2020 The year to remember?

First, you all need a photo of Charlie who was happy to sit under the Hickory Tree on a chair with his rug on it...
for the sole purpose of watching for The Squirrel!

I am not going to comment on the politics and craziness that is happening right now in our country.

I'm going to go back and do a project that has been on my mind but every time I start thinking about a project, I get sidetracked. 

January will be the starting point.  I am going to do a photography book. I want to go back and visually enjoy this year.

I need a distraction. I've also signed up for a 6 week course in Care-giving and Self-care offered by the Veteran's Administration. The course will start next Monday and go for 6 weeks. Since I am an Official Care-Giver to my husband, I may learn something new from the class and besides, it is Virtual and online. I've been caring for Rich since 2015 but had to leave the workforce to stay home with him in 2017.

Hmmm, there I go sidetracked again!

I'm going to feature things over the year that were meaningful to me. That helps me figure out who I am and how I cope with our interesting life here on our little farm. I don't mean to say that I have it so hard. I don't. It might be something fun to look back and enjoy this year in photos.

January 2020 started out with a bang.... or well not so much of anything. But we did have some very warm weather and then some snow and frost.

For some odd reason I feel compelled to document this year in some way. I have kept a written journal that started out with my Master's Naturalist class, but that devolved into a private journal.

Maybe I just want to go back and pick out my favorite visuals from this year.

Who knows?

I've had ideas like this before. I did a book called The Sleeping Forest and another called The Enchanted Forest. That was in 2009 when I eagerly searched out plants and wildflowers and photographed them as a project.

I still go back and look at that book once in a while. Perhaps it will help motivate me once more.

2020.

What might you do to recall this tumultuous year in the future?

I do know that in the past 11 years that my photography methods have changed. So that in itself may be interesting.

Well.

Back to canning tomatoes. Sure makes things steamy!

 

Just Doodling

I started with this.
And then I started to just doodle with a pencil.

And then I started to doodle with paints.

I should have thought this out because after I got the doodling in, I realized I needed to repaint the white surface as it looked dingy with the bright new colors.

So, I went and got wood filler for the cracks and filled that in. Then painted the large area white and took a small brush to do the areas in between the doodles.

I also got the bright idea of making some trim around it, as if to frame the design in the middle.

Okay, my work flow is a bit bass-ackwards, but it is turning out nicely.

There. That is the almost finished stair landing. I won't be doing any more doodle marks, but will leave it as is. It feels just right to me...not centered, not symmetrical, and certainly it stands on its own. It doesn't match any other color in the house which is fine with me.

I need to put a couple of layers of clear coat on it to "hopefully" help it survive foot traffic when I have company. I may put a soft rug over it during that time too.

I like it.

The ol' Grumpy Guy didn't complain at all. He watched Netflix and was more worried about what I was making for supper. He didn't have an opinion on the landing at all. At least he didn't voice one.

....The upstairs awaits.

Rich did ask what I called that stuff on the landing.

I couldn't explain it...

But then I found this...

It just comes out of my subconcious.
If you asked me to draw you a doodle, I couldn't do it.
~~ Lois Frankel

That sums it up in a nutshell.

Making up Stories

Around Christmas time I was visiting with my daughter and their family, when Ariel and I started to 'play' with her 'My Little Ponies'.  We took photos of them in her house and outside.

Ariel had duplicates of ponies so she lent me some of them.  Now these ponies have little markings on their flanks which help you identify them.

For the life of me, I cannot ever recall their names without looking them up.

So the deal was, we'd take photos of these toys in odd places and make up a quick little story about what was happening.

One day I grabbed one of my small figures of a doe and went out with a few ponies in my pocket and took a hike to the ice cave.

I took the above photo.

Now I had to come up with a short blurb of what it was about.

Rarity and Trixie stopped to talk to a very small doe who lived on the upper part of the ice cave on their last hike to the back valley ravine.

It was a rocky ride in the backpack but they did get out and enjoy stretching their legs and enjoying the giant icicles.

And it seemed that things started to expand from there.  I started carrying Doe and acquired a small skunk that I incorporated into the 'story' that was forming.

Doe kept getting lost.  The ponies had to keep finding her.  One day Stinky the Skunk came along to help.

And the story continued.  Doe needed a home and kept finding some of the worst places to live.

No Doe should not live in a bale of oats...

Then Doe and Fluttershy get lost.

And Stinky comes to the rescue to find them with several other Ponies.

Stinky and the Ponies go on a mission to find a good home for Doe.

They look at all sorts of places and then Stinky thinks they have found the perfect spot.

A Bird's nest in the Creek bottom where Doe can stay safe and out of the weather.

But Doe has other ideas.

Stinky and Smiley Pony try to tell Doe that living in an ice cave is not a good place to stay.  It is very cold and it will melt in the Spring.
Doe is not convinced.  She thinks the bird nest is a good spot too!

Doe just never seems to learn.

And yesterday, Stinky is horrified to find Doe thinking she should live in a parking lot!  Yes I know I am a bit crazy, but a little project turned into a 'story' of sorts.

Stinky ran up to Doe.
"NO Doe, you cannot live here! A parking lot is no place for a doe like you."
Doe didn't understand, she thought it was a nice sunny place.
She thought about it, Stinky didn't like her making a home in the Ice Cave at the Ice Falls either.  Stinky was pretty particular.  She wondered if she'd ever find a home.

When we were at Wildcat Mountain at the Ice Cave, some people came by and we explained what we did with the toys.

They climbed the ice and took photos of Stinky and Doe.  How fun was that?

So the story of Stinky, Doe, and the ponies will continue.

And A. Waite will continue to come up with fun photos for me to see...

Find Stinky on Google+

#Doe   #Stinky   #ToysAdventures   #helpdoefindahome