From my acre of the world...

We Are Electric, 6/26/2026

I haven't heard this song for a long time...I have eclectic taste, and electronica is a fun vibe...the band, Fischerspooner, was an accidental discovery, I can't recall the path I took to find them...it was a long time ago.

Mockingbird, 6/20/2026

We watched the great film, To Kill a Mockingbird for our Saturday night movie last weekend...much of my inspiration to be a writer came from the novel, and the film was a visual inspiration that I will never grow tired of visiting. (For a time, I thought about becoming a lawyer because of Atticus, but being an artist was unquestionably my path.)

It's never been about the money.

Summer Solstice, 6/21/2026

The solstice came and went, my mind had been tugged in far too many directions to be focused on anything much...summer hasn't really been summer, we've been chilly low 50s in the morning and barely reaching the mid 70s by midday. Grand Jury duty is "A Lot" which is the best I can do to explain it. It's fascinating, frustrating, and horrific. I also hate being in the city...traffic and too many of too much, and detours for construction is maddening, and people do not know how to obey the basic rules of the road, they just don't give a shit. Plus the pedestrians with their eyes glued to their phones rather than watching where they're going is just plain stupid (careless, yes)...well, the Darwin Award of the week goes to the young woman who got her phone knocked out of her hands by an SUV that was rolling to a stop at an intersection (obeying the law to stop at a red light), and she stepped right out in front of him, never looked up. She got lucky that he wasn't trying to run the red light (can't tell you how many times I've seen that in the last 4 weeks). The driver was understandably very freaked out. The woman appeared to be shaken, likely to have bruises, but okay considering. One of the jurors from my panel witnessed it.

A Tangle of Trees, 6/22/2026

With some of our blustery thunderstorms that have rolled through, I've been examining our trees for damage, but thankfully, they're hanging in there, only dropping a few sticks, I collect them for our fire pit fires. Trees will always be one of my favorite living things...

Time to hit the reset button, 6/23/2026

Yeah. That was a day of too much and too many. Unfortunately, I can hit my reset button, but no one else has.

I wish there wasn't a reason why I would drop F-bombs at 5 AM.

Evening, 6/24/2026

When it rains, 6/25/2026

It pours. Or...Garbage...take your pick, I'm always willing to allow the viewer to form their own thoughts about what an artwork means as they bring their own baggage along for the day-to-day ride...

Vertical, 6/13/2026

Elemental Origin, 6/14/2026

Whirring, 6/15/2026 (Named after the song Whirring by The Joy Formidable, it was in my brain playlist on repeat that day.)

(It's good thing I really like the song, I didn't need to force it out of my head with Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water. It's the ultimate cure for an unwelcome song ear worm.)

(You're welcome.)

The Last Drop, 6/16/2026 (The Last Drop is another song by The Joy Formidable, only because I decided to play the rest of the album A Balloon Called Moaning to clear my brain's playlist.)

Synchronicity, 6/17/2026

Yes...The Police album by that name is now 43 years old...I was in art school at the time, and they came to the Carrier Dome at SU. I didn't need to go to the concert, I heard it just fine in the studio. It was awesome.

Gusty Winds, 6/18/2026

No more songs...We had some pretty intense wind that evening, it seems there's been quite a few intense storms in the mid-west lately, we're only getting their dregs. There have been reports of some tornadoes spinning up here and there even in our area, which is concerning. While I was at my grand jury duty that day we had quite a storm roll through the city near the end of an ADA's presentation, we all paused and wondered as the building was being slashed by a roaring downpour. When we finished for the day and retrieved our phones everyone had messages about a tornado watch and then a warning...it looked like the whole state was experiencing it as the weather maps were red from the North Country all the way to the Southern Tier. Good grief. By the time my Fred picked me up, the storm was over and there was no damage to our property, except for a few sticks and loose leaves scattered around. We feel lucky.

I've said this many times over these first six months of the new year... it has been a very windy year so far.

Within, 6/19/2026

It's been a very exhausting week, too much going on, my Fred and our son can talk about their days and I can't talk about some of my experiences other than pulling weeds, or digging sod for a new flower bed. I'm carrying a lot in my head from being on grand jury, and I have nowhere to put it except for the notebook that I keep at the courthouse, which will be destroyed after my term is done. It's been stressful. Very stressful. Thankfully, I can sleep at night...the minute I tip over, I'm out.

It's a chilly start this morning, 58 degrees, June 20th 2026. We had more storms pass through yesterday, very brief, but still very snotty. We might get into the low 70s today. It's going to be sunny, I'll take my time working on the garden.

A beautiful bumblebee passed away in my garden, I found her on the morning of 6/13 lying near the cranebill geraniums. I picked a few flowers and encircled her body with them. The bumblebees and honeybees do love these purple beauties.

The paintbrushes are in bloom, for a couple of years I've worked on getting them to grow in the little flower bed underneath the weeping cherry tree as they are growing in the grass nearby, so I've been collecting their seeds and sprinkling them around, and finally two sprouted in the garden this year! I have the yellow ones too in another part of the yard and the Wisdom Tree garden has them too. I always loved the orange ones best.

As always, my garden adventures include interactions with spiders. Usually, its the wolf spider mama's with their egg sacks running around frantically because I'm messing around near their hiding places...but on June 16th I discovered this very friendly jumping spider in my garden cart where I was dumping sod...I'm glad the critter made itself known or it might've gotten crushed when I dumped the sod off along the edge of the wild area out back. (It's quite the thicket back there, and very wet from all the rain).

This little guy was curious about me. (The eyes in the sunlight were shiny blue). When I was taking its picture I realized it might jump on me...sure enough, it made the leap. Naturally, I did girly scream, but the spider didn't get on me, it dangled on a thread attached to the cart. After some maneuvering with a stick and a weed, I eventually got it on the weed and carried it to a clump of daisies. It sat on a daisy for awhile, then, the next time I looked it was gone. It's always disconcerting when one doesn't know where a spider went

I have sunflowers sprouting in pots that I have caged with chicken wire to keep the squirrels and chippies from digging up the seeds. Now that they're getting bigger, I'm making individual chicken wire cages to protect them when I transplant them to the new flower beds I've made because the little shits will still "smell" them even at this stage and pull them out of the ground. They ignore all the repellents and noise makers (the little jerks). Every year its a battle to have sunflowers at all. Harper Lee has been catching the chipmunks and leaving me the half eaten carcasses as gifts...she's doing overtime this spring...so far she has killed three gray squirrel babies, which I felt bad about because they were very cute.

This is my doodle sketchbook that I'm carrying with me to my grand jury duty, I doodle while waiting. I hate waiting, so doodle keeps me from pacing and thankfully focused...just so I don't go running off screaming from overwhelming impatience. Otherwise, my duty is going well, my lower back is taking a beating from sitting for long spells...I'm not the only one suffering, there are a lot of us with gray hair who moan and grunt when we finally peel our butts out of the seats. I do take lots of notes during the hearings, so that thankfully keeps me busy and focused too. I haven't fallen asleep, yet.

Anchor, 6/6/2026

Scribble Fest, (Sunday) 6/7/2026

By this, and this only, we have existed (T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, from part V. What the Thunder Said). (Monday) 6/8/2026

The Rain, (Tuesday) 6/9/2026

Entangled Forms, (Wednesday) 6/10/2026

Controlled Chaos, (Thursday) 6/11/2026

Phases, (Friday) 6/12/2026

June 8th marked one month since wee Elizabeth's passing, I made a box with a few mementos. The box itself was part of a junk pile that artists discarded from their studios and left on a table in the hallway at the Delavan building where we used to exhibit our artwork years ago. I picked through the stuff and found a few interesting things, this box was one of them, I figured I'd find a use for it someday. (This was well before Elizabeth and her two little goat girlfriends arrived in our lives.)

The contents consist of a small, glass spice bottle filled with her ashes. the oval, wooden band box will hold the hoof clippings (the one in the lower right corner shows a pressure bruise from the coffin bone). The two little clippings are just tiny nips from the toes of her back hooves, the larger clippings were from her front hooves during her last visit with the farrier. The item in the lower left corner is her tooth that came out during her first dental visit after we got her (apparently her former owners never had her teeth floated during the years they had her, she had a terrible wave pattern in there that took a few sessions to clean up). Then there's a clipping from her tail. There are three small envelopes inside the band box with hairs that I collected from brushing her, I didn't want to release them to be photographed as they have a mind of their own and are likely to go all over the place in the process. They still smell like her, I'm sure that will fade. I selected the last photo I took of us on that morning. I will be printing others to tuck in behind it as there is plenty of room to keep some in that compartment where a mirror used to be.

The Ring, 5/30/2026

This week's sketchbook entries

Full Moon, Rise, 5/31/2026

Random Intentions, 6/1/2026

Nothing but time, 6/2/2026

Within, 6/3/2026

Angles, not angels, 6/4/2026

Overlap, 6/5/2026

This morning is a rainy day, the first one in quite awhile, my garden needs it. My skirrets are still tiny sprigs, my zucchinis were eaten by squirrels. The giant pumpkin seed that our friend gave to us is thus far doing nothing, but thankfully, doesn't appear to be rotting. It's been a long and busy week, I spent as much time as possible in the garden, digging up sod to expand two flower beds and to lay the ground work for mulched paths so I don't need to mow them anymore, some of this I've covered with cardboard and plastic to discourage future growth...of course, anything not covered is growing, but I'm ignoring it as my shovel continues to be busy, scraping and turning over...it's a big project as expected. I don't mind, it's a meditative process.

I had two days of grand jury service so far, it's all very interesting...but it's difficult for someone who isn't sedentary to sit still for two hours. Next week are going to be three full days in court, so I imagine I will be struggling with various twitchy, cramping leg muscles and general restlessness because my back and hip will be likely to fuss. I'll do my best, like I always do, a visage of patience while I fight a war inside. Dang it they keep it chilly in there, I felt hypothermic even with the well-planned layers I wear. Yesterday, it felt so good to get back outside to warm up. I'll have to step out during our lunch breaks just to feel the sunshine...

We're in the 80s by afternoon, so the last two days I haven't gotten much done in the garden as the warmth is nice for basking not digging...Harper Lee loves it that I'm spending time with her on the porch now that its nice outside. I fell asleep out there and woke up to the Amazon lady driver delivering a package. She's a good kid, I like her. She loves seeing Harper Lee. Lately the kitty doesn't skitter away to hide, she seems to recognize this girl is not a threat, but it helps that I'm there.

On Wednesday, around mid-morning, I went into the barn for the second time since Elizabeth's passing. I went out into the paddock and noticed how the grass is coming back already. I stood by the ramp at one point and I thought I heard her hoof steps coming outside from the barn, but it's just my brain listening for her familiar sounds. (There have been times I thought I heard her hee-haw, but it's a bird sound, maybe the ravens that live by the stream, they make funny noises.) I collected some hairs that were caught in the boards near the paddock door where she would scratch her itches. And I retrieved some fluff that the vet had shaved for the IV. I could smell her dusty donkey smell on these small samples. I'm filling a small treasure box that I acquired long time ago with these relics. I have her tooth that the donkey dentist removed years ago. I have four hoof clippings. Hairs from her tail tied with a piece of turquoise cross-stitch floss. I placed the collected hairs into small envelopes and labeled them. All of these artifacts of Elizabeth's existence are now kept in a small, oval wooden band box that my mother had painted. I cleaned up a small, old spice jar from my mother's house and filled it with some of the cremation ashes. (The ashes were scented with lilac by the pet crematorium staff.) The box lid has a place for a photograph (it may have had a mirror once). I just need to pick out the perfect picture of my wee girl to finish the box. The sting of sorrow is still perking to the surface from time to time, but not as sharp. I've been looking at so many pictures of her and videos, I'm collecting the best into a file for easier access. There are some in particular that I'm searching for and haven't found yet. I could charge up my old phone and the even older MP3 player to see if there's more in them that were never transferred.

The rain has let up, I should go check the mailbox...or not. I have some house chores to do before I get too settled into anything I intend to do with my time today.

It's Saturday, June 6th.

The Wind, 5/29/2026

Yesterday was a lovely day, 60s and sunny, tho' a bit breezy. Last night we had a storm front move through with the first rain in a few days, but the wind was a bit intense. (The airport recorded 49 MPH gusts, I think we might've had stronger than that up here, it was very brief, but wild.) I accomplished some new garden digging, but I got tired and quit early to continue reading Hail Mary, which my boys passed on to me a few weeks ago, I finally took it up as my porch read, they are dying for me to finish it so they can talk about it around me...Weir does know how to tell a good story, but nothing surprises me too much, or maybe I'm just too tired and unfocused...however, yesterday, I was so tired, I dozed off with Harper Lee snug against my left side purring her heart out. When I woke up the wind must've been enjoying the book very much because I started to pick up reading again and I was lost...so I had to find my place again, and finished another chapter.

This is yesterday's garden adventure (one of them):

I disturbed a good sized garter snake in the north garden (I might have screamed a little, not a loud girly scream, just a "Oh hi there, you startled me" sort of exclamation). I found it again later, it was hanging out near my cart in the driveway before disappearing into a patch of goldenrod. A few minutes later I heard Harper Lee hiss loudly and she sauntered out of the goldenrod, slightly bushy-tailed. She looked a bit annoyed with quite the scowl on her face. She probably tried to catch it to bring it to me as a present. The day before, she brought me a baby chipmunk (old enough to leave the nest, but still pretty little). Thankfully, it was unharmed, and made its getaway while I praised her for being such a good kitty! She's always bringing me presents...

This gorgeous bumblebee was hanging out with me while I was working. She was enjoying the Creeping Charlie that has entangled itself in the lower gardens, I don't mind the weed being there because the bees love it so much, and rely on it in early spring. I do tend to it to keep it in check throughout the season, it comes up easy enough.

Ripple, 5/28/2026

There is more going on in this sketch, light marks, but they don't show up so well in the photo.

The clouds are working on clearing out, still breezy, it's 46 degrees, not much warmer since I got up at 6AM (that's sleeping in for me, I'm not used to this luxury, yet.)

The lower garden view...a work in progress.

The snowball bush in full bloom!

Inspiration, 5/26/2026

and...

Blossoms, 5/27/2026

Sorry, I skipped yesterday. Jury selection took place yesterday morning, I was out by noon with my "marching orders" to begin reporting next Wednesday, so I'm in...I might not be posting regularly for a while as my schedule is going to be out of sorts and I'm out of sorts as well. There's going to be a lot of uncertainty as I have to call in to see if I need to come in for anything, my little neurodiverse brain doesn't do well with disruptions in my daily routines and going into the city is my least favorite thing to do...I might have to settle into a new rhythm and do a post on Saturday mornings.

As soon as I got home yesterday afternoon, I went right into the garden to get stuff done while the weather is dry. It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny and warm, but not too hot...the Goldilocks zone of weather. It's chilly this morning, 50s, I have some seeds for greens to plant in the raised beds, and the Wisdom Tree garden to clean up and dig out a new section underneath the long reaching, low hanging branch that is a pain in the ass to mow under, so I'm digging it out and I'll plant some primroses underneath the branch along with a mix of seeds that I collected last fall, love-in-the-mist, calendula, black-eyed suzies, and whatever else I can find in the seed box storage. I'm also planning to expand the lower garden edge and make a more dedicated mulched path so I don't need to mow that mess anymore. My little Ego mower complains a lot when the grass is wet down there...which always seems to be wet being the lower garden it tends to hold the dew and rain longer, and the grass is very lush...the sun sneezes and the grass is bushy within 24 hours after mowing. I'm trying to preserve the sod that has clover in it and put it on the back side of the Wisdom Tree that faces south, I'm weeding that side of the tree facing the south property line. It would be a good match with the violets that already exist there and are spreading into a nice ground cover. I'm hoping to encourage the clover to settle in there so I won't need to mow there. It's good four-leaf finding clover (I've found a couple this spring!)

Pathways, 5/25/2026

Sometimes it takes me longer to think up the title than making the sketch. Having a small 6 x 6 inch sketchbook makes me think of my random marks differently, maintaining sharper points on the pencils...my Ebony pencil did most of the work and I smeared my erasers (the big one and the little one) over the lines to soften some areas, leaving some dark, then going back and adding detail marks, and touching small areas to make them darker. Some pathways are interrupted...but still functioning...

Twilight, 5/24/2026

It's raining again. At least, the temperature is in the 50s. I can't believe this is the last week of May already...it seems I spent most of it glowering out the window at the rain rather than in the garden planting and weeding...getting shit done! I got out for about an hour or two late in the afternoon to weed out some of those weeds that make stick-tights that get caught up in Harper Lee's fur...I pretty much carried my bucket around the acre and collected them, and garlic mustard too...before I knew it, it was time to start dinner and feed the cats. It's supposed to clear later...just like yesterday, we'll see how late in the day that will be. Tomorrow is going to be 80s and sunny. Wednesday I report for grand jury duty orientation, we'll see if I'm one of the final picks...if I am picked, I hope they allow me to miss a day so I can keep my doctor's appointment on June 1. (I've been assured by my sister that they will pick me because they will love a little retired lady, I fit the demographic they look for...good grief, there goes my summer, it'll be gorgeous out and I'll be stuck in a courtroom.)

I did spend time in the studio carving more horse shapes for the They Shall Be Protected project, then I broke the narrow blade for cutting smaller channels and had to order a new one.

The Mustang rescue that I follow and support, Skydog Sanctuary in Oregon just took in two more former wild horses that the BLM sold as Sale Authority for $25 to someone and they turned around and dumped them at a kill pen for a profit. Often these horses end up shipping to Mexico or Canada for slaughter. To read more about the issue, this is a link that speaks about the Sale Authority process, and here's a link to the horses rescued this year and over the years as well.

Shut up and carry on - a scream becomes a yawn (Metric - Dreams So Real), 5/23/2026

I love the Canadian band Metric, I was in the studio working on cutting lino blocks for the They Shall Be Protected project and listened to Metric while I worked, it was a nice way to spend a rainy day...honestly, I haven't had this sort of creative day in a very long time.

This song, Help I'm Alive was on repeat a lot in 2022. The album version is the full band with a lot of their energy, but this stripped down version is so good...

Then there is Stadium Love...

A more recent song...Doomscroller is awesome...

I have enjoyed listening to the evolution of this band over the years, they are so good. I've heard there's a new album out, I'll have to give it a listen...

This is what I worked on yesterday...the soft linoleum is easy to carve, tho' I did break two of the cutting nibs yesterday because I pushed them too hard...my bad for being impatient, I was deep in "The Zone" so this photo is of the collection of cuts made so far to create permanent stamps for making the horses and burros featured in the artwork. They are accompanied by their paper templates that I was using for the mark making and tracing for the paper-doll style horses and donkeys, they often do not stay connected as I didn't really draw them or cut them to make chains with, which I probably could do someday with an updated template, we'll see what I come up with! The sketches on the scrap papers are the rubbings I made to test out the cuts, I will be doing rubbings with these as well as the stamps.

This is one of the mixed stamp and paper pony pieces I made in 2024 after a foal known a Thora was captured by the Bureau of Land Management, separating her from her mother when she was too young to be weaned, but because she was "famous" the government department figured she'd fetch a good price in their auction...they really took a risk, this little girl could have died in their filthy corrals...but, she survived, she did fetch a good price in the controversial online auction (the artificially inflated bidding price of $60,000 was recorded at one point, but I don't believe that wasn't the official selling price.) Thankfully, she's at a good sanctuary where she lives free and is well cared for and loved.

She is the spitting image of her father, Thor, who passed away from injuries in a fight a few months after his only foal was taken away, it was almost as if he lost heart after losing her. He was a protective and gentle father...her brokenhearted mother paced around the area where she lost her little one for days after she was gone.

Burro (Donkey) stamps, but I used the paper templates to make this, unfortunately, they get soggy after awhile, so the linoleum is a more permanent solution. I stamp them "blind" white paint on white paper and then do a wash of color over them so they look like ghosts...

This is one of the finished pieces made with paper horses...

I've been experimenting with these images for several years, it will be nice to get together a group of finished work once I create all the stamps of horse and burro shapes, I have so many ideas brewing in my head it's beautiful!

Time and time again, 5/22/2026

51 degrees this morning, breezy with rain on the way, 40s again overnight...will winter ever loosen its grip on us? It's going to rain all weekend (better than snow), but it certainly puts a cramp in my ability to stay on top of my garden and get things planted. I tried to get as much done as I could yesterday, but I ran out of time and energy. So irritating! The next sunny day is going to be Tuesday and we'll be shooting back up to the 80s, no wonder we all got sick with this stupid cold...this up and down weather wears out the body.

(Every warm sunny day I think of wee Elizabeth looking forward to going outside to enjoy them.)

My skirrets have emerged as tiny seedlings, some still had the seed shell stuck to one of the thin leaves. Some are in places where I don't think I planted them...but then again, the sticks that I had put around to mark where I planted them were sent higglety-pigglety by a nosy critter...or a certain kitty looking to use the freshly dug earth for a potty, but discovered the square metal shelving grids that I laid down as a guide for planting and as a deterrent, foiled her potty plans!

The big one and the little one, 5/21/2026

This is the last page in Sketchbook #28. Sketchbook #29 begins tonight and it's going to be a square 6 x 6 inches for a change of shape. I was hoping to score a long thin sketchbook, but haven't found one yet to satisfy me. (I'll keep looking.) I did consider an 8 x 10 size (there was a 7 x 10 that caught my eye) but I felt overwhelmed by the idea going that big...and then storage is always a concern, I have two bins already, and the second one is filling up fast. I'm going smaller, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 has been a good size for the last few sketchbooks, but it's time to do a different shape.

Very chilly 36 degrees this morning, there is a frost warning until 8AM this morning, but I believe that's in the valleys not up here, I hope! I didn't see the warning until late last night, so nothing delicate got covered, I'm sure the basil took a hit anyway, frost or not, it's too cold for basil...my bad for planting it on Mother's Day, I should know better not to do anything like that until June.

It's been two weeks already, I miss my wee donkey...this is a photo from July 14, 2013, the day I first met Elizabeth...

Free to a good home. A friend sent me a message about them, she saw the handmade poster at a local pet supply store. Her people were looking for a good home for her and her wee goat girlfriends. Her people had various illnesses and feared that they couldn't keep up with their care, especially in the winters. It turned out that the wife was a year behind me at college, and knew me as a campus "personality" because of my radio show.

This is Pebbles, saying hello...

This is Tessa, she was shy and yet, silly...

Originally, the critters were an interest of our friend who had a barn with five goats...and a border with four horses. On our way home, she asked if I wanted to be the owner because she was willing to be part of the rescue, but didn't want the responsibility of their care (she also didn't want to appear to be an "animal hoarder"). My Fred and I talked it over, and we said, "Yes." There was nothing said about any other people interested in them. I promised that Elizabeth and her two little goat girlfriends would be safe with us for as long as they lived.

Over the years we lost touch with the original owners. They stopped coming by on the occasional Sunday afternoons to visit, the wife seemed to be in rough shape. The last phone call I made to them was to let them know that Pebbles had passed away from old age. They had talked about moving to Florida, between that and health problems, who knows.

I never regretted a single day...they were a joy.

The treasure of time, 5/20/2026

This morning is a chilly 43 degrees, we're going to reach 50s later.

I think about time a lot lately and how I spend it...some days I feel squeezed. (I'm always amazed how much I accomplished when I was much younger, working full time, the time spent to commute to and from work, and still do all the household stuff, and make enough time for the creative stuff I love.) Yesterday was a slow down day because of the rain, I needed a physical break. It was a good day to do transplants and to dig up things growing in places where I don't want them to be and putting them somewhere more appropriate. While it rained, I spent most of the morning listening to the first five chapters of my manuscript while I swept the floors and dusted. I'm very pleased with what I've done with it these last four years since I retired and then overcoming the loss of updates I had made a year ago, which led me to make it even better. I'm relieved.

The Tree of Forgiveness, 5/19/2026

Forgiveness isn't always a smooth journey to achieve...this tree came into being in random marks made with the edge of a stumpy graphite stick that I believe is a 8B or a 9B softness so it's really black and doesn't smear easily with the eraser...I named it after John Prine's last album by that name, it's such an awesome record. If you haven't heard it, please do... here's When I Get To Heaven

It's a fun song...

Hazy, hot, and humid - but with a breeze, 5/18/2026

We recorded 88 degrees up here on our hilltop, the city hit 93 degrees, breaking the record from 1962. We might break another record today before things cool down after a cold front passes through tonight.

I was very thankful for the breeze, I stayed in the garden longer, and shifted with the shade. Still a lot to do. I had my lunch in the garden shed, all the windows open and the top half of the Dutch door open for a nice cross breeze, it was perfect!

I planted zucchini and golden beets yesterday, and snuck in a few sunflower seeds with Irish Spring soap shavings to hopefully deter the chipmunks (we'll see!) I still have some plants to pot on the porch, re-pot actually, I wintered over my geraniums and begonias in the living room, they're ready to be reinstalled outside for another summer (they're about 3 years old now!)

I also did the dumb thing of stepping on the "billy goat" hoe* and getting smacked in the face, it was leaning up against my cart, but not oriented the way I usually do to prevent such a thing from happening. Thankfully, no damage done, but I got a face full of dirt from the handle and a very light bruise above my left eyebrow...totally a page ripped from the cartoons I grew up with... I need to be more careful in the garden.

(*I call it a billy goat because one end is flat like a hoe, the other end has two prongs like horns...it does look like a goat head to me!)

A tiger swallowtail in the lilacs

My lilacs are in full bloom now, there are some blossoms that have dried up buds that were touched by the frost, but not all was lost. The butterfly and bumbles are very happy and the flowers smell glorious! Every time I went inside and out the back door, I would stop by and sniff the flowers. I love them, they're so beautiful this year! I hope the cooler weather coming in after today will preserve them for a few more days...they are only here for a brief time.

I love this photo of Elizabeth taking a nap with the chickens (this was at the first barn where we kept her and her two little goat girlfriends, it was 2 miles down the road and on our way home from work). She really liked our friend's chickens. The one on the right was her buddy, the little red hen...I always hoped to have chickens at our barn, but the owner never connected the electricity for the barn, so I never got the chance. I miss Elizabeth, and think about her often, so many memories, happy ones...

Morning mist, 5/17/2026

a very summery day ahead, upper 80s maybe touching 90 (likely in the city)

My lilacs bloomed yesterday. After all those nights in the 30s and 40s, they popped after a night in the 50s and a day in the 70s. They might be browning around the edges after today and tomorrow...they're so brief. I love them, and this is the best year as they're all so full of blooms!

The lilac bush is original to our house, near the back porch. It's a wild tangle of trunks and little one trailing away from the older parts. I haven't seen it so full of blooms. I'll have to cut some to put in a vase.

Fog and sun, 5/16/2026

Yesterday was my 4th retirement anniversary...even tho' it financially screwed us up, it was the right thing to do for my well-being...and I got to spend those four years being with wee Elizabeth when she needed me most.

When this sketch took shape the first smudges made with graphite dust and sandpaper reminded me of Karl Schrag's artwork, his paintings and prints depicting Deer Isle, Maine. During my time working in the art museum I had the joy of meeting him in the 1990s before he passed away, and the art collection has an extensive collection of his artwork...so, occasionally, my work echoes what I learned by looking at his artwork.

The running of the Preakness Stakes was yesterday evening, for every girl with a soft spot for a gray racehorse, we have a winner! I love the name of the horse, Napoleon Solo is a character from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. a TV show from the 1960s that my family watched.

Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Ilya Kuryakin (image from Wikipedia, Public Domain)

I was too young at the time to follow much of the plot and was shuttled off to bed most of the time it was playing, but I knew a good guy when I saw one...my sister was a teenager and she loved the show and would tell me the story since I missed seeing it. There are a lot of movies and shows that if I missed, she'd tell me the whole thing so I will never need to watch it...which can be annoying if I planned to see it (or have already seen it.)

It was a good race, not as dramatic as Golden Tempo's win in the Kentucky Derby, but not every race is the Kentucky "Stampede" of 20 horses breaking from the starting gate...

Simple Things, 5/15/2026

I sanded graphite dust onto the paper, smeared it with the sandpaper and I liked it too much just as it was to do much more than make the circle, overlapping three times with the Ebony pencil and three times the thin eraser.

Simple.

Yesterday was a nice day spent having lunch with my friend, and visiting greenhouses. I bought more herbs and flowers.

I slept in until 6AM this morning, I haven't done that in years, I was semi awake for some of that, but it was nice to take my time waking up. My cold is much better, my sister seems to have it, she sounded terrible last night when I talked to her. (She didn't get it from me.) Today we're going to be in the 70s after a very chilly 48 degrees...we're going to be in the 80s (almost touching 90) Monday and Tuesday and tumble down to the 70s, 50s, 60s...Thursday being the coldest with 30s predicted overnight. It's been a rollercoaster ride spring. Not as miserable as last year, but not ideal when the threat of frost lingers too late in the season for planting. (This is why I wait until Memorial Day!)

Last night I was picking off the blackened buds from my white peony that got touched by the last frost, there's still buds that survived, but I have my doubts that it will be as showy this year, she's such a beauty.