RIP Phoebe 2004 - 2018

Goodbye Phoebe, sweet cat. We had to say good bye to you today. Thank you so much for finding us and choosing us to be your human family for the short 14 years you were with us. You will be missed.

Remembering Maggie... one year ago.

Hard to believe it is already a year since our sweet Maggie died. Remembering her today...

Goodbye Maggie

RIP Sweet Maggie... 1999-2014

You came to us a LBD (little brown dog) and stole our hearts with your smart sweet personality. Thank you for 15 years of life together.  You will be so missed.

 

Getting up early on purpose...

Setting the alarm in fact. Early. 6 AM. Or maybe 5:30.

          One word says it all:  HEAT!

The last two days have been over 100 degrees here by early afternoon and I have missed out on the cooler early mornings by letting myself sleep in. My normal annoying kitty alarm has not been going off at 6 like it did for school so I have slept until 8 or 8:30. Normally I wouldn't mind but when it is this hot, I want to be up early so I can have a couple of cooler hours to get things done before I start to melt. I think even Persephone has wanted to sleep in lately.

And I need to water the garden. Poor little plants just don't like the heat and Andy wakes up too late to give them any watery comfort in the mornings so that job has fallen to me.

 I don't mind of course... it gives me some time to be out there and take garden photos (and play with Instagram) and muse over what else I want to plant when I get back from my vacation.

And to issue a great big sigh when I realize I will be gone for the next month when these lovely apricots will no doubt ripen and be delicious!  Maybe some of them will hold off until mid-July when I get back... just enough to let me savor their golden goodness and give me dreams of apricot cobbler.

Saying goodbye to another cat...

We had to say goodbye today to our dear Perseus... (Kidney failure) He came into our lives nearly 19 years ago already maybe 6 months to a year old... so he had a wonderful full life here with us. He and Pandora got along so well. When she died, he started going downhill and his kidney disease was discovered. We tried a couple of treatments for him but his health failed quickly this last couple of weeks. We did not want him to suffer any more so we brought him to the vet today and said our goodbyes. He will be buried outside next to Pandora in our flower garden.

Rest in Peace dear wonderful Percy.

Moving on...

It has been a difficult couple of weeks with Pandora's death but I feel like I am finally able to move on. The first few days I could not come back into my art room without crying and seeing her in my arms but that is passing and I am feeling the need to create again. And with Winter Break coming up in a couple of weeks I have a lot of things to think about...

The thing that has been on my mind the last few days is creating another Word for the Year. I did it last year (see THIS post) and it was nice to think about throughout the year. I had it glued to my work table at school and several times when I was mad at the kids I would see it and work on letting it go. I wanted to make a word this year that built on that idea. I thought about what I did when I "released" and it was all about breathing. And now that I am back to doing more yoga practice I find the reminders to "breathe" coming fast and furious from all angles. And wouldn't ya know it, conscious breathing is still hard for me (to remember mid-asana or when I am mad). I need more work on that one.

So I decided for 2014 my word would be BREATHE.

RIP Pandora

Rest in Peace Pandora. I am so thankful for the 21 years of love you gave us. You came to me small enough to fit under my chin in August of 1992 and passed peacefully in our arms this morning, 11:20 am, Nov. 28, 2013.

Catching Up Sunday...

Gotta start out with a photo of my 20 year old cat, Pandora (who was not happy about having her picture taken!)

Here is what I have been doing this weekend:

1. Made 2 new pages (top tabs of blog): one for current WIP and one for all the linky parties I have joined
2. Worked more on one of the 21 Secrets classes (Doodling Your Way)
3. Went outside and took some photos of the garden and Pandora inside
4. Made folders for my photos in my computer so they might be easier to find
5. Uploaded more photos to Flickr
6. Planning my summer trip to Alaska (just a week to go see a friend)
7. Thinking more about this art room organization and how to make best use of my space
8. Watching more inspirational art videos... some people watch TV, I watch YouTube!

Here is the start of a doodle page I am making for one of the 21 Secrets classes (Doodling Your Way):

And the garden seems to be coming back to life... roses flourishing, irises and sweet peas finally showing up! Looking forward to the sweet pea flowers!

And I wish that I could bottle how amazing the orange blossoms smell!

Linked to: Nature's Footsteps Flower Macros

My hair and a cat...

Decided this was the month to get my hair done professionally again (about once a year I spring for that) and had them add some golden highlights to my hair...

Meanwhile the neighbor's cat with the unfortunate name of Tofu keeps coming over to visit... she is so gorgeous!