Thursday efforts

Summer Booty

Dogness on a Sunday

The madness continues, or is it pure self indulgent silliness, ardor, infatuation, obsession? I haven't completely decided yet.

oh, this could be the beginning of something beautiful...

sweet Athena

Today is about friends

Robert

Sir Toby

Wanda

Gone to the dogs

Scenes from my studio... all paintings in progress. 

I've become a dog lady and I ain't too proud to admit it!

Skye at the beach ©2012 N Strasburg

Snow dogs © 2012 N Strasburg

Molly on the Turkish rug ©2012 N Strasburg

Snow Beautiful

snow cold

s'no wonder

i have s'no voice

Snow Day

We love you Mimi, Mike, Frances & Max

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft star-shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

~Mary Elizabeth Fry

{from yesterday's memorial, thank you Roger Durling}

Thalia Chaltas... book No. 2

Our dear talented friend, our word loving companion and my sometimes travel buddy has a second YA novel coming out next month. DISPLACEMENT by Thalia Chaltas.

For those of you who don't know what the heck YA means... it means Young Adult which, in my opinion, means tweeners through adult. Remember the Twilight series? I know that most of my grown "teenage" girlfriends still finger their copies and take sides in the Jacob vs. Edward debate.

I had the great pleasure of traveling with Ms. Chaltas to Death Valley to do some research for this book and was thrilled when, at last, I got my grubby hands on it! The book is written in verse which is newish to me as most of my leisure reading is prose, fiction and either fantasy or classics.

I don't want to say a lot other than this was really a terrific read. You get lost in Vera's story immediately and the description of place, both physical and emotional, feel so tangible you can taste it, feel it, know it.

We'll be throwing a "soft" launch party for Thalia in June, once she has a stack of her second novel to place next to the first... another good read by the way. Don't forget to check out her debut novel BECAUSE I AM FURNITURE.

I'm already looking forward to what comes next!

Doesn't get much better....

Blissed



Snow Day in Santa Barbara

All the kids got play in the snow yesterday! East Camino Cielo was beautifully draped in white. A super treat for the coastal California kids.

Too beautiful out to be in

Still

missing my girl .... one year later.
We love you Miss Athena.
Queen for eternity.

Kooky Beautiful

Another spark-a-licious day out at the beach.
Pooches loved the break in the rain.

Molly loves chasing the birds and drinking the salt water while Skye waits for a ball to be tossed.

Miss Daisy Jane

A good dog. Devoted companion.
Singer, lover, beauteous hound.
You will be missed.

Time Machine

How is it that it's May and nearly a third gone already. Can we get in a time machine and go back a few months? Pretty soon we will be watching 2010 disappear in the rear view mirror and wonder where it all went!?!

I would love to say that it's been all painting and printing all the time but it is has not. Life has a funny way of interjecting it's own designs on your time. The home projects continue and one more piece of the puzzle has dropped into place and crossed off the list.

Last week the back yard landscaping got completed. Yes, yours truly and the hero husband dug for two days installing gopher mesh for the new sod that arrived last Monday!

Do I need to say that the supervisor was on duty? Or perhaps the inspector... the one that inspects surfaces for adequate sleep-ability?

ready for action

inspecting equipment



mid morning siesta

let the digging begin

we slowly worked our way across the yard... that we thought looked really small until all that darn digging!

then there was the compacting and the grading

OF COURSE more napping ...
Molly was exhausted witnessing the work

Finally the first piece of sod went down...
what a beautiful thing that was....

and a little more napping was needed before we finished....

It's beautiful and we're tired but couldn't be happier. Soon I will be talking about painting again. May is full of fun and deadlines and shows coming. It's good the hard labor is done for the time being.