back to the woods

We are spending Spring Break camping in the Sam Houston National Forest. I know nothing about hooking up the camper utilities or leveling it . . . so I sketched while Bill worked his magic.

Ceilidh, from 2011

Recently our son Jeff and I were trying to remember how old our shared Scottish Terrier, Ceilidh, is now. She went to live with Jeff during his college years to help him through a bit of depression, then she chose him as “her” human permanently. She now lives with him in Ohio.

To determine her age, I went back in my sketchbooks — these are from 2011. The blog entry to the above sketches reads as follows:

“ Ceilidh insisted on tackling the front steps by herself after the first few times, running from me before I can pick her up. But she is still wary of coming down them.

Sort of like us. In life, it's much more exciting to go forward when we are feeling "up". Harder to function on the down side.”

red, white, and blue . . . rock

This morning as I was coming in from taking care of the beasts, this rock caught my eye. It appeared to be red covered in white with blue lines. So I brought it in to sketch in my tiny sketchbook.

Our interior ceiling lights cast 3 distinct shadows so that’s how I drew it — the art lamp needed to take a photo hid that. And the red (red jasper?) looked much redder in the bright sunlight. But in my mind it is red, white, and blue.

eating out . . . again

For determining to not eat out due to Covid-19, we seem to eat out a lot. Though we do choose “off times” between regular lunch and dinner hours.

Yesterday we headed to Old World Lumber in Houston, meeting Kristen there to pick out some reclaimed barn wood. Bill will be building her a new bed frame out of the “mushroom” siding planks she chose — the wood came from an old structure where mushrooms were grown.

Then we headed to my favorite Thai restaurant, the Mango Tree. They have Covid safety measures in place such as a very large bottle of hand sanitizer and closing the small bar area. There was only one other group of people there. But what drew my eye was the message painted on the wall. And my favorite Christian radio station in the background, KSBJ.

new mini toy

I have been following several Miniature Painters’ work on Instagram* — I am amazed at the amount of implied detail these artists are able to achieve. I’m not normally drawn to flowers but I love watching Nina Hidalgo’s videos as she fills sketchbook after sketchbook. I also love the wee wooden palette she uses that snaps together with tiny embedded magnets and clips to the tiny sketchbook.

A while back, I decided to order one of these palettes on Etsy to add to my small collection. Before the Russian Dictator Putin declared war on Ukraine. The Go Draw palette with hand-bound sketchbook comes from a lovely Russian artist, Julia Mironova. With so many sanctions declared against Russia, I wasn’t sure if the palette would actually get here.

But it did arrive this week, inspiring me to once again try working tiny.

Here is the Go Draw palette next to my Demi Palette from Art Toolkit. Both will now live in my purse for impromptu sketches when away from home — after I decide what colors to load the new one with.

* Two of my absolute favorite artists who paint tiny are Bronwyn Royce @PigmentsArt and Katharina @Katharinacreates — check them out on Instagram!

lunch today at Julio’s

On the spur of the moment, Bill decided we were eating out today — Julio’s Mexican Cantina on FM 2920 has a lovely outdoor patio. To keep from filling up on the complimentary chips and salsas, I did a quick sketch (and they have really great green salsa!).

This tiny Hahnemuhle ZigZag accordion sketchbook has lived in my purse for going on 2 years yet after a few pages of wildflowers and a homegrown berry, it was forgotten. Until recently.

After viewing a few miniature painters on Instagram, I am interested in working small once again. In fact, I recently bought a new toy for doing so and it finally arrived in the mail — more on that tomorrow.

what’s in front of me

This is what I see sitting in Bill’s Grandma’s old overstuffed chair in our wee barn-house. A bit messy (and I didn’t even include the tracked-in grass and pet hair on the floor!) but such a comfortable space to live.

Sometimes Bill’s chronic nerve pain keeps him up at night, though it has improved in recent months with an adjustment in medication. He’ll come out here to watch TV, using those earphones on the table to avoid waking me (he hasn’t learned that just his being gone from the bedroom wakes me up). The quilt folded on the back of the couch and pillows end up all over the place.

Inside the hinged cover of that table is a pair of binoculars to go with the bird field guide laying on top. We enjoy watching and identifying the birds outside the French doors and windows. Even in the midst of winter we have quite a variety, including the brightest bluebirds I’ve ever seen.

the goats’ new friend

Our neighbors to the west are not very good at keeping their animals at home. Their two Great Pyrenees roam the roads on a regular basis (avoiding our long driveway after our donkeys warned them off). Last month their rooster found himself in our front pasture — none of us went near him as he can be quite mean. He eventually left.

This past week, one of their hens wandered into our yard where she was chased by our Pyrenees-Golden Retriever mix, Bradley — losing a few tail feathers in the encounter. She tried Sierra’s pasture, where she was ignored by both cow and her cat buddy, Egret. Later I found her in the south pasture with our goats. Occasionally one of them would nudge her, then go back to grazing. She seemed perfectly happy to be in their company.

Happy Valentine’s . . . Anniversary, Birthday, etc

I recently had 2 unexpected upgrades in mobile devices. First, my iPhone 7’s battery needed to be replaced. A new battery only cost $50 but our son Jason found a really good deal on an iPhone 12-Mini, so I decided to get that instead.

Then I accidentally dropped my iPad Pro — facedown on a very hard rough stone floor. The screen was shattered and a replacement would cost $380, more than a brand new iPad; I don’t need a “Pro”, it was an older hand-me-down from Jason. I still had my old iPad 4 Mini so I chose not to repair or replace.

Until last week when my iPad Mini’s battery stopped holding a charge. I suddenly had to recharge it twice a day instead of every 1 1/2 days. It gets used a lot, for reading multiple books, email, texting doctors’ offices, moderating posts in a private Facebook group, using crochet or knit patterns, blog posts, shopping, and playing the odd game or two. The device is over 6 years old and has been used well.

I decided to just live with it for now, keeping a power cord handy. But Bill conspired with Jason — this past weekend I was given a new iPad 9th generation, trading in my old iPad Mini for much more than we had expected it to bring.

Bill told me it’s for Valentine’s Day . . . and our wedding anniversary in May and my birthday in July. They got me the larger capacity one (256 GB) so maybe even Christmas by the time I add a more protective case!

looking forward to warmer days, camping

We had to cancel our camping reservations for early December due to Bill experiencing re-occurring heart problems. After trips to doctor, cardiologist, hospital and labs, they have determined that the issue is medication-related. Several weeks trying one drug, then another followed and he now seems to have the right balance and has been released to resume all normal activities as before.

Great news! Except for that frigid weather rapidly heading our way. But we sat down and made three reservations for camping in March, April, and May at 3 different parks — two in area forests and one prairie along the Brazos river (at Stephen F. Austin’s Texas homestead!).

Area State Park reservations for travel trailers are filling up fast; the one we booked in May only had 2 sites available for the number of days we wanted. Covid-19 has made camping in travel trailers and motor homes the #1 vacation for families, and used campers of all kinds are hotly in demand around here.

The above sketch is one style of fire pit at area parks, though sometimes there are burn bans preventing their use. We usually just cook on a small charcoal grill we carry with us.