Winter? What Winter?

Well, so much for Winter.

Over the past few weeks we’ve had normal or above normal temps, sunny skies and only the occasional flurry or two. Normally I wouldn’t be complaining about this but we’re only in the middle to end of February and there’s still at least a month left of Winter.

"Dynamic Duo" ACEO
Coloured pencil on Mi-Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

I know, you say :”Well thank goodness there’s only about a month left!” But wait, dear reader, this is a problem. Why? Because there’s hardly any snow cover (and the little snow we did get yesterday will have melted by the end of the day today) and I have Spring bulbs poking up in my front flower bed.

Spring bulbs!!!

That's right, even Mother Nature has had enough
of the piddly Winter we've been having.

I love flowers and I’m looking forward to seeing them again but they’re not going to last if they’re trying to come up now and we get a cold snap. I have yet to venture towards our larger pond where the pussy- willows live but I plan on walking that way this week-end to see if they’ve started blooming as well.


Oh, who am I kidding. Bring on Spring! Winter has gotten tired and boring (and really, what fun is Winter without snow to play in) and I’m ready to see some flowers and colour.

More art this week-end!

Is it safe to come back out?

Wow. It's been awhile, eh?

So the wedding is done and life has returned to normal... relatively speaking, of course.

In fact, I’m writing this post from the comfort of my kitchen table on my new laptop that was given to me by my awesome brother as a wedding gift (thanks Mike!!)

It’s fantastic because I can do computer stuff from anywhere in the house (the kitchen being my fav location so far) and I can look outside at the horses in the paddocks and make myself a sandwich at the same time. What can I say? I’m a wild and crazy multi-tasker.

During my hiatus I must confess that there were times that I really missed blogging. I enjoy writing and sharing my art and reading the comments that folks leave as well as the email I receive from folks that are perhaps too shy to post comments.

On top of not having the time I wanted to dedicate to blogging I didn’t get to do a lot of art either. I’ve been taking courses at the local college via correspondence so that’s taken up quite a bit of my time and there was also the Lilac Tea back in May which, I’m happy to report, was a great success.

Lest we forget, it’s also gardening season which as regular readers will know, next to art is a fanatical passion of mine. All in all, I’ve been very productive over the past few months doing non- art related things and because of that I’m very, very eager to return to my creative endeavours.

It’s just a brief post today to get myself back in the swing of all things having to do with wasting bandwidth. So, to leave off, may I present some pics of myself and my new husband (the last one is my fav because it looks like I'm harping on him ;) ). Enjoy!! :D

Awwww, that's so cute it's making me ill.

Oooh... purty!

What do you mean you're staying here to have a drink with "the guys"!?

Where the Wild Things Are

What was it I said in a previous post? The fun (or was it weirdness?) never ends for an artist living on a farm? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was something like that...

What also never ends when living on a farm with woodlands is the endless sightings of wildlife and close encounters of the heart-pounding kind. However, this time there were no mylar balloons involved, I’m happy to say.

"The Last Bale" ACEO
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Let me preface this post by saying that I love wildlife and getting up close to an animal, particularly one that you wouldn’t normally be able to, is exciting and educational as long as you exercise caution and don’t do something stupid like try to pick its nose. That said, when the animal itself takes the liberty of coming closer to you with very little hesitation it can be a bit nerve wracking to say the least and that educational experience can quickly turn into an event that results in one having to change one’s pants... if you get my meaning. So here’s where my tale begins...


On Monday morning Rosebud and I were out walking in the woods as we normally do. We made our way back into the hardwoods and as we were rounding the corner to head back I heard some rustling over the fenceline. I looked over and through the trees I saw a tawny coloured animal and I remember thinking to myself: “Oh look! A baby deer! Awww, isn’t that adora... wait. That’s not a deer...”
It looked at me and I realized I was looking at a coyote, a rather large coyote, with a rabbit hanging out of it’s mouth. Yum.

"Arctic Gaze"
8x10, coloured pencil on Mi- Teintes
Copyright Rita Woodburne

It was at this point that Rosebud also saw the coyote and decided that it might be a good idea to chase it at which point I yelled at her resulting in her stopping, the coyote running and then her wanting to go after it again.

Apparently this coyote was hell bent on getting to the other side of the property because it back-tracked, hopped over the fence line towards us, went back over again when Rosebud went after it again (which is odd because she’s about half the size of the coyote) and then finally just when we thought it had high-tailed it out of there it crossed about 6 feet in front of us. And again... Rosebud went after it. I, in turn, went after Rosebud yelling her name and to “... get your fuzzy little hiney back here! That doggie isn’t for playing with!!”



After our exciting excursion through the woods the rest of the day was, at best, uneventful if not simply downright dull. Since then we haven't seen anymore coyotes although we have heard them and just earlier this morning the radio reported that a black bear had been spotted a few towns over from us.

Yup, the fun and excitement never ends...