Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Spring has sprung...

 Finally! Spring has arrived in New England and the yard is rejoicing after a long, hard winter.

 This is our lone daffodil among an iris patch. I've posted photos of it in past years, usually blooming in the early part of April as opposed to now! (Everything is running late this year.) As you can see, the Adirondack chairs have have also been unearthed and set outside.

The maple tree leaves are bursting forth...

...and the hoppa crab trees are COVERED with blossoms this year.

We never know, from year to year, how bountiful the apple blossoms will be. This year looks like it will be spectacular.

The hostas around the mailbox are just starting to poke their little heads through the soil.

And the rhododendron bush is covered with buds.

The clematis on the light post is coming back to life...

...and pretty soon these buds will be gorgeous blue flowers.

And speaking of blue flowers, these little guys are the first to bloom every spring. I planted them so long ago I have no recollection of what they are.

But there is no mistaking the bleeding heart bush. Once its stems start poking through...

...it blooms in record speed.

On the wildlife front, I was very excited to see the first chipmunk in our yard today. They're such a huge part of our summer enjoyment out on the patio.

I hope you are all enjoying beautiful spring weather wherever you are...

Donna 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A potpourri post...


 In other words, a bit of this, that, and the other...


After receiving an email from a local friend last night that she had spotted her first hummingbird, I made sure to get my feeders out this morning. Lord knows there's not a single blooming flower in our yard for them to visit!

The past few days have been spectacular. It's been wonderful being able to dry clothes outside without worrying about them freezing.


Our handsome boy continues to make remarkable progress after his emergency surgery (spleen and right eye removal). He is, however, in desperate need of grooming (both bathing and a haircut).

He has an appointment with his vet tomorrow to get the "all clear" for a visit to the groomers. Stitches and staples were removed weeks ago and incisions are healing beautifully, so I think he'll get the green light.

Back in November I shared this silly compilation of two owl prints I was working on...

Yesterday the UPS truck pulled up with the actual prints from my publisher.

As always, they did an amazing job with the printing.

And speaking of art prints...

This "God Bless Our Home" print, as well as three others in my Etsy art shop have been tagged as Boston Fundraiser prints. I'm donating the purchase price of these prints to The One Fund in Boston, whose monies will be donated to those who were so horrifically affected by the bombing at the Marathon. If you're interested, here's a link to the four fundraiser prints:
 
 
Have a beautiful weekend, everyone.

Donna





Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Heartbroken...

After a very cold and bitter winter, yesterday promised to be a spectacular day here in Massachusetts with sunshine and mild temps. And, of course, Patriot's Day is always an exciting day for the city of Boston with the running of the Marathon.
(past photos of Boston I've shared on my blog)

I had just pulled into the driveway from grocery shopping yesterday afternoon when I received a text. Without reading it, I gathered up my groceries and headed into the house.

By the time I reached the kitchen and put my bags down, two more texts had arrived in rapid succession.

Text 1: Have you seen the news?
Text 2: Someone set off a bomb at the finish line
Text 3: Some are dead

Just as I will never forget where I was or how I heard about September 11th or JFK being shot, I will never forget where and how I heard this news.

How bittersweet those texts were because they came from my daughter who lives in Boston, and who I knew was at the Marathon with friends, cheering on all the dedicated runners.  Unlike a few years ago when she watched the Marathon, this time she was nowhere near the finish line.

I called her immediately and we cried on the phone together. I only remember saying, "Oh, my God," over and over, while she spoke. My prayers of thanks that she was okay were mingled with prayers and tears for those who are not, and for their loved ones. 

We are heartbroken and our thoughts and prayers go out to everybody affected by yesterday's events.

Donna

Sunday, March 24, 2013

He's home!!!!

Thank you all SOOO much for your prayers and well wishes for our boy!


From Thursday afternoon until about 11 p.m. Saturday evening, he was at the Emergency Clinic recovering from an operation to remove his spleen due to internal bleeding. Before they could operate, he needed a blood transfusion because he had lost so much blood. As if that wasn't enough, Mr J has had ongoing problems with his right eye, and the surgeons thought it would be wise (if he was handling the anesthesia without any problems) to go ahead and remove his eye at the same time since it was going to continue to cause him problems - and great pain - in the future.

As it turns out, we are familiar with this procedure because our sweet Ms. Giz, who we lost several years ago, also had to have her right eye removed due to constant eye infections/complications related to her diabetes. And as you can see from this photo, she was a very happy little girl despite the procedure. 

So now our boy is home! We bought and installed a baby gate before we went to pick him up because he is not allowed to use stairs for quite some time. (It has been a LONG time since we've had a baby gate at the top of these stairs - our girls are now 24 and 27 years old!)

Mr J goes back to have his stitches removed in 10-12 days. In the meantime he is on pain killers and high blood pressure medicine, which he is handling just fine. We will know biopsy results early next week and are certainly praying that there is no cancer involved.


Mr J, shortly after coming home last night...

So as a recap...
Cost of original vet visit (well over $200).... 
Cost of 3-day emergency clinic (suffice to say, thousands upon thousands)
Cost of  baby gate... ($59)
Having our boy back at home, smiling..... PRICELESS!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Prayers for our boy...

As I type this, our sweet Mr. J is undergoing surgery.

This all happened so suddenly. He was fine yesterday, but this morning seemed lethargic. And then when he showed no interest whatsoever in his breakfast, we knew something was wrong.

This is a dog who LOVES eating. His eyes aren't locked on me in these photos. They are locked on a dog bone I'm holding up in order to get some good photos of him.

Our vet saw him this morning and after an x-ray they sent us to an emergency 24 hour animal clinic where an ultrasound showed possible internal bleeding and a mass on his spleen.
They first needed to stabilize him due to the internal bleeding.
They weren't sure what time they would actually start operating,
so I am sitting by the phone waiting to hear something.

 While we were at the emergency clinic, I spotted this little magazine from across the room. The dog on the cover looked like what I imagine our  sweet Mr. J looked like when he was younger, before his entire muzzle turned white. We didn't know him in the early years of his life as he came from a shelter at an older age.

I've been missing in action for most of this past month due to some medical issues of my own. It's been a trying month, that's for sure.

Hopefully I'll be writing again soon with some very good news about Mr. J!!!

Donna

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Our Galway Girl...

 ... with her hair of black and her eyes of blue...

I come from a long, proud 100% Irish heritage on my mom's side! To this day, I can still hear my mom singing Danny Boy! And I'll never forget the 45 of  "Who Threw The Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder," that used to play on our old phonograph when my sister and I were kids!

Mom always made sure my sister and I wore something green on St. Patty's Day, and she did as well!
I made sure my girls did, too, when they were younger.


Love and miss you, Mom! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!


And wishing all of you a Happy St. Patrick's Day as well!!!
After all, everyone is at least a wee bit Irish today!


Donna

Sunday, February 24, 2013

They're heeeeere..... (again!!!)

The snowflakes have arrived. They say everything comes in threes. This is the third weekend in a row that we've had a snowstorm.

  It's also the third time in just about a month that our poor 11-year old van with almost 150,000 miles on it has broken down
 (First the alternator, two days later the starter, and now God only knows what)...

But let's get back to the beauty of the snowfall...
This is the view outside my studio window a couple of minutes ago.

It's also the view that Baby has when she lays in front of the TV in my studio. She was hanging out with me, watching the storm outside, while I did some work.

So happy I had my camera handy because I got some great photos of her looking "not quite so beautiful" as she normally does while in the midst of a 'licking her lips' episode! haha

So if you're not as sick of snow as I am at this point, you can check out the following short videos of our THIRD snowstorm in so many weeks... And of course Baby followed me around from window to window, so you'll see more of her Highness as well!

The start of the storm....

Baby joins me....

The snow starting to come down heavily - and Baby joins me at this window as well!
You also get to see the mossy green on the north side of the shed - boy, am I going to have to scrub that down this spring!!!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

Donna

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Snowstorm Deja Vu x 2

 Baby's look pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right about now....

 "What the what??????"

These photos were taken over the weekend during yet ANOTHER snowstorm.

We're both looking toward the heavens, praying "No more snow, please!!!!"

Enough is enough!

No matter which way we look ...

Through snow covered dining room windows...

... or out living room windows...

...or my studio/office window...


There is nothing but white, white, and more white!

Even the birds agree with me as they're also growing weary of this cold, harsh winter...
(taking turns at the suet feeder)

We're so looking forward to the scent of blooming lilacs drifting about, carried on warm spring breezes.. and the bountiful harvest of insects that spring brings. 
(I'm the one into lilacs, they're the ones into insects, in case that wasn't clear.)

But until then, Baby is on the lookout for the first sign of spring. 
She assures me she will let me know as soon as she sees it on the horizon.

But since they're predicting yet ANOTHER 8-12" of snow for us this weekend, 
I think she's in for a mighty long wait....

Stay warm, everyone!!!

Donna