Zoe, The Wonder Dog

Well that's what we call her, and of course we think she is utterly beautiful and smart and funny and creative. And did I mention she loves to play and swim and eat cheese and peanut butter, and oh yes, the occasional mouse [YUCK]. John tells me dogs are babe magnets as everyone talks to him [and pats Zoe] when he walks her in the village; and she adores these walks as croissants and bones are likely to come her way from the friends she has made. I thought it was only fair to share a photo with you all, as I talk about her a fair bit and I didn't want your only image of Zoe to be hiding in the cupboard during thunderstorms.

Zoe triptych

Pressing On Or Should That Be Press On?

Whatever, that's what this time in the studio seems to be about. Almost finished this, almost finished that. But nothing finished. Gluing the covers for the book "Why I Paint", folding the pages and gluing the accordion pages, designing a logo and other material for a client, redesigning my web site. Bit and pieces scattered about. In the midst of my chaos JB paints. Mind you last weekend there was a lot of banging and thumping coming from his studio which is normally a silent and luminous space. Grinning like a 6 year old he gleefully told me he had solved the problem of how to paint a dusty window in his latest painting. Take the bag of dirt out of the vacuum cleaner, throw it at an old window I had lying about, spray it with fixative, place it leaning against one of his north windows and voila. Now he can see what he needs to paint. Gotta love a man who comes up with ideas like that. On the mud front one tiny detail escaped my mind. Zoe's bliss at racing through the mud means the kitchen floor has a lot of paw prints, however I have decided they are beautiful and her way of making marks. Why should JB and I have all the fun.

Zoe's work

Christmas Visitors

These turkeys were eating all around the bird feeder yesterday. Zoe had already chased them around the pond which was a very funny sight as she leaped through the snow trying to reach them and they, needing a fair bit of runway to launch themselves into fight, ended up in the trees looking rather like basketballs. Good thing they hid last week or the ending of this story could be quite different. Love the pattern and colors of their feathers. I am always surprised by how much blue is in the feathers.

Wild turkeys

Wishing You All The Very Best

Wishing you all the very best however you celebrate the season. We will go the route of family, friends, food and drink, books and music, studio time and walks with Zoe. The trees are up and decorated, and I am about to make tattie scones, something we always have for breakfast on Christmas morning. Basically left over mashed potatoes and flour, mixed to the consistency of pastry, rolled out very thinly, cut into triangles and fried. I think you might have to be a Davidson or Scottish to enjoy these, but I love them.

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