Brooke's Fifth Birthday

I arrived with a plate of fresh blueberry scones in hand to the party spot...Brooke's backyard.

Someone else was waiting for the action to begin.

 Well, when you're waiting for action and hungry, go to the vine and help yourself! Their grapes are still a little tart but the vines are hanging with green goodness!

 

A fairy theme was Brooke's choice this year and she was waiting patiently by the homemade strawberry cupcakes made by her mama...from scratch (thanks to Martha Stewart) with fresh strawberries in the cupcakes and strawberry puree in the icing. They were amazing!

Finally the most important guests arrived...the kids! They began decorating fairy wands. Riley arrived in pixie costume and Oliver donned a cape.

 Then it was time for some serious playing in the yard...it was very warm by 11:00 but the kids didn't mind and the trees provided some great shade.

Oliver found the gloves and headed for the swing ~ a Super Hero!

 The adults enjoyed some conversation.

 

And the food was served: Mini ham and egg tarts, fruit kabobs, scones and fresh from Britta's garden veggies (cukes and green pepper).

 

Happy Birthday to you, Brooke. She blew out all five candles!

Yum...that frosting tastes amazing!

After opening many presents, the party came to an end and we headed into the house for some air conditioned play time with the new gifts. They were all hits!

Digging Out

 John decided to dig out the trailer so he could go out to Alaska Marine Lines to pick up the new dishwasher.

He got out the adz and numerous shovels. It took no time at all (well, not quite) to dig free. I helped briefly with the adz and then cleaned off the boat. The rain is making the snow quite heavy.

 The water down in the gully was rushing under the snow and ice.

John called from AML. He arrived to pick up the dishwasher with the trailer and the guy wondered how he was going to fit all of the freight on that little thing. We had five appliances awaiting pickup...too bad they weren't ours! The very bad part for us was that the dishwasher we had ordered wasn't part of the shipment. Wonder if it will arrive before we leave?

When It Snows, Make...

...Snow Grandmas!

I had gone out to help John shovel the driveway, to find him just finishing up. Adam had come by with the plow and had taken care of the major snow. After cleaning the deck I decided to do a little playing.

The snow was fairly dry, except for the top layer, so it wasn't easy to get her rolled. Sure was  nice to be wearing my nice warm mittens that Annie knit!

She needed hair so some primrose leaves were handy. I didn't want to waste the twigs so I added them to the crown of her head and it made a tiara!

Back Door Visitors

We'd like to have lunch!

John was on the phone talking with Wally when he yelled at me to come to the door. He said someone wanted to talk to me and he didn't know who they were. Grrrrr!

What's he doing?

This one was wondering what John was up to on the computer. He was saying how cute they were and that he really would like to feed them!

Please!!!

 This guy was getting up close and personal about it all...how could I resist those begging eyes? EASY!!   Well, not really easy but I didn't want to start another bad habit.

 

Bare pantry at this back door.

They finally got the hint...no food was coming.

Are you sure you won't feed me?

And off they went...

Looking for food

This morning visitor was looking for food in muskeg with snow up to it's tummy.

Beyond the Lines

"Beyond the Lines," an art show featuring 

Pia Reilly and John McCabe was held at the Clausen Museum in Petersburg, Alaska. The artist's reception, October 14, 2011, was well attended. (To enlarge the image, click on the photo.)

Pia and Jim

 John

 

  

   

   

JOHN  (watercolor)

 JOHN  top - (colored pencil, ink, graphite)

bottom - (graphite/colored pencil)

JOHN  (colored pencil)

JOHN  (colored pencil)

 

JOHN (above), PIA (below)

oil on canvas

  JOHN  (oil on canvas)

 PIA   (oil on canvas)

JOHN (left & upper right), PIA (lower right)

oil on canvas


[MORE PHOTOS  =  click "read more"]

Praying Mantis

This praying mantis has been happy in my rose garden eating insects... I happened upon it, in the heat of the afternoon, and ran in to grab my camera. Of course I was trying to get the macro set up and missed the shot of it clasping on to a hornet-type insect.

 The rose is Pascali.

Topping that Tree

Mr. Stevens finishes the job...meanwhile I have a conversation on the street with Joelle about the brown bear cub that has been making the rounds in Petersburg.

Logging

Don Stevens has been a busy guy lately. He has been limbing trees in preparation for downing them. Using spikes on his boots and a harness around his waist, he climbs the tree, cutting as he goes. It has been fascinating to watch the progress. Little by little we've been seeing more of Petersburg Mountain appear.  It will be nice for Wally and Colleen's yard; the winter sun will shine through.

 

One limb down!

 

 

My "snapping finger" wasn't quick enough to catch the falling limbs so I did a short video.  Amazing how he moves around those huge limbs!

Petersburg

Well, I'm back for two weeks... rainy as ever! 

The muskeg has begun to rust up. I watched three deer bed down in the backyard the other day. They are pretty tame as I was able to walk up within 6 feet of this one.