mermaids and moss

quiet walks and a great horned owl

The days have been dark and gloomy recently, which means I've gone on several walks in the rain. And each time I come home drenched and muddy. It just adds more to the thrill and mood of my adventures, right? Everything is so green and covered in tiny water jewels. It's magic.

I went for a little hike with my instagram buddy Emily last week. While out on the trail, deep in the forest, she alerted me to "a dead thing" laying on the ground. On closer inspection, I discovered that it was a most beautiful, beautiful great horned owl. It was so sad and so tragic. I took a few photos, admiring it's gorgeous feathers and big tufted feet. Owls remind me of my cat Klaus. He's very owlish with his big golden eyes and enormous tufted toes.

After the walk, I reported the owl to the rangers at Lake Roland. They seemed very interested and said they would try to collect the owl that morning. They suggested several possible scenarios for it's death... maybe it was hit by a car and managed to fly into the woods or maybe it was attacked by crows or eagles. I suggested poison. I checked in with the rangers a few days later and they hadn't found an obvious cause of death, but there was one unusual discovery... the owl's talon was hooked into it's wing (you can see it if you look closely at the photos). They're not sure what this means, if it just happened during the throes of death or if maybe it was being chased by another territorial bird and got tangled in it's own wings.

I've been so sad about the loss of this bird. I'm consoling myself with the news that the park hired a professional taxidermist to preserve the great horned owl. It will be displayed on a stand and stored on a shelf for everyone to study and see.

garden wanderings

I've been feeling under the weather the last couple days, but I'm trying to check things off my list. I've ordered new business cards and added some new paintings to the mix... I can't wait to see how they turn out. I've updated my shop a bit... kind of annoyed that Etsy changed the layout. Boo. I was about to order new cardboard for my prints only to discover that there was an entire unopened box taped underneath the empty box of cardboard. Yay! Bear is thrilled with the discovery of a new empty box.

Loving the collection of azaleas and surprise columbine (thank you Squirrel Family) blooming in my garden. I planted tiny packets of zinnia, cosmos and larkspur seeds. I'm hoping they'll sprout and bloom. Please.

The children started a new session of Nature Scouts. They're learning lessons on survival in the wilderness and how to chart the clouds.

my miss hannigan

A certain little girl is playing the role of Miss Hannigan in her drama club's performance of Annie tonight. I managed to put together a cute little costume using long strands of pearls, a bright orange boa, plastic curlers and the most magnificent polyester vintage robe (Thanks, Erin! you saved the day!).

tap, tap, tap

Does this still work? Testing. Does anyone hear me? Whoa, it's been ages since I've posted here. But I think I need to write and share and document again. I feel like I'm drifting these days. Let's see if Mermaids and Moss can give me some focus.

my father

I've been pretty quiet lately, here on Mermaids and Moss. I've had a lot to process and think about. My father passed away in January. He died on my birthday. I spent much of the last few days alone with him. My sister and I were holding on to him the moment he passed. In some ways it was the most horrific moment of my life, but in other ways it was a wonderful gift for him to finally be free of pain and discomfort. Even though he was heavily medicated, it wasn't a comfortable time. Cancer is a horrible death. The days and hours leading up to his death reminded me so much of birth. The waiting, the signs, the patience and comfort and care. It was such a process and so amazing to witness him pass to the next experience. My first thought was, "Wow. What a journey!" I felt his energy and the great push when he left his body. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. I miss him so much. And miss my mother, too. The moment he passed my sister was telling him to go find Mother and we were both saying we loved him. He was reaching for us and I'm sure he knew we were there.

winter walks

winter birds

Hoping to make some little winter birds happy, I recently bought this bird feeder. I've attached it to our back kitchen door. We've had a few visits, but not many. I think those little birds quickly became aware of our resident bird watcher Bear. I'm sure he's been throwing himself against the door whenever a bird stops by to nibble.

paintings for sale

From the photos I've spotted on Instagram it looks like The Good Mail Day opening was a lovely success. All of the artwork looks amazing and is now for sale online HERE. Hope you'll stop by and take a look... it's a great way to invest in some beautiful artwork by some talented artists.

And t to Susan Schwake for sharing a glimpse of my paintings in the exhibit. 

a bat and a vampire

Halloween was a success! Our evening included the neighborhood parade and pizza party, a spooky get together with friends, pumpkins filled with candy, and happy trick or treating through a beautiful old neighborhood covered in webs and twinkling lights.

As usual, I put together the costumes at the last moment. My son had originally wanted to be an Enderman, a character from his favorite computer game Minecraft. I bought black long underwear and the cardboard Enderman box mask and was so pleased with myself for putting his costume together so simply and being prepared a few weeks before Halloween. My little Enderman was so excited to test out the box head, but I kept putting it off, because I didn't want the box to get broken or crushed (between two kids and two cats, boxes don't last long in this house). Fortunately, I finally gave in and put the box together only to discover that it was much too large and awkward and the eyes were too high. It would have been an uncomfortable disaster on my wildly active and sensitive little boy. So, I quickly scanned Pinterest for a quick and easy costume that might incorporate black Long Johns, and I found a Pin that led to this fantastic costume. I love, love Sheena's beautiful photos. And costumes. So good.

I pulled out some black wool felt from my fabric stash, drew a simple bat-like shaped mask onto two pieces of felt, cut them out and stitched them together with some black elastic sandwiched in between. I'm quite experienced in felt mask making after stitching more than twenty superhero masks together for a birthday party a few years back (remember this party?)

Because I had piles of black felt on hand and didn't have time for a trip to the fabric store, I chose to use felt for the bat wings. I cut out two wings and stitched them to the underside of the arms and on either side of the torso. But this costume would work just as well (maybe even better) with some sort of stretchy black fabric.

Coincidentally, my friend made a white bat costume for her daughter. I'm not sure if we were both inspired by the same Pin or if everyone just has bats on the brain these days. She used one large sheet of stretchy white fabric that was only stitched to the underside of each arm and hung loose across the back. Also, she made the cutest white bat ears using felt and a headband so that her little girl didn't have to wear a mask. So cute. She was the littlest white pixie bat fluttering through the night.

My little bat was thrilled with his costume and it survived a day at school and Halloween just fine. And now it's his new favorite costume to wear around the house. Because that kid is always in costume... changing his wardrobe numerous times throughout the day. It's his thing.

And the little lady once again refused to be a fairie or a princess, she wanted to be something scary. After weeks of changing her mind, she finally settled on a vampire. I gave in and bought her a dark and scary dress that she's promised to wear next year, too. 

She wore fangs and creepy vampire make up to complete her scary vampire costume.

a visit to chincoteague and assateague islands

We squeezed in a whirlwind trip to Chincoteague, Virginia a few weekends ago. Fall is probably my favorite time of year to visit. The weather is usually pretty amazing, cool enough for biking, but still warm and sunny and not a mosquito in sight. 

We love the rugged natural beaches covered with driftwood, shells and sea creatures and sometimes lost juvenile black rat snakes who mysteriously end up in the surf. I'm sure that little snake had a story to tell and was thankful that my little girl insisted that I rescue it. Oh my.

It was so good to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for a bit to wander the beaches, go for long bike rides through the marshland past gatherings of snowy egrets and great blue herons, hikes in the woods with brief glimpses of the wild ponies, visits to candy shops, the ice cream shop, and to see beautiful sunrises and sunsets from our room on the channel. We've been staying at the same little hotel for the last six years. The staff is always so friendly and they make such a commotion about how big the kids have grown. So much fun.