Bluebirds
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was finishing a ride last week, walking back to the barn and I saw a piece of sky fly past me. It was so wonderful, I laughed out loud.

There was a small flock of bluebirds, five or six, nattering together about the trip south, and chasing bugs and loose grain from the horses' lunches. They dodged in and out of the maple tree at the corner of the barn, which is turning already, all oranges and res and splashes of yellow. The color combinations were outrageous.

But it was the bluebirds that lifted my spirits. There is nothing more unlikely than the color of a bluebird. I completely understand why the phrase would be Bluebird of Happiness, and not, say, raven of happiness or goldfinch of happiness. That blue. That astonishing blue.

It made me happy.

laps in the packing peanuts
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The pieces returned from the (sadly failed) gallery came home in this ENORMOUS box. Once the art was out, and the pillows of air (think monster bubble wrap) the box was still half full of what an old coworker called ghost turds. Alice, channeling her cousin’s delight in packing peanuts, fell into the box with squeaks of delight. After some joyful thrashing around, she settled in with a book, remarking “it is kind of like an insideout beanbag chair.”

Aerin, lacking all dignity when fun is possible (an admirable trait in a 16 year old when personal dignity can sometimes severely crimp one’s fun quota) fell into the box head first, and did some cheerful thrashing of her own.

The art remains bubble wrapped and is now resting quietly in my studio, having had a nice vacation in Wisconsin. Anyone needing a large piece for a Christmas present, let me know, and we’ll work out a deal.

First day of school
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

After a night of fretting, everyone woke up well (for them) and set off for their respective schools.

Ultimately, both got rides with our lovely neighbors, so Alice avoided the bus, and Aerin got someone to visit with to take her mind of her morning miseries.

greek copper horse
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

After taking all summer off, this horse leapt to the top of my pile of things to do, and I finished him. Partly because I am loaning him to a friend to stare at while she recovers from having her hip replaced. He looks like the horse she and her sister use for their farm logo, so it seemed like a good idea.

Apparently I need a summer vacation as much as the kids to.

Bad news from the gallery in Wisconsin – she is forced to close by the economy, so the work that I finished and sent to her has to be shipped home. Which bites.

Image
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I have been having a Lovely Vacation, thank you!

This is Image, Janice's 19 year old Holsteiner gelding that I am riding a couple days a week. He has a LOT of training, and I learn some new thing every time I ride him. Today we were out in the field because it was cloudy and cool, with the barn swallows sweeping about in front of us catching things along the tops of the grass.

This last month had a Very Large Horse Show in it, that included imposing on my mother (hi Mom!) (Thank you Mom!) and boarding the Canadian girls at the show. It was nerve wracking working up to it, but kind of fun once we were there.

I have stepped away from my studio for longer than I meant to. I finished a trilobite that I will photograph soon. A couple pieces were left in various states of disarray, and I need to get going on them again.

Next week we go to catch up with my brother, sister-in-law (best ever!) and nephew.

Biosphere by Dahlov Ipcar

My step-mother just paid me a lovely compliment! She was looking at postcards of the various horse pieces that I just sent off to Wisconsin (the Bradley Art Gallery in fact) and said they reminded her strongly of Dahlov Ipcar's work. So we sat down and googled Dahlov Ipcar, and Wow!! She has done splendidly varied work for a long time, including (I just realized) writing and illustrating a book my brother read to death when he was small – Lobsterman. I find myself particularly drawn to her Horse Mandala, and one in the Portland Museum of Art called Blue Savanna.

fish fossil
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I studied geology for my undergraduate degree, and what I liked best was paleontology. I liked the stories of how organisms changed, and I liked the sedimentary processes that saved the remains, and I was grateful that the blood and guts were not present by the time the fossils were ready for me to study.

ammonites
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Thinking about fossils, I went looking on Flickr for pictures of trilobites, but I found instead all these gorgeous swirled images of ammonites.

After I finish some trees, I have a fossil or two in my future. A set of fish bones. A trilobite. Definitely an ammonite.

Part of whatever I was sick with required a round of antibiotics and was probably strep. The rest of it has been receding slowly over the last week. I've been sleeping, and drinking a lot of fluids, and waiting impatiently to feel substantially better.

It is hard to think it is June already. May hardly made a dent on my consciousness and here we are rampaging towards the longest day of the year and the last day of school. Both the same, as it turns out.

I got postcards printed locally, and they are fabulous. There are now five horse postcards, and five brown things, and I will have them up on Etsy soon. The works that are headed to the Wisconsin gallery are mounted and languishing at the framers. When they are done there I will hie them to the UPS store to be swaddled in bubble wrap and sent on their way.

I have started a new piece, but it isn't to a stage where it can be photographed yet. You'll all be the first to know, I promise!