New Year Update

Hello, friends.  Maybe you've noticed the sparseness of my posts lately.  I'm behind in everything and everywhere I turn there's another job to do, another matter to address.  Do not worry, I'm okay, I've made a few cards and will start posting them soon and then I'll be ready to get behind again.  Isn't that the way it goes sometimes?  As Rich's health grows worse there is more required of me.  Just in the last month there has been a big change and I'm still adjusting.  I'd hoped it was a temporary setback, but perhaps not.  Nevertheless, we keep on enjoying what we can whenever we get a chance to do so.

The photo below was taken the Sunday after Christmas when my son and I took Sophie and Ridley for a fun doggie day in the dunes.  My favorite part of the dunes are the woodland trails where we can walk for miles.  Here we had stopped for a rest in a mossy patch.  You can tell the dogs had been having a good time by how their tongues are hanging.  Our Ridley is growing into a fine young man, isn't he?  He's 8 months old now.

Pictured below is Christmas day -- Sophie wants ALL the toys!

That's all I have for now.  Cards are coming soon.

Happy new year!

Sunday Moment

Aside from the many activities involved in running a household and managing life in general...  there's mornings in my craft room (they're always with me):

Afternoon in the woods:

Weekend at the bay:

And a spectacular winter sunset view from my front yard:

Just wrapping up the week, keeping in mind the things that bring joy.

I hope you find some joy today.

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Taking a Moment

Pausing mid-play in the back yard to appreciate my favorite fall colors... of the furry variety.

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Outside my kitchen patio door is the promise of a beautiful day.

Sometimes I just have to take a moment.

Wishing you a beautiful and joy-filled day.

Sophie and Ridley Update

Hello! I've been working on cards for next week, but Saturday seems like a good time for an update on the kids.  The first picture is the most recent I have, and it represents how we start our days.  Just look at these two, sigh... I cannot complain that two such beautiful, soft, warm, loving creatures are this eager to see us first thing in the morning.

The first week or two Ridley was given plenty of opportunity to explore his new home and garden and learn how amazing it all is.  I hope his brother has found a good home as well.

Of course, we had to take him to the sand dunes at the first opportunity.  Sophie is SO happy to share her joy with Ridley!

It's as though Sophie has been waiting for him all this time.  She mothers him, teaches him, loves him.  She's always been a very special girl, but Ridley has truly brought out the best in her.

My heart is full.

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How I Spent My National Dog Day

You knew I couldn't stop at one, didn't you?  What better way to celebrate National Dog Day (Aug. 26) than to give Sophie a little brother?  Say hello to Ridley!

Rich came up with the name, by the way.  This is the guy who said a second dog was all my thing and he really had no input, yet it turns out he laid awake at night thinking of names.

Ridley is already 16 weeks old, one of the last two left behind from a litter of nine.  The others must have been really something because to my eyes Ridley is perfect.  He has the sweetest, most gentle way about him.  His color will darken as he matures, and he'll fluff out a bit, but never as much as Sophie.  He's what Rich and I call the Field and Stream model.

Frankly, I never expected Sophie to be as big and fluffy as she is.  She's a whole lot of lady and can be quite boisterous and sometimes oddly grumpy, but she seems to have taken quite happily to her role of big sister.  I think they'll be good for each other.

Ridley was raised to this point outside in a pen, not in a mean, heartless way, but in the way that some would raise a working class dog.  Earlier siblings have gone on to be avalanche rescue heroes or fine hunters.  He had never been walked on a leash, or house trained, or socialized outside the family.  His home was rural, and there were no kids or grandkids.

Well, never mind all that because we've found him to be affectionate and at ease with every human and dog he meets, and he's met quite a few in the four days he's been with us.  He's okay with the leash, but nervous about the street.  Best of all -- he had one pee accident in the house and that was the end of it.  He practically house trained himself!

I tried and tried to find a suitable rescue dog.  It didn't have to be a Golden Retriever, but it needed to be a friendly, intelligent dog, preferably not a puppy, but young enough to handle Sophie's exuberance.  I'd hoped for a medium-size mixed breed, but a daily search was fruitless.  Then I saw Ridley and his brother in a local shopper ad... the rest is history in the making.

What a pair they're going to be, and what a good life they'll have together!

It's Labor Day weekend and our son is coming to visit.  He's crazy about Sophie and couldn't wait to meet Ridley.

I'll be back with cards very soon as I have some scheduled posts.  You know how I am with the camera, so I'll be back with more pics of the kids soon, too.

Have a good day!

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A Slice of Life July 2025

There was a time this post would have been full of flower pictures, but sometimes there are other distractions to capture my attention... starting with Sophie.  She'll be two years old in August and has grown into a sturdy and very fluffy girl.  She was good enough to stop and let me take her picture, but she definitely had adventure on her mind at the time.

The picture below was actually taken in June.  Town turkeys, geez.  Ordinarily they're only here in the fall.  They don't bother me so much and, heck, I think all babies are cute.

The young buck in velvet, below, caught my eye through the window, so I went out with my camera thinking my photo efforts would be a gentle way to shoo him from the garden.  It worked, but he lingered in the woods for a while.  He's probably been visiting here since he was a fawn.

Pictured below, Sophie is beckoning me to her favorite place of sticks and loam and the scent of critters who've passed along the trails.  She's at the head of the path right behind our garden shed, leading to the network of trails I cut years ago.  Just like Wally and LuLu before her, Sophie has the run of the place with or without my supervision.  She's a good girl and knows her boundaries.  She doesn't stay down there long without checking in, and she comes running gleefully when she's called.

The fawn below is standing at the very same spot in which Sophie was pictured.  A doe and two fawns were lounging alongside our shed, and the buck was munching on native foliage nearby, probably part of the same family.  This fawn is robust and healthy, but just as I took this picture another smaller, paler fawn stood up and wobbled weakly into the woods.

I was and still am very worried about the weakling fawn, and fear I may find another casualty in the woods this year.  I waited a while and then ventured quietly down the path.  Just a few steps in I found the family resting once again.  The weak fawn is laying down, the healthy fawn is standing the other side of Mom.  You can see its two back legs in their knock-kneed stance just beyond her.

Finally, Sophie is now at the front end of the yard in the cool shade of the cherry tree where she loves to roll in the emerald lawn and chew on the sticks she brings up from the woods.

The past two summers I let the garden go.  I was grief stricken the summer of 2023, then the summer of 2024 Rich was very sick and I spent all my time as a caregiver and chief cook and bottle washer.  Over the last 5 years we've lost 4 trees, changing the look of the garden significantly.  The deer were already eating everything in sight anyway, so I threw up my hands.  This spring the whole front of the yard and half of the side were torn up for sewer line replacement.  It's never ending.  However, once the landscapers finished the huge job of putting our yard back together I decided I missed my garden and now I've started over.  Hence the back and foot pain, sigh.

It will never be the same, but a person has to just keep going forward with hope... and lots of deer spray and altered expectations.

Have a beautiful day!

Butterflies -- Two Cards, Three Challenges

Hi, friends!  I'm happy to be back near the end of a busy week which didn't allow much time in my craft room.  I feel much better having finished these two clean and simple cards.

When I saw the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge with the optional twist of butterflies I immediately pulled out one of my oldest embossing folders.  It's still such a pretty thing!

Firstly, I embossed, then watercolored with Stampin' Up Cameo Coral ink on hot press watercolor paper.  The fine lines and dots were colored with a Copic marker.  Also, the insides of the butterflies' wings were done with gray Copics which gives them that soft, almost vellum-like appearance.  All the dots were sparkled with Stickles Diamond glitter glue.

I somehow managed to smudge the sentiment with my fingers and then transferred more smudges here and there on the card front.  Hence, four extra dots were punched and added.  Can you spot them?

Darice Butterflies in Corner embossing folder
Altenew Wishing You sentiment

I'll be sending the first card to the following challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure? -- Anything goes with an embossing folder, or optional twist of butterflies.
Neglected Stuff -- It's been years since I used this Butterflies in Corner embossing folder.

 

Card #2 was not destined to happen until I saw Michele's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  I always love their sketches, but a one week challenge is difficult for me to manage unless all the stars line up just right.  In this case I had an extra embossed panel of Cameo Coral which I'd cut down for the spare parts drawer.

Memory Box Wooden Alpha
Tim Holtz Sizzix Snowfall embossing folder

I flipped the sketch to the opposite side, and my butterfly curve is a border rather than a free-standing element, but I hope it's still okay.  I brought the Snowfall embossing in from the side which looks very cool in real, but sorry it doesn't show up more in the picture.

Here's the challenge link and the sketch:

Freshly Made Sketches #691

Well, this was fun!  I appreciate how challenges bring out the old familiars from my toybox.  Thanks, everyone!  Have a great weekend!

Just Sophie Today

It's been a while since I did a Sophie post.  Shame on me since she is the light of my life.  Fluff and love and fun.  She keeps me moving and looking for adventure without traveling too far afield.  It's all a thrill to her and I can't tell you how good it is for me as well.

We headed out on a beautiful October day.  Our dunes are edged with scraggly woods and shallow marshes, and they're a wonderful playground for Sophie.  In the first picture we'd just stepped out of the car and she appears to be making an assessment as to which area she should explore first.

Sophie is just shy of 15 months and still very much a puppy.  Depending on their lifestyle Golden Retrievers stay puppies for many years, and I'm sure that will be the case with Sophie as I do like to keep life playful.

On the edge of a marsh we came upon these pretty Asters with beetle... maybe a cucumber beetle, though no cucumbers in sight.

After a good run in the woods and marsh we headed into the dunes.  Guess who loves to dig in the sand?  Yes, and guess who gets to stand in the backyard pool with Sophie to clean her up before she can come in the house.  She's worth it.

A good time was had by all, including Rich who moseyed along the level path while the kid and I ran hither and yon.

Thanks for coming along.  Wishing you a beautiful day!

We're Still Here

Hello!  Just checking in to say we're still here and dealing with the current lifestyle changes.  I'm not saying we're settled into a routine because everyday is different and one never knows what's around the corner.  We can only stay hopeful and appreciative of every little thing.

Take Sophie, for instance.  She's one year old today.  Happy birthday, Sophie!  She's grown into a beautiful, sweet young lady, my constant companion and a comfort to Rich when he needs it.  That face...

My guy and my girl... Rich makes an effort, although there's little change in the more than a month since his hospital discharge.  In the photo below he was checking a mole trap and, of course, Sophie had to snuggle her way into the center of activity.  She provided a soft place for Rich to rest his head for a moment.

Pictured below:  There is new life in the garden.  I've watched two spotted fawns grow more curious as mom introduces them to her favorite browsing areas.  Shortly after they were born Sophie ventured too close to the area where the doe had hidden her fawns in the woods.  My girl came charging out of the brush looking like she was having the time of her life, but the doe close on her heels meant some serious business.  Sophie has not ventured into that particular area of the woods since.

A day or two after the doe chased her out of the south woods, Sophie blundered into a nest of ground bees in the east woods behind the house.  Her reaction to their stings was to rub her face on the ground which, of course, made it worse.  I was able to call her away and run her up to the house, her white fur spotted with bees which I did my best to brush off before entering the house.  Somewhat traumatized, but safe inside, the sting sites were swelling and giving her fits.  A single Benadryl worked wonders -- no more itching and the swelling went down.  She steers clear of that area of the woods now, too.

As if the incidents with the deer and the bees weren't enough, I looked out my kitchen window one July morning and saw a cougar passing through the very area where I photographed the fawn.  Sheesh!  One can't be too cautious when the predators start coming that close.

That's life.  Visitors come and go, work gets done, errands run, appointments kept.  I'm working my way back to blogging slowly but surely.  I'll be back with Double D in September, but I did also finish the cards I started in June, and even made a new one.  I'd forgotten how time consuming it all is.  Wish I knew how to streamline it and still enjoy the process.

Thanks for putting up with me.  Sending hugs all around.

   

Sophie's Good Times

Hi!  It feels like a Sophie kind of day on the blog.  She's growing up fast, as all kids do -- ten months old in a couple of days.  Our adventures are a lot more frequent and enjoyable now that it's not raining as much, although these days it's mostly just me and Sophie tramping the trails.  It's a different experience, just the two of us, but I'm adjusting to the change, giving her a good life, and sharing her joy.

The first three pictures were taken around the backside of a beautiful little lake nestled at the foot of the sand dunes.  Sophie went swimming, but she loved the sand the best.  Just like a little kid.

I lost track of how many times she ran up and down this sand dune.

Bottoms up!

She stopped long enough for me to capture a pic of her happy puppy face.

Next up is a place we go frequently.  It's always best at low tide because there's so much room to run on the clean gravely beach.  She loves to swim here as well, but I keep her close to shore when the tide is changing.

Running on the bay shore.

Pictured below is a favorite place where we can walk (run) for miles.

There is endless fun to be had on the backside of the bay.

Hanging around home is not so bad, either.  Yesterday Sophie played in her backyard pool and helped me plant flower pots.  She's learning her boundaries and is now able to spend more time in the much larger unfenced property as well.   She ran here and there, visiting neighbors and charming all the passersby.  Of course, it was all under my supervision.  It took a long time to plant three flower pots, but as Sophie matures I'll appreciate the time I invested in her puppyhood.

The littlest things can be the most fun.

Playtime on the lawn with neighborhood friend, Lynus.

I'm glad you could stop by for a visit with me and Sophie.  Crafty stuff will resume shortly.  Have a happy day!