Recently I revamped my business website and in the process I thought about what I have to offer that sets me apart from other web developers.   Two things sprang to mind:  most of my experience is in working with musicians and artists, and secondly, I really treasure the personal approach that I have the luxury of bringing to a project.

So I reworded my website to mention those things and recently I landed another client – a band.  Now, the fact is that I have been blessed to have pretty much the right amount of work — neither too much nor too little — the entire time I’ve done this, but it was really neat to have a band on the other end of the phone saying, “we want to hire you.” The extra work I’d done to think about my business made me appreciate the call all the more.

And they’ve been *adorable* to work with.  Once the project is over I’ll tell you more about them.  It’s  a grown up family band who are enormously talented and terrific entertainers.  The more I work with their material, the more excited I am that there’s a band like them in the world, and I hope that they’ll have the continuing success they very much deserve.   I love my job!

“SweetB” aka my friend Barb Kilby stopped by the house the other day to show me a new drawing she created for one of her clients.  I thought it was so sweet.  If you know anyone needing a special way to honor the birth of twins, you can send them to the Etsy listing for this piece – Barb can customize one just for them.

This has been so fun!  With Jennifer Fairbanks in town, not only is there the gallery I mentioned in an earlier post, but she’s also teaching oil painting classes.  I am so thankful a couple of friends mentioned having taken an art class with Jennifer when she was in town for a summer a few years ago.

I do not think of myself as the painting class type, but I didn’t really think of these friends as the painting class type either, so that helped me get over that misconception (that I need an art pedigree before taking an art class.)

My friends had described the painting class as a welcome change of pace in their day.  I didn’t know what that meant, but I thought that if they enjoy it, I’d probably enjoy it.  So I joined the new class.

A change of pace is exactly what it is.   It is extremely absorbing.   You step into another world, shutting out politics and economic woes and strife and illness and focus on one little problem:  paint what I see.  Of course that fans out into many interesting problems – including identifying what I really see – but bit by bit the problems seem solvable for the most part.  Or if not, I say to myself, “oh well, this is only my third painting, I will improve.”

Jennifer creates a very supportive atmosphere and is a good teacher.  I have already learned a lot in my three classes so far.  The artwork of the women who have had more classes is really inspiring!   So I really do think I’ll improve and already my eye is improving.

Hard to imagine a better birthday!  A little family outing on a beautiful weekend, and all the boys were involved!  I just loved it!  We were down in Sewanee to see Punch Brothers.

And next morning we enjoyed visiting the Chapel (or cathedral) which was across the street from the cabin where we were staying.

If you’re in my town you need to go visit our friend Jennifer’s new venture over on 3rd Street just off the court square and if you’re not in our town, you can check it out on the web:  Gallery 109.   The above will be hanging in my home when the current exhibit is over.  We are SO excited about that!

Some other favorites hanging in the gallery (and for sale!) right now:

This drawing is beautiful, large and has so much presence.  It’s also beautifully framed.

This is a small piece but it’s mesmerizingly lovely in person.   You can check the prices of these things on the gallery site.  Very reasonable for such beautiful, true art.

This is one of my favorite desserts:

For the blackberries:

Mix in a heavy pan or dutch oven and bring to boil:

• 1 12 oz bag of frozen blackberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• sprinkling of salt to taste
• orange or lemon extract (several drops)

—————————————————————————–

For the dumplings:

Mix together:

• 2/3 cup Bisquick (or whatever brand of biscuit/pancake mix stuff)
• 1 tsp sugar
• REAL grated nutmeg 1/8 tsp or so…I don’t measure.    REAL means get an actual nutmeg and grate it.

Then:

• Quickly stir in 3 TB milk (or so) to dumpling or wet biscuit dough consistency.

Then:

• Drop by teaspoonful into the bubbling blackberry mix.
• Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the dumplings are done (when you stick in a toothpick and it comes out clean.)

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Oh my goodness, it’s good.

The above is enough for two generous servings.

One of my favorite color combinations for bouquets.   The yellow is all Molineux.  The pinks are. from left, face-downward Abraham Darby, pale pink Souvenir de la Malmaison, a spray of Ballerina (the little “wild rose”-looking thing) and the rest are Belinda’s Dream.

My friend Darlene has so much style – a style that is uniquely hers.    One thing she cares about deeply is mothers and children, and as she gets older she has found ways to continue to be involved and supportive.  In this charming blog entry, she shows through photos how she held a tea party for 8 little girls (and their moms):

http://lestermom.livejournal.com/139155.html

And don’t miss the video, here:

http://lestermom.livejournal.com/139400.html

We took Amber–our standard poodle–to the “Doggie Day Spa” at MSU where the pre-vet students were bathing and toenail trimming dogs for $10.  Amber wasn’t too happy to be led off to the baths by the students.

Then we drove to Paducah to see about some warranty work on D19’s laptop.  BestBuy’s geek squad guy had good advice and we were able to turn around and drive home again.

Then Scott sold another pipe!  And made the phone calls needed to get Dell to send us a new charger for D19’s laptop whilst I worked on a website.

Then we mailed off the pipe and took Amber for a walk at the park and then (best of all) took her to the dog park – a new feature at the park!  It’s an enclosure where people can let their dogs play together off leash.    Scott’s been taking Amber there every evening after their walk and I wanted to get in on the fun today.  Six or seven of the pre-vet students were there with a bunch of their dogs and they recognized Amber (she was still wearing the neckerchief from the day spa).  They told us they had bathed 160 dogs.

Scott grilled salmon for us and steak for D19 when we got home.  Yummy dinner!  After dinner I watched “Once” with D19; it’s one of his favorite movies.

I’m tired out!

The moral of the story is:  feed and water your roses.  This summer I stepped up the feeding and watering and the roses have repaid me by blooming more!  Who’da thunk it.

Heritage wins the Most Beautiful Delicate Shell Pink Color Bloom Award.

This is Molineux (yellow) and Abraham Darby.  Behind them is an unknown purple annual my Mom bought for me from Rolling Hills when she was here in May! It’s been a joy all summer, Mom!

Ah…Granada!  I absolutely love this rose.

Another reason I love Granada…it is lovely at all stages.  Happy, luminous circus colors and fragrant to boot.  This is a great hybrid tea rose.

Daybreaker – a floribunda known for its disease resistance – has bloomed well this year.

Here’s Pat Austin.  Pat’s blooms have a tendency to flop, like this, but it has such a lovely color.

This (above) is Falstaff.  Bad photo but considering I had to reach the camera up over my head to take the photo…Falstaff is very tall.  It also doesn’t bloom ALL that much, but when it does, the blooms have thousands of petals (maybe) and a rich, bright magenta color, slight fragrance.

Here is China Doll…a real honey of a rose.  It is small, blooms freely throughout the season (though not always like this) and is comparatively disease resistant.  It has lived in this pot for 5 years and suffers the part shade conditions of my patio.  We call it “Impulse Purchase” because I almost didn’t buy it…but then I grabbed it at the last minute.  I was conflicted because it was a whole $5 at an end-of-season clearance sale.

Here’s a closeup of China Doll.  Being in a pot, it needs a little extra attention with fertilizer.

I do have quite a few red roses in my garden but my camera is not good at reds, which I have heard is a common problem in photographing red roses.