… an outlet for my fascination with fountain pens and other writing and drawing tools, with an eclectic sprinkling of reviews and musings.
Just a test to see if I can post from my phone. I hope to return to blogging now that I have a new computer and a bit more energy. Hoping that 2013 will be as beautiful and fruitful as this cactus.
A tick bite led to Lymes disease two years ago and I’ve had to pare down my activities bit by bit. Now I’m getting some energy back and hope to return to blogging, though it’s likely to be slow going.
I had a couple of unusual encounters with wildlife and think perhaps it’s time to heed spider medicine (creativity) and transform my life (snake). Friday I got to work and a 5 foot long black snake was stretched across the bottom of the door. Then Saturday a huge spider wove a web overnight across my front door at home. Hmm, they got my attention. So I’ll do my best to open the door to blogging again. Meanwhile, here’s Fred, the snake.
Check out the great blog Notebook Stories, heaven for paper addicts:
http://www.notebookstories.com/
They have a great review of the Zequenz notebooks and a giveaway. Now if I can figure how to add their link to my blogroll.
After a deceptive fall – short bursts of cold followed by nice warm-ups – we have been blasted by Old Man Winter. We got 4″ on the 4th, plus another half inch or so the next night. But it’s the wind and the below freezing wind chill that is the killer. Here’s some pics of the beginning of the storm.
Walking back through the snow, the house seems alive … and waiting
Here’s the spooky house shot up close – does look rather menacing, eh?
I was snowed in and no one to plow due to broken tractor and flu, so I dug out the driveway by hand. The worst was the wall of ice and dirt clods at the top of the drive left by VDOT’s plow. That was almost as bad as the rest of the drive. But I managed to get out just in time to get to the dentist appointment.
My New Year’s Resolution is to post more often. I have lots of pens, art supplies, and inks that I want to review. I’ve learned so much from other reviews and hope to add some items I haven’t seen reviewed.
Happy Winter and Warm Wishes!
Well, I guess I didn’t make my goal of posting over the weekend. It is unbearably hot here and so humid that you can almost drink the air. It does a number on me and I just couldn’t bear sitting in front of the computer to post. However, the very rare and endangered Turk’s Cap Lily bloomed on Sunday and I did get a pic with my phone. This bloomed the year I bought my house and possibly one other year, but since then the deer have eaten it despite sprays and weird protective housing. So this year I got three tomato cages clustered around it and then put long sticks through at all angles to provide a barrier. If the deer should knock into it, sticks would start falling this way and that and hopefully scare off the deer. I have been watching it closely and so far, no deer munching. And then it bloomed! My photos won’t do it justice, but it’s a rare sighting so at least I captured it. I’ll see if I can get a photo with my camera soon.
And if you like paper and mail art, check out Maria’s great paper giveaway at her blog. That site has some great photos of her lovely postal goodies and she also has another blog here.
Now I must go sit under a fan and dream of getting AC.
I don’t know if anyone is still following this after such a long absence, but I am going to do my best to get back into this. I was hit by hundreds of spammers and too overwhelmed to sort through them all. My wonderful son has put in a spam filter that seems to be working. Or else it’s blocking everyone.
I have been busy with a traveling mail art journal and have finished it finally! It was hosted by Bianca through 1001 Journals and has been the best fun. If I’m lucky, here are the pictures:
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Click on an image to see the full page. Why it put the first two vertically and the next two horizontally, I have no clue. But that’s what I’ve been up to. I hope to post at least once a week now that I’ve jumped back in the saddle. Have some new pens and inks to review … coming soon.
Once again I’m snowed in and sore from shoveling so much snow. You’d think that would leave lots of time for posting, but not so much. I did remove some spam from the comments, but unfortunately it also removed the real comments and I don’t know how to get them back. I’ve changed settings so that comments have to be approved before posting. Sorry for the hassle, but seems a necessary evil.
 Despite being snowed in and rather housebound, I have been out to take photos of the white stuff. This snow was very wet and mixed with sleet and freezing rain part of the time. It made it stick to leaves and tree trunks quite well, but a bear to shovel. Shadow is not happy with all this white, cold stuff. He goes out and frequently turns around to come back in. He did try to help dig out … for about 4 seconds. The probability of precipitation is rising daily for Tuesday, but this should just be a small one. Here are a few photos from around the house.
The “blue” photos are from a different camera and evidently I need to figure out the settings on that one. In the first picture, there is a dark spot on the tree in the foreground. That’s a pileated woodpecker that flew in as I was taking pictures out back. What I would have given for a zoom lens. They are hard to photograph, as they rarely come close to the house. What a gift to have one fly in just as I was outside with camera.
The weekend just flew by and I didn’t get to all the house chores I’d put on my To Do list. It was much more fun to try to make postcards. I’d had these Avery postcard blanks for some time and finally got a new color cart for the printer, so I figured I’d do a quick trial. No such thing. I finally found a download template that worked with the paper, but they didn’t print to all the edges. The paper is really flimsy too, much thinner than cardstock. So I glued the “postcard” to a larger size of cardstock (scraps that were nearby) and played around with brush pens, glitter glue, and fountain pen to frame the photo. Although the printer left streaks and it came out kind of hazy, I like the look. My model is my cat, Shadow – a handsome guy. He works for food. I have much to learn about making postcards, but this was a fun unplanned start.
The big news around here is the Big Snow! The governor declared a state of emergency for VA and all the local municipalities did the same. There were 1,000 people stranded on I-81. Glad I made it home Friday with only half an inch on the ground. We ended up with around 14″ in my holler, but Indian Valley got 26″ I’m told. I’m snowed in but still have power. Here are some photos.
Here is an old and new cat postcard sent by penpal Julie at Whatever. I am a cat person and my cat, Shadow, has been keeping me warm while I get over a sinus infection. My brain is addled, so if I manage to post these photos it will be a miracle. Here’s the postcard kitties – click to see full size image:
            
                 
Well, I won’t be doing Halasana but maybe Shadow will give it a try. His favorite yoga move is the Gargoyle. He tips his whole body sideways, flattens his ears and dilates pupils to full screen, and spreads his toes – digging in because he literally is sideways in this pose. It’s short-lived though, he usually falls off the sofa after a few seconds of sideways levitation. One day I will capture this on the camera. Usually the Gargoyle pose precedes a game of chase around the coffee table … all of which ends up with a game of laser tag or else he bites ankles, steps on keyboard, or swats and my hand and anything else on the desk.
Coming Soon … I have received a Journal21 from Karen of Exaclair at Quo Vadis blog and plan to review that next. The creeping crud sort of ate up my weekend, so I didn’t get around to doing it today. Don’t want germs on that lovely paper!
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