back at it

so i thought i would give this another try... as much as i loved typepad, i just don't blog enough to justify the cost each year. hopefully i will find some time to keep this updated. right now i am back at my painting... found a wonderful teacher and feeling so inspired!

some future local wetlands i plan on painting really soon. i will pop back in soon with a few of my recent attempts. it's good to be back!

2014

so to say i am disappointed by this major downgrade look of my blog is an understatement... this green choice is all the free typepad offers so i am working on a solution. not sure what it will be but this is really horrid. stay tuned!

2014.... whoa what happened to this blog!

Happy New Year!

Ocotillo Wells and someone turned TEN! So you may have noticed a BIG CHANGE in my blog... I had no idea it would turn into the green pumpkin when I canceled my pro account, I thought it might lose some bells and whistles but this is horrid! I'll have to fix this later, no time at the moment and not sure I want to continue on this bumpy blog ride any longer. Seems I go through this every New Years.

Whoops! where did October go?

So I made it through another fab trip with my mom, Edinburgh and Glasgow were amazing! I do wish we could have taken that tour we originally signed up for but we still managed to see and do a lot. We used the heck out of those hop on/hop off buses. I can't say enough about how well they run in Scotland. I remember using the London buses a ton as well. It helps get you around to all the sites and the view from the top deck is always good. I will post more about our trip later (probably six months later, ha ha!) Here is a shot of my mom in London visitng Zeus the cat we see every year we stay at this studio apartment:

So another busy October has passed. While away my family found a new puppy for us, my mom and I watched on the "puppy cam" from Scotland and became smitten immediately!



I've got a thing for black dogs I think






puppy teeth, watch out!!



first trip to the beach and puppy school



and a few October traditions:



Camp Fire carnival



and a little pre trick or treat party at our pad



November here we come!

Miss Maggie

I've had a really rough week, even though I had found the time to load up a few posts that automatically posted... in the real world we have had a minor tragedy strike. Upon returning from our Florida trip we found our dog Maggie had lost some weight (not so unusual but still noted) and after a few days she began coughing with a runny nose. We took her to the vet as a family and during a very light-hearted visit, was given antibiotics for what was most likely "kennel cough." I have had several dogs get kennel cough before, Maggie never has even though she has been kenneled many times over her 3 years with us. Her cough and runny nose were gone within a week but she stopped taking her meds, which I assumed was just her "catching on" to our pill hiding in the food. Since her symptoms were gone, I continued to give her the pills with a hit or miss on actually getting them down. School started up, schedules got busy, we had visitors and Labor Day bar b ques, looking back now it is so easy to see that Maggie wasn't her normal self. On top of everything, it has been in the 90's for weeks on end here, just blazing hot. We are in and out of our little pool all day and into the evening too. After about three days of Maggie not eating much if at all and our "come on maggie, snap out of it" conversations with her she became weak and lethargic enough for me to make the call to the vet. They gave us the next appointment which was the next evening. Here is where all the should of, could of, beat myself up over and over part comes in. I said Ok to the robot on the phone, hosed the dog off assessed her wet nose, fresh poop and pee nearby and went back to my lazy day off. That night during our normal craziness (fans in all the rooms at full speed, attempts to cool ourselves down, rush to get everything ready for the following day of work and school) Maggie refused to go into her kennel which led to a wrestling match (sadly we laughed about this at the time) to get her settled in for the night. I did not sleep well, the heat was annoying and something about Maggie was nagging at me. I said to myself, if she isn't her normal self in the morning I will skip work and take her in. Unfortunately she died sometime during the night. All I can say now, a little over a week later is that her dying was never on the table. It wasn't even the tiniest thought in any of our minds. She was a young, pit/lab mix with a shiny coat and clear eyes, a strong "i love you" bark and wagging tail. She could pull chris around the block on his bike for hours and was the healthiest animal i have ever been around in my life. Big lessons learned here, big time priority straightening conversations and quiet reflective momments had by all. This was a really traumatic event and i am hoping that the eye opening experience we have all had will endure, without the scary nervous dread of death part that we have all felt too. 

I have lost many dogs but all to old age, losing a pet at 3 years old in the prime of her life and blaming myself for just letting it happen has been a nose dive into guilt, regret and grief i have never experienced before. To say i have cried would be an understatement, having a pet means they NEED you and it isn't ok to just do your thing while they may be suffering. I know that having never experienced anything like this i had no idea it could happen, it was tragic and unexpected. I also know now what a huge responsibility having a pet is, that it shouldn't be taken for granted and that their needs should be on the table along with yours. I never knew how much i loved my dog and how important she was to our family. That she was a MEMBER of the family yet not given as much consideration as the rest of us. Lastly, I remember crying for her to wake up and to realize she was gone. Such a final, hopeless, "can't be fixed" moment I will never forget.

Out and about in Utah

Our Utah adventure continued: This year we decided to drive around and see Canyonlands as well. I have never been to a National Park that wasn't well thought out, beautiful in the design of the visitor center, well run and organized. Gosh! If you haven't been to a National Park in this country (please skip the disneylands and theme parks), I highly recommend it. Canyonlands was no exception!

here are a few more of us out and about in Arches:










(i love the outfits lizzie comes up with !!)


always, always clowning around


our long drive back to reality, until next time!!

Remember that Utah trip?

yeah, way back in the Spring? Well I finally went through the photos and realized I never did write a post about how fabulous Utah is. We have been to Arches National Park before, we find it is the best place to be during the springtime other than Bryce. We have tried to see Zion but every time there has been snow or questionable weather on the horizon. We have a tent trailer which is pretty much like tent camping, cold and hot, whatever the weather is we feel it. My inlaws are in Colorado so we meet them in Utah as a way to get together each year. Let me just say that Arches is gorgeous and the campsite at Devils Garden is clean and spacious with stunning views all around. I find the pink rocks mesmerizing, I stumble around spell bound most days just soaking it in. For someone who is thinking about painting all the time, this place is intoxicating. 

Arches is all about the "arches" and you have to hike to many of them which is part of the fun. This year the kids were old enough (Emily at least) to do the big hike to the Delicate Arch, well worth the hike, what a thrill!




this is the first glimpse you get as you are coming up to the arch






It's a ginormous arch and I can see why it is the most famous as well


Outdoor cooking is by far the funnest thing about camping, everything tastes so good!


After a crazy wind/rain storm we weren't sure what to expect the next morning


cousins hanging out, the best of times. I grew up not knowing my cousins and was always jealous of friends who had some. So glad the girls have a large family of cousins to get to know and love


around our campsite... stay tuned for a few more photos of our utah adventure!!