Max got well enough for me to paint yesterday! This is my Fat Little Pot. I could work on it some more but then it might lose that certain “je ne sais quoi” of spontaneity and un-done-ness that I so love about it.
To all of you who reached out about little Max, 
he is coming along wonderfully–what a fighter. Eating well, peeing on his own and staggering all over the back yard–I am so thankful! We can go a whole week until we return to the vet!!!
By the way, I love you guys. ❤
A couple weeks ago on July 4 exactly, Phil and I went on a lovely rainy day bike ride at the Meadowlark Greenway. There I saw 5 or 6 indigo buntings flitting among the bushes alongside the path. 
They are so abundant there.
I usually spot this breathtakingly beautiful little bird only from a distance sitting on telephone wires, confirming that it is indeed indigo bunting only by the light hitting it just right and upon hearing its complicated and beautiful song.
Thusly and therefore, I have always thought of them as shy–forgive the anthropomorphism.
But the gorgeous Meadowlark Greenway has brought indigo bunting to my eye level. So fun on my bike rides with Phil to have their company flitting and singing on the down low. 😉
Here’a little watercolor/collage I did a couple of years ago of the beautiful Indigo Bunting of which I speak. See–on the down low–like in the bushes beside the bike path.
And so: 3 Reasons I love Indigo Buntings.
Did ya know? I love you guys! ❤
I wanted to share some drama with you–the kind of drama that I’m particularly fond of:
So I found meece droppings under my sink yesterday.
I called on the best “Have a Heart” meece catcher and overall animal engineer that I know–my guy, Phil Mcvay.
And he brought up his official “Have A Heart” mouse trap
and we caught a certified little squiggly-nose daddy meece this morning
and Phil came to get him–cute little thing–and release him into the woods behind my house.
Phil came back up tonight to reset Have a Heart because I’m pretty sure I have not only a daddy but a son meece along with a couple daughters and a mother meece, at least.
Anyway, later after the trap setting–while fixing a late dinner for myself– I tripped the meece catcher with my foot and Phil had to come back up to reset–I was tempted to pretend like we just didn’t catch one tonight and hum de dum I didn’t trip it with my clumsy foot because of asking Phil to trudge up the hill after hours and all, but I knew he (Phil) would be on to my ruse–he’s that kind of all knowing animal engineer.
That’s the end of the story.
Anyway, just in case you were wondering, which you probably weren’t, this is the kind of drama I like . . .
Nay LOVE—Maybe because I’ve experienced so many in and out
spinnings
of the other kinds of drama in my life, I appreciate, even more than I did before, this kind of ordinary extraordinary little drama.
If this lovable though deadly meece catcher, good ole Bob the Cat were still here, I wouldn’t have needed “Have a Heart.” Don’t let this elegant pose fool you. 😉
Yesterday I took the day off from blogging.
I suspect that the most valuable and full of wonder things happen for us on days when we feel
least productive, least focused, least intent on making the world a better place-hah!–days of resting, dreaming, piddling, chatting, biking, eating, and so on and so on. All of which I did yesterday.
In my dream state I decided what story I will write for you next week: It’s called
“Fuzz L Furr and Why I Paint.”
It’s a pretty, pretty good little story about a kitty we used to have back in the day–sort of–we sort of had him–he sort of had us–by the name of Fuzz L. Furr and how good ole Fuzz inspires me to paint.
No picture of Fuzz L. Sorry, he was camera shy.
Hugs, Margaret
Yesterday I took the day off from blogging.
I suspect that the most valuable and full of wonder things happen for us are on the days when we feel the least productive, least focused, least intent on making the world a better place-hah!–days of resting, dreaming, piddling, chatting, biking, eating, and so on and so on. All of which I did yesterday.
In my dream state I decided what story I will write for you next week: It’s called
“Fuzz L Furr and Why I Paint.”
It’s a pretty, pretty good little story about a kitty we used to have back in the day–sort of–we sort of had him–he sort of had us–by the name of Fuzz L. Furr and how good ole Fuzz inspires me to paint.
No picture of Fuzz L. Sorry, he was camera shy.
Hugs, Margaret
I’ve been watching the animals all around the birdfeeder this morning. The big fat squirrel who is hoggin up all the fat fruit in the extra special deluxe bird food I got . . . the tiny, but almost getting fat chipmunk that keeps running up and down the pole trying to figure out how the squirrel makes that leap over to the tray with the “squirrel guard” on it.
And the family of brown headed nuthatches that are flitting around the cylindrical feeder on the other side of the pole–the one with the little holes and perches.
Oh my God! The chipmunk just made it to the top of the squirrel guard but then looking around and not being able to crawl under the guard like the talented squirrel ran back down the pole again to nibble the squirrels leftovers on the ground.
Ok now we have the fat squirrel, a purple finch and a family of sparrows–not sure what kind–some are “immature”–that’s a not so nice sounding term for a teenage bird. 😉
I have been feeling so sorry for the chipmunk that I just now took out a handful of raisins and chunks of my almonds for his mini-feast at the bottom of the bird feeder where he hangs out.
Hope he finds them before the squirrel does.
I think the squirrel went to take his daily constitutional.
The chipmunk’s back but he hasn’t found the stash yet. He might be a little dim.
Now have 3 sparrows one purple finch 2 brown-headed nuthatches and one I’m not sure I can identify–maybe a female cowbird–the male has a brown head.
So later, I let Max out and panic when he seems to be chewing on something gummy–OMG, he’s found the raisins that the dim chipmunk couldn’t find!!! Aren’t dogs allergic to raisins? I rush out and scoop up all the rest of the almonds and raisins and pray that Max doesn’t die of raisin poisoning that day while I’m at work. I think he only had one.
My great friend Sherry called me yesterday laughing about her week from hell and how she had decompensated over a bug!
Sherry and her husband live out in a beautiful log cabin on their 10 acre property in Davie County where they raise and train prize winning Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.
One morning last week she woke up with giant itchy whelts all over the left side of her body. Immediately she thought, Oh my God, we’ve been infested with bed bugs!! Gross!!
She started yanking the sheets off her bed and crying hysterically, saying to her husband that EVERYTHING was going to have be washed. EVERYTHING!!
Sherry assumed she must have gotten the “bedbugs” at the cheap roach motel where she stayed in Wilmington the weekend. She was there to orchestrate, as she does every year in June, the yearly volleyball tournament endowing a volleyball scholarship at UNCW in her son Ranse’s name. Her precious Ranse passed away suddenly a few years ago of a stroke while playing volleyball.
You may only be able to imagine how draining this tournament is for Sherry though she loves it with every fiber of her being.
So back to ripping off bedsheets and having a meltdown. Her husband, as husbands often do, tried to “help” by giving her a suggestion: He said that she might want to pull herself together and be more adult and rational. You can only imagine the effect that had on Sherry!
Husbands, former husbands, boyfriends who are reading this may understand what I mean.
A day or two later, guess who woke up in the morning with whelts all over the left side of his body.
Now they had an emergency, of course! 😉
The whelts seemed to get worse over the course of the next couple days and of course now her husband had them, so Sherry decided to go to the doctor. One doctor was unsure and scratched his head, but another took a look and knew instantly what it was. Not bedbugs! And not fleas–thank goodness and the dogs were off the hook!
The doctor pronounced chiggers!! He squeezed one a drop of blood and a chigger popped out. Yep chiggers.
Now this was a head scratcher–chigger bites on only the left sides of their bodies.
Sherry and hubbie put on their Sherlock Holmes hats to take notice of their habits for the next couple of days.
Finally an aha moment!
The chiggers were living in the honeysuckle vine on the side of the gate to the yard where their prize winning Chessies live. They both brush up against the vine on their left sides when opening the gate.
Mystery solved!! The fragrant honeysuckle–a cozy home for chiggers.
The lovely part of this story is Sherry calling me to share “her week from hell” and laughing so hard at herself and the irony that after all she’s been through with losing Ranse that a mere bug is what pushed her over the edge!
What spirit and love!!
The gremlins have been tinkering with my FB page and blog–BTW the little gremlins are me 😉
Pretty please be patient with me as I figure out this technology and transition in my blog from the ABCs of Howtogetbetternow–to writing about my Kaleidescope Life.
This FB page is transitioning from focus on my book Howtogetbetternow to getting more in depth about how to uncover and enhance the beauty in you.
I will be writing about finding the beauty and joy in my crazy, beautiful, Kaleidescope Life. My greatest desire is that this will help you see and magnify the beauty in you!
Please hang on for the ride. I promise it will be worth it!
By the way the book still available on Amazon in paperback or kindle! 🙂
I Paint Beauty For Us 