I’m not sure how this happens, since Monday is theoretically my “quiet” (or at least less busy) day, but it seems that most Monday evenings it’s all I can do to get to the computer, stressed and tired, to try and knock out a blog post, having spent the day rushing from point to point doing any number of other things on the one day a week I don’t go to the barn and/or ride. Tonight is no different, except that I *did* go to the barn this evening, contrary to my usual. I am looking after a friend’s horse that gets more exacting care than my horse does, and who needs to be tended to Monday or no Monday.
I couldn’t go this afternoon as I had to spend the day at home waiting for the garage-door-fixer guy to appear, which he finally did around 4 PM. I wasn’t about to deal with the end-of-work-day traffic to get out to the stables, so I rushed out after supper to do horse duty. A few blocks from home on my return trip, I realized I was essentially out of gas (that explained the “new” amber light on the dashboard display), and a trip to the gas station was a necessity, but first I had to go home to get my purse, where I found a small crowd standing in my driveway, consisting of my friend from down the street and *her* friends, some visiting from Australia, who were interested in a studio tour. I’m always happy to show people my studio, if they are hardy types not put off by chaos and the dogs, so we had a nice visit, then I really did have to go out and get gas, knowing as I do that if I put *that* off until tomorrow, I’d forget all about it and get nicely onto a multi-lane freeway before I ran out. So, here I am, a bit winded and with my head spinning, but by gosh I’m getting the blog out tonight!
Fridays lately tend to the surreal. In my previous post it was the Friday smoke day, this past week was the car crash on the corner. I was all set to go riding when I realized, the hard way, that the garage door had ceased functioning and my vehicle was trapped inside the garage at least until Jim could get home from work several hours hence. Feeling rather irritated by this turn of events, I was in our bedroom changing out of my riding clothes when I heard a tremendous crash, followed by dramatic shrieking. I got to a window as fast as I could, to see that a truck and a smallish car had collided at “our” corner. At least two people that I could see were already on cell phones calling for help, and the three “active” participants in the crash were all on their feet and mobile, so I didn’t feel my assistance would be required or particularly helpful. In a very short time the entire scene become rather circus-like, with four police cruisers, one fire engine, one ambulance, many emergency personnel, and a large number of neighbours with dogs, all crowding the intersection. The action continued for a considerable time, with a tow-truck eventually joining the throng.
One of the most interesting aspects of this whole situation, for me, was the fact that my dogs continued to doze on our bed for the entirety of this “street theatre” performance, coming to life only when one of my photo clients touched our front-door mailbox to retrieve a CD I had left there for her. As soon as they heard that, both boys came boiling up out of the lower level, barking hysterically and ready to defend their territory. Apparently they feel their security duties end at our property line. Anything beyond that isn’t part of their job description!
Summer, such as it was, is winding down here already and we are getting down to single digit temperatures (Celsius) many nights. I’m afraid to look at the zucchini patch for fear of what might be lurking in there, and the pumpkin planted in the compost is making a serious bid for total yard domination. For whatever reason (maybe they *like* no sun, vast amounts of rain and cool temperatures for weeks on end) this year was a spectacular one for lilies in our yard. They bloomed profusely, colourfully, and for an extended period of time. Shot one shows an overview of the yard (shot from the studio balcony) with one of the very large oriental lilies in bloom. It’s the white object in the upper right quadrant of this shot, near the large garbage pails. The garbage pails aren’t attractive, but they do give an idea of the scale of the lilies. Pretty well all the greenery in the fenced area is zucchini, with the exception of the strawberry quadrant in the lower right, which is mostly weeds. What was I thinking when I planted that many zucchini? It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually, now that I think about it, it was so darn cold and wet when I planted them that I really didn’t expect any of them to grow, and once they showed the fortitude to continue to live, I didn’t have the heart to dispose of any of them, good idea though it would have been.
Shot two shows the same lily up close.
We’ve had Mogo the mini-Dachsund as a house guest for a while, although for the moment he’s back home again. Here he is in his “little Prince” mode, enjoying the comforts of the couch that the dogs who actually live here aren’t allowed to get on, although I know they do when I’m not home!

There was a dressage show at Ebon on the weekend, so I logged quite a few hours getting client shots at the show ring. This shot, however, was of a non-competitor in one of the other rings, just having a ride and enjoying the beautiful day. Good thing she chose Saturday to do that, as by Sunday it was darn cold, cloudy, and ultimately raining. Saturday, though, was about as lovely a day for a horse show or any other activity as a person could imagine.

As I was heading back to the show ring, I looked down at the ground and saw this early harbinger of the fall to come. You can see in shot four that this lovely big tree already has quite a bit of yellow in it. I’m not sure if we are going to get an early fall, or if this is the result of stress from the very difficult summer the trees (and the rest of us) have endured.
And a personal note to end with. This past week saw the departure of my sister and her husband, moving to points west (Vancouver Island) after living only a few blocks from us for the better part of the last three decades. It’s kind of hard to get my mind around them being gone, even though they’ve been actively downsizing and getting the move underway for quite a while. Now it’s a done deal and they’re off to new adventures. I wish them well and look forward to seeing their new place and having a good excuse to head that far west for visits.
One last thing–here’s the early heads up that Art at Ebon, the one-day fall art show now in its third year, will take place again this year at Ebon Stables on Saturday September 11th, 11AM-5PM. I’ll have the poster in next week’s blog, complete with directions to Ebon. It’s been a fun show and very well received by the public in the two previous years, and as long as the weather co-operates (certainly not a given!!) we should be set for another good show, complete with twelve artists, lots of original art in a variety of media, horses, and food and drink available at the concession. What more could one ask for?

©Copyright 2010 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.