Gray and Misty

       A gray and misty day today.  A good day to be inside and working on Token Dolls and Totem Animals for Gifts of Avalon.  There is an "Art Walk" there tonight in the Millhopper area and I hope the weather clears for them.  I will take in some prints as well as Trudy has asked me to bring in some work for consignment.  Since the Artisans' Guild is no longer in that area it will be good to have my work back in that area.  A short post today as there is much still to be done. 

Clouds and Such

       Another absoLUTEly gorgeous day!!  I can truly say this has been the warmest and most delightful winter in the last 20 years since I've been here.  The clouds today were just spectacular. And such a variety.  The above is looking to the north.  All big and billowy bunches of cloud.  Beautiful.

      To the southeast, they became more wispy and then there was one that I shall call a "feather cloud".  I haven't seen this kind of formation before and wondered how that vertical formation came about when around it most others were of a horizontal kind.

      
       I am now being a lot like my dad.  He loved the clouds.  Especially when he was flying.  We have scads of his cloud pictures taken from plane windows.  We would tease him that a little scotch on the plane maybe had a bit of influence on his appreciation.  Unlike him, I don't care for flying at all.  I giggle as I see these pictures I've now taken and post them in happy memory of him.  Me thinks I'll have a little scotch in memory a little later on as well.  ;-)

       And more clouds peeking through the trees at the end of the road.  Lillebedt was scuffling about in the woods down there and I was headed back up the road when she realized she was being left behind.

       She just came full tilt to catch me.  I try to take her out everyday for a bit of exercise as she is so full of energy.  I ride my scooter and she runs and hunts, chasing squirrels and lizards.  We had been out for quite awhile at this point so she was getting tired.  The newest trick she has started lately is, when she is tired she comes and jumps on the floorboard of my scooter to catch a ride for a bit.

       Now isn't that just the happiest little face you ever saw?  I know, I do go on about her.  Wendy tells me that she is now the middle child and Lillebedt (treated as the baby) gets all the attention.  I do think she is a bit jealous. And so now,  here I am an old woman with a little dog that I talk to and adore immensely.  Who'd a ever thunk it!!

A Bag of Many Colors

       I have a favorite blog that I have been following for awhile.  A delightful woman who lives in England.  She has me crocheting again, inspired by her tutorials and colorful hooky treasures.  Beautiful blankets and buntings as well as fabulous pictures of the countryside.  You can check out her  beautiful blog here.   This is a bag she created and was so kind to share a great tutorial with pictures on the makings of it.  You can see the tutorial here.

       Oh, I just loved all the bright colors so I just had to have a go at one for myself.  I ordered some cotton yarn and I am giving it a try.  The colors I have are not as pretty or as vibrant as the ones she has but they will have to do.  It's all that is available here in the U.S.  There is so much more available colorwise in England.  I have perused their shops online.  Ooodles more colors available.   But shipping is a wee bit more than I fancy to pay.  But here is a peek at mine in progress.  Mine is not quite as big but adequate I think.

        Will show you more as we go along.  (You see my little partner there?  She is always close at hand.)  I took her out for a run and the sky was such a beautiful blue for just a short little while.  We were to have clouds and rain today.  And we did have enough rain to wet everything quite well later on.

  

        Then it is back to work.  Printing Totem Animal and Spirit Teacher books to be taken to the Artisans' Guild.  Also, received a wonderful order of 27 pieces off my etsy site a couple of days ago.  So I will be busy getting that together to ship to a shop in St. Augustine.  I hope this is a sign of better financial times to come.

On The Way To Town

       Today Mom and I went into Gainesville.  I needed to order some mat board and we both had some errands to do.  When I went to pick her up I was struck by the color of the Bradford Pear trees lining the streets.  The color will only last a couple of days.  Love it.

       It has been such a delightful fall and winter so far.  Only a couple of nights down in the 20's.  So nice to not have either heat or AC running, having windows open during the days.  Anyway, back to today.  We got our errands done and had some lunch.  We splurged and brought home fresh donuts from the Donut Connection.  The sour cream ones taste like my Grandma Mart's home-made ones from my childhood days.  YummmMEEEE!  (We treat ourselves only about once a month as they could become very addicting.)  I am so grateful to still have my 86 year old mom with me.  We always have a good time together even if it is nothing more that running errands.

       And so then, I was almost back home again when I saw this huge flock of birds fly across the road.  I mean HUGE flock and they lit in this tree and the field behind it.  They would lift and fly and make turns all together as a group.  Amazing!

I have no idea what kind they are as I couldn't get close enough and didn't have any binoculars with me.  The day was very overcast and I couldn't distinguish any colors.  They just appeared black and medium sized. 

Not a big as a robin but bigger than bluebirds.

I have never seen such a big flock of any kind of birds before.  They must have been feeding on seeds or bugs and then they

would fly to the water tank for a drink.

I wonder, are they flying south or since the winter has 

been so warm are they flying back north 

to wherever home is.

 P.S.  I just realized it is my Grandpa Earl's birthday today.  He made his transition to Spirit many, many years ago.  I still miss him.  The most warm and loving man I have ever known. Happy Birthday, Grandpa.