Sometimes It's Cheaper to Go on Vacation...

My Lovely Margarita

It's been an action packed week here at Working Cat Studio.Unfortunately most of it,(who am I kidding?-All of it) was not in the studio. The husband and I each had some vacation time. Originally we were going up to Montreal. He to a conference and me for shopping and ambling but that got cancelled because the husband decided we needed to spend our money elsewhere. I decided that must mean on me so I dragged him all over NH and parts of ME this last week. We started out with our annual pilgrimage to Kennebunk for a lobster club sandwich and drinks at the Arundel Wharf restaurant. Somehow the daughters got wind of the excursion and miraculously none of them had to work...So our romantic little luncheon for two became a family outing for five. Afterwards we wandered around town and into one of my favorite places to acquire jewelry. Purchased a bracelet for daughter #2's b-day and found  a cool ring made out of an antique button for myself. The husband objected to the purchase saying that he was going to buy that for Xmas. I  told him that he just bought me a belated anniversary gift instead. Geez, if you have to have a reason...

Scenic Daughters

We took the scenic route home stopping along the coast to take happy snaps with the daughters and headed back to NH. The next day we escaped without our progeny and drove to Mason, NH, home of Pickity place.

Sigh.....

There the husband got in touch with his feminine side as we toured their herb garden and had a lovely herbal luncheon complete with lavender lemonade along with about 40 other women. I must say I only heard one giggle about the "man" while I was walking around. Wednesday we struck another blow to his manhood and dragged Daddy to the mall. There he waited patiently carrying shopping bags and playing a game on his blackberry while daughters #3 & 4 and I shopped the sales. Thursday the husband returned to work (did I hear a sigh of relief?) and I made jam.

Jam slowly populating second shelf

 The gardens are producing lots of raspberries if nothing else. I also managed to get into the studio and worked a bit on my Suzi Blu project. Even a little bit helps sometimes. The gardens have taken me over for the summer, so I pray for rain and when it does, I sneak a little time downstairs.So I guess it wasn't all outside the studio after all.     

Oh God.Less hair.Less nose.

Get Up and Get Going! Please...

Well,  it looks like the universe is conspiring to get me in the studio this week. The weather has not been stellar. I will avoid going to the grocery store this morning and ignore balancing the checkbook once again. Having an internal debate on whether or not to take my morning walk or just lift some weights. And now you know my dirty little secret, I'm still sitting in bed watching GMA. The husband brought me a coffee before he headed up to Maine to volunteer his chainsawing skills (God help them....) to clear out storm damage at a children's camp. Apparently it's a hack holiday in MA or Boston. I wonder what it's called...No Work Thursday? Need a Break in June? Who knows? Anyway, I got a cup of coffee out of it. Now I just have to get the rest of my breakfast. Maybe I'll work on my anniversary collage and do some Suzi Blu work. Time to get up and get going! In a minute.

Procrastination Station! All Aboard!

Lovely Peony

Herbal Goodness-Lemon Balm Liquer

Transfer Torture

Another rainy day and another good day to be in the studio. It's been so nice outside that I have been  garden bound. I've been battling slugs and squash plants, admiring my roses, planting herbs, weeding and wandering the woods. The working cats have accompanied me, sometimes to the detriment of the garden. They seem to think that my new raised beds are lovely outdoor litter boxes for them. They have since been banned from the vegetable garden. Back in the studio, I have about five projects going. Stuck on three of them, procrastinating on one, and pondering on another. The stuck ones are three different paintings. They usually take me a long time anyways. I tend to get disgusted and embarrassed by them so I set them aside till inspiration or a rescue idea strikes. I also won't take photos of them until they stop embarrassing me. The nerve. The fourth is my project for Suzi Blu's class. I've been ignoring the online critiques because I have been so busy outside. I'm wondering if it was a mistake to sign up for a summer class-I get too distracted.  Ha! Who am I kidding? I'm always distracted. The fifth was a little project I started yesterday for our 26th anniversary which was also yesterday. Did I mention I also procrastinate? A lot. I scanned some of our wedding pictures, then printed one out in black and white and attempted a gel medium transfer so I could use it as the base of a collage. Spent a lot of time peeling wet paper this afternoon and I don't know whether I got it all off or maybe too much? Who knows? I'll just keep adding stuff till it looks good. Hope the husband appreciates fine art. I think it's better than lumberjack tools. Lighter too!

View from my Potting Shed

In a Garden State of Mind

Yesterday and today were awesome gardening days. The weather was great, I got tons of things done, and I only ran into one snake(sleeping next to the potting shed door. I thought it was dead. My mistake...) Needless to say, I didn't get anything done in the studio. So far all creativity has been channeled outdoors but that has been where my heart has led me and I have been trying to listen more. I do tend to get obsessive once I am in a project. Yesterday, I had to work till one, so when I got home it was off with the work clothes and into the jeans and t-shirt. I ignored all phone calls much to parents and friends dismay. I just didn't want to leave my herbs, perennials, and veggies. So many things to do, so little time to complete them. I always have a running garden to do list going in my head. Pour fish fertilizer cocktail on the roses, retrieve clematis from the depths of those yellow daisy like giants, plant clematis seedling under rose, dig up clematis seedling under rose after deciding it doesn't really look like clematis at all. Today was more of the same though I did insist that the husband stop messing around with the fallen tree and escort me to a graduation party at our neighhbor's. I carried a card for the graduate and the husband carried a bottle of wine for the mother of said graduate. I asked the husband as we were walking down the street,"Which wine are we giving Sarah?"
"Oh I picked out a nice rose" and he shows me the bottle.  The wine is called "Bitch."
"We can't give her that!"
"But it was the only one that was cold."
So I handed Kallie her card and told Sarah that the wine was "nothing personal." Luckily they had a sense of humor. And so life goes on...

Let Me Just Make My Escape...

"Don't you just hate when your hands can't produce what your mind's eye can see? I am so frustrated I feel like breaking every container in my studio and hurling my painting out the basement door.Yes, I'm having a bit of a snit. I would probably follow through except that it would probably create quite a bad impression for our newly arrived Indian guests and then I would have to clean the whole thing up also."

Well that was the beginning of last week's post and the rest of the week snowballed from there. We had an Indian journalist from Mumbai stay with us for four days, my brother suddenly decided to make his annual visit, daughter # 4 was having prom and invited about 15 people and assorted parents to dine and take pictures in our garden, and the local nursery dumped five cubic yards of dirt in the middle of our driveway. I survived the week. Our guest, Sumita was interesting and no problem at all. My brother came in bearing wine and left for Montreal the next day. And even though daughter #4 told me that the flowers should be blooming(they weren't) and I didn't get the mountain of dirt moved, she still had a good prom party. This weekend turned out to be gorgeous and we got two raised beds constructed and I was taken out for a gourmet dinner at the White Barn Inn in Kennebunk (belated mother's day gift).Today I finally got into the studio and did some drawing and painting. Heavy sigh of relief. This time I had no urge to throw anything out the door. Well, maybe a cat or two....

Off for an Adventure!

Treasure!

Today has been a near perfect day. I say near perfect because I once wrote and essay on what my perfect perfect day would be and it included sitting in a parked car on a hot day with an ice cold diet pepsi and I did not do that today. I got up late (for me) this morning and sat in my bed with a cup of tea, a stack of magazines, and watched GMA surrounded by 3 out of 4 working cats. The phone rang and it was Annemarie with the details and status of today's adventure. Be at her house at 9:30. We were going to meet our friend and former coworker Joyce at the shop of one of her friends.There Annemarie was going to display her wares (jewelry) to Holly the owner. After that we were going to head off to Joyce's home for a house and garden tour and a choice of the many seedlings she had started over the winter. Then off for a tour of Joyce's friend Lisa home who sadly died last summer leaving Joyce all her worldly possessions. And to cap it off-lunch ! Well, we started off on track...we met Holly and her dog Remy who lived in Farmington. They were both lovely and she had a great little shop, selling everything from feed to handmade soap. We went to Joyce's home and admired home, garden, dogs and artwork.  Then off to Lisa's house where I stumbled into the fabric of dreams. One of my recurring dreams, other than the ones about being lost and unable to find my way home or back in high school and I don't know my schedule, is being in a weather beaten old barn that I know is full of treasure and possibilities. Well Lisa's barn was just like that and my God did I have fun looking and culling. Joyce generously gave us the go ahead to pull the things we would like if they already had not been spoken for. Thank God we drove a minivan. It was 3:00 before we noticed our stomachs were rumbling and we headed out to lunch. By the time I got back home it was after 5 and I was all done for the day. I unloaded my treasures into the garage to ready them for cleaning and rehab and I retreated to the deck for a little rehab/ nap for myself. All in all, a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

I Bluster and so does the Wind

Ahhhh....Well today wasn't all bad. How's that for positive? I did the grocery shopping, sent off two packages (A returned birthday gift and a pair of shoes that were going to change the world for me. Sigh...), dentist appt, and a rendez-vous at BJ's to get a new phone for daughter #2. Then on to Michael's for a new sketchbook, the pet store for rabbit pretzel sticks (don't ask), and Barnes and Noble for an iced coffee and the latest magazine which happened to be the new issue of"Artful Blogging". Returned home and decided it was way too blustery to work in the garden so I headed directly to the studio where I commenced pondering deep thoughts and worked on a journal page. At some point my deep thoughts wore me out and I grabbed my camera and headed outside. There I admired my Bergenia blossoms and wondered whether the big old poplar was going to come crashing down and hit the hot tub. The last wind storm left it at a distinct tilt, so every time I go into the back garden, I feel the need to keep an eye on that tree. One of the working cats and I headed to the wood line to take a look at the base of the tree. With every blast of wind, the base looked liked a big set of lungs heaving in and out. Still it's now 10:15 and the tree still hasn't toppled. Working cat Binx decided to take his effort elsewhere and practiced scaling the trellis at the garden entrance. Dinner ended up at the local eatery due to an online conversation with daughter #1 and my lack of culinary motivation. I dined on a mongo portion of eggplant parmesan, 1/2 of it will be lunch tomorrow, and split a lovely tiramisu with daughter #4. The husband was awarded one spoonful for good behavior.