Simple Pleasure

One of my very favorite activities is hanging laundry on the my clothesline.  It's even more wonderful when the only company I have while I'm doing it is my dog.  Scout understands the command "Let's go do laundry!"  With great enthusiasm she runs to the back door, slipping out underneath the basket I'm carrying.  Sometimes all I have to do is open the clothes washer and she shows up, all bright-eyed and lookin' to "help".  There's something about the subtle creak of the clothespins, the movement of fabric, the figuring out how to get the most hung on the line...for me it's the bliss of the process.  Sigh...

Sammiches

The magical transformation of a caterpillar into a magnificent butterfly leaves me utterly and completely full of awe and wonder every spring.  But...the magical transformation of an ornery teen into a soft, sweet being with heart bubbles floating over his head is even more awe-worthy.  I credit the power of bread, ham, turkey, cheese, mustard, mayo, and tuna...add a little toasty action in the toaster oven and some sour cream an onion chips on the side...unbelievable.  I can feel the love.

Missing the Horny Toads

Horny Toads were everywhere when I was little...behind rocks, in the water shut-off valve thingies, and scurrying around when I walked out on my back porch.  They were spectacular and abundant.  You remember, right?  I haven't seen one in the wild for about 30 years, but on a school field trip with my kiddo I was able to introduce him to this wonderful critter. 

I started sketching this out as we were driving to Oklahoma on Friday morning.  I showed my kiddo how cool they looked and he agreed (Great kiddo, he's very patient with my ramblings!).  All in my little world seemed right.  On Sunday evening when I sat down to add color, I logged on to facebook and read of the wildfires in Central Texas and their impact on so many.  I tried to process all the loss due to the them, having also found out that one of the homes lost in Bastrop belonged to dear friends Dave and I had just had the pleasure of going out with Friday evening.

As we drove home today we saw so much charred grass along the highway, and as we approached the Central Texas area the smoke from fires on all sides of us was visually overwhelming.  I'm heartbroken for all those affected by this and hope they find peace and resolution soon.

I'm also finding myself missing the little horny toads....

Loss

When I painted this I was thinking of such lightness and bliss.  I am now only thinking of my friends who lost their home to the wildfire in Bastrop in the last hour.  Sending them loving, protective thoughts.

Playing Possum

What can I say...if you know me, you know I've loved possums since I was a kid.  I think they're absolutely, fabulously beautiful.  Even the big "ugly" ones when they're hissing.  Simply exquisite!  When I was twelve I found two young abandoned possums, sequentially, not at the same time.  I LOVED them, and in my twelve-year-old clever style, named them "Possy" and "Opie".  I hunted food for them (lots of crickets, roaches, and even a lizard!), I carried them everywhere I went, they sat on my shoulder as I practiced french horn, we were inseparable.  Possy, my favorite of the two, had a missing finger on one of her hands.  It was dried and shriveled when I found her in the middle of a field, playing possum, of course, and it soon fell off.  She required bottle feeding at first as she was too young to eat solids, but as she grew stronger she was delightfully ravenous and it became clear that she was fit to be with her fellow possums.  A date was set for Possy to be released into the wild, but lucky for me she bit my hand and drew blood...I was SO happy because this meant I was able to keep her for two more weeks while she was quarantined just in case she had rabies.  It was the best quarantine ever for a critter as nothing in our routine changed (except for the fact that I CONSTANTLY tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to bite me again).  Her quarantine ended quietly and we released her in Wild Basin where I imagine she lived out a wonderful life.  For years after when I'd see a possum cruising around, I'd look at their front feet just in case there were only four digits on one of them.  Have to admit that 32 years later I still take a gander when the opportunity presents itself.  Old habits die hard.

Juxtaposition

One of my life-long favorite words and concepts.  I even love the sound of it as it rolls off my tongue.  And gosh, when it brings up that tension level that is oh-so-satisfying, it's pure bliss...you know, once I get over being annoyed by it.  I've forever applied the concept to things, but I'm realizing lately that it seriously applies to the people in my life as well.  We are all so incredibly similar in oh so many ways and also so gosh darn different in others.  And here we all are, positioned side-by-side in this world.  So, maybe, just maybe, as we head in to the sometimes (always?) ugly campaign season, we can embrace the idea that we're simply juxtaposed, find a way to bliss out on the tension that really just shows that we're lucky to not all be the same, and see some some sort of beauty in it all.

I have a dear friend that is the queen of juxtaposing.  She has created a place of such extraordinary beauty and magic and everywhere I look I think, "Whoda thunk that would've gone together to create such loveliness?!?!"  Love the pure bliss of Casa Wonderlandia!

Roll into a Little Ball

I'm ever so slightly freaking out.  After a friend put a request out to the universe that my bat painting be on a T-shirt I researched it and actually made it possible.  It was so amazing and, gosh, super freaky seeing the mock-up on the web site.  Makes me feel like spinning around in circles and rolling into a little ball like this little guy can...and then explode out of it and scurry around some more.  :-)