Leo, Calendar Boy ~ Re-visited!

My Leo is "Cover Boy", but he's just one of the 12 wonderful animal models featured in California artist Wendy Dewitt's (aka "Golders") fabulous calendar benefitting Art For Critters...it's only February, plenty of time still to enjoy this great calendar...or buy it just for the fantastic art! ~ (See Golder's Zazzle shop link in the sidebar) ~



I had written about this at the end of last year when I first started blogging again, but I thought it was well worth a "revisit", especially now that I've been posting larger photos!



Thank you again, Golders...Leo and I were SO honored!

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Super Bowl Sunday...

"Super Bowl" Sunday evening...I'm passively listening to the football game while the guys are intensely involved in it...I had planned to be down in the basement this afternoon going through "keep" boxes that we just brought here ~ things saved from all six children ~ "yours, mine and ours"~ and myself ~ but decided that the option of being upstairs with them (though on the computer) would be more socially acceptable...:)

These photos are ones I set up and photographed last summer...there has been a "three woman show" planned for some time now (with a few extensions due to some scheduling conflicts ~ THANK YOU, GOD ~ I was NOT ready!!)...however, the show is scheduled now for July, 2012, at "The Depot" Cultural Center in Sikeston, Missouri. I have to get busy!!





These heirloom tomatoes make a fabulous still-life, I think!





GORGEOUS Oriental Lilies, "After Eight"...





Lilacs and Earl Grey in one of my Grandma Launius's teacups (she had a 50 year-plus collection)...♥





Sweet Cyrus...one of my all-time favorite guys...



I hope everyone has had a wonderful afternoon/evening, whether you are "sports-minded" or not...

Have a fabulous week, all! ♥

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Saturday Afternoon with Kitties...

Another dreary day here...I'm thankful for a cozy room in which to curl up with my cats and look through photos...planning future watercolor paintings...(the irises in the crystal bowl are Miss Ruby's, of course) ~ :)

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Miss Ruby's Irises

Today was so rainy and gloomy ~ really dismal ~ that I decided to at least "think Spring" and go through some photos I took last year for future watercolor references. I'm so glad I did! ...I had forgotten just how wonderful Miss Ruby's irises were! (Mrs. Ruby Oliver, actually, but here we say Miss or Aunt before the first name if we're not being "formal"; it's just polite).







We had a very rainy spring last year, and I had been watching the weather forecast for days, worried that the rain and wind would ruin the irises. Sadly, Miss Ruby had recently passed away, and I asked permission from her family to take photos of her beautiful flowers (she was known for her gorgeous irises)...I had taken to driving by daily ~ sometimes stopping ~ checking on them (to the concern of some of the neighbors)!







Slowly but surely, some of the earliest bloomers began their show...and still it rained. Finally, most of Miss Ruby's vast iris beds were in full bloom, and I wanted to try and get photos while they were at their best...I took photos between rain showers, although it was still gray and drizzly. The photos were okay, and I figured it was as good as it was going to get; there was absolutely no sunshine in the forecast for the week ahead, and after that, it didn't matter...they would be withered by then.



I was getting ready to leave...(from just how many angles could I take photos of each color of iris?...I always seemed to need "just one more" shot)~ when the sun broke through the clouds...brilliant, glorious sunshine, the likes of which Southeast Missouri hadn't seen for weeks, it seemed! Though I had already photographed each color of iris, now with the sun shining through the translucent blooms as through stained glass, the first photos paled in comparison. I spent the next hour re-photographing the irises; pretty before, but now exquisite in the sun. I like to think Miss Ruby had something to do with that. :)

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My Three Muses...

Maybe that should be "mewses"! These are my fur-babies again, Leo, Cyrus and Tallulah...they're always with me, helping with whatever I'm doing...;)

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Rabbit, Rabbit...

"Rabbit, rabbit!" ~( Just a day late)! Do you say this for "good luck" on the first day of the month? When my children were younger, we always did...over the years, we added silly little things to it... depending on what we thought we needed "extra" luck in at the time. Now, we are back to the traditional version...someone still always asks, "Did you say "rabbit, rabbit" this morning, Mom?"



This is what Wikipedia says about it ~ (and this is just a small exerpt; you should look it up and see...there is a lot!) ~



The exact origin of the superstition is unknown, though it has appeared in print at least as early as 1922:



“Why,” the man in the brown hat laughed at him, “I thought everybody knew ’Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.’ If you say ‘Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit’—three times, just like that—first thing in the morning on the first of the month, even before you say your prayers, you’ll get a present before the end of the month.”



However, some reports place its origins even earlier, into the 1800s. Today it has spread to most of the English-speaking countries of the world, although, like all folklore, determining its exact area of distribution is difficult. This superstition is related to the broader belief in the rabbit or hare being a "lucky" animal, as exhibited in the practice of carrying a rabbit's foot for luck. Some have also believed it represents jumping into the future and moving ahead with life and happiness.



The photos above are of two of our bunnies...Warren (white) and Betty Lou (calico)...they were such sweet babies! (I don't know how anyone could carry a rabbit's foot!)

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A Boy & His Dog...

I had to add this cute picture of my Dad and "Ring", a dog that belonged to Daddy's Great Grandfather (who had been a Confederate cavalryman (8th Missouri Cavalry, CSA) in the Civil War) and had come to live with my grandparents ~ and Daddy ~ when Great-Grandpa passed away in 1924. This photo is circa 1926. Love vintage children's photos with animals...so much more relaxed (and that's still true today)... I think Daddy looks especially like Jerry Mathers in "Leave it to Beaver" in this one!

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