I spy...

...a wee baby bunny in the leaves underneath the ancient lilac...and just to the left of where she's hidden, there's a bit of fluff where the nest is...and possibly there's a little round and brown bottom of a sibling tucked under the leaves...


...she sat very still for her portrait this morning...I love the little white spot on her head...

My kitty boys were out yesterday, enjoying the beautiful day, it was Crouching Tigger-Hidden Pooh who I discovered stalking the nest (I knew about the nest, I wasn't sure of it's exact location)...I scooped up the tabby and put him back inside...found the Fatty-Woo and took him in too...now Max...I have to keep the doggy's nose out of there (he helped point it out to Tiggy-Pooh!) He adores baby bunnies, he loves picking them up and bringing them to me (he thinks I'm a good mommy and must take care of it), but there's no mommy better than a bunny mommy for baby bunnies...and these babies will stay where they lay...

I worked in the garden yesterday, did some painting, did a little bit of writing (I'm revisiting the work in progress, Layers of Illusion) , it's been a lovely weekend...

Dusty Waters received another excellent review this week (posted on Amazon and Goodreads!) and it is now on 203 peoples To-Read list since that fine review, and two more copies have sold...I have to say, my little self-publishing experiment has been a success... literary fiction is a tough sell, and I'm glad that so many have found it interesting enough to add my little ghost story to their list and the ones who have bought it or received it through my giveaways have been generous with their reviews. I'm looking to have my second novel The Fractured Hues of White Light ready sometime in May, I'm still working on book cover ideas, so far nothing has "sparked" or "sparkled"...it'll come...

I have a book signing coming up on May 1st at Fat Cats in Johnson City, NY...it's National Free Comic Book Day...and it's Derby Day too, it's going to be a good day.

It's Summer in August...and we have a guest...

An August sunrise through clouds...mighty glorious out there...

We have a "guest" in our house...ain't it cute? The little sweetie is very sleepy in this picture...


This little peep's nest happened to be in the weeds next to our burn pile, my Fred touched it off on Thursday after clearing away a significant bit of brush, and the nest was unfortunately too close (I was told that one had died and another was plucked from the ashes and put off to the side into the weeds.) Well, on Friday morning Max found this little guy, hiding in the weeds by our shed, singed, but mostly okay, though scared, yes, very scared, the frightened scream of a baby bunny is an awful thing to hear! (Max loves baby bunnies, he's been known to gently carry them in his mouth, and bring them to me.) I scooped it up from the weeds and tucked it inside my apron pocket until it calmed down (which it did right away, it needed a place to hide.) I went about my business with it riding in there, including feeding the cats (they had no clue, it smells too smoky!) I made coffee...found a box, a soft bit of flannel, an eye dropper, made up a batch of sugar water...then I settled down and looked over the poor waif inside my pocket. The worst of the singed fur is on top of its head, the black is the downy insulating fluff close to the skin...the skin is thankfully unharmed. At first, it didn't want any part of the eye dropper, but it willingly licked water off my fingers, and butted my hands with its nose looking for a place to hide. The first 24 hours of baby bunny rehab is always touch and go (I've done this before with success)...I had my doubts, figuring by morning we'll know which way this was going to go, so I made a snug little bed inside the box, it burrowed in and slept all day, by evening, it was perkier, less afraid, took more sugar water with the dropper. It was nibbling on greens by my bedtime and exhibited a spunky attitude. So the sweet little pea is with us until he (or she?) is a little bigger...and furrier...I've been giving the peep "finger baths" every day (dipping my fingers in luke warm water and ruffling the fur...the little guy gets frisky afterwards!) I cradle the little jumping bean in my hands (it seems to like my hands well enough), and I love feeling the bunny's little heart pounding lickety-split! It's calm and warm, smells very smoky...but appears to be thriving, greens go in one end and tiny poo out the other as it should be. I anticipate releasing it by Labor Day the latest...yes, I've done this before, it's the right thing to do...wild bunnies belong in the wild...I can only hope for the best...

Another morning done...another hot summer afternoon on the porch with the portable studio table, new paintings in progress...and spending time on my laptop editing The Fractured Hues of White Light...I'm working on the final polish before publishing it...it feels good knowing that it will go from my hands and into the hands of readers soon...how liberating...