Squirrel Tales, An Old Illustraton, and Something Wooden

Well it's Thursday, which for us is our 'Friday', it's been a crazy week with house projects and I am honestly just feeling pooped. Not to mention the very rainy and humid weather is just making my migraines worse and more frequent, but I am proud of myself as I am spending little time in bed with my trusty ice and heat packs and I am just grinning and bearing it and ploughing forward getting lots done.

This weekend my dear friends Lisa and Jon and their two sweet boys Noah and Ben are coming in for the weekend so I am very excited to see them. And my old friend Bruce is coming into town too so I am looking forward to catching up with this old chum, who I have greatly missed.

So for today, because I am not ready to show you any new work quite yet. I am choosing this older illustration of mine for 2 specific reasons.

1 - Because even after all these years (it was created in 1999) I still love this image of mine. It reflects a strong belief of mine, which is...to fully be able to give to others and nurture and nourish other's souls, you first have to tend and be kind to your own. Right now, with all the pain I endure with my headaches, I am just giving myself alittle bit extra time to either sit and snuggle the bunnies, more time to stretch and yogify, and just abit more time to sit with a tea and read. I am allowing myself more time to just be still and breathe and let go of my worries and stresses. I am also allowing myself to divert from my usual routine abit more than usual, and spend some time on the house, just organizing and cleaning and re-arranging because doing so always relaxes and centers me.

2 - Because I am thinking of my friend right now...I won't mention her name in case she doesn't want anyone to know...but she is going through chemo right now and after a rough couple of years, she's remaining strong and focused on taking care of herself and I am proud of her. With the selection of this image today, I am also sending her good vibes and thoughts and hope that she continues to honour herself and her body at this rough time.

On to lighter topics...we are having abit of a 'problem' with chipmunks and squirrels running rampant in our house! We seem to be chasing one or the other out atleast 3 times a day. Yesterday, I walked out of the bedroom, to see Ella and Roo all stretched out on their hallway carpet watching a chipmunk, who was sitting right in the middle of their bowl eating their morning oatmeal and pellets!

Today, I saw that the squirrel Rudy, had taken to the kitchen counter to snack on a banana!! and last night...I discovered that my last piece of delicious dark chocolate...one I had been saving all day, had suddenly disappeared and since Jon is the only other one in the house tall enough to reach the kitchen counter and he didn't eat it, and I didn't eat it...again the suspected thief is the squirrel Rudy!

The other year, my nice little wooden honey sticks would go missing. I had the habit of leaving my morning dishes outside on the back deck until the end of the day. No one believed me, everyone thought I just misplaced them. Yet that fall, when Jon was stacking wood in the wood shed, what did he discover but my honey sticks, nicely chewed and nicely piled on a shelf in the shed...alongside a beautiful collection of my sunflower heads, which had also suddenly been stolen one day that same summer, ha ha! Now with the missing chocolate piece, I wonder what else they are going to start stealing from inside the house!

I wanted to share this photo with you, I took it yesterday morning...a Cone Flower on our new little deck, I just love the texture.

Anyhow, as I was taking this shot, Rudy the squirrel hopped down from the roof on to the the table where my lovely little breakfast was waiting for me.

He looked at me for a minute and I said "What do you think your doing mister", well he was quite sure of his plan because without hesitation he jumped up onto the side of my bowl...surveyed what layed within, and then grabbed a big strawberry and then just sat there on the table eating it, not even a foot away from me....I guess I had an uninvited guest for breakfast.

And the other day, I saw the cutest cutest cutest little dormouse hopping into the garage...I just love all the critters running around our home, it just makes me feel so content. In that same theme, I've been sketching alot of ideals out for illustrations based on my hero Jane Goodall.

Okay, enough about squirrels....lastly for today I wanted to show you this beautiful necklace I just got.....again yes from Etsy, my favourite place to shop.

It is from Ashlee Rising over at "Natural at Heart". This wooden medallion is so nice and light and I just love the intricate beautiful design. I think as a 'carpenter's daughter' I love all things wooden and when I saw these necklaces I just had to have one...you can't beat the price at about $9.00 a pendant..check them out at http://www.naturalatheart.etsy.com/ .

Well, that's about all for this week...we are back on 'holidays' and off to another busy weekend. Be Well everyone, thanks for taking the time to visit me and please come back next week.