Snow Days

We had our first snow storm of the season today and I am enjoying the aftermath...reminds me why I love New England. I love the changing of the seasons as well as the weather in any given day. I like weather, interesting, stormy weather...I think it is cleansing as well as invigorating. There is something so beautiful about night, after the snow has stopped. For as long as I can remember I always ran outside as soon as the storm ended. Usually it was evening. I would look around with the same wonder that I feel tonight. Check on everything, throw myself down and just lay in the soft wetness and sometimes make "angels". Good memories...far too few of them. Tonight,the yard is awash with reflected light from the snow, which makes everything beautiful. A different world. The trees first caught my eye as I looked out my window into the darkness and realized that it was not dark at all...I was by now out the door with a beagle and a camera. Just walking around the yard and enjoying the moment, the cold, and the silence. Then the night sky and its many shades were next to wonder at, where was all the color coming from... I could see color variations in the night sky...breath taking. I tried to capture it with my little point and shoot camera but was unsuccessful.
The quiet, the silence of snow...it is like everything has stopped, and for a short time it has.
Thanks for reading
Peace

Few Words...

I have not felt like writing, or maybe I just didn't feel I had anything to say. Maybe a little of both. My house is quiet, a blessing...All I can hear is the rain, pouring, hard hitting rain. I really like the sound.

As I sit and think about it a little I do have something to write about. The charcoal below was done by my grandson. He is applying to colleges at present as he graduates high school this spring. Now that, in and of itself, is hard to believe. The other day he applied to art school ... We have some great schools here in New England. He has a portfolio to finish by February 1. I am very excited and happy for him. I love that he and I can talk art and that he believes I may know something...A year ago he did not know what charcoal was. I showed him some of mine, gave him charcoal and paper for his birthday last summer. His teacher (he is in honors art in school) got him started with them and now it is his favorite medium.



Have a great day and thanks for reading.

We Are The Ones Song by will.i.am - Obama

Please vote tomorrow. And yes , please consider voting for Barack Obama.

Weary Days

Maggie is getting around better now that she is finished the Lyme medication. Begging, running to the door hoping who ever is there will have a cookie or anything...but all is not well. She had another seizure, that is two since February. But in both cases she was very anxious or upset? In February she was afraid of my daughters baby (60 lbs) English Bulldog, took a seizure. Then, other night I ran out to bring her in before a rather large skunk decided to lift it's tail. I scared her I guess but telling her loudly to stop and come. So I guess I have to give my commands in my gentle voice. Who knew...

I have been weaving but my heart is not in it. This has been a hard summer. I can't even believe it is over and it is the middle of October. My daughter's illness was a blow to the system I'll tell you. Then my dog became ill. That hurt emotionally and financially. Then one of my sons moved back home for a while. I can barely find the time or muster the energy to write in this blog. But I am going to try to pick it back up again, even if I post a photo. So I am trying to challenge myself.

The only thing that I seem to turn to are my paints and camera. I have been picking up here and there water soluble oils. They are a little different. Still figuring out how they work. The mixing with water or other mediums kind of confuse me, but I am working on it. This was kind of fun, a use up whats on the palette painting. I did it on 6"x6"gessoed board. Thanks to some great tutorials I bought Masonite and had it cut and gessoed away. I call it Harvest Moon.

Plus still doing watercolor studies. I am thinking if I post things, I will be motivated to continue to paint or draw, both of which I have always loved to do but for various reasons always got put on the back of the proverbial burner. I never let myself take it seriously. Someone told me that at the end of ones life, one doesn't really think about all one has accomplished, but rather what has not been accomplished. I joined a small group of friends, who are artists, to do The Artist Way together over the next 12 weeks or so. I read the book on my own a couple of years ago, now it's time to be accountable and do it with others. It has been encouraging and affirming time together. We are painters, stain glass artist, photographer...I hope it morphs into a support group. We will see.



This past week end had been a busy one, WaterFires, Art Festivals, Enjoying the beautiful fall leaves, apple picking and pie making. But I'll leave that for another day. But here is a shot of our wonderful WaterFires in the middle of downtown Providence.


Thank you for still reading and have a great day.

Sunflowers and A Sick Pup...

My Grand-daughter found and joined a Photography Meet-Up. She does not drive so I guess she joined hoping I would be interested as I have the wheels...The first meet-up was a trip to Sawmill Farm to visit their field of sunflowers at 5:00, as well as other things. It was great fun and I got some great photos of sunflowers. They are so graceful. They gave us full run of the farm in regards to our photo taking. Our next Meet-Up will be to take photos of the barns of Glocester, a rural area in our state. The organizer of the group does the advance work so that we have permission to visit the various places. It is planned that we will meet at a specified spot at which point we will either car pool or caravan to the various barns. It is a great time of year for this excursion.


This is Maggie's chair. I gave up a long time ago. She lets us sit with her, she actually likes when someone visits her in "her" chair. Anyway I was walking by her and there was this poor pathetic pup just watching every move I made. She had to return to the vet the other day as she still was having trouble getting around. She was unable to get on her chair or off the deck to check out the yard and what ever else she does out there. She usually was in and out annoyingly all day, but she no longer had the energy or the legs for it. She was still limping and her back legs were weak. She was wobbling. Pretty upsetting. So of course I had been doing research and I was very concerned. I should not research...The vet was also concerned and somewhat mystified. In any case, Maggie is now being treated for Lyme disease on the off shot that her original Lyme test was a false negative. She is on the three week regimen of antibiotics and anti- inflammatory medicine. While on the anti-inflammatory she can move with ease, but she stays pretty quiet which is what the vet wants, no walks, no playing, just "chair rest".

Two days later my next door neighbor came to tell me her Beagle had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and he too is pretty sick. His appears to have settled in his neck and he can barely move. So they are both down. The vets have told us it, the deer tic, is also carried by squirrels and mice...That's nice, I have a full community of squirrels outside and probably mice as well.

In Maggie's case, I hope it is Lyme, in fact, what she has, otherwise I don't know what to think. But for now I am going to be positive and just love on her and give her her little peanut butter cocktails twice a day with meds hidden inside. Poor 12 year old Amy gets all excited when the peanut butter gets broken out. She comes running and now we give her a little peanut butter as well, hers straight up. Oh well, if a little peanut butter is going to make her happy.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Maggie Takes To Her Bed...

Maggie hasn't felt well for a few days or longer. My daughter had her Gamma Knife surgery this week. So I was noticing things, but not really seeing them as I was focused on Cheryl and the procedure coming up. What I did see was my dog was limping and having a hard time moving in general. Not all the time, it seemed to come and go. But when she wasn't racing me down the hall wall in the morning as I got out of bed I grew concerned. It is of Maggie's opinion that she should be fed before anything else occurs in the morning. I of course disagree. It is coffee for me and then food for her and Amy. But she didn't seem to care. She just stayed put. Anyway fast forward.

Gamma knife procedure is now 5 days old and she is doing well other than swelling that was expected. But yesterday my dog was having a hard time getting around and appeared to be in pain if I pet her face or touched her in anyway. She was lethargic, limping, and off her food. In the back of my mind was lyme disease. So off to the vet we went. Emergency visit, blood tests, thorough exam later, no to lyme(vet thought it was also)so more blood work, Oh God, do they have dishes here I can wash...The pain was a pretty bad ear infection. So now I wrestle with her to use an ear wash daily for two weeks followed with an antibiotic squeezed into both ears...she is not amused. As for the lameness, well all her blood work came back pretty good. But she is on medication for the pain and muscle relaxers. Who knew. So she is feeling good and looks happier but still favoring her leg but we will watch and see now and continue on the meds if need be.

I am getting nothing accomplished this summer. My looms remain untouched and I barely wet my brushes or draw. My gardens always look raggy from weeds. So much to do and just not getting anything done...Frustrating to be sure. Also not having an easy time uploading photos tonight. Trying to figure out how to get them directly from Picasa to blog rather than Picasa to My Pictures to blog.

The other day butterfly after butterfly arrived at my butterfly bush. This was just one of them.




Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Sails

My entry for Illustration Friday, my first actually. This is from a photo I took while visiting Galilee, RI. Then using watercolor I painted this. It is one of my favorite places here in RI where I can sit and have some clam cakes and chowder and watch the various types of boats, like kayaks, sailboats, pleasure boats , fishing boats and Block Island Ferry, all come and go.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.