Yes It Has Been Awhile

Just as I predicted Brain, I wrote the last post and then promptly got a bunch of jobs that kept me busy until now. That was great for our finances but totally threw me off my game as far as getting stuff done around the house, not to mention playing havoc with my attempts to eat gluten-free. I did manage to do one watercolor that turned out quite well I thought.


Here it is.

Head Full Of Snakes. This is a detail. its bigger than this.

I call it, Head Full Of Snakes.

Busicuit continued to be the most resourceful and wonderful of husbands. He built this scratching post for Five out of a thick cardboard tube that had been inside a roll of carpet, some old rope he had lying around and some left over carpet. Seriously, he amazes me!

Biscuit ingenuity!

I finished work just in time to drive out to Arizona to celebrate my Mom's 70th birthday.

Brain, I love Arizona. I love it so much my heart hurts. I drove in late at night, got out of the car and was surround by the smell of citrus blooms and desert. Intoxicating describes it pretty well. I love my life, but oh boy do I miss my desert!


Taken on my birthday while on a hike with my Dad and sister. Great
day!

I love it so much that it makes me sick to see all the new development tearing it apart. Places I am used to wandering freely, just me and my dogs, are ripped apart and covered in ugly, nasty buildings. Each house the same. No freedom, no creativity, no art, no hope. My poor desert; it's precious beyond telling and yet we squander it, putting up one ugly swath of track homes after another. One day we will realize what we have done and try in desperation to save whatever little bits are left, and it will be too late.


in the background you can just see the horror approaching.

When I think about stuff like that I get so depressed. I need cheering up. Here are some things (in no particular order) that cheer me up.

1. I didn't have a baby. I am not responsible for making any more greedy humans. Seriously, I think of that as one of my greatest accomplishments. I'm so proud to have made it through without caving in to all the pressure. I love my child-free life!

2. My garden. I'm having great success so far this year. We had a chickadee nest in the Mimosa tree out back, the toads are back and as vocal as ever, the blackberry bush has been transplanted and is flowering up a storm, the bee house is buzzing with activity, I managed to get some veggies in the ground and B took good care of them while I was gone, so we may have some peppers and tomatoes and parsley and onions and spinach and flowers this spring, the chicken poop makes EXCELLENT compost, we are getting two new chickens this week (can't wait!!!), the Myers Lemon tree has blossoms (oh they smell delicious!) and the peach tree out front has tiny baby peaches on it! What a relief after the winds last spring, to have such a lovely mild winter and a warm, WET spring!


You cant see the flowers so well in this cell phone pic. But remember
that horrid old hedge? Now the space is full of flowers and butterflies!

3. Zoe. Zoe is just a lovely creature. She went to Az with me and behaved herself beautifully. I can take her anywhere now. She's finally past her terrible twos and she has become the most remarkable dog. I drew this picture after one of our walks where we met an entire class of preschoolers on a field trip. En mass they swarmed on her and she loved it, she was so good and gentle with them. I may not have kids, but I do like them in small doses, and seeing all those little smiling faces snuggling my dog made me very happy.