Week 52

 "Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else."

~ Mr. Rogers

Happy 40th Anniversary to us, adios 2022, and Happy New Year!

Made some art before breakfast, while on the phone with my eldest.

Some Christmas tree bokeh right before I took the tree down and put all the decorations away.

A New Year's Eve Atmospheric River brought us a LOT of rain. 

The Walnut Creek looking north at mid-day. This is not normal.

The "Falls", as the adults that grew up here, call it. Hubs says it's the second highest he's seen it. 

This wonderful gift was delivered to us by our middle child and her Fiance.

Gotta love that you can door-dash something from Florida to California!

Cheers to the rain and our 40th Wedding Anniversary!

The Walnut Creek looking south.

On our way to dinner and thankfully the rain was about done for this day.

Tiramisu and Limoncello cake for dessert.

A tasty way to end the year.

Week 49

"Joy is the oxygen for doing hard things."
~ Kay Bowler, No Cure for Being Human

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, for a minute. The week started off normal and then COVID happened. All is well it's just messing up schedules. So, I've been taking more walks lately and capturing the end of autumn around here. It's definitely helping with my sanity this time of year.

Waiting for brother to get out of school.

This adorable tiny human slays me. 

Strollering up and down the street. 

This was his idea and was then scared we were about to crash the whole time. 

We didn't.

I love these flowers that bloom out of these Echeveria's

 

Out walking and shooting leaves before the storm.

Maple tree branches 

The sun came out after the rain and gave me pretty drops on leaves.

Playing with stamp brushes and the clipping mask in Procreate.

I actually gasped when I came across this one.

I am still deciding which one I like more. 

Week 39

"We are rare, not perfect...we need to soothe ourselves, not blame ourselves." ~ Mark Nepo

Walks, bike rides, art in the backyard, leaves changing color, clear sky in the west, Hurricane watch on the east coast, and these adorable grandchildren of mine. All is well and we're all okay. Thank you.

I love watching the Liquidambars change. 

Out for a morning adventure with this cutie.

Noticing.

I gave him a new pad of paper when I picked him up from school. 

He walked into the house, gathered his supplies, and went straight to work on his masterpiece.

My heart!

Straight out of my camera (phone).

Burn baby burn.

As we watched the weather channel all evening, I  made a little graphic from a screenshot.

Then we watched again the next night as Ian headed towards Melissa in SC.

Thankfully, all of our family made it through okay.

Paisley highly recommends this book. 

It is eye-opening. 

She liked my happy face Sun.

Got all three of them together. 

More Liquidambar (aka Sweetgum) leaves.

Those are some big eyes staring down at me - like I'm prey. 

This is one of the White-tailed Kites that has been hanging out at Hub's office. 

Week 35

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

There is this spot in their living room where the light hits in the morning.

She is ready to go explore the neighborhood.

So many cute yards with fun decorations.

Went on a dinner date with Hubs and of course, we ordered the infamous Fox Roll from Mikuni.

Chillin in the backyard.

The illusive first-grader. 

I don't get to see him as much since school started.

I'm having a lot of fun playing with digital watercolor. 

This one requiered a lot of layers in Procreate.

ALL the rainbows! Always.

A quick little fun project in Procreate.

My favorite part about this, in addition to the quote, is the shadow under the paper. 

Week 33

I'm so behind here, I almost can't remember this whole week. 

I'm enjoying the new Tuesday and Friday morning routine with Miss Paisley.

I saw the most fantastic rainbow mass as I was driving north on AZ 17 and into the monsoon. 

I flew to Arizona on Sunday to visit Mom. I have to say, flying is it used to be so fun, then it got tedious, and now it is downright awful. 

I love summer fruit - especially these delicious slices.

Got out my watercolor supplies for some quick fun.

August sky.

Found these poster paint sticks at Marshall's. Fun!

Splish, splash on a Friday morning.

My plane. Almost three hours late. Made for an unnecessarily long day.

Don't get me started on their incompetence. 

Phoenix International Raceway, from the window seat, of course.

We drove our 1988 Ramcharger onto this track many years ago.

This. Had my flight been on time, I would not have had to drive into this scary beast. 

Thanks for the extra dose of anxiety SWA.

Thankfully it cleared up as I drove north and I got to see all that gorgeous sky.

Week 30

Another busy yet fun week on the Logan and Paisley show. Managed to get them out for TWO walks and we had a sleepover too. I found some time to do a Procreate beginner series that was fun and informative. 

Crazy time in the morning.

Went for a walk around the neighborhood. 

This girl and that face 🥰

My Intergalactic art piece in Procreate.

Miss Cleo on the patio table, in my business.

Fresh cut deserves a selfie. 

I had about three inches taken off and it feels so much better.

Snug as bugs in a rug.

We didn't feed them but these ducks followed the kids all the way around the pond.

We got a few sprinkles Sunday.