Maggie on Monday

It's much warmer here than it was at the River House. Maggie likes to hang out in the yard.

Eye dots!

*sniff*

Her spot by the rose bush.

Rose bush from the front angle.

Hullo.

So I got festive and took some Christmasy photos:

These are the best ones where she didn't shake the hat off her head!

lick lick 

sniff sniff

More eye dot action!

We had a quick vizzie from nephew Rowan:

She's so good with him and he is so sweet with her!

And that was our week. Pleasantly uneventful and ordinary. She's so funny. I finally realized that sometimes when she barks at the door, it's not because she wants to go out but it's because she hears the cat on the porch wanting to come in. Sure enough, there's Tabby whipping in as soon as I open the door!  :-)

Merry Christmas

It's a wonderful life.

Festive Friday

On the way to a Celtic Christmas concert, we saw some AWESOME Xmas lights:

At Brother Atlasta's house last night:

Mum: What's that hideous wreath?
Brother: Shhhh!  Marlene made that wreath. [in kindergarten]
Mum: Oh. Well. It's very . . . eh . . . nice.
Me: Hahahahaha

The Labyrinth Journal

UPDATE: If you went to the Etsy site to buy The Labyrinth Journal & it was marked "Sold," I've now rectified that & you can buy it now.  [Just getting started with the shop, working out the kinks, learning curve, whatnot]  Thanks, Susan!  :-) H.

For years I've been making labyrinth journals for friends, ever since I created my own walking labyrinth in the backyard. So this year I've created The Labyrinth Journal for everyone: labyrinth enthusiasts, writers, creative & non-creative types.

It's a 72-page DIY pdf that you can download & print for yourself.  In it I've included:

• Labyrinths: Cretan / Classical, Chartres Cathedral, & 4 original designs: heart, ocean wave, butterfly, & pine/Christmas tree labyrinths
• How to draw your own labyrinths free-hand or with a compass
• How to USE labyrinths with intention to create what you want in your life.
• The Journal part: thoughtful journal prompts, inspirational quotes, & easy-peasy-non-drawing art activities to jazz up your journal. Get as colourful & fancy-pants as you want.
• Resources for websites, books, etc. on labyrinths, personal development, etc.
• 2012 calendar, along with December 2011

The journal is designed to encourage you to journal everyday, not in a stressed-out, gotta do one more thing kinda way, but as a creative prompting. Doing something consistently, if only for 5 minutes, helps to prime the pump. It's like turning on the faucet of flowing creativity. 

You can use the cover provided, or gussy up & personalize this one. 

Like this:

Done with layers of coloured pencils.

So here's the deal: from now until the last day of Christmas [waiting for you to do Christmas math in your head] on Jan. 6th, I'm selling The Labyrinth Journal in my Etsy shop for $4.95. 'member when paperbacks were only $4.95? Ah, the good ol' days. Well, I'm nostalgic like that. 

I also will have a Labyrinth Journal page. I invite you to send photos of your labyrinths to display here.  Here's to 2012: HAPPY Journaling!

In the Woods

In the woods outside Mum's house is an old delivery van. I've taken pix of it from far away, but on Saturday, Chiro-sis & I decided to take the kiddlie-winks for a walk. So we went to investigate:

Sunset on Overall Beach

We celebrated Christmas at Mum's this past Saturday. We looked out the window, and snow flurries! The kids ran out and starting catching snowflakes on their tongues. I knew that the sunset would be pretty spectacular, so I got in the car to race down to the bridge to take some pix. My nephew & niece jumped in with me & off we went.

Mum's driveway.

Shenandoah River. That little land mass is Overall Beach.

And then! My nephew jumped over the guard rail and ran down the mountain side!

All the way down to the river.

He did this twice, and on the third time, my niece got brave and decided to go down as well. On her backside.

See the River House across the river up on the hill?

Hullo! The photo doesn't do this justice. It's REALLY steep & far down!

OK, kids. Come on back, now!

GORGEOUS day.

Maggie on Monday

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas at Mum's. So I loaded Maggie into the car on Saturday morning and drove to Luray to Mystic Pet before heading over to Mum's.When she walked in the door, she headed straight for the groom room where she usually stays. But it was rather busy with grooming and dogs. So we took her back outside and took her thru the cat room.  She was desperate for a bath, so when I got back on Sunday afternoon, she was all nice and fluffy:

Here she is when I came back to pick her up. See her blurry tail wagging? 

We started her on a raw diet. Lena says her senior dog is doing really well on it, and Maggie ate it right up.

Anytime Gareth is in the room, that's where she goes.

Hullo.

Behind the counter, settled in.

Gareth calls this his "Fireside" pose. Just imagine his elbow on a mantle. 

Gareth went to feed the other dogs in the kennel, and Lena and I took Maggie outside to load her up. She wandered around and then sat down:

What are you looking at Maggie?

So alert.

Of course. She saw Gareth in the kitchen doing food prep!

Lena said that Gareth misses Millie, but that she was grumpier than Maggie. Maggie is ever cheerful!

Loading up:

Saying goodbye to Lena. 

Back home, this morning:

On the front porch, overlooking her domain. Life is good. :-)