It was Rufus's birthday on Sunday, the 27th. He turned 4 years old. Instead of a cake, I made him a birthday salad consisting of a grape, some apple & tomato on a bed of 2 kinds of lettuce(Romaine & green leaf). He gobbled it up as fast as he could, that's what he's doing in the photo.
I had brushed him the night before, when I'd cleaned his piggy palace, so his fur was even shinier than usual. I think he had a nice little celebration for his Big Day.
There were more bunnies than usual & most were active, since the weather wasn't humid. I made sketches of several different individuals as they wiggled their whiskers at me.
My favorite thing to draw at the fair is the chickens, probably because their shapes are made up of triangles. I spend a long time in that building every year. The variations on a single species of bird is amazing and has produced some strange results. A small number of ducks and pigeons also reside in the back of the building, pretty in a less showy way.
The sheep are a sea of woolly placidity. I love the rams' curling horns, this year there were 4 of them. The all brown sheep look like live Easter candy. There was an ewe & 2 lambs and she continiually "baa-ed" as if to make certain everyone admired her fuzzy babies.
As the day wore on, I felt worse & I didn't even meet my sno-cone quota. I left earlier than usual, but spent a half hour in the grassy field trying to find my car, I was so disoriented. By sheer luck, the van full of adults that had parked next to me were leaving at the same time & guided me to my car. If it hadn't been for them, I might still be wandering around...
A couple weeks ago I went to the county fair. I wasn't feeling well that day (or week), so it wasn't as fun as it usually is. But I took a lot of photos & made a few pages of sketches, anyways. There were also fewer animals this year, perhaps because the larger state fair was the same week?
I did see something there that I never had, the judging of the draft horse teams pulling a wagon. Think Budwieser wagons with fewer horses. It was impressive seeing the large horses prancing in tandem, their shiny harnesses sparkling in the sun.
There were a lot of calves in Cow Palace, most with their moms, but a few forlornly alone. Many Longhorns as well as the usual Swiss, Holsteins & Guernseys and more oxen than I've ever seen at the fair. The alpacas, which are usually in the same building, were missing, maybe at the state fair instead? That was a disappointment. Hopefully, they'll be back next year.
Two sets of piglets were in one of the barns. The younger group were extremely rambunctious, playing tag & running in figure eights. They even tried running over the top of their sleeping mama in their chase, but she woke up & then they all settled down to lunch.
The goats are always friendly, though I have to make sure they don't grab my sketch pad. The adults are even more affectionate than the kids, enjoying chin scritches & pats. I'm fascinated with the variety of colors & ears on the different types of goats, the products of thousand of years of breeding.
To be continued......
The other day when I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, I saw a magazine with bold letters saying "How to lose your stress-fat". Not sure if stress makes one gain weight faster or if it's because one eats to relive stress, but in any case, they were going to tell us how to get rid of it. Directly opposite, on the same magazine cover was another article declaring "Ice cream can help your PMS". Didn't anyone at the magazine notice the contradiction?
I've been seeing a young groundhog/woodchuck lately. It lives in the ravine, which is still edged with trees. On days when there's no construction in the mudfield that used to be the woods, the groundhog comes from the edge of the trees, races across the expanse of dirt & stops by the fence by the driveway. This fence divides my apartment building from the construction site & has a line of weeds & wildflowers growing along it. The little rodent moves along munching. Thursday, it had gone under the fence & was ripping apart some plants right next to the garbage bin on my side of the driveway. This week was limping, which worries me. I hope that it's injury is temporary & that it regains full use of it's limb soon. I love seeing any wildlife, but this one worries me with it's dashes across the construction site. Even if no machines are working, there's a lot of holes & pipes that could be dangerous. I hope it stays safe.
“When There is Peace"
By Austin Dobson
This is one of the entries to the Cold-Blooded Creations exhibit in Florida next weekend. It's a small acrylic of a Trinidad Anole, a relative of the common green ones that are familiar in the southern U.S. This one lives in the tropical islands in the Carribean. Titled "Reptilain Rainbow", I was thrilled to paint such a colorful and unusual species.
I've spent the last week getting ready to send my pictures to the Cold-Blooded Creations exhibit in Daytona Beach, Florida. When my frames arrived, I discovered that one was entirely too big, a computer glitch had registered the artwork size as 15 x 18, instead of the size of the frame, thus the mat, plexiglass & frame were all wrong. I had to take it to a local frame shop to have it recut & order a new mat, all of which doubled the framing price. I'll never recoup my cost on that one.There's 5 pictures altogether, 2 from last year & 3 from this year.
Not getting enough sleep due to the neighbor's buzz saw alarm clock, plus not feeling well made the preparations harder. Framing, labeling, making envelopes of bubblewrap, digging the box out of the storage locker & other jobs kept me busy. I completed packing the special art transport box last night at 1:30 am, after sitting on it & using nearly 2 rolls of tape.
This afternoon I lugged it to the UPS store & was surprised to find it weighed just under 15 lbs. The big brown truck picked it up this evening & it's on it's way. It's supposed to arrive at Ocean Center by Tuesday. I heaved a big sigh of relief that I had got it done in time & wished I could see the show after it's installed. Regardless, I'm pleased with my contributions & glad I could participate.The show is adjunct with the National Reptile Expo from Friday Aug.18th to Sunday the 20th.
At the antique show, some of the dealers realized they were not just selling merchandise, but atmosphere.They would have their items artfully arranged with flower arrangements on stands, teddy bears in chairs or tables ready to lunch at. One lady began an impromtu checkers game with an antique set & an opponant who was quite flexible with the rules. Another dealer had a fascinating tableau of old instruments laid on a cloth, complete with scores & books on the subject.
Though the day was overcast much of the time & not really hot, by the time I came home I looked like a pink raccoon, with only a pale mask where my glasses had been. For refreshments, there was pretty fruit salads, baked goods & burgers done on a grill, all reasonably priced. We also had several glasses of lemonade, which was fitting, considering the theme of the day.
Leave it to me to find books everywhere I go. My sister showed me an old book on aquarium fish with clear black & white photos of not only fish but also water plants. I found a Margurite Henry book that I loved as a child & grabbed it. Only as I was standing in line to pay for it, did I discover it was autographed by her. Even my sister was impressed with that. The books, along with some glass trinkets, a couple of cute animal postcards & a small ceramic German Shepherd made up my purchases.
Several Sundays ago, my sister & I went to a local antique show. It's an annual event & we always enjoy ourselves. This year's offered more variety than usual & we spent hours viewing everything. My ultimate favorites were ceramic rabbit figurines dressed in costumes of Merry Olde England, such as a bobby, a judge, knight, Robin Hood etc. When we looked at the price of them, we were shocked: $65 apiece ! It would've cost hundreds to buy the entire set.
My sister cannot pass a table without thoroughly checking out everything. She denies that she examines all of the jewelry, but always comes away with a bracelet or pin to undermine her declaration. This year, I noticed a lot of thimbles with intricate designs, a nice reminder of The English Patient. There was also quite a bit of lace & handmade quilts.
One of the things I like best at antique shows is glass; whether tableware, old windows or decorative objects. This goblet was the prettiest piece I saw. I was hoping to find more transparent marbles to add to my jar, but there was not a single one to be found. Last year there were a half dozen tables selling bags of them.
We spend an inordinate amount of time perusing the antique postcards, charmed especially by those with trollys, old cars & intricate architecture. My sister loves castles & always brings home a handful of postcards with faded European stamps on featuring them. I concentrate on ones with animals & winnow it down to just a couple. More about that and other things in the next entry....
