Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Summer Thoughts...

Okay, I admit that Summer is not my favorite time of year. Perhaps if I lived in an area that didn't turn into a sweltering, smog laden, steam bath in the summer I might feel differently, and hopefully one day I can explore that option further, but in the meantime I'm stuck here in the hot and sticky South. That being said, I'm trying to focus on the better side of Summer...thinking positively and all that. So lets see, what can I come up with? Well right at the top of the list are fresh tomatoes...sweet, ripe, juicy, a red globe of culinary perfection. And gardening! I'm one of those eternally optimistic gardeners. No matter my many past experiences of gardens devastated by drought and pests... both of which are higher then average in my area...I still plant anew every Spring. This year has been exceptional so far and I actually have a beautiful garden, lots of veggies and lovely flowers. (Of course this could be a cosmic set up for future failures...but we're thinking positively here so cut that out!) Let's see, what else...Tubing down the river is a summer activity that we all enjoy, and a wonderful way to spend a summer day so that qualifies. Fireflies! I love those little guys, and butterflies and hummingbirds are also very welcome summer visitors. Hmm...I confess to be running out of ideas so I may have to add more in a future post. What's your favorite thing about summer?

This little fairy has been flitting about my garden lately. Her name is Seraphina, which means means fire-winged or burning one, an appropriate moniker for a summer fae, don't you think?

You can find more pictures of Seraphina here!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Cats and Fairies


If you have a cat, you've seen it happen. You're sitting quietly in the house, probably doing an activity like reading, watching television, or some other innocuous pastime when suddenly your cat goes on high alert. She's staring very intently at a space in the room that to your eyes is completely vacant. She starts following something with her eyes, watching it move about the room, giving it her undivided attention ...but you still see nothing there!! Then just as suddenly she blinks.. loses all interest, and goes back to giving herself a good washing as if nothing ever happened. You've seen it, right? Well I have the answer to this perplexing situation...Cat fairies! It's well known that cats are more then a little fey so it just seems natural that they would have fairy friends. These fairies act as guardians for cats, watching over them, telling them secrets, and incidentally helping them to attain the reputation for having 9 lives.

And here is Kit, the cat guardian with her special friend Thomas...



And here is one of the four kitties she guards at my house, Calliope, who obviously thinks I'm insane to be taking her picture when she's trying to take a sun nap!




Monday, July 7, 2008

A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Back from vacation but inundated with work! I have a major show in two weeks, tons of emails to answer...and how do 4 people generate so much laundry in one week!!?! So I give you another in my list of favorite collective nouns, a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Enjoy!