Matilda Kills the Wubba

Finally! More Matilda, the Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy!

Matilda is now almost nine months old. She is a teenager in dog years, which means that some days she is the most adorable creature on earth; on others, she wants to steal the car keys and go for a joy ride. Her unpredictability makes our lives interesting.

A Wubba is a dog toy made by the Kong company. It consists of two balls with squeakers inside, all covered by practically indestructible canvas. In this video installment, Matilda shows off her killer instincts.

In the Making

Rise and Shine, Breakfast in Vienna

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the year twenty-ten, where I have been very busy creating new worlds. There are sixteen so far, with at least five more to come. That's one of them above, and another one below.

Vienna, View from the Leopold

Here is one more.Tativille, View from Le Meridien

These little images are part of a new series I call Tiny Travels. I am making them to commemorate a trip I took to France and Austria in 2006. I have big plans for the series, which I will reveal shortly. For now, I hope you will enjoy the sixteen small worlds I have made.

Click here to see them.

All You Need is Art

And I have some for you. In December, I will have works not only at Gallery 115, but also at the Green Hill Center for NC Art.

Lynn and David Gibbs, owners of Gallery 115 on Pomona Drive will be hosting their annual Winter Show. Opening night is Friday, December 4. As always, along with familiar faces, new artists will exhibit. I've sent two new works:

Opteron Two
5 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Strathmore illustration board


Opteron Three
5 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Strathmore illustration board

Green Hill Center for NC Art will be hosting their 30th annual Collector's Choice Gala and Winter Show. According to the press release, the focus of the show is on "young and first time collectors" in order to support Green Hill's First Works program. Curator Edie Carpenter says that the Center "want(s) everyone to become a collector, no matter what their budget or what the economy is doing.” She goes on to argue that even if you "have less money...why not invest it in something unique and handmade, something that is one of a kind, and something that will increase in value." Carpenter assures the would-be collector that works in the exhibition have been priced to fit any budget. I say, go in with a friend and split the cost. The work can live chez vous for half the year, and with your friend for the other half.

Opening night for Collector's Choice Gala is Saturday, December 5th; the Winter Show opens to the public on Sunday, December 6th, when admission is free.

Some of my birds have migrated over for the exhibition:

Snow Goose
12 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Bristol board

What better way to start the holiday season than a weekend of gallery (s)hopping?

Here She Goes a-Potato-ing

Day Two of the Blizzard of October Oh-Nine

Some images from the biggest storm to hit during the month of October in all of Colorado history. I'm exaggerating, but we've only been here two and half years.

The Matilda Plow

The Hostess Sno-Ball Outdoor Furniture Line

Circuit box

Air conditioner with a new 'do

There's a car under there somewhere

Bird Feeder

There's a tree under there somewhere

View from front porch

The roof of our house - check out the icicle in the corner


Do you think she's had enough yet?

Let it Snow

It started snowing last night around 7:00. It kept up all night and all today. Matilda the Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy loved it. There is almost a foot of it on the ground.

Even More Matilda!

Wherein she finds a green water snake in her kiddie pool.

Play Ball!

As promised, new video of Matilda, the Corgi puppy. Corgis are herding dogs, but Matilda doesn't have access to a herd of cows, a flock of sheep, or even a flock of geese. She is scared of those.

What she does have is a $2.00 beach ball from Wal-Mart, onto which I drew a cow face. Matilda loves telling it what to do and where to go.

(Un)steady as She Goes

This is my brain on drugs.

I haven't posted for a month, since August 21st, when I wished everyone a Happy Friday. That Sunday, August 23rd, I woke to find my world spinning. It's been downhill ever since.

It turns out I had a case of vestibular neuritis, an inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear. The main symptom is extreme vertigo. Definitely had that; I couldn't sit or stand without feeling as if I were falling. A two-week course of prednisone alleviated the vertigo, but, as anyone who has ever taken steroids knows, they bring their own set of side-effects. Inability to sleep and an EXTREME! energy boost were the two that affected me the most.

Most mornings I would be wide awake at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Whatever needed (or didn't need) doing, I did it. I baked, made lunches, and made dinners - all before anybody else woke up, including the dog. I dusted, vacuumed, mopped, and cleaned. And I do mean cleaned. By golly, I reckon I scrubbed those faucets so hard to where they didn't say "Hot" nor "Cold" no more. I also watched way too much crappy late-nite TV. Although I have to say "Reno 911" is very funny...

I even rearranged almost the entire house. I turned our formerly nearly useless living room, which is in the front of the house, into a cozy sitting room, mostly by bringing in furniture from other rooms. Moving as I was at hummingbird-like speeds, it only took a few hours. Once I did that, one of my sons suggested that the TV/movie room would look better if it were rearranged, too. That was all the motivation I needed. It's been moved a little to the left.

Now that I'm off the steroids, the hyper-energized state I was in is waning. What I'm left with is exhaustion, and a queasy quandary about which might be worse - the upside or the downside. Right now, I'll settle for a balance between the two.

Tomorrow - more video of Matilda, the Corgi puppy!

Happy Friday everyone!