Busy lumberjacking!!!

Well this past weekend was devoted to finally cutting up the huge Mulberry tree and very large Maple branches that fell in my Mom's yard in December. It took A LOT of work and many glasses of water, ice tea and lemonade but we finally got it all cut up. And all of the wood taken away by Monday. Now we just have to either chip up or have someone chip up the smaller stuff. Here is a photo of me in full chainsaw gear! Not that I actually cut anything with this monster. Just for show. Afterwards I saw this Scarlet Tanager behind my house and Michael made this wonderful Lebanese dish with Hummus, beef, tomatoes and chick peas. Yum!!! Saturday I am going to Ogunquit, ME for two art receptions and then we are off to Ikea on Sunday morning to pick up stuff for the office and studio. Ah Ikea!!!! The downstairs apt. hallway  got it's first coat of Kills stain blocker paint tonight with about two more coats to go before the actual ceiling paint. Then we fix the downstairs bathroom ceiling and then.........the outside very huge under the overhang project up on scaffolding begins!!!!! Yikes!!!

Upcoming.....

           This cool fish rug came from Florida in March. Hmmmm..guess where that's going!!

      A painting of my cousin's Bull Terrier that passed away a few years now. I need to finish it!!!

    The pic below it is how the studio looks now that I have cleared some of the office stuff out.

                   

These are two Asian symbols that my friend Harmke gave me for Christmas. They are going in the office.

Hello all!!! Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, been busy taking care of the two pugs that live in the house and working. Well we are in search of a long, low bookcase to fit on the white wall of the office and will be putting some decorations and final touches up soon. I have been doing pretty well cleaning up the studio and have some ideas lined up for the benefit for cats event in Lowell. It's juried show so I hope I get in!!! Also Michael has been in a music studio polishing up his demo CD so when that's ready  I'll be sure to let you know. We are cutting up a ton of wood in a week or two in Mom's back yard, getting ready for a yard sale soon, my niece will be staying here for a weekend, and we are also planning our annual huge end of August cookout. Lot's to do!!!! And signing up for the house swap website!!!! Anyway I will let you know how it turns out. Oh, and a friend of mine Elaine, does a blog giveaway once in a while and I thought I'd try that on the six month anniversary of the blog. Perfect timing for Christmas!!!! I'll let you know what it will be at some point. Take a look at some of the pics and enjoy!!!

Done Done and Done!!!!

Well we have finally finished the office as far as construction, painting and trim work. Got some furniture in and the computer set up and we can move on to the studio and A LOT of outside projects at my house and Michael's house. Still haven't put anything on the walls yet but that can wait. Here are some pics of details of the office, hope you enjoy and !!!! Art projects next!!

Finished things!!!!

Well we finished a bunch of things this week!!!! Here you can see the final design for the windowsill after all of the tape came off and one of the four points of the stencil we put on the floor. We will either put a true Fluer de lys or a variety of one in the center. The trim is done and the only thing left is to apply the acrylic finish to the floor and arrange the furniture!!!! That should be done by next Friday and I can start getting into the studio and working on some serious projects!!! We also cut down a tree of mine that fell in my neighbors yard during that ice storm in Dec. There is a HUGE project outside as well regarding the sofet (sp?) (roof overhang) out back that is rotting away due to the old gutters getting clogged up for years. But that will not interfere with art projects. Anyway..will post more when the furniture is in and I am hopefully going to enter an art competion called "Herding Cats" a fundraiser for homeless and feral cats in Lowell at the Brush art Gallery. Bye for now!!!

Update......

Hey all!!! Well the windowsill is looking good, and we almost have the design for the floor done. (we are staining a simple pattern on the wood. ) So I would say that the room will be done by Friday!! Also I heard back from Harvard and they want the bird!!!  So Michael and I will be heading there sometime this week and will also get to see the skeleton of the Blue Heron we donated 11 years ago. LONG story........ So anyway the next post will be Friday and wait 'til you see it all put together!!! Thanks!!!

Windowsill in progress!!

More pics than words  this time. After we decided on color placement for the blocks I took some pics of Michael preparing and then spraying the windowsill that will be a checkerboard pattern with hand painted details. Will post the finished product later in the week!!!

On the Side

So today brought two surprises that although not pleasant, reminded me how important that everything  you can hold onto and treasure , you should because you never know when it's going to leave. Driving to work this morning (unfortunately) there was a beautiful coyote that had been hit, lying in the road. If I had had time I would have moved it out of the way but I couldn't. I thought about it off and on while at work and how it was too bad wild things had to be around things they didn't understand like cars.  And then while at work someone noticed an adorable sand piper looking bird which turned out to be an American Woodcock running around outside. I checked on it and it was not flying away and one wing seemed to be at an odd angle. I brought it inside and later Michael brought it home to hopefully give to someone that was qualified to help it. Unfortunately it passed away soon after so something must have hit it earlier or it was sick. So I painted this quick watercolor of it and will try and donate the bird to the Harvard Natural History Museum. The point to this post is that although we have this plan in place to go to France in a year, it is also a good reminder to relish all of the things that are around now and not just live for the future. You never know what's not going to be here later.