critters

Where there is a basket of wool, there is little Yoda. I love this funny, chubby, opinionated cat.

Burgess was sunning himself the other day in my office window, his grape snacks are behind him, he does love fruit but he is a terribly messy eater, which stands to reason since he only has a beak to tear his food apart with and no opposable thumbs.

He was getting very relaxed, it felt soooooo good, he kept sinking lower and lower and his eyes became droopier and droopier. He has learned that a gentle head-scratching is delicious and will throw his head back to indicate he wants a scratching or a careful rub. Funny little guy.

new illustrations in progress

This illustration is a new sample for Carol Bancroft and Friends. It is a story entitled "Kiss me said the Mommy Monster". I am determined to get it done this week. We'll see if I can do it.

This is also a sample in progress, Called "Charlie to the Rescue" of course its about a boy and his dog, and aliens.

And this is darling Pig on my messy desk. She is so precious. I still cannot believe someone threw her away.

Starling Burgess

Sweet Burgess trying to nap on the edge of my paint cup. Funny little guy.

Mountain bluebird

The other day while waiting in a doctors office I saw a photo of little puffed up Mountain bluebirds huddled together against a fierce Wyoming wind. They are a favorite bird of mine, the females are a wonderful shade of buff and bright blues and the little males are the most gorgeous bright blue fading to pale underpinnings. Fantastic little birds.

Anyway I wanted to paint them, but wanted a quick immediate kind of painting not a long drawn out affair, and I wanted to paint them as fat and puffy as they really look when fluffed against the weather. The music fragment is from a very old hymn book.

It only took a couple of hours to do, I don't know if it was successful or not but there it is. Done.

Oh and I had to fight Burgess and the cats for my paint water every step of the way. What is with their odd obsession with paint water? So weird.

Bear Lake

This afternoon we drove over to Bear Lake, it is about an hour north-east through Logan canyon.

The waves were moving in hard onto Cisco Beach, the boys could not resist.

Amazing how high the waves were, the lake was gorgeous.

We came home to a dinner of slow-roasted beef brisket, fresh zucchini, masked potato filled perogi with gravy and key lime pie.

Life is pretty darn good.

What I have been doing.

So this is what I did today, partially sculpted a very large doll head for a antique looking 1800's doll I want to make.

Finished painting the cabinet I have wanted to paint for years but my mom told me not too, because and I quote,"you will ruin it". Sorry mom but I like it so much better now, yeah I know it was grandma's but she's not using it anymore, I am. This shows off my treasures so much better.

There is such a variety of things in there, from a birds nest with little blue eggs in it and tucked inside one of the antique bowls, to a 1850's chocolate pot, and my grandma's bowl she kept filled with pink mints, ( the ones that taste just like pepto-bismol) it was always in the parlor where nobody was allowed enter except "company", and my much loved Dresden lace ladies.

The wood floor is all done, I just have to do the trim work around the walls.

Then I worked on the chair seats for the dining room chairs, tonight I am tired and there still needs to be laundry done, oh well it will be there tomorrow.

I do have to show you the teeny little strawberries I have been making, they are filled with dried lavender, made of vintage velvet and felted wool with glass beads.

My house is never clean because I am always mucking around with other stuff, besides the doctor told me the other day that because the tendinitis in my arm was so severe I should not be scrubbing. Perfect. Not like I needed an excuse not to clean, but this one is excellent and I'm going to use it.

been rug hooking....

So here are the first two hooked rug chair seats, I really like them. The others are in progress.

The first picking of green beans from the garden, a huge bucket full, and we should have more pickings too.

As I sat with the bucket of beans I had such strong memories of my dear dad sitting on the back steps snapping beans just as I was doing. Mom bottled them and he often helped with that too.

Mom bottled hundreds of quarts of vegetables jams and soups and many many bottles of peaches.

It seems to me the time is coming to re-learn those old skills and preserve and produce what we can.

We ate some of them tonight and they were delicious.