Pieces of Autumn Watercolor in Handmade Journal 7 x 7 inches

Pausing just a few minutes as we get ready for Thanksgiving (here in America) to post an old sketchbook page that shows some of my very favorite "pieces of Autumn."

I've been sharing over on Facebook some of the things I am most grateful for and I'm posting just a quick list that is by no means exhaustive but is from the heart:

My sweet husband
The (nearly) 21 years we've been married
Our home
The loving, furry critters that make our house a home
The love that fills our days
Food, heating, cooling and roofs that don't leak
Family close by
Friends, scattered near and far
Cars that run
Gas to make them go
Birdsong
The wind singing in the trees
Colorful leaves
Time to sketch and paint
Work that feeds me on so many, many levels
For all the wonderful artists that have passed through the ImaginaryTrips.com eclasses

And you, dear readers! Thanks for stopping by to see what's up, to share your thoughts, encouragement and inspiration.

Whether you're sitting down to a big meal with family to observe the holiday or just going out your daily round, I wish you happiness, love, and joy!

Moby Cat

I would love to tell you that I haven't lost my mind, but at this point…I'm not so sure.

I would love to tell you that Chris has lost his either, but again, there is evidence to the contrary...

"You work too much! Pay attention to ME!"

The darling creature you see above is Moby Cat, the latest new Ferlita family member. She is a 3-month-old Maine Coon. She's smart, she's intrepid and she is already leading Willis (our other new baby) around.

"I'm soooo tired. That runt is just too much trouble."

Willis follows the kitten around from the time they get up until the time they crash (literally) and pass out. After much hissing and growling, it seems Willis has decided the new interloper is probably here to stay and it's her job to keep an eye on the insolent child. It's an exhausting job as you can see.

Joey, our oldest cat, was unavailable for this photo shoot as he has taken to permanently hiding out under either the bed or the treadmill. Again, much growling can be heard as he and Moby haven't had a chance to interact much yet. Kind of hard to do when you've wedged yourself into a space only a mouse would normally fit in.

"I said YOU are NOT paying ME enough attention! I'm much cuter than this dumb old box!"

Meanwhile, Moby and I are trying to come to amicable terms with regard to computer use. She likes it because it's warm and I have to pay attention to her. She doesn't seem too much into the negotiations. Her attitude is more along the lines of "my way or the highway."

Despite the upheaval, she's love personified. Touch her and she purrs and butts her little head up into your hand. She's gentle…she's been in the house for over a week and she hasn't scratched me yet.

"Wow, you throw away the coolest things, human!"

Moby is also a climber, explorer and adventuress. Above, she's checking out the trash can under my desk in the studio.

Which brings me to my latest thought…isn't Christmas gonna be a blast this year with not one, but TWO tiny terrors!?!

Sigh.

If you're wondering what cataclysmic events transpired that we would have not one, but TWO small (and adorable) creatures joining our lives, I'll tell you that it was simply a conversation with a friend.

Kathy, over at Catching Happiness,  decided it was time for some furry love in her life. She didn't have anyone going with her as she looked for her new companion so I volunteered. My sweet husband decided to go along to "keep me from bringing home any more 'damn' cats!" (Tactical error there, my dear husband!)

Here are the happy humans holding their new charges:

Don't they look happy!?!

 And now, all I can say is, "let the adventures begin!"

Fridge Shopping Stillman & Brin Bound Beta Sketchbook 5.5 x 8.5 inches ink drawing

We need a new fridge.

We've been looking for a while now, but have yet to agree on a model.

On Friday, instead of going to an outdoor antique market, in the rain, we opted to do our shopping indoors.

And we found a fridge!

Finally.

Finally, a model we could both agree on.

It is a Samsung with the freezer on the bottom, but in this model instead of a big drawer in the freezer area, it has lots of small drawers similar to what you get on top.

And the doors are split on the bottom as well.

Yay!!

Wrong.

It's too big.

It's an inch too tall and an inch to deep to go into the space in our kitchen.

Now we have to decide whether to wait to see if Samsung comes out with a smaller model or go with something else.

Dagnabit!

The sketch above was done from memory and then details added from a photo I took with my cell phone. The verbiage was suppose to be much, much different.

Rather than write down the info on products/appliances we're interested in, I just take a photo with my phone for later. The solutions signage was actually in the store and struck me as humorous when I looked at the photo because we were so sure we had found our fridge.

In last week's post, I put up a sketch of a witch in honor of Halloween and invited everyone to submit their interpretation of the art. I had two wonderfully fun submissions!

The first witch I received was from Timaree Cheney from Freebird Drawing! I love the bright happy background and the way she created the Halloween title along the side.