King Charles Springer Spaniel Puppy Painting

Someone is bringing home this adorable puppy today. She wanted me to do a painting of he/she(?) (an art card) so here it is. Puppies. Ahhh, so cute but soooo much work! It's like having a baby in the house. Good luck to you Cindy!



I want to give a quick shout out to Clementina- I love your name and thank you for all your lovely blog comments. It makes me feel good to know that there is actually one or two people reading my blog! LOL (in other words, anyone else who reads this - please feel free to write once in a while-I'd love to hear from you too!) And you can always email me at bretenb@yahoo.com if you have something personal or lengthy to say.



It's ANOTHER rainy day here on Cape Cod. I spent it at my sisters babysitting so she could get some rest; she has been very sick. She went to the hospital yesterday because she was in such pain. They ran a bunch of tests but no one knows for sure what is wrong yet. So send her healing energy and picture her smiling and feeling great. Thank you all.

*Ps to Fredric from Sweden* She'll be in touch when she feels a little better.

I'm sending the healing energy of the angels to her now.

Simba working on his tan.

Well, we're all dreaming of warmer weather again. This week it actually snowed after having a wonderfully warm week right before that! But...that's spring on Cape Cod for you!

I've been having computer issues still- even after getting the new router (..finally!) Instead of buying a totally new computer, I decided to try the free pc tune up at Staples first and see if that would help. Well, come to find out, I need more memory. They couldn't even imagine how my computer was running with the Norton AV that I have on it and such little memory- (it's an antique you know, .... a 2006 model!) So I ordered some memory and I will try to install it myself when it comes in. (too bad I couldn't order more memory for my brain!) So if you don't hear from me for a while it's because I screwed up royally and probably broke my computer! No, lets not put that out to the Universe. *I intend to install it easily and effortlessly.* I've installed memory before in a desktop, so I'm pretty confident.
That's all to report today. Sorry to put you to sleep with my blog but, have a good night.

Odin Smith at the Cultural Center

Last night I went to an art show at the Cultural Center that my sister, Odin Smith was in. The artists were matched with poets and the poets wrote a poems about the paintings. Then after the opening the poets read their poetry (which I didn't stay for because Sienna was sick). Anyway, this was one of Odin's paintings. The poem with it was really long and dark.
Here's Odin with her other one, which I really love. The poem (below) went perfectly with it and just the right amount of words to hold my interest. She is talking to the poet, James Kershner below.

It was a nice show with lots of beautiful artwork. The woman below is a poet too, and she calls herself "Odin's Mom" because they look so much alike. Check it out!

What ARE they looking at?

Found it!!!!

http://stores.ebay.com/Cape-Cod-Artist

Good News!!! I found my missing motorcycle key! I'm a little embarrassed to say where it was.... ok, it was in the pocket of MY fluffy down vest. I swear I looked through the pocket of my entire wardrobe - except that vest because I keep it on the seat of my desk chair for my cats to snuggle up in and I forgot it was there. Well, I just happened to get really cold yesterday and slipped it on, and low and behold in the pocket was the key. I was sooo happy, of course, that is until I had to give a red faced apology to my ex for thinking that he lost it. (that'll teach me!)

So another good thing that happened yesterday; my car got fixed! My ex and his brother figured out the problem and fixed it right in the drive way. It couldn't have gone any better. I have to say, that's one thing I really miss about being married- having someone else to help you when things go wrong like that. So having my ex around temporarily hasn't been such a bad thing. Now if I could only get him to help rake the darn leaves!!!

All in all it was a great day yesterday. See? I kept holding a positive vision and those two things cleared up wonderfully- better than I could have imagined even.

I just found this old photo. I think Sienna was about 11yrs. and Brielle 15yrs. old. Now look at them! My how time flies.

Did you know that Yerba Matte tea has more caffeine than regular tea? I just drank a cup so bear with me. This is going to be a very scattered blog report. My mind is bouncing all over the place -kind of like a ping pong ball.

So here's where I'm at this week: my computer still isn't working correctly (the router is stillllll on the way, Comcast says), I stilllll can't locate the motorcycle key, and NOW my car isn't running. Hmmmm What in the world have I created? My quest is NOT to react in a negative way (therefore creating more bad stuff), but to try and remain calm and centered and visualize a positive outcome. Not so easy, but I do feel I'm getting better and better at it. I almost think that if I can manage this, I will come out in a better place. It's kind of like a little test for me.

It's pouring up a storm today. As much as I'd like the sun to be shining, I know that when the rain stops a lot more things will be blooming around here. The crocuses are up but not the daffodils. You can see little bits of green sprouting up from the bare earth. It's only a matter of time before the Cape will be alive with spring. How exciting!!

Today my project is painting a mailbox for Habitat of Humanity, to be sold at their upcoming auction. I'll stick a photo on my blog when I'm finished.

See? I'm all talkative with that tea. Too bad there's no one to talk to! I could just type a book right now! Maybe I'll put it to good use and get some serious work done.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. :)

A Day in the Life...

My office manager slept in today. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to dock her pay or not but finally she awoke to the delicious aroma of brown tuna in a can. mmmm! Then it was off to work.

In no time she was printing documents.......
...packing and shipping....

...she even found time for an important business meeting!

After a hard day at work she got in a little recreation. (I'm glad someone is getting use out of that trampoline!)


Then it was back to bed for this hard working cat.

:)

I'm sick today with a rotten cold- the same one that Sienna just got over. (By the way, this photo is by her and I just love it!) I thought it would bring a little sunshine into my life. I hope it does that for you too.
Not too much else to report except that I still can't find the missing motorcycle key and it was beautiful and warm out today. :(
Oh well, the good news is, a locksmith CAN make another one but it's going to cost me. So please buy lots of paintings!!!!
:) I'm going to bed now. NyQuil is calling.

Clam and Buoys

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here on the Cape. The temps were in the low 50's, not much wind either, so Sienna and I went for a walk on the beach. (on the Cape Cod Bay side). Other people had the same idea, but shorts? Really?

We have been having some really stormy, rainy-windy weather the past week and look what washed ashore! I'm assuming that it washed ashore anyway.... I told Sienna to stand near it so you could see the actual size of the thing. It had a bell on the inside of the casing (you can't really see it) and then the green light on the top. It must have been at the outskirts of the harbor channel.

There was also a buoy and an anchor washed up on the beach. Sienna realized the buoy isn't as light as she had thought!

And here were some other little goodies that we found. In fact, there was about 4 times this amount of good sized Quahogs- just scattered on the sand, all still alive! I am surprised that no one took them home to eat, but then again, who knows why there were all on shore. Either way, I don't eat them and I couldn't kill them if I tried so....

...we gathered them in our arms, and threw them into the water on the other side of the jetty.

Bye Bye Quahogs. I guess you could say they were as "Happy as a clam".

Animals in the Yard

Not much going on today. My computer router is on the fritz - the other computers in the house can't get on the Internet and I can't either at times. I may end up needing a new computer.

My ex was trying to be helpful by putting a new battery in my motorcycle and now he (or we) can't find the key to start it -and I only have one.

So I thought I'd just put some photo's of animals on my blog today thinking that might make me happy. To be more specific, these are animals found in my yard.
...The local squirrel having lunch on my kayak...

...The bunny from under the shed who totally didn't even see the cat watching him...

The male woodpecker in the tree..

...And that's about it. I feel better already. I hope you are having a happy day!

:)
I don't know how this one got in, but I'll just leave it. :)

Summer Thoughts on a Spring Day

Ok, it's not quite summer out, but I was having fun dreaming about it. This little painting just sort of came out of me. It reminds me of the day the crab was chasing me at the beach, only I think this one caught her!

More summer beach thoughts....I'm definitely feeling like winter has gone. The weather has been sunny and hovering around 50 degrees. It's been soooo nice to be able to go out and not be bundled up like a snowman!

First Spring-Like Day!

What a beautiful day it was yesterday! The temps were in the 50's and there wasn't much wind so it really felt warm. Brielle is home on spring break this week so the girls and I went for a walk in the Orleans Pochet Island area (that's the island on the left of the water) out to Pleasant Bay. It's sooo beautiful and peaceful out there. One of these days I just might bring my paints or my kayak, or both!

Here are some photo's of the day.

The girls were happy and there was limited use of texting and ipods! (which is amazing for them)

We even had a little picnic at Rock Harbor sitting on the beach. The sand was a bit cold, but the sun made up for it.

The girls goof around, but in the end....

they really love each other.
What a wonderful day!

Isaac Newton

We have been told that Brielle's lineage goes back to Isaac Newton. I never really gave it much thought (because I haven't seen an actual genealogy chart yet) but today she showed me a picture of him and well.... check it out! Hmmmmm.....

Chatham

I took a ride to Chatham yesterday and snapped a couple of photo's to share with you. It was a snowy and windy day. Yes, we are still getting snow, luckily it hasn't been amounting to much. (no shoveling!)

When the tourists come back in the summer they will be surprised to see how the land has changed here in only one short year. I wonder what the next big storm will bring? This area is so fragile against the raging sea. Probably not a good place to buy waterfront property!

These always remind me of people. Look at the faces on them!

New York Antique Chart

Been busy hand coloring these antique nautical charts. They were a lot of fun- lots of teeny tiny red city block squares. This one is New York Bay and Harbor. I love how the nautical charts come out when they are colored. It really gives them life.