Beautiful inspriation

My new-ish laptop and all the Web's bells and whistles have been distracting me from paper crafting recently. I love paper crafting, particularly card making, and it is my main creative outlet and I feel less myself when I don't devote time to making something. I am also a big fan of Steven Covey's Sharpen the Saw principle and saw it in action today.

I have procrastinated in making my Thanksgiving cards and now it's too late to send them so I have to deliver them on the day itself. I had time today and sat down to make them. The well of creativity was dry so I went to a primary source of my inspiration, The Papertrey Ink gallery, where I found this beautiful card and my muse for the afternoon. I used to visit the gallery regularly, like every day, and did a lot more card making. I joined the PTI RAK group and would make cards for random members. A good New Years resolution - to make time daily for some sort of paper crafting activity. Sharpening the saw.

The approach of winter

2008 has just slipped by. So fast. The current cold snap is lending a feel of winter to the air which is making me think of the end of year that much more. I. and I took a ride up to a beautiful, old cemetery today that my dear friend S. brought me to a couple of weeks ago. It's a very peaceful site, tucked back in the woods. The trees are all bare of their leaves now and the sun was streaming into the area adding light but no warmth at all.

I finally have taken a picture of Minnie. And this is Bear. He has taken to staying downstairs in the basement on occasion instead of following either of us up. He'll stay down there for hours sometimes, just waiting at the bottom of the stairs for one of us to come down and carry him up. I know it's not fear because often he'll run right up behind you. I. thinks, and I agree, that it is because he's a little jealous of the attention Minnie gets and is looking for some of his own. We're not giving in to him because we know that it would start a bad habit. Better to let him sit down there and come up on his own. The white fluffy head at the bottom of the picture belongs to Jack.

Keeping busy

Last weekend I. and I took in the Treasures from Assyria show at the Museum of Fine Arts. Excellent. When we were in London in 2004 we must have seen some of the pieces at the British Museum, their home. The MFA displayed the pieces in a larger area and that really set them off. Amazing reliefs and pieces of intricately carved stone. The pieces of writing were so small and the writing so close together we wondered at how they could have ever been legible. If you have an opportunity to catch the show, I would recommend it. My mom was very kind and agreed to stay over and watch the "kids" so we could spend the night in Boston. I chose a great hotel, if I say so myself, the Hotel Commonwealth. Another thumbs up although I would skip dining in their Great Bay restaurant and stick with Eastern Standard, also at the hotel. The service everywhere was excellent and the room was spectacular. We were right across from the famous Citgo sign.

The weekend before that we took a short walk at Mt. Wachusett and I was able to take some great pictures.

Minnie and all the other pups are doing very well. Minnie is still fighting a yeast infection in her ears and continues to develop her sweet personality. She's taken to sleeping on top of the cushion of the love seat in our front room while I. is on his computer in there.

The plant where I work is shut down next week so I get a week's vacation. I do have several appointments scheduled but am looking forward to the down time. I'm reading C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed. His writing is just beautiful. I look forward to reading other books of his.

Exactly

Picture of little Minnie

There is a picture of Minnie on the PRNE webpage that I linked to in my last post but I wanted to include one here, too. (edited to add: can't find one on this computer. I'll post one soon.) We took her for a walk today. I. bought her a harness a few weeks ago but we wanted to wait until she had her stitches all removed before we tried it on her. Today was the first time we used it. She is not at all used to walking on a leash but she didn't fight it using the harness as much as she did the collar. She whined throughout the entire walk but out of excitement, I think, not fear. She's a funny one, but so sweet.

What's been going on

The fall has passed so quickly. The last time I wrote, it wasn't even Fall and now we're on the back half of October. I.'s done a great job getting the house ready for winter weather and soon enough, it will be here. It seems like with all the rain we had this summer I feel like I haven't had proper time to prepare for the coldness.

Our CSA finished up several weeks ago with more potatoes and a head of cabbage. I have three butternut squash, too. I don't know what I will ever do with three butternut squash. I would definitely sign up for the CSA next season since the produce was excellent.

The biggest news we have is Minnie. We're fostering Minnie through Poodle Rescue of New England. We picked her up on September 21st. She came from a breeder in Connecticut. She had a mammary tumor, hadn't been spayed, and her teeth were in bad shape. Fortunately the tumor was benign and she only lost two teeth during her dental cleaning. You can read more about her and the other dogs that PRNE rescued from this breeder. She's very sweet.

The favicon should be back

Thanks, Sweetie, for pointing out that my favicon had disappeared. Must have happened when I made changes to the layout of the blog. It should be back now!