Coffee

Ummmmmm.......... coffee. Steamy hot, strong and oh, so good. Ahhhhhh. I  am a coffee lover. First cup in the morning is the best. Mid afternoon is good too. Starbucks is one of my favorite places to visit. 

I remember when we first moved to Wilson, there weren't any good coffee shops.  I used to drive to Raleigh or Greenville every now and then to get to a Starbucks ~ about 45 minutes away. Now I can go anytime. I brew my own Starbucks coffee at home, too.

Life is good. Coffee makes it better.

Galen

My husband....what a character he is. He has his woodshop in a small room in the back of our garage. He says this is his "Man Space", since for some reason he feels that I have taken over the house. I don't know where he gets that idea.
He's been making whirligig things for our local Whirligig Festival in the fall ~ marble chasers, weathervanes, birdhouses, signs, candlesticks, pin wheels, and the list goes on. He now has a sign over his "Man Space" which reads "you're not the boss of me". Sometimes I'm allowed in.

Watercolor art

Some of my watercolor art cards ~ tulip, wisteria, sweet pea, poppy, crab apple, daisy, iris, and ivy topiary.

My cottage garden

I've been working really hard at having a cottage garden and I think it's coming along pretty well, despite the fact that Otis and Riley keep digging things up. Not only did I plant a vegetable garden this year, but I also put in lots of new flowers. It's just delightful to walk out on the screened in porch to the patio and then to the garden. There are butterflies and songbirds everywhere.

I'm painting signs now for the garden, as you can see on the photo. I will be selling these at the Whirligig Festival this Fall in Wilson. Galen cuts out the wood signs for me and I paint them and put on the wire, beads and ribbon. Another fun painting project I'll be working on from now till Nov.

Interior painting

I do lots of painting around the house. My creativity sometimes gets the best of me. I decided to paint the back screened in porch. Having loved the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, I decided to paint "bramasole", which means "to yearn for sun" (that would be me!) on the upper part of the porch around the ceiling. I painted some vines around the top too.

Another project I did was a shutter for a small bathroom window. I had my husband, Galen, make four panels out of wood. I painted the four panels, put on hardware, and fitted them to the window. It looks great!

Bad Dogs

This is a painting I did of Otis and Riley, our two sweet dachshunds. 
The other picture is a photo I took this morning of the little stinkers digging in the back yard. Trying to keep a nice garden has been a losing battle lately. What a challenge these two are!

Whirligig Art

We have a whirligig festival in our town of Wilson, NC, every year and it evolved from an artist by the name of Vollis Simpson who makes whirligigs out of scrap metal. My husband and I decided to sell some of our art this year in the festival. He does the wood crafts and I do the painting.

Our crafts are old-time Amish marble chasers, bird houses that look like birds, whirligig pinwheels, candle sticks, weathervanes, signs, and anything else we can think of to make. I am painting them in a folk art look.

The festival is the first week in November so we've been working like crazy. Lots to do, in fact I'm painting a marble chaser right now and two pinwheels. You may want to check out the festival news at http://www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig/. In fact, you might just want to come and check out our wares.