Morning Visitors

Better not let the puppy out, lest she be snapped up!

Friday Fun: A girl can dream...

... of warmer places.

Veggie Days

What? It's August, and I haven't blogged about my vegetable garden since March? Well, here we go then:

First, there were radishes and baby spinach.

Then, snap peas, snow peas, and parsley.

Mountains, and I do mean mountains, of zucchini.

Lettuce and Italian broad beans.

Pecks o' purple peppers!

Zucchini, a.k.a. "baseball bat."

A plethora; and attack of the killer tomatoes begins.

And more tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes...

Next up: Kale Invasion.

Crazy Garden Lady Returns

It was sunny and close to 70° here this past weekend! I spent both days completely overdoing the physical thing in the vegetable garden. But it felt so good to work outside after a long winter... a perfect antidote to long hours at the drawing table.

The plot we started last year was a mess of brambles and roots-- and a complete nightmare to clear. (Just ask my back.) We dug every inch by hand.

This year, not as bad. Tall, ugly deer fence in place. (It really works!)

I managed to turn over half of the soil, amending it as I went with peat moss, lime, our homemade compost, and dried up chicken manure. (Good to have chicken-raising friends!) I planted a few rows of peas, spinach, kale, turnips, and radishes. It's early in the season, but these are cool weather crops, and I'll take the chance.

I'm using the 1977 version of "Crockett's Victory Garden" as a guide this year. (It belonged to my grandmother. I love finding her handwriting inside!) It's a wonderful book, because it follows the gardening season month by month. (Though the author drenches almost everything with Diazinon. Yikes! No thanks.)

The husband made this handy-dandy planting board, one of the many great ideas in the book. It's notched every 6 inches to help space plants evenly when planting. The bottom edge is beveled to make a nice little groove in the soil for seeds.

I decided it might be smart to actually write down what and when I plant this year. (Duh!)

With a little luck we'll end up with something like below come summertime. This was last year's bounty. Pretty darn good considering it was our first year growing vegetables, and a crummy one weather-wise for gardens here in the Northeast.

Oh, this is my super-dorky gardening hat. (That sun is really strong!) You'll have to pay a lot of money if you want to see an actual photo of me wearing it...

Harvest

Despite the rain, clouds, root rot, tomato blight and slug herds that descended upon the garden this year, we've managed to get a bit to eat.

(Clockwise from upper left: beets, parsley, cherry tomatoes, red & yellow tomatoes, edamame beans, spaghetti squash, chinese eggplant, italian broad & yellow wax beans, cucumbers, butternut squash. Not shown: cubanelle peppers, basil, brussel sprouts, garlic. Earlier this season: sugar snap peas, radishes, kohlrabi. Disasters: broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, watermelon, muskmelon and zucchini-- amazingly enough-- since it's usually a no-brainer. Also not shown: weeds like you can't believe.)

Goodbyes & Hellos

I've been missing this little blog, my place to gather random bits of art and life. My break was longer than expected.

It's been a different kind of summer around here. Full of good and bad things. We lost a beloved family member to cancer in July. She was a young mother. She was a courageous woman. She and her inner circle of caregivers taught us so much about holding on to hope and dignity in the face of the unthinkable.

This summer has been a time of readjusting to the new way-life-is. Much time for quiet reflection.

Now school is around the corner and the future is coming back into focus. New beginnings. This is good.

More Time, Please

Sometimes life overwhelms creative time.

Don't feel badly-- read this and remain inspired. (The article is geared toward painters, but the principles work for writers and illustrators as well.)

The Visitor

This plump fellow paid us a visit during spring break last week. He pranced around the backyard for a while, and then zipped off into the woods.















Turns out he was preening for a few lady friends, who promptly ran away. I guess they were camera shy.

Young Creativity

Yesterday afternoon my son stormed out of the room in a fit of teenage frustration over who-knows-what. (Most likely his sister was bugging him.) After about a half an hour he returned in a sunny mood, with this drawing:



















He'd been looking at trees outside the window, trying to do homework, when he picked up a pen and started drawing on the back of a school paper. I love the composition and the graphic quality, and told him so. He was very proud.

"Here's my chance," said my Mom-brain.

I asked if he had ever thought about keeping a sketch journal, just for himself. His eyes lit up and he said, "Okay." Being a laid back kid, believe me, this qualified as totally excited. Then he asked, "Can you get me more of these pens?" My good ones that always mysteriously disappear. "You bet!" I told him.

He's always been a creative kid in a 3-D sort of way-- brilliant with legos from a young age and fascinated with everything mechanical. He loves his drafting class and talks about wanting to study architecture. This past semester he'd taken Drawing 1 as a back-up class, since his first choice was full. I think he was surprised by how much he liked it.

I hope he discovers the joy and sense of wholeness that comes from putting pictures and ideas on paper. I hope he sticks with it.

A Good Day!

Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts. – Wendell Berry

Today I'm feeling joyful, and hopeful, and realistic. It all feels good.

Resolutions and Ice Storms

There are a lot of good New Year's resolutions in blogland this time of year. I enjoy reading them all. One I really found inspiring was Vivian's. Her word/theme for the year: resilient.

Within about 20 minutes of reading her post the power went out. We were in the middle of an ice storm.















Seeing that I had a map deadline I was slightly panicked. But I had her word in my head. Luckily I work in pen & ink and watercolor, so I didn't need electricity. I pulled my drawing board close to the nearest window and kept working by daylight. I was thankful for that word.















Later, as it grew dark, we lit candles and stoked up the woodstove. The only real annoyance to losing electricity around here is that we lose water, since we're on a well system with an electrical pump. But one thing I do enjoy is the peace that descends over the house. It always gets me thinking about the people who've lived here over the years. They lived longer without electricity than with, since the oldest part of the house was built almost 300 years ago. Talk about having to be resilient!



















And then the hubby and I had a good chuckle, imagining a conversation from colonial times that surely didn't take place:

"Caleb, go and harness up the horse now if you will, for I'm desirous of some Mexican take-out for supper."

"Of course, good Mother. Shall it be the Fajitas this evening, or the Vegetarian Burrito?"

Which reminded me to of my own word/theme for this year: laugh often!

Favorite Christmas Gifts

A woodpecker door-knocker...


















... and a flying pig weathervane, for the top of my office...



















... because one resolution for 2009 is to laugh, as often as possible.

Manic Monday!

No map today. My sense of time is all thrown off by the snow we got over the weekend. It was beautiful! But now it's time to play catch up with holiday preparations that didn't get done, on account of shoveling all that snow.

Of course, nothing stops our pet deer from coming around...

I Gave In

I let my daughter get a hamster.

The house mice must be beside themselves.

Listy List: Things I've Done

I love lists. They lead to ideas.

Alicia did this one over at her blog. I've done the things in bold. If you want to play, copy the list, bold what you've done, and let somebody know you've posted. (Oh, and delete my comments!) This got me thinking to things I wanted to add...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (for about 5 minutes)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (does Disneyworld count?)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (not very well, but with a guitar!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (from the beach.)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (some of them)
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Depends. No, only because I'd like to not worry about paying the bills. But yes, because I know people with a LOT of money, and it seems they'll never be satisfied. I don't understand that.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (Gave pizza to a homeless man in NYC.)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (Damn appendix!)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Snorkeling in the Virgin Islands.)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (Yum!)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (Just last week!)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (Lunatic restaurant owner, really!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (My thumb, on a trampoline. How silly!)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (Once was enough, oh brother-of-mine!)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Little Joyful Things

Abstract patterns in the season's first snow flurries:















The sound of a babbling brook on a cold, clear morning:















A birdhouse bursting with last spring's nest:



















Loads of dry firewood neatly stacked:















Ragweed, frozen at last!:



















What makes you feel joyful?

It's Nice To Know...

... I'm not alone.

Fall-A-Bration

Pictures from this past weekend...

Some autumn color-- the trees have already started dropping their leaves.















Some old house chores-- cleaning and putting up storm windows. This corner looks so quaint. But when the wind blows hard, we get little puffs of blown-in-insulation inside the house. Somebody added it the '50's in a futile attempt to keep out drafts. (The mice appreciate it, though.)



















So much for color IQ tests-- I like messing with my reds.















Everyone found their little spot in the sun and relaxed.

Baby Turtles Everywhere

Look at what popped out of the ground a week ago... baby snapping turtles! I'd never seen such a thing.


















For about an hour, 8 or 9 of them slowly poked their heads out of a tiny hole in the grass, completely entangled together, and made their way one by one to the pond, in back. How did they know where to go?



























We'd seen the mama laying eggs at the beginning of summer in a rotted tree stump, far from where the babies hatched. If they were from the same eggs then she certainly faked us out!

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear,
but around in awareness.
–James Thurber