dream

So I have had this dream for a long time now, pretty damn sure it is never going to come true, not that fate doesn't like me or anything ( it does not by the way), it is just a time issue.

You see, I want a lilac forest, at least an acre planted in lilacs and grasses. Since it takes sooooo long for lilacs to grow, like fifty years, I am pretty sure I won't live long enough to see it in fruition even if I started planting tomorrow and that is not going to happen.

So here is the dream, a lilac forest, with little sheep grazing around, knee deep in clover so to speak, and an orchard on the other side of a picturesque stone fence. A giant pig named Booger lives in the orchard, I stand on the back veranda of the old farm house and yell, BOOGER and she comes running (trundling cause she's so huge) up from the orchard to get her beer. Though I don't drink I'll keep a case around for her.
We'll go for long walks down our own lane with the goats, a few dogs, couple of cats and a miniature Jersey cow.
The lilacs will be in full bloom, the scent intoxicating, tiny new lambs frolic in the sweet grasses with fat newly shorn mommas keeping watch.
There is a forest with pathways, stone outcroppings for the goats to play on, a small creek and pond.
By the farm house there is a great vegetable garden, weedless of course , and fields of corn and alfalfa and a grand view.
By the old white house, there are hedges, massive falls of David Austin roses, all my favorites, Getrude Jekyll, Graham Thomas and Mary Rose, and of course one of the roses I love the most, Wald Fee will be in abundance all around the house.
Obviously I will need "help" to keep up the place while I fart around and do whatever I want to. do, mostly art work, in the loft of the gigantic post and beam barn.
I even have a name for it, FoxEarth Farm.
Or maybe I could call it My Happy Place.

black friday

For those of you who brave the cold, dark of night and nasty cross people to get a deal, good for you, you have more guts and determination than I do. Personally I have never done it, there just does not seem to be anything I want that badly.

So I slept in, and I slept in for a very long time too.

And this is how I woke up.....

Tigger.

Tigger with a question.

"What are you doing?"

"Wanna play?"

"When are we going to eat?"

"What are you doing?"

"Can we play now?"

"Where is Mr. Tinky?"

"Why are the blankets growling?"

"Is Mr. Tinky under there?"

"What are you doing?"

"Can we play now?"

"What are you doing?"

"Can we play now?"

Etc. etc.etc......

Gratitude

Well I just wrote a wise, wonderful and very long post about gratitude, and lost it.

So now I am just going to post pictures of Mr. Tinky in the snow.

He hates it, it is horrible, it freezes his toes and other bits and he is extremely grateful for his blankies and his little blast-furnace friend Miss Piggy.

Now if someone would just pick -him -the -hell -up -and -stop -taking -pictures -when -he -is -freezing -his -little -arse -off, all would be well.

Starling Burgess

Burgess has learned to say his name, sing it really. He says "Burgey burgey burgey burgess" and the first few notes of La Cucaracha.
I love that little pest.

just plain wierd.

I watch people.
I catch myself staring at them. I'm weird that way.
Usually it because I find them so beautiful, not in the magazine cover, model, Hollywood way, but how sometimes, you can see their soul, or I watch how the light falls on their face, or how it shifts through their hair.


I stare at children. In the grocery store as I wander the aisle babies and toddlers catch my eye and they stare back at me, for a few seconds there is a connection and I smile and they smile. I love it. I find the beauty of them stunning. The freshness of their little faces delights my soul.

I stare at the elderly. I feel such compassion for them. I do try to be a little discrete but I watch all the time. Weird.

I love people but then someone will piss me off and I'll hate them all and then five minutes later feel compassion again.

It's what happens when you are not only ADD but a Gemini, you can't stay the same for more than a few minutes....

bedroom

Every morning this room makes me happy.
I am so glad I changed it even though it has been a bit of a job. The color of the wall is exactly the color of Hersheys syrup right out of the bottle.

I love this room. Love, love, love it.

As soon as I get everything settled around here and ready for my son to come home in a month, I'll make a quilt for this room. Right now I am finishing distressing the wood for the bed frame I am making. After the kid comes home I want to do a large oil painting of lavendar fields to hang over the bed.

This really has been a big job. I am getting more than a little tired of it, being as ADD as I am. It is worth it every morning though.

I love this room.

Burgess

Funny little bird really likes milk. You have to watch him though, he wants to bathe in it too.

grey ghost

Watercolor painting of great grey owl, size 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

frozen

The other day it rained, the water filled the vase like interior of the Datura blooms and later that night it froze. As I touched the frozen blooms they peeled away, friable and delicate, leaving the stamens incased in ice.
I found it fascinating and imagined what it would look like in blown glass.
Can you see it? A clear glass vase with glass flowers?
I don't know, maybe it was the Ambien, but it seemed very cool at the time.

awwwwwsome

Just finished painted and distressed old, probably seventies cabinet, and THE coolest vintage find ever.....
incredibly cute, totally awesome little kids horse.
It is just under 17 inches tall.
Soooo cute! I love it.

Shower

Starling Burgess took a shower with me this morning.
He clings to my hair, flutters and gets himself soaked.
He loves it.
Then he plopped down on my shoulder and leaned against my ear.
We stood there for a very long time and let the hot water run.

There is something weird and wonderful about a wild bird trusting so much as to get soaking wet right there on your head, they are so vulnerable when they are too wet to fly.

I loved it, but of course there are no pictures.

minor obsession: wool

Wool and paint.
I am obsessed. There is never enough of either.
This is icelandic wool on a hand spindle and a large ceramic bowl of watercolor paint.
I spun the icelandic in a fairly light and loft yarn, plied double and then I spun a dark brown icelandic wool plied it with the off white wool for a two tone look. This was knit into a hat for my son for Christmas. Part of the hat was brown and part of the hat was white. Needle point wool.
I have two vintage chairs I want to re-cover in needlepoint but I have to come up with something wild and wonderful NOT the traditional circle of flowers.

Plain white wool.

Delicious. Sheepy. Wonderful. I just love wool. My favorite fiber! although I have had a fixation on cashmere yarn lately too.

Funny how the goats who wear the cashmere don't seem to realize they are wearing a luxury fiber. It is stinky and disgusting when they wear it. They don't mind at all. Goats are the best. My goat-girls have gone to heaven but they were great girls. I adored them. Rosie was a bit dense and Lily was a stinker, but they made me very happy.

And then there is Burgess......

Here he is prying into some cotton yarn I stared making a dish cloth with, he is HORRIBLE with knitting. HORRIBLE! And even worse when I am trying to paint something....he insists on hauling off with the paint brush.

Sometimes he gets so naughty he has to go in his cage just so I can get something done.

He is an opinionated bird, never seen anything like it, he gets, well, pissy. Seriously. He gets really bent out of shape if he does not get his own way. It is very funny. The feathers on top of his head stand up like a little crew cut and he starts squawking and pecking with that needle sharp beak of his.

He is getting his new winter feathers in, they are quite striking with delicate white tips. Very pretty.

Funny little thing.

Quite the prodigious pooper though.