Laughing Dog Arts

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Not much


I have been busy but don't have much to share with my loyal readers.  Do I have any loyal readers left after my long dry period?  We shall see.  I had a visitor for about 10 days.  One of my internet friends that I had not met before in real life came to visit.  His name is Jurgen and he is a German man who was living in Australia when we first met through the Greg Brown fan club, a yahoo list group.  We have corresponded through the years as he has traveled the world, taking English teaching jobs in far flung reaches.  He finally made it to the USA and rode his bike out to my little neck of the woods.   The Gray Jays found him acceptable as a feeder, as you can see in the above photo.
Jurgen and I traded lots of music over the years and he had fun going through my collection while he was here.  The above photo was taken about 5am the morning I was driving him to the airport where he caught a jet to London, where his next teaching job awaits him.  He gave me his bike.


Inside Out wild flower.
That really is its name, Inside out flower.  It reminds me of an umbrella blown inside out. 
Other than that, not much going on here.  Our weather has remained mostly cool and cloudy.  My roses have finally begun to bloom, maybe I will do a post about them later.  I have been spending a lot of time struggling to get the garden growing.  Daily we go out on a slug hunt and pick up lots of these fellas:

and a few more of these guys:


We just pitch them across the road.  We don't like killing things.  Bad karma, don't you know.  I don't like slugs eating my vegetables but otherwise I find them rather fascinating.  Not many people do.

Sorry for the boring post.  I'll try to have some art to show next time.  I haven't had much opportunity to be working in the studio.  Oh yeah, we have also been scraping and painting part of the outside of the house.  Things like this tend to keep me out of the studio.

Be well.
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19 comments:

audrey said...

Jan, this is not a boring post at all. It is all very interesting. Not everyone gets to finally meet someone they have corresponded with for many years via the internet. It sounds like you had a nice visit.
I'm sorry you are not having good weather and that your garden is not thriving. Hopefully, things will improve.
You have been missed. I am happy to see you back posting and I hope you will soon have the time to get back to your art.
Hugs ♥ audrey

Crazy Mama said...

i didn't think it was a boring post at all. how nice to finally meet a friend in person after knowing him so many years in the cyber world. you must know him well and feel comfortable to come let him stay with you! i have never seen an inside out flower before...didn't know there was such a thing, so thank you for sharing that too. and as for slugs...i can look at pics, but i don't like touching the slimy little buggers. lol ew. you have abviously been very busy...when you have more time on your hands then i'm sure we'll see more art.

Emma said...

We knew you were there, really! Great to have a friend over (you were brave having him to stay for 10 days!)Allow yourself some you time then you'll get back to being arty. Altho, jobs do need doing ;(

It's a bore when the weather slows the garden up - I struggle with damaging winds & excess damp so I figured small leaved plants, native & bog plants. That mostly works but even one or 2 of my native Birch trees are brown on the wind side! Gotta keep trying ;)

Emma said...

ps, the header is new, i clung to the last one for a year, it being one of the 50 birthday postcards I swapped. The new one is a piece from January i think, laying on it's side, well, why not!

Janet Ghio said...

How fun to meet someone in real life that you have corresponded with for years! I love the photo of him feeding the bird!

DVArtist said...

Jan I will always be your loyal reader. What a great post. I love meeting my cyber friends in real time.
Happy 4th
Nicole/Beadwright

Anonymous said...

Chickens and ducks will take care of your slugs!!!! Nice to see an Internet friend you have known for so long, wow....you will get back to your studio soon enough. xox Corrine

maddyrose said...

This post was not boring in the least. I've never seen an inside out flower before, at least not that I'm aware of. Someone told me the other day that although our weather has been very cool and overcast it hasn't been as bad as last year when we had Junuary instead of June. I'm not sure if this year has been any better. It's been a struggle to get anything to grow in the garden. The strawberries did better when they were inside the house. We didn't get a single berry once they were set outside. Have a great 4th of July weekend.

Marie S said...

Jan how interesting to meet someone from on line after years, I hope you both had a great time.
I love that birds liked him.
Are you living in a weird bird vortex?? That is just crazy!!
How nice you got a bike.
Those slugs you guys have are very pretty but the ones we have eat tons, I bet those guys go through leaves like no body's business. And why with all that green around you do they come for your garden?
I will never understand that.
I did find a natural squirrel deterrent, cayenne pepper; maybe it will work on slugs the size of squirrels.
;-D
Have a wonderful weekend!!

Glenn Stenson said...

Your posts are always worth the wait!
If you step one of those slimey little slugs with your bare feet, you wouldn't think they actually had 2,500 teeth.
I am a faithful reader just like all your other followers.

Robbie said...

I didn't find your post boring at all! It's interesting to see what folks do when they aren't doing art!! how cool you had a chance to meet up with your friend. I'm still amazed at the birds eating out of your hands!! Thanks for sharing!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Hi Jan
Nice to hear from you. Great that you met a cyber friend. The inside out flowers are too cool.

I think bugs are cool too and don't mind watching them go about their business except when the are in the house. I mostly try to extradite them. Glad you do too.
xx, Carol

Marlene said...

Hi Jan, missed you. How fun that you got to spend time with a blog/inernet friend. I have to say those slugs make me shiver and go yuck.

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Sorry to be so late---I have been off Blogger for a day or two and am picking through to reply to *Special* blogs! ;-)
Glad you had a good time with your company and finally got to meet (plus you snagged a bike out of it--cool!).
That inside out flower is amazing; I have never seen one before and we have nothing remotely like it here. Plus the slugs are pretty interesting too---they look like they are of a decent size. I'm always amazed that they have continued to exist through all the things humans put in/on the soil. Seems like they would be susceptible, but they must be pretty study creatures.
Hugs from the Mid-West Slug.....feeling not-so-sturdy with the heat and humidity...

XXOO~~
Anne

Anja said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anja said...

Dear Jan,

nice you had have such a good time with your visit. Please try to go by his byc sometimes in case your woodways allow that, it is so nice, me I love it.

In late spring and early summer I also collected them with my fingers no gloves needed and threw them at the edge of the field in front of our house, with little bad consiousness toward the farmer because he wouldn't like that. But now when they also are eating the summerflowers in the special patch with the slug fence, I started to give them a quick death. It is not nice to make that but I just now care more about my flowers. They have eaten up me a clematis which bloomed so nicely in spring with blue bells that day was such a pity I always starve more with my flowers than with the slugs. When a garden fairy would come and ask me for one wish, guess... ok you are right! ;-))

You have tremendous nice wild flowers at your place!

Have good times in your garden and with the byc!

Anja

Heloise said...

Where will you ride off to your bike I wonder. Happy creating.

Patty said...

I flew to London several years ago to meet two friends who are now like sisters. Sometimes the online world
matches us with people we'd never meet otherwise. Ugh to the slugs.

sjmcdowell said...

Hi there Jan,

I always enjoy reading your posts
and I like to think I am one of your loyal readers as well.
I have not been posting very much lately...mainly I have not felt very well. I was on some new medication for my fibro which went wrong and I felt sick for a couple of weeks. I decided not to stay on it and have to see my dr. on the 18th. not sure what she will say about that!

I think it is great you met one of your blogging friends. He looks like a very nice and interesting fellow!! What type of bike did he leave for you??

I wish you well with the gardening and hope the slugs will desist!!
Do you put out beer to get rid of them...or is it salt... lol maybe both!! Lol

Well my friend I hope the rest of this week will be a good one for you!!

Hugs and Smiles,

Susan