neurotwitch

Sunday, May 20, 2012

resurrection?

It’s been a long time. I miss blogging.

Things garden:

The climbing roses started blooming last week. (click to see it big!)

The baptista is hidden in the bramble this year. I need to trim the dead rugosa branches out, but they’re so awful to deal with. (click to see it big!)

Stanley decided to bite the bullet and trim the hedge—we couldn’t see to get out of our driveway safely! (click to see it big!)

the weekend is the only time to do it—traffic is deadly on weekdays as Strawberry Hill Avenue turns into a narrow version of I-95. (click to see it big!)

The hedge looks great, the front is complete. However, Stanley fell off the ladder when he was climbing down, and has a scrape on the back of his head and he hurt his wrist. He didn’t knock himself out and he says he’s ok. I plan to hold the ladder the next time—I couldn’t bear it if he ended up in the hospital.

We lost Twitch Thanksgiving weekend. He had a heart murmur and we knew he was on borrowed time, but it still hit us hard. Slink was lost without him, so we knew we needed to get him a buddy. Pepper adopted us when we met her at the Connecticut Humane Society in Westport on December 1, 2012. She’s a tuxedo cat and pretty much runs the house buy now.

Slink and Pepper are watching the squirrels and birds on the porch. We have a bird feeder and it provides lots of entertainment for them (and us) (click to see it big!)

Slink is such a gorgeous, strange cat. He likes to hang out on his cushion while I work, but keeps a wary eye out for Bingo and Ruby. Especially Ruby. (click to see it big!)

I’ve neglected the housekeeping on the blog—it’s going to take a while to clean out all the spam comments that have accumulated. And upgrade it to the latest and greatest and final version of ExpressionEngine 1x. I need to update the home page to include photos of our current furry family, and update other pages. I’ll get it done.

I do miss blogging. Facebook just doesn’t do it for me—it’s too impersonal. Now that I’ve taken the first step in getting back, I hope I keep going.

the best part of spring, besides all the other good things about spring (click to see it big!)

posted by lee on 05/20/12 at 02:35 PM
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

cats

Sometimes, when I’m really absorbed in what I’m working on, I glance to my left and I’m surprised to see the cat snoozing under the window has changed. And I didn’t even notice.

Cat 1: Slink, with his lovely green eyes. (click to see it big!)

Cat 2: Pepper, deep sleep. (click to see it big!)

I’ve been trying to get a good photo of Pepper—good thing pixels are cheap because she’s very hard to photograph. Where Slink has brilliant green eyes, Pepper has beautiful topaz eyes, with just a hint of green ringing the edge of the irises. They have very different personalities, and I can tell them apart just by hearing their purrs.

Topaz eyes—Pepper won’t pose for me. (click to see it big!)

I’m glad there’s a long weekend coming up. I’m going to try not to work, Much.

posted by lee on 05/24/12 at 03:14 PM
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Saturday, May 26, 2012

artistaday.com > tessa houghton

The other day, I received a google alert that Famous Artists School was mentioned somewhere on the web. FAS is a long-time client and we just launched two new courses, so I wanted to see if it was being picked up somewhere.

The alert led me to this guy: Stephen Fisher, a Warren, Rhode Island artists who is an FAS alum. Which led me to explore the artistaday.com. This site impresses the hell out of me—a huge collection of artists from around the world, an artist profiled each day.

Scrolling backwards, I got to , I think, March 17, 2012, and was rendered speechless. Behold a painting by Tessa Houghton:

Tessa Houghton, “Elysian Blue,” Oil on canvas (click to see it big!)

Houghton’s website offers an extensive gallery. She is a Brit currently in based in Barcelona.

She paints seascapes mainly—it’s hard to believe the image above is done in oil paint and not is not a photograph. There’s something about the scope and the colors that grab me, the sea ... I think it’s the way she captures the light. I would love to see her work in the real world.

posted by lee on 05/26/12 at 05:10 PM
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Monday, May 28, 2012

creature features

No particular point to this entry. I just feel like posting some photos of our creatures. Sans Pepper. She remains as hard for me to photograph as she can (Stanley gets better photos of her).

Ruby patiently waiting for her cookies (click to see it big!)

Ruby is always worried about something (like not getting her cookies) (click to see it big!)

Bingo trying to hide from whatever the latest indignity is that Stanley wants to inflict on her. Like taking her picture. She is afraid of the sound of velcro. (click to see it big!)

posted by lee on 05/28/12 at 10:13 AM
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how does my garden grow? wild

Steamy out today—lots of sun and lots of muggy. I think we need to get some fresher Off as the stuff we have now doesn’t seem to be working anymore (it’s about five years old ... )

We did get some tomatoes and other plants—the garden is not quite ready for planting, still a little too muddy. And did I say it’s steamy out today? I played with the dogs instead.

one of Stanley’s peonies (click to see it big!)