I "am" back, after a ridiculously long absence. Don't even have any good excuses either. I've done a lot of everyday blah, blah, blah. But, it's been good, I'm not complaining. It's been a restful break, one where you concentrate on things like, "what version of banana bread should I make today" as my fruit bowl contents are seriously over ripening. Maybe feeling neglected, like some parts of me.

The kids are good, the puppy is doing great, and, well, my studio sits waiting for me downstairs, in the dark.

It's a season I think, and I've had them before [seasons] where all you want to do is roll up your sleeves and put those creative juices to work, but ......... nothing comes of all that wanting. So, you wait and waiting is hard.

Having a lovely, quiet monday morning here. There's a gentle drizzle floating down from the sky. Enough of a sprinkling to keep the fresh shoots and newly planted seeds happy without disrupting my morning walk with the dogs.

I absolutely love this time of year, this gardening season. We spent the afternoon yesterday in the yard with me doing some flower bed clean up and the girls doing the second planting of vegs. They wanted to have their own garden this year and did all the work from lifting sod, digging in compost and soil, picking their seeds and planting them. As you can see, so far so good.

Gardening is really quite a rewarding and therapeutic experience, I would recommend it to all.

There's a lady down the road from us who had hip surgery last year. Her children would love to see her sell her home and move into a condo. She has rescued two black labs, who she couldn't bare to give up, so, being the creative person that she is, she's commissioned the town and lent out her back yard for garden plots. Those who have no room to garden benefit and she benefits by the care and upkeep of her yard. Everyone wins!

These days I seem to get my blogging in while waiting for the printer to print off some invoice, label or document, that is when I actually get my butt in gear to blog/print. Busy, busy busy .......! I know, the world's oldest excuse.

Anyway, life here is simply grand, we're completely taken with puppy [Gracie], and, the puppy school is going well. She loves her socializing time with all the other pups. There's a nice small handful of us two legged and four legged creatures to make the class comfortable.

One thing I'm totally rejoicing over [jumping up and down, clapping hands and going lalala or yeah, yeah, yeah] is that Gracie can now be left on her own upstairs while I'm downstairs in the studio creating. She eventually finds me and lays down for her nap.

Always have wanted a napping dog in my studio, laying at my feet, so, yeah.
Wouldn't it be grand if all it took to make one happy was a dog at your feet, happy and content?!

So, who could not love this crazy little puppy. She's just so full of life, keeping us pretty busy. From waking us up in the morning with paws in our faces to the cuddles and the crazy cat chasing ..... who .... could .... not .... love her. She's going on four months now and has completely adopted us as her special people, her family, her pets. As you can see she's quite taken with the door stopper and has cleverly managed to learn how to actually take it out of the wall. She also thinks it's a great game when she comes running out of someone's bedroom with a piece of clothing in her mouth getting us to chase her all over the place, trying to retrieve said garment/underwear. We "DO NOT" like that game! She travels well to, so, wherever we go she goes. Unfortunately, I made the mistake last night of leaving a container of blasamic vinegar and oil under the front seat. Yes, when we came back the car smelled like some earthy, exotic, salad, hey, when we left she was fast asleep. We just smile cuz we're so in love with her. 

She goes to puppy school in two weeks.

Other than fertilizing my orchid and receiving my above magazine I'm not having much of a gardening life.

It is distressing because the yard is screaming, 'come and take care of me'.

Gardening is such a huge part of my life, I am starting to feel some angst over not getting out there, rolling up my sleeves and doing much of anything earth and green-wise. We're blaming it all on the weather, it's been just downright yucky outside.

Now I drool over eye popping green and hot pink images. The need to garden is so strong that I snap up every green little indoor plant that needs rescuing from the grocery store. You know the plants that sit over winter and look quite forlorn, cuz, well, the grocery store just doesn't seem to have much plant nurturing and lovin.

In my opinion!

Well, a spring day, maybe, or maybe not!?

After today's splash of bright beaming sunshine and yesterday's freakish dump of snow, we think we might actually see some spring around here. Yes, we had snow yesterday, boy has it ever been cold. This does not sit well with those of us who are ready for our yearly trips to the garden center with lists in hand of all kinds of growing goodies to get. "Oh Well!"

The girls and I thought we would go see a movie this afternoon but that was instantly squashed when we had a flat tire on our way. None of us had ever changed a tire before, something, we think we should contact our board of education over, asking the powers that be to implement a tire changing lesson for every high school female/male. Would definitely come in handy for all of us who stand at the side of the road with spare tire and tire changing gear in hand going "huh". Luckily a very nice fellow stopped by and gave us a mini, on the spot, lesson. Bless you whoever you are but I don't think I want to go thru to many tire changes ...... on my own that is.

I've been so, so neglectful here and I do feel some melancholy over it, but, life does have its way of changing courses mid stream.

This change has been all about a, "full of life", bundle of absolute puppy joy. Her name is Gracie and boy does she keep us busy. All good kind of busy!

I don't know the last time I went on a minimum of three, 45 - 60 min. walks a day. Again, all good.
So, with Gracie adjusting to us and us to her, some things have been put on hold and other things get done in the wee hours of the night while Gracie is fast asleep at the foot of our bed. Eventually she makes her way up to the pillows to cuddle. What a cuddler she is.
We love her so much and feel nothing but blessed to have her in our lives.