Mountain Update

When I signed off on my last post, we were in the mountains looking forward to the arrival of Dave, Emily, and grand-dog Roo.   Friday night Emily and I were in the kitchen cooking tacos when our other son Bryson, his fiance Melissa, and their three kids walked in!  You could have knocked me over!  It was a wonderful surprise for Mother's Day weekend to have my whole family!

The kids love to be in the mountains and run around in the meadows.  My nephew Jason and his family also came up, so we got to play with their daughters Lacy

and baby Holly.  Here she was sporting my baseball cap from Hawaii.

We all did some fishing in the pond.  Here is Avery, pretty happy that he caught a trout!

Love, love, love the flame azalea in the mountains.

On the way home, we stopped at my sister's house near Greensboro and picked up my dad.  He is staying with us for a few days.  I feel so lucky to be near my loving family.

Beautiful Day

It is sunny and cool here in beautiful northwestern North Carolina.  This was the view from our yard this morning.  You can just see the dam over Peak Creek down below, and the tree farm across the road.

We went to West Jefferson this morning.  We had not been to Antiques on Main for awhile, so we stopped in to shop te 12,000 square feet of vendor booths.  I came out with a cute little McCoy pitcher.  It's the one on the right on the windowsill.

On the way back, we stopped to take a picture of the quilt barn at the base of Mount Jefferson.  There is a llittle bit of fall color on the mountain near the peak.

We went on another Gator ride this afternoon.  Sure enough, our granddog Roo flopped right back down in the mud puddle at the top of the hill, joined by our dog Kasey, who loves to drink the skanky water.

We have been watching the NC State-Wake Forest game on TV.  State was horrible during the first half, but they just scored a touchdown on fourth down to bring them within seven points in the fourth quarter. 

Tonight we are cooking steaks with Ricky, Mary, and Kenny to end a wonderful day.

Mountain Weekend Wrap-Up-and a little art

These two dogs have made many runs up the mountain this weekend.  I don't anticipate any trouble out of them on the way home.

It has been a really fun weekend.  Yesterday, we all went for a ride up the mountain, and Charlie took a group picture with the self-timer feature on his camera. Charlie and I are on the very left side.

Here is the little mountain view watercolor I did on Saturday.

It is tiny, only about 3" across.  It was inspired by the view from Art and Mary Bethel's porch in Jefferson.

Unfortunately, I painted it within a frame of a background that is way too busy for this painting.  I copied the background from the Journal Fodder Junkies book by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler.

I think I will do a little surgery with a craft knife, and insert something else in the frame.  The authors had a black and white abstract drawing that popped really well in the space.

And here is a spread in my Moleskine journal that I finished after Hurricane Irene spared my town last weekend.

It is raining this morning, so we will probably pack up and go home shortly.  I hope you all had a nice weekend!

Family Fourth of July

Every time we go to our mountain place in Ashe County, we say, "This was the best ever."  It always is!

We had a big group of friends, family, little kids, and dogs.  These are my sister's two grandbabies.

There was a lot of creek sitting and riding across the mountain trails.

There were eight dogs as well.  Our dog Kasey and our granddog Roo had a large time running up and down the hills and meadows,

 and cooling off in the creek.

Kasey looks like she has become "one" with the creek.

My dad's health keeps improving thanks to my sister Katy's tender loving care.  Here we are sitting on Kenny and Katy's front porch, with their dog Fred.

I went up the mountain to a natural spring area and dug up some good black mountain soil to put around my flowers.

Our neighbor Mary has several large flower beds around her house that are looking beautiful.  I particularly like the hollyhocks along the fence.

The rhododendrons are still in bloom.  Some of them create huge walls of flowers.

The wildflowers are abundant in all the fields, meadows, and along the creek banks.

Right when it was time to leave, the skies began to darken and rumble.

There were impressive storm clouds all the way to Efland, when it finally became a downpour.

This doe was sheltering under a tree.

It was a nice Fourth of July holiday.

May Mountain Weekend

The weather was perfect and the mountains were beautiful.  Charlie and I took both our dog, Kasey, and our son's dog, Roo, with us to Laurel Springs, NC on Friday.  It is heaven for doggies to be able to run free up and down the hills and jump in the creek when they get hot or thirsty.

                           

The flame azalea was in bloom in various shades of orange.  I knew we had one in the back yard at the edge of the woods, but did not remember this one in the front above the dam.

                           

At the top of the mountain where it levels out, there is a large patch of flame azalea in the woods, which deserves its name when shining in the sun.

                              

Of course, our beautiful doggies looked even more beautiful decked out in spring wildflowers!

                              

Come to think of it, that bit of frivolity may have caused Kasey's very bad behavior a moment later.  We were riding in the Gator along a dirt road in the tree farms that is also enjoyed by horseback riders.  Kasey took a flying leap and dove into a spot in the grass, rolling herself in the delicious smells of a nasty green pile of liquid horse poop! 

You can see the mess she made of herself, which did not wash off in the creek.

                              

So, she had to get a bath when we got back to the cabin, and Roo got one for good measure.

Got to take the good and the bad (and the nasty) when you love your pets!

New Watercolor Painting

Today was the first sunny day- too nice to stay in and sew in my little room on the third floor.  I picked up a couple of books that I had requested at the library, and took Kasey to the greenway.  No deer this time!

Here is the latest watercolor painting I have completed from a one of Karlyn Holman's Lessons in a Bag.  The drawing and a reference photo and a few step-outs are provided, along with a photo of Karlyn's painting.

This one is 11" x 11."  I did not add any collaged Oriental papers, nor did I sand watercolor pencils over a stencil to create a background.  The checkerboard areas were drawn in with watercolor pencil and painted.  Some stripes painted in at the end add interest to the background.

I think I am getting better at letting the watercolors blend and not fuss with them so much!  I think that is especially true on the pitcher in this painting.

I had to smile when I looked at my two library books.  Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin, has a beautiful golden retriever on the cover.  I have been listening to this book on tape while I worked on my journals, but my name just came up on the print copy list.  I love reading about books in the newspaper or hearing about them from friends, and then requesting them from the library on the Internet. 

The other new book is Watercolor for the Serious Beginner, by Mary Whyte.  This book has beautiful sample paintings, and lots of instruction in everything I need to know to start composing my own watercolor paintings.  But what made me smile was right there on the first page of Chapter One.

The painting (which Blogger keeps rotating sideways for some reason) is called "Studio Clutter." 

Now, what did that remind me of?

I got a lovely surprise in the mail today.  I got a note-sized decorated envelope, and opened it to find this beautifully embossed patchwork notecard.  Not recognizing the name and address on the return label, I opened the note to find that it was from someone who had purchased one of my quilts at the Heritage Day Auction last October! 

Carol Thrasher purchased my Star of the Garden quilt, and was kind enough to send some compliments about the quilting.  I have given several of my quilts to charity auctions, and have never heard anything back from the purchaser before.  I was just thrilled to get this nice note!  Here is the quilt that Carol purchased.  She is a member of Capital Quilters Guild.

I blogged about this quilt back in 2007.  This quilt had been the Challenge Quilt for the Carolina Longarm Association show that fall.  Since this year's challenge quilt also featured a blue and white color scheme, I decided to donate the previous one to benefit the Capital Quilters Guild and an organization called Military Missions in Action.

It has been a good day.

Dancing the Roomba!

I am double-dogging it this week.  We have our grand-dog, Roo, while his parents are visiting Emily's family in Florida.  Kasey and Roo have had a few standoffs and scuffles, mostly when there is a food dish involved.  They are getting along fine now.  Hey, I have a Masters degree in Behavior Management.  I exercised this high-level education by yelling at them to lie down and waving a rolled-up newspaper. They both retreated to their respective doggy beds.  Apparently, both dogs have a good understanding of the meaning of the rolled-up newspaper! 

Isn't this the very picture of innocence?  Who, me?

Yesterday, our local university and Alma Mater, North Carolina State,  played at the Champs Bowl in Florida.  We went to a party to watch the game with friends who have a large-screen TV.  Happily, our team beat West Virginia.  When we got home, it looked like a tornado had been let loose in the living room.

The Finger of Guilt is pointing at Roo, since Kasey has never chewed anything and Roo has.  This time, our two life-like fur cat toys were the victims.  They are actually made from rabbit's fur, I think.  Here is the new definition of "skinning the cat."

These are scaredy-cats!

Just in time for a long-haired dog and a destructive house-guest, I got a Roomba for Christmas.  I have wanted one for a long time.  I love it!  It is a vacuuming robot!

While Kasey is dribbling Kibble, Roomba is sweeping the floor!

Of course, with a long-haired dog, it is not long before Roomba says "Uh-oh!"  Clean Roomba's brushes!"  So, you have to empty the bin, clean the filter, clean the brushes, and get hair off the front wheel.  So much easier than dragging furniture around to clean.  And wasn't I smart to get a dog that matches my floor so well!

I also got a Nook-Color for Christmas, which I am trying to learn.  I am not good at the touch pad yet, since I have a very simple cell phone and have not been too interested in using Charlie's Droid. I think it will be very handy for downloading files of instructions for quilting projects and carrying to the sewing area.  So far I have no books on it, but it will be especially good for reading in the car on trips after dark. 

I also have some lovely new quilting and art books and DVD's, so I will be reviewing some of those in the near future.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying what's left of the snow in the brilliant sunshine.  I have wondered what would happen when Kasey encountered the mallard ducks that live in the pond down the street.

Apparently her DNA is missing the gene to retrieve ducks, which is what golden retrievers were bred to do.  She is not interested in them, and they came waddling right up to us.  Now, if it's a squirrel or a songbird at one of our feeders, that's a different story!

I had fun watching this red-tailed hawk sitting in one of the majestic oaks in the new Majestic Oaks section of my neighborhood.  I heard his screech while he was flying in, and then spotted him waiting for "the lord to provide" while he waited on his branch.

We also spotted two little deer in the woods behind our house.  It is easy to see them in the snow.  They were too fast for me to photograph, but it is fun to watch them.  The snow will be fading soon as the days are getting warmer in the afternoon, and we hear it should reach the 60's by the weekend.

A Pre-Christmas Visit

Yesterday we went to Cary to visit our son Dave and daughter-in-law Emily.  Since we are all going to South Carolina for Christmas to visit our other son and his family next weekend, we brought this big package for Dave to open early.  There would be no way to fit it in the car with all our other stuff next weekend!  We could barely get the dog in there!

Dave is about six-feet-five, so this was a big package to wrap!

It was a guitar case for the present we gave him LAST year.

We had a nice steak dinner and a soak in the hot tub last night.  We went by this home in their neighborhood that has a light show synchronized to music by Trans-Siberian Railroad broadcast on an FM radio station.  Very impressive!

This morning we took the dogs to the greenway and big field near their home.  It was fun to watch Roo and Kasey running loose.  Kasey could not quite keep up with Roo the Rocket.

The weather is gray and cold again today.  Here is the forecast:  Cloudy with rain and snow showers. Some sleet may mix in.

We are on a roll with the winter weather this month!