Monday, April 28, 2014

Spring Fling


We had such lousy weather this weekend that I was inspired to post what we enjoyed the previous weekend.  Spring!  It was 75 degrees and the woods were alive with new life.  This wavy bridge at Lebanon Hills has seen better days though.


The bright green moss was a huge pop of color among the leafless trees.


Sprouting to life.


The geese were making use of abandoned muskrat houses and setting up nests through out the marsh.  Our bird highlight of the day was two Trumpeter Swans that heralded their arrival overhead.  Although, they landed too far away to photograph.


An alert pair.


A circling duck.  This breed would twirl and twirl for his dinner.


More exploding moss.


A Red Sided Garter Snake.  There were so many snakes rustling about that we lost count.




A few berries still lingered in the trees.  Have you had your Spring Fling yet?
For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Friday, April 25, 2014

Project Nonsense


On the surface this illustration makes no sense.  A pig on a runway wearing banjos.  Hmmm.  But I created it awhile back for a blog that only posted pig illustrations that included banjos.  No joke.  It was too weird of a challenge to pass up.  

My favorite part of the design is the shadow pig in the background.  You would have to watch the T.V. show Project Runway to understand.  The banjo earrings...too much.  If I was a fashionable pig I would only wear the bracelet and hat.  Less is more.  But then again runway shows are always over the top!

So why am I posting this oddity today?  It is twofer week.  And it is for the www.illustrationfriday.com theme Vanity.

And if you think pigs can't be vain, then you've forgotten about Miss Piggy!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Go ahead. Sneeze.


I landed on my illustration Sneeze for this week's www.illustrationfriday.com theme natural.  Sneezing is an unstoppable, supernatural and often inconvenient bodily action.  It was also the pick for this year's Tomie dePaola contest.  I didn't win.  But it gave me a chance to use my most underutilized color. Purple.  And guess who also made an appearance?  The Easter Bunny.  He or she is getting blown away by the impact.  If you read my last post you might think that this could be a new tactic in my arsenal to rid the yard of our tenacious resident.  It's worth a try!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Christ of the Mercy


I have the perfect post to send off into the world this Good Friday.  We visited the 2nd largest statue of Christ in the world in San Juan Del Sur this Winter. Christ of the Mercy was completed in April 2009.  Set to debut for Easter.


The statue overlooks this beautiful crescent bay.


And it serves as a beautiful overlook for us mere mortals as well.


Plus some critters.


Swing around and the bays reache out for miles.  We happily visited many of those inlets and beaches on our trip.  I picked the above 5 photos for Random 5 Friday  (I decided to post this even though the link up Random 5 Friday has come to an end) 

Now here are 5 random Easter memories...

1)  My Dad reduced me to tears one year in search of my Easter basket.  He hung it on the curtain rod behind the curtains.  After that I requested that they place it behind one of the chairs in the living room.  And that is what they did until the Easter bunny didn't visit me anymore. Sniff.

2)  I remember one lucky year getting a bonus solid chocolate bunny from my Grandma hidden in the dirty clothes hamper.  I was thrilled.  

3)  One year my cousin Donny brought out a home made go cart to entertain us.  I was too afraid to drive it. 

4)  My Aunt Pat made the best darn Ham dinner around.

5)  Our back yard Easter bunny foiled us again this Winter.  He just might be the smartest and most tenacious bunny in the world.  Every time my husband chased him out, he dug his way back inside.  Even chewing through our wood fence.  I guess you could say he devoured it faster than I chewed off the ears of my laundry basket bunny.  Now we don't have many raspberries.  And our hydrangeas didn't fair any better.

 And our energizer bunny lives on.  She'll be hatching more rocket scientists soon.  We might have to hatch a new plan.

Happy Easter!

Monday, April 14, 2014

More Than a Room With a View


Villas Palermo is nestled in the hills above San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.  Last week I showed you our villa.  And the feline friends we met there.  We've started calling our cat Akua Tom Cat Gray now.  You'd have to read last week's post to understand.


When I first started dating my husband.  We stayed in Motel 6's and 8's.  One time in Duluth, MN we stayed at a 6 with a dumpster view.  A low point.  This place was 20 bucks more a night. If even that.  A whole Villa, beautiful inside and out with an amazing view!  



We spotted a White Fronted Parrot from our balcony.  And really had to zoom in.  But any parrot sighting is cool in my book.


Turn and this is your view from the same balcony.  Hmmm.  Let's see.  A dumpster view at a flea bite 6 with scratchy towels and plastic covered mattresses?  Or this.  You be the judge.  The statue of Jesus in the background looms over the city like Rio. 


Sunset.  Priceless at any price.

P.S.  Plus there were cats!  For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Friday, April 11, 2014

Pinterest Propaganda



Pinterest.  Why do we love it?  I guess for me it is like looking through a free magazine everyday.  Plus, I can pin inspirational photographs that might help me with my art down the road.  And then there's the food porn.  And yes, I've actually made some of those recipes.  Here are 5 random Pinservations for Random 5 Friday.

1) Why do weird people that use celebrities for icons and only have health and fitness boards start following me?  Hello.  I only have decadent, indulgent and extremely fattening food boards.  And no beautiful toned people.  Only beautiful places, things, food obviously and cats.  Plus Morgan freeman up to the left.

2)  Which leads me to my next pinservation.  My favorite board is my Gray board.

3)  How in the world do people pin 100,000 pins on 1 board?  And for those of you that aren't on Pinterest I'm not joking.  People. Please.  Get a life.

4)  If you are following over 10,000 people you might want to step away from the computer.  Just saying.

5)  I really, really try to not pin every cute cat and all other eye candy I see.  Really! 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Tom Cat Orange, Little Orange and Bushy Orange


This was our Villa in San Juan Del Sur this Winter.  That sounds so snooty.  But when you can stay at a place like this cheaper than a Comfort Inn in Fargo, North Dakota,  it's something you can feel free to brag about. And we even had our own cat.  Tom Cat Orange made an appearance on our last morning at Villas Palermo. And many more through out our week here.  It really was paradise let me tell you.   


Tom Cat Orange


But it was Little Orange that really stole our hearts.  We were fast friends the first morning she smelled bacon frying in Villa # 18.  The funny thing is, I don't think we were the only ones feeding her.  By the middle of the day her stomach was huge!  Now who is Bushy Orange you ask?  He was an unpopular fluffy orange cat that stayed close to the restaurant area.  And I over heard the staff warning people that Bushy Orange wasn't the friendliest.  Of course these were just names we made up.  I sure hope we see Little Orange again someday...


The bacon feeding frenzy.



Our cats weren't the only ones hanging around before we left our piece of paradise.  A family of Groove-billed Ani's were watching our departure.  They were like this big black clump of bird in our tree.



They probably wonder why the cats get all the tourist attention.  At least from us.

Stay tuned.  Next week I'll show you our view and another bird we spotted here.

For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday