Kitties I am missing.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love animals and that I would be a Crazy Cat Lady if I hadn't found Gene, who is the total and complete love of my life.

I soooo love kitties. I adore them. Many have touched my life and I am totally heart broken when they must cross over. I imagine them in kitty heaven where there is always a sunny spot to stretch out in and plenty of treats.

I miss these kitties so very much and am thankful for the joy and love they brought into my life.


Katza


Smokey


Little Bit

this is what happens when i have an espresso/mocha frozen drink at 5:30 pm!

Met with a friend after work at Panera Bread for a beverage and girl chat. Had a fun time.... but now the aftermath is I am VERY awake. I had a delicious Frozen Mocha drink. It is espresso, whipped cream and chocolate syrup mixed together to create frosty goodness. I feel like my eyes are open really, really wide!

So I thought, well I could work on the project I need to mail for the Pass and Create Journal Project on the Loving Mixed Media group site.... well that went very well.

Here is what I created!I titled it "espresso-ing myself"



I also wrote a poem to go with my submission.

For so many years,
I have hidden within,
Too afraid of my fears,
To ever begin.

Is it my fate,
To be doubtful and sad,
I don't want to hate,
This life that I've had.

I want to be brave,
I want to be strong,
I want to engage,
I want to belong.

Today I will try,
I will change my ways,
I will laugh and not cry,
I will change all my days.

Perhaps I should drink espresso more often!
Hmmmmmm what to do now... it's still early! Only 11:19 pm.... good thing I don't have to work tomorrow...

ok, i am espresso rambling on the keyboard now....
CIAO

another book

I got a book in the mail today that I have been waiting for and anxious to read. It is Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art by Rice Freeman-Zachery.



from Amazon.com

With a fresh approach and an A-list group of contributing artists, Creative Time and Space embraces the idea that making time and space is at the core of creativity. It is not just about managing your time or setting up a studio space, it is about your mindset and about making room in your life for your craft. Enjoy active sidebars alongside photos of the work and workspaces of the featured artists, as they speak with refreshing candor about how they carve out creative time and space in their own lives.
About the Author
Most recently the author of the best-selling Living the Creative Life, Rice Freeman-Zachery writes regularly for Somerset Studio, Belle Armoire, Legacy, Art Doll Quarterly, Belle Armoire Jewelry and Altered Couture. She is well known for her artist profiles and interviews.

I have already read her first book, Living the Creative Life and loved it!



These are just wonderful books full of creative ideas, wonderful art and encouraging words. A must have for your creative library.

Currently Reading: Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook by David M. Carroll



I was looking through the newsletter we get from Mass Audubon and saw that they were starting a nature book group at the North River Sanctuary in Duxbury. I enjoy reading nature books and memoirs so thought I'd give it a try. I am curious to see how I will like discussing a book with others. We shall see. The group is meeting on Monday 4/12.

From Publishers Weekly
In this sensuous nature journal, MacArthur genius award winner Carroll (The Year of the Turtle) follows the inhabitants of his local New Hampshire wetlands through a season of turtle life from March thaw, when the turtles wake from hibernation, to November, when ice puts them back to sleep, along the way celebrating such personal holy days as the Return of the Red-winged Blackbird. Wearing camouflage and waders, he meets wildlife on its own terms. At the sudden appearance of a red doe, he wonders, to have those senses—would I trade my thinking, dreaming, imagining mind for them for one full day... would I ever want to come back? He watches a thirsty turtle hatchling encountering water for the first time: he extends his neck full length, immerses his head, closes his eyes and drinks for 21 minutes. Accompanied by Carroll's own exquisite drawings, this poetic recording of his season of loving observation is subdued by Carroll's dread of habitat destruction and nostalgia for a boyhood when I entered waters that, if not alive themselves, were so filled with light and life that my binding with them was as much metaphysical as physical

this and that

Am currently reading The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore.



From Publishers Weekly
Montefiore's well-crafted, evocative novel is instantly sensual and welcoming. When Miranda Claybourne's seven-year-old is expelled from school, the stylish Londoner, magazine writer and mother of two, ditches her posh Notting Hill digs for the idylls of a country estate. But her simple-life fantasies soon fail. Her husband's preoccupied with his job and his mistress; the kids lash out at each other while Gus, the elder, terrorizes both farm animals and his new classmates. Enter Jean-Paul, a handsome, mysterious Frenchman with an offer to tend her woefully neglected gardens. Cleaning out the estate's rundown cottage for Jean-Paul, she discovers the secret journals of the previous lady of the house—a brilliant gardener, Ava Lightly, and her love affair. As if by magic, Miranda's garden begins to thrive and she owes it all to Jean-Paul, with whom she thinks she's falling in love. The drama of the journals distract from her own failing marriage, and Miranda delights in the idea that her life is running parallel to Ava's—it's a lovely coincidence, until she stops to consider exactly what may have drawn Jean-Paul into her garden.



Gene and I went to the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. We had a fabulous time and highly recommend this aquarium. We got to meet one of the Beluga Whales as part of a behind the scenes program we participated in.






The flowers in my little garden are already blooming. They are very anxious for the seasonal weather to arrive, as we all are. I can't wait for sunny, warm days.

I DID IT!

I finally completed a journal. Let's hope this leads me to completing more of them. I really need to fill the ones I have before I get/make any more.
You'll have to go back through the blog to see the other pages.

Rainbow Waves

Gene and I went to Plymouth Beach the other morning to enjoy the sunshine and some coffee. I was a lovely day with a gorgeous blue sky. The sun made it look warmer than it was. The waves were coming in pretty good thanks to the storm that hit the DC area which was now out at sea. There was an off shore breeze that was blowing the water off the crest of the waves. When this happened the sun was creating rainbows on the waves. It was really neat to see.





Click on the photo to see the larger size.