Saturday, June 13, 2009

And it's not even summer yet!


Back when we first started dating, Dan and I used to love to squeeze as many activities into a day as we possibly could. It was early June and one of us would often remark, "And it's not even summer yet!" surprised by how much fun we were able to cram into our evenings and weekends and knowing that when summer came, we'd have even more to do.
This weekend reminded me of that. But it also reminded me that I'm a little older than I was then. I'm so ready for a nap.
I went rollerblading on Friday after work and when I headed for home, I got stuck in Balloon Fest traffic. I had forgotten it was going on this weekend. So Dan and I scarfed down dinner and ran out to the clearing to see if we could see the balloons. The wind was JUST right. All of the balloons headed straight towards us and ended up landing all over our neighborhood. As you may remember from a previous post, Bandit is NOT a fan of balloons. So even though Dan and I really enjoyed this, we ended up having to put Bandit in the house because I was afraid he'd have a heart attack. The balloons were coming right over our house!



The Barn Balloon landed down the street from us. This was Bandit's least favorite balloon.


We spent all evening running from the clearing to the yard and up and down the streets (literally running- did I mention that I'm getting old?) chasing balloons.
Then we spent most of today in Ithaca. We took my parents out to Moosewood and then wandered around Cornell where my dad went to school. We walked through all the gardens, checked out the buildings and got to go up in the bell tower for a little one man concert that was being performed. Those bells are REALLY loud when you're standing directly under them. My dad was a little dismayed, though, by all the new buildings and changes over the last 40 years. "How's a man supposed to reminisce if they keep changing stuff?" he asked at one point.


And, since I have another show coming up at the coffee shop, I thought I'd better spend a little time in the studio today, so I worked on the butterfly painting when we got home.


There's always a distraction... I kept looking up and seeing more balloons out the window, so I finally took a break and walked Bandit down to the clearing to see if they were headed this way again. But the wind wasn't quite right tonight- probably for the best. I need to put curtains up in the studio and chain myself to the table or I am never going to get these paintings done. And it's not even summer yet!


Saturday, June 6, 2009

Spring

I've been waiting to post the pictures of these little friends... I wanted to make sure everything turned out ok first! Dan was looking for the step ladder some time in mid May, and when he finally found it in the shed, he also found a nest on top of it. This was after he was dive-bombed by the mama robin. A few days later, I had to go down to the shed to get mulch and I brought the camera with me. The robin was not in the nest at the time so I reached up and took a picture of the eggs. Every couple of days I would sneak in and take another picture. It was amazing how fast those little birds grew. And how they came out of those tiny eggs! It was kind of scary, really. I know some of the neighborhood cats wander around near our shed sometimes. Ordinarily, I don't mind the cats dropping by for a visit, but I worried about these birds everyday. Today when I stopped by for a picture a bird flew out of the nest, but it wasn't the mother. The babies have learned to fly. So I guess we can have our step ladder back now. I don't even remember what we needed it for in the first place.