Procrastination... thy name is Shelley

Yup. I have been a very bad blogger, lol. But... because I am being a PROCRASTINATOR right now, ie putting off work, I will give you a brief update on what I'm up to.

Been doing a lot of cardmaking. Such instant gratification and satisfaction in playing with pretty papers, colours and shapes and creating something someone loves for the work that went into it.

Also, managed to get a few paintings done. Finished my parrot triptych. Willow had done a series of two beautiful parrot heads and in my wisdom, lol, I thought it needed a third. So I adapted one of her past designs and added the red macaw head study. Now to hang them together... when I get back.

Back? Well, I'm off to Toronto (Mississauga specifically) to the Coast to Coast Painting Convention to set-up and manage a booth. Right now I should be packing and organizing, but I heard the sparrows and finches twittering in the trees in the backyard, so thought it an optimal time to fill their feeder and see what I could attract. Off I went. No sooner had I put it up, when the trees filled and the twittering began in earnest and as soon as I was securely indoors, the smaller birds descended on the feeder. Beats the raucous noise that those grackles make which is the bird that takes over in my yard. So far this morning... no sign of them. They seem to congregate in and around the yard midday. I am not going to fill the more open feeder for now as they and the squirrels will just empty it within minutes. But in a bit, I will go out and fill the finch feeder with niger.

So... guess I've procrastinated enough for now. I'm going to close this quick post so I can print off some schedules for the booth and price lists and start organizing. Just wanted to let y'all know I'm still alive and kicking. Barely, lol. Still in the midst (almost 2 weeks now) of a major case of laryngitis - only got a little croaky voice back the last couple days, and recovering from a ripped muscle in my calf. How did I do either of those? Well, the "voice" was from a day of shopping in the states in and out of warm, stuffy, dry, smelly (perfumes, air sprays, etc) stores. Asthma set in and didn't move from my vocal cords. The calf? Well, chasing the dogs up the back steps on Monday last week I heard/felt a "pop" that dropped me to my knees. Yup, ripped a muscle in the back of my calf. Ouch. It's healing okay, but will take time. At least I can walk reasonably well on it now with minimal discomfort so should be able to get around the show. Some might've thought I was "faking", but the huge, livid bruise on my calf kinda blew that theory, lol.

Okay... off I go and I'll try to be better at posting.

~ Shelley

P.S. - the picture of me is a recent one, a "self-portrait" if you like, lol. It's a little grainy, but not a bad pic. Whatever did we do before digital cameras when we wanted to goof around, lol?