(http://givebloodmetazine.blogspot.com)

This year, it’s time to fire up the “Old Yule Blog.” In case you wondered, you can check your favorite search engine on the internet and see that there’s at least a few thousand other people that think this pun is funny. But there’s a lot to it—we look back on a history of holiday messages that include double-sided xerox copies on fancy paper, newsletters cranked out on spirit duplicators, with drawings of Christmas trees rendered in magenta and turquoise, to hundreds of individually penned cards covered with glitter in the days before carpal tunnel was even a word. It’s time to move to the internet. And with the price of a postage stamp moving to 43 cents, we’re doing a lot more on the web these days.

2005 is nearly over! What an amazing year. For Vickie the word was busy, with big new Public Arts projects and follow-ons to the old ones. We look back on the past years and a growing list of installations with a sense of amazement, not that it wasn’t all hard work The new pieces are cool, too. Check out the Stockton Heliotrope installation photos, and Richmond Works.

(http://www.unrulyimages.com)

Steve’s been doing a lot of art too, with some interesting drawings and paintings of people, including a series on the recyclers who pull shopping carts full of bottles and cans by our street day after day. There are meditations on life and work wherever you look.
(http://www.lastcent.com)

Speaking of work, Ask Jeeves is jumping! We’re going global, check out Spain, France, Germany (es.ask.com, fr.ask.com, de.ask.com). Take a look at the powerful free features of MyJeeves (http://myjeeves.ask.com) that let you publish and share your photos on the web, I really recommend this. In 2006 we’re finally dumping the butler and leaving the cartoon world.

Where were we when we left off last year? You would have just been reading our last holiday letter when the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck. We’ll never look out at the bay and the San Andreas faultline with quite the same sense of serenity again. Those poor people! Hurricane Katrina. The Kasmir earthquake. We take these reminders of the sweetness and shortness of existence deep into our hearts.

Sometimes there’s a knock on right on your door. One of the amazing events here at our urban enclave was the stolen car that crashed into our garden wall and burst into flames during the summer. For the full story, click here. Also on our blog—amazing photos of our backyard century plant’s forty-foot blossom—this enormous spike grew to its full height in less than three months.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without our regular political rant. Things seem to be getting a little smarter—it’s only taken a few agonizing years in prison for us to realize that torture and extreme rendition are wrong, but we’re finally getting it. It’s barely possible that a few of our elected officials are coming to understand that just because you can get away with things is not a reason or excuse for doing them. But keep up the strain—if you think for a moment that Bush or any of his cronies are sounding reasonable, just remember they’re doing it because they were forced to. That’s a valuable lesson of democracy, Republican style. And remember, in the US we don’t have votes of no-confidence, we’re stuck with polls and the media.

As always, our love and regards to the many friends and family who have graced our lives these many years. Hoping to see you all again, soon.

--Vickie and Steve