in hope of leftovers

I snapped a quick photo of our granddaughter’s hound, Molokai, just before we sat down to eat Easter dinner. But I didn’t get around to sketching him until this morning.

This is the final sketch in this tiny sketchbook. My next purse-size sketchbook will be a bit bigger: a watercolor insert that fits the passport sized Traveler’s Notebook.

a camouflage leaf

Today is Thanksgiving day and things are mostly ready. While waiting for family to arrive, I did a quick sketch of a leaf picked up while walking with Butters. The quote from a Winnie the Pooh book popped up in an email from Peg & Awl.

Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

a little Thanksgiving sketching

We had a low-key, relaxing Thanksgiving day at our daughter’s . . . where I did a little surreptitious pencil sketching. Then added ink and watercolor later at home.

bee farm visit

For Mother’s Day, our son-in-law planned a tour of Bee Weaver’s Honey Farm outside of Navasota. We learned about raising bees, harvesting honey, and making mead — ending with a mead tasting event. I was hoping to buy some local raw honey, but this place raises bees to sell along with beekeeping supplies; all honey harvested goes into producing various flavors and strengths of mead. The company is the oldest honey farm in the state, run by 5 generations of the Weaver family since 1888.

this morning’s breakfast and yesterday’s sketch

Lately I have been distracted from sketching by errands, weekly shopping, and a bad reaction to my second Covid-19 shot . . . I’m now trying to get back in the habit of quick daily drawings.

This morning I walked over to our daughter’s house to “steal” one of their Easter eggs for my breakfast. This one was dyed by our son-in-law Michael — it had fine metallic gold veining over the turquoise color (which bled through to the egg in a few spots) but I’m not sure my gold Gansai paint lines show up in the photo.

Later our daughter Kristen asked me how many eggs I took — only the one, I responded. Apparently sometime during the night their great Pyrenees / golden retriever mix, Bradley, helped himself to some! Now they are finding wee bits of egg shell around their house.

Yesterday’s drawing was done while waiting for our cat, Scottie, to calm down enough to change his flea collar. Neither of our cats mind wearing them and they hold ID tags. But they are not the easiest things to removed after 8 months. Scottie does not like being held for any length of time, though he does love being touched . . . on his terms, of course.

today’s random sketch

Mother’s Day was over two weeks ago — I don’t know why I didn’t sketch these earlier. Our youngest son sent me this big muslin bag full of tea samples. At first I saw the other side with the company logo on it; a few days later I happened to turn the bag over . . . and found it had an ink & wash sketch on it! (The mug is an old one of Bill’s)

Three of our grandchildren (and their mom) painted these rocks to give me; Judah painted a paintbrush on one side of his and a paint palette on the other! My new kitchen will have a huge triple window over the north counter — I think I’ll make a miniature rock garden on the window sill. Maybe add some miniature succulents.

Christmas Eve bits

We drove to Beasley on Christmas Eve for dinner with our oldest son Jason and his family. I began sketching bits here and there as I chatted with grandkids — until pulled away for a couple hands of Uno. We went to our daughter Kristen’s house in Houston on Christmas Day (where we learned a new Mexican Train Domino game) so I didn’t get back to finishing these sketches until this morning. Allowing me to use my new Japanese Kissho Gansai watercolors instead of my purse pocket palette. They are wonderful to mix and paint with!

Veterans Day, a week later

 

Hidden in the bottom of my purse today, I found this flattened crepe poppy. Last week we spent Veterans Day in Needville, attending programs to honor relatives and friends of the students that served or are still active in the military. Not only students, actually — a Coast Guard serviceman in dress uniform came at his mother’s request (she’s a teacher).

Ceremonies were held at Judah’s elementary school, Josiah’s middle school (theirs was actually held at the high school), and Jayna’s junior high school — which kept us busy running from school to school! Bill is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served during the Vietnam war.

BTW, the Kaweco Liliput fountain pen shown in the picture was skipping badly, even after cleaning the nib with a pen flush solution and installing a new ink cartridge. After fighting with it the past week, I suddenly thought of trying a Waterpik made to clean between teeth. The tiny pressure-jet spray of water worked! The pen now writes very smoothly.

Inktober # 23, a ghoul

We went to Lowe’s today for parts needed to wire our new kitchen lights Bill is making. Outside, there was this ridiculously large blow-up ghoul for Halloween —- I just don’t understand the popular trend to decorate for Halloween on the same scale as Christmas. But then, I’m usually not too fond of the overly commercial Christmas decorations either. It seems that the history behind various feasts and holidays gets totally lost these days.

And, yes, under all this boldly garish paint is an ink drawing for Inktober. It just got lost.

sketches from Resurrection Sunday

Each of ladies attending church this week received an Easter lily . . .  and hiding inside was a sugary Peeps chick! Ms. B.J. is very clever at putting things like this together. Men were given a wee bag of "Scripture seeds" (like candy corn) and children were given lambs on a stick made of marshmallows.

Following the church service, we all drove to Lake Somerville for baptisms. Among those being baptized was the Pastor's youngest grandson Blake -- brought a huge grin to the Pastor! Our eldest granddaughter Mikala was also baptized on this special day, following sunrise service at her home church in Houston. Seems a great way to celebrate the Resurrection!

bowl of blessings

Every November our church has what is called Bowl of Blessings where everyone brings a dish that is eaten from a bowl such as soups or chili. But before we are allowed to eat, every person present must tell the others something they are thankful for. Even the tiniest child (who usually mumbles a short word or two). One of the things we are constantly thankful for is finding such a wonderful church family to share with.

I sketched these table decorations at this year's celebration this past Sunday.

Veterans Day in Pflugerville

Our grandson Quen invited Bill to take part in his school's Veterans Day program. We thought it would be something like we've been to in the past, such as special concerts where at one point they ask all veterans to stand and everyone applauds.

Wrong! All veterans attending where grabbed before entering the auditorium, then they all entered together, each with their own branch of service, and sat in special seats on the stage. There was one vet present who had served in World War II as well as several active service men and women. 

After the special speakers and music, there was a reception in the foyer, then we went to Quen's third grade classroom, where Bill talked to the kids about going through boot camp and school, then serving on a subtender, repairing submarines. The kids had some hilarious responses to some of Bill's questions! Such as the difference between a ship (the subtender) and a boat (what they called the fast attack subs): boats move by oars and ships need wind in their sails. Bill grinned and told them he's not quite __that__ old!

bottle rockets & firecrackers

My friend B.J. has a delightfully creative imagination --- she and her husband Gary joined our daughter and us yesterday for a Fourth of July dinner. She told us ahead of time that she was bringing the fireworks. Which turned out to be these yummy edible bottle rockets and firecrackers!

art before breakfast . . .

. . . patriotic-style. Totally unplanned.

I decided to eat some yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast; it wasn't until I mixed it up that I realized it was red, white, and blue!