Green Birdhouse

“It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life.”
– Katharine Butler Hathaway




Green Birdhouse

Since I missed a day of posting, due to the weather, I thought I’d share another little birdhouse.  The sun is out and it’s supposed to get to 52 today!  YAY!

I drove my pickup home yesterday, without any trouble, and I thought I’d go ahead and drive it today.   I scaled that steep driveway with no problem, just to get stuck at the top on the road.    That F150 just spun on the ice.  I was able to inch it out of the way, so I could walk back down and get the jeep.    By this afternoon, we should be able to get it back down the driveway.  Ah… the adventures of winter.

I am so ready for spring! 

About Katharine Butler Hathaway

Katharine Butler Hathaway’s memoir, The Little Locksmith, earned glowing reviews and was a best seller when it was published in 1943, just after the author’s death. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1890. After coming down with spinal tuberculosis at age five, she was strapped to a board for ten years to prevent hunchback, but the arduous treatment didn’t work. She soared despite her body’s limitations, attending Radcliffe, making friends, and buying a house in Maine as a refuge for friends and lovers. She died in 1942.

Purple Bird House

“When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself.”
– Sir Alexander Paterson



Purple Bird House
Watercolor & Ink

I have been painting so many birds lately, that I thought a couple bird houses might be in order.  I have been painting fish, while snowed in.  It has been really fun and occupied my busy mind.
I am out of the house and happily in the sign shop.  I enjoyed spending time with my husband, but am thrilled to be able to travel around at will.  During all of the snow, I am especially happy for my little 97 Jeep Wrangler.  It has been a faithful friend.  My sign shop truck, a 2000 Ford F150, has been safely tucked away inside the shop.   Though the bed is filled with cinder blocks, it’s no match for all the ice and snow.

I am glad it’s over and I’m looking forward to the 60′s we’re expecting this next week.

About Sir Alexander Paterson

Alexander Paterson was instrumental in humanizing the Borstal juvenile delinquency prisons in England. He was born in 1884 in Cheshire. While working to aid the poor, he moved into a tenement. Across the Bridges, his book about his experiences, was a call to action and set off much-needed reforms. As prison commissioner, he initiated a training program of hard but interesting work, believing that prisons should focus on rehabilitation, not punishment. He died in 1947.

Patchwork Pound Puppy Puzzle 3 for P.A.W.S.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett

Better than not trying at all, right?

 

Patchwork Pound Puppy Puzzle 3 for P.A.W.S.
5″ x 7″ Acrylic on Wooden Puzzle

Who could resist that face.    This is the third of the three puzzles I painted for the Southeast Oklahoma Association of Realtors charity auction.  I think my next little project will be to start on a bird house for a friend’s house warming gift.  She loves birdhouses!  Sounds fun, huh?  It is not assembled, so I can paint without having to get in to all of those tight spots.  Uh oh…. can you see a cat birdhouse coming?  he he he  That might make it too hard for the birdies to enjoy their lunch.  Speaking of lunch....

Over the weekend, we were watching the birds having a feast at a friend’s house.  Some termites had hatched in an old rotten log and they were flying out of the log by the millions.  There were a dozen different birds and a lizard eating, while we were there.  The lizard and a cardinal even fussed a little.  It was so cute.  After we left, my friend said another lizard and more birds came to eat.

After a while, a snake appeared, which puzzled my friend.  Snakes don’t eat bugs?  Well, before long, he had a lizard hanging out of his mouth.  He was a small snake and couldn’t eat him all at once.  What an adventure in nature.

About Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett, the absurdist Irish playwright known for his darkly funny minimalist plays like Waiting for Godot and Endgame, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 and reportedly gave away most of the money to needy artists. He was born in Dublin in 1906 and moved to France to join the resistance during World War II. His plays, poetry, and novels used elements from burlesque and vaudeville to explore the human struggle to make sense of life. He died in 1989.