Thursday, March 25, 2010

Wye Mountain Daffodils




If you're ever in the vicinity of Wye Mountain in early spring, or just want a nice drive through the remote, (You'll lose all your cell phone bars) hilly countryside of Central Arkansas and a walk among millions of daffodils, this little trek is worth your time. The daffodils have been blooming on Wye Mountain almost as long as I've been alive, and I've been making the pilgrimage about every 2 years for a couple of decades. I've always had a thing for daffodils; holding them to my face and breathing in their fragrance restores me. In stressful times, I think of daffodils, and I can actually smell them. These are some photos I snapped with my trusty little PowerShot yesterday on Wye Mountain. The Canon Rebel and its fancy lenses decided to take the day off after one photo. (Annette, where are you when I need you?)



Admission is free to meander among the flowers, and there's a roped-off area for picking your own, for which you pay $1 a dozen. There's an arts and crafts barn where pretty paintings, quilts, candles, etc., created by the friendly people who attend Wye Mountain Church are sold.


You'll find many varieties of daffodils scattered about, and even on an overcast weekday like yesterday, families taking photos of pretty children everywhere. Each time I go, I'm fearful that the driveway to the fields may have been paved or that there will be motels and amusement parks sprung up just down the highway. But no. The Wye Mountain Daffodils are one of life's simple pleasures, virtually unchanged for 50 years.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Springtime in my Winter Years


I haven't painted for a while, digitally or otherwise; maybe springtime is wakening my need to create something, anything. Here's a quickie I did this morning; I scanned a newspaper for the background, a handful of daffodils, and a decorated notepad from my desk, then played with filters and blending modes, finally taking it to Painter where I used some of Jeremy's brushes and one or two of Skip's brushes.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

It's Spring!


(Click on the pictures to zoom in)

Hey, you guys! Whassup?! Since I talked to you last, it has turned spring! That word means "Puppies can go outside everyday", and mom has moved my papers onto the screened-in deck, so we're working our way toward being potty trained outdoors. I luv, luv, luv outdoors!! I've grown a little, and have learned lots of stuff, but about the time I got really good at barking, mom and dad decided barking wasn't a good trick, so they tell me, "That's enough, Marley"; also, when I get the zoomies and start racing around and biting them, they say "No bite!" and stick a chew toy in my mouth. Gimme a break! Biting is the most funnest thing! I also love to chew on furniture, wires and plants, but mom says, "No, Marley!" and sprays them with Bitter Apple, so I have to go look for something else to chew on. So-many-rules! But mostly, we get along swell.

Their training is coming along good, too, like the other day when they went out to trim shrubs and blocked me into the kitchen. It's so embarrassing when they do that, like I'm a bratty li'l kid or something, but mom thought it would be fun to tap on the window so I could watch them working. Well, I started screaming! I mean really screaming and yelping like I'd broke a leg or somethin', but it was only my heart that was hurted, and here she came, tearing into the house (Who knew she could move that fast?) and scooped me up to see if I was okay. After that, they closed the blinds so I couldn't see them outside, but I'll have to remember the screaming trick.

I would probably eat all the time if they'd let me, but you know mom's a health nut, and I only get to eat at meal times, a little puppy kibble, but mostly real food like brown rice cooked in organic chicken broth, salmon, baked sweet potato, green beans, apple slices, and even bites of her healthy cookies that she gave you the recipe for a while back; of course she sneaks stuff into my meals like brewer's yeast, fish oil and flax seed oil.......gotta love her. When we play in the afternoons, she gives me Cheerios for easy stuff like sitting, jumping through a hoop, and bringing a golf ball back to her. In the mornings while I get combed and cleaned up, I chew on cold snow peas, and they feel soooo good on my teething gums. If I think mom has forgot about my combing, I scratch on the bathroom door to remind her.

Oh yeah, and this one night when dad forgot that the burglar alarm was on and opened the door onto the deck, all heck broke loose! I hate loud noises, and when the 2 policemen rang the front doorbell, I was still shivering, but I stood tall in the doorway and bristled and barked at them, letting them know that this house is protected by more than just a noisy ol' alarm. I don't know why they laughed.

When ya first saw me, I was black and white, but now I'm parti-colored, brindle & white with a white blaze on my forehead and the tip of my tail, which is something breeders like, but mom says she'd love me whatever color I was. The hair on my face is getting long, but we haven't got it trained or mastered the top-knot, so dad calls me fuzzy face. I've had my final puppy shots, and the lady at the vet's office thinks I'm gorgeous and loves on me and said I don't smell like a dog, like that's a good thing? Let me tell you, I was totally miffed by that remark, but hey, she's a people and mostly they mean well.