my life through posters...

I can live with this... 

and this!

And I fully intend to continue to do this, but many days the following poster is more accurate:

I have finished reading all the 'real' books I have... and just finished the last new one I had on Kindle.  Hmm...mm, I may have to re-read some of my old favorites now. 

(BTW, if anyone needs a book to read, you might try my "Time After Time' by D'Arcy Regan Hart on Kindle  - also available in paperback on Amazon.  And I appreciate all of you that have read it as I've gotten quite a few hits lately! Thanks again!)

Have also started 'sorting' my online pictures into albums. This could take quite a while. Procrastinating when it comes to cleaning out and putting away all my pottery equipment and heaven help us, cleaning out the garage... 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We may actually get some rain (needed here) tonight or tomorrow.  As always, thanks for reading. Please stay home and stay safe! 

Hugs,
Rian

an unexpected treat...

Christmas this year was a bit different  for us and also for some of our family and friends. I had my back issues and Julie's problem with her jaw to deal with. My son in Hawaii had his wife in the hospital for surgery and a good friend had her husband also in the hospital for surgery during the holidays. So... our Christmas get-togethers were affected - some abandoned and some postponed. 

What I'm posting about here is the postponed Christmas get-together my friend and I had yesterday. She came by our house for lunch (and brought dessert!) - after which we sat in the den by the fireplace and drank coffee, talked, and exchanged gifts.  Over the years we have started giving each other Christmas gift bags filled with all kinds of  little fun items (as well as baked treats we both made).

A few of the items I received were 2 jars of honey from their own bees, a Marshmallow Fireside 3 wick candle, and a jar of "Cookie Butter" from Trader Joe's.

There were other things, but I can't think right now what they were. Some of the things I gave her were a coconut bird house and a turtle mug - both from Hawaii, and a few ceramic bowls I'd made... and of course samples of all my baked goodies. But it's not so much what we exchanged as to the fun we had doing it... and we both realized that it was more enjoyable doing it after Christmas instead of in the middle of all the hoopla. 

She also stayed and helped me use my Instant Pot for the first time. It was a Christmas gift and I was hesitant to try it. Years ago I used to use a pressure cooker, but that was a long time ago. Anyway, it was pretty simple and I made a roast with onions, potatoes, carrots, and wine in it in about 60 mins (and nothing blew up!). 

But she is also one of two friends who (like myself) read constantly and share our books. I've been reading a cozy mystery on Kindle lately as I've finished all the 'real' books I had (except that one that I'm finding hard to finish - "Educated"). Anyway, my friend brought over 4 new books - ones she hasn't even read yet either - so I'm excited! Here's a pic of the new 4:

Can't wait to start these...

DH got a book for Christmas also. 

Bernard Cornwell's Sword of Kings

OK... that's it for today. Julie's still hanging in there... no noticeable improvement with the new antibiotic, but it's only been 24 hours... 

Thanks for visiting. Feel free to comment anytime. I love reading comments (even on other's blogs) as much as the posts themselves.

Hugs,
Rian

* Oh, on my last post I mentioned Rose's ornament and DH upon reading it later told me that I didn't post a pic of Rose's ornament. I said, "Sure I had!"... but guess what? Oops! I hadn't. (Don't you hate it when they're right?)

Here it is:

Rose's ornament

Books, cats, and other critters...

This is me on days that I've finished all the books I've been reading simultaneously.  When I read the last page, I'm like... 'oh no!'

If I'm completely out of 'real' books, I'll either have to go reread one that I've read before and liked (some stories I find can be reread countless times), or find one from a huge selection downloaded on a friend's Kindle, or perhaps... just go write my own. 

Today I'm reading an old book written in the 40's that one of my pottery friends loved. She found it on Amazon and gave it to me to read. She read my book, "Time After Time" and decided that I'd enjoy this one. It's called "Mrs. Mike" by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. It's about a young 17 year old girl who leaves Boston to live with her uncle in Alberta. She marries a young sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police and they manage a life in the harsh wilderness.

I've also been reading "Educated" by Tara Westover - but don't find it pulling me back.  I'm about halfway through both books. 

And I'm definitely interested in "Miss Hargreaves" by Frank Baker (that one of you bloggers mentioned in your post)!

************

Update: 

Julie's ear continued to bother her even though I cleaned it and treated it for possible ear mites. So yesterday DH and I bit the bullet and took her to the Vet's to have it checked out. I was beginning to worry that perhaps it was an ear infection and might be causing her pain.

The Vet flushed it out, tested it for mites - found none, but did diagnose a yeast infection and sent her home with Rx Tresaderm ear drops and that dreaded cone of shame. So, we shall see what happens. The trip to the Vet's is enough to wear her out (she is 15), so she slept most of the day when we got home. 

The funny thing that DH and I had to laugh about was when Julie walked into the house with that 'cone' on her head, Ghost took off for the bedroom and Tux hid behind the sofa. Don't know if the cone itself on Julie scared them or if they thought they might be next. 

The unfunny thing is what such a quick Vet visit cost us ($$).

************

Closing with 2 pics taken recently:

Ghost and Snuffy

Visiting possum this morning

Ghost looked so cute snuggling up with Snuffy on the bed. And our visiting possum was such a chubby healthy looking little critter that I had to take his pic.

Have a wonderful weekend! And as always, thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Rian

Imagination running wild...

My imagination is having fun this morning...

Looking back on my almost 74 years, I think I can see more clearly now what might have been a good idea to follow up on... I love cats. I love pastry. I love tea and coffee. I love books.  And I love art that depicts these things.  So...oo  possibly 'in another life' I might want to open up a Coffee/Tea Shoppe. I would call it "The Black Cat Cafe" with a sign similar to this hanging outside like an English pub.

Then I would have posters and pictures of black (and black and white cats) hanging about the walls... like these I found on Pinterest:

 And I would have windows that were 'inviting' and opened wide so that when the weather was nice, the cafe could be filled with the soft breath of fresh air... (and of course a fireplace for those dark dreary days of winter)

...and there would be hanging and potted herbs about as well as stacks of books here and there.

...and of course we would serve fresh Tea and fresh ground coffee... (in pretty tea cups as well as mugs) and a  few choice desserts like brownies, tea cakes, scones, pie, etc.

You could read while you enjoy the ambiance

or write...

and possibly just for fun, I would have one wall where people who actually owned black (and black and white) cats could bring pictures of their cats to hang on the wall...
and

 part of the profits could go to homeless cats (of any color)


Huh, I guess this is a dream I never knew I had until I began to realize that I've reached my mulberry days and these things can only be found in my imagination. But lucky for me, I have a very vivid imagination... so I can enjoy these things vicariously.

So please come
and have some coffee or tea with me
 at
 The Black Cat Cafe



(Do you have a dream?)





 

Find Elmo... no, find the feline in the pic!

Find Elmo! No... Find the feline in the tree!

I've always liked this picture. Thought I would share it with you. There's a feral cat up in that tree. Can you find it?

I also wanted to share a video of the little feral Siamese looking kittens in our yard. But I'm not sure how to upload it. Going to try...
So far, no luck.

So here is a pic of 2 of my daughter's 3 dogs. Moose is the Great Dane on the left and Willow is a rescued lab mix on the right. Willow is up in age, Moose is 3.

DH and I had dinner with some old friends this week. The guys grilled outside while my friend and I sat with our feet in the pool and talked. As hot as its been around here, it really wasn't too bad that evening. They have lots of trees around their pool and there was a breeze.  Later we had dessert and coffee inside... and talked some more.  It was great fun spending time with them. DH and I are not very social... meaning we don't do a lot of socializing - parties, clubs, travel, etc. So when we do get together with old friends, it means a lot.

And another dear friend took me out to lunch for my birthday yesterday. We went to Whiskey Cake... and it was really fun. I tried to put some pictures here, but it didn't work, but you can google Whiskey Cake Kitchen and Bar and see pictures. It is an interesting place. Everything they use there is fresh and local.  She and I split a bacon cheeseburger with home-made chips and a side order of fried green tomatoes with a dipping sauce. It was fabulous. Also we had coffee and split a whiskey cake that is covered with some sort of whiskey caramel sauce... with a cup of freshly whipped heavy cream on the side. Delicious!

I guess this is my post for the day. Reading a good book by Rhys Bowen. Think I'll go and make myself a cup of tea and pick up where I left off last night. 

Have a great weekend!

back on track...

OK, my day of feeling unfulfilled is over and I've decided to see about starting writing again.  I haven't had my writing muse visit in some time, so I'm going to jump start myself by re-reading some of my old stories.

These are just stories that pop into my head from time to time and I write them down... some are short, some are fairly long.  Anyway, I thought I'd invite you to read along (if you're so inclined... not a problem if you're not as I've not a lot of time to read any really long blogs myself).  But again, I could use the feedback.  However, I do realize that these are not up to professional writer standards... just scenarios that take on a life of their own inside my head.

I'm going to start with "Whisperings".  It's a semi-science fiction story about a higher life form infiltrating our world in a compassionate long term process for the ultimate good of man-kind.  It's written in 4 parts - none of which are very long.

And for those who do not wish to read my ramblings, I'll post some more pictures of things that interest me and may be of interest to you.

The first are pictures from one of my favorite watercolor books "Drawing Closer" by Carolyn Blish:

and a few pages from her book...

I would love to be able to watercolor like this. The third painting is my favorite as there's something about how gulls land that fascinates me... (you really need to click on these pictures and see them larger to appreciate them).


Next is just a few of Ann Purser's cozy mysteries that I enjoy reading.  These pictured are the Ivy Beasley series (3).  At the moment I'm almost finished the Lois Meade series (about 12).

And lastly... I'm posting a picture that a friend posted on Facebook recently that I thought was amazing...

Wow!

books...

One of my favorite dragon books

As you can see, I really like children's books... especially some of the illustrations. My favorite type of illustration is done in watercolor... and not being an art major, I don't know what the technique is called.  But it's a very pale fluidy process (and sometimes it's outlined in ink).  I own some books that use this technique ("city dog, country frog") is one.

And I've seen this technique used in other books, art, and even on a blogsite. Nora McPhail (www.noramacphail.blogspot.com) seems to use it. She does some wonderful watercolors.  My favorites are the people scenes and there's one of a bike in the snow outside the library...

This is another of my favorites. It's called "The Library" and it's about someone who loves and collects books.  I'm going to show you a few pages of the illustrations.  I absolutely love them. You can see the details in the pages better if you click on them to make them larger...

and then there's "The Money Tree" same author, same Illustrator

Isn't this wonderful?  

Sorry to go on and on, but I just love these pictures.  I try to use this technique when I watercolor... which isn't very often (it's only when the muse comes visiting).  

Here's a few of my 'attempts':  First two are just sketches I made of pages from books...

and some random watercolors :

done on a silent retreat...

copying an illustration in a children's book...

Enough of this. Hope I haven't bored you.  

Have a great weekend!

Monday...

I have this card...

DH and I have this card.  We bought it a while back... too funny.  Seemed fitting sentiment for a Monday morning... and a busy week ahead.  Also reminds me of the song I have on my iPhone by the Irish Rovers called "The Unicorn"  (in the song, it's the unicorns that miss the boat).

Thanks for the photo editing advice some of you sent. I will be checking out some of the programs in the next few weeks. Don't think I'll have time this week with pottery deadlines and doctor's appointments. 

The weekend was fairly uneventful. I'm reading three books at once, "The Racketeer" by Grisham, and two cozy mysteries, one of the Midnight Louie series and a Pie Shop mystery.  I keep the Racketeer by the sofa and the 2 cozies by my bedside. This way I'm ready for long commercials or reruns in the evening (in the den)  and always read after I get into bed at night.  We don't have a TV in the bedroom. Tried it once years ago and decided that we definitely didn't like it. Oh, DH did make a huge pot of red beans and rice Sunday... it was great!!

books I'm reading

BTW, I still can't change my font style or size within blogger.  I'm sure it's something I did that caused this. But I went to tools at the top of my windows and enlarged it a bit.