Showers and Flowers

Recently a fellow blogger noticed the picture on my side bar of my Laughing Dog Sierra.  She asked if I would allow her to paint his portrait and of course I said yes if she would promise to send me a jpeg of the finished painting.  Well, not only did she send me a jpeg but she sent me the actual painting!!  Isn't it wonderful?  She captured that loving look in his eyes perfectly.  She is Patty of Listen to the Road blog.  Click on the link to go visit her.  She has been painting these portraits of dogs in shelters and then sells the paintings, contributing all the profit back to the shelter.  Some people are so amazing and kind and generous and Patty is one, to say nothing of talented!  I adore my painting.  Thank you so very much, Patty.  I love my painting!!!

Here are a few photos of the wild flowers sprouting up around here.  Above are the Fairy Bells.  So sweet and all over the place.

Big Leaf Maple is blossoming like crazy, waking up everyone's allergies and spewing out pollen. Lucky for me I don't suffer from allergies.  The yellow dust of it is covering cars and everything. 

Better click on this one to see the lovely profusion of wild bleeding hearts.

This is a blue bell, not wild but has gone feral, along with some cranesbill that is taking over after I brought a tiny plant in a few years back.

Can't end without showing our Oregon State flower, Oregon Grape.  The stiff glossy spiny leaves protect the short lived flowers.  Eventually there will be a cluster of blueberry looking grapes.  Yes, they are edible but as my friend says, not incredible.

I'm sitting out on my deck writing this post and it is the warmest day of the year so far.  Got up to 73 and tomorrow they predict 81.  I can smell my lilacs, they began opening in the warmth today.  The Goldfinches have arrived and are flocking to my sunflower feeders, soon the Black headed Grosbeaks will show up.  We already have the Evening Grosbeaks.

A funny thing I noticed when looking at the stats of my blog.  I've had the most hits on my long ago post that I titled Beading Larson.  That was nearly 4 years ago.  It has received 780 visits.  My post on the passing of Anne Lockard (Miss you Anne!!) received a lot but that was only 487.  I don't know why Beading Larson receives so many hits.  Funny.

I will leave you with this photo of me and my kitty Charlie.  He is a big love bug!But he is very shy and most people who come here don't even realize I have a cat.  He was feral, but I managed to tame him down and now he sleeps with me.

Don't forget to check out Patty's blog!  Until next time, 
Be well.

Paintings

First I want to say thank you for all the kind words you wrote to me commenting on Sadie's passing.  I appreciate your thoughtfulness.  I have been channeling my sadness into this little mixed media piece I created in homage to Sadie.

Sadie Smiles

I used some lines from a poem by Kenneth Rexroth titled Asagumori and it reads:

"Through the dew and dusk I walk the paths you walked,
My sleeves wet with memory."

I have been memorizing poetry this year in an attempt to keep my brain nimble.  The first big poem I saved to memory was The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.  Believe me, it was a fun one, lots of words I'm not accustomed to using plus it is 18 verses long.  Have you read the whole thing lately?  Here it is: The Raven.  So I had to make a mixed media piece in honor of this poem:

Poe's Pets

He writes of the Raven that it is a "grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore".

I created it on the back of an old record album.  This one too:

It isn't in homage to anything but I had fun using some new art supplies.  Namely, a stencil, some Inca Gold and some FW liquid acrylic ink.
The Sadie's Smile piece is created on a piece of wood I rescued from the wood shed.  This one is also on an old piece of wood:

Longing

It reads: "The sea always filled her with longing, tho for what she was never sure."

Close up where I attached some sand and beach glass and coral bits.

The words were written by Cornelia Funke.

Here you can see the side view showing the rough cut aspect of the wood.

And finally I will show you the book I created as part of my Pay It Forward giveaway.

The photo of the little sisters is my grandmother and her little sister.

 Dolly has received it so I can show it now.  We are in an online group called the Fiber Pirates.  Hence, the pirate card.

Some of the inside pages. I made it using a recycled mailing envelope and card stock cut to size.  It was a lot of fun to create.

It is odd only having one dog again.  No old dogs to walk very slowly with and to give pills to.  It seems I have had old or sick dogs for so long.  I used to have multiple dogs.  I found this photo in an album and want to share it with you.

Tasha, the Doberman, Kobos, the Pit Bull, Max, the little spaniel mix, and Pearl, the German Shepherd.  This is taken in about 1986? in my back field.  They were a great batch of dogs.  Tasha had been hit by a car once and it broke her leg so badly the vet decided to just fuse her elbow joint instead of removing the leg.  She couldn't bend it there and forever after people would look at her with pity and ask, "What's the matter with her leg?" and I would explain.  Plus she always had a raw spot on top of her foot because she would drag her leg along when she ran and it rubbed it. I tried bandaging it but the bandage would always fall off.  When she walked she would swing it around.  It never slowed her down but it got her extra treats from sympathetic people. 

 This is my favorite picture of Kobos.  She was my first Pit Bull and I have loved the breed ever since.

  I miss you all, my fine furry friends.♥  Wait for me!

Be well.

So long Sadie

We always know this day will come and now it has come for Miss Sadie.

Back in the fall of 2010, the only dog I had was Rocky (click for the link to my post on Rocky) and he was not doing so well and I worried and fussed over him constantly.  One day, the neighbor said she had found what seemed to be a lost dog and suggested I come over and meet the dog.  So I did.  It was Miss Sadie. 

She was soaking wet having been found wandering along this remote gravel road in the pouring down rain.  But she was beautiful!  A gray faced elderly Golden Retriever.  I opened the sliding door of the van and she hopped right in, jumped up on the seat and settled right down.  So it was decided.  She came home to live with us.

It was perfect timing and she was the perfect dog to fill in as our new companion.  She was sweet and well mannered and Rocky and Sadie got along as though they were old friends.  No guarding the food or jealousy over who got petted first.  She helped me to be more relaxed with my old boy Rocky, took my intense focus off of him and just spread it out a bit.  We all perked up.

They don't look so perky here, you will just have to take my word for it!

All except for Charlie, my big black cat.  But he eventually came around.

Sadie loved to roll around on her back in the grass and the snow.  She loved to chase the tennis ball and play with toys and to go swimming. 
 youtube video showing Sadie at the river

Always such a polite lady, she didn't jump up on people but welcomed their attention and petting.  She had a problem with her breathing and panted heavily when she walked around. 
Sadie Breathless
It got worse and worse as she got older until eventually she would have incidents of her breath stopping entirely.  We thought she had died several times but then she would gasp and come back.  The past few months have been rough to watch her dragging around.  She had bad arthritis and was slightly paralyzed in her back legs.  Maybe because she always liked to lay with her legs behind her.

But she seemed to be one of the happiest of dogs, always greeted me with a smile.

She couldn't go for walks any more but would still play with her tennis ball and follow me all around the house and yard.  

She reached the grand old age of 14 back in January this year.  It has been a blessing to be her caretaker these past nearly 4 years.

Sadie was a lovely, loving, sweetheart of a big red dog and she will be much missed.  You brightened up my life and I thank you for that gift.  We won't forget you, Sadie.  Say "Hi" to Rocky for me, and all the rest of my gang.

 ♥♥♥