Pink Coyote

New Look

The amazing Penelope Dullaghan has created a new banner for The Pink Coyote, which I am so thrilled about.  For those of you who know Penny, you know she's had her hands very full in the past few months, yet she still managed to crank out this gorgeous painting that now resides atop my blog.  I'm so proud of her work!

Penelope will be teaching a workshop at Squam Lake in New Hampshire in a few weeks, along with many other brilliant, creative women.  If you aren't familiar with what is going down there, skeedaddle over here and find out.  If you aren't going this year, you may want to plan for it next year.  I know it is going to be out of this world.  I'll be spending the entire time in Nina Bagley's classes with my sweet, soul mama, Wendy, of Mother Rising, hammering and screw-punching our way to nirvana together, while our boys reside at a lakeshore cabin up the road a piece.

My hope is that the new banner will inspire me to write something worthwhile here instead of my riskless, Dear Diary entries of late.  Something to howl at the moon about, of course.  *wink*

The Gift of Nothing

Earl opened Mooch's gift.

"There's nothing here," said Earl.

"Yesh!" said Mooch.  "Nothing...

but me and you."

So Mooch and Earl just stayed still and enjoyed nothing

and everything.

---Patrick McDonnell, The Gift of Nothing

In This Moment

And take a listening breath. 

"Nothing is more important than knowing your breath in this moment".  --Anonymous

So Ready for Fall

We are already planning Halloween costumes and watching for those cheesy seasonal stores to open.  Summer is my least favorite season, and it seems to drag on here.  Extreme heat is not my friend and I've been recently found cuddled up with a book in bed with the air conditioning on wondering what else I should be doing.  Nothing!  Because it's f**ing volcanic outside!!!!!

After M goes to bed, B plays guitar on the back porch and runs water on the half dead looking plants.  I inspect and critique from the sidelines and sometimes pray...or cry.

Some rogue has been having a munch on my honeysuckle!  (The nerve)

And my prized wisteria!

Summer is best experienced in water or in photos, in my opinion.  Here are a few delights that may make up for all the grumbling I've done here just now:

Favorite windchime in front of cool bamboo in which one can pretend one is in japanese botanical garden

Are you absolutely certain I don't live in Hawaii?

Teasing clouds over the wind turbines

Here's hoping your dog days are popsicle-y chill.

Houseguest

Willow, aka, "Tiny Tot, theTiniest of Tots", really isn't tiny at all.  We call her a jack-bull because she kind of looks like a jack russell terrier mixed with a pit bull.  The vet thinks she may be mixed with a Corgie.  People on the street often smile at us when we're out, perhaps because she invites an image of unlikely lovers setting out to create her.

We haven't lived with dogs inside the house since we moved into the new home.  But when I found her licking a deep cut on her leg last week, I took her to get stitched up and then let her in to stay for a few days. She's back in again because she chewed her stitches out.  I gave her a bath so she would smell like a princess and she's been sleeping at the foot of our bed, happily.

Since having a baby, our dogs have taken a bit of a back seat, which we were warned would happen but didn't want to believe at the time.  Our dogs totally prepped us for having Miles. Though some scoff that owning pets is anything like children, I disagree.  We have three, the other two who are beginning to age.  It is sad that our good friends lives are beyond half through. But so sweet that we've already had such a good run.  Willow helped me through a very rough spot a few years ago and now it's our turn to do the nursing.

How are you giving back today?