Happy Holidays!!

Thanksgiving

We accidentally discovered a great way to save on holiday travel. Just mix up the dates. Our Thanksgiving in Dallas ended up a week early, but it worked out great! Since I'm the GRANDMA now I was thrilled to have a few days with Isaiah, and the rest of the family as well, of course.

This was the first meeting for Isaiah with my folks, his great grandparents!

He's quite the happy boy.

The Waterfowl Festival

Arriving at our favorite bed and breakfast, The Ruffled Duck Inn (www.ruffledduckinn), in Oxford, MD was like a wonderful homecoming. We shared hugs with Joyce and Dennis and caught up on the year’s events. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs, each with their own theme. In the past we had stayed in the “West Indies” room complete with monkeys and wonderful drapes from the canopy of the four poster bed, but we were planning to be there a full week, so we chose to stay in the “Cape Cod” room. Wes and Rachelle Seigrist (www,artofwildlife.com) stay in the Savannah room during the Waterfowl Festival.

From here we took some time to explore a little of Delaware. After a short hike we drove to a spot between 2 ponds that were covered with snow geese. We munched sandwiches while listening to honking geese and watching them fly overhead.

The Waterfowl Festival was wonderful. We enjoyed seeing our friends and collectors and in spite of the difficult economy and iffy weather many came out to enjoy the events and see what’s new. New in the booth this year was

“A Mighty Roar”,

“Itchy Colt”

and a new mini dog, “Bumble”.

Our favorite photographer, Brenda, came by and took her annual pictures of us in the booth. Thanks Brenda!!

(photos of Karryl in the booth and Karryl and Vic taken by Brenda Ashworth)

Chincoteague

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This November Vic took his first real vacation in what seems like forever. We chose to spend some time in Chincoteague. The appeal was the hiking trails, a great place to see the ocean and of course WILDLIFE.

The ponies stayed their distance this trip. The birds however put on a spectacular show. We spent a lot of time taking photos of great blue heron fishing. Vic spent lots of time taking pictures of me taking pictures of everything else.

I caught an egret seeming to walk on water.

Vic was thrilled to see the Sika deer and the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel.

We watched shore birds and enjoyed the ocean view.

There’s a wonderful loop that is only open to vehicles after 3 pm. This makes it a wonderful place to walk. We followed the road around and were treated to hundreds of snow geese. It gave us goose bumps watching the arrival of new geese and the larger flock on the ground would rise.

Continuing around the loop, we came upon a snapping turtle! He demonstrated his wonderful jaw chomping ability when

another hiker moved him off the road so when the road opened to vehicles he wouldn’t get into trouble.

After a few days there, we decided to explore the more north entrance to Assateague.

There we walked trails by dunes and I climbed a tree. Well, it was there. Ponies were closer there. In fact they tried to hitch a ride.

From there we checked in at our favorite bed and breakfast in Oxford (the Ruffled Duck, more on that later!) as a base for a day explore before setting up for the Waterfowl Festival in Easton.

October is busy too

Early in the month Vic and I took advantage of lovely fall weather and some amazing fall color. A short hike took us to an historic location, the spot where the first shot of the French and Indian War occurred. Spooky.

We also stopped at our favorite demonstration farm to visit cows, pigs and sheep.

October; A quick trip to Colorado

Since I didn’t get to spend my usual summer in Loveland doing the sculpture shows and catching up on foundry work, I had to fit work in this fall. I was a little late for elk bugling, but a ride into the mountains upon first arriving allowed me a last glimpse at the sparkling gold of the aspen leaves before they fell.

I spent much of the time completing my new pieces;
“A Mighty Roar” (7"H)“Itchy Colt” (6.5"H)


and two Gemsbok (oryx, antelope) that are based on a thick piece of black granite with rough cut sides. They are quite dramatic.
These will be with me along with many of my other works at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, MD November 14-16.

A Busy September

Labor Day weekend was the start of a lot of exciting activity. Vic and I headed for Highland Park, North of Chicago to spend time with his sister Sarah, brother-in law and other family. We especially enjoyed watching his grand nephews and niece splash about in the pool. It was a special family time. Saturday morning we headed up to Greenbay, Wisconsin for the opening of the Society of Animal Artist’s annual show.

“MMM…Tasty” was not only accepted into the show, but was chosen to be a part of the tour. Select pieces will be shown in a number of Museum’s around the country over the coming year. I am honored to be chosen.

Vic left the day after Labor Day and I stayed with his family.

Later in the week Sarah joined me in a drive to Wausau, Wisconsin to attend the opening events at the Bird’s in Art show at the Woodson Museum. What an amazing weekend!!! Artists attended from all over the world. We were treated so graciously and made wonderful new friends.

My little kiwi sculpture, “Nosing Around” was chosen for the show AND was chosen for the Bird’s In Art Touring exhibit as well!

A few weeks later was the opening reception for the Artists for Conservation show at the Hirem Blauvelt Museum in Oradell, NJ. The weekend was full of events, but an unexpected illness kept me from attending. My sculpture “MMM…Tasty” was there to represent me. Yes, the same sculpture chosen for the SAA show. It’s a popular piece. This makes me especially pleased since it’s a piece I am particularly fond of.

A visit to the Getty

While in LA I had the oportunity to see a wonderful exhibition of busts by Bernini at the Getty Museum. Parking is at the bottom of the hill and we rode to the top in the train. Great views!

The building is great but the real treat was the grounds. The flowers were amazing!

Guess who was my favorite flower in the garden!

Just Call Me Granny

July I headed for LA for the birth of my first grandchild. Isaiah David made his arrival and is, of course, the most beautiful baby ever. Mom Heather and Dad Ammar are thrilled with their little bundle of joy. They are holding up to the challenges well (Isaiah has PKU, very rare and unexpected).





Isaiah was greeted by his family.Grandma Raida was there to help out. After I arrived Grandpa Ramzi arrived too. Then Aunt Tamara, Uncle Jason and cousins Layla (4) and Jenna (about 5 weeks) and Grandpa David arrived as well. It was a full house!

Just 6 days after he was born, we all celebrated the birth of Isaiah's best friend Max, born to Heather's best friend Stephanie and Zach. Stephanie's Mom Dianna is my best friend, so we have 3 generations of best friends! That's the best kind of family!

Oh, and of course Heather's poodle Umba and Stephanie's dog Sammy are best friends too!
Max and Isaiah hang out together. (Isaiah is the one with lots of hair)

Going Back to Summer

Early summer, Terry Miller. Paula Waterman and I held a wonderful open house at Paula’s. Paintings, scratchboard, pencil works and sculptures were displayed together beautifully. A belated thank you once again to all our friends who joined us. We have held this event in December in the past. I'm not sure which season is best. We'll see.

We all had our Birds In Art entries there. What fun to see them together!!

The day after we took advantage of a great day and visited the Maryland Zoo. We were treated to views of the baby African elephant as well as some amazing vulture poses.

A trip to Orlando

A wedding in Vic's family in Orlando in June gave us the perfect excuse for a little vacation. With limited time, we chose to spend a at the Wild Animal Kingdom. Going on "safari" is just my cup of tea. It was hot, but the animals put on a good show. Natural wildlife displays were well thought out and the animals entrtained us. Or maybe we entertained them.

There was an amazing display of bats! A case with a skeleton on the side gave a lot to study. Fascinating!

The free flight show was a treat. The ground hornbill opened the show followed by anamazing array of colors and feathers. A bit of humor mixed with an environmental message made it a great show. Afterwards we got up close and personal with some of the cast. Here is a spectacled owl. Sweet.

We grabbed a quiet lunch (yes there are quiet out of the way places there) with some ibis, egrets sparrows and sneaky (but fun) black birds. Down the way another treat. Otters!!!

Day 2 we spent at Epcot where we found Nemo again, got "shrunk" in "Honey I shrunk the audience" and visited many countries. France was a favorite. We watched a wonderful tour movie and then stopped in the pastry shop. Yumm!! A light rain just thinned the crowds and made it cooler.

An added bonus to the trip was the resident flock of sandhill cranes on the grounds where the wedding was held. Life is good!