NIGEL: BACK TO SCHOOL

The first day of school leaves Nigel feeling nostalgic. He dons a tie and spends the day in the library, reading and reminiscing about his own school days.

He's quite a good story teller, and keeps me in stitches with tales of his schoolboy shenanigans.

Eventually, all that reading and storytelling makes him sleepy.

And then...

Squirrel!!

Buh bye!

Wishing a happy and successful year to everyone headed back to school this week. Me? I'm off to sniff some new crayons. XO.

SMASH

Did I mention we are dog-sitting?

Smash Williams

I know.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!

Nigel, patriot, and really good sport!!

WordHop 2012

Welcome to WordHop 2012. The Fly-Tribe is blog-hopping again. Many of us have chosen a single word to guide us through the new year in our creative pursuits. Hope you'll take the time to visit many of the Fly-Tribe bloggers as they reveal their individual words and the reasons for choosing them.
The word of intention that I have chosen for 2012 is...

PRODUCTIVE

There has been much discussion among the artists of the Tribe in recent days about choosing a word of intention. I believe my word chose me, as it was the first word that popped into my head when we began to discuss the idea, and try as I might to come up with something a little more exciting, I kept returning to it. Productive isn't a very glamorous word, but when I really think about it, it is what I want most in the coming year, not just in my creative life, but in every corner of my life. It is my hope that embracing this word will give me focus and will help in shaping more specific goals as the year unfolds.
A year from now, I hope to look back and see that I made time for art everyday, even if only a few minutes. I hope to have more of my work published, open an Etsy shop, grow my blog, and take more art classes. I have already completed a major clean-up of my workroom, something I've needed to do for the last year. If only I had chosen the word "productive" last year, think where I'd be!
Outside of art, I intend to exercise more, ride more, travel more (something pretty exciting already in the works there), read more, love more, and (cover your eyes Mr. C.) adopt another dog. I'm thinking all this adds up to a pretty productive year.
It has occurred to me that part of being more productive has to include less of some activities. So, with that in mind, I intend to also focus on doing less of those things that only fill time and produce nothing. Less television, less worrying, less playing of word games on Kindle (painful!), and less obsessive checking of my blog stats. I should probably also dial back on the Pinterest a bit.
Please take some time to go here... Fly-Tribe, learn a bit more about the Tribe and the origins of Wordhop and find links to all the incredibly talented "Flyers" who are participating in this blog party!
A great big thank-you to those Flyers who organized this party for the less tech savvy among us.

While We Were Sleeping

Winter crept in while we were sleeping last night. A changeable sky brought howling winds and snow showers. No more grabbing a jacket for a quick dash out to the barn. It's full winter gear...insulated coveralls, warm boots, fat jacket. Heated buckets are working their magic (and saving my poor chapped hands) in the barn. One day of bitter cold weather and I'm already thinking this might be the year I stop being a "winter person."

Much better to stay inside and fold laundry with a friend...

while keeping warm and cozy by the fire.

New Year Things

As eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is said to bring luck and prosperity in the coming year, I've changed my blog header to put you in the mood. To optimize your good fortune you must eat at least 365 peas. Or so they say.


Quotes for the New Year:
New Year's Resolution: "To tolerate fool's more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time." James Agate
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." Bill Vaughn
"In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want." Irish toast

And finally, Nigel getting the party started...

Wishing you 365 days of prosperity and good fortune! Boom boom pow!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from BarnBugStudio!!!

Nigel

Nigel

Here's Nigel in his " where I go when Mom doesn't have time for me" chair.

It isn't the best fit, but that adds to the pathos...

and it's very effective!

Happy Friday!!!
Quote for Friday: All animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. Samuel Butler

Good News

Doing a happy dance here! So busy preparing for Thanksgiving that I didn't even check the mailbox yesterday. If I had, I would have found this...

The Winter 2012 edition of Art Quilting Studio, with this...

My mixed-media quilt titled, Nigel and the Storm!!!! Like I said, happy dancing!

Bark in the Park

Saturday was brisk and breezy. Perfect for Talbot Humane's 2nd Annual Bark in the Park. So we picked up Eliza, and Nigel's best girl Samantha, and headed to Idlewild Park in Easton.

Nigel

Samantha

There was a great turnout, with lots to do and see...

Made some new friends...

Nigel likes greyhounds,

Biscuit

This pretty girl was adopted from Talbot Humane (like Nigel).

Handsome!

and saw some familiar faces...

Ozzie

Sadie

Earl (see Earl Hopkins on Facebook)

It was a good time for a good cause and just a little bit exhausting for "the Nige."

Home again.

Nigel waits "incognito" for leftovers from Sunday dinner...