopard Acrostic Poem

2007-11-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Cat Haven

2007-11-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

I went to the wild cat place.
First there were tigers that tried to catch the fish in the pond.
Next was the Siberian lynx called Ivan. He was playful.
Then there was the Amur leopards, they were Chen and Aragon.
Then it was the Caracals they had a sleepy mood. Then it was Shebeth the panther she slides down the hill head first on her back.
more amur leopards,two jaguars and some little jaguarundis.Then they showed us the clouded leopards.
Tizzy is a snow leopard and is my favorite one.
she is shy and likes her tail.
she shares her cage with a bobcat.
They had a cheetah that was not seen close up.
and a lion that was not seen.

The next time we went tizzy came all the way out and was jumping.

Ivan played with the hose.

They brought the cheetah tango out to be seen.
At one point he was 2 or 3 feet away.
he rolled a lot.
(Links are to some fun youtube videos)