GOOD NEWS AND KAYAKING

A great big thank you to everyone who voted for Nigel in the Hair O' The Dog Wine and Spirits doggie costume contest. He WON!! Now his mama gets a fifty dollar gift card. Drinks all around! Here's "the Nige" in his Bark In The Park tee shirt.

I am relishing these glorious fall days. On Sunday, we went for what will probably be the last paddle of the season. It was very windy, so we picked a little river that winds through trees... lovely with leaves falling all around us.

Transquaking River

I didn't know that water beads up on lily pads this way.

The roots of some of the larger up-ended trees have a definite Sasquatch-y vibe. Or is that just me?

Can you see it?

There was a beautiful moon last night.

Don't think I'll ever be too old to not be just a little excited about Halloween. Scout and Nigel, too.

Happy last week of October, and thanks again to those who voted! XO.

ROAD TRIP: FLOWERS AND BUTTERFLIES

Took a quick road trip up to PA to see our girl this weekend, stopping for a stroll through Hershey Gardens. Want to see some butterflies and flowers?

The Butterfly House has a larvae hutch!

Did not know Cannas came in orange. I've only seen red.

After all the travelling we've done lately, we needed Sunday to catch up on chores and finally try out the new kayaks. Also, needed to do a little dog spoiling. Nigel and Scout find entertaining a house sitter exhausting work.

One's boat shoes should always match one's boat, dontcha think?

Exhausted.

Have a great week blog friends! XO.

THE WEEK IN PICS

Time is flying around here, blog friends. Mike realized he had vacation days to use up ASAP and so, for the past week and a half or so, we have kept ourselves busy with a few home projects and a lot of little day trips. We lunched, shopped, pedaled, paddled, wine-tasted, de-cluttered, and weeded.
Now I am hard at work making peace with a new laptop and Windows 8. For some time now, I've had the feeling that my laptop was about to go towards the light. I wanted to replace it before it went completely belly-up. Spent a good part of today trying to get the old one to cooperate and share all its' secrets with the new one. Scruffy old Mr. Black is a bit huffy and put out about the svelte and shiny Mr. Silver, so I sat them side by side and ordered them to behave. Ha! Perhaps I should turn them around and force them to stare at each other until one of them laughs.

Got an early morning call from a neighbor on Friday, about this in his front yard.

I know. Precious. Like bunnies, mama deer don't spend much time with their young in the first few weeks, keeping them safely tucked away until they're big enough to run from predators. This one seemed to have wandered from the woods, where mama left him, but we kept a check and she appeared later to whisk him away. What a treat to see this baby, though.
Took our bikes on the Oxford-Bellevue ferry, then rode from there to St. Michaels for lunch. This sign made us laugh at one of the shops. 

Mr. C and bikes on the ferry.

Visited Layton's Chance Winery. Left the truck and biked to Vienna and back, a ten mile round trip. Far enough on a steamy hot day. Thinking of the red wine slushies waiting for us at the end kept us moving. That, and the sheep flies. Man, those things can bite!

Doesn't Layton's have an inviting front porch?

There were ladybugs along the way. Lots.

Also, this lovely spot to cool off and chat with a fisherman along the waterfront in Vienna.

Deciding it was too hot, and too snake-y (I've taken too many snake pics there in the past two weeks)  to kayak at Blackwater, we paddled the Choptank. It was lovely and breezy, with just enough chop to make it fun. Not enough to make me queasy. Yes, you can actually get seasick in a kayak. 

No pics of the actual paddling. Way too much of a klutz to risk my camera on the river. Saved the photography for Blackwater where I spotted these ducks with both my feet planted firmly on the ground.

Three amigos.

Also hard at work on another mixed-media piece, continuing my obsession with abandoned church/house windows. Hope to have it finished tomorrow. Can't wait to show you!
Later gators! XO.

SPRING WEEKEND

Spring weekends can be so crazy busy. With a big backlog of things we've been wanting to do once it warmed up and things we should do, now that it HAS warmed up, we were very busy little bees.
We mowed, trimmed, mulched, potted, kayaked, dog walked, weeded, painted fencing, and so on... Stole a few moments with my camera when I could. 

Hope you made time for a little fun this weekend .Spring makes me sore.  I'm taking some ibuprofen and going to bed! XO.

EASTER WEEKEND UPDATE

The weekend started off slowly, with two of us still feeling a bit under the weather . Saturday was sunny and warm-ish, so the four-legged BarnBugs did a lot of lounging about.

Scout snoozing at the gate.

 

Kitty enjoying the sunshine.

Mr. Nigel

Mr. C. and our girl set off to do a little kayak shopping and came home with this...

While she was most anxious to try it out, we decided to hang out here and go for a quick paddle on Sunday before Easter dinner at my brother-in-law's. 

Then I logged on to Facebook and realized that this was the night  Sara Watkins was playing at the Avalon. We had tickets but thought it was next week. With a lingering cough from last week's cold, I was so tempted just to let it go. Went anyway and we're so glad we did! We first saw Sara Watkins in Charlottesville, Virginia a couple of years ago when she was touring with Prairie Home Companion. Fell in love and she's been singing in my ear ever since.Walking up to the theatre, we met one of Mr. C.'s old college friends hosting a tailgate party on the sidewalk. We were offered oysters. No thanks. And a chance to meet Sara herself!! Yes, please. Two lessons learned here. Sometimes, when you're tired and unmotivated, it pays to get up off the couch, put a little lipstick on and go anyway. Also, red wine sipped very slowly can work a miracle on a tickly little, end-of-cold, cough. Sara was amazing.
Sunday was cooler with rain threatening, but we had promised a test run of our girl's new kayak, so we loaded up. Thought we'd go someplace close-by, but ended up at the Transquaking Bridge in Dorchester. It's a long story. By the time we got there, conditions were less than favorable...

This picture doesn't really do justice to the amount of chop and current.

 We went anyway.

No more pics after we set out. I didn't dare take my camera, even though we have waterproof bags. There was so much current that we had to work constantly to keep moving in the right direction. We found a quiet little creek where paddling was easier but it was low tide and I got stuck in the mud twice. If you're stuck on sand you can push off with your paddle. When you're stuck in marsh mud, you have to paddle through the mud. Quite a workout for the upper arms but I was motivated. Didn't really fancy getting stranded in the precise bit of marsh where "Big Liz" the ghost of a headless slave woman hangs out. Reportedly.
We saw very little wildlife while we paddled, but as we were loading up, I saw this...

Snapping turtle. Dinosaurs really do still walk the earth.

And this pair of ducks...

After all that paddling, I felt justified in having a piece of this...

Carrot Poke Cake. Here, I saved you a piece.

Friend and fellow blogger Stacy of Life at Cobble Hill Farm shared a link to this awesome recipe last week. Find it here. My MIL declared it the "best thing I ever put in my mouth." Visit Stacy for lots more mouth-watering recipes!
So that about wraps it up. A little sunshine, a little rain, music, kayaking, food, family. Speaking of family, check out my brother and sister-in-law's newest addition. Adorable, right? Visit their website here, to read more about Sussex Spaniels.

Hope your Easter weekend was stuffed full of good things! XO.