it's raining ... handymen

Bunny Dressing - Michael Sowa

It's Raining HandyMen! Hallelujah! - It's Raining HandyMen! Amen!
sing along girls ...

and it's also just plain raining this early morning, more hard, steady, straight down, pouring rain. And later in the day more heavy rain in the forecast combined with the leftover high winds of hurricane Hannah. Yesterday around lunchtime, as I stood in the kitchen shelling peas and trimming yellow and green beans, a gigantic Dodge Ram black pick up truck pulled up in front of my house. I knew in instant it was Carl (avec young son in law) Yeah ! - dependable, reasonable, can-do-anything and will-do-anything, no job too small, no job too difficult, perfectionist and of course a man extremely difficult to pin down as you can imagine - the handiest of handymen is tres busy.

First on les agenda my leaking sun porch roof - and especially with more rain and Hannah bearing down on us. Pas problem, with extension ladder and bucket o' tar in hand they were up on the roof like the roof top sprites they are known to be. Roofing is Carl's main side line. He also has a full time job. He's just one of those hard workin' guys, you know that rare and endangered species that can't relax and can only complete a job in the most perfect of manners. Hallelujah! My roof is now newly patched with blobs of tar so Hannah and all her potential fury will not and cannot bring me down. I will now enjoy her wrath in between hoping and praying that one of my gigantic trees doesn't come crashing down on us. But mostly, trust me, I will enjoy Hannah. Remember I myself am a dark and stormy cloud.

Then we (Carl, son-in-law and me) strolled on into les overgrown jungle. You see my problem is and has been (for 15 years) I don't like to kill anything. When I plant seeds - I have a hard time thinning them - I kid you not. I have trees growing everywhere in my yard. Trees growing where trees should never be. I have a grape like vine covering half of my roof. I have just let this big property go ... just be ... nature I said ... be whatever it is you want to be. I now totally see the err of my ways. It's become a wild and very tangled mess. One that now requires men with machines and that burning pioneer like, male desire to clear land. And I've found them. Hallelujah! There was lots of talk of small tractors and dozers and pushing and moving. More chat of chainsaws and chippers and chopping. Are you sure you want to keep that large lilac bush? asks Carl Hmm mmm, sure do ! I nod. He tells me proudly that he has 12 acres and not one tree and I reply Baby steps ... please. I could see the glint in Carl's eye (you gotta love a glint) as he pictured what my yard, or this first section, would look like when he was done with it. So ... the day's, this fall, that it's too wet for roof top sprites to be roofing ... they'll be in my yard clearing. One section at a time.

I gotta get my etsy shop up and running - gotta pay for those darn dozers and dozers don't come cheap.

I pray that the dog who lives in the far way land is cozy and dry this very wet and rainy morning. No sounds, no barking and no crying, do I hear from across our harbour.

I'm in love with this painting. It was very difficult to find much info on Michael Sowa (b 1945). He has illustrated many books and thankfully poster size prints of his work and specifically this magical painting are available here.


detail - sigh ! how beautiful is this

keepin' on

Miss D. lost in an overgrown pasture

Well... today is a day to just keep on keepin' on. A list of to do's and must do's as long as can be. A list of want to's and like to's always much longer still. Maybe I'll make two columns and alternately choose an item from the good list and the bad list. Yeah right. Some good news is I may have found the elusive and endangered (in these parts) handiest of men. Gerard - a friend of my friend Carol's. Why didn't she think of him before this? I'm not sure but I guess it doesn't matter does it ... she's called him and explained my poor pitiful situation and I'm to call him the first of the week to arrange our first rendevous. He has a chain saw and a pick up truck - be still my beating heart. Fingers crossed yet again.

This morning I can hear, way off in the distance, across the harbour in the far away lands where animals are commonly mistreated, the mournful cries and sorrowful whines of a dog. Perhaps it's the same dog who I often hear barking at 4am and 5 am. A dog who likely lives his entire existence outside chained to a tree. Who probably never comes inside, never lies curled up by the fire and never has the back of his or her ears scratched. This is the first time that I've heard this dog crying and it's breaking my heart.

Surely someone who lives near this dog will help. How you could listen to that crying and not do something is totally beyond me. The way sound carries I really have no idea how far away or where exactly this cry is coming from. Winnie & will say a little prayer that someone will help. Please God could you help this poor dog.

Kittens Gussie Gus and Oliver are peeling around downstairs doing their we're up, we've had a bite to eat, let's go - kitten stuff. Runnin' and slammin' and bumpin' and thumpin'. I'm back off to the nest with a second cup of coffee to make my 2 column list.


oh there she is with her bright red kerchief

just to have you

Jake & Lulu

You sheltered me from harm.
Kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my life to me
Set me free, set me free
The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you

I would give anything I own,
Give up my life, my heart, my home.
I would give everything I own,
Just to have you back again.

Everything I Own Bread

Another new potential project from customer No Uno so mad thumbnails at the teak topped desk today, more painting and sketching card ideas for greatarrow. Walking with dogs at low tide and noticing that it's getting dark a bit earlier each evening. Fall is beginning. Every day I putter around doing my everyday things and I catch myself muttering under my breath I would give anything ... and I would ...
give anything.

a really bad and choppy, very old recording of this sad song.

swimming

an Indian summer forest hike

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in it's roar:
I love not man, but Nature more

George Gordon, Lord Byron Child Harold's Pilgrimage


an island in the Bay of Fundy

In the fall of 2004, Thanksgiving weekend (which is in early October here in Canada) my nephew Michael got on a bus and came to stay with me for the weekend. That Saturday we hopped in my teal green Ford Escort station wagon, he newly 16 and with a learners permit and we drove - I drove, he drove, I drove some more. It was a gorgeous Indian summer day and an absolutely perfect day for a road trip. We went to the top of the hills, driven up on the ski lift, so that we could marvel at the splendour of fall colours from way up high, we hiked down steep hills through canopies of red and yellow trees and then we drove along the coast of the Bay of Fundy. We ate egg salad sandwiches wrapped in wax paper pouches while sitting in a parking lot and later fried clams, from a cardboard take out container and with a little wooden fork. We laughed, we talked and talked and we spent practically the whole day outside hiking and exploring. We took our time and we drove home along country roads in pitch blackness, we got a little lost and we laughed some more. It was a perfect day. We both took lots of photographs and it was one of my most favourite weekends ... ever.


Michael on the ski lift October 2004

Rain this early morning, the gentle but steady straight down kind of rain. No wind and no leaking. Merci Universe. Orange and lemon and patchouli bubbles. Coffee. Sigh. I've been up since 4am. I wake up often with a jolt - a jolt of missing. Ache & Sadness standing by my bedside shaking me awake.

I listen to a variety of things while sitting drawing at the teak topped desk (podcasts from itunes, books on CD and my beloved CBC radio 1) and yesterday I listened to one of Oprah's Soul Series interviews - this one with Elizabeth Lesser. She spoke for a time about grief and how Tears will and must wash away Sadness. How feeling grief and loss is the only way to make it through. He was like a brightly coloured rubber raft for me, solid and air tight, always happy and lighthearted - like a perfect summer day at the beach. Jake somehow kept me afloat ... and now it feels like I've fallen back in, I'm bobbing around in an ocean that's way too big for me, I'm treading water and learning how to swim to a new shore.

corn

'tis the season

I so wanted to post another illustration this morning . I've become addicted to sketching and painting and it's all I want to do ... and I do mean ALL I want to do. I have been working at the teak topped desk on groovy greeting card designs to submit to greatarrow - deadline Sept 15th.

Yesterday under duress I sprung La Beast Rouge from her newly clean and tidy shed, because we were having a nice sunny day, a break in the clouds and showers and because the grass in the dog yard (the fenced in area that no none uses anymore) was becoming blade-clogging long. She, La Beast Rouge, has been acting up lately, I have discovered that she must sun herself for a minimum of 30 minutes once released from her shed before she is up for doing any mowing. So now I top up her gas with Premium Super Plus Gold, wheel her into a big patch of sunlight and tell her I'll be back in awhile. I have a fickle lawn mower ... par for my course.

I went for two walks at the beach with my girl Winnie Dixon, both times we met up with Carol and Baby Duke so there was much spinning and twirling and gnashing and snorting ... that Miss D - she's in love with Baby Duke. Smile. Then Laundry, Drawing, Walking, Drawing, Cruising Design Sites (a particular favourite of mine is Design Sponge- honestly I feel my pulse quicken when I'm on this site for any length of time- SO much inspiration, SO many very cool things, SO many talented people and most who have blogs that must be visited, also Poppytalk the Canadian version and another in my top 5). Cooking, Mowing, Sighing, Folding, Whining (only to myself that there are too many things to be done in a day), Drawing, Playing with Kittens Gussie & Oliver, Smiling, Laughing, Drawing, Photo Taking, Eating (fresh local corn on the cob with butter, salt & pepper). Reading, Patting, Loving, Sleeping.

Rinse & Repeat.



and ... oh my goodness. This sweet video link courtesy of Anya titled First Crush.

a tiny life No 1

tiny life sketch No 1 - my first wish

I think I may be on to something with this particular technique of illustration. It combines my love of drawing little intricate lines and marks with my array of fav fine black ink drawing pens. Then adding colour at the end, a wash of gouache, when the drawing itself is finished. I'm still a little frustrated with the cuteness of the style - of my innate style as I'd much rather my work had a looser more sophisticated and edgier style. Like this or this or this. More imaginative subject matter as well ... and a looser style.

But hey, my life is a work in progress. I think the important thing here is to just keep on keepin' on - sketching and painting. Losing myself (and thankfully Ache & Sadness - they get bored with all this creative stuff and they go watch reruns of CSI- Las Vegas on that boy's channel Spike) at the teak topped desk, listening to CBC or a book on CD (most recently The Girls by Lori Lansens which I really enjoyed), tinkling paintbrushes in mason jars filled with water and saying to hell with lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners. I'm just gonna draw & paint. And I know from years of experience - the more you do something, the more you practice and the more you experiment with different ideas - the better you will get. I just need to work on lessening that cute factor and I'm sure I can do that.

Hey ! notice how tidy that little yard is ? Wink. And there's a wee garden out back with sweet peas and cosmos and bird feeders everywhere.

stormy weather

leaves painted sketch

Oh my, the teak topped desk is piled high and very messy this early morning. I barely have a spot to rest my elbows as I type. The wind is howling (and I mean howling - tropical storm strength howling) and whipping the trees around and the rain outside my windows is driving hard and tapping to get in. My sun porch roof is leaking badly in two places and I'm trying not to be totally freaked out by yet another house thing that needs my attention or better still the attention of someone who knows how to fix it . Honestly life just seems too much for me at times, too much for the place that I'm in right now. My hatches are battened for now. I need to take some deep breaths, go downstairs and get cup o' java No 2 and pour myself a nice hot bath with bubbles and scent. And try to not worry or feel anxious.
Uh huh. Sure, no problem.

Yesterday afternoon it all started with a wild wind and heavy rain thunder storm that lasted forever. I was puttering away at my desk and I could see the black boiling clouds moving in across the water. Their colour and intensity making me think of tornado's - both thrilling and frightening looking at the same time. One of those storms where the air goes from calm-as-can-be to wild and churning in a blink. Just to make it clear weather gods I did say I like a dark and cloudy day, I'm an overcast kinda girl no question, and I don't mind a little rain at all ... but this wild windy weather is not at all what I meant. This kind of weather is scary. And of course, this all makes me feel even more compassion for some of the 2 million people and their much loved pets who have evacuated areas of Louisiana to get out of Gustav's way.

Today's a holiday so I can't call anyone ... but tomorrow, top of my ever growing list, is seeing if I can't track down and nail down - a bogeyman or two.

striped pebbles

stripey pebble collection No. 1

So these striped pebbles, lovingly collected along the shore of our ocean by me and les chiens over the years and some quite recently, are a shout out to Austen over at Stripey Pebble. Holla.

It's raining here this early morning. Grin. I'm terrible, as I stand in line at the grocery store, the people all around me bemoaning what a rotten, wet, grey summer it's been, I look at the floor, scuff my feet and smirk to myself. Certainly no gloating from this dark storm cloud. It's not raining so hard that it will curtail Miss Dixon and my walk at the beach with Baby Duke and Carol, Deb and Maggy Sue (scuba diving golden retriever). We'll just don our boots and waterproof gear and well have a lovely long walk in the rain.

Yesterday way too much time was taken up by me installing matchstick blinds in my guest room and studio. The two rooms that face our little harbour, south south west I think (I am slightly navigationally challenged) and get lots & lots of sunshine. Well ... ergggghhh. The first blind took an inordinate amount of time to install - mostly I think because the roller cord on one came undone and I had to figure out how to reinstall this moving pulley like apparatus, so the blind would actually roll up - extremely taxing on this petite techy brain. Thankfully I learned much from the first installation and 2, 3 & 4 were installed in a jiff and Miss D insisted on being nearby throughout with her constant moral support - which did help a lot. Still ... a job that took way more time than I had anticipated. And that's the story of my life.



In the afternoon instead of reading a new good book, curled up with a blanket and bon bons I mounted all my little miniature photo art prints in their 5x7 mats and Oh they look SO good. It nearly made me cry (but then it doesn't take much as you all know). They look beautiful, 3x3 inch, and 3x4 inch photos (20 different images in total and doubles of many) with lots of soft creamy white mat around each image. I'm hoping that the back card-weight paper arrives this week and I can complete the assembly. Just so many little pieces to these art print greeting cards but ... I'm beginning to feel for sure that my etsy shop wares are really gonna make mama proud. Smile.

california

california circles

Same pattern of intersecting circles from Thursday's sketch. But this time a collage combination of paint and paper from my collection of vintage books and old atlases. I do love maps. I am drawn to maps with water in them and as I began to flip through my atlas I landed on a map of California, a state that I've been to three times (all work related visits to Los Angeles but once, we did drive up the Pacific Coast Highway in a cherry red convertible as far as Oxnard, along the ocean and I would have loved to just keep on driving - continuing along the coast until we reached British Columbia ...). While I was tracing and cutting and gluing little bits of California in this collage it made me think of my friend J. she's in SoCal (like SoHo or NoHo). She lives way down the coast in San Diego, her life miles away from mine and in so many ways.

Today I would like nothing more than to stay put at the teak topped desk building my creative empire - working on more greeting card ideas for my Sept 15th submission to greatarrow, taking this circle pattern and doing another collage with a more limited colour palette, my archival mounting tapes have arrived and I have near 50 little photos to secure in matts for my upcoming HUGE etsy shop opening. (I know I may have some disbelievers out there - I know, I know I've been talking about it forever ... honestly it is coming). Think I'll add prints and cards of these new paper collages as well. Paper quilts. I'd love to work away at my desk for hours and then curl up with a blanket and a book from the new pile of books I've just lugged home from the library. A cup of tea and maybe a bon bon or two. That's what I'd like to do today and tomorrow. Apartment or condo living has been calling my name (I think .... although I confess I'm not totally convinced). Big sigh. Because instead of staying inside and working away at my tiny life I must instead dans les machete, favourite leather garden gloves and wheelbarrow and go into the overgrown yard and jungle and hack away at a small section. Why ? I'm not even sure, my little attempts at denting it are somewhat futile, but I have this idea that it's what I'm supposed to be doing. And damned if I can find any, even remotely handy, man to help - for money, for jam or for casseroles. What on earth was I thinking when I bought this big old house.

Hope you all have a great weekend !

9:00 am- hey ! guess what ? it's overcast and drizzly which in my mind is a big ol' excuse to leave the machete dans les shed and stay put with CBC radio and paper & glue at the teak topped desk. Smile.

Jake & me

kind of says it all, this photo does - the look on both our faces, but especially his

And ever has it been known
that love knows not its own depth
until the hour of separation

Khalil Gibran

A repeat Polaroid photo on this blog and another of my most cherished images. This one I keep tucked away between sympathy cards and notes from friends in a lovely hand painted metal box that holds this dog's ashes. Ashes and locks of beautiful red and golden fur, collars and tags, a few of my favourite photos of us, some beach glass and a few tiny periwinkle shells along with all of my love.

Grief, or my grief, is about missing him but mostly it's still about trying to live this new life without him in it. Without his, bigger & sweeter than life, self. And it's sadness all tangled up with joy remembering the moments, all of the endless and wonderful daily moments from our long life together. He was some kinda dog that Jake. Love ya Noodle.

distractions

circles - painted sketch

A two hour lunch out with a girlfriend who I don't have to keep my sadness a secret from • A phone chat with MLou, like taking an Ativan, talking with her always makes me feel so much better • A long afternoon walk in sunshine and warm breezes at low tide with my best girl - Winnie Dixon • Painting something, Anya suggested yesterday that I paint my boy, my Jake dog in every incarnation of his Jakeness that I could muster. The thing is, I don't really do very well at realistic or representational paintings or drawings and if I tried to capture his oh so handsome self, I'm sure I'd only feel frustrated and disappointed with the outcome. It's why I find photography so satisfying - it seems so much easier to take a beautiful image. But I do love pattern and colour - hence the circles (just a sketch). All the drawing I do all day long on these product design projects of mine is either very ornamental or very stylized versions of real things. Please refer to Jake & Em or Red Dog Yellow Dog (an art print 5x7 card soon to be available in my Etsy shop) • The Democratic convention. Wow ! who knew we Canadians could be so riveted to American politics. Especially when I can also tune into to John Stewart & Stephen Colbert • Sweet Oliver softest calico cat ever, who has a very similar personality to Jake. Very affectionate, loves to play and be silly. He just seems to enjoy hangin' with me and seems to magically knows the exact right time to show up as if to say Hey whatcha doin' • Starting a gratitude journal. Writing down at the end of each day a minimum of 5 things that I'm grateful for • Chocking up some of the extremeness of all of this to hormones. Phew ... now that's a relief !

10:45 - an eagle flew over us at the beach this morning, really close above us, maybe 30 ft away. Good things are coming.

weary

great blue heron

Tears are words the heart can't express.
Unknown

My heart sure has a lot to say.

I am struggling again. This time last week, in the midst of my most recent big photo frame project, I honestly thought that Ache & Sadness had packed up and left for good - gone on some extended holiday. I can remember thinking to myself isn't that strange one minute they were here beside me and the next they were just gone, poof ... and it really felt, for several days, that maybe they were gone for good this time. Even though I can't imagine they'd ever be gone for good ... they've been living here with me an awfully long time.

MLou suggested I was just distracted. An explanation that surprised me and made good sense but one that had not occurred to me. I wondered then is constant distraction my ultimate goal ? I don't think so.

I'm weary, weary from missing & longing, from worrying & fretting about old house maintenance and bill paying, from pretending that everything is OK and that I don't have a big hole in my heart, I'm weary from feeling lonely. And all this weariness has weakened my spirit and when my spirit is weak ... Ache & Sadness become stuck to me. Tears spill out at inappropriate times.

Yesterday I had a routine Dr's appointment and errands to run and everywhere I went I found myself wanting to say to them, to anyone, through tear filled eyes. I've lost my best friend. Where could he be ?

It used to be when the grind of this solitary life and all the responsibilities that come with it made me weary. I'd coax that big red lug up on the bed with me, I'd wrap Jake's big paws around me and I'd bury my face in his neck and I'd feel absolutely safe & sound. He was my comfort and he was my joy. Always.

low tide

our walk yesterday at low tide - Miss Winnie D and me.

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth
are never alone or weary of life.

Rachel Carson

it's raining

peony pinks, lime green and a sweet Noodle dog in a favourite frame of my design

It's so curious: one can resist tears and behave very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window... or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed... or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses.

Colette.

I felt like I wanted and needed a big splash of colour this early Monday morning. An archives photo, from earlier this summer when the peonies were still in all their glory.

It's pouring rain outside these wide open windows. Miss D. is snoring here on her bed in my office. It's ink black and still outside. We've had three days of spectacular sunny, hot summer weather - a little rain is good.

Coffee and bubbles with Mint, Rosemary & Orange. We'll walk in the village this morning Miss Winn and I and later, after lunch, we'll drive to the beach when the tide is low. A stop at the post office and then we'll have our long, long walk out on rippled tide flats, just Winn & I. It's the hard thing about sadness, keeping it under wraps, keeping it tucked away in a blanket inside. I can't do it and I suffer trying. I understand that often friends and family don't want or don't know how to deal with sadness, and that's OK, but right now it's a part of me ... it's with me all the time, hiding just under the surface. I never know when it will come out ... so for now it's much safer for us, Winn & I, with Ache & Sadness trailing behind us like shadows, to enjoy our walks alone.

It's so nice that many of you see hope in my photographs ... as hope is what I would want you to see. Many thanks for the comments.

sunday

farmer's market goodness

Hope is the feeling
that the feeling you have
is not permanent

Jean Kerr

I still can't find that darn hope of mine. Maybe I'm looking too hard. Maybe if I stop looking it will magically turn up again ... like those lost car keys or my misplaced eye glasses.

Crickets and coffee and the sound of a small fishing boat leaving the harbour, it's another early morning. It's too early really, up at 4am this morning. A raccoon skirmish somewhere nearby had Miss Dixon in a terrier mix state. That's one of her jobs - to be alert and report all foreign and potentially dangerous scents and sounds.

She and I went to the beach again yesterday in the late afternoon. It's good therapy this lying on a towel inches from the gently lapping waves, the sun beating down, warm and comforting and with my sweet Miss D by my side.

me & my girl

more bed side sweet peas

Yesterday was a hot and sultry perfect summer day in this little seaside village. 28C and barely a whiff of wind. I finally finished up my 18 drawing - frame collection, which turned out beautifully - better even than I had expected. I sent a lovely big fat invoice out into the ether, tidied up my desk and put on my bathing suit and my fav beach cover up dress, I rolled up a towel and put it and a bottle of water in my straw bag and off we went, Miss D and I, ... to the beach.

The little beach that's in the village, a short walk away from 29 Black Street, and at the end of our walk in the park. The same beach that we walk to every early evening. I waded around in knee deep water while Winnie Dixon trailed along behind me, following my every step. The water here in summer is lovely and warm although still very refreshing on a hot, sweltering summer day and the air at the water's edge is always just a little bit cooler. Finally getting myself completely totally submerged, including wet hair and face, I floated around in the shallow water with the hot sun beating down on us, the only sounds we could hear were the sounds of seagulls and children playing underwater swimming games nearby. I didn't want to wade out so deep that Winn would have to swim as she becomes a little frantic and worried when I wade out into deeper water, so we stayed close to shore.

It was just heavenly and just what the Dr. ordered. Sun, heat, salt water - and all with the company of my best girl friend.


my girl Miss D. - she loves to bask in the sun

She and I sat on the beach, both basking in the sun, and time just floated away from us. Another dip, lots more basking. Lots of love and pats and scratches for Miss Winn, around her head and neck. And then we walked home, back through the park. I was surprised when I glanced at the clock in the kitchen when we walked in the door, we'd been gone 2 hours. Miss D and I, just a hangin' at the beach, sitting on our big rock a baskin', wading and floating around in the warm water ... just me and my girl. Perfection (well nearly).

I washed out my bathing suit and hung it on the line. Poured a big glass of ginger ale with ice and I ate perfect plain potato chips for my dinner while watching the Olympics. A perfect end to a very productive week.

I have another 2 day project which I'm beginning today. I also have many chores that must be done also. So today and tomorrow I'll try to fit half a day at the teak topped desk and half a day taking care of some of my to-do's and must do's. I'll be out in the garden awhile and whirling that vacuum cleaner around, I'll wash bedding and hang it out on the line, and I'll prepare big vats of curry lentil soup and vegetarian chili, food to freeze and have on hand so that when I'm busy with work I won't have to think about cooking (and I'll be less likely to have potato chips for my dinner. Wink.)

Such is the life of a freelance designer. You work whenever there is work, and lately, thankfully, there's been a ton of work. Although I have to say, once again, what I do, never ever feels like work.

Thank you universe.

retrievers

Em & Jake (a tiny speck of red near the horizon)- retriever heaven

In the night of death, hope sees a star,
and listening love can hear the rustling of a wing.

Robert Ingersoll

or in my case ... listening love can hear the splash of paws ...
racing into the water to fetch that stick.

If only I could have one wish ...


Happy tired dogs - Em & Jake

specimens No.1

a tiny Jonah Crab and an Atlantic Rock Crab

I could have easily (except maybe for the physics, chemistry & math part) been a marine biologist. I am totally fascinated by sea creatures of all types and sizes. Perfectly fitting, I guess, that I've been sloshing around in my rubber footwear avec les chiens (the absolute best beach combing companions ever) through many a tide pool for nearly 15 years now. I always walk with my head down collecting beach glass, bright yellow and orange tiny periwinkle shells, the occasional dogfish egg case or mermaids purse, examining unusual rocks and larger shells. Wading through shallow tide pools and crouching down to watch hermit crabs racing across underwater deserts to retreat in the shade of clumps of seaweed. The most exciting things I've found in 15 years of beach combing were a large ocean centipede about 10 inches long and a washed up oarfish (a petite sea monster) about a metre long.

I'm always amazed to come across some tiny little body, completely intact, of one of our Atlantic shoreline species of crab. Dead for awhile and completely dried out and preserved - it's shell sometimes bleached by the sun and salt.

Things are a mess here at 29 Black Street. Messy house, messy office, messy desk. That's what happens when things are busy, everything else falls by the way side. Another two day project on the heels of this one, then working on my Etsy shop art prints and my submissions Sept 15th and Oct 13th of greeting card designs to Great Arrow (a goal that's been on my list of goals for seven years and one that surely will help me in my quest of building my own creative empire). These are the times when I wish I had a tiny little life. A tiny little house and a tiny little yard and garden. Something easy to take care of and easy to maintain, when my main job at hand is bringing home the bacon.

11:00 A mouse in the house, well actually a mouse in the left hand top drawer of the teak topped desk. Not sure how he/she got there but my job immediately became to rescue the little mouse from the drawer and take he/she outside. Turns out not at all an easy task and at the end of it all the little mouse, freaked out at my attempts to lure/push him into a clean aluminum can (or safe tunnel place), jumped out of the drawer onto my sleeve and up the arm of my hooded sweatshirt and down into the hood. Thinking quickly I removed the my sweatshirt, closed up the hood and took sweet little, heart a beating, mouse outside and into the grass and safely away from the big game, tag team, hunters and mouse killers extraordinaire - Gus & Oliver. Mouse messenger animal totem.

thank goodness

brand new gouache paint set and a new No. 4 brush

It's cool here this morning. I'm not sure if it's the remnants of Fay finally reaching our shores or if it's some weather system from Ontario or perhaps the meeting of the two but it's supposed to be very cold here today. Not cool but cold. Close the windows cold. Then by the weekend the temperature will shoot back up to 29 C which is hot and almost as high as it gets here. Sunny and summery weather from the beginning of the weekend on and if you are a summery sunny person (remember I'm a little dark rain cloud with some thunder thrown in) that will be a huge relief. Our August the weather has been tres shitty as summery and sunny goes. Rain and rain and more rain. Lots of overcast skies with dark stormy clouds and thunder storms - maybe that's why mood has been lifted lately. It's not the kind of weather they want to have, here at the seaside. And the bad weather is an ongoing hot topic of conversation. We Canadians we are famous for our love of the weather chat and complaining chat the best and always most favourite.

My Etsy store art card component bits and pieces (envelopes and cellophane sleeves etc.) continue to arrive. It's the first time curse. Once I have this initial shop update done, reordering all these bits and pieces and adding to my collection of photo and illustration, sweet, matted print cards, should be a cinch. It's all this first time care and detail and an awful lot of measuring (a personal handicap of mine) that's been bogging me down. But they are still coming and still being worked on.

And I've had tons of paying design work on the teak topped desk which has kept me very busy these last few weeks. I'm at my desk through the day and into the evenings. Stopping to do the dishes, feed the beasts, and to walk with Miss Dixon down into the park each early evening.

Thank goodness for live streaming of Olympic coverage on CBC.ca, for bubbles with lavender and orange, and orange pekoe tea with lots of milk & sweet perfect clementines.

And of course for my Sugar Beet - Miss Winnie Dixon.

8:50 am - Three Harrier Hawks swooping and flying low in the pastures where we walk this early morning. Spectacular large rusty brown birds with a distinctive white stripe on their tail. The hawk totem means messenger.

happy tired dogs

Sugar Beet & Baby Duke in the throngs of round 1

Well that Miss D, she's surprised us all. I had no doubts that Winnie would like Baby Duke 'cause Winnie is a dog's dog. She had an unfortunate beginning in life and was not socialized at all with people. One of those poor dogs, we're quite sure, that lived her life at the end of a short rope or chain, tied outside. She was surrendered to a shelter when she was just shy of a year old. My friend Jean, from this local shelter said she was one of the worst cases of fear that she's ever seen. Her previous name was Princess (Princess Winnie Poo Poo from some speck of an atoll in the South Pacific). Jean asked if I would foster Winnie because she was very concerned that Winnie was so frightened, so freaked out by being at the shelter that she was going down hill at a rapid rate. I picked her up one Saturday morning years ago, Em & Jake welcomed her with open paws and giant retriever hearts and Princess Winnie was flinging teddy bears around and grinning ear to ear that same afternoon. It was Em & Jake, I'm convinced, that made Winnie feel safe and at home here.

She loves the girls that we walk with and now seeks out and requests their love and pats and scratches several times each early morning. But she mistrusts and won't go near anyone else. If I have company (which is a very rare event here at 29 Black Street) she skulks from room to room, from dog bed to dog bed, avoiding even the slightest eye contact with whoever (evil demon) might be here. If those same girls that she loves in the morning arrived at my door she behaves like she doesn't recognize them and insists (by barking her scraggly face off) that they go away now. As far as she's concerned they can't come in her house.

But she loves other dogs. And she sure is sweet on that Baby Duke dog. They have at least three rounds of this flat out running and tumbling and chasing, gnashing and bumping and rolling until their tongues are hanging out and their eyes are sparkling with pure, happy, dog delight each morning.

It's so good for Winnie. It's the best kind of exercise a dog can get. That perfect combination of flat out physical aerobic exercise combined with the incredible mental stimulation of doing something that they love. In this case planning their fancy footwork or their next tricky move. And my Miss D. she's got the moves, she loves to spin and twirl. For my boy Jake, his thrill was endlessly retrieving 2 or 3 (sometimes even 4) sticks, at the same time, from deep water, never ever 1 stick - that was boring Jake loved the multi-stick challenge. Planning his strategy as he swam around collecting his sticks. Which one would he gather first? No question he was put on this earth to retrieve things from water- he loved it so. And our Miss Maggie Sue, well she prefers to retrieve large round rocks, the occasional stick does add a little spice to her morning routine, but her true love is scuba retrieving - plunging her head under water, holding her breath for awe inspiring and (we're sure) record breaking times while using her front paws to gather submerged items, rocks, perfect white clam shells, etc... and she swims lengths back and forth parallel to the shore in between scuba events.

When we arrive home, these recent mornings, Winnie's been skipping sleeping in her dog bed under the teak topped desk and preferring to immediately hop up on my bed or the guest bed where she can completely stretch out and snooze contentedly.

She's a happy tired dog. Smile.




Maggy Sue joins in the play fray, taking a very brief break from her scuba duties