Summer's nearly here, but spring's been iffy

It's a l-o-n-g time since I've been on here!

We've had a long cold spring, then blistering heat, now back to cool, windy, splatters of rain and dashes of sunshine. James has planted most of the garden - that which won't interest the deer too intensely. He's planning to plant squash and beans inside a chicken pen we aren't using this year.

We have planted broad beans out along the pea fence as we've been told the deer don't like them. We will see.

May 26th we had our annual spring "Paint-Out" when we invite our friends to come out and paint on our hill. It was a gorgeous day and "a good time was had by all." The Oriental poppies and irises were in full bloom and it was just lovely. The next day it absolutely poured rain!

This year there are a young doe and buck hanging around. I think the little doe thought she would like to taste my pansies this evening but Bandy, the cat, was on the deck and the little doe did not like him. She kept stamping her feet. Bandy just ignored her until she finally gave up and moved away. The other day the little buck was checking out my irises. Deer don't like irises but this little fellow didn't know that yet. He tasted one petal, kind of made a distasteful face, went to sniff another iris and decided if that was all I had to offer he'd just wander off down the drainfield.

The information for this years ArtWalk brochure is at the printers and we are waiting for a copy to proof. The Creston, BC Opening will be Annette's Bistro and Coffee Bar on June 22 and the Crawford Bay, BC Opening will be the evening of June 24 at Newkeys Place.

I am trying to get planters planted and birdhouses built between now and June 29 when I will have yet another hand surgery.

I think that spring is really here!

Winter has had a hard time letting go this year but finally, if only because the date marches forward anyway, spring appears to be here. The daffodils have bloomed and in that it was a cool spring they last on and on. Last weekend was warm and they are about done.
Here and there a lone tulip has escaped the deer. This year the deer trimmed the foliage on my grape hyacinths but early enough that I do have the flowers. Last year they decimated them.
Up on the hill the Avalanche Lilies have nearly finished flowering. Ours blanket a north facing slope and bloom later than other spots in the valley. The white, flat blossoms of early carrot-related wildflowers are done and their clusters of flat little seeds mark the spot of flowering. The slightly taller, finer yellow blooms of Narrow-Leaved Desert Parsley are about and we wait for the procession of other spring blossoms. The wild Saskatoons are flowering on all the hills around like so many little girls in fluffy white dresses.
I have begun a new line if birdhouses shaped like grain elevators. They are a fundraiser for Creston's Main Street Grain Elevators Society and I am selling them for $75.00, 1/3 of which goes to the Elevator Society. The society seeks to buy and preserve our elevators which have been listed as one of the 10 Canadian historical sites most in need of preservation.
James and I have been kept busy with art shows. James' one man Gone Tribal show continues at Kingfisher Used Books, we took part in the Crow Show, which celebrated crows, giving them some good press for a change. Now, from April 29 to May 20 the Kootenay Regional Arts Show , Eye Piqued, is on in the lower level of the local mall and James is showing one of his works in that show as well as doing a number of artist demonstrations.
The photo at the top is of a round painting by James, the prehistoric crow in clay and wire is mine, the staff was carved by Gary Smith, and the odd clay egg carton is a project from the paper clay workshop held here recently. The picture leaning on the bale of hay is a lovely pen and ink.

Busy, busy, busy.....

It is that time of year.
I haven't done all the tidy-up spring gardening but a little warmth is finally creeping in and the daffodils are starting to bloom. It hasn't snowed since Monday!
I did plant tulips years ago but the deer eat them - bulbs and all.

The little lawn violets are blooming too. The snow drops and crocuses are finished. In town today I saw forsythia beginning to bloom. Mine is always very late and a rather unkept scraggle of a plant but, in that we live on a hill without trees right close to the house, the forsythia is allowed to stay as a perch for the birds.
Last weekend was rather a blur. The local rotary club had its annual wine, cheese, and art evening and both James and I were asked to participate. There were, in total, 11 artists who each were asked to show 3 pieces. James did not show paintings, but 2 carved wooden cats and one of the dulcimers he has been building. I showed 3 different birdhouses, one on a post with a welcome sign. James sold a lovely stylized carving of a calico cat. It was carved from part of a poplar the ants had claimed, so we had it taken down. It had mineral figuring (spalling) in the wood and wonderful pinky orange streaks. I sold a birdhouse. We were pleased that 11 pieces of work by local artists sold.
Saturday was the opening for James' new show "Gone Tribal" at Kingfisher Used Books, a cozy little used book store here in Creston. Actually, not so little, as there are 2 floors of great used books. They sell Oso Negro coffee plus the fancy latte's and the like and there are arborite tables and comfy chairs.
The opening was a great success - probably 50 or 60 people milling about. Joe, the owner, had asked Elenna, a local musician, to play her banjo and she sang some of her original songs and a "good time was had by all." The show will hang until June 20.
Amid all the art shows and openings my sister managed to come from Kelowna for a short visit to see my mom at Swan Valley Lodge. We managed to take my mom out a couple times and eat in with her once and while James and I were hanging shows Eileen managed to visit our mom, and she was able to come to James' opening which isn't always possible, and then she was gone.
Now we are getting ready for the Crow Show which opens Sunday, April 15, and the Eye Piqued Show which is a regional art show and will open Apr 29 but work is due by the 21st.

Not everything new is better!

I recently changed over to the new Blogger option and I am having issues with it! If I try to center a picture over the blog it puts it below the blog.
I spent at least a hour trying to post a new message this evening (this is the 2nd.) and could not get anywhere until I moved over to Mozilla. Grrrrr!!!
Our WEB page reads badly on Mozilla Firefox. The lettering that should be brown is bright blue and the "buttons" are in a different order.
This is a picture james painted before Christmas and a dear friend bought it for his wife.
In April there will be a local art show - called "The Crow Show"- celebrating crows, a very intelligent and much maligned member of the songbird family. We have been creatinf work to show and realising how many crow and raven paintings James has done over the years. Here they are again, and he's done a couple more recently.
I'm g0ing to post a recurring image we're using in the poster. James made a 4 colour screen print of a raven several years back and the ravens head keeps cropping up in his work. For a fundraiser for the show James carved the image into a woodblock that various members of the Wynndel Mudders pressed into clay as a fundraiser.
Well now I tried to center the crow below and it put it above. Oh well, it keeps things challenging.

Spring will come. Spring will come!

Winter's fingers have certainly had to be pried loose this year, but despite getting up to our car doors being frozen shut the other morning, spring is coming. Yesterday, as we drove in from Wynndel, there was a large flock of swallows wheeling in air, and James heard the frogs chirping from the pond for the first time this year.
James has another show opening at Kingfisher Used Books this coming Saturday. He is planning to show some of his recent work which has a definitely tribal feel to it. I spent last evening creating the poster using part of a painting. On that Friday is the Rotary Club's annual wine tasting and they have asked a number (10, I think) of local artists to show work for a silent auction. Both James and I are taking part. Rather than James showing his paintings he is showing 2 hand carved cats one of which is a wonderful calico from the natural colour of the wood and he hopes to show one of his ducimers.
I have one freestanding "Welcome" birdhouse and will have a swallow and a smaller bird bird house - smaller as in chickadee, wren, downy woodpecker.
All the mailings are out for ArtWalk and we are getting back registrations.
We are finally full tilt into working on our (mine, not James) 40th year high school reunion. My friend Betty said, "Who would have thought this would be the hardest year to get the planning done?"
Last week I got back into the shop/studio for the first time since my hand surgery last September. This last surgery took far longer healing than the previpous and I do need to book another appointment with the specialist - in my spare time!
Life is spinning madly by.

The last 3 days James and I have been taking part in an ambitious workshop on using paperclay taught by Graham Hay, an artist from Australia. Check out his site. When I first saw his work it was so large and organic I felt like "This is what I've always wanted to do." That and learning to weld with the Oxyacetaline set James got me for our 30th wedding anniversary. but I digress. Anyway. after 3 days struggling with paper clay I still see great possibilities but I'm not sure it'll be so easy to step into. We will see. Anyway, check out Graham's site. Besides a fabulous representation of his work it has links to many articles and a wealth of information. .http://www.grahamhay.com.au

The girls are back.

Four of these lovelies just wandered through the yard not 100 feet from the slider. I took about 8 pictures but they are amazingly good at stepping behind the bushes.
You can see they are in beautiful shape after our very long winter.
James has finished dulcimer #2 and has been doing other interesting projects like making and replacing a rod in a piano, setting the sound post in a cello, more guitar repair. He is a busy boy.
This afternoon he was off to Sirdar with a friend to look at some diamond willow.
I have finally finished making a list of names for ArtWalk in Access and now am redoing forms for this year. Monday we will stuff envelopes and send out this years "seed" hoping it bears a crop of happy participants in ArtWalk. Then on to the shop!!!! Oh, and a mailing to our fellow grads as we prepare for our 40 year Grad Reunion this summer.
The shop! I haven't worked there since Sept 21 when I had my last hand surgery but I am developing a grip again and now is the time to plung back in.

"As you wish"

James took this photo yesterday of Mt Thompson, shining over the valley.
Mt Thompson is the tallest mountain of those surrounding us and is named after the explorer David Thompson.
Spring came in as a lamb - if not a somewhat chilly lamb - in our little valley. Sadly it was not so "lambish" elsewhere.

Changes

This is not the groundhog but were he so he would have seen his shadow. We have had no sun today but the morning was bright with filtered sun and snowflakes. I am ready for spring.

So life is never without its changes. For the last 17 years, since my husband and I moved home to the farm I was raised on, we have cared for my mother to varying degrees.

When we first came my mother could tramp through the woods with us for miles, and every spring we would walk up on the large hill to the back of our property to see the wildflowers. My mother was 69 when we first returned.

Gradually our expedition changed. I began to drive by the road to the back so it was a shorter hike and I began asking my husband or a friend to accompany us in case something were to "go wrong." It has been some years since she could make the hike at all and we have tried to satisfy that loss with drives past wild flowers.
It has become more difficult to take her on outings as her ability to walk has decreased. She now walks relatively short distances with the aide of a walker.

Some years ago the cooking was too much for her and I began making and freezing meals for her to reheat in the microwave and came the day we realized that even that was not happening and home care workers have come in to microwave those meals and "present" them to her. The mechanics of the washing machine and the television baffle her. She no longer heats water in the microwave.

Her memory has changed gradually over the years. It has given me a somewhat cynicle view of history as she speaks with real clarity of incidents that are not as she used to recall them and I wonder if history isn't just to whoever writes it down first.

I have not felt graceful in her transition. I want my mother to be that strong vibrant woman she was. There is that voice in my mind crying "Think!" as she searches for the words and the answers.
And so we are to embark on another journey. On Monday we will move my mother into a local care facility. It is what she wants ( a great blessing there!) and what we want for her but it is another in a string of losses. She is now nearing 86. We will continue to care for her but in a different capacity. No one will ever say old age is kind.

Next.......

These are pictures of the dulcimer James is currently working on. The top picture shows the sides being attached to the back, and the rough neck piece. The second picture shows the inside of the dulcimer with attachments and bracing and with the top laying beside it. Note the lovely f-holes with tiny valentines. This last photo shows the carved and finished neck attached to the dulcimer.

When bookworms mature: altered book

Tomorrow is the library opening and I have finished the altered book I was working on.

This is my altered book and may be hard to see.In the stepped down middle there is a tree branch with a cocoon hanging on it and there is the little green worm reading the book which says, "And so little bookworm, after a long sleep you will wake up as the most beautiful butterfly...."

I removed pages from the book and ran them through the printer for the flat pages of butterflies. The 3D butterflies were printed, painted with matte medium, painstakingly cut out, painted gold on the back, and glued on with a heavy bodied glue called "yes." The pages are glued together in groups and the left side is glued in a curve so the book will permanently sit open. There are a few butterflies crawling on the cover too.

What happens at the McDowells in the dead of winter?

This has been quite the winter so far. We have been spared the severe storms of the coast and the mid-west, and the east, but we have had cold weather and snow that has just hung on and on. Usually the snow comes, and melts, and then we get more, and then it melts, etc., but this has just hung in there, cold and inconvenient. We are burning more firewood than usual as are many others.

When one lives with 100 acres of woodland there are always more trees falling in the latest big wind and wood heat does seem the only way to go, though on cold mornings the idea of waking to a warm house is pretty tempting.

James began this dulcimer probably 15 or more years ago and got to the point where he needed tuning pegs and it went into "waiting mode." He has now finished it and its song is sweet, and he has begun another. The new dulcimer is more lute shaped or like a tear drop.

We are looking forward to the grand opening of Creston's new library and for it a number of us have been creating altered books. I haven't done this before and I'm not sure I'd do it again but it has been interesting. When I have a picture I'll post it.

It is again time to begin on the this year's Creston and Kootenay Lake Eastshore ArtWalk/ArtDrive and I need to create a good address list from all the "collections." We plan to meet March 1 to fill envelopes and mail out information and entry forms so I need to have that done by then.

I am about to take the plunge back into the shop to clear it out so it is workable and to begin building birhouses again. The hand surgery I had done Sept 21 took longer to heal than the other times but now I am really able to grip things again and shouldn't be a hazzard to myself.

The cats remain themselves. A bit of cabin fever has set in and Skeeter has taken to tearing the leaves off my fiscus and ripping corners off papers with her teeth. She would be most happy spending most of her time outside and even now, snow and all, she is outside a lot. On the other hand, Bandy spends great swaths of his time sleeping and doesn't want to go out and get his feet wet at all!

With the recent story of Goliath, the stray who got himself stuck in a doggy door as he was so big, I saw a sign on the back wall of the SPCA cattery that sums it up pretty well:

"Dogs have Masters.

Cats have Staff."

The staff is still pretty happy 'round here.

Wishing all a blessed Christmas 2006

This is the Skimmerhorn, facing east from our porch.
We wish you all a time of peace and friendship this Christmas season.

Bandy loves Skeeter.

Notice who gets most of the cushion.
Skeeter has gone from being a poor pathetic little waif to being a little round cat. In that we suspect Bandy brought her up to the house he has always been nice to her although at times I've suspected he thought she was a toy. She is still skittish but she does spend some nights in and she is becoming more comfortable.
I am not back in the shop since the hand surgery in Sept but it's getting close. Then the other day when visiting the hospital I bought coffee at the kiosk and managed to scald the same hand, so that's another set back.
I have been making calendars of James' work to sell and have been making cards. Now I'm working on creating cards from postcards sent by my grandmother and friends in the early 1900's. I'm calling them "Cards like Grandma Sent."
James has a show of his work at the Park Studio Gallery here in town until December 16. He is also going in and doing painting demonstrations at the library about once a week and this Sat will be doing a demonstration at Annette's Delicate Essen on Sat.

the gold

The rose displaying many beautiful rose hips is a Winnipeg Parks. It is a somewhat "messy" and floppy rose that will only bloom once a summer and should you dead head the drying blossoms you will not get more blooms and will miss the glorious hips. We begin winter with lots of "colour" and as the winter progresses the deer eat the rose hips so there are very few come spring.
I don't know the name of my wondeful pink rose. It came in a box that said something "picotee" and was supposed to be a small, hardy tea rose. It isn't. It is a huge mound of pink blossoms in late June and reblooms through the summer. We think it may be some sort of climber. Whatever it is, aren't mistakes wonderful?

Late October gold....

The full moon would have been a while ago. Last night was as black as can be.

The fall keeps lingering, lovely, on. Lots of the gold is gone but more remains. I must get a picture of my beautiful rose. The leaves are golden and there are still blossoms, not as many but a more intense pink than in June.

James painted the striped kitty recently.

Skeeter comes in at length now. She has even spent the night on occasion. Little by little we are charming her. Of course she has us completely beneath her spell.

My hand is healing but it is taking longer this time and I am feeling impatient.

Here she is.....

Here's Skeeter looking rather intense. Looking at her little face staight on it is a checker board of orange and black - top lip 1/2 black and 1/2 orange, bottom lip 1/2 orange and 1/2 black. She's a funny little creature.

That's it for this summer!!!

My but time is rushing on!
Our unbearably hot summer ended just as fast as it came and we had a few cold and drizzly days and now we are back into a beautiful Indian summer. A gallery visitor asked if this was warmer than usual for this time of year but, in truth, we have had wonderful falls the last few years.
The leaves have dried and fallen off the little wild Pin Cherries, but the Trembling Aspens aren't turning yet. It will come, and we have wonderful drifts of gold. I love fall. Here in Creson and the Kootenays it is a beautiful time of year. The smoke from forest fires and field burning in Idaho has subsided and the world is fresh.
I have had hand another surgery, this time on my left hand. I have Dupuytren's Contracture, which is a genetic condition which can cause ones fingers to draw down as the facia around the ligaments shrinks. Last year and this spring I had 3 surgeries on my right hand and now this is my left. That means 8 weeks swanning about and "petting the cat." I hope to be back in the studio and building birdhouses by late November. Meanwhile i need to produce a calendar or 2 of James' paintings for the 2007 year.
On the subject of "petting the cat".....
Skeeter is growing a bit and becoming less angular. She is built like a Siamese, so while she is no longer skinny she looks to remain tiny. Now the project is to get her comfotable coming in the house for winter.When we first tried to invite Skeeter in she would only dash in and dash out. She was most distressed if someone closed the door. It would absolutely panic her.Who knows, in her other life she may have been abused for coming in the house. She would like to play with feet but is very nervous of them, and she is a yeowly little creature - more confirmation of my Siamese suspisions. We had a very satisfactory visit last night. Skeeter was in for a good hour and more than 1/2 of that she spent letting me "hold" her. This is not the idylic cat-in-the-lap holding I am used to with Bandy. This is an exercise program all in itself. She is up, she is down, she turns around and flops so completely the "holder" has to catch her from falling on the floor, she turns and lies on ones legs, she gets up to lie on your chest, she turns around another 3 or 4 times. What a tiny wiggle wart, but she is a sweet little thing and bit by bit she is learning to trust us. She is "a keeper."

Summer is drawing to a close.

Summer is drawing to a close. I feel it, and it is a relief. It has been such a hectic summer that a slower season seems a welcome relief. The evenings have less mosquitos, and it is pleasant to sit out after the sun hides itself behind the mountains and just enjoy the evening.
James painted these dragonflies last week, and then, one evening driving to town, the air was alive with them - none of those dainty damsel flies - the big guys with big eyes and big mouthparts - a little intimidating close up, but etherial in the air and do they ever clean up on mosquitoes and flies.
The skies are smokey, hazy, probably mostly from the fires in Washington State, but we too have the drone of little helicopters , and the cedar bugs are back. Cedar bugs are another failed experiment 0n "nature", where they were imported from Sweden, I think, to kill off some native forest bug pest. They didn't kill off the pest and they thrived and multiplied. As far as I know they are harmless, but high on the nuisance value scale. They are rather clumsy in flight, hitting the lights, landing on people, bashing into things. They look a little like a wasp in flight, and if squeezed or squished they let out a pungent stink. This time of year they are looking for cracks and crannies to overwinter in. They like to hide in the firewood and come out and bash about when we bring in wood in the winter.
Tomorrow we make another flying trip to Cranbrook, 100 km or 70 miles away. My hand mixer is dying and before it falls apart in my hands and I have to buy another $35.00 "cheapie" I am going to get a Kitchenaid. I've gone through 3 of the the Proctor Silex, Black and Decker sort you can find anywhere for $35.00 or less in the past 2 1/2 years. Within the year the beaters are falling out or, like the current one, the switch no longer works and I have to press it really hard and sideways to get it to stop. I can imagine it disintegrating in my hands.
When I first started building birdhouses 12 years ago I bought these very nice light weight little hand drills from Black and Decker and the switches went out on them in a month, a week, the last one , a day, so I bought a larger $56.00 or so Skill and it lasted about a year, until James used it building a deck and it died, so I bought an $89.00 or $99.00 Dewalt. That was 10 years ago and I am still using it.
I am imagining that the Kitchenaid handmixer will be like that. It will cost $99.00, but it doesn't take too many 35s to reach 100.
On the "glad to see fall approaching" theme, there are only 2 more Saturday Markets this year and though I really enjoy them I will be glad to see them done - for now.
We have been having more people at the gallery of late and even when we aren't in they are welcome. Today we discovered the doorbell wasn't working. People can come into the gallery but we don't hear them if we are in the house even though the gallery is attached. We also found $45.00 American from where someone bought a small painting when we either weren't home, or weren't aware.

Sweltering in SW British Columbia

I don't think I'll catch up in this lifetime!
I did get birdhouses shipped to Castlegar last week.
I am spending all of 2 days a week baking for the Saturday Market. It pays the bills, but it's exhausting.
My mom spent about a week in hospital as they tried to help her with her dizzy spells. Old age is not fun, at least certain aspects aren't fun for the mother or the daughter. I spend a lot of time worrying.
Yesterday we took a flying trip to Cranbrook for baking supplies, and special glue, and....
We stopped at Goat Mountain Soap in Yahk on the way back as they are part of the ArtWalk. They were run-off-their-feet busy and Mike was being interviewed by a camera crew from Colorado. Marlene said last week it was a crew from Bosnia (or the Balkins?).
Tomorrow we are going to all the ArtWalk venues from Creston to Kootenay Landing. We'll get the really local ones early next week.
Skeeter continues to charm me. Her fur has become soft and healthy and she no longer looks like such a neglected little waif. This morning I managed to pinch my finger badly. James had installed a new handle on the slider and he was showing me that it fit too close to the door frame. I was proving I could still get hold of it, and it pinched and I let out a yelp and Skeeter came skooting around the house to see what was wrong. What a good little cat!
She is still nervous but it is a joy to watch her roll about and play like a happy little cat.

"Family" Pictures

These are our little friends, Bandy and Skeeter.
Bandy, the grey striped tiger cat, is 5 this year, having been born on cenquo de maeo (my phonetic spelling of May 5) in 2001. Bandy has lead a blessed life, always wanted and treasured, cared for by his mother until he was the appropriate age to come to our house and cared for by us ever since. He was "chosen": the only cat we have had the privilege of choosing as all our others were orphans and strays of questionable heritage and unknown pasts. Bandy is a neutered male but this is his territory and he will defend it.
It is hard to get a good picture of Skeeter. When she chose us it was evident she had lead a difficult life and she looked like a little kitten but our vet, Dr Marling, assures us she is probably a year old but very petite. Skeeter weighs less than 5 lbs: Bandy weighs a svelt 15. He is a big, beautiful boy.
Skeeter is getting to know us. She isn't much for being held but she does crave attention and, besides being a very excellent mouser, she will actually eat leftovers! This is a trait not shared by the pickier members of the family. Skeeter has been spayed and had her shots since we took her in so she should be well on her way to a healthier life. I would suspect there is a Siamese somewhere in her ancestry as she has the voice, more's the pity, and her frame looks Siamese - long and angular. We are trying to put a little padding on that frame and we are hoping to tame her to come in the house by winter. She's so tiny I'm not sure how she would fare outside all the time.
Bandy quite likes his little friend and she is rather fond of him as well. This makes welcoming Skeeter into our family easier. We are all for a "Peaceable Kingdom."

As life goes whirling by......

It has been a busy, busy time, balanced by unremitting heat.

Last weekend, (July 22 & 23) was Creston's Garden Festival which was wonderful as always: beautiful gardens, great artisan's market, music at Milleneum Park all Saturday, a play Thurs and Fri, but oh, so very hot this year.

This year's celebrity guest was Des Kennedy. As I am always busy with art shows, artisan markets, or you name it I generally do not get to tour the gardens. I did manage to squeeze in Des Kennedy's rather humorous presentation on "The Ten Commandments of Gardening: Who's breaking them and who's Not." That was Sunday morning, and then I spent the rest of the day sitting in Andrew and Anna Zelinski's lovely shady garden in West Creston telling people how to mount and care for their birdhouses.

Saturday James and I took part in the Artisan Market, which also took in the weekly Saturday Market. Every week I already spend 2 days baking for the Saturday Market and with the heat this year it has been quite a challenge. Normally we are set up on the gravel lot, just north of Milleneum Park, facing North, and are only there 'till 1:00, but for the Garden Festival we were set up on the black top parking lot of the college, facing east, and were there until 4:00 pm. By then we were all pretty much cooked.

Four oclock was when they also held the umbrella auction. The umbrellas were paraded on stage by some of the local "Red Hat" ladies. People were so hot there was not enough participation and no bids were placed. They will regroup and re-examine that activity as they do have some lovely, high quality cotton canvas umbrellas painted by local artists. The auction was to benefit the local Arts Council and the Garden Festival, as well as the artists receiving a portion for their hard work. James did the orangy umbrella and was the only man who painted an umbrella. I wouldn't mind just keeping it, but it is for sale.

Our tiny princess

Here's a head shot of Skeeter. She doesn't pose well, and she may be looking at the baby swallow sitting on his house in this picture...
Whereas I thought she was only 4 or so months old, our vet thinks Skeeter is probably a year. She is a tiny wee thing, although she has really grown in the past month. We still need to get some meat on her bones, and she is trying too. She shows off with 2 and 3 mice a day and if they aren't shrews (which taste bad - to cats!) she eats the whole thing.
This has been a lovely week for wild birds. James and I saw a bobolink as we were coming up the driveway the other day. I remember my mother talking about them when we were little but I don't remember ever seeing one before.
Our baby swallows are flying and one little fellow has been sitting on the birdhouse where James could photograph him.
This afternoon as we sat on the deck watching a magnificent vulture circle overhead a catbird came along and "meowed" at us from the bushes. They are quite the handsome bird. When we were growing up in the old house just down the hill from where James and I built on top of the hill, there used to be a catbird who would seranade us from the thorn bush by the outhouse.
My dad used to work a crazy night shift at the saw mill and when he would get home just after 3:00 in the morning he used to enjoy the cat bird seranading him too.

Roses love Sunshine.....

They must also like long, cool, wet springs. Now, however, the weather is very hot and dry.
I need more hoses to drag to thirsty flowers.
This red rose is a Winnipeg Parks: very hardy, it only blooms once a season but oh the rose hips! Fall begins with many, many rose hips and over the winter the deer nibble them off. Something to go with my hen and chicks which they can find down under 6 inches of snow!
The other morning I was walking down to my mother's and sort of daydreaming about the Blaze Climbing Roses that have grown 15 or more feet off the ground up into her Silver Lace Vine, and suddenly I heard a little yelp - or bleat? A tiny, spotty fawn had nearly run into me. We studied eachother for a few minutes and then I went on to see if I could get my mother to the window to see him, and he went to find his mother and tell her about the monster on the driveway.
I was able to show my mother the doe hiding in the trees but baby was mostly obscured by bushes.
Tomorrow I go to town early to pay the land taxes and then I will go to the vet to gather up little Skeeter who has been there recuperating from being spayed. I hope she won't have found the whole experience too disquieting. When I put her in the cat carrier to take her in she fairly roared her disapproval of being caged, but having had kittens get up in behind the dashboard once, all cats travel in a carrier in my car.

And I even got to cut the cake!

Dena Kubota, our Eastshore Representative for ArtWalk, sent me this picture of me cutting the cake at the Creston opening last Friday night. Actually, Mayor Snopek did the honors, but I got to do the more "domestic" cutting and serving after.
James and I finished delivering the last of the venue posters and brochures this afternoon. Now we need to whipper snip the grass at our own gate and put up our own venue posters.
This afternoon as I walked down to my mom's there was a bald eagle circling just back of her home.
We had such a great time this evening. There are a group of people working in clay every Wed at the Wynndel Hall and right now they are making bugs for a "Go Buggy in the Garden" installation for the Creston Valley Garden Festival this July21 - 23. James and I went and had a really fun evening and toasted summer with a lovely sweet white wine to top it all off. And there were stars! We've seen so few lately with all the rain.

Proof the bird boxes really "work"!!!!

Here's proof the birdhouses "work." Our friend Taryn emailed this picture of a swallow peeking out of one of my houses. Jim and Taryn bought a house for smaller birds and the swallows were so insistent they needed a home they bought another house the right size for them.
We are still having really changeable weather. This morning was lovely and I took my mother for lunch at the Blueberry Patch Country Market - a farm that grows blueberries and hydroponic strawberries, and has a lovely little gift shop and restaurant. On our way home we stopped and watched a whitetailed deer doe and fawn cross a field. Because my mom is 85 she doesn't spot things as fast as earlier in her life, but these two weren't too far away and weren't moving particularly fast so we had a good view.
I had to run back into town for errands but didn't get much done as the skies opened and it just poured rain. It dumped again this evening but now, at 9:15 it isn't bad. This has been a very wet spring!

As spring turns to summer...

What James has been doing

James has been in the studio. He's done some lovely paintings lately , starting early in the morning in that "misty", almost romantic light, and with our very wet spring there has been plenty of mist to paint in!

ArtWalk Opening and Saturday Market

First day of the Saturday Market for the season!!!!
It wasn't pretty, in fact as we left the house about 7:15 it was pouring and having put our tent up in rain before we know it does not deflect water - it leaks!!! so we didn't put the tent up. We backed both vehicles in and opened the backs (Jeep Cherokee with the door forming a roof too low for Danny to stand under, and Ford pickup with a canopy that the door sticks out but not beyond the tail gate.)
Lois and girls were there too but their tent is water proof and she has shower curtains attached around the sides with their curtain rings, so their world didn't disolve into soap bubbles, and I got my feta fix!
I have a squall jacket that knocks about in the back of the car and gets in the way, but it is there "in case." Today it was "in case Lois forgets a jacket" and it looked very nice and tidy on her. Eileen had brought it one time and the back of the car seemed like the appropriate place for such a garment.
The rains would come, and then the sun would shine weakly through the clouds, and then it would be raining again, but we had a steady stream of customers - not a lot, but quite steady - and I pretty much sold out except for a few cookies. I had 2 loaves left which is not a problem and the rhubarb crisp muffins vanished early on. We decided people are just fed up with waiting for good weather and decided to come out anyway.
Last night was the ArtWalk opening for Creston and it was just great! We had a local, and very good jazz band, After Hours, play and they did just play and play without even a break for 3 hours. Their music is danceable for those who do, and really nice to listen to as we all visited and ate Annette's great goodies. (Annette of Annette's Bistro and Coffee House.)
James has a large showing of his work at Annette's.

Nest boxes and wildlife

Here are two recent nest boxes, or bird houses depending on what one wants to call them.
The house on the left is sized for a bluebird or swallow. The house on the right is for a small bird like a chickadee or wren.
We've been having quite the wildlife days. A couple nights ago we drove out to the back field and saw 4 elk in the middle field grazing like cows. We drove around the neighbourhood and as we came back in the driveway there were 3 little groupings of white tailed deer totalling 10 deer in all. No wonder gardening is a challenge!
The day before yesterday I was gazing at the neighbour's field watching a cow elk in the tall grass when she came out with a calf following her. She was none too relaxed crossing the open field with her precious baby.
Skeeter, our little abandoned kitten, is becoming more tame. If I sit in a low chair she comes to be petted, but she's not too sure about being picked up and if you approach her face to pet her from the front she flinches. Someone was not kind to her! But she is putting on a little weight and her coat is improving.
The other night we were sitting in the yard having an outside dinner when she caught a really big vole (field mouse) and she was some proud of herself! She kept running from one side of the yard to the other carrying her prize. She would have to put on a nervous little spurt of speed as she passed us, but she did want us to see what a good cat she is.

Skeeter

This is Skeeter. We are having some success in taming her. She is still a poor nervous little creature but we found that if we set my little kids school chair on the deck and sat down low in it she was not so intimidated by the huge humans and she does want to be petted even though she is scared of sudden moves and not quite sure she won't get hit. Poor little thing. Someone wasn't kind to her.
I have managed to pick her up a couple times ever so briefly. My friend Betty brought over some kitten weaning food that looks for all the world like someone took cat food and pulverized it in the food processor and put a big price on it. You're supposed to mix it half and half with water and she does eat it. She is starting to eat the regular cat food too but I think she may need a little special care. She's rather thin and her hair shows the lack of good eating. When she first came she wouldn't eat and I have found this behavior in stressed kittens before.
One little kitten was depressed and suffering separation anxiety I'm sure. She had decided to never eat again and I coaxed her back to eating by biting vitamin E capsules and putting the oil on her lips.
Look at the size of those feet! She has one orange foot, one black, and two tortoise shell, which I believe is what best describes her colouring.
James is painting wonderful moody garden paintings these days, that and actually gardening when the weather permits.
ArtWalk is nearly up and running. Tomorrow I've an early morning meeting and then the brochure will go to the printer. I have another meeting with KC from Kootenay Employment Services who is helping us (James and I) set up our web page.
Sunday is the ArtWalk opening in Crawford Bay and Friday the 16th is the opening here in Creston.
Sat the 17th the Farmers' Market opens for the season. Busy, busy, busy........

Skeeter, or "the things we do for love...."

I fear we may have another cat.

For a few weeks my husband would see a dark flash down by the chicken house as he came out of our house. We knew there was a little stray about but hoped she’d wander on.

It sounds harsh, but harsh are the people who drop their animals off “in the country” for the coyotes and hawks to kill, and for them to be totally unprepared for life in the wild.

They drop them off in winter when everything is frozen and there isn’t even water!!! Never mind food. They drop them off in the heat of summer too.

We see them in the ditches sometimes and it is no life for a domestic animal, and yet we can’t take in every stray. We have our own animals that we are responsible for. We see them where they’ve been hit by cars too.

Well, a couple days back she moved up to the house and is yeowling. She is pathetic. She is horribly thin, and has a tiny, warped, malnourished little body. She is that very dark brown and orange brindley colour, which is why I think she is “she.” There is no size to her at all. I wonder how young she was when someone discarded her. She has a sad little bent tail that probably was broken in another life not too long ago as I believe she’s still a kitten. She may be in heat, oh joy! We always have our own animals neutered and chose not to acquire more than we can care for. We did not choose her.

But we have put out food and water. We can’t just let her starve.

I wonder if she was someone’s pet. Would a cat that was completely feral crave human companionship? That is what she wants. She won’t let me touch her but she is managing to get closer, and I can tell she wants to be near.

I spent more than an hour today sitting out in the lawn chairs sweet talking her and dangling my fingers down near the ground and she even managed to jump up in the chair by me ever so briefly. I talked to her and talked to her and assured her I wouldn’t hurt her. I think she's been hurt before. She has probably been chased or kicked. Twice she gave my fingers a tentative tap. This is real progress, but I really don’t need, and I really don’t want another cat.

Nora

Spring marches on.....

I seem unable to catch up with the year - mentally, or physically. I fear my gardening will again be "splendor in the grass" as, with the hand surgery I still can't garden, let alone build birdhouses, but it will come.
I think of columbines and Centaura Montana as June flowers, but these are blooming enthusiastically in May. We've had so much rain that they are falling down from the weight of it and creating an absolute tripping hazzard on the walk. Last year's Autumn Joy still adds interest to the rather wild bouquet.
My columbines are olde style flowers, heritage in the real sense, dug up from the flower garden my mom had when we were still children. We didn't have running water and the flowers drew life from the left over dish water. It didn't hurt them!
Please note the leaded glass disk above the columbines. It sits atop a 4 ft metal spike and was made by an artist friend, Catherine Roy.
The super big tortoise hiding in the greenery was chain saw carved by Garth Huscroft.

Humming Birds and healing

Well, I saw a hummer checking out the Christmas light bulbs the other morning. They're actually a little late this year but I made them some sugar water anyway. James had to fill the feeder - I'm still swanning about one handed because of the surgery. By yesterday they had found it and were quite busy in the sunshine today.
I'm still typing left handed and a little with the right but then I pay for it after.
Saturday is our annual spring paint-out, when folks are free to come paint outside on our lovely hillside and we always hope for good weather though many years we are dodging rain drops.

It is that day...

Well, it is "that day." I am off to Trail for the third hand surgery on my right hand in the past year - all Dupuytren's Contracture related. Dupuyetren's is a condition that causes the fingers to draw down - not "handy" for building birdhouses.
The messy scenery picture is of my poor, sad forsythia which has finally decided to bloom. Beyond it, and barely visible, is a wild Saskatoon. Soon the hills will be covered in little girls in white, ruffly party dresses. The poplar leaves are appearing, little, bright green and waxy, and then the leaves will continue to grow to their normal summer size.
In the past week the world has become green. This spring had a hard time wresting itself from the arms of winter, mild though the winter had seemed.
Somehow, I had dreamed of having a bunch of gardening and yardwork done by now, but it is not to be, not this year anyway. I do have a good supply of bird houses on hand, so that is a good thing.

Arts and Culture Week, Creston Style

What a great day Sunday was!

Sunday, late morning, early afternoon we went out to the Wynndel opening of Arts and Culture Week and saw the great installation of Raku fish they had mounted on iron bars all along the creek with little areas where one could read about the various dams on the Kootenay and how they affected the Kokanee Trout in Kootenay Lake, and how that affected the larger Girrard Trout and Dolly Varden. Also, added to the changes from the dams, when Cominco cleaned up some of its practices of releasing fertilizer into the river it lowered the algae growth in the lake to the point where the fish’s survival was threatened and there was a whole program of adding fertilizer to Kootenay Lake in the 90’s to the point that the fish population has rebounded.

At the Wynndel Hall there were also people demonstrating Raku firing, there was ice art, inside there was a fish and chips feed, and a quilt show and sale with some sales going to the Wynndel After School Arts Program and a bunch of wonderful quilted fish wall hangings being sold with the monies going to the Creston Aquatic Society.

Sunday evening was the Creston opening of Arts and Culture Week at the Art garage and it was wonderful. The garage was full to overflowing with local artists and what a happy din. It was really great to see so many people from the different arts related groups co-operating on a common cause.

We went home glowing happily. The Art Garage will be open daily through May 7, with various other activities around town all that time.

Today was a trip to Cranbrook with lots of wildlife along the way. 5 white tailed deer, 3 mule deer, many, many geese, ducks, a heron, etc. I had to run back to town this evening and was just in time to see the 'clean up crew", this time a large hawk, gathering up the remains of a Columbia Ground Squirrel who tried to cross the road just one time too many.

This evening our friends, Jim and Taryn WoodnoteSaberwing, who create beautiful stone and silver or gold jewelry, came out and we did a trade. They now have a swallow birdhouse for the little swallow couple who have been trying to squeeze into the enty hole of the chickadee house, and I have a wonderful pair of rustic woolly mammoth tusk earrings.

What a busy time!

Yesterday one of the volunteers from the Creston Valley Garden Festival (July 22 & 23) was out to interview me about my birdhouses as I will be demonstrating "The Care and Feeding of Your Birdhouse" - in other words, how to mount and care for a birdhouse - in one of the gardens. I am also hoping to get to hear Des Kennedy who is the celebrity speaker this year.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of this year's provincewide Arts & Culture Week which Creston's Arts Council always expands to two weeks to include the schools' annual celebration of the arts, Focus on Youth, which runs from May 1st - 6th.

Wynndel is celebrating with an opening tomorrow late morning - early afternoon with a raku fish release and quilted fish and ice art and a fish and chip lunch all celebrating a live sturgeon release the children from the elementary school will take part in.

Tomorrow evening is Creston's opening at the Art Garage, an old unused garage that the owner has allowed us to transform into gallery space for the two coming weeks. James and I spent a good chunk of Friday helping with our 7 Studios display. James will be doing demonstrations at the Art Garage on Tues and Thurs and a day long workshop sponsored by the Art Club, at the Rotocrest Hall on Wed.

Friday we go to Trail for more hand surgery for me. Hopefully this will cure the seizing up business. I won't be building birdhouses for a few weeks, but then I'll be back at it. Fortunately I have managed to have a good supply of bird houses on hand- never as many as one would like but a fair number for now.

Every day a little springier!

I'll have to put a picture on of the great shelves James built me. I have been industriously trying to get ahead with birdhouses for when I have hand surgery at the end of this month, and consequently the birdhouses were taking over the gallery, all on the floor, and piling up in front of the benches, and.....
Our friends Jim and Taryn gave us some old bifold doors and James used them for my shelves. Now I have four 6 foot shelves in front of the one bank of windows, and I just got all my finished houses up on them when some ladies came up the driveway and bought one!
Yesterday, late afternoon, there was a real gully washer of a rain storm with lashing wild winds and then, just as quickly as it came, it went, and we had sunshine - and a whole flock of Mountain Bluebirds flying about and sitting on the old wagon wheels. James saw them again this morning. I would love to see bluebirds nesting near the house.
Mountain Bluebirds are all blue with some whitish feathers on their breasts and the females are less bright, with a gray hue to them. We also have Western Bluebirds here in the Creston Valley but they are more rare. The Western Bluebird male has a rosy breast and a pink tinge to his shoulders. Female bluebirds are more difficult to tell apart. The song of the bluebird is a soft, sweet, sad call.

More irises

Now that James is done repairing the truck there will be more time for painting. He has been working on a painting of some antique silver, pewter, and copper tea and chocolate pots we have. Actually, he's also very busy getting garden beds ready for planting.
Last night I planted a gazillion rudbeckia inside. This summer and fall we should have a sunset of golden blooms.

Spring is springing

James and I went for a couple little drives today. We drove out to the back of the place and there are some incredible puddles across the road. James won't be cutting firewood for a while: we can see that! Oh but it was green and lovely, and a gorgeous red tailed hawk was wheeling on the breezes overhead.
This evening we went for coffee at DQ and a drive around the valley, taking the long way home. The skunk cabbage are blooming. Somehow I have had a hard time getting going this year and am still in Jan/Feb mode, and had no idea we are so far into spring. Some things are kind of late this year. The bushes are still just on the verge of leafing out. Some of the poplars and birch are festooned in catkins, but others are still waiting for that first really warm day.
Coming up the driveway this evening I looked out to the back and there were 16 elk grazing in the middle field. This sounds idylic but it isn't really the best news for the farmer. It's like having a herd of the neighbours' cows grazing in your field and eating the newly emerging crop, but then that is balanced by their beauty and magnificence and realizing many people would travel hundreds of miles to see what we can see before breakfast.

Birdhouses and quilting

This may be a little hard to see, but we were learning free motion quilting with a "bouncy " foot and rather than just stippling I tried doing a branch with leaves and some very abstract roses, among other things.
Spring is really upon us now. The leaves on the bushes are beginning to pop and the poplars are decorated with fuzzy chains. It is such a great time of year!
Then, feeling totally spoiled by the springy weather, and running about with no jacket yesterday, this afternoon the wind came up and the rains descended and we were treated to the other side of spring.
The river is rising again, and now the water is muddy.
I'm still busily building birdhouses and hope to get some pictures of them and of some of James' recent paintings on here. We got some old bi-fold doors from our friends, Jim and Taryn, and James is going to make me some display shelves as right now the gallery is pretty well brimming over. I need to go in there and rehang some of his work.
Ah...... It never ends.
I had hoped to get so much deep gardening done before I have hand surgery at the end of the month but at this point we're just enjoying the little violets and daffies and wondering what has blighted my myrtle (or periwinkle, depending on who you are talking to.) It looks like it was scalded or sprayed, but we garden organically, so it's a mystery.

The swallows are back!

James painted these boxes of apples the other day. The small box reminds me of a shop project from my dad's generation.
This morning and yesterday there were swallows on the electric wires, all bright and tidy in their "formal attire."
On the internet there is streaming video of an eagles' nest on Hornby Island. It is wonderful!
I got to see the 2 parents change places. There are 2 eggs, laid last week.
Here's the site.
http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/default.asp