Getting in the spirit of Christmas ~ It Snowed last night! Well, just enough to turn the trees and ground into a winter wonderland but not too much! and...

Homemade Christmas Cookies ~I rolled, cut and baked these things for hours and there were sprinkles and icing all over the kitchen but we're enjoying eating them! and....

More small aceo paintings ~ I painted these last week. I hope everyone is having a great December, haha two more weeks till Christmas and I haven't even started yet except for some decorating and baking cookies...no stress yet, I still have two weeks! :o

LAZY ~ That's the way I've been feeling about blogging lately and I finally got myself in gear and uploaded some more aceo's that I've painted lately. I did several moon themed ones and now I'm doing a snow and ice series. I can't believe how close we are to Christmas. I finally got the house decorated and plus I've been doing some scraping/priming and painting on the outside windows and woodwork in the bathroom. Trying to get the house ready for Christmas, ho, ho, ho it's right around the corner, yikes!

:D Check out Suzie ~ ...and how much she likes the jinglebells stuffed toy (below). I was getting dizzy with her chasing it, but she would have chewed it in a million pieces if she had gotten her teeth on it! She almost got my camera in that first chomp! :o :)

Hunter of the Night, an aceo size painting in acrylics and charcoal pencils

Fall is here! ~ I've been painting some more small paintings aceo size and taking pictures of the colorful sky too!

Fall, ...aahhhhh... and some new paintings ~ It's been a while since I've made a new blog post and I have some catching up to do on my visiting! I feel fall in the air and it's soo nice. I'm getting in the mood for pumpkins, fall decorations, Halloween and lots and lots of candy! We had the most awesome orange harvest moon recently, I hope everyone had clear weather and a chance to enjoy it! Here are some of the small paintings I've done since my last post. They are all aceo size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) in acrylics, some with charcoal pencil. Our Suzie dog is getting huge and she's a big hyper fun sweetie! When she stands on her back legs, she's almost as tall as me!

Where did the water go??! ~ I took this picture (above) about three years ago at nearby Lake Chesdin, and I took the ones below two days ago. I'm starting to forget what having a rainy day feels like because of the severe drought and heat we've had this summer. We have been walking out on the dried up lake bed and it is nothing but acres and acres of deep dried up cracks with little shells, dried up tree stumps, and old tangled fishing line. I just know we will have some rain one of these days. At least the days and nights are getting a little cooler now.

Suzie Girl ~ She's weighing at least 50 lbs. now and still trying to sit in my lap, best dog ever!!!!

Silvery Night ~ An ACEO size painting I recently did and...

The Western Edge of Hurricane Earl ~ I'm glad he stayed out to sea but we could've used the rain if he had stayed longer.

New Small Lynxie Tree Paintings in acrylics, charcoal pencil and crystal glitter. Yep, I am still painting these small trees! Maybe I'll switch to another subject someday, who knows.

Scorching Hot Summer ~ This hot summer with lack of enough rain has really affected the water levels at Lake Chesdin nearby. Rob and I went there the other evening and it was really surreal to see what looked like acres of bright green growth where there was supposed to be water in the lake! We stayed until almost dark, trying to capture some pretty sunset photos.

Two More Lynxie Tree ACEO Paintings and the Antics of Suzie (below) ~ I made these two paintings with acrylics, charcoal pencils in both black and white, and crystal glitter. I didn't even know that charcoal pencils came in white until my recent trip to Michaels to get more brushes. I used the white charcoal in the aceo below. I haven't felt much like painting recently because of the rotten summer cold I've had this week. Rob and I both have been sick and coughing for over a week now, blah!

Flying Dog! Nope, it's just Suzie jumping high into the tree to prune off a few branches out of the yellow tulip poplar in the backyard. I caught this picture through the window and all you can see is her back leg hanging out of the tree, she can really jump high! Below she is running back with the trophy she captured out of the tree.

Payback LOL! OK Suzie, I guess this is my payback for not letting you chew up my potholders in the kitchen lol!! We let her inside on those days when it got unbearably hot outside and she was like a big rambunctious 50 lb. toddler, always trying to find something new to chew on. She had already gone through all the old shoes in the house, so I let her have this old leather work glove (below). This is how I found it laying under the microwave cart the next day...

Two more Lynxie Tree aceos ~ I painted both of these in acrylics on watercolor paper...

Suzie Says "arf, arf Hello" ~ She is the biggest baby and the sweetest dog! We brought her inside on those days when it got so hot outside. She decided she liked the chair in the kitchen by the computer. For any empty nesters who miss having the kids at home, I recommend getting a black lab...it's almost like having another big kid! :)

Frank Campagnone ~ You were a dear and kind person, teacher, friend, and co-worker for fourteen years and you will be so so so very sadly missed! Rest in Peace Frank! :(

Nightmares Falling ...in the land of midnight purple...

Three More Lynxie Trees ~ I painted these with acrylic paints, black ink, charcoal pencil and crystal glitter. Each is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches in size.

... Sunshine and Snow...

...Fairy Tale...

Happy 4th of July!

I need to work on my fireworks picture taking skills, I got these photos tonight when we went and watched the fireworks...

My g-g-g-g-g-Grandfather ~

(I copied this out of the ancestry site, I hope that was ok to do) Joseph Preston Yadon was born in County Down in Ireland. When he was 12 someone in his family died, and it upset him so much he ran away from home. Later, he came by boat to the new American Colonies and fought with General Burgoyne in the Revolutionary War on the side of the British. He was only 18 years old when he played the drum in the fife and drum corps under General Burgoyne. When General Burgoyne's troops were captured, so was Joseph Yadon. The conditions in the prisons at that time were horrible. The prisoners were given very little food. Some died of diseases or starved to death. Joseph was young and wanted to live. When the independent Americans told the prisoners they could be free if they changed sides and fought for the Americans, Joseph did. Now he was a drum major for the Americans. His friend, by the name of Pennybaker, played a fife. Even though Conrad died, Joseph Yadon got to be friends with the Pennybaker family. [I hope I don't have this story wrong. I can't find Conrad in my database. However there are so many spellings of Pennybaker, I may have just missed it. If you can straigten me out, please do.] Conrad had a pretty red-headed sister that Joseph married and settled down with after the war. He lived in Tennessee in his later life. He actually inherited a large fortune in Ireland, but couldn't go back to get it because he would have been hanged for being a traitor to the British cause. In America, he is honored because of his service to his country during the Revolution.

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