Miss Gail visits studio and Finnegan builds a fence

A fine morning in the middle of May with friends old and new coming for brunch and to meet little Finn. Tender greens from the garden, a quiche in the oven with market asparagus and home grown herbs, a pitcher of log cabin mint tea, the light and sparkle of Miss Gail’s charming witty reparte, a pot of forget-me-nots from Ronnie’s farmette, gentle reminders to Finnegan that she may not join us at the table, and rounds and rounds of adrenaline releasing laughter… wonderful.

Ronnie, Pat and Miss Gail

Quite a contrast from the way Finnegan and I began our morning the day before…

This is a bed of Burdock …

burdock bed

…the giant leaves in amongst the weeds and grasses… it is a show stopping vegetation and has tiny purple flowers in mid-summer that resemble thistles…which are pretty when they bloom and a bit of a nuisance when they dry and become these…

Brrrrrrs

Brrrrrrrrrrrssss !

Was never a problem with our big dog Gully as she had learned not to bother the flower beds…but…everything is brand new to our little Finn and when I saw her emerge from underneath those giant green leaves …well there was hardly any puppy showing for all the burrs. No, I did not stop to take a photo of that. The poor dear was not at all happy about the removal process. But while we were struggling and wrestling with the comb and the teeth I made a promise to her that I would not let one more burr find it’s way onto her tender torso.

Soooooooooo…

we decided on a fence… and with money scarce and our supply of twigs and sticks a plenty…we began to gather some woody bits…

cutting down to size

the pile begins

my favorite saw

the apprentice shows off her sticks

This morning we walked down the lane and added more soldiers to the pile but the rains and wind from a passing storm drove us inside…we figure on needing a lot more sticks so hopefully the storm will cooperate and drop a few dozen… meanwhile it’s easel time…

tune in later for more on the fence project…

ta for now,

H and Finn

The New Apprentice Arrives !!!

Time for a quick post between puppy naps and twins at play…

to document the arrival of Finnegan Loretta Neill…

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She is a trooper and greeted every visitor and neighbor with confidence and a happily wagging tail.

The sounds of gentle puppy snoring have returned to the studio at last. Gully my love, you can rest easy now…ya done great.

More to come soon … but most of the painting done in the studio this week has been with sidewalk chalk !