It's been a busy and fun week. The weather has been just about perfect. Everything is green and the tulips are very nice this year.  Last year we had a stem festival.

Had my kayak (the Green Banana) out for the first time yesterday. Paddled for about 2 hours and it was glorious. Got the bike out and it's all ready for riding.

Getting my garden ready to plant, but won't buy any flowers or veggies until after Memorial Day.  We are expecting a light frost next week.

Got word a few days ago that we will no longer be able to cross David and Nan Van Andel's property to get out to Big Red. He might allow public access on Tues. and Thurs. but that hasn't been set in stone.  Bummer...On the south side of Holland, that's as close to Lake Michigan as we can get without a boat.  I won't bother with my rants about how unfair this is that those with lots, lots and lots of $$$ can keep us that don't have enough $$$ to purchase property...if any were available for a reasonable price, from easy access to enjoy one of the greatest natural resources we have. Bear was particularly sad as he has made lots of friends on our walks.

Spring Has Finally Sprung!!!!

Spring has finally come to my corner of Michigan.  It's been a very looooong wait but I have to say it was worth it. Our winters are usually lots of fun with snow and cold weather, but as in most regions of the world this has been one weird weather year.

Tulip Time 2013 begins in our town on Saturday with lots of tulips, food, fireworks and 3 parades. It's a crazy time for us residents but loads of tour buses and visitors come.

I have been kind of in a funk and grumpy for about 2 months now and am gratefully coming out of it.  Life is good again and I'm excited to get to those spring/summer activities.

Also Laure Ferlita is starting a new class today and I am very excited to get back to sketching.  Her classes are just the best and the people that I've met are wonderful.

I hope to keep this blog more up to date and post some of my work.

Get out and enjoy your day, wherever it takes you. 

Happy Holidays

A holiday display at the Venetian



Holiday display at the Wynn



UPDATE: I didn't get this posted when it was actually written so here's what's been going on since 11.14 ...which is not very much. Life has slowed to a crawl and I love that even amidst the hustle and bustle of the Season. We don't celebrate with family until January. H and I made our annual trip to Las Vegas and it was great. I do love that city but only for a few days. The diversity and decadence is wonderful. It's particularly a winter fantasy world this time of year.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that the peace and love that is wished this time of year will carry through all of 2013 and beyond. Our world needs peace.

November 14, 2012
Life has been busy for the past few weeks. Everyone is healthy. H and I have gotten our flu shots and the Boyz have gotten their Kennel cough shots. I finished up another sketching class and miss it terribly. Laure are you listening? Unfortunately I haven't made the time to do a proper sketch in weeks...done a few tangles...because I have been knitting. I am a seasonal knitter. I knit one sweater, usually for myself a year and several scarves and hats. I'll be over this phase in my life about the time we leave for Marathon in the spring and it will be on to other things that are my passion. One of my favorite yarns is Noro. These yarns are produced in Japan and are lovely. I usually have two projects going at one time. I'm currently knitting a sweater/hoodie for me and making a scarf to donate to the local retirement village's craft shop. (sweater is now finished)
Our weather, like a lot of the rest of the country, is unseasonably warm. We have had more sun than we usually have this time of the year, which is OK by me and the Boyz. I have even skipped the gym a couple of times in lieu of walking.

Getting Ready for Bed (aka winter)

The last few weeks have been quite busy with mundane work but non-the-less important.  Living  in Michigan along the lake we have to 'get ready for bed'. There's lots to do to get things ready for winter activities...find the snow shoes, dust off the skis, get the winter hats, gloves, scarfs and coats organized, getting out my knitting bag and buying skeins of wool.

We are one of a few cities that still has leaf pick up by the city but there is a window of opportunity to get them raked/blown to the street for pick up. I play a waiting game with the leaves. I won't rake until the last minute and see that most of the leaves are off the trees.  I have even been known to be raking leaves to the curb while the trucks are coming around to pick up. One morning last week we awoke to a pretty heavy frost and a small tree, still full of leaves, began loosing its leaves as we watched. Within in an hour the tree was bare. It was quite amazing.

As the day warmed up...keep in mind that is a relative term...H and I put away the deck furniture and I gathered the little yard ornaments. I moved the house plants that had summered out of doors back into the house hoping they'll survive another winter indoors. Cut evergreen branches and put them in my  window boxed for the season.  I moved wood to the small dog yard for easy access so that Woody-dog and I can have lots of fires while watching the snow fall.

Darby and the Peanut Butter Jar

Let me introduce you to this cute little one. We have had the pleasure of sharing our home with this cute little Dachshund for about 5 years. We got him from the Ohio Dachshund Rescue. This little dog has been such a joy for us. He is one of the naughtiest/cutest little dogs I've ever had. He is part Dachshund, part Jack Russel. In his short life he has been paralyzed in his hind quarters and recovered and has had knee surgery. He has such a love for life. The people that 'turned' him in to the rescue said that he had been on the run with a border collie for about 6 weeks before they could catch them. They also think that he was from a puppy mill and a pet shop in a mall was broken into and these guys were turned loose. We had already rescued another Dachshund and we wanted another buddy.
I happen to like peanut butter and I do eat it with a spoon...forget that spread it on the bread stuff. Let's just go for it!  Well, I left the jar sitting on the end table while I went to get something in the kitchen.  When I returned, this is what I saw. He had moved the jar to the couch for a more convenient place to enjoy the pnbutter.  I haven't found the spoon yet.

Had a spectacular day kayaking on the Pigeon River with friends. The weather was perfect and the leaves were beautiful. It amazes me how a little sun does wonders for my soul.  We were out for about 3 hours and then the rains came once again. Looks like we'll have dreariness until maybe Monday. I put my lovely kayak in storage and dusted off the snow shoes and Xcountry skis. Gotta find any way to stay out doors.

October in Holland =

October (and the next 5 months)  in Holland and most of west Michigan equals rain, dreariness, cold temps with a splash of sun every once in a while...maybe. This is a picture of Lake Michigan I took a few days ago and it just says it all. Our fall colors are almost gone, in fact most trees have reached their peak. It's raining again today so I've spent most of the morning making Art and rearranging/cleaning my 'studio'...(corner of the living room). Wed. should be sunny so a friend and I are going to take our kayaks out for one last paddle out to the lake.

I'm still creating a few more journal pages from some of the pictures I took and sketched while traveling. I am particularly in love with my musician.One (of many) of the things I really need to work on is my composition.  I just get this image in my head and have to go with it and usually don't plan...Gotta stop that...Can you see the pencil lines under the shutters?  Obviously they were an after thought and I needed to fill some wall space.