Lucky Me!

I recently participated in the One World - One Heart event and was fortunate enough to win a few very special giveaways!  I'll be highlighting each of them and the blogs from which I won the giveaways, so that you, too, can marvel at the creativity of these amazing artists and beautiful blogs!

I want to thank Shelly over at StampTramp for this gorgeous chunky tag!  Look at how beautiful it is! Not only did I win the tag, but Shelly sent me materials so that I, too, could make one of these fun little beauties!  I can't wait!

Please hop over to Shelly's blog and take a look at her wonderful work.  I am in awe.

Thanks so much, Shelly, for participating in OWOH and for such a wonderful giveaway!

Victory Gardens

As I plant my own vegetables and herbs this year, I am reminded of the old posters of the Victory Gardens that citizens were encouraged to grow during WWII. The images are some of my favorite vintage art even though they portray a time of unrest in the world; they also recall a time of great patriotism. The US School Garden Program also had amazing images of children in the garden. I have many vintage photographs of my grandmother in overalls with a scarf tied around her hair, so the first image reminds me so much of her. She was in her early to mid twenties during WWII and is a wealth of information regarding that era.

And thanks to people like my grandparents, we live in a time when we may garden simply for pure pleasure. I am grateful.

All of a sudden...

Open the windows and open the door

And let the fresh breezes blow in, blow in.

Jack Frost has gone to his home in the north

And all of a sudden it's Spring!

~Author Unknown~

How Lucky Am I?!?

I won this beautiful work of art through the One World - One Heart Giveaway from a truly gifted artist, Katie, over at Ragamuffin Gal. You really MUST go visit her and take a look at all the beautiful creations she makes. I adore her blog, and I know you will, too! She and I have a lot of things in common: we are both animal lovers, both from mountain states (she from Arkansas and I originally from Eastern Kentucky), and both love OWOH and all the wonderful people we have met through participating in this great event!

I was so lucky, don't you think?! These gorgeous girls are going to take center stage in one of our newly remodeled rooms, and I cannot WAIT to hang them. Pictures will soon follow once all the work is done...which hopefully will be in another week or so (keeping fingers crossed).

Thanks so much, Katie! I love this adorable piece of work!! These cuties will be well cared for in their new home. :-)

Blessings,

Photos courtesy of Ragamuffin Gal

The Art of Paul Sawyier

"We're made so that we love. First, when we see things painted, things we have passed perhaps a hundred times, nor cared to see....they are better painted -- better to us...God uses us to help each other so, lending our minds out." ~Paul Sawyier

"Summer Moon"

I have long loved the beautiful artwork of Kentucky artist Paul Sawyier, known as the River Artist due to his amazing images of the Kentucky River. Sawyier (1865-1917) was an American impressionist artist choosing to work mostly in watercolor. He is best known for his paintings of the Frankfort, Kentucky area and New York City.

Having grown up in Kentucky, I have been fortunate to have seen Sawyier's work all my life, and a few years ago even more fortunate with the purchase of two limited prints that now hang in our master bedroom. Sawyier's is the the kind of work in which one can get lost, forget that you are not actually a part of the painting, forget that you are on the outside looking in rather than being a part of it.

The University of Kentucky's art museum has two of Sawyier's paintings and often sells prints of some of his work. If you are ever fortunate enough to be able to visit an exhibit of Sawyier's work, you will, no doubt, become enamored with it as I have. Anyone with a love for impressionism will find the work of Paul Sawyier among some of the most beautiful ever created.

"Yesterday's Summer"

"Jamaica Bay"

"Singing Bridge"

"Springtime on Elkhorn"

"Tanglewood"

"Coolkenny"

"Perfect Water"

"Lover's Rain"

"After the Snow"

The Weekend

Ah, the weekend is almost here. I love weekends, although I often end up doing more physically demanding work at home on the weekends than I do anytime at my job at the University. But there's something about being home that gives me such joy...even if I am toiling over floors or the kitchen sink or our latest home improvement project.

This weekend, I would love to spend the hours ....

Because there's absolutely nothing like a good...

But instead, I know that I will be doing a little...

and a lot of...

and perhaps ...

And if the weather clears up, I might even get in a little...And it's a good thing I have a long weekend, because after all of that, I will probably just want to spend Monday...

Have a happy and prosperous weekend, everyone!

To A Mouse

As a small child, I remember very well my mother setting mouse traps to catch unwanted visitors to our little house in Kentucky. I did not understand why someone would want to do such horrible harm to such little creatures portrayed in my story books as cute, fuzzy, smart little critters who I would love to have as pets! So, when my mother wasn't looking, I'd set off the traps, leaving the cheese or whatever little piece of temptation she had left for them there. Not until years later did I confess to my mother what I had done.

All my life, I have loved the little pictures and stories of mice like Dora Mouse, Despereaux, Cinderella's mice, and others. I remember one story book where the mice who lived in a big country house foraged for things when the humans were away, and they had such a fine little mouse house that I wouldn't have minded to live in the cozy accommodations. I remember a spool for a table and a stamp for a picture on the wall. How cute is that?!? My brother and I once had pet hamsters, and I even had a pet white mouse at one time. I've never been afraid of mice, and I never understood some people who will, literally, climb up on a chair or table to get away from one of them.

Some of the cutest "mouse art" I've ever seen are by a husband and wife team, Russell W. & Cynthia Gordon. I love the whimsical, ADORABLE paintings they've done. My favorite is listed above, "The Spirit of Adventure," 2005. Below are other pieces that they have done. They even have a special section on the website titled "The Mice." I bet at one time they were the kind of children who would have "unset" a mouse trap, too. Please check out their beautiful work at http://www.gordonartstudio.com/.

Modern Mouse, 2007 - c Russell W. & Cynthia Gordon

The Abstract Painter, 2007 - c Russell W. & Cynthia Gordon

Ten Minutes to Herself, 2005 - c Russell W. & Cynthia Gordon

All of this being said, I have had a mouse encounter in my office at Thompson Union. Remember...I said I had never been afraid of mice, so imagine how shocked I was at my reaction to a little gray mouse that scurried across one of the counters in my office yesterday. I literally jumped from my chair, screamed, and ran into the hallway. When I had calmed down, I thought..."WHAT am I doing?!?!" I couldn't believe I ran from a little critter not the size of the heel of my shoe! I called the guys in PPS, who I'm sure had a good laugh at my request for a "humane" mouse trap. They brought over a critter cage and armed it with peanut butter. I am to "dispose" of the mouse, once caught in the cage, the way I see fit. The way I see fit is to let him (or her) go, unharmed, in an area where there are no houses or buildings around. Maybe a good barn would make a good home?!

My mother always said, "Paula, they're such dirty little things that carry disease!" Well, I realize that. But I still can't stick one to a glue board or kill it in a trap! So...just to update you...he DID set off the trap last night and ate part of the peanut butter...but he somehow managed to escape getting caught in the cage. I've reset it, and now I'm waiting. I realize this may not work, and I'll actually have to get close to the mouse in order to let him go, but I think I'll survive. He's tricky, though....and appears to be rather clever. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, enjoy the micey art and a great old poem by Robert Burns:

To A Mouse
Small, sleek, cowering, timorous beast,
O, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With hurrying scamper!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.