PERSONAL PHONE

So I finally caught up with the rest of the world and got a new iPhone.  A white one, yummy.  Didn't think it really mattered what kind of phone I had, I'm not on it very much... but so far it's really something else.  And now I'm a texter....imagine that!  Well, actually I'n not REALLY a texter, but I'm learning.

Since I'm working towards getting into the business of promoting my art and my book...it really will come in handy, as it turns out.

In the meantime I went for something more personal in regards to the cover.  I found it on Etsy, at a shoppe called
AbstractiPhoneCases.  
Renee is very accommodating and will do pretty much whatever 
you'd like...and I liked Mick! It really looks great in person, not cheap at all.  I'm super 
happy with the way it turned out.
Enjoy!

See, nice white phone,
(yes! I'm a fan...what can I say?
good or bad, their my Raiders)

Here he is, and the text is included...cool!

I had wanted the text a tad more saturated
in the blue color...
other than that, really pleased...
free advertising you know!

Order something special for yourself or someone close for Xmas...tell Renee I sent you.

Have a great one!  xoxox juner

SUE'S GEORGE

My dearest buddy Sue asked me to do a painting of her brother George.  He is turning 60 next week and he has a garage band with his kids...they entertain the entire neighborhood at every single block party and event.  I've been, and it's really fun!  Music is really important to him.  He's actually going to a guitar camp to celebrate his birthday, so playing is definitely an important part of his life.  It was a super cool and thoughtful gift to say the least.

So here's the photo she gave to me and the cropping I did to make it more exciting and in the vein of work that I do...(otherwise it would have just been a portrait, and I  don't do portraits!).

So I had fun, kept it rockin, and did my thing.   

It was WELL received...thank god!  It's nerve racking painting someone that others know inside and out...quite the pressure to say the least...but I think I did a good job.

Hope you enjoy.

In the meantime, I'll get back later this week with the catching up of what's been going on around here...chickies and ducks with a new pond and eggs and new fireplace hearths...LOADS of good things to share with you.
I may get a little behind as I'm madly working to finish up the painting I began last year of Jessie James, before he became a "bad" boy and broke Sandra's heart and I put it away...but he's coming back out of storage and here's why....

One of my besties, Jamie, who lives in New York now,  want's to take a photo of it with her to Vegas where she'll be meeting up with him to do a American Chopper show... she befriended him last year, (say's he's actually a nice guy...himmm) and can't wait to share my work with him.
So share away I say....let's just hope it sparks some interest with all his biker friends.  All it takes is one bad boy to spread your name around and you're in....I'm just sayin....

Too much going on here...if I had done this whole photo,
 it would not have been dynamic.

So I cropped it, and made it off center,
which is the way I like to paint.

Here it is...not a great photo, it's a lopsided crop
and the green looks splotchy,
which it isn't...but looks like George. 

This was just the beginning rough,
only a couple hours into the painting.
it's way further right now....
but I don't want to give everything away...!!

Have a great holiday this coming week, just in case I don't get back sooner....mucho warm tidings to all...xoxo juner

HANGING MY HERBS AND RUSTY SHELVES

I finally got all the rest of my herbs cut down yesterday.  Good thing too, they were starting to head to the other side of perfection.  I've never had such a prolific crop and was thrilled to use the fresh herbs all summer.  The lemon basil being the favorite around here...unbelievable aroma!   Worked super well with my fresh heirloom tomatoes.

So, I've never dried herbs before and searched the internet for a better understanding of what I needed to do.  The best advise I got explained that hanging them in the kitchen wasn't such a good idea because the herbs would take on subtle kitchen smells...that it would take away from the intensity of the herb, and it needed to be darker than lighter, to keep the color.  However,  I've always loved the look of herbs hanging in the window of a kitchen,  and I have this great big window with the antique wood that would have looked so homey with herbs draped...but that would not do....so I was lost as to where to hang my scented bundles.

Then I thought, well, why not in the entry enclosed porch!

We have a window that looks out onto the porch from the kitchen. and I keep the Xmas wreath hanging there all year round...when the season comes again, I just hang a new one.  It's amazing how well they keep that terrific scent.  During the holidays it's spectacular to walk through the entry and catch a drift of that perfect pine Christmasy smell...it does all kinds of good things for my soul.

So, I went ahead and hung the herbs next to the dried up old wreath.  And now the house smells of Oregano, Basil, Lemons and Marjoram, and a magnificent Spearmint that I just can't get enough of.  It's truly heart warming!  I have some growing wild right outside the kitchen deck and it hits you the minute you step outside.  It makes me smile.

Then I took some photos of the odd little iron....well, I don't know what to call it, a shelf thingy...that belonged to my father.  At first I had it in the corner near the den, and it just got lost there, then I thought hallway, but no way.  Finally I decided, bring it out into the open!  It's so unique and it was my fathers, so I wanted to see it daily.

Now it's my shelf holding all of his personal garden books, and part of my bowl collection. (I'm a bowl freak...can't imagine what that could mean, but I simply love them.)  
Right above it I hung a weathered old wire rack and put in colorful little pots of succulents....it's all perfect!

Walking in from the small front door foyer
to enclosed porch off of kitchen

Looking up from kitchen through window
out to porch and hanging herbs

Amazing crop this year,
and this is what's left!
(Not counting the parsley
 and a pile more oregano,
and spearmint.)

Last year's Xmas wreath and new herbs
looking out opposite windows into front courtyard.
I LOVE this porch
It would be even better slightly bigger so
I could fit a cozy teak daybed to sit and stare outside,
but no complaints here.

How cool is this thing!

It's rusty and worn and has
 different color shelves...I'm mad for it!
(and that's my father's little mirrored elephant
for good fortune as well, that he kept in his room,
so it's a whole little homage to him).

I'm working on filling this with colored pots
and beautiful succulents...
which I'm obsessed with as well!

Hope you find a cozy little nooky places to fill with personal items that makes your heart sing...
enjoy! xox juners

YAY FOR OUR TEAM!! OAKLAND A's!!!

Oh my god!!!  WHAT an amazing game yesterday and we were there!  History was made and I will remember this day for the rest of my life...it was one of the most exciting events I've ever been to.  The games leading up to this match were thrilling...but nothing can compare to being there in person with 36 thousands fans surrounding you.

Our Oakland Athletics have done the impossible and are heading into the playoffs as division champs!  If you haven't already seen it, go rent the movie Money Ball with Brad Pitt...that movie is about the A's and it's truly inspiring, interesting and a really entertaining film.

At this point they are unstoppable...so go A'zzzzz!!

Hope your team makes you happy...enjoy,  xoxo juner

True fans!

Our posse to the right...

And to the left

36,000 screaming, crazy fans on a Wednesday afternoon!

My video's won't upload..bummer!
Nothing like the cheering of a crowd...
too bad you can't hear it...next time

Our cheerleading squad...
he walks around playing a banjo?

He has an elephant hat on...the A's mascot,
 and blows a beat on his whistle to cheer too.

I don't know what he is...
but he was green and yellow, the A's colors

Our Closer...no one like him...
one, two, three...YOU'RE OUT!!

Oh my god....so exciting!!

We are so proud of our team!
They finished 12 to 5 over
the number one team in the league, (texas)!

Need I say more

GREAT SEASON...THX OAKLAND A's

BLOGGER PROBLEMS!!!

Well I sure have learned a lot about the problems with blogger in the past couple of days.
I won't even go into what it has taken to get my site back to ALMOST normal.  I did retrieve my background by changing my template...however, I can't make any other changes now!  I don't want all that dark black background, I want to give it more grey...and there shouldn't be anything under the whole piece so that you can see the background through all the empty spaces.

I couldn't be more frustrated with this whole mess!  NONE of it makes any sense and people are complaining about the changes made to the dashboard and everything else.  So whatever you do...don't mess about with the background stuff too much...the one thing I learned is since they changed things up, many people are having serious issues working with this particular item....so, right now this is where it's at...I can't possibly work one more minute on this.  I've already put many many hours into it and this is what I ended up with.
Maybe some day soon I'll get the nerve up to attempt the changes I desire, but until then...I got paintings to do and a book to publish...so adios to blogger template....for now.

Remember, you've been warned!

Good luck...keep happy...stay off of blogger template, and have a great day! oxxo juner

ps.  to all my broadcast followers, NONE of this means anything to you...but you are on my regular emails so you're stuck with my every thought, be it personal or technical...I'll post something fun in a couple of days to make it up to you!  love you all...

LOST BACKGROUND

I'm so upset...I was messing around with my blog and poof!!  I lost my amazing beautiful perfect blog background....I've done everything to get it back and I'm lost...so bare with me...I'm going to figure this out yet!!   UUGGHH!!!

YAY!!

So I went into the coop a week ago and there it was...our first egg!!   This one came from Spot.  We could tell because of the dark gold color.  Our remaining two chickies lay aqua, green, blue eggs...how cool is that by the way!  So the simple equation left us to know for certain that Spot is starting the process rather early. And there has been an egg every day for five days in a row, then she skipped a day and here we were again this morning...so six all together!

We have put them into their new home down by the garden.  We're not quite finished with the fencing and such but here's a quick peek at what we're doing.  

It's so much better to have them all down here, closer to the house and garden.  Now I let them roam around inside the garden pecking at all the bugs.  Although they thoroughly enjoyed digging up the new planted peppers and chili I have, so I had to install a wire barrier around all the planter boxes.  

Unfortunately for me, I was up in the main box the other day and completely forgot about the near invisible wire running ten inches above where the box used to end...and KABOOM!  I went flying!  

I laid on the ground, mere inches from knocking the daylights out of me on the edge of the planter box...thank god I twisted at the right moment...however, that left the full weight of my fall to land on my palm and knee, twisting to my hip.  I seriously didn't move for a whole minute, then without warning, the tears just streamed down my face as I laid in the wood chips and dirt sobbing....geez!

So ripped pants and raw skinned knees and an upper arm I can't even use, and it's been two days now...but the good news is I missed bashing my head in on that four by four post...so there you have it!

Dolce and Vida are happy as can be sharing their new quarters with the Ester, Lester, and Spot.  They swim and splash around in the little baby pool like...well, like two ducks in water.  The bushes add a nice piece of shade, and the other day I came out and they were all just hunkered down in the dry leaves under the salvia bushes...it was the most serene and happy I've seen then yet.

Hope that makes for good tasting eggs!

It's hard to see, but these are dark gold in color...
it's awesome!

Dolce and Vida, out strolling the property

Dolce staring at me through the little fence off 
our our master suite

Looking out the French door of our room as they 
scurryup the stairs...it's the cutest thing ever!

 I'll post some pic of the new home as soon as we're finished...here's a peek at the happy couple 

So enjoy your day and remember, if I can grow up to own chickens and ducks...anything is possible!!

much love, xox juner

CATCHING UP

So loads going on with the kids moving out of the cabin/apt...we have a new couple moving in this weekend..super sweet!  However, again, the work to get things cleaned up, repainted, retiled, reattached and what have you....I'm DONE!  I can't help one more person move their belongings again...(well at least for now)   The bathroom turned out spectacular!  I'll have to get some photos in later when I finish the windows...it's just the cutest darn cabin.

Then dad and I, (Julius, Ray's dad) took a break last week and went to a ball game.  Here we are wearing our Oakland A's tee's and enjoying a good game...we won of course!  So good day all around.

And one more addition that fits under my category, "The Land of Large vegies in Santa Cruz)...this is from my own garden...I guess I forgot to pick it. 

And the last bit of news is that some evil critter got into our back pen and ran off with two of my chickens....dirty bastard!!  AND of course he took my two favorites...especially Marilyn...the Blue Cochin!  I'm so super sad...I really loved her the best..she let me pet her and she was the most beautiful.  And they got Hester as well...again, dirty bastards!!  She was the biggest and the next best looking.  Oh, they couldn't grab the sketchy one..Lester, who runs around like...well, like a chicken with her head cut off...she SUPER wacky!  NO, that one they leave, and grab my best...well, here's a little reminder of my beauty.   I checked into it, and it looks like I"ll have to wait until next spring to find her replacements...I think I'll get two Blue Cochins and name them Marilyn 1 and Marilyn 2...how's that you dirty bastards!!

Go Oakland!!  

We have great seats...Dad is a season ticket holder,
 and I'm his best buddy...yay for me.  We have one more game and I can't wait...Texas!

Need I say more?

I didn't see this one...I don't know how I missed it..
but it made a great bread.

This is Marilyn when she was still younger...she's so cute and fluffy...now she's a pile of feathers on side of the mountain...D.B.!

And this is Hester when she was younger...with the wacky Lester behind her...maybe Lester is wacky because she has a boy name...however, I had Hester, Ester, and Lester was just the last name besides Chester that rhymed...
such is life!

Enjoy, and have a smile with your sweetie today...Autumn is just around the corner, then next week it will be Xmas...OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!   Time is too fast....so stay present and soak all the joy out of the moment that is right in front of you...xoxo juner

80 YEARS AND 5 MONTHS

Today is my father's 80th birthday...we should all be in Vegas right now celebrating.  However, today also happens to be 5 months  exactly that he suddenly died...so, much sadness all around.  

These are some photos I happen to find in a drawer yesterday...I must have pulled some out for his memorial...I wanted to share them, as this is how I remember my dad the most...when I think of him, I see young and laughing....

Although, I do have a vivid recollection of him here at Xmas, walking around the property, and telling me how happy he was that I had found such a good man and a good home and family.  I  see him with his hands in his pockets and smiling....

Spending our first year together...at a lake in Ohio.

We went in hunt of snow in CA, (we all missed it tremendously)...and had a ball.
(my hair got darker during the winter months from the blonding of summer, naturally... people use chemicals these days to achieve this look...seems I was ahead of the trend.)

He had the gold Ford and the gold BSA,
the first bike I ever road.
I  FREAKED out at first, but eventually got the hang of it.

My brother and I went on a four day camping/gold mining excursion into the Mohave with our dad...
again, we had a ball!
Dirt motorcycle riding, shooting, talking...
I loved doing this with him!

My 21st birthday...
check out the tape in the background...
geez, we're old!

My Father.....
one of my all time favorites of him

I truly miss him more than I can  say and would give anything to see his face just one more time.  I feel grateful that I was the last person to see him alive.  I was the last person to kiss him and stroke his forehead...and I was the last person to tell him I loved him.....and to hear those words from him.  I will always love my Father.

xoxo juner

MOVING FORWARD

Just wanted to change the view from that last two posts...needed to clear the negative energy and move forward.

The sun is shining today and it's warm...Ray's oldest daughter Kenz is here for a visit and I'm heading back to the kitchen to bake up a lemon meringue and some lemon curd and anything else I can think of using lemon.  We had a huge batch of lemons come our way and I just don't want to waste them.

As it is, I've begun to make jam.  I've wanted to do this for quite some time and I finally had to get past my anxiety that it would be disastrous...as it turns out, it is quite simple!  

We had a big lot of plums this year and I went for it.  I decided to attempt something different, that came from my own brain...so you can see my trepidation.  Anyway, I made tomatillo, jalapeño plum jam...and let me tell you, it is a MAJOR hit!  I also made an amazing apricot jam that is completely gone, and I mixed the wee bit I had left into a batch of plum and came up with a combo that really works.

Then I went out collecting blackberries from our property and made a plum/blackberry combo that is a bit tart and tangy and seems to be a favorite now as well.

Blackberries from our property, not quiet 
abundant yet, but by the end of the month 
will be extreme...yay! for us

Small plums that Case picked from his friends back yard,
sweet and dark...yummy!

So anyone who has wanted to make jam but has shied away from the process assuming it to be to extravagant....plow forward I say!  If I can do it...anyone can.

Moving forward is a good thing!

Enjoy!  Stay present and let out a big laugh when everyone least expects it..it's weird, but let me tell you, it can move things forward in a beautiful way!
xox juner

READ BETWEEN THE TWISTED LINES

So this last post I did just yesterday caused quite a stir with my family.  Which to be quite honest, truly surprised me.  I hadn't written anything that came from vindictiveness or malice.  And I certainly didn't write anything that I hadn't already said to both my mother and my sister...but silly me, the lies just keep on coming, and there fore the lines were drawn in the sand.  
And I choose to step around and exit.


My sister claimed that my post was "twisted"...she felt I misrepresented the situation because, in her words, "Mom left because you told her to get the fuck out!"  She's not clever enough to understand that what I wrote was a culmination, a summary, of what had been occurring here that led to my mother leaving.  It wasn't a verbatim explanation.  It was philosophical.  My mother left because she doesn't like me.  She doesn't like the way I live my life.  She felt judged, by her own self, as less than, because as a diabetic with neuropathy and a slew of serious unhealthy factors, she couldn't stand to be around someone who lived consciously, who chooses to honor their body with health and fitness and takes care of her family in kind.  And since she lived in our house she just went along...all the while as it turns out, resenting me and my life..she lied yet again.  I don't live with lies.  She built up a pile of pity and resentment and choose to spew it all over me one day.  


So let me make this perfectly clear so everyone can be happy with the facts, and my sister can relax knowing that I cleared our mothers good name.


First of all, I NEVER told my mother to get the fuck out.  I told her, after a drawn out intense fight, where she informed me...or I should say, she finally admitted, that she was indeed making other plans, arrangements to live with my sister because she couldn't stay here with me one moment longer, that she needn't bother unpacking the rest of her stuff, she was outta here.  My exact words were, "Don't bother unpacking, you're outta here!"  So clearly, I was not as harsh as to "kick her the fuck out" and it only came after her admission of secret plans to get away from me.


End of story.


Well, actually not quite.  The very next morning, after a very rough night of crying and hurt, I went to her and told her I just couldn't take it, and that the pain was too great, that she should just stay, at least until the end of the month, or even longer if she needed to finish up some work that was weighing heavy on her for an upcoming seminar. I truly wished for healing between us. Her chilly response, "No, I need to get out of here as soon as possible."  


The two weeks that followed were insane as you can imagine. I couldn't stop crying and it was much self refection and hurt piled on top of us. 


On the day she left, I stayed in my closet, sobbing.   I could not bare standing in my driveway, and watch her drive away with her friends, it was just too brutal on me.  
Oh, and by the way, two things.  Ray and I, along with two of Cases friends ended up digging our heels in and fully packing the entire truck, it took three solid hours and it was finished.  And two, her best friend told me that I should be grateful that my mother had other options and that she had a family who would take care of her and love her no matter what...that she had a home.  And our response to that was...she had that here.  SHE is the one who choose to hold on to her stubborn, selfish, manipulating ways and not let her life flow and be calm.  I never forced her to eat what she didn't want, or to do anything she didn't want to do...I didn't even comment on her choices.  


She will not make it another five years, but that's another story.


In the end when I didn't come out and she asked Ray if I would and he said no, it was too hard for me...do you think she got sad, or cried...what would you expect from this?  Well, let me tell you, it certainly wasn't what I expected....she got furious and clenched her fists and harumphed and turned around and marched herself down our long quarter of a mile drive straight out to the street and wouldn't speak to Ray.  
So there you have it.   I texted her and said, I just couldn't say goodbye, it was simply too hard...and she hasn't spoken to me since.


In the meantime, her "family" is down to one...only one, Lizzie.  No one else will have her.  No other member of our family will allow her to live with them or take care of her in any way.  That should explain a lot.


So through this whole mess, my main concern was that I didn't want to lose the relationship I had with my baby sister.  And of course, she was never there to defend me or my feelings...she is my mother's best friend and in so, her actions are only for my mother, regardless of the truth.
So after screaming, "Mom left because you told her to get the fuck out!"  A BLATANT LIE...she hung up.  I called back and she shouted, "You just lost me as a sister!" and hung up again.  I phoned back and left a message on her machine...pretty much saying that our mother is a liar and had her worked up and that if she could take her love away so easily, then she did not care about me or love me at all.


So, I hope I have satisfied everyones concern about what really happened and how I find myself here now.  This is the truth and the facts.  What I wrote yesterday digs deeper into the "how" we ended up here...something that is too heady for my sister and mother to grasp.  


Funny thing is I got emails and messages from people who have known me and my whole family for many long years, people who have been around and lived close relations with my family...cousins, brother, best friends, old boyfriends...and they all, each and every one of them said..."We're not surprised.  They never treated you well your whole life, what made you think it would be any different now?"


I wrote a letter last night saying that I did not wish to continue in anyway with any of them.  It's just this simple, they have never been a family to me... my true family is right here, in front of my face. And I couldn't be more grateful. 


So as of today, I will remove them from my broadcast of this blog and they are barred from writing or communicating with me. No longer on Facebook, blogging followers, etc.  Now, the two sisters who already shut me out of their life could care less, and this won't mean a single thing to them...and my mother is sitting with her Cheshire Cat grin because she got Lizzie to do exactly what would hurt me the most...take away her love.  
Such is the mother I ended up with.


And life goes on.


Thx again, for all your support, and for letting me vent this madness, all in the safe confines of like minded, artistic, free spirited beings that share one thing in common...we are creators.


And my time is now better spent creating...so onward and upward as they say...the sun is shining and we have a 93rd birthday party to go to and I just baked my famous vanilla/sour cream cupcakes with white chocolate/cherry kirsch/ coconut cream icing....life IS good!


xoxo juner

TIME FOR RENEWAL

So it's been quite some time since I came to visit or leave any messages.  As you know it has been an extremely sad time for us over here since my father's unexpected death in March.
Much has changed since we last spoke.


My mother, who we brought home with us from Vegas, two weeks after my father died, left a week ago to go live with my sister Lizzie down in Valencia, (LA). Unfortunately for us, the sudden change in my mother's life created a state of pain in her that brought about a deep, deep sense of insecurity and confusion, (emotionally, but mostly financially).  The woman I had grown to know these past couple of years disappeared, and in her place was someone from my past, and with that sudden appearance, brought with her long forgotten pains and issues, causing me to question her motives and choices in living here with my family.  Our past was nothing if not very murky and clouded with resentment, and even though I did not live any part of my present life attached to those long ago days, the absence of my father ignited the old hurts as certain behaviors emerged.  


Once upon a time I would sit in my solitude, feeling the complete separateness and isolating hurt of someone not fully excepted by her family...love wasn't even in the mix, I just wanted them to like me.  A life of editing myself, and not speaking up for myself, to be pushed and bullied around, to not have much of an opinion, or to gage the reactions of my family as a meter for my own self worth, was my past.  I had no self love for many years because of the detachment and judgment I felt from my family and the way I grew up.  My ex used to say, "I never saw anyone try so hard to get a family to love them."   
And then I simply turned my life around.  


I realized I was not my family, nor did they need to know me as I knew myself, (much to their loss).  That my mother actually left because the way I live my life is so foreign as to be threatening to her own existence, that she couldn't see me for me. She only saw it as a demise of herself...clutching onto the idea that she is who she is and she is never going to change...even though no change was ever imposed upon her in any way, at least not by me or my family.  She couldn't grasp the idea, that my father's death forced her hand, it had nothing to do with us. 


The four months my mother spent here were so overshadowed with grief and massive responsibility as to not allow me to flourish as my true authentic self.   I put other's feelings ahead of my own, there fore denying my own feelings once again,   Stress can alter perceptions and rough up the edges so much so, that the most centered among us doesn't really stand a chance.  


So here I am today, once again, without them...all because I finally spoke up for myself.  Because I had the nerve to finally say all the things that needed to be said so many years ago...said only because the question came up, "why are we like this?"  And of course the answer hurt.


And now I have Ray, and Case.  Kenzie and Cal are getting closer as well, and we are a family....the family I always dreamed I could have one day.  We work hard together and laugh out loud at the top of our lungs while we lie next to each other in bed, (Ray and I that is, Case giggles at our frivolity and passion).  Just recently Ray put on a Dean Martin song, one of my favorites, and pulled me close and danced around our dining room.  We have a great love...we have a great family.


So, things are moving right along.
We have a new couple, Julia and Phillip moving into the cottage this weekend, and the kid's upstairs will be moving out in another month...so new changes all around.


The chickies are no longer chicks and are now roaming around the yard. The baby ducks are big and finally down to just two from the original eleven, thank god!   And then there's Louie. He's a white lab and I am totally madly in love with him.  Bodhi has a playmate and the two of them together make you want to scream sometimes...but such is the nature of house critters.  Either way, we are happy with our new addition.


I have my first art show, since I lived in LA, sixteen years ago, coming up in a few weeks. So I've been painting like mad and have come up with some new things I hope you all enjoy.  They wanted my rock n roll work...so I'm given them ROCK N ROLL BABY!!


And life moves on here on our little piece of the planet.  The garden is blooming, and the work is never ending and the joy of seeing our lives unfold before us is what sustains us as a family.  We are, I AM, very blessed indeed.


Thx again for everyone's well wishes during this tough time, and I can't wait to get out there and visit with some of the blogs I follow..it's been way over due.


Keep smiling...xoxo Enjoy! juners

The Succulent garden is beyond words,
this doesn't really show it

The Roses are spectacular this year!!

Picking up our new baby, (a gift from my mother)
in Napa, father's day weekend,
which made it extra special

Two happy dogs

Louie!! (just turned three months...yikes!)

Dolce and Vida

Spot, (spotted sussex) Hester, (americana)
and Marilyn, (blue cochin)

Marilyn, who started out blue and is now grey...
with huge feather going down her legs...it's the coolest.

Ray built them a chix/duck coop...home for both

 I had three girls, Hester, Ester and Lester...
she has a complex now, this is Lester.

Almost fully completed...Steven

Gaga, underwater...there are sparkly silver glitter
in the tissue waves...it looks super cool in person
I'll get better photos together soon of these new pieces

The sign I made to dedicate this bench in our garden
for my father...I miss you daddy.

love on...juner