First Ladies- Detail

Here's a detail. Hopefully you can click it and blow it up to look at ... for some reason you couldn't in my previous post (doh! Foiled again-!).

Jen

The First Ladies- Woodcut

A few months ago I posted about a woodcut I was working on (here and here, if you want to go back) that was based on my friend Sarah's pets- specifically, her rescued rabbit (which she succesfully trained and rehomed) and four hens that she named after the First Ladies. They liked to play together in the garden. Too cute, right? Well I realize I never posted the final piece!! And seeing that Sarah is having a baby shower this weekend for her first baby, I decided I'd better a) post the prints, and b) matte and frame one of them for her! (Sorry if you read this Sarah, it is a bit of a spoiler lol!).



These were printed on Lama Li Lokta paper (Sunshine Yellow, Lagoon Blue, and Spring Green respectively), which is a paper made in Nepal using sustainable techniques that benefit the environment. The colors I bought WERE bright, but they are looking almost florescent on my computer screen LOL. In reality, the paper isn't that garish... it is bright, but not garish. :o) I think the scanner went a bit haywire with the saturation. Oh well.

Anyway, I think the woodcut came out great (for once I have a good print lol), and I hope Sarah likes it!

I'm making something else for the baby too, but it's not finished yet. When it is done (and if it comes out well enough to give as a gift) I will post it. :o)

Jen

The Garden

Mi Casita!

I haven't posted much about my gardens, even though they've always sucked a lot of time from me! But that's okay. Gardening is like hiking: work, but fun work. When I first bought my house in 2004 (egads, in August it will be 5 years!!) it had one small garden along the front enclosed porch. Now, I have several: Front and side house flower gardens, a flower garden in front of my shed, potted gardens on the back patio, a Strawberry patch, a Blackberry (blackcap) patch, a raspberry patch, a Bean patch and my main veggie garden.

My strawberries are done for the season, but while they were here, they were wonderful. :o)


I have to say, strawberries are hard to grow. You constantly monitor them for the right time to pick, but it's a race against the field mice and voles, too. My patch is now 4 years old. Last year I thought they might be giving up the ghost- they produced SO POORLY. I think I got 5 berries the whole season, and mice got them before I could pick them. This year the strawberries had a comeback and I think it was the best season yet!! I had a nice after-work-snack every day for a couple weeks. Mmmm.

And now that Strawberries are done, Blackberries (Blackcaps) are up on deck!:


I love my Blackberry patch, even though it is wild,shaggy and messy-looking.

My favorite flower used to be Peonies. Now it is Euphorbia:


The "common name" for this plant is "common spurge" but Euphorbia sounds so much better, don't you think? If you run your hand over the plant, it is as soft and silky as velvet. And it grows in a big yellow soft mound. This pic was taken a few weeks ago in May.

Now who doesn't love Hens N'Chicks? And blue hippos??? I planted these in May too. They are a bit bigger now.



I have two Pontatillas (sp?) in my flower gardens along the front and side of my house. I love the little flowers they sprout!:


Bright red Easter Lillies. Mom cleaved these from her Lilly Patch, and gave them to me. Last year (their first year) they barely grew, but now they are going strong and I hope they continue to spread along the front of the shed!


Lavender. I don't like many herbs (I prefer salt on my food- salt, salt and more salt) but I have a 3-year old lavender plant, an oregano plant that WILL NOT DIE, and chives that also WILL NOT DIE. The Lavender is the only herb I have that I am trying not to kill on purpose lol. So fragrant and beautiful.


Okay. Now on to the veggie gardens! These are Italian Pole Beans growing up the fence in the backyard. The fake owl did not scare squirrels OR birds away while the beans were tiny, I might add. But I keep it there because a)I like owls. A lot. and b) it's a nice yard decoration.



My tomato plants, growing on the back patio. I just discovered last year that I like tomatos, so I planted three. Not sure what variety, maybe beefstake? Beefcake? Something like that?? Also a few petunias in there, as well as a pot of Chives.


My pathetic back veggie garden. This year I planted the first weekend of May, since the last part of May is WAY too busy at work. In our region, they say to plant no earlier than Memorial Day weekend so I was pushing it a bit. Most of my plants survived the on/off May cold snaps, but my Bell Peppers did not, so I had to buy some new seedlings. In the ground, as of today: 4 bell pepper plants, 4 brocollie plants (can I eat the leaves? Is that what Brocolli rabe is??), 6 brussell sprout plants, 2 rows of peas, and 4 purple Kale. I also have 2 cantalope plants that seem to have sprouted again from last year's seeds. I don't have the heart to kill them, even though NONE of my cantalope were edible last year. The reflectors and pathetic 1-foot-high fence is to keep the dogs out.


And we'll end this post with photos of Bee Balm, such a FUN flower. You can use the leaves in tea too, I guess:

Baby bee balm!!

Erie Canal Walk

This morning we went back to the Erie Canal (have the day off from work) to find the Green Heron we saw there last week. It was a pretty hot morning, so we didn't get far. I made the mistake of bringing Lucy with us, which slowed us down significantly, but even so it was HOT and MUGGY. Yuck-o. We don't do well in the heat.

Even though we cut our walk down to almost nothing, we did see some cool stuff. A swimming muskrat:

A woodchuck in a tree (I would never have believed it if it weren't for Mel's post from a couple weeks ago!):



I googled it, and apparently woodchucks will climb trees to escape predators or eat tasty leaves/berries/bark? Bizarre.

Lots of beautiful wildflowers were out:



And my favorite critter from the walk... a gray catbird! He was quite interested in us and sang us a lovely song as I snapped away. Unfortunately most of my pictures focused on the leaves in front and not the bird, and therefore the bird came out blurry. This was the only good one. :o(


Despite the heat, Cliff had a good time. Lucy was SO happy and excited to get in the car and go for a ride, and was excited to START the walk, but her energy petered out really fast. Next time, she'll have to stay home I think.

Man, I am still LOL'ing about that woodchuck...

Jen

Sleepy Lucy

Nothin' But a Good Time...

So on Friday, my good friend Kelly and I (and her hubby Mike!) went to go see Poison, Def Leppard and Cheap Trick in concert at Darien Lake. Cheap Trick canceled out (at first we heard that the lead singer broke his nose, but then heard their airplane was stuck on some tarmack and unable to take off). That stunk, but we had come for Poison and DL, so WE weren't disappointed, although some people really were.


We had awesome seats. And the concert ROCKED. I haven't seen many concerts in my day, but this one clearly took the top. Poison was my FAVORITE band when I was in middle school. I had such a crush on CC, the guitarist. :o) They played all their greatest hits, and dare I say they were even BETTER in person than on tape?? Well they were. For instance, "Talk Dirty to Me"- not one of my favorite songs of theirs. But live? Holy shit. And "Nothin' But a Good Time"... perfect song to play after a hard day in the office? That song is great anyway, but Brett, CC, Bobby and Rikki just fricking hit it out of the park!!! What an awesome, awesome show. Poison alone made the $150 tickets worthwhile!!


Then Def Leppard... and they were simply fantastic. I saw them last year at the State Fair with Kelly and her hubby Mike, and this year they didn't disappoint either. Imagine thousands of people standing on their seats, dancing in the aisles and screaming to "Let's Get Rocked" and you'll know what I mean!!!!!



I would totally go see this show again. Even if tickets cost $200 I would find a way to go. That's how good it was. Just fricking awesome.

But not to be outdone. Thursday evening, the day before this concert, my parents and mom's cousin Melanie and a friend of hers went to go see GORDON LIGHTFOOT in concert in Utica. Wow. Okay, I know what you're thinking. Culture shock, right? Gordon Lightfoot and then Poison and Def Leppard? Well, Gordon is another favorite of mine. It started as a youngster when my brothers and I would ride to Heckinger's Lumber in Dewitt and Dad would play his Gordon Lightfoot tapes on the tape deck. We'd listen to "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" over adn over and over. "Play it again Dad, play it again Dad!" we'd yell. And Dad, me, and my brothers John and Jeff-all crammed in the cab of his pickup- would sing the haunting lyrics and just imagine that huge ship getting swallowed by waves in Lake Gichagumee. So fast forward to 2009 and I get to go see him in concert!!! It was a great show. It wasn't dancing in the aisles/screaming bloody murder like Poison and Def Leppard, but it was absolutely wonderful in a calmer, more peaceful way LOL. Gordon's voice has changed over the years so it wasn't that deep melodic voice you're accustomed to, but it was fantastic, just different than his CD's. He played a lot of tunes I didn't know but the culminating song was, of course, Edmund Fitzgerald. And he was a great showman, joking with the audience and telling some tales about how his songs got written.

Here's the funny part. We stopped at my Grandpa Mack's house before the Gordon concert- he lives a few blocks from the theater. Let's just say Grandpa is not a music person. "You drove 80 miles to listen to jungle music?" he kept asking. LOL!!! Mom, Dad and I tried explaining that Gordon Lightfoot was a folk musician. "Bah!" Grandpa replied. "It's all jungle music." Dad leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Jungle music? If only Grandpa knew about you going to see Poison and Def Leppard!" ROFLMAO. Yeah.

Two weeks, and Whitesnake (and Judas Priest) are coming to Canandaigua, and I soooo want to go. I LOVE Whitesnake, they, Poison and Motley Crue were my faves in middle school. "Still of the night! Still of the night! Still of the nigggghhhhttt..." Well, we'll see.

Jen

Home, James...

Our wet camping trip is over! Time to go home. The pups were asleep before I even finished packing up the car. Camping is so much fun, but SO much work. The packing/unpacking. Keeping the campsite orderly. Wet and soggy EVERYTHING when it rains. The laundry afterwards. And Jen forgetting to bring her medications... oops. She will be paying for that for the next week. But otherwise? We had a grand ol' time. Two weeks, and we will be in the Allegheny Mountains of Penna! Woot.

Jen

Trip to the ADK Visitor Interpretive Center at Paul Smiths

Our last day of our camping trip, I loaded up Lucy and Clifford and we drove 15-20 miles north to the little hamlet of Paul Smiths. There is an Adirondack Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) which, I take to mean, has a swanky center and lots of well-maintained and documented trails. Because of this, I've never visited before. It seems kind of tame and domesticated...well, I'd rather be out on the trail without other people. But what was appealing this year was that the VIC had a variety of very short trails that would be Lucy-doable. So we went. And I am very VERY glad we did. What a fantastic place!!

I chose the Barnum Brook Trail, a .8 mile long loop, for our hike with Lucy. She started out a bit stiff at first, but then once her joints warmed up she seemed fine. It was overcast and a bit muggy, and towards the end of the trail her breathing was pretty loud (nowadays she pants as loud as a locamotive- a sign of old age?) but she was alert and seemed to enjoy herself the whole time. Her back end is really wobbly, but the trails were so well maintained, she didn't have any trouble at all (no rocks or roots to stumble over)!

The Dynamic Duo-

The Trails had informative signs along the way which unfortunately I couldn't stop to read and study (Clifford sulks and begins his "under the breath whining", which is the most annoying type of whining EVER). And Lucy can't hear well any more, so the only way I can get her to stop is to somehow put pressure on her harness (tug her) which makes me feel bad. So I let her and Cliff lead the way and gave the Interpretive Signs a longing glance as we went by. I know, I know. I'm a sap.

There is a muskrat swimming in the photo below. We sited him from an observation deck, overlooking a bog (or was it a marsh? Or swamp? There is a difference... I think it was a bog). He's in that middle channel.

At the end of the trail, Lucy was more than happy to get a drink from her sippy cup and snooze in the back of the Scion, while Cliff and I did another trail. This one was about 1.1 miles. I forgot what it was called... Forest Ecology trail, maybe? It was a bit more hilly but Cliff took it in stride and was very confident (unlike our hikes this weekend on the FLoodwood Loop, where he was nervous).

The sites were glorious. Fern and moss-covered forest floors. Wet, green forests surrounding black holes of water. Huge bog expanses covered with green grass, mahogany flowers, and red rubbery plant nubbies. Twisted, gray trees. I felt like we were walking through Middle Earth or something- it was spectacular. Thankfully the rain held off, so we could thoroughly enjoy the trip.

Anyway, if you get up to the Northwest Lakes portion of the Adirondacks, I HIGHLY recommend the VIC. I would totally go again. What a great place!

Jen

Kayaking

Thursday it poured ALL DAY LONG.

Friday was threatening, but we decided to "chance it." Mom and Dad have kayaks, and Dad rented me one from Rollins Pond (thanks Dad!). After giving the dogs a thorough workout, we donned our lifejackets and headed on our way.



It was pretty dark, and it drizzled a bit. We went up Fish Creek to Copperas Pond, Little Round Pond, and then eventually Floodwood Pond. It was a beautiful trip and we saw LOTS of wildlife.

I should note that these photos were almost all took with a telephoto lense, but even so it was amazing we could get as close as we did!

Young wood duck! I have NEVER seen wood ducks before....

An Eastern Painted Turtle, basking on a log in Fish Creek...

And Loons! We saw tons of loons. Thanks to my telephoto lense, I could get quite detailed shots...

A River Otter!!....

Whitetail Deer...

Black Duck family...

Another Black Duck, snoozing along the Creek...

Another Loon...

And I couldn't tie things up without this picture. Yes, blue skies made an appearance! It lasted only an hour or two, but was a nice end to the day.

Hiking in the Rain and other Mysteries

This is what it looked like most of our camping trip... gray, drizzle, icky LOL. The forests were totally saturated with water. There are 2 8-9 mile hiking loops that originate from the Fish Creek/Rollins Pond Campground: The Floodwood Loop and the Otter Hollow Loop. These are pics from the Floodwood Loop I hiked a bit with Clifford.



I have to say, Clifford acted very strange most of the weekend. Usually he is a very confident dog, and wouldn't be afraid to go out for a walk in a Nuclear Winter... that's how passionate he is about his walks. And in the campground he WAS confident. But once we got out into the Loop, deep in the woods- he became very timid, afraid, and unsure. You might chalk this up to the miserable weather, but Cliff NEVER lets miserable weather bother him if a walk is involved. I have never seen him like this on any trails ever, and we have hiked hundreds of times since his adoption in 2002, and that includes many times in the Adirondacks.

As I recounted this to my friend Tracy, she suggested, "Maybe he smelled a bear and was nervous."

That could have been the case. Campers are all given bear warnings, and the recyclable and trash centers at the Campground are surrounded with electric bear fences to keep the roamers out. They certainly live in the area. BUT. Get this:

Our first night in the tent, something woke me up, I'd say around 3 AM. Something was walking back and forth in the (empty) campsite next to us. I could tell by the cadence of the sound that whatever it was was bipedal. Of course, the Dateline and 48 Hours fanatic in me automatically was like, "Serial killer! Serial Killer!" Lucy, at almost 13, is mostly deaf and wouldn't have heard a bomb go off under her nose. Clifford has the observation and reactive skills of a pet rock. So of course I lay there in fear, waiting for a knife to slice through the side of my tent and a hand reach in to grab me, no help from my trusty greyhounds.

The footsteps continued, roaming around next door. The curiosity was killing me.

Finally I grabbed my lantern and peeked out of the tent. The light didn't reflect any eyes, so I woke up ricketty Lucy and Clifford and made them go next door with me. The site was empty, and when we went back inside, the footsteps did not continue. The dogs seemed pissed that I had woken them up, and I was pissed that I didn't find out what it was. Wtf?

Of course, after the bipedal footsteps during the night, and then experiencing Clifford's fearfullness walking the Floodwood trail in the woods for the next 2 days... I deducted that there must be (don't laugh) an Eastern Sasquatch in the area. Really, there is no other explanation. Bears don't walk on 2 feet normally, and Clifford is not afraid in the woods. Bipedal footsteps + Scared Clifford= Bigfoot in the area. Maybe the smell of bears in the woods scared Cliff too, but why would bears be walking around on 2 feet, back and forth, around and around, in a campsite? They would walk on 4 feet and then go up on 2 feet to examine stuff.

And wouldn't you know it, when I was watching TV after getting home, there were several specials in a row on Animal Planet about Bigfoot. Is that a sign or what????

I find cryptozoology fascinating and seeing that we were in perfect sasquatch territory... it makes total sense. Of course I could be a total lunatic. But there is something fascinating about imagining a bigfoot roaming around in the Adirondacks, don't you think?

Campground

Few shots fron the campground...

My tent, next to Mom and Dad's camper...


The VIEW from my tent....



Benny and Amos, Mom and Dad's pugs (Alice stayed at home).... they LOVE camping...

Walking the dogs through the strangely empty campground (this NEVER happens. It seems that the weather forcast of rain, rain, rain scared most people from coming out... I don't blame them LOL).

American Black Ducks (which resemble female mallards) were all over the place. They were really brave and of course stalked you for food. Worse than begging dogs!

You will notice that the skies in these pictures, taken the day I arrived, are blue and pretty. This is the LAST day of blue pretty skies. We will have a 2-hour patch of blue and pretty on Saturday afternoon, but otherwise it is gray, drizzly, or pouring rain.

Not that I'm sore about it or anything LOL.

Jen

Northward, Ho-!

We are finally back from our 4-day camping trip to the Northwest Lakes region of the Adirondack Mountains. Suffice to say, it was fun but RAINY. I mean, it poured or threatened to pour the whole time (except the drive up, and for a few hours on Saturday). Oh well. Good weather and camping very rarely mix (especially if you tent camp, then the odds are especially against you).

I bought a Thule Aero400 (4000?)XT Aero roof rack for the Scion. All the reviews said it was easy to install but I couldn't do it, and my Dad who knows how to do everything barely could either. It was a majorly huge PITA and if I had to do it again, I would have gotten the roof rack option when I first purchased the car and had the dealership put it on. Anyway, Dad and I finally got it installed and Dad lent me some of his Army sacks so I didn't get to buy one of those sleek, swanky top-load boxes. I saved a couple hundred bucks but we looked like a poor version of the Clampetts going down the highway, LOL.

The route we took was up Rt. 81 to Watertown, and then east on Rt. 3. I wanted to check out the campground at Cranberry Lake (on Rt. 3 in the ADK's) but forgot. I had this awesome book on tape (er, CD)- "Play Dead", a mystery by David Rosenfelt. I'm not usually a Book on Tape fan for several reasons, but this one was enthralling and the narrator had a voice that fit the main character. It involved a rescued Golden Retriever and lots of shooting, dead people, etc (you know, regular mystery stuff). Kept me rivetted on the 5 hour trip up.

Wild ires all over the roadsides:

A bog off of the Raquette River, off Gull Pond Road. Not sure what mountain is in the background:

The pups and I stopped to hike Moore's Trail in Wanankena as our main potty break on the drive up. This trail winds along the Oswegatchie River which I think is one of the longest rivers in the ADKs? It was absolutely beautiful, but when the dogs tried to go in and cool off, they slipped on the rocks and fell into the rapids which startled them. They like wading in calm water with sandy shores but rocky bottoms and rapids are a bit too much for their delicate sensibilities. It was a beautiful walk, though. I would consider it an "easy" walk but there were roots and rocks to step over, and Lucy lost steam fast. I don't think we walked more than a quarter mile in all, but it was a good enough potty break. Too bad we couldn't do more, it was so pretty.

A pond near Wanakena. After the Oswegatchie debacle, I stopped off so the dogs could wade in here, where it was calm with a sandy bottom for good footing. Neither were interested. I guess they had cooled off enough.

Ah, our first wildlife siting! A Ruffed Grouse, near the campground headquarters. I quickly pulled over and ran after her with the camera, but didn't see her again. Like the telephone wire seemingly sticking out of her head? If I was good at Photoshop, I would edit that out LOL.

And finally... at the campgrounds!

My First Interview!

Wow, I was so honored to be interviewed about my art and the creative process for The Printsy Street Team's Blog, which highlights Printmakers who sell their woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, drypoints, etc. on Etsy.

Link to my interview here.

This totally made my day. Thanks Amie!!! :o)

-Jen

Our New Tent!

Gosh darn it, I just did a long post about our hike at the Erie Canal this weekend but Blogger had a hiccup and lost it all. I'm too tired to repost, so this will have to do....



.... our new tent! It is a Coleman Sundome and sleeps 6 people (that should fit me, Cliff, Lucy and all our gear right?). At Iowa Greyhound's suggestion I looked into Eureka, but a 6 person Eureka tent would have cost $400-500. So we went with Coleman (this one was on sale for $99 at Bass Pro) and a nice tub of Seam Seal, LOL.

As soon as I put the tent up (our "dry run" in the backyard)... Lucy went in and promptly fell asleep. Apparently it gets 2 paws up!

Tomorrow we leave for our first camping trip of the season. I am sooo excited, even though it is supposed to rain the whole time. :o( But I have lots of books, art supplies, and we practically have a MANSION now (our last tent could barely fit us... this one would fit 2 queen size mattresses, a cot, and I can stand up on the inside! Woot! Rain all you want, I'll have fun anyway!). The Scion is packed (and fitted with its new Thule Roof Rack!), everything is ready except the cooler, and we will be leaving first thing in the morning. The drive to Fish Creek in the Northern Adirondack Mountains is about 4 1/2 hours and so it'll be 5 for us the way I drive (and all our pee stops). We'll be joining my parents and two of their 3 pugs, Amos and Alice. It will be so fun to hang out with them for 4 days. I'm so lucky, I have two of the best parents in the world!

I cleaned the lenses of my camera and am going to take a gazillion pictures, so stay tuned. CANNOT WAIT!

Jen

Heron and Frogs- Sketch in Progress...

Thanks everyone for your input- I am going to go with the Green Heron and Frogs for the "Printmakers Gone Wild" exchange! Although I just re-sketched my heron (I'm on lunch break at the office)- I think this pose is a bit more exciting and dynamic, don't you think? And a bit more heron-like (compared to the demented mutated chicken/heron hybrid in my drawing from the other day! LOL). Needs a bit more work, but I'm getting there.

I just ordered a poopload of Golden Cut Linoleum (or is it Wonder Cut? It's one of the brown linoleums) from Dick Blick. I have been using MDF as carving material for the past 2 years but I'm finding MDF a bit restrictive because I have to go to my parent's house to cut it. And my father refuses to let me use the huge Circular Saw machine to cut it myself, HE has to use it because it is "dangerous." Now granted, I just turned 32 yesterday, I'm not a kid anymore!!! Dad, it chaps my hide that you won't let me use the Circular Saw myself! But then I remember that 3 years ago I ran my hand through the sewing machine and my finger was impaled by the needle (accident, I wasn't paying attention) and then last year I ran my hand through my steel printing press and my fingers were crushed between the steel bed and steel roller (accident, I wasn't paying attention) and I think, "well, maybe Dad is right not to let me use the circular saw" LOL.

Anyway, Linoleum should be easier for me to cut at home (using a manageable x-acto knife) and it SMELLS absolutely DELIGHTFUL (almost as nice as the smell of oil paints and mineral spirits and turpentine) so I'm pretty excited. Debating to do the Reductive method which is my usual OR try multi-block... which would make it easier if I have goof-ups because then you just re-do the block you've goofed... you don't have to start over from the beginning... and I am the Queen of Goof-Ups.

And speaking of birds and linocuts, I just ordered this book. Doesn't it look fabulous?? It has just been reprinted- been OOP for several years- I am stoked. Looks really inspirational.

I have a boatload of photos at home to upload to the blog but unfortunately my Wireless Router cords suffered some damage upon encounter with a renegade boxcutter during my downstairs bedroom renovation this week (again- it was an accident)- so I am currently off-line after hours. Hoping to find a new cord at Staples this weekend.

Anyway, that's it for now. Ten more minutes of lunch break to work on the frogs!

Jen

Possibilities...

I am working on a woodcut for my Wetcanvas Printmakers Gone Wild Exchange (which I am coordinating as well- ta da!). I am thinking to do either a landscape of Bear Swamp (top) or a Green Heron with some swimming froggies. The Exchange is open to either- the topic (which I am now kicking myself for making so broad) is to do a print, relief or intaglio, based on a wilderness theme- landscape, wild animal, etc.

The Bear Swamp landscape bores me a bit. I mean... it would be a beautiful landscape (if I can make it work... ha!) but ... I dunno. The Green Heron and frogs would be more fun but also more challenging... I could do it in less colors, but there is more chance to goof up, I think. I've never drawn frogs or a Green Heron before. I'm terrified I will do something wrong... for instance... I remember hearing one time that a bird has 16 primary feathers? So do I HAVE to do exactly 16 primary feathers? If I fudge it a bit, will Real Bird People look at my Heron and scoff?? Will Herp people look at my frog and think, "Damn, what the hell type of frog is that?" or, "That type of frog doesn't live in the same region as a Green Heron!" etc etc?

Anyway, I am feeling rather nervous about it all.

Oh, and Lucy's woodcut? I have to do it all over. Messed up the fourth reduction but it has been giving me the Bad Vibes (something about those damn dandelions) for a week now so I'm Okay with starting over. (right? you're okay with it, right?). ARRRG- I HATE DO-OVERS!!!!! Just for the record...

We will see.

Anyway... votes either way? Landscape or Heron? And anyone wanting to give comments/critiques on these are welcome...especially if my Heron and frog are REALLY EMBARRASSING. I've been staring at them for so long now that I can't tell anymore.

Jen