Finally some pictures of wildlife!

After dropping off my daughter this afternoon, I took a side road to a park that I pass by almost daily. I've been wanting to collect a handful of the Balsam Flowers that fill the hills every spring.  They are basically weeds but so beautiful.  As you can see it's still gloomy and a little windy.

 




                                                            
All those yellow patches are clumps of Balsam, they have spread over all free land and unfortunately are taking over good grazing areas.

But the best part of the whole trip was the Meadowlark I heard, then managed to capture a picture of.  

    And at the end of the road as I was about to turn around, there was a little Marmot sitting and staring at me.  He didn't even move when I snapped his picture.   I still can scarcely believe that I actually had a working camera when wildlife appeared.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Rain all week

Photo by Nicole (Barkett)Platz


It's a desert here and they are talking of water restrictions already, (no pools and no hot tubs) allowed this year.  We have clouds but never get more than a few sprinkles lately.  It's been dry for 3 years or so and we received almost no snow this winter so reservoirs are low.

I was fortunate enough to get a day off today and planned on working in my garden but we had just enough rain to  make me change my mind.

I tried a Tom Sawyer trick this week.  My garden needed digging and I had too many raspberry plants.  They were taking over the whole garden so I advertised on a Freecycle page that I had raspberry plants to give away.  Someone came yesterday and took about 1/3 of them so now that much of my garden is done.  She even raked it afterward.  By the time I've given them away, the garden will be dug up.

Then I just have to figure out how to grow a garden with no water.  I am going to put down drip hoses and lots of mulch between the rows, that is, if I get another day off soon.  At least, the lawn won't need such frequent mowing and that's a good thing as I hate mowing the lawn.

I showed my son the pictures his sister had taken this morning and he said, "Just a minute."


 Then he put it in Photoshop and flipped it.

Look at the bottom one, it is so still, that you can't tell the difference.





Photo by Nicole (Barkett)Platz

The Marmots are awake!

During the day, I work at a self storage place, which covers 7 acres.  Although, most of it is buildings and asphalt, wildlife still finds a way to fit in.  One of my favorite visitors is the Yellow Bellied Marmot.

They like to sit in the shade which the buildings provide and they eat the weeds growing between and around them and the rocks.
Last week when I did my usual checking on the property, I discovered that they had woken up from their hibernation.  They are very curious and will pop out to see what's going on then they disappear just as quickly.

I found this picture on Wikipedia and absolutely love the way they sit on their bums.   As I've said before I don't have any luck photographing wildlife so all I have is a painting of them.

Marmot mug by countrymousestudio

This little Marmot on the Mug  has travelled all the way to http://www.squidoo.com/the_best_of_zazzle_weekly which is created by fellow Zazzle Artist  so stop by and view her beautiful creations here:

Okanagan Lake

A while back I wrote an entry about how beautiful Okanagan lake was one day when there was absolutely no breeze.  I ended the post by saying that I wished I could find a picture of it since I didn't have a camera on the day it was so still and mirror-like.

A few weeks later I was pretty amazed when my daughter sent me photos she'd taken while out boating with her husband.  As you can see from the picture she found it pretty awesome too.

What a coincidence.


All photos by Nicole (Barkett) Platz

Weather Blues

We've had some unusual weather here.  Winter was non-existent and spring has been strange with many above average days in Feb and March then it got cold in April.  Unfortunately, the fruit trees are confused and they began blooming then got hit by frost.

My Magnolia tree had the same problem.   You can see by the photos where the frost turned the blossoms brown.

How is the weather affecting your region?

Here is a silly picture of my dog greeting my arrival.  (His nose isn't missing, he's licking it) and he is a part Pomeranian with the big puffy tail but he got into some burrs and we had to cut most of it off.

He's an old grouchy guy, suffering from arthritis and doesn't like the stairs but still comes to say hi.

As you can see I took a day off from painting and art.  My computer at work has a virus so I couldn't use it even to check on Zazzle and I was there for a 10hr day but we had beautiful, sunny weather so instead, I found lots of excuses to go outside and watch the birds.
Magpies, hawks, quail and starlings were everywhere and there was even a couple pairs of swallows trying desperately to find a nest building site.

I am hoping to capture a photo of the Marmots that live on my work site.  They are incredibly brave and friendly until I bring out the camera.  Why do telephoto lenses have to make so much noise when they open?

Hope you all had a great weekend and some rest too.

Tulips and Spring

Well, the tulips are in bloom. Although they are very pretty, they don't look like typical tulips. I think about planting normal looking ones every year and never do.
I've been enjoying the weather and doing more outside which will soon include lawn mowing.  I need to have a yard with no lawn and since water is quite scarce here and rationed in the summer, I should look into getting rid of the lawn and replacing it but somehow when the weather gets warm all I want to do is sit.



         


                  
I got up extra early to pick up my daughter and had time to stop by the side of the road and take a picture.  The sun hadn't risen yet and as you can see there is no traffic.  I love this section of road because it looks like it goes right into the lake.

On the way back that evening I stopped to take a picture of this house sitting along the lake.  I guess they don't have any grandchildren because there is no fence around the yard and they are very high above the lake.

And of course, this is the traffic on the way home.  It was fun to take a picture while driving and have it turn out.                                                                              

Judy Adamson - Artist and Blogger

About four months ago I signed up to sell my greeting card designs online through Greeting Card Universe, http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstorehttp://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/judyscardstore having spent almost a year not getting anywhere sending them to UK publishers. A week later I discovered Zazzle http://www.zazzle.co.uk/helikettlehttp://www.zazzle.co.uk/helikettle and was attracted to the idea of using my designs to 'create' gifts and clothing as well as greeting cards.

 

It was pretty time-consuming making sure that all my two hundred or so designs were exactly the correct dimensions and resolution before uploading them, especially when I added Red Bubble,  http://www.redbubble.com/people/helikettlehttp://www.redbubble.com/people/helikettle hoping to sell prints of my soft pastel paintings. But I fondly imagined that I'd then sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in as I'd done previously with a UK site Yoodoo.com  http://www.yoodoo.com/cardDisplay.aspx?state=cards&cardOffset=0&cardArtist=63&pn=1http://www.yoodoo. who had approached me about 5 yrs previously when they saw my pastel paintings website.

 

I soon discovered that this was not how it worked, although one of my Christmas cards somehow began selling well straight away. I learnt that we need to have thousands of items in each online store, that choosing keywords/tags is of the utmost importance and more than anything, 'promotion' is the name of the game.

 

 

So following advice on the forums, I opened a facebook account and set up a fan page  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judys-Art/230087954389?ref=mf - it took me all day to set up (and even then I'm not sure I've got it right!) and I'm not very convinced that it does anything for my sales as nothing much seems to happen there! I also set up a MySpace account, but that quickly fell into neglect as time spent there seemed even less productive.

 

I also emailed the links to my stores to everyone I could think of but didn't want to push it with friends and acquaintances. And I've tried to take advantage of every offer of free promotion through other Zazzlers' blogs and Squidoo lenses.

 

The other 'promotional tool' that I've set up is my blog!

http://judyadamsonartanddesign.blogspot.com/http://judyadamsonartanddesign.blogspot.com/

 

Keeping it up to date takes another quite large 'bite' out of my time, but, whether or not it actually helps me to make sales (I have no way of knowing!), I think there are other reasons why I like having  a blog. To be honest, to me probably the most attractive aspect of blogging is that I simply enjoy writing! But also I find it has made sure that I kept up the creative work in order to have something to blog about at times when the promotional stuff might have taken over my life.

 

When faced with my very own patch of webspace that I can do almost anything with, the question arises, what shall I post on my blog? I don't find blogs that are purely promotional at all interesting - and there are plenty of them out there! But I do have the 'widgets' for my online stores below and down the side of my blog. And now that I've found out how to link to my Zazzle store through an image of one of my products, I occasionally use that facility.

 

'Young at Heart' Mug by helikettle
View other Mug Mugs

 

I do like blogs that are reasonably open and honest, that publish the downsides as well as the successes, like this Mother's Day card I've attempted to make today!

 

I like blogs that tell me something about the person who is writing them but include some advice and/or information as well - I think one of the biggest advantages of the internet is that you can learn so much from it, though of course one has to remember that not everything you read will accurate or true!

 

One more thing that keeps me coming back to a blog time and time again, is a question thrown out for discussion or simply to make the reader think. One such blog is Itaya's. http://itaya.blogspot.com/

 

In short, I like a blog to have variety. So I've tried to include in my blog all of these 'ingredients' that I find attractive, first warning my readers that it may turn out to be a bit of a 'hodge-podge'!  And now that I've begun to find ways to sell my greeting cards locally as well as online, I've chronicled my progress with that too, so it's a real 'mixed bag' of autobiography, musings about art, hints and tips and a little 'local colour' 

 

Here's more of Judy's beautiful art 

 

"Sweet Pea" Wedding Invitation Card by helikettle
View more Sweetpea Cards

 

Algarve Boat Tote Bag by helikettle
Design a personalized bag on zazzle

 

'Hyacinths' Greeting Card by helikettle
See other Flowers Cards

 

Gone fishin' Tote bag by helikettle
Create a tote bag from zazzle.com

 

Snowballing by helikettle
Make personalized note cards on zazzle.com

Yorkies

It seems that everyone I know owns a Yorkie.
I have painted dogs and cats in the past and hadn't thought about it for a while until I came accross an article saying that Yorkies are the most popular breed of dogs and I decided why not?

Both friends adore their dogs and will tell you how loving they are.  One of my friends lives miles away and I hadn't been to her home in years so I'd never met her little dog.
I arrived unexpectedly and very upset because of a death in the family and this little Yorkie asked to be picked up.  She snuggled and cuddled the whole visit, just like she knew I needed it.  It was amazing considering I'd never met her before.

These little cuties have been great comforters, friends and companions for both of my friends, as I'm sure they are for many people and that's why they are so popular.

Yorkies Stickers by countrymousestudio 

Springtime Delayed

We had a setback in the warm, spring weather and have reverted to the cold, dark days that feel like snow may be possible.  The higher mountains have all fresh white snowy tops and the wind has been strong.

We weren't the only ones feeling the cold, as late one evening, we heard buckets being thrown around on our deck.  While the weather was warm, we hadn't heard nor seen the raccoon family that lives under our deck then last night, with the cold, they arrived and weren't too pleased to find the bucket of dog food empty.

After making a couple swipes at the bucket, they came up to the window and leaned in, looking at us.  How can you resist such cuteness?  We fill up the bucket while they pretend to hide behind the deck furniture and before the door is closed, they are eating.  My dog has made peace with them and no longer barks but occasionally they will touch noses through the glass.  The cat just sits on the handrail watching and waiting and although I've read lots of stories about them attacking cats, they seem to have a truce with ours.

Our neighbors have had to close up their cat and dog doors because when the raccoons are hungry, they simply come in and help themselves.  One elderly lady I know, woke up at night to find one growling at her in the hallway. He didn't want to be disturbed while he helped himself to her cat's food.

Along with hungry cold raccoons, we have a variety of birds which don't usually visit.  A Ring Necked Pheasant strolls by once a morning now, a family of Mourning doves and a flock of California quail.  They all visit because the new bird food has too much crushed corn in it but the sparrows and occasional finches love it too.  We have a pair of starlings nesting somewhere close by and I'm afraid to look in case, they've gotten into something they shouldn't have.  They tried to nest under our eaves and their persistent noise, scratching and chirping almost drove my daughter batty.  She would dash out in her nightgown waving a broom and yelling at 5 am.  Whenever she did that, they would respectfully move to a tree close by to watch and the moment she went inside, return to set up their squabbling.

I am hoping this cold spell passes through quickly and we can return to our spring weather, I have tulips waiting to come out and my bag of dog food is close to empty.