Happy 4th of JULY!  the day we celebrate the independence of this great great country!

Yeah that's right! I said it! And I'm a sayin' it again, I am so greatful today for my life as an American. My path started out quite a bit differently than it is now - only child to2 young parents, both of whom were trying to figure out how to make enough money to support themselves, much less a new baby. I lived with my paternal grandparents all week so they could figure it all out. When the regime decided they needed to claim Bucharest's outskirts for its use, my grandparents were outta luck. Down was bulldozed their home, and they were given --- well, nothing!  The details are cloudy on the details of this ...ummm, incident - as you might expect of a 3 year old child. But I remember the results quite clearly....my mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and dad's 2 sisters in a 2 bedroom ( not what you and I think of as a 2 bdrm :) apartment granted by the government. Voila, the government met its responsibility right?

All I'm a sayin' is, here I am, camped out on our beautiful farm,  in my beautiful kitchen, electronics spread all over the butcher block island --- with my beautiful husband, sitting across and creating along with me -------while my beautiful children are enjoying a beautiful  week with my beautiful parents.....

So I wonder, God, is there some greater good I can do here, to impart joy and inspiration to those around me? To share with others in some  meaningful way, just a little of the beauty with which you have surrounded me?????

You can't do THAT in the city.

Awhile back I mentioned our family was about to grow - substantially. No, not that. Not the human component, but the canine one. So, my ground crew grew from 2 little hot dogs, to a foursome variety pack.

 Max is a 10 year old German Short haired Pointer, who is overgrown and looks more like a Great Dane. He talks and follows me everywhere I go. He is smart but simple, happy with his new family as he gets treats, lots of pillows throughout the house and around it; give him a treat, a scratch and a belly rub and he is good to go.

Syrus is a 4 year old English short haired Pointer, who is BAD - Bad Ass Dog!

He is strong, loyal and complex. Syrus is not won over with a treat, no sir. Oh, he'll take the treat allright, but that does not earn the treat-giver his trust.  One has to earn his trust. More to come on that

For now, let me just tell you, Syrus leaps over 4 foot fences, runs like a greyhound, is strong as an ox, smarter than many humans. The down side to the above is he goes on little "Lassie -like" adventures daily. Excited about his new surroundings, he takes off and follows the creek bed to who-knows-where. I have learned after several trips in our new old four wheeler (another Stone item absorbed), not to bother trying to catch him. Syrus goes when he wants, and comes back when ready. period. 

Anyhow, being able to take in these 2 awesome dogs is in great part due to our farm life. You can't do that type of thing in the city, ya know?

It's good to be a country kid!

Nico and I spent a few minutes picking flowers in my neighbor's pasture yesterday. Those gorgeous yellow fllowers are actually not a good thing in the horse pasture world, but lukcy for him I am there almost daily in the spring cutting flowers to put in my house, around the property, etc...

At any rate, he had a blast (see photos), running, "watch out below-ing" face first intl the cushy bed of flowers, cutting them...peeing when nature called. At the end of the day, it must be pretty nice to pee where ever when ever!

Finalmente!...a picture of me that is not, well....gross :)

Finalmente! A photo of me taken by my good friend and photographer Corinne Baker. Thank you Corinne. Nice to have someone other than a family member shoot me, with a resulting photo that is not depressing. Yes, I know how my models feel! believe me. Years ago when I was in front of the camera, getting/seeing a good photo of me was relatively common place. In the 30 and 40 somethings, that sort of, well,changes. It becomes darn near impossible to see a good photo of oneself - (that is to say, one that makes you look as good as you can, the way you look in the right light and mood :) Come on, how hard can it be right? I mean, seriously, it is a confidence killer just to think it takes such special abilities to extract that certain somethng into a photo. 
  
That is the motivation behind my long-time-coming line of imagery - of Real Women, Looking as Gorgeous as they are- I have thought about it, envisioned it, I snap little mental shots of you all in my head when the light hits your faces just so, I talked about it, asked about it, and I am finally ready to photograph it. I hope each of you, men and women alike,  will take advantage of this product created, directed and shot by yours truly. I for one have been looking for someone to do for me what I do for everyone else, and have found it rather difficult, or rather impossible to date. Those people are either in NYC and cost thousands, or don't answer my calls, OR, I don't even know they exist because only those who know, know...but I gotta tell ya, a girl can only see so many crappy photos of herself before she starts to think poo poo thoughts...Let me know when you are ready to preserve whatever you got into some pretty/sexy/powerful/happy/peaceful/healthy/beautiful images. Thanks to all  for allowing me  to vent the frustrations of a photographer, and Corinne, thanks girl....let me start with you :) 

Our family is about to grow - a lot

e authors' bio says something like this:

"Ten adventurous years of marriage, two challenging home construction projects, four fabulous parties, three beautiful children, three loving dogs, four nervous chickens and one persistent rooster later, they teamed up on their newest venture – to produce and create a line of innovative and sophisticated children’s books."

Okay, make that five loving dogs...Yes, 5. You may or may not know, we lost our sweet dachsy Baci a couple of months ago, to old age and heart disease. So we were down to 2 dogs, which is more manageable, just as are two vs. three children. I always justified having all those dachsys because several add up to the equivalent of one big dog. However, our new additions are no little weiner dogs, no sir. They are 2 German Pointers and 1 English Pointer, fulll grown big doggies.

Let me explain. Our good friends Michael and Traci are moving away. Far, far away. Despite every effort, they cannot bring their doggies. They and their children are heartbroken. Two of the dogs are geriatric, making it even more challenging to find homes for them.  Nevermind they also live on a horse farm, and spend their days entertaining themselves with various critters and birds. As the moving date quickly approaches, decisions had to be made - and thus, we are welcoming a part of their family into ours.

Intrestingly, the two Germans despite being photographed. I am not sure how that scenario will unfold, given that my family, dogs included, live in front of my lens....hmmm. Stay tuned, I will let you know more as things unfold.