Spring is here!

We Pacific Northwesterners slough through rain and snow through dark, gray winter months anticipating Spring on a daily basis. Spring arrives bringing warmer temperatures, more rain and color to our color deprived eyes! The above photo showcases the Spring green of my yard. (Are those oval objects suspended in space orbs or raindrops on my camera lens? insert Twilight Zone music here)

Kim and I, needing a girl's-day-out, headed to Portland for a shopping date. At Cargo, an interesting Asian import store in the Pearl District, I found Kim attempting to change her persona.

My mom has become an expert book binder. She sent me this little gem, full of beautiful pages, waiting to be filled with prose or art or treasures of some kind. It rests near my easy chair where daily I caress its pages and feast upon its radiant colors.

 

This canvas will be mailed today, a belated birthday gift for my sister.

Last, keeping my fingers crossed, I think we've solved the pecked egg dilemma. Glynn made a little entry door into the chicken coop with the idea that it would prohibit marauding birds from destroying my hen's eggs. So far, so good.

More art

Oh neocolor crayons and watercolor pots - where have you been all my life?

Forging ahead with the "Art of Wild Abandonment" e-course taught by Junelle Jacobson, she walks us through different projects, encouraging us to be OK with imperfection, to lighten up and not take our art so seriously.... A lesson I'm embracing.

Change the world

When Karry's daughter left home for college, Karry did what most mothers do. She deep cleaned Courtney's room. After moving a dresser away from a wall, she found two quotes drawn on the wall. My canvas showcases one of these quotes.

Each generation looks at the world and its sad state of affairs and mutters, 'We are going straight to hell-in-a-handbasket', forgetting that a new generation will arise, ready, able, and eager to take on the heavy issues before them. When I remind myself of this, a calmness settles my frenzied mind and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Chicken woes

I'm happy to report that the chicken I adopted and call Barebutt can be renamed as her tail feathers have grown back. Look at her in all her radiant beauty.

Alas, although I adore her sweet personality, she is my problem chicken. She pecks a hole in freshly laid eggs and eats the raw yolk. Worse yet, her unacceptable behavior has rubbed off on her peers and I have caught them in the act as well.

Google searching led me to feed them more protein, nab the eggs as soon as they are laid and put golf balls in their nest. To no avail.

What to do? Glynn built me a roll-away chicken nest. The nest rests on a slight angle so once an egg is laid, it rolls into a little compartment at the front. Said compartment hides the egg from the chickens.

Success unless a chicken decides to lay an egg elsewhere.

Yesterday I found two pecked eggs.

Nothing left but to cull the offending chicken from the flock. One of Glynn's co-workers, Bill, said he would take Barebutt. I assumed this meant Barebutt would be found as chicken stew for dinner but, bless Bill's tender heart, he found a home for Barebutt - a neighbor who has free range chickens galore and is unconcerned about their egg laying (or egg eating) abilities. Barebutt has now retired in ease and can eat all the fresh yolks she wants!

Spring in the Pacific Northwest means rain, rain and more rain. In between rain showers, my project has been restoring order to my raspberry patch. I removed spent canes and tied this year's canes to stakes. The scratches and scabs on my ankles and arms attest to my efforts and I will be happy at harvest time in August that I persevered and did the hard work.

I am once again involved in an online e-course. This time it involves sketching and watercolors, both of which I've always wanted to learn. I am being taught by Junelle Jacobsen. Her wonderful blog is www.yesandamenblog.blogspot.com.


I never knew water color paints and crayons could be so forgiving!