Ramblings

One bum shoulder (right) and with the fact that I'm right handed I figured I'd sit down and begin the art of mastering such tedious matters left handed!  Hip surgery is approaching and as I prepare for that I'm also busy with pre-op appointments, commissions ect. ect. ect.....

I had to donate over 500ml of blood for this surgery coming up.  With all honesty, I'm just starting to feel a little better from it and its been a week.   Losing all that blood really didn't help POTS;)

one of many paintings I've been working on!

LOVE it !!!!!

Its gonna be loud this summer!

Now, these insects aren't the most attractive or let us say.........quiet, but it only happens every seven years.  Yesterday, as I was walking around the yard picking flowers I noticed several cicadia  skins on an iris bush.  Then, THE bug in a flower. A few moments later I noticed that they were all around.  In the bushes, trees, even in the tall grass in the woods......all full of skins. The more you looked the more you saw.  Its was quite a sight. I only remember hearing them when I was younger (probably when I was about 11 ;) 

yes that is poison ivy :)

I must have seen about twenty or thirty of theses things!!

Its gonna be a loud one :D

Spring has Sprung

Spring has come quickly.  Its seems like it was just the other day when we got a couple of inches of snow.  A little over a week ago I finally finished high school.  It took a week or so to get use to the idea of waking up in the morning and not having to do school!  So right now, I'm off to new things-looking for jobs, taking classes and working on getting a business going in the next year or two.  It takes a lot of thinking and planning beforehand- this I've realized quickly!

watercolor and pen/ink

watercolor and ink
Soon to become stationary!

watercolor and ink
First painting of mine to go up for sale in a gallery!!

 

graphite and pencil sketch
Finally finished and framed.
It took about 40 plus hours of work to complete it!

Photography class this past month

In February, I took a photography class and loved it so much!! May is going to be full of photography workshops, watercolor classes, a painting class and drawing classes.

Best time of the year!!

The past week or two has brought 80 degree weather and surprisingly I have been able to weather it fairly well with POTS!  I am really hoping I'll have a better summer than the last one.  I staying busy working out at the gym.  I'm still planning on going surfing this year!!!

Finding Joy In the Simplest of Things:)

Earlier this morning:

Had fun taking these pics!

I was able to snap some shots this year as opposed to last year. :D

Right now:

POTS is making me feeling plum tuckered out
I feel like giving in
I feel unproductive with my day
I'm fustrated

I'm feeling lazy

But:

All I need to do is focus on the things I CAN do and take joy in the simplest of things that I'm blessed with each moment:)

Two things that make me smile:

One of the best two cats in da world!!!
Earline playing with my camera 2010:)

 

The other best kitty in da whole world:) 
Her royalty in all her glory:D

Introducing........

Clarabelle's great grandniece's 3rd cousin twice removed 
acrylic on canvas

Ramblings from my lastest art class: acrylic painting

acrylic painting of a cardinal

Island ducks have right of way

Randomness

Between doctor appointments, school, bouts of feel pretty disgusting, ect, ect, ect, this is what I've been up to lately :-D

'Blue Berries' (watercolor)

'Green Waves' (watercolor) used a photo from a surf magazine as a reference. I've never painted waves before and it was kind of a challenge but I like the way it turned out!

This is what you could call a hand me down. With two older brothers, its quite common, especially when it comes to school books.  Like my poor physics book.  Its hanging on by tape!!! But this one you can't beat! I got my brother bike! With a little good bit of cleaning and a few touch ups, I'll be gone..................riding!!!! That is.......I've got to check first with my physical therapist if I can actually ride it.  I'm not saying I don't know how to ride a bike but with hip dysplasia, its another story. Well, we will see.  Hopefully he'll say its ok! If not, there's always after surgery :-D

GO VOTE, AMERICA!!!!!

I thout I saw a thweety bird, I did! I did see a thweety bird

 We got to see a Pileated Woodpecker flying around our house today!  They are so cool :-) Their call on audio: birdjam.com

It was sort of hard to get a good picture with him being almost camouflaged in the dog wood!

Laughter is the best medicine

Three years later

2009

I wasn't all that pleased when I did this three years ago.  For the past few months, I've kept running into it and wanting to redo it and see if my watercolor skills have improved any since then.  Other than accidentally starting it on the wrong side of the paper, I'm more happy than last time with how it ended up.  Maybe in the next three years I'll try it again:-)

2012

Bear Xing

Friday we ventured up to the Skyline Drive.  It was a beautiful day and about 60 degrees up there.  Once up there for about five minutes, we came across two cars with their caution lights on and a bunch of people taking pictures.  A sure sign that there is something......usually not deer......there's enough up there where you don't have to stop every mile to get fifty shots of them. It was a bear! And her two cubs.  The lady who had been there for about twenty minutes said that at one point the bear did a false charge at her.  But it seemed pretty relaxed when we got there.  The cubs where up in a tree so that is probably why. We kept a door or two open................hmmm.......might be a good idea to have an escape rout planned..............JUST in case!

One of the cubs up in the tree

 

Mountain Laural

Harrier Hawk, Glider

The homeschool co-op that I go to for Chemistry had a visitor there Thursday!! A falconer and his Harrier Hawk.  It was really cool!! Here are are few pictures.

Glider

Glider and his owner, Mr. Straka

Take a look at those talons!

I'm so glad that I took my camera! It was a beautiful, cool, and sunny day.  The weather was perfect.  

  I'm dearly loved

Forgiven beloved

Hidden in Christ

Made in the image of the Giver of Life

Righteous and holy

Reborn and remade

Accepted and worthy this is our new name

Her Highness Olivia Rose, Champion Napper

Yesterday I promised to make another post of K's cat, and here it is.  Livy (the gray kitty) is also known as Her Highness Olivia Rose. Enjoy!

June 2005

Her Highness's repose is guarded by her sister Pansy.

January 2005: cat nap

Livy and Pansy catch forty winks together

September 2005

A basket full of cats

August 2007

October 2007

 June 2011

July 2005

Livy the Cheerleader

Air raids, milk shakes and a country drives

Well, first off, no, its is not WWII and we are not being invaded......................well maybe.  Before you start to panic, its nothing you'll hear about on the news.  So I better start and clear something up before I go on.  K and I happened to be eating our lunch on a mill stone under some trees (minding our own business of course:-) when I seemed to have been the target for an unsuspecting bird in the tree.  Yeah, I know.............I probably said GROSS like a hundred times and washed by hands about fifty (more like five times................in a row:-) Fortunately it landed on my hand and didn't really get on anything else, THANK GOODNESS!! So K and I are going to announce to our family that we survived air raids when they get back:-) LOL

Next, we went and fed da horses carrots!

 Then we saw the Sheep.

 

There was a few in the pack that were total pigs! They LOVED the grass:-)

 After seeing the sheep we headed out and got milkshakes.  Then went on a country drive.  Welcome to the mountains! Enjoy:-)
 

 

 Some old barns.................

 

Now finished our excursion, I'm not sure what we'll do.  Might watch North and South later on.  I think I'll go see Livy. Livy is K's cat.  She is so sweet! Here are some pictures of her...............oh wait. On second thought I'll have a new post of her.  Ya'll see why:-)