Discovering

A very busy weekend. I am hoping to get my schedule down soon so I can figure out what days/hours/minutes I have to clean, or organize or just iron some clothes. 

In the meantime. Sometimes I discover blogs or sites that just send me into a wonderful mental space. I found this post about Cottonwood from Wild Olive Branch: 

"A Moment of Hope 

Hope drifted gently on the wind on a sunny Anchorage summer day recently. Hope in this case was encapsulated in millions of cottony seeds filling the air and sky from thousands of cottonwood trees. I sat suddenly awed by the meaning embedded in that commonplace annual event. The tiny seeds of the cottonwood are surrounded by feathery material. They almost float. With a little dry warmth that breaks open their natal seed pod they burst into the wind carrying the hopes of the cottonwood tribe." 


And this wonderful, visually beautiful blog called Still. With wonderful imagery. Like this entry:

"familiar expat 

one of the benefits of STILL blog has been a growing awareness of my everyday environment. there are certain subjects like cattails and milkweed that have always been been favorites. but as a result of looking around me more carefully, a few new favorites have climbed quietly up near the top of my list, including cottonwood trees, willow, and, maybe least likely of all, mullein, a naturalized immigrant from Europe.
mullein rosette in late may rice creek regional trail, saint paul, minnesota" 

"useful decoration 

these linden blossoms caught my attention as i pulled into to the bank today.  the yellow-green ribbons looked like party decorations. i learned that they are called bract, and they are there to launch the ripened seed-clusters just a little beyond the parent tree.
linden leaves and blossoms
saint paul, minnesota"

I wish I could describe with such emotion the way my flowers make me see the world! I know watching flowesr grow and giving everyone so much pleasure, then see them in the process of dying, making seeds, dispersing seeds, then renewal ... always make me hopeful.

And for my last note. Tonight, I saw a bunch of crows chasing an eagle from the neighborhood. The eagle scooped down so low to the ground, I thought I could touch him. Brave crows. And what do you think that big, fierce eagle is thinking? With that, goodnight!

Flowers keep me sane

Grabbing the shot at dusk

I realize I have not taken many flower photos in case I want to make a calendar this fall. The peonies, almost gone ;(. I haven't been on Flickr in awhile, and I have to say, I do not like their new interface. 

 

 

Ivy's lookout

This started out as a small hole in the screen in Matt's room and now has become Ivy's lookout! This cat is so smart, too smart and totally in love with my son. Follows him wherever he goes, jumps up on anything that will get him closer to Matt's face and really wants to travel on Matt's shoulders, where he occasionally jumps to be closer to Matt. Hysterical. (We live in a zoo).

BTW, the honeysuckle is going nuts.

What a week!

And I survived!

 No time to shoot flowers ... but tonight I took a walk around the yard. 

 The petals dropped, they are still wonderful and interesting. 

Tiptoe throught the poppies

 

A working holiday

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

A co-worker and I were talking about getting things done in ones busy life. She was reading the Happiness Project book and remarked about something she read ... if the thing you are going to do takes less than 10 minutes, don't think about, don't procrastinate, just do it. I have been practicing that all week. 

This week: I created about 8 A&E covers, 3 illustrations (one Viewpoints piece), finished one website, still have one to work on today, wrote two post for Patch.com - Remembering Harry and Moss is Boss. Took mom for a haircut, shopping, dog nail-clipping, and a little cleaning house, some weeding and cleaning the moss off of the deck furniture. And 20+ hours at work.

Getting ready for Tuesday, when my life becomes much more hectic. Today, I want to shoot a couple of flowers. I have neglected taking any photos of ANY flowers in my yard all spring. 

Oh, yes. And Robin and I finished her book! And it is off to the publisher and printer! I think it will be printed by October ... then we will start the book tour ;) On the open road again with Robin? Maybe? In the meantime, I am building the blog to go with the book about our adventures.

While I was writing the post about Harry, was searching for photos of Matt in the yard during summer. Found these two ... where did the time go? (sniff, sniff)

Head exploding weekend

In a couple of days, my life gets even crazier!

I have accepted a 5 month freelance gig and I am staying on part-time at the Herald. Working a weekend day and a couple of hours during the week at The Herald. The last couple of weeks, I have been trying to prepare for my future. Wish me luck.

Lisa Hochstein has a wonderful sense of color, play and design!

Little Daisy

I found these on my backyard poop watch this afternoon. 

Houses on high

On Sunday Morning today, a great segment on Tom Burke's custom birdhouses. Amazing! His portfolio page here.

 

 
Anno Domini customs designed birdhouses.

 

Kurt Goldsmith Birdhouses. Beautiful!

Quick change artist

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Mutual love society

My Pebbles is having some stomach troubles and I have been bathing her once a day. It breaks my heart, because she always think she is in trouble, but I give her lots-o-kisses and tell her everything is okay.
 

I love music and I forgot how much

This music came on the other night and jolted me awake ... I said to David (who was watching Jay Leno) "Who is this, I love this song!" 
 Drop City Yacht Club - Crickets



Matt and I were talking about the kind of music I like ... the sunlit summer, breezy kind that you would listen to driving the open road with all the windows open. I listen to too much NPR and not enough music (that is what I have decided). More fun, less serious talking news.

Which made me start thinking about my other breezy faves. 

Edie Brickell. She has a fun Song of the Day section. Remember  Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - "Air Of December"? 

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - "Air Of December" from john doe on Vimeo.

Remembering the open road

As I get deeper in my work and life here in Edmonds, I almost forget that a mere two weeks ago I was on the open road in Texas. We dined at my favorite landmark Mexican tourist restaurant in San Antonio, Mi Tierra. 

We hit the road to Corpus Christi, where I got a quick visit with my friend, Amanda at the restaurant at the Art Museum of South Texas. Then off to Rockport to see the beach and laughing gulls. We stayed at a great B&B, drank mucho beer, collected sand, shopped, walked around the town, and then a cold front moved in with rain, the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and we were off the Blanco.

This beautiful 5-foot cross made out of all kind of recycled goodies. I fell in love with it. Found it at The Flying Pig Emporium in Rockport, where the owner was originally from  ... Seattle. Small world.

 

 Getting blown away by the beach view. Then off to dinner.

Faith set my up to feed these cute little Laughing Gulls and they attacked my hair. She laughed a wicked laugh while she had her camera all set to capture the mayhem.

Then the cold front moved in while we were leaving town.

Blanco is the cutest little town with the perfect town square. I designed the Blanco Fun Run T-shirt and was there for the event. ;) Got to visit with my buddy, Irene, who has started an antique business. We didn't get to visit enough!

Then we headed to Waxahachie to visit my dad, Lisa - my sister. My friend, former neighbor, Rita ran over for a quick visit as well. Visited with  my brother and saw his amazing garden he is creating. Drove the Historic Waxahachie to see the sights with Faith. 

Then we were on the to Blanco, via Glenwood Cemetery in Alvarado, where I had a quick visit with my grandmother, great-grandmother and aunt.

 Then Glen Rose (got sand and saw wonderful rock formations), walked around town for a minute and spotted these great tiles!

 
Then Hico (fell in love with that town) where we shopped at this amazing store, Homestead. At Homestead, discovered this amazing artist, Jerry McAdams. Ate more Mexican food. I could not eat enough Mexican food or drink enough Dos XX. Got to see my second daughter. ;)

Jerry McAdams art, would have bought them all!

This is what I miss most about Texas ... the open road, and open spaces, big starry skies. Seems those open spaces are disappearing and that makes me very sad. I guess I am a Texas-girl at my core.

Saw lots of wonderful birds in Faith's backyard in Blanco that backs up to the Little Blanco River (dry now). Got sand. Watched birds. Listen to the Live Oaks sing. And hung out with my favorite Texas dogs, Henry and Ollie.

And then I was back on a plane heading north. Without seeing everyone I wanted to see and visited with. I think that would require at least a month or more. 

I still managed to work thanks to my Sprint HotSpot, listened to my Audible books on my laptop falling asleep at night.

The Plateau Effect

My friend, Bob Sullivan, has a book coming out tomorrow. I am so excited for him. This is a departure from his normal subject of technology scams and frauds. Duane and I made this little video about his book some time ago. 

Back in my groove

Trying to do major catch up after being gone for 8 days. Work, work and more work. Finished an illustration today for The Herald. And a website for my friend, Bob Sullivan over the weekend. He has a book, The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success coming out on the May 2nd. Can't wait to get my hands on that book and get myself unstuck. ;) 

After 4 years of being belittled and degraded about what I didn't' know about building websites, it feels so great to build a website in ONE day. Yeah, to Rick! He has helped me in so many ways that I could never fully thank or repay him. 

Rick and Wally returned after a 3-month absence from Edmonds, and we are so glad to have them back. Wally has Photinia blooming (as well as a bunch of other stuff), but the Photinia buds (pink, light green and dark crimson) caught my eye today and made me giggle with delight.

 

So for tonight, getting my clothes put away. And for the next few months, start "summer cleaning" the house. Weeding, painting, deck restaining, Brantlers made ... the list goes on and on and on and on. And returning phone calls ... Maggie, tried to call you today ;)