i know they were too small but...

I just couldn't help myself. I've been eyeing the radishes for weeks. They are supposed to be ready for harvesting somewhere around 23 days after planting but lots of rain and too little warmth had slowed their growth this year. They are so close to being ready that I just couldn't wait any longer so I sent Sage out to the garden and after careful consideration he picked a few of the biggest he could find and we had them on our salad with dinner tonight. They were delicious harbingers of summery goodness which seems to be arriving a little more fully ever day. We planted three types of radishes each about a week apart so we'll have plenty more to munch on raw with butter and sea salt but for now just that little taste was enough. I found time to clean out my studio over the long weekend and I'm planning to spend the better part of tomorrow painting. If that actually happens I'll see you here with new work later in the week. But enough about me...what are you up to this week?

Quietly working on living out loud...

in the garden

lush and lovely

(waking to beauty)

Another week almost gone and a long weekend just around the corner as a warm up to summer vacation. I feel ready for less structure, ready to stop making lunches, ready to just be in the moment more often than the crazy end of the school year allows. Summer I'm ready to welcome your warm ease and long days. But for now, I am here quietly working on living out loud as an artist, a mother, a wife, a daughter and a friend as the rain falls and the wind howls for the way-too-manyeth-day-in-a-row. The two tiny paintings are an ode to the summer days ahead. Be well and have a lovely weekend peeps : )

nesting (literally)...

After lots of discussion, much excitement and plenty of paperwork preparations are under way for the arrival of four baby chicks in just under two weeks. Last October, the city we live in passed an ordinance allowing households to apply for a permit to keep up to six hens (no roosters) and we were smitten with the idea of chickens and fresh eggs. Lots went on in our home between then and now but as soon as we knew we were staying here for good we picked up where we left off in the application process. There were lots of hoops to jump through and we are in the final stage which is to build the coop to city specifications and have it approved by the health inspector. We are building this coop (reversed and slightly larger) with bare bones plans and are still searching for just the right used windows. I started staining the frame dark slate grey yesterday and am loving the way it looks in the yard. The chicks will live in a brooding box in the laundry room (which is fully tiled for easy clean up) for the first six weeks which gives us plenty of time to make their coop solid, predator proof and gorgeous. I'll be sure to share photos of the four little sweeties once they arrive and can only say that the excitement level around here is growing daily and that name selection is almost finalized. It's rainy and cold today which is the perfect time to get back in the studio and work on two pieces I started over the weekend. Have a lovely week and I'll see you here Friday.

this week...

teaching

learning

growing

(it's all good here and I hope the same is true in your neck of the woods...)

New work x 3...

of all the hats she wore (the unexpected ones were the most fun)

sliding into the sea (her dreams were full of clarity and heavy with flowers)

the butterfly effect (she dreamt that change was coming)

Have a lovely weekend

&

Happy Happy Mother's Day!

Greetings from the middle of the week...

Thank you for all the lovely Birthday wishes. Thanks to my beautiful family and sweet friends I had an amazingly relaxing and fun filled day which is just what I needed. There were a few goodies from Anthropologie thrown in(see the cute skirt?), a new journal(much needed), a bit of encaustic paint(what a gorgeous color!), a milk frother(love it) and a less complicated and totally awesome mandoline (thanks Mom) and a new book which may come in handy soon. We are taking out the sandbox in the photo and building a special little something in the space behind it. Can you guess what it is? I'm very excited about getting the garden boxes back in business after our snowy mishap which claimed the lives of the blue lake beans (rabbits also managed to eat most of the rainbow chard). The radishes, beets and carrots have sprouted and are almost ready to be thinned and yesterday I picked up some organic seeds for micro greens and mixed baby greens which I'm going to plant today. Phoebe is on a 3-day class trip and both boys are home with the same miserable cold I have but a little fresh air and sunshine will do us all some good in our sneezy, sniffly condition. I hope Spring is ready to stick around for real this time : )