I ACCIDENTALLY TOOK THE SUMMER OFF

I am back with apologies for being so long away.  The winter was long and stressful, and I could feel my creative mojo winding down. Then spring came, and along with it my new horse, Bates. One month of training board turned into two, before I finally brought him home at the beginning of July. A lot of my time was spent, driving back and forth to Caroline county to work with him. I finally brought him home at the beginning of July. After two more months of work and worry with him, we finally accepted, that while he is a very nice horse, he is just not the horse for me. 
In art biz news, I am showing my work for the first time at the Alpaca Festival at Outstanding Dreams Farm. So while I was fretting about my new horse, I was working feverishly to get ready for this weekend. 

It was hot and muggy, with occasional gusts of wind that at one point lifted up my tent. Fortunately, my show savvy neighbor had extra stakes. We'll be a little better prepared today, and it is supposed to be a bit cooler. I sold a few pieces yesterday, but more importantly, got tons of great feedback, and was given some really good leads on galleries, and asked if I'd be interested in teaching a class. Fun stuff.
Another benefit of committing to this show, is that I finally got my mixed-media pieces properly framed. I also dug into my stash of small vintage frames, and had a good time finding photos to do them justice. 
All of this show prepping has left my house in a state I'm not particularly proud of. This is my dining room table this morning...don't judge.

Tomorrow is another day. I have all morning to unpack and put my house in order. In the afternoon I am going to Queenstown to pick up a foster puppy. I am not even kidding.
You know there will be tons of pics.
Anyway, it feels to great to be pack. Catch you later with more show news.
XO!!

CELEBRATING SPRING

Dreaming of spring and  working on some things.Temps today were forecasted to be in the 70's and while that happened in some spots on the western shore, we had a stiff wind off the river which kept temps in the low sixties.

Reworked this background canvas to add some color and charcoal, then scrutinized it to see who was in there, printed it and gave it the fabric treatment.

Easter is early this year, and Scout and Nigel are anxious to show off their Easter bonnets. Nigel thinks I overdid it with the paper flowers, but I do love those dollar bins at Target. He's a tad grumpy. He has strained a neck muscle, romping with Scout, so I wasn't planning to shoot him today. He kept inserting himself in my photos anyway. He has a strong work ethic, our Nigel.

Scout was okay with the hat, but I think they both agreed the paper flowers were too much.

My laptop was down with a virus yesterday, so I dropped it off at the computer hospital and headed down to Blackwater. The turtles were out and sunning themselves on every available log, and I saw three groundhogs, who were not camera shy at all.

Still working with some pics from the Las Vegas trip...

Not sure where I'm going with this, but it will come to me. Eventually.
Hope you have lovely Spring/Easter plans with friends and family this weekend. I am going to the Outstanding Dreams Alpaca Farm to take some pictures of fleece before the shearers come. After that, I'll be enjoying the company of our boy, who is coming home and is a whisper away from finishing school and moving to the west coast. Time flies. 
Happy Spring, blog friends. XO.

EAGLES AND OTHERS

Monday morning's long to-do list was put on hold while I made a quick trip down to Blackwater. I spotted eagles right away, but they were too far for my modest lens to capture. There were two other photographers there already, with lenses like great cannons protruding from their car windows. Slightly envious, I drove around them and headed toward my eagle tree, hoping to get lucky...and bingo! This beauty obligingly landed in the one spot of fall color. I don't have a monstrous lens that needs to be supported by a tripod attached to my vehicle (though I would like to), but I have patience and persistence and sometimes that pays off. Beautifully.

Great Blue Heron

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own." ~ Charles Dickens

On Friday, I visited Outstanding Dreams Alpaca Farm again for a few more shots of the crias. One week later, they are thriving and vigorous, with much better command of their spindly legs. Two more were born this week so I will have to visit again soon.

Friday ended with this gift of a sunset...

Trappe Landing

Saturday was for watching skipjack races.

So much outdoor fun to pack into these fall weekends. Trying to spend as much time as we can outdoors, storing up memories to see us through the winter months.

Gotta run. Still working on that to-do list from Monday, cause when Nature whispers and my camera finger gets twitchy, I'm out the door. XO.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus

ALPACAS AND ATHLETES

Over the weekend we had the privilege of attending two fun fall festivals. The Alpaca Festival at Outstanding Dreams Alpaca Farm in Preston and Summer Send Off in Cambridge. This year, the Summer Send Off street party coincided with the Ironman Maryland competition. By 7pm on Saturday the athletes were on the last leg of the competition and spectators could cheer them on while enjoying live music, adult beverages, and great street food. 
Let's look at some pics...

Two crias were born in the two days prior to the festival. They are impossibly cute.

My next truck.

Want so many things in the Farm Shop...

Bought this spinner from art welder, Paul Hays.

We felt like such slackers when we realized some of the athletes in Ironman had about twenty years on us. Seriously, this was taken around 7pm, these people had been biking, swimming, and running since 6am. Wow.
I'm also still playing around with spooky Halloween photos. Do you love old dolls, or find them creepy? I find them a little creepy, so....BOO!

Also taking on the Herculean task of cleaning up my workroom, but keep getting distracted by projects...cut my favorite old tattered quilt into manageable sized pieces to reduce the bulk and started this...don't know where it's going but I had to start something because I am so in love with these fabrics.

Even, or maybe especially, the falling apart bits make my heart sing.
Hope you're working on something that makes your heart sing or you're having good fall fun of one sort or another. Lest you think it's all fun and games, I took a cat to the vet yesterday. Good times. XO.

PIRATE TALK AND PUMPKINS

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day me hearties, so of course Nigel had to mark the occasion with a little dress-up. You know how he is.

I really like his expression in this next pick, but it was a total fail on the part of me, his dresser. Note the errant earring and the strap of the eye patch going the wrong way. I plead sleep deprivation, my DH was away this week and I never sleep well when he's not here. Not that I didn't have hairy legs in my bed, but they were the four-legged kind. Nice, but not quite the same.

I like a holiday that requires no special food or gift-giving, just a few words of prate-speak and you're good to go. Silly, simple fun.

He's a good and patient boy, my Nigel.
As the Autumn Equinox approaches, I am making ready for winter. Picked up a load of hay for Abby, which was a bit of poor planning on my part. With Mike away, there was only Fitz to help me unload, and his skills are more supervisory in nature than paws on, except in the area of rodent control. The Catman excels in that area.

Treated myself to a stop at TJ Farms for pumpkins and tomatoes. It's on the way and the time for tasty tomatoes is fast drawing to a close. I may have over pumpkin-ed. The farmer was just bringing in a load of gourds and we had a good laugh about the white one. He had no idea what it was called and had never seen one like it. Anyone?

I played around with them, creating some spooky Halloween vignettes, with mixed results. I have a special fondness for the tiny white ones.

Hope you have some autumnal fun planned for the weekend. I'm going to the Alpaca Festival at Outstanding Dreams Farm. There's a brand new cria, born this week, and lots of new alpaca wool items in the shop. Expect to take plenty of pics.
So that's it, except to say, "Ahhrr...ye scurvy land lubbing bilge rats," and now you've heard the whole of my pirate vocabulary. XO.

LONG WEEKEND

A long holiday weekend and good weather, at the same time. What a treat! We caught up on gardening/barn chores and squeezed some fun in too.
Spent a little time web-watching in our woods, a delicate operation which involves bobbing and weaving my way along the path, so as to catch the webs with my camera and not my face. There's a time of morning, before the dew dries, when the sun is just so...it's magic.

I'm always amazed at the variety of toadstools I find. I credit Abby and the fine manure that we compost in our woods. 

If I were a woodland faerie, I'd want to live here.

Took our bikes up to Baltimore on Sunday to cruise around with our boy. Bike trails in the city. Who knew? Stopped at the Rawlings Conservatory & Botanic Gardens. Beautiful!

They have a stunning variety of orchids!

The thorns on this cactus looked metallic.

Love this idea! Now you know what to do with those shells you bring home from the beach...make a succulent mobile.

More fun on Monday. I visited Outstanding Dreams Farm to take pics of the newest arrival (cria). Bewitched, aka "Samantha" was born just last Wednesday, and oh my!! Take a look.

Thank you Phil and Vickie for the gorgeous piece of creamy wool felt and for sharing that new baby.
Happy Memorial Day. A special thank you to my Dad, for his service to our country. XO.