16

the cowboy & the brown hound - beautiful Bess

Hey there handsome.

The cowboy and I and the three sisters, the girls - Miss D, Piper Belle and Bess are going on a road trip today. We will travel to nearby picturesque small towns and villages. We'll stop at the farmer's market, we'll walk on the beach with our family of dogs and he'll show me the nearby harbour where I'll learn to sail next summer. Tonight he'll barbecue. He's moving his much loved weber charcoal barbecue to this old brick house today. He's beginning to move his things.

I love him.

I can't imagine what my life was like before he was here - here filling all of this immense space in my heart and my head. He tells me stories and I love that he's such a chatterbox - a retired history professor who spent 32 years talking, chattering away in 50 min modules. We laugh together until we cry.

Today is day 16 of our big, new life together.

I'm sorry I can't post twice a day Martha ... I wish I could. I do well to get one post up.
Thank you, thank you - all of you, for the big smiles and happiness that I feel in your comments.

ever after

asters

I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do..
I will be strong I will be faithful
'Cos I'm counting on a new beginning.
A reason for living.
A deeper meaning.


I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me...

Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

I've always loved this song and I've always kept it and it's big sentiment tucked away in my own imaginary, hopeless romantic ("that" only happens in movies meant to taint young girls or perhaps in a Nicholas Sparks novel) suitcase, pushed far under my bed, hidden away forever.

Not anymore. These words are real. Boy was I wrong. These lyrics are my life and my future. Today the cowboy and I celebrate 2 weeks of seeing each other. Of seeing each other every day, several times a day and for longer and longer periods each new day. We are fast becoming so completely tangled up with each other we both know that these knots will never come undone.

The day after our first date, dog walking in the park 2 weeks ago, the cowboy stopped at the post office to pick up his mail. He walked up to the counter where Sue stood beaming at him and he looked at her, smiled his big boyish grin and said ...

and they lived happily ever after

and he meant it.

all of this

the small marsh above the crescent beach and looking out into the straight

The cowboy and I began having our evening meals together this past Sunday, on the 10th day of our big acquaintance. Since I have been madly teak toppin' it and working toward a fast approaching deadline (met finally yesterday). He has been preparing our evening meals, cooking at his own house and arriving each evening with some new move able feast - all carefully packed into his wooden wine crate.

Sunday - he prepared a pot roast with new potatoes and new carrots, onions & garlic accompanied by perfectly steamed broccoli. It was delicious.

Monday - he arrived with his grandmother's (she was from Kentucky) fried chicken (technically not fried or at least not deep fried) pan fried in butter, after being generously dusted with seasoned flour, until the skin is crisp and golden and then finished in a hot oven. He served the chicken with new potatoes, pan gravy and buttered peas (and ya know how I love peas). A similar recipe here. Again delicious.

Tuesday - this night roasted lamp chops on a bed of brown rice, with onions, garlic, celery and tomatoes served with perfectly steamed broccoli (turns out we're both crazy about broccoli).

Each of the above three meals was followed by dessert of chunks of extra dark imported chocolate and clementines.

Wednesday - finally my big deadline had been met so I cooked. He brought the broccoli ready to perfectly steam and I made Coquille St. Jacques- using this recipe. It was delicious and perfect. Individual casseroles of cream and cheese, buttered bread crumbs and fat juicy Digby scallops served beside bright green still crunchy broccoli stalks, perfect to scoop up any and all remaining cheesy goodness. For dessert I made my famous, and to die for, tres easy lemon pudding cake souffle like - light, tart and sweet all at the same time. Served of course with a good dollop of real whipped cream.

He loved it all. He's cooking again tonight as I'm moving on to the next project on the TTD queu. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this new mealtime routine.... and all of this goodness.

crazy

my cowboy and the beautiful brown hound Bess

A Polaroid photograph taken yesterday at the end of our late afternoon walk with the dogs. He and Bess are standing in the golden hay fields behind his home and the beautiful building in the back ground is the house he built for his sailboat.

I can't imagine there is a man that could be more perfect for me. I feel dizzy all the time, I feel drunk, drugged. I feel incredibly lucky and so incredibly grateful that the M. Universe pointed us toward each other and I know he feels just as thankful. I am crazy about him ...

forever

the lobelia are still blooming in the upstairs hall window box

I wish to believe in immortality - I wish to live with you forever

John Keats

The cowboy has been cooking me dinners. I spend a good part of each day and evening with mad teak topped Empire building and after our 3pm walk in the afternoon sun avec les chiens, and after I've had my tea. I go home.

I come home to this old brick house and before I know it there he is again, coming in our front door with the beautiful brown hound and an old wooden wine box containing a moveable feast. He's prepared our meal in his own kitchen, packed it up and driven it the 5 min. drive across the bridge to my house. I've set the table for two in my beautiful new spare dining room. Winnie lies smiling at us from the sofa and Miss Piper Bell and the beautiful Bess continue their endless gnashing and spinning, nipping and tumbling play while the cowboy and I eat and talk and smile and laugh ....

cowboy 3

the cowboy and the dogs, Missy D, Piper Belle and the brown hound Bess

oh you set up your place in my thoughts
moved in and made my thinking crowded
now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
my heart the red sun
your heart the moon clouded

i could go crazy on a night like tonight
when summer's beginning to give up her fight
and every thought's a possibility
and the voices are heard but nothing is seen
why do you spend this time with me
maybe an equal mystery

Indigo Girls - Mystery

Every afternoon just before 3pm Miss D, Piper Belle and I pile into the teal coloured 97 Escort Wagon and drive the short drive across the bridge to the cowboys house. He lives in a beautiful turn of the century farmhouse which he has completely restored. We all tumble out of the car to big smiles and the happy squirming of a brown velvet puppy and then we walk in the wide fields of brown and gold behind his house. Miss D walks perfectly, off leash, by my side while Piper and Bess zoom and tumble, roar and leap, gnash and yip. I walk with Dee and beside the cowboy.

When we finish our walk I sit in his kitchen in the rocking chair. He adds wood to the fire, makes me tea and he has an afternoon beer. Piper and Bess continue to gnash and snort and play like the crazed young dogs that they are in tumbling circles around his open kitchen and Miss Dee sits by my side staring at the cowboy. Staring at him with affection in her eyes, willing him to speak to her, asking him with her eyes if he wouldn't like to scratch under her neck ... she's flirts with him and I think she might be falling in love.

golden

Sunday - the most favourite day. Warmer temperatures, it's windy and the sky is just beginning to brighten. A jam packed day ahead of mad teak toppin' until 3pm when rewarded for my efforts we, Miss D, Piper Belle and I, will meet up again with the cowboy and his brown hound, the beautiful Bess. We'll stroll in the golden hayfield behind his house and I think I'll take my camera.

t.i.l

rose bush

don't be afraid
have courage
speak your truth
trust in love

trust in love ... trust in love ... trust in love ...

and Hey ! thanks so much for all the swooning happy comments - tres sweet !

7 days

overlooking the small marshy area just above the crescent beach

At the end of a long, long day
There is not much more to say then love
I'm so glad I met you

Royal Wood

If you know me well, you'll know that I am a heart on sleeve kind of girl.

Originally I loved this song because it expressed the huge and simple love that I felt for my big red dog Jake. Now suddenly it has added meaning. The jigs up, after a month of M. Universe pelting me with a series of larger and larger good things she's finally knocked me down with the ultimate good thing. I have fallen ... truly, madly, deeply ... in one week, 7 days and I feel as if I've been run over by the most beautiful train. Turns out that the cowboy and I were two souls and hearts drifting around endlessly in a fog of resignation, in a blinding suffocatingly thick this is how my life is and always will be - so get used to it ! fog of acceptance.

You know what they always say ... just when you least expect it.

Well those sturdy rafts we each were floating on, drifted out of that fog and smacked into each other in a rather dramatic fashion one sunny September evening in the park. When I went home that night I couldn't stop thinking about him and his tears. I decided to be bold, on Tuesday I sent him a card - this image and a note about how sorry I was about his dog Abby, I told him more about my own grief and that I hoped we'd meet again in the park one day. I didn't sign my last name or write a return address because I did not want him to feel obligation but I hoped to make an impression.

I waited and nothing happened.

Each evening at the same time Winn and I would go for our walk down into the park and much to my dismay no cowboys with chocolate puppies ever came running toward us in slow motion. How could that be ? I had felt such a strong connection. I guessed I'd been wrong - I'd been very wrong many times before. Nearly two weeks later Sue from the post office, Sue who I power walk with every lunch that it's not pouring rain, called me and said with a lilt in her voice he hasn't picked up his mail. He hadn't yet received the card.

Hallelujah and some rejoicing from 29 Black Street.

And then he called, the day he finally went to the post office and found my card. He left me a wonderfully kind and polite thank you message. It sounded nothing but platonic and there were no questions asked, no reason really for me to call him back. I archived the message and listened to it many more times than I would ever admit to.

Nearly a month passed. No more calls, no cowboy sightings. More fog, more resignation tinged with sadness and melancholy rolled in thick again. I wondered if I wasn't being a tad dramatic and then I reminded myself that I'm allowed, it's OK to be dramatic - girlfriend you do forget from time to time that you are a human being. On our lunch time walks through pastures filled with black and white cows, walking fast toward the ocean Sue allowed me to babble on about the cowboy she listened and made wishes for me, like good friends do.

Last Thursday afternoon, back at the TTD after our lovely energizing walk and chat through hay fields Sue called me and said Guess what I just did ? She had called the cowboy. She had decided a little overt matchmaking was required. She and I chatted for 10 mins or so as she told me about their conversation, what she said to him and how he had reacted to her little bug in his ear with instant immense delight and enthusiasm. When Sue and I said goodbye and I hung up the phone there was a message waiting for me from the cowboy.

That was 7 days ago yesterday, our lives immediately became tangled together.

cowboy 2

more early morning beauty

I am just flying - at top speed. Racing through my life at the moment. So much going on here at the TTD* all good, all wonderful and with an endless stream of new and exciting projects queuing up to be tackled next. Busy = happy, busy= secure.

Sweet little coyote Piper Belle is a petite dream dog. Loyal, sweet, gentle and comes when she's called. Hello ! Miss D, I can tell, loves her, she's much more relaxed, less nervous 'cause she's got a buddy. We've been spending some time, each late afternoon, the three of us walking through golden hay fields with a man and his chocolate brown hound. Piper flies and leaps through the sea of gold like some strange wiry african antelope with Bess the 4 month old chocolate puppy in hot pursuit. My lady Dee, still a little cautious and unsure of this new routine (much like her Mama) prefers to walk beside me. Beside me and the cowboy, the man with the tall moustache who loves dogs as much a I do.

sacred

stunning grey and stillness like glass

Something opens our wings
something makes boredom and hurt disappear
something fills the cup in front of us:
we taste only sacredness

Rumi

... and goodness and gratitude

merci M Universe! lessons and learning, trials and contentment, beauty and truth. Holy Cow !

and Hey ! I won the gourmet chocolate gift from the far away lands of Making Space and you all know how a little gourmet chocolate totally thrills this girl

too good

ghostly queen anne's lace


oh the pirate gets the ship
and the girl tonight
breaks a bottle to christen her
basking in the exploits of her thief
she's a very good listener
maybe that's all that we need
is to meet in the middle of impossibility
we're standing at opposite poles
equal partners in a mystery

Indigo Girls - Mystery

How can it be November ? I find every year the months between September and December race along at such a speed I never seem to catch my breath. Add to that "things a hoppin" here at the cat covered TTD* and the days just keep zooming by me - the space of time between coffee in bed in the morning and tucking in at night with my adored moist heating pad feels like a blink. Days so chock full, of good, goodness & then more good. I've lost my breath. In fact I asked someone the other day Do you think it's possible to feel too good ? I guess I meant it as rhetorical question, or even just an awe struck ponder.

*TTD - teak topped desk

I've been creating mixed play lists in itunes to listen to at my lovely big imac which has fantastic speakers. A favourite old song by Everything But the Girl

fearless ness

Susan with pole beans and red sneakers - 9 years old

Fate loves the fearless

James Russell Lowell


We all have our childhoods living inside us. I've been feeling like this little girl right now in many ways although I am trying with all my might to be the grown up woman that I know I am. It feels like M. Universe is shaking me.

Don't be afraid,
Have courage
Speak your truth
Trust in love

Repeat daily as needed

I have my nephew Michael to thank for reminding me of this favourite photo from my past. It's taken on a sunny carefree summer day in front of my adored grandmother Flo's gigantic vegetable garden. An amazing woman who I love with all my heart and will miss forever.

Michael's begun working on a web site design for 29 Black Street so that I can put everything, all my stuff, in one spot - blog, portfolio, bio, etsy shop - my own web site is a much overdue thing. He's very talented and also very loved by me.

Been to Thailand ? Now's your chance. That girls' on the other side of the world and she's blogging up a storm @ 163 degrees.

handsome

a holly bush in early morning sunshine

holly which grows in the yard up the hill a few streets over and near the schools. The yard across the street from the senior caramel coloured, german shepherd mix, the dog with a huge smile and one ear always cocked and crooked. And the girls and I yell out to him each morning Hey there handsome !

I know that this will sound a tad mysterious but My Goodness - be very careful what you wish for is how I'm feeling currently. And I mean that in only the best possible way.

frost & gold

yesterdays early morning walk around our little village

Frost & golden yellow sunshine.

Only from the heart
Can you touch the sky

Rumi

new beginnings

sunrise, near the schools, yesterday mornings early walk avec les girls Miss D & Piper Belle

Good things just keep on comin' and I am grateful, grateful, grateful.

There is so much new and good whizzing toward me I can hardly believe it, or catch my breath.
Good things do come, if you're patient and if you trust and keep on believing without fear. Remember this ?

Don't be afraid,
Have courage
Speak your truth
Trust in love

and this one - speaks directly to my heart at this moment

Every new beginning comes
from some other beginning's end

Seneca - Roman philosopher

Sleep tight my hero, Noodle, love ya madly always

Hey ! It's Friday again. +crazy warm temperatures in the forecast for the weekend, with rain, but warm rain at least. Tons on the go here at the TTD. Off to the lands ...

I doubt I'll get to see Michael Jackson's concert movie This Is It on the big screen (although I'd love to and I bet Georgie's already lined up for her ticket in HK). He is, was, simply a genius and I believe a good and loving soul who was totally misunderstood. This is always my favourite MJ song 'cause it always makes me wanna leap up and dance around this old brick house.

try, try again

yellow leaves in our front garden last early evening

Many people seem to think that success in one area
can compensate for failure in other areas.
But can it really?...True effectiveness requires balance.

Stephen Covey

Uh Huh. I do hear ya Steve

I'm thinking that the time changes this Sunday - we fall back an hour. Sigh. I always find the months between September and Christmas rush by so quickly that I can hardly catch my breath and this year all those days and weeks seem especially speedy. A blur of Autumn. I decided this morning while having my first cup of coffee tucked into the nest of down & flannel, a little Piper Belle snuggled in beside me and Oliver on me like a piece of clothing, that I need more (or even some balance in my life). Time management, I realize, will be the ultimate key to my success. I need to schedule into my days home keeping, exercise, down time, fun stuff, gardening - and in small manageable units ... so that my days become rich and varied. Instead of days hunched over the TTD telling myself Well, your busy. I do tend to spend most of my time here at the teak topped desk, my comfort zone, under the guise of busyness and believe me it's not always productive time. As anyone who sits in front of a big beautiful monitor with high speed internet can tell you. Oh look I have new mail I wonder who it's from ? ( a dozen times or more through the day). Oh ! they're talking about some author and his interesting new book on Q - gee, I wonder if I can order that from my library system ? and off I go. Not to mention all of those completely random thoughts or words that rattle around in that head of mine, leading to questions that I know now can be answered in a blink with a mere clickety click in the Google search bar of the ever curious mind. One never has to wonder, ever again, how fantastic is that ? who knows where I'll visit and when I might be back to the task at hand. I can circle the globe several times on any given day. I'm doing research ... Uh Huh

I've mentioned this topic before - how I would (re) instate new rules about surfing and checking emails, checking my blog, checking other blogs etc - if you'd look at my internet history on any given day you'd be ('cause I sure am) shocked ! And ya know I would like to vacuum (seriously) or have a tidy kitchen always, I'd like to use my 30 mins Pilates DVD, to spend an hour here and there reading when I wasn't exhausted and ready to fall asleep or to think about what Christmas gifts I'll make this year, now in October when there is still time to actually make them.

So I will try again ... I'm looking for some big balance in my life and you know that old saying ... If at first you don't succeed try, try again.

Oh and I have a massage apt. tonight - can you hear the harp music ? ahhhhh ....

that Dee

Winnie basking in a big patch of sunlight in her upstairs hall look out chair

My bath is pouring, the dogs have been out, Bleet's asleep on a windowsill pillow and those kittens Gussie and Oliver are peeling around downstairs in what sounds to be some very high energy top speed kitten antics (I still refer to them as the kittens although they turned 3 this summer), Piper Belle is in the red armchair that sits in my office curled up into a tight ball of wiry golden sweetness and the lovely Missy D is ensconced in her cave/den bed under my desk.

I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee and it feels like all is well with our world. It feels really good to say the dogs again - I've noticed a big difference in Winnie already. She's more energetic, more enthusiastic, she races out into our giant fenced in dog yard with Piper and stays out there awhile - they sit on the little hill on visual patrol OK, you look that way and I'll look this way they seem to say to each other. Before Piper arrived I couldn't convince Winnie to go into the dog yard at all since Jake's been gone she hardly ever goes out there. She needed a friend to do her stuff with. Piper still occasionally takes a little snap at Winnie if they're both close to me and I happen to be paying just a little more attention to Winnie, even for a second. It's a very nonthreatening snap, no growl or snarl and no where near making actual contact. I scold Piper, tell her No ! and Winnie is so sweet and tolerant she looks at Piper as if to say I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that girlfriend - calm your nerves ! Miss D constantly surprises me. Like her crazed, gentle puppy play with Baby Duke last summer - she was so unabashedly just plain silly in her endless enthusiastic antics with him. And once again she's showing her kind and tolerant nature. Since Piper arrived last Thursday I love Winnie Dixon even more ... now how is that possible ?

She's some kinda dog that Dee.

the best time

miniature coyote shadow - elementary school yard last night

This bustling Creative Empire I'm a buildin' is making me tired. For the first time ever, since starting this small business 8 years ago, I find myself juggling most of the time more than one project, sometimes even 3. Juggling and/or rushing has never ever been my forté. That said I'm doing pretty well at it. I'm power walking through pastures to the ocean and back every lunch hour (weather permitting - driving rain the only deal breaker) with Sue from the post-office. A much needed break from sitting hunched at the teak topped desk and holding my breath all day. And of course I walk with les girls before breakfast and in the early evening around this little village, another chance to catch my breath and feel grateful. But still I find myself dreaming of bedtime. Dreaming of my nest of down & flannel. Pajama and good book time, moist heating pad* for my screwed up shoulders time (you know the kind you throw in the microwave for 3 mins - and ahhhhhh !). A cup of English breakfast tea (at bedtime), a hot pad, a bed full of dogs and cats and tons of love all topped off with a good book and Mama's in heaven. We're not working for the weekend. We're just working for bedtime - the best time.

The big fat black velvet chicelet has just arrived atop the TTD and has splayed his immense self before me on my desk blotter. Chin rubs, slow purposeful ear pulls and much gentle rubbing and patting accompanied by cooing and general adoration (by me) must now occur and in return I will receive sweet chirping sounds and the deepest, most gravel-ey sounding purrs of contentment we've ever heard. My Nessie's got one wicked purr.

Desi update - 11 year old Desi and his 9 year old sister Adara (who were both set to come and live in this little village in separate homes but with plans to meet up in the park) have been reunited with their owners who are moving to Alberta and initially thought they couldn't take them too (I know - wtf ?). They must be forgiven. These 2 dogs were very well looked after and I'm wondering if the couple didn't realize that they'd made a terrible mistake and were completely heartbroken after surrendering them to the shelter hence a massive and wonderful change of heart. Desi & Adara will be so thrilled to be back with their people so it is a very happy ending all round - I was so looking forward to saying Hey there handsome ! once again.

Goodness I'm tres long winded this early morning. That girl, MLou is up and posting from the Land of Smiles so be sure to follow along (and comment) here with her 0 degrees Thailand adventure.

* I'm about to spring for this beauty - an electrified, moist or dry heat, super sized heating pad - ahhhhhh
be still my beating heart (and aching neck and shoulders).


omg that girls hair is sweet

les girls

oh my goodness ... I love this photo of Missy D

'Cause that's exactly who Winnie is. Calm and beautiful, regal and proud, loving and absolutely gorgeous. And you know ... I'm just crazy about her. She's been so tolerant of the new girl round here - our little miniature wire haired coyote - Miss Piper Belle who's middle name seems to be Exuberant. She who wags her tail constantly and with such gusto I've been thinkin' I may be able to harness her up and do a little coyote bush whacking. She's also a big time snuggler and would sleep each night curled up into a ball in my armpit if I'd allow it (but that makes it difficult for me to turn the pages of my book). She only has one tiny flaw, one which is my responsibility to keep in check - from the moment she walked in the door here at 29 Black Street she became (potentially) a tad possessive of her new home and of her new Mama - not unusual for shelter dogs who's one wish is to find someone to love. She snapped at Oliver a few times (the kind of snap that isn't meant to make contact - mere threats they are) and of course Don was completely unfazed by this momentary lax in decorum and Piper had a little squabble with Winnie over who was going to sleep in the purple dog bed (and we've got plenty o'dog beds here) Winnie won that squabble resoundingly of which I am very thankfully. I would never want Winnie's status within this old brick house to be threatened and we just won't let that happen.

I'm not sure if Desi arrives tonight or not - that should be an interesting twist in the mix but I'm counting on both girls to be in such a big ol' swoon over his brawny handsome self that they will both (especially Miss P. Belle) be on their best behaviour.

And Oh ... oh thank goodness !! my cover art for HOW magazine is finished and ready to be sent over the web waves to Ohio. I must say I am very happy with the finished product (which is saying a LOT 'cause it's not easy to make myself very happy). It took me from 10am -7pm (with a break at 4:30 to walk with the girls and sit a spell on our grassy hill in glorious very warm sunshiny weather). I was so tense all day. The thing with collage art is you can never really predict what the finished piece will look like - you just have to put yourself in a trance like state, repeat the word TRUST softly and often and most important try to remember to breath occasionally - it did feel like I was holding my breath most of yesterday.

But it's finished, and I like it - Big ol' PHEW & Hooray !! Here's hopin' the art director loves it too. A huge gigantic item scratched off la list.





she's a cross between a little lamb and a miniature golden coyote - Miss P. Belle