better late

Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes! You will laugh when I tell you that I fell asleep after chores last night before eating any lemon meringue pie, but I had a slice for breakfast this morning. And this evening, I finally opened my presents.

Have I mentioned my approach to the "Black Friday"-type mayhem? It's got nothing to do with Christmas for me - indeed, it has nothing to do with Christmas in any way, period - but I use it as a practical way to plan ahead.

All year I keep a list of "needed/wanted, but can wait" items for the animals, myself, the house. Come November, I shop from that list during the sales, almost entirely online. It can mean a whacking great bill to pay in December, but considerably less than the same purchases would have cost if spread out over the year; things like a replacement router, a pair of prescription reading glasses, a humidifier for the porch, a nice cotton workshirt for next Spring, and a pair of insulated walking boots for winter Piper-rambles.

This year, I added a little fun by making some birthday "surprise gift" purchases as well. The first was from a small New Hampshire online yarn shop that imports yarns from the UK.

Look, it's a hat and two pairs of socks!

(Some assembly required.)

I also placed an order with Blick Art Supplies. I'll tell you what: a fifty-dollar "surprise gift" budget can buy a whole lot of fun when there's a sale going on and free shipping for a $45 order.

I say "surprise" because it seemed likely that between mid-November and mid-December, I would forget at least part of what I ordered. Every time I visit the Blick website, dozens of items catch my imagination. Ordering just a few things from that treasure trove and then putting it out of my mind meant that I genuinely forgot all but one item. When I opened the box from Blick this evening, it was as if this gift had truly dropped unexpected out of thin air.

I said, "Oooh!"

Out loud.

And then I laughed like a loon.

 I've been wanting a pocket sketchbook for a while now.

This is a very, very good one.

In fact, "It's just what I wanted!"

I'm pretty excited about it.

This waterbrush is a brand I haven't tried before.

Every year I buy one - maybe two - new ones, figuring out what works for me.

This one is labelled "1 mm" - quite tiny.

Then, in order to embrace the ongoing adventure that is watercolor,
I went to the other extreme:

Fun ahead :)

~~~~~

12-12

It's my birthday

and I have big plans:

It's a quiet life, but a happy one.

And sometimes there is pie!

~~~~~

saturday sketch

This watercolor sketch is from a few days ago.

I wish I had taken a better photograph, during daylight,

but you get the idea.

Daily Markmaking continues...

hard to believe tonight will be #342.

What will it be?

And will I fall asleep in the middle of making it?

There have been some very close calls.

Daylight hours are so short and there is always so much to be done.

I almost never get out the sketchpad til nighttime, after chores are done and everyone has been fed. Most of the recent drawings and painting have been done while I'm snugged up in bed, with Moxie and Della anchoring me in place, and Piper within reach curled up in her new nest.

That's exactly the situation right now, in fact.

I'm the only one still awake, and I am very tired,

so I'd better get cracking.

I hope your weekend is going well!

~~~~~

winter

ice on motherwort

None of that shilly-shallying, dusting-then-a-warm-spell, off-and-on easing into Winter this year! Our first snow was the night of the 15th, and it was a heavy, wet snow requiring the tall boots. Since then, we've had more and more snow but often right on the edge of freezing rain, so it's a bit of a mess out there.

Still plenty of color, though! Doesn't this Rubus look lively despite it's icy snowcap?

After the most muted Autumn foliage season I can recall in all my New England years, my eyes are reveling in shrub colors right now. I painted this watercolor the day after the first snowstorm, when the sun was reflecting off the snow and backlighting the Kerria japonica between the porch and the stilt barn:

The kids are taking this new snow situation in stride, and of course the rest of the herd is very familiar with all aspects of Winter. All is well, as long as there are plenty of sheltering options when wanted - such as during the freezing rain episodes - and Management keeps the hay coming.

 My boy Betula, reaching out from under the stilt-barn to have a bite of hay.
What? Doesn't everyone recognize their animals just by their noses?

This past week, despite the weather - and the fact that the zipper on my work coat broke completely so I'm now wearing multiple fleeces and moving like the Tin Man - a long-delayed barn project is finally seeing progress. The doors - which have been a headache/backache for a long time - are now 80% functional again. A little more effort and they may be perfect. If I can avoid wrestling with them every day this Winter, it will be a BIG improvement!

Campion says, "Doors are all very well,
but let's focus on that hay you mentioned earlier."

It's definitely Stone Soup time, and the crockpot has been on a constant simmer. Do you keep a soup pot going, and add different things to change it up as you go along?

At this point in it's evolution, my current soup has beef, onions, mushrooms, bone broth, carrots, rice and chick peas. I sometimes add shredded cheddar or curry seasoning when I dish up a bowlful. Yesterday I also cooked a pot of lentils, so now there's an option of roasted squash and lentils with soup poured over. I am eating well. We all are. Bonus: at the feedstore Saturday I bought a new kind of chewbone that Piper seems to enjoy - huzzah! It looks like a rolled rawhide bone but it's not rawhide or bone, it's completely edible. I gave it to her Sunday afternoon and she worked on it for four hours, non-stop, before she had to stop for a nap. Today she was back at it again, so if it retains it's allure and lasts more than a week, I'll order a whole bag.

Time to paint #324 of the DailyMarkmaking2018 and call it a night. Here is a group of one-inch squares I've done recently as a change of pace between "regular" sketches:

Always something new to explore, isn't there?

Amidst all the other stuff we do, and deal with,
let's not forget to have some good fun.

~~~~~

day 304

Daily Markmaking continues.

Tonight it's a watercolor portrait of Ms. Moxie.

~~~~~

thanks

I want to say thanks for the encouragement on my little Cloud Harvest Cashmere experiment for Rhinebeck. Your comments and emails have been very helpful and energizing! It really means a lot to me.

It's been quite a lot of work so far, and intense due to the short deadline. A deadline can be a great motivator, but in this case, even a few more days would have been very welcome.

Of course most of the work has been on the computer - it's not like I'm building a barn. But every day for the past week I've spent hours looking through photographs, designing, searching for information, ordering specific things from various places, and juggling components of the process.

If this all comes together and my box of goodies makes it safely to Rhinebeck for the set-up on Friday, I will feel somewhat victorious even if not a single card is sold all weekend.

But of course I hope lots will be!

These two acrobats are also working hard and with intensity.

Meet my latest "squirrel-proof" bird feeder.

HA.

Last night I decided to cast on a cashmere project and see if I could get it finished before Rhinebeck. Just for a fun challenge, because I have all this time on my hands. I already had the perfect pattern and yarn combination in mind: a lacy baktus in a light green laceweight cashmere from Maine. Airy yet warm.

After three complete circuits of my little house, I still had not found the yarn. This is odd, because there are only a few places where I store yarn, and my small stash of cashmere hanks and balls was not in any of those places. Apparently when I virtuously gathered up ALL my fiber one day last year, carefully organized it by type, donated some and tucked the remainder safely away in drawers and baskets and boxes, the cashmere went to some Extra Special Place.

Sure wish I knew where that place could be.

Oh well, it's not like I'm short on projects. While searching for the yarn, I found the bag of steel wool I need for a woodworking task, and the box of blank cards I bought for a printmaking extravaganza if I ever get over my irrational fear of lino-cutting, and a complete set of 1960s(?) Pyrex mixing bowls from my parents' old house, which I ought to put on eBay. So although none of these things are Rhinebeck-relevant, my to-do list just got longer.

But not too long for Daily Markmaking!

I hope your weekend has been a joyful one.

Here's to a lovely week ahead.

~~~~~

still raining

~~~~~

stormy monday

After three days of cool weather - COOL weather! - there's quite a bit of rain in the forecast. I did barn chores early this morning, so the goats would have access to hay inside shelters, instead of the paddock picnics they've been enjoying recently.

AZALEA and MALLOW

 The sky was overcast so I got right down to the garden to harvest vegetables - beans and kale for myself, and a little chard and okra to share with the goats as I walked back up through the herd. I was back in the house at about the time I usually begin chores, and still dry, which made me feel all smug and efficient.

Another batch of green and yellow beans went into the freezer, and I steamed a bowl of snapped beans to add to the Pyrex cornucopia (a cornucopia is a food container that's never empty, right?) of bean salad in the fridge.

My pole beans began to struggle during recent days of heat, before I noticed and began to water them - something that had not been necessary even once earlier in this Summer of Continuous Deluge. They are still flowering and producing. I should write an entire post about these pole beans. They are wonderful.

While in the garden, I selected a few zinnias to provide color and cheer in the house should there be the predicted series of murky days ahead. 

They are also likely to become models for more of my Daily Markmaking efforts. Zinnias have turned out to be fantastic subjects for sketching. There is a great deal of variation from one flower to another, and they are a lot of fun as well as a challenge to draw and paint. Or maybe the challenge is part of why they are fun?

Here is one of the green zinnias, growing in the second raised bed:

And here, the very next day, is the same zinnia from a slightly different viewpoint.

With a special guest!

According to the Internet of Dragonfly Identification,

this one is a male flame skimmer - Libellula saturata.

My plan for today - after the chores and the garden and the photographing and so on - was to do a lot of housecleaning. Planning, it turns out, is different from doing. The rain started while I was downloading photographs, and both Moxie and Della anchored me solidly in place. So I decided to write this blog post before disturbing the cats in my rigorous pursuit of a tidy kitchen.

I may be doing that housecleaning stuff at about suppertime.

Meanwhile, I hope these zinnias help get your week off to a cheerful start.

If you sketch them, let me know!

~~~~~

to the woods

Yesterday, or as I call it, the first day of summer,

I had planned to take Piper to the woods.

She has been having a very dull time of it, with all this rain.

Piper does not enjoy rain.

She has been going outside for only a few minutes at a time, every day.

Even with the new portico, she has not wanted to spend one extra minute outside.

But yesterday, the gorgeous day, Piper surprised me.
She did not want to be outside.

Maybe she just expects rain every day now?
Maybe she has begun to enjoy spending most of her time on her couch?
I kind of understand that feeling.

But.

This morning seemed almost as nice as yesterday.

The second day of summer!

Hmmmm.
Time for some Pup Psychology.

After chores and gardening, I started putting some things in a little pile.

my camera

my sketchbook

Piper, snoozing on her couch, opened one eye.

I filled up my water bottle

sorted through my pencils

selected a pen

Piper opened both eyes and raised her head.

"Ready?" I asked.

Piper scrambled down and away we went.

We headed for the pond, and walked first to my favorite blueberry spot, just in case.

But the blueberries are gone.

Completely gone.

We found not a single wizened berry clinging to a branch.

I'm lucky my highbush blueberry at home still has a few berries left to ripen!

I pick a little handful each morning and savor every one.

The day could not have been nicer for a walk in the woods.

Mostly sunny, but not too hot.

Sometimes cloudy, but not muggy.

And no mosquitoes.

No. Mosquitoes.

Piper ambled and explored and intently sniffed hundreds of things.

I took photographs, then set up my wonderful backpackable sketching chair.

"What shall I draw?" I asked Piper.

"The root end of this deadfall looks texturally interesting," she said.

"And speaking of interesting, isn't it time to bring out the treats?"

Outdoor sketching with Piper always involves treats.

My viewpoint was close to the ground, so the deadfall loomed large:

We spent over two hours in the woods, and every minute was a pleasure.

This summer is going great.

~~~~~

sunday afternoon

It didn't rain.
The humidity fell.
The sky was blue.
There was an occasional breeze.

I literally could have wept with relief.

The goats were so pleased with the change in weather, three of them would not even come into the barn for their buckets.

For the first time in many weeks, I took a sketchbook outside. Dusted the latest muddy hoofprints off the lawn chair - because they were dry and I could dust them off! - and settled down in the south paddock to Draw August.

There was company.

Lots of company.

The silver goat is Fern, and she is leaning against my chair.

There was close interest in the artistic process.

There was distraction. 

(Iris is trying to untie my shoe because I wouldn't let her jump into the chair.)

There was oversight.

There was drama!

(Bashing heads. This is a mother and daughter. I make no further comment.)

 ~

And eventually, there was Day 19 of Drawing August,

which is also #231 of Daily Markmaking 2018.

I had to come in and flatten out my spine for a couple of hours,

but it's still clear and pleasant outside.

It will be a genuine pleasure to do evening chores tonight.

~~~~~

markmaking monday

Lilies and daylilies have often modeled for Daily Markmaking recently.

And on we go. Today will be Day 225 - can you believe it?

~~~~~

thankful thursday

Daily Markmaking 2018 is still on - yesterday was #206! - and I've not yet been stumped for a subject. I enjoy the challenge of sketching plants, and I am conveniently surrounded by actual plants. I've been a photographer since 1989, so there are plenty of photographic subjects to revisit. And occasionally I work from a photograph posted by another blogger, or someone I've met on twitter. I do touch base with the photographer, and so far no one has minded.

Here's a visual shout-out to three bloggers

who didn't mind me fooling around with their photographs. 

Portrait of a ginger nut, with thanks to Jean at Delightful Repast (bonus: recipe at link!)

 July 12th

Thanks to Sue for sharing her graniteware on Granny Sue's News and Reviews:

February 4th

And thanks to Judy from Judy's Chickens, whose colorful Nashville garden photographs make me yearn for a longer growing season:

April 15th

On to #207!

~~~~~

slow sunday

Moxie and I went out at 7 for the usual morning rounds: releasing the chickens, checking the goats - all fine! - and then down to the garden on the Upper West Side to water seeds and admire our trellis.

Every morning for the past week I have gotten to that garden and thought - "Oops! must string trellis for pole beans today!" - and then forgotten to do it or even to write it down. So last night when it was almost dark, Mox helped me wind cotton yarn up and down between pairs of horizontal wires my Occasional Helper put up last week. And it was very pleasant to get down to the garden this morning and say, "Ah!" instead of, "Oops!"

On the way back up through the paddocks, I picked sprigs of a few little plants and put them in a jam jar for later observation and sketching.

This afternoon, when I finally threw in the towel and accepted that I was not going to get much of anything productive done today, Piper, Moxie, Della and I spent some pleasant - if hot - time under the portico, listening to the cheery sounds of bird conversation and the not-cheery sound of frass falling constantly. It sounds like rain just beginning to fall, all the time. How I hate gypsy moths. Those wretched caterpillars are defoliating all the trees again this year. It's a lot of stress, especially for my big, old, beautiful trees. Grrrrr.

Moxie suddenly went on the alert and found a chipmunk in the stone wall, while Della discovered that the new lawn chair is a perfect fit.

I brought out my sketchbook and the jam jar, and began trying to draw while Piper bumped my elbow at 20-second intervals until I gave up and opened the door so she could go back into the house. It is much cooler inside. Plus that is where she keeps her couch.

And here is the daily markmaking effort for today, Day 168.

Speaking of flowers, before I post this I want to add some pictures of rocket-the-plant, for which Rocket-the-goat is named.

Hesperus matronalis. It's a tall, naturalized non-native with a lot of common names; sweet rocket and dame's rocket are the two I've heard most often. It does have a sweet aroma, but I don't know where the "rocket" part of the name originated. Does anyone know? If so, please leave a comment!

 I hope your Sunday is/was a pleasant one.

~~~~~