we have several daylilies in the garden that are doing much better this year than last an this one is the brightest one of the bunch -- it doesn't look as bright onscreen as it is in the garden -- but it almost has a neon color about it. i went out the other afternoon to take this picture and the color seemed to glow -- we just had had a great rain storm and the whole garden just wanted to take off. the grass is also taking off, much to the dismay of noah, since he's the one who mows all of it.

But the fun thing is that the flowers along this side of the deck seem to cheer things up quite a bit, and it makes for a good time in the shade of the oak trees. When it cools down a little bit in the afternoon today, I'll get some other shots of the darker lilies in the bigger flower bed -- so far they've reached up to nearly 5 feet in height!! -- Yay!! -- an they have a very deep color around the edges, plus the other flower bed has some "double's" == lilies that have double petals on them, that make them appear fluffy when in bloom. They just blend in so well with the shade of the pines and popular trees above them..it's a very calming flower bed.

I took some pictures of our tomatoes, but they got erased on my camera -- noah was messin with it so i gotta find out what he did -- he's in a grump right now cause the temp company where he gets his pay from, shorted his paycheck from last week, an when he opened his check last night he was furious..an still is this morning. so i don't think it's wise for me at the moment to haul off an go into a rant about the stuiped tomatoes, for cryin out loud...I'll just take some other pictures in the afternoon!!

Gotta go on my morning bike ride - if i can get permission i'm gonna ask the people over at our little local marina if I can get some shots of the crab boats along the shore..they look pretty cool all decked out with the pots lined up on deck. plus that part of the shore is really full of wonderful shade trees and feel fabulous when i ride into all that cool shade..ahhhh....

Lady of The Tulips

!! WOW -- I just have to say that today is finallly one day where I didnt have to fight tooth and nail with my internet connection -- tha's cause I finally got the new computer that I talked about the other day..an it works like a dream!!

Now the fun part is going to be to learn all the cute little bells and whistles that come with this little bugger -- what is sooo cool for me is the larger monitor -- i MEAN!! -- the old screen had the total size of 8 inches - EEIGHTTT -- so you fan imagine how hard it was for me to see what I was trying to read or write. It sometimes left me literally on the verge of having a hysterical crying jag. BUT NO MORE!!! All the new wires helped, I'm sure, that the poor repair man put in under the house the other week..poor guy. At least it wasn't during one of the recent heat spells, so he wasn't boiling under there..it was just when we had about 4 days of steady rain..an' then the guy had to go crawling around under the house. BUT -- ALL IS GOOD -- So I no longer listen to the sound of a garbage disposal next to the table here..Huh. Whatta difference!!

I'm also learning how to down load my pictures onto this new system, but the sad news is that some of the shots I got last week are gone..noah hauled off and erased some wonderful pictures I took of our BIG Bee Balm Plant. I almost cried!! They were so big and full of blooms...Truly. But now Ill have to wait till next year. I may experiment an' see if I can cut the plant back a little an' see if it can rebloom. But there are some shots of an electric yellow bloom on one of our daylillys..not something that we had in bloom last year, so it's pretty cool to see this year.

AND -- the cat!! We -- well, actually noah named him - Bub -- kinda/short for bubba.we couldn't think of anything while we were sitting out on the deck in the heat, so that's the closest we got to a name for the little guy. He was abandoned by some flakey neighbors that just hauled off and disappeared a few weeks ago..slick. And there have been several companies driving by their place trying to find them..slick. BUT - we got a pretty cool cat, even tho the DOG doesn't like him. She ignores him, or walks away from him every chance she gets if he's out on the deck when she goes out the back door. It's really funny to see her FACE -- HA -- she looks REALLY uncomfortable. Something tells me she must've gotten her big ol' nose slapped years ago by a cat...she doesn't like it if I laugh at her..but to SEE the two is really pretty funny.


Must go get dinner off the stove!! YIKES!!

Lady of The Tulips

~~ This will be a short post, as I am once again dealing with internet/computer problemz ~~

I finally sat and counted how long it takes for my internet connection to actually start working -- this morning it was 45 minutes. So -- with that, and some other things and THANGS -- I made a decision over the weekend to haul off and ORDER A NEW COMPUTER!! YESS!! --

We've put aside some $$ here and there, so that will definetly help with the Cost of the new machine. This poor old ( >> 10 YEARS!! << ) thing has HAD IT -- even with 2 days and several phone calls to try and make things better, it had become a NIGHTMARE -- so even with some new wires, boxes, lines, an' other assorted STUFF -- the repair man even said that it was probably time to get something new. An' like The Husband sez, "Well ma, it's not like you've not gotten your moneys worth outta that old thing!!"

I hate when he's right...

So, I made the order at the first of the week...an' in the meantime have been VERY PATIENT with this one...it has constantly been freezing up when I'm trying to just READ MY EMAIL...jus' tryin' to find out what my son'z doin' up in the city...to read that one (ONE!!) email took over 1/2 hour. I can feel my blood pressure goin' thru the roof, an' finally tom said for me to make arrangements to get the new computer.


And with that, I've started a Very Different Collage/Painting on my little table. I've got some pictures of our garden that I took over the weekend, too, so in the morning when I've gotten some sleep (Noah waz sick on the way to work this morning, an' once he & tom came all the way back home..well, it was an early/scary morning to say the least..more o' that later...) an' am feeling a little more with the World As We Know It.

For now, I'm gonna check some stuff yonder..

Lady of The Tulips

HA!! -- Jus' when I thot that the World waz coming to an end...or ...That all contact with other humans was a thing of the past...

My phone company/Internet provider sent a Repair Person to "Fix What is Broke" -- or something to that effect.

2 days later...many hours of flailing, and new wires, modem, and other pieces and parts...I now have my Internet Connection Working..And it wasn't easy.

But I am back in the land of Computerz..or something close to it -- I was going to try and Test the Internet Gremlins and see if some pictures would post on this particular afternoon, but after waiting for an hour and 55 minutes for my connection to just actually WORK -- I decided that I better give things a break, and try to post some pictures of our yard and the Flowers, Bird Nests and a Stray Cat that has decided to adopt us...Shwoo -- no wonder I'm tired!!

I've also got a new canvas sitting on me little work table...it is just shy of being finished, but there is a spot of about 1 & 1/2 inch that is giving me fits -- Something about some color and paint that is just making me have a headache..Why is it that such a small section decides to DO THIS to me?? Ahhh well -- it's wayyy to hot and humid today to bother with too many ickiee things..

We had storms, and I MEAN --- STORMZ last night -- for close to 2 hours...so much lightening..and the thunder did a number on the pictures on the walls..shook them like there was a test to see it every picture would come crashing down off the wall...then the RAIN -- And -- naturally, yesterday around noon, I made sure to give the tomatoes, basil, peppers and STUFF a good little soaking with my nifty little watering can..sweating away, but MAKING SURE that they got a good drink of water...

Ha. Shoulda known.

The light in the sky was INCREDIBLE for the longest time last night...then it started getting closer..

And closer...

And I MEAN -- WHAM!! -- there it WAZ -- in YOUR FACE and THERE YOU GO!! -- the dog hid somewhere, I've got no idea where...Tom sat up an' said, "Ya think we'll get some rain?" -- I just sat and stared out the window, wondering if my eyes were ever going to adjust after all the HUGE lightening bolts were flashing EVERYWHERE...

An' now today it's 90 degrees..the humidity is somewhere over 89%...Yup -- I feel like I need to go hide in an igloo some where..

But the closest I can get to that, is to turn on the air conditioner...sit with a cold soda, and hope that I'll make it to this evening to watch baseball on t.v. --

Other than that, it's all been pretty quiet here..

'cept for the stray cat that adopted us..it keeps MEEEOOOWWWW - ing out on the front porch..

My word...


Lady of The Tulips

~~ WWWEEELLLLLL ~~

I originally started this post about 2 hours ago, but as is the case, our little phone company/internet provider had some, uhhh..Issues..yeah, that's it. Issues.

And the post literally disappeared off the face of the earth. I went into another room to do something, came back in the studio, and discovered that the connection had completely gone away. Like ALL GONE --

Needless to say I was not impressed.

And the phone company sez it's all my fault..And they can't do anything about it.

So -- with that thot in mind, I've told tom to stop at the store on the way home and pick me up something a little stronger than lemonade..

OH CALM DOWN -- just a lil' pak of beer, cause as weird as this week has gone, it's gonna taste real good to have a beer. And like tom likes to point out, it takes me over a WEEK to go thru the 6-pack of beer.

"Ma!! -- you REALLY are a light weight!!" --

"Yeah..I'm pretty hard core here, havin' 2 beers every 4 days..."

>> But on to OTHER NEWS << I'm ready to take some pictures of a little project I came up with last weekend...I have a flower pot that I spray painted a very COOL color..an' right now it's got some beads decorating it, and there are some OTHER things that are ready to get on the sides of the flower pot as well. THEN -- there's also a canvas that's ready for the final coat of matte medium, so that's exciting too.

And my blouse is just about finished. SHWOO -- no wonder I slept till almost 8:00 this morning!! Yikes!! For Real!! 8!! I had felt tired, but didn't think I was THAT tired.

Shows what I know..


But have to make this quick, as the paint on my pallette is gonna dry if I don't get it goin' over there..An' I gotta get with the local gallery, as they've hauled off an' done something with my address and my file in the shop.

Never a dull moment around here.

>>Lady of The Tulips <<

"In The Wrong Place" - 2009 Spring Bay Studio

Here's one of the pieces that I finished just at the end of last week -- it'd been messed with and messed with for what seemed like for EVAH -- but I finally for it done. There was something with the base coat that kept giving me fits and spits, but I finally got it DONE!!

Now I've got a couple other pieces in the works, and hopefully by the end of the week they'll get them selves together. Or, maybe it's gonna be like this one..sitting on the table lookin' at me like there's something SO OBVIOUS (sp) but my little brain just sometimes doesn't wanna work too hard to SEE what's so obvious...gives me a headache, tha's what it does..


There are some other pieces of paper that have to get sprayed with some matte medium to hold the watercolor paint in place, an' then those will all get put together on a canvas -- I'm not sure where the whole thing is going right now. That's the problem sometimes -- I start out with what seems a GREAT idea..get painting lots and lots of little papers -- making them into fish, or seaweeds, or Something.Then the whole idea goes out the window and I have to start the whole process over again. And those are the projects that want to STAY not-so-obvious. Thus the never ending arguement on whether or not to get Hair Color to cover up the grey's that are continually popping up on my head. HA! -- an' you jus' thot it wasTom giving me all those grey hairs..

Well -- actually 96% of the time it IS tom that's givin' me those grey hairs, but I feel like bein' Kind and Sweet to him today..well, at least for now. By the time he gets home an' starts runnin' his mouth about some stuiped little thing, well, tha's when all the SWEETNESS goes out the window. Then I attack some paper with some horrendous paint just to work off the irritation (s) --


Must go an' check my laundry -- it's making all sorts of noise in the laundry room...the washer needs to be balanced again -- the floor has these little slopes all over, n' if you're not carefull, you find yourself slippin' down one of them. And the washer jus' happens to sit on one of those little slopes..so it makes itself go off balance when it whips into the spin cycle..WHOA..then starts shakin' the whole place. Makes for an Exciting Time..


Lady of The Tulips

~~ I think somewhere back in, ohh, say, 2003, I

started to ask tom if I could get a bicycle...nothing fancy, just a basic sorta thing that could get me around the neighborhood fairly safe. Nothing that would attract too many glares, stares, yellin' or whatever.


Then, one day about a year ago, after we moved here to the little cabin by the Sea..Tom & Noah went into the "City" to check out what they'd been told, was the local bicycle shop. BUT -- with tears in their eyes, and vowedto come back someday...Mainly because the shop was closed for some indefinite amount of time.

HOW-EVAH -- this last weekend, we were out on the "Town", doin' some Junkin', an' sniffin' around the thrift stores, and seein' what there was -- an' I FINALLY put my foot down an' said, "I WANT to GO TO THE BICYCLE SHOP!!" Tom started to mumble, an' I think I threatened something or another, an' tom finally relented. Noah was in the front passenger seat, sayin' NEGATIVE things, like, "Ohhh..you'll never be able to find anything..you just don' have enuf money.."


Real Good Vibes comin' from the front of the car...(an there I am in the back all smooshed up...)

So -- we find the shop, and LO!! -- There in The Light...the SHOP IS OPEN!!

Batches of Bicycles were out on the front sidewalk..some were "FREE!!" to a good home (teeny little childrens bicycles...which I never knew were even made THAT tiny..) -- and inside were every kind of old, antique and patched together bicycle(S) that could ever be. What the owner does, is basically put together pieces and parts of old bikes, clean 'em up, and send 'em on their way. We saw a few that could have been ok, but the owner was only going to be in town for 'bout a week, as he & his wife have to go see family in the Mid-West this next week..


So, we looked high & Lo -- and had Discussions...an' finally the owner sez, "WAIT!! -- Hold on a minute!! - I got a bike right out here just for you!!"


Almost sounded like a Used Car Salesman for a minute, which Put The Fear in me, of gettin' something horrid...


But -- HE WAS RIGHT --- and the little picture you see is the "New" (to me) bicycle I got, for the grand total of $44.00 -- Not $45, 0r $50...$44..Ok.


Tom & the owner an' Noah got it stuffed in the back of the Honda Car (With me in the back seat, too...) an' off we went joyfully and full of Gladness. Well --- at least I was full of gladness..


The bike rides like a dream -- pretty smooth, considering it's probably an early 70's bike -- Tom replaced the original seat, which was a little tough to take (no padding..ouch..) so that's all the fixin' it's gotten. I'm doin' little 10 minute trips on some of the streets along the water, an' within the next couple weeks hope to increase my time to about 25 minutes. That way, with walking Little Miss Muffett in the mornings, and sometimes the afternoons, and then riding the bike twice a day, that should bring my weight down, an' by the time I need to go back to the Dr. for my check-up in Oct., I'll have my BAD cholestrol lowered even more.

At least, tha's the thought.


But the bike is pretty cool, don' ya think??!!


Lady of The Tulips

2009 - W.I.P. --


Here's a little something I've been messin' around with for the past couple days -- I started out with it just very plain, and then sorta-kinda-somehow it got carried away, and now it's at this point in time.


The pale turquoise is one of my favorite colors, but the others are just as spiffy. There are some other pieces that I've worked out that I'm debating about -- whether or not the papers will co-exist happily with the painting or not. One of the Great Mysteries of Life. Well.

Maybe not.


This weekend I'm getting some planz in GEAR to go thrifting!! -- Is there any other way to spend a weekend?? -- I think Not!! There's a thrift store that I went in last winter, but I didn't really get a chance to look at -- I was with my neighbor, an' she has a tendancy to sorta fly thru the store -- and complain about "These high prices!!" --

Say What??!!

It's a THRIFT STORE, for cryin' out loud!! -- Well, there were some other scary things that happened on that trip, but the story will come along later...But back to THIS story -- the store is REALLY good size, and with a total of 4 rooms loaded with stuff, my brain was just takin' aback -- so my thinkin' is that if I can get Tom sidetracked, then I can start gettin' some stuff for the porch -- my lil' porch/hammock swing needs some more company, an' even tho I put a sweet little table, plant and 2 chairs out there, it jus' NEEDZ something...so -- A-HA!! -- Here we come thrift store!!


So -- oh my stars..Sara's jus' come in the room, all a-tither -- an' now that I've looked out the window, it looks like we're in for a Frog-Strangler...that is, a big ol' rainstorm. We've had rain off & on since last night, an' naturally, Sara's been a WRECK -- she's such a wimp...but the flowers are LOVIN' IT!! -- an' I think the tomatoes have grown 4 inches...hmm...should probably start thinkin' about gettin' a freezer for all those veges...welll -- maybe I should WAIT till Said Veges are HERE -- YA THINK??!!


Gotta run -- it's REAL quiet out in the front room, an' that makes me nervous as H***...



Lady of The Tulips

>>> This is just going to be something of a short post, as there are some paint things waiting for me over on the work table. I don't want to get part way into the canvas, and then totally forget where I was going to place a large swath of cobalt blue <<<


The fun and games went along with me & tom yesterday...I don't mean that it was a bad day, actually it all went quite well. We both had Dr. appt's -- his at 9-ish, and I had one for 12:30 -- the good thing is that tom has discovered a couple different ways to get around all the horrid commuter traffic early in the morning, and even tho we left down here at just past 7:30 or so, yes, it took us till just after 9 to get to his doctor office. That's how bad it gets with the traffic where we need to drive. BUT -- The very VERY good thing, is that after a couple visits, tom has reduced his blood pressure, and is now all compliant with the DOT regulations for his health. He'd been trying to get his bp lowered, but the dr. just had to tweak his meds a little more. Yahh---ooooo that she kept at it, 'cause it's all good. Thats the BIG relief.


Then we had some time to kill, so we went and had breakfast/lunch at Dunkin donuts that's just across the street from my Dr.'s office...we still had a touch of time left over after having a nice sandwich, so we got some odds & ends at Kmart, then went to my appt. -- Yahhoo again!! -- my bp is EVEN LOWER than it was 3 months ago!!Hoowww cool is that?!! I was pretty suprised, but even the nurse had to say "Well, isnt this nice?!" And the Dr. Assistant had to do some poking and prodding all over, and with a fine tooth comb to boot. But the outcome is all fine and dandy, so with all that, it only took just under an hour!! Whoo!! Hoo!!!


So Tom & I "celebrated" by stopping on the way home and he bought me a ice cold pepsi...I only had a teeny cup of coffee at 6:45, and by 1 p.m. it was WAYYY past gone..so the little jolt kept me awake for the rest of the afternoon, but by 8 p.m., it was lights out for this girl!! HA!! -- Such a party-hardy-animal am I !!! HA!! But it is a relief to finally have our health numbers where there supossed to be.

And now that all that is over, I've gotten a canvas all DONE -- I'll post that tomorrow, and I've also got another one with some of it's paint drying..tha's the one I told about earlier...

And with that I've got to dash...it's starting to get cloudy outside, and The Dog is starting to act all funky...here come the thunderstorms, and it may be a big ol' frog strangler by the time it's all said and done...


Lady of The Tulips

~~ A couple days ago, Noah was outside lookin' at the well-house, checkin' on the plot of corn he's got growing in the backyard, and deciding whether or not to paint the woodbox ~~

He had the camera with him, for what reason I've no clue, but suffice to say, that when he went to do something with the woodbox, this little guy was jus' hanging out, doin' his/her(??) thing and minding it's own business...

Which I have no problem with...I just have no, and I MEAN, NO idea of what kind of little critter this is. We seem to have a pair of them -- every now and again I catch a glimpse of them, skirting under the back deck, or running from under the steps from the deck to the backyard. They don't always move very fast, as you can tell by this picture...this one either had a hangover for the morning, an' just couldn't get it in gear, or else it had it's eye (s) set on something on the other side of the woodbox.

I was REALLY suprised the first time I caught a glimpse of this critter...I'm thinkin' it's a salamander of some ilk...I'd made the mistake of asking tom if he knew what it was, and I won't EVEN go into what that conversation turned in to...but I'm kinda glad I've got these two (Even tho only one is in the picture...) little friends outside. They get rid of the ants, some of the weird crawly bugs that suprise and altogether irritate me when I go out to check the tomatoes in the bed...So they sorta/kinda make their home in and alongside our little cabin.

An' I guess that's ok.

I gotta run for now -- the weather is supossed to turn REALLY hot tomorrow...like in the 90's, so I need to go soak the garden good and muddy. I got some of the flowers and perinnials that the hose can't reach alongside the front of the cabin, but some of the other places along the side of the property just do fine with the hose all strung out along the grass. NOW -- if I could afford to get rid -- and I MEAN tear it OUT -- kinda get rid of the grass, I"d be a little happy girl.

But I haven't won the lottery yet...

Matter of fact, I've never EVER EVAH played the lottery a day in my life..

So having the $$ to tear out the grass, plant nothing but tons of flowers, shrubs...well, that's just a pipe dream for now..

But one can always hope...

Lady of The Tulips