a new companion for Scottie

Since our 9 yr. old cat Bardie MacRuadh died unexpectedly in May, his brother Scottie Dubh has been a bit lost. Needing lots of reassurance and extra petting, he has continued to cry at night. After a lot of thought back and forth, I decided to get him a new feline buddy. He just wasn’t built for life as an only-cat.

Today we brought home Luna, a 3-month old Maine Coon kitten. Wary of each other at first, Scottie discovered that with Luna came new toys! He now happily accepts having a new baby sister.

Butters is totally ignoring the kitten and Luna, having never been around dogs before, is being extremely cautious before getting too close. But I’ve had Maine Coons before — I am sure that her outgoing, accepting nature will eventually overcome any reservations re: The Dog.

a sadness . . .

I was up in the wee hours of this morning, comforting our black Scottish Fold Straight cat, Scottie Dubh, who was searching for his brother, Bardie. Who is no longer with us. After calming him down, I did this sketchbook page.

These are the sketches I did of Bardie as a kitten. Such a serious-faced little guy!

home for this week

One of the views we are waking up to this week, camping in the Bastrop forest . . . This immediate campsite was untouched by the devastating fires of 2011. The vast acreage that did burn is making a strong comeback.

succulents & prickly pear

I sketched these pots in our front garden on Monday — then non-art life stuff kept me from finishing until today. But then, I prefer my art slow and drawn out over time anyway . . .

The second photo shows only half of our mass of prickly pear cacti. All of this grew from three pots bought a couple of years ago.

early morning at Fort Parker

This morning, after a gentle rain most of the night, Butters and I took a walk down the road at Fort Parker State Park where we are camping. We spied this heron who decided with a very loud squawk that it did not wish to have its photo taken.

Further down the road, we found it again. Nearby ducks left in a hurry but this time the heron stayed, posing for me as it munched on fish. Perhaps it felt more protected under the trees.

tiny sketches from Inks Lake

These tiny sketches are from Inks Lake State Park. We are home now, but with no cell phone service at the lake, I’m posting these from home. And following, one more photo from the lake, some white-tail deer on an outcropping of gneiss. Maybe I’ll sketch it someday.

another tiny sketch

Sketched from a photo, this shows the very beginning of our aloe vera flowering. Soon the whole length of stalk was filled with yellow “petals”, now gone.

The second photo is of a very tiny clipboard I found on Etsy — it helps hold on to these 1 3/4 x 2 1/2” pieces of watercolor paper. The craftsman sells this and other sketching paraphernalia under the name “bluestarcraftsmx”.

The last photo shows the plant as it looked 3 1/2 weeks ago.

whhhaaat?

This is what we woke up to early this morning — my Corgi, Butters, didn’t know what to do! Several times, she ran out in a semi-circle then ran back to the front porch. This first photo was taken when she got brave enough to venture further away.

Snow used to be a rare occurrence around here; recent years have brought more. A couple of years ago, we lost a lot of prickly pear cacti. They can handle the cold temps but we didn’t know to brush the snow off of the pads. As it melts, the pads keep drinking it in and eventually drink themselves to death.

On a side note, that rock form on the lower right is the Williamson family “camel rock” (I have always thought it looked more like a plesiosaur, like Nessie in Loch Ness). The rock was found on Bill’s great grandparent’s farm in SE Kansas — and has been located at family homes ever since. Many generations have had their photos taken sitting on “her” back! So of course she came with us when we moved to Texas.

Brazos Bend State Park

Bill hooking up our RV — Brazos Bend State Park is a gorgeous bit of wooded swampland with an old wooden viewing tower, astrological observatory, lots of wild birds, venomous snakes (or so the signs warn), and alligators!

The older Live Oaks are magnificent!

This seems to be a mixed-marriage of a tree! Below are leaves from the left trunk, followed by those of the right. I’m not sure what types of trees they are.

exploring . . .

We just arrived at our campsite on Lake Conroe. As Bill took care of the RV hookups, Butters and I headed down to our own private lake view . . . then climbed back up the live tree root steps. (It’s steeper than these photos show!)

83° (feels like a muggy 86°) with thunder in the distance.

elusive fog

This morning’s ephemeral early-morning fog laid thinly on the ground. Yesterday, it hovered in a narrow band about 15 feet in the air. I regret not having my phone with me yesterday to capture the above-ground variety. It was beautiful and mysterious.

sleepy morning

I tend to wake up very early, before dawn. My corgi, Butters, joined me on the loveseat yesterday morning but fell right back to sleep in this curly-Q position, as I read my book.

a moonrise

Last night our daughter caught this lovely site of the moon rising to the east of our wee barn-home.

sketching with friends

After spending a week in the Wichita area, we headed up to Excelsior Springs, Missouri to visit our dear friends, Kate and Joseph. Sharing tea and cookies with us were some of her whimsical “Little People”. After returning home, I sketched Duran hugging his dragonfly from a photo.

The four of us (and my corgi, Butters) later headed to Isley Park where Kate and I used to sketch springtime wildflowers. There, I drew a wonky sketch of the shelter’s fire pit — and Kate snuck a photo of me when I wasn’t paying attention!

Lilliputian mushrooms

I found the teeniest mushrooms while walking with my Corgi, Butters, in the front pasture! The youngest ones were no larger than my sewing pins.

A phone conversation with my mom made me wonder: what is the difference between a mushroom and a toadstool?

Indian paintbrush and bluebonnets

This year the Texas bluebonnets have been a bit sparse, at least in our immediate area. But the Indian paintbrush have been abundant — even colors of coral and yellow have bloomed among the usual orange-red.

This photo was taken in the same area as the above were sketched from by my friend A. just one year ago:

sketching wildflowers

This past Friday, a friend and I got together to sketch and chat. She lives on land currently covered with windflowers — I drew some bluebonnets, a primrose, and false dandelion in a glass yogurt container that were sitting in front of me. 

This crazy jumping spider kept coming near me so I added him (her?) to the page.

The local bluebonnets have been outdone by Indian paintbrush this year. Oceans of orange have overtaken the usual blue. A. and I both took photos (her iPhone camera is newer and much better than mine!) — I plan on trying to sketch a landscape of wildflowers later this week.

This is a photo I took looking towards a neighboring farm . . .

And this is a photo A. took recently. I absolutely love Texas wildflowers!

4 1/2 goats

Our rescue goats are quite happy living their lives as silly, spoiled goats.

Then there is Egret. She is a feral Siamese cat who lives with our cow, Sierra, and has been known to follow Sierra around the pasture in the manner of the white egrets that hang out with nearby herds of cattle. That’s how she got her name.

But lately she has also been following the goats around like a lost puppy looking for its mama! Our son-in-law Michael took these photos, posting them on Facebook as his “4 1/2 goats”.

Texas wildflowers

The brilliant blue bluebonnets, orange-red Indian paintbrush, and pink primrose are gone for another year, giving way to yellow coreopsis and white prickly poppy. I took these photos at a friend’s beautiful country property in early April. The day was very windy and pollen levels running very high, but I hoped to try painting a landscape or two from these photos. But painting a whole field of wildflowers still intimidates me!