Steve Lavigne Studios

I had the pleasure of a visit from Steve Lavigne today -- he'd come down from Maine to the Northampton area to see his old Mirage pals, and he and I got to do a nice bicycle ride together and catch up on stuff. Steve has been working on various art projects, and one of them involves illustrating children's books, two of which he has completed. He has also produced some very cute plush toys to go with the books, toys based on a couple of the characters in them. When Jeannine and I were in Maine last month, Steve gave me some samples of them, and I took the opportunity of being near the ocean to get these shots of the plush figures -- Twinkle Star the starfish and Squiggles the snail -- with a realistic environment suitable for their aquatic nature.



Steve is hoping to get his website (which I think he said should be stevelavignestudios.com)up and running soon, and he'll be able to post more information about what he's up to when that happens. In the meantime, I can tell you that he will be attending a crafts fair in Newburyport, MA, on October 10 and 11, where he will be selling both children's books he has illustrated, as well as the plush toys shown above, and some t-shirts. (And you might be able to get him to do a quick TMNT head sketch if you ask nicely.)

I asked Steve to say a few words about the books, and this is what he sent me:



"Shine Like a Lighthouse" is the story of little coastal critters that live in the shadow of Nubble Lighthouse in Cape Neddick, ME. We meet Squiggles the snail, Twinkle star and their friends as they play games and become great friends. And when a boats captain gets turned in the wrong direction the friends band together to help. In the second book, "Twinkle Star's Adventure" we join Squiggles and Twinkle Star and the rest of the coastal critters playing in the summer evening. When a shooting star skates by in the night sky Twinkle Star wonders if the shooting star could be a new friend? So Twinkle Star, Squiggles and Big Belly cod go on a great adventure to find the star, and along the way they meet some new friends.

I produced the plush toys because when I started selling the first book a lot of the comments I was hearing were about how cute Squiggles and Twinkle Star are. So I thought that it would be great for little kids to hold on to them when someone reads the book to them."

Clouds and waves

Steve Lavigne and his wife Denise, who live not very far from where we are staying for our Maine vacation, invited us out to dinner last night in York. They treated us to a very nice meal at a restaurant where, as Jeannine remembers it (I only have a very vague memory of this) she and I were turned away years ago (because we did not meet their dress code), probably on one of our return trips to the area after moving away from Dover, NH to Sharon, CT. This time, it was not a problem -- either because we were less scruffy than we were back then, or the new owners are less insistent upon such protocols. I'm not sure, but it was great to see Steve and Denise. Thanks again for the meal!

After this delightful get-together, Jeannine and I headed back to our rental home, but we decided to take the shore road, thinking it might be nice to do that beach walk we'd been talking about for roughly a week and a half. We'd had the idea that we wanted to take a walk on a long beach, preferably without too many people around, and maybe near sunset so the sun was not blazing down on us. And at low tide, too, so there would be more of a beach to wander upon.

I can't believe I had forgotten that this beach existed, because just a couple of years ago, Steve Lavigne and I had ridden our bicycles to it from another vacation rental home (not more than half a mile away from the one we are currently enjoying). It's called "Long Sands", it's in York, ME, and it turned out to be perfect. As it was about 6:30PM, there were lots of parking spaces available along the sea wall, and very few people there, and the tide was pretty far out.

Jeannine and I took off our shoes (she first, me following a minute or so later when I realized what a dopey thing it was to be walking in my shoes on this beautiful, soft sand beach) and walked down pretty much the length of the beach, enjoying an occasional wave across our bare feet and the feel of the sand beneath, watching a few hardy surfers catch some late waves, several dogs enjoying a romp through the waves, and some parents chasing little kids across the sand.

And a big plus was the fact that as the sun was setting, it was turning the clouds various shades of purple and gold, colors which in places (if you looked westward, toward the sunset) were beautifully reflected off ripples of water on the beach.

Looking east, out toward the ocean, I found myself compelled to take some photos I could later stitch together into a cloud panorama. I knew the waves would very likely not stitch together correctly (and I was right), but the clouds did, as you can see here.



That figure walking toward the ocean just to the right of the center of the image is Jeannine, who enjoyed the small waves cresting over her feet. She thought the water was even warmer there than it had been earlier in the day, when we'd taken a couple of "boogie boards" and romped around in the surf at York Harbor beach. I think she was right, and we may go back to Long Sands today to swim, if it warms up. It's our last full day here in Maine on this vacation trip, and it would be nice to get in the ocean one more time before we have to leave. -- PL

2010 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show at Look Park

This past Sunday, it was time for another display of vintage Japanese "iron" at Look Park in Florence, MA, and this time Steve Lavigne came down from Maine to join in the fun. He stayed with me, and in the late morning we rode to Williamsburg to hook up with Jim Lawson. It was a pleasant surprise to run into Mike Dooney there (even though Mike was not going to the show).



Jim, Steve and I headed down to Look Park, where we met up with Eric Talbot, who'd ridden in on his Triumph Scrambler, which he is progressively customizing. Then we started walking around and checking out the cool bikes.



One of the first bikes to catch my eye was this beautiful Kawasaki Mach 3, from the era when powerful multi-cylinder two-strokes ruled the road. I've never ridden one of these beasts, but maybe someday...



Not too far away from that bike were these two lovely little Hondas, a CL175 (also known as the "Scrambler" model) and a CB175 (the "street" version). I always lusted after the bikes in Honda's CL class -- I just thought those shiny, high exhaust pipes were so cool.



While we were walking around, three guys on immaculate Honda CB750's rode in and obligingly posed for the crowd.



It was a beautiful day and a fun display of cool bikes, and after heading off for lunch at a roadside joint in Haydenville, we tried to hook up with Mike Dooney to go out for ice cream, but, alas, he was not around. Jim, Steve, Eric and I did a bit of bike-swapping for a short ride before we headed home. I took Jim's Yamaha FJR1300, Jim rode my Honda NT700V, Steve piloted Eric's Triumph Scrambler, and Eric tried out Steve's Honda Fury. Here's a shot of Eric on that bike.



I'm looking forward to next year's show! -- PL

Steve Lavigne, Herald of Spring

Who needs red-breasted robins when you have Steve Lavigne, who graced us with a visit these past few days, and perhaps brought a breath of spring along with him? Steve hung out with me and the Mirage dudes -- he, Dan, Mike and I (along with non-Mirage friends Rick and Rob and my daughter Emily) went to see "Wolfman" last night (capsule review: "A very nice-looking empty movie.") and went out for a nice dinner in Northampton later.

Steve also had fun setting up his new office at Mirage -- he's hoping to come down from Maine to use it occasionally, and we're all for that! Here's a photo of Steve relaxing with some fine graphic literature after completing the basic set-up of his new space.



Coincidentally, Steve's new office space is in Eric's old space, while Eric has been, for the last few years, in what USED to be Steve's old office space which he occupied before moving back to Maine about ten years ago.

Eric joined us for lunch and walking around today, and of course we started to talk about how all of us (well, except for Mike and Dan) are really eager for the winter to end so we can get out on our motorcycles, and discussed various trips we want to take this year. It got me so fired up that I had to take a VERY short ride when I got home -- there was just enough time before the sun set to take what amounted to a ride around the block. I stopped to take a photo of the bike I rode (the Honda Deauville 700) before reluctantly heading home. Look -- almost no snow in this picture! (Sharp-eyed viewers might see the towers of UMass off in the distance behind the Deauville.)



I would have ridden more, but I didn't want to risk hitting a patch of black ice in the dark. -- PL