Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Ode to Owls...

Ceramic Owl TV Lamp Vintage Design In Turquoise

Eagle. embroidered decorative throw pillow

Owls Art Belt Buckle

OOAK felted slippers Forest Story ECO

Owl Art - Mice On My Mind

Owlways Print

Fantastic 3D Owl Family Portrait Wall Hanging Sculpture - Simon Harris - UK - EnglishPreserves

FINE SILVER OWL NECKLACE...ONE OF A KIND

Dreaming

Owl Bobby Pins Set, Raspberry, Vanilla, and Cream

Making Plans Mini Dress

Ok, this last one is for more than just the owl.
(although it is a pretty kick ass owl lantern and I am totally jealous!)
I am TRUELY and MADLY in love with iheartfink and aspire to own one of their AMAZINGLY FABULOUS hand made creations!
Anyhooooo...
This is a list of all the owly things I have saved in my etsy favorites in the past few months.
I have been waiting to have enough to have a fully collaged post,
so here it is!
Enjoy!
...Brittafly...

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Soggy Tuesday

Ok.
Today we had to spend a good amount of time digging trenches to reroute water that started pouring into our house!
- We had about 2 inches in our "basement" which is actually ground level under the stairs, we now having a swimming pit there-
It was also pooling in the yard
(there was literally a waterfall coming down the stone steps outside and down the hill and over the stone wall along the side of the house)
from how much it has been raining out,
Other than that, I spent the majority of the afternoon looking for some new music...
This is a difficult task for me because
I am terrible and finding things to listen to, watch or read because either:
1. I get absolutely nothing from the descriptions that are supposed to be helpful in giving a good idea of what you might be listening to...
2. I have to actually listen to the album the whole way through a few times before I actually know if I like it...
or
3. All of the above.
In my searching, I did actually find some new music that I like ok as well as some music that I already knew I liked,
but I was extremely happy to find this artist!
Welcome to Emiliana Torrini:


And of course, I am totally in love with Iceland and so many things that come from it!
Like Sigur Ros...
And this sweater.
Its called a lopapeysa and you can learn about them here.
...
But really, I am very happy!
Emiliana has a great collections of videos, too!
I was going to post the one with the marionettes called Heartstopper, but I liked the song I posted better.

Emiliana Torrini














Isn't she lovely?
What kind of music do you like?
What have you been listening to?
Let me know...
Hope you are enjoying your day!
P.S. I am happy to announce that the swimming pit is on its way to being reduced to a puddle! Hooray!

Monday, March 29, 2010

My Sunday...

So yesterday was our friend Spencer's birthday!
Spencer just got back from being in Portland, OR. for 3 1/2 months and we are so happy because we missed him! (and by we I mean ALL of us and the pups!)
So we went into the city (Boston) for some food, pastries from the North End and a visit to the Paper Source...
LOOOOVE Paper Source!
He also found someone in the city who sounds the THE guy to bring a typewriter to for a tune up and get ink from, but alas, he was not open on sunday!
Another day, I guess...
So anyways, here are some photos of the day...
I always forget to take pictures until it is too late, so it is not the best documentation, but some photos none the less.

First we went in and I was reeeeaaaally hungry so we got food first, we went to this place called Red Bones which had all sorts of BBQ and a bit of southern style.
It was really good, but in my hunger I didn't get any pics...
But I did get a pic of this sign down the street which I thought was great!

sounds fun, no? ha, ha, ha!
We walked around a little and went in this store called Magpie.
I got a few cute post cards and some buttons...


These photos of them aren't that great, sorry.

There was a paper source down the street, but we decided to go across town to a different one that I hadn't been to yet...

Here is part of the drive.
Spencer is driving because he knows where he is going (he used to live in the city) and we didn't.
I got these cute owl stickers there!

Not sure why the photo didn't rotate, oh, well!

Then we drove to the North End for some Italian pastries...
I love driving in the city when I can be a passenger because I like to look at the building and in the windows (not in a creepy way).
To get to the North End we had to drive through one of the nice areas with all the brownstone buildings.
So beautiful!

I kept missing the shots of the really nice ones, but these are nice, too!
Like where Bill Cosby would have lived!

Sorry for the blur, the car was moving, ha ha ha!

Then we got to the North End and it was really busy and it is really narrow.
But there are lots of great photo ops...

People in Boston drive like they are all insane!
(actually I think that is most of New England, he he)

More blur...
Here is Andy when we got out of the car.
He actually let me take a nice photo of him.
Usually he is a total butthead about photos unless he is in or with the puppets.
But I really like this one!

I kept trying to get a good photo of Spencer with out him really knowing, but this was all I could really manage...
Looking at the display in the window while we waited in a line out the door at Modern Pastry.

He is also really tall and I am really short, so I think no matter what my photos would not be right...
Once again, I was too distracted by the idea of eating food to remember to take photos of what we got...
But I did get a pic of how Andy put a sparkler in as a candle because we didn't have any birthday candles.
HA HA HA! ok I officially suck at taking pictures...
But this is kinda fun I think!

And here is Veda taking advantage of Andy looking at Jacob...
She loves food too, especially cake.
Naughty girl!

We finished up the night with past episodes of Fringe (if you didn't know I LOOOVE Fringe, and it mostly takes place and is filmed in or around Boston... Plus I loooooove Joshua Jackson!)
So there you have it, how we spent Sunday!
What did you do?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Birds on the greens - Perfect breakfast set

Did you see this on the front page of etsy today?
I loooooooveeeeee it!!!
so beautiful!
Anyhoo...
I feel like I have totally been slacking, because although I have been posting pictues,
I have been procrastinating an actual post.
It is so strange,
I feel like I have so much to say, but not a clue what to say at the same time!
WHOA!
I had been working on getting stock ready for a craft fair last weekend.
Then our friend, Spencer, came home from Portland (OR.), he was there for 3 1/2 months.
We have been having a great time hanging out with him!
Now, I have been busy working of puppet stuff for a show at the end of April...
But my allergies have kicked in some and by mid day I get super tired, it is so frustating!!!

Oh! And I am so excited!
I finally found a local place to get raw goat milk!!!
YESSSS!!!
No weekly fee, I don't have to get it every week (no commitment) and they milk year round!
I don't know if you have ever had raw goat milk,
But it is AMAZING!
I have literally been dreaming of it since I last got some last summer...
I have been searching and searching for raw diary (especially goat) since the woman at the last place I used to get it (which was really far away) got sick...
...Hopefully she will recover soon...
So hopefully this milk will be as amazingly delicious as the last.
I can't wait to pick it up,
I am going to make pancakes first...
YUM!
...
What have you been up to?
Anything you've been excited about?

Friday, March 26, 2010

0326001746a.jpg


0326001746a.jpg, originally uploaded by Little Owl Arts.

sun on a cloudy day.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

For the Love of Lambs...




All photos via Localharvest.org

Local Harvest is a great source for finding all sorts of
local farm related things.
Find dairy, eggs, meat, veggies, gifts, wool, herbals
and sooo much more!!!

Sunday, March 21, 2010


0321001816.jpg, originally uploaded by Little Owl Arts.

drumming tonight at the Salem Willows...


0321001527.jpg, originally uploaded by Little Owl Arts.


0321001525.jpg, originally uploaded by Little Owl Arts.

sunday afternoon snoozing (veda got a haircut!)

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Sunday Morning Bird Love!









She kept trying to cuddle up to the camera to get some good scritchin' in.
What a love!

Friday, March 19, 2010

GARLIC!!!


0318001101b.jpg, originally uploaded by Little Owl Arts.

Look what made it through the winter! GARLIC!!! I wasn't sure if I had planted it too late, but I guess it was fine, YAY!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I love you Jacob... warning: depressing post


This is our shep mix, Jacob.
I have been having a hard time (well, we all have) because Jakey is having problems with his hind end,
he is dragging his feet and many times doesn't know he is going to the bathroom.
(#2 mostly, thank goodness 'cos it is way easier to clean up)
I have done EVERYTHING,
I have tried EVERYTHING,
and NOTHING works,
or makes him better.

I have spent a countless amount of time and money at the vet,
but no one can tell us for sure what he has going on.
The only conclusion is that he has the mylopathy or neuropathy that sheps get that effects their back end,
what most people think is dysplasia.
It is so sad.
And extremely difficult to deal with.

I feel totally lost, I am at the point where I can't even think straight, let alone make any more decisions.
And in the past week or two, he has gotten worse. He has been leaning and more wobbly.
Luckily, he doesn't seem to be in any real pain, maybe some discomfort and definitely weakness.
But still, my heart is breaking because I know what this means.
It means I can't fix him.

It means that he will most likely have to say goodbye to him before he is an old man (even though he looks old and we don't really know for sure, he is probably around 8).
I know it is not right now,
and not tonight,
or tomorrow,
but most likely sooner than later.
And that crushes me.

We have had Jacob going on 6 years,
we "unintentionally" rescued him when Andy found him skinny, scruffy and beat up wandering around the state beach he was working at.
We think someone threw him (maybe literally) out on the highway...
We thought he was old, and we were supposed to just "hold onto him" until someone claimed him.
They were going to put him down.
So in that sense, he has been alive much longer than if he was left to another fate.
But my heart still hurts.

Everyday I have to watch him get worse and struggle (although I am not sure he fully realizes it because he still wants to run around and does a pretty good job of it).
And he gets weaker.
I am so sorry for this horribly depressing post, but I just had to let it out.
I went to school for herbal medicine,
I have done everything that I can,
but it still doesn't seem like enough.
Jacob is the sweetest,
most gentle,
most amazing rescue we could ever have dreamed of finding
(even when we weren't looking, ha ha ha!)

And he has a wonderful life here.
I am so proud of how he has grown here with us.
He came from being a dog that was fairly aloof to being a snuggly, loving, food begging dog. (thanks to our other pup, Veda)
He is sweet,
he doesn't bark, in fact, he would be the worlds worst guard dog,
he is good with kids,
new people in the house,
other dogs,
our bird (he is scared of her and she is only about 9 inches).
I love him so much.
I wish I could fix everything.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010


Oh, this glorious sunshine and warm weather (68 degrees today)!
In the past few days we have had a boat load of rain! I think I heard it was somewhere upwards of 10 inches... Crazy! There was also a lot of flooding. When I went to visit her today, we were going to work on art, but we ended up walking around town all day looking at all the water... Here are some photos of the river (which meets the ocean) in Ipswich.

This is a parking lot. See the row of trees in the back? The river is supposed to be on there other side and not really visible.

These poor people! To the right is the river, which did not flood into their yard (at least not from that side), however the little pond waaay off to the left did... Yikes!

I hope these people have insurance.

Here in the front is a parking lot behind a couple of stores, then the river and the building in the background (the grey one) is a new condo unit they built... Not a very good selling point! The water is up to the first floor.

This bridge usually has about 10 feet between it and the water... It was closed off because it had a crack in it.

Another parking lot under water. If you look closely, you can see the current moving in the back left by the green pole.

I thought I would add these because I love snowdrops. This was towards the end of our walk.
How was your day?!?