squirrel in tree

 

Pumpkin Season Approaches

So many pretty colors at the produce stand this afternoon! Took me by surprise, but it is the first day of fall. Pumpkins were traditional orange, multicolored, speckled, gray, and some were very large. Pretty squash, too. (I wonder if people eat them.) The weather has been perfect. Fall is a great season.

Geese and Ducks

There are retention ponds all over Wilmington, and they are home or vacation spots for many geese. The one near my bank usually has a large flock, but yesterday I saw none until my car slowed down. Then they arose from their rest and came to greet me. I guess people come by to feed them, and that was their expectation. I took a few pix, and they walked beside my car as I pulled off. Bottom one is a female mallard, I think.

Selling Art

 The gallery has been open a few months now, and so far five paintings have sold. Only five. The little things have been my bread and butter, and that's ok, but I have a joyful feeling when a larger painting that will hang in someone's home sells. It is really fun when I know the art and the artist, and a buyer really connects with a piece. And besides, I get a financial reward for being the go-between. 

Yesterday a couple came in for the third time. The first time was about two months ago when they brought in swatches of fabric and pictures of the space that needed art on the wall. They talked about their decorator and desired colors, and their travels. Nothing was the perfect fit. Today they returned. "Remember us?" the man asked. Honestly, I don't remember people as well as I did when I could see their whole face, but after a sentence or two, I did recall them and the care they took into making their decision not to purchase. Today they made a quick decision to purchase, and it was one they had not even considered before. The man was especially pleased, and like a hunter-gatherer, he quickly took ownership of the painting. After they got home, they texted me with the pic of it in that familiar space. Just perfect. They were thrilled, and the artist and I were thrilled also. 

dragonflies 2020

 I didn't know which I liked better.

vanilla

Just for fun, I've been making my own vanilla for the past 3-4 years, and now it is about used up. So I ordered a pack of ten beans recently for new batches. The easy thing would be do it all at once, but like the song says, I've never done anything (nice and) easy. You just slit some of the long beans to expose the seeds and put them in a bottle or smallish glass container with your drinking alcohol of choice. Six weeks ago I started some with rum. Today I started another with vodka. It will take months for the vanilla beans and their tiny seeds to permeate the alcohol with enough flavor to use in baking. During that time, the bottle needs to stay in a dark place and be shaken daily. I wonder which base will make the better vanilla. I will take another pic in a few months when it becomes brown.

pretty lizard

Pretty with that blue tail, but I do not want it in my gallery. It is a five lined skink