I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. A list will do!

1. turns out I love being a mama. YAY! (not that I doubted that I would, but I’m pretty glad that I do.)

2. a tree fell in our backyard 2 nights ago. crazy, right?

3. my aunt moved her shop to an amazing new space! It’s called Ikonium Studio and it’s at 69 Church Street in Lenox, MA — Go visit! There you will find contemporary and traditional Turkish and American fiber art and craft, amazing Turkish rugs, as well as some fantastic paintings and a few things made by other crafty folks and yours truly.

4. I’m doing a show in 2  weeks! I haven’t really gotten back to work yet (still resisting, enjoying “maternity leave”!) but I have to. Today. The show is sponsored by BerkshireMade; Handmade in the Park, downtown Lee, MA, Saturday August 7, 10am – 4pm.

5. tomatoes! summer! swimming!

6. I am told our miss Natalie is very “advanced” — large for her age (10 weeks!), but also strong, smiley from day one and super talkative for weeks now. Also sleeping a lot, but I wont get into that, for fear of being stoned by other sleep-deprived mamas.

7. did I mention summer? With that comes weddings (that we have missed, boo!) and visits from friends and family, barbecues, birthdays of some of my favorite people, craft fairs (I’m only doing one, but you better be visiting lots!), farmer’s markets, tag sales (no, haven’t been to any, but we will), vacations (maybe next year?), and the Berkshire Fringe (starts next week!)!

Yay, Summer!

I painted this red-bellied woodpecker for the birdie calendar for the month of February:

And then last week (during the first week of February) this guy appeared at my bird feeder for the first time all winter:

Pretty cool.

But please excuse the image quality! The photo was taken through my (very dirty) glass door, while trying not to make too much of a scene and scare him off. Also my camera, while pretty awesome, doesn’t have much of a zoom lens. But you get the idea. A month-appropriate visitor.

Next month is the chickadee, but if your feeder is anything like mine it has been covered with chickadees all winter long. One of my favorite things about winter, actually — they are definitely my favorite bird (sorry red-belly, you’re cute, too!).

I was at Twist this weekend! I did not take any photos!

It was wonderful, though, and I had lots of fun chatting with customers and friends and my fearless helpers and fellow vendors (why are you all so wonderful and fun to be with?!) — and thankfully some of them captured the day in pictures. You can see a few nice shots on fellow vendor Maeg’s blog, including a photo wherein I appear to be as humongous as the Sasquatch on her t-shirt, but that’s ok — there’s a baby in there (Did you hear?)! I was so grateful to be able to spend the night with my lovely friends, too, so I didn’t have to drive back and forth Friday night/Saturday morning. They showed me the sights in Florence and Leeds; I’m definitley going to have to go back for some swimming this summer!

So yesterday I spent the day lounging and doing not much of anything, in an attempt to recuperate and get some energy back. John and I had a lovely and gluttonous brunch at the Dakota restaurant, followed by movies and tv-on-the-internet and a leasurly stroll or two around the neighborhood. One of those was at sunset and the sky was so darn pink, it was quite amazing! And again, I didn’t take any pictures. I’ll try next time, I really will.

I am so thankful that I sold almost all of my new holiday ornaments (little stuffed birdies!), but now I need to get back into making-mode for Mass MoCA this weekend! My back is still bothering me, though, and I’m trying not to aggravate it and make it worse. I am going to attempt some gentle yoga today; I really need to get back into that. And apparently back into taking photos for you, too. Like I said, I’ll try!

As I write this, I’m just over 12 weeks pregnant. It’s true! A baby! Making it’s way into our lives at the end of April (2010!)!

I have been soooo tired these last few months, and thankfully that has made it a *little* easier to keep this secret, since it takes all my energy to sit down and get anything done, including this blog post. I haven’t been doing much making, and therefore not a log of blogging, but as Penny’s hubby said about her first few months of pregnancy in this post, I need to remember that I have been busy creating something completely different. I might look like I’m just sitting on the couch, but darn it, I’m working hard!

So far everything is going great with out little bean, and we will get to see much more at an ultrasound at 18 weeks. We got to hear the heartbeat a week ago, and let me tell you that was quite an amazing thing. We had an ultrasound at 6.5 weeks, too, but weren’t really able to see anything but a little blur and a flickering speck of a heartbeat. {Little flickering speck, how I can’t wait to meet you!}

I spent the last 4 days in Pennsylvania with my cousin Becky and her twin boys who just turned one on Wednesday. What a fun time that was — they are quite possibly the cutest and happiest children in the world. It was a nice for me to get some baby practice, too, even though they are technically toddlers — both walking now!

Some FAQ about the baby bean?

• No, we don’t have any names picked out (tho some front-runners, which we will probably keep a secret)
• We still aren’t sure if we want to find out the sex until the birth, but I think I would like to, as I am not a very patient person!!
• Yes, we had been trying off and on for about a year, but it finally happened when we relaxed about it and really believed “whatever happens, happens” (my hubby’s favorite mantra). And then it happened! I really didn’t believe it when I saw that plus sign on the test, and I had to wake John up at 6am to tell him! It has been so hard not telling everyone in the world, and we started telling select friends and family pretty early — at 5 weeks. I decided I didn’t want to go through any of it alone, and especially if something bad happened, you know? You know. And also wanted to share the joy and excitement as soon as we could!
• Thankfully I have been feeling pretty good. Super tired and a little moody, but I have been soooo lucky not to have any morning sickness. I am just constantly hungry, but I get full really easily and nothing really sounds good to eat. I have had some heartburn, which is not terribly fun, but I am so lucky not to have much nausea at all that I really can’t complain. I do pee about every hour, and there are lots of other “symptoms” of pregnancy that I’m not going to get into here, but I’ve got ‘em! It’s been quite a ride so far, and I really can’t believe I’m already a third of the way through!

: )

P.S. Just listed my 2010 calendar in my Esty shop! This year it’s “Birds of the Berkshires”; a whole collection of hand-painted likenesses of our favorite New England avian friends. They’re pretty pretty, if I do say so myself. I’m so happy with how it came out!

Hah, I really can’t even call it a harvest, our largest carrot was about 3 inches long, and it was by far the largest — many weighing in at a few centimeters, and the largest beet was about 2 inches in diameter, the rest about 1/2 inch. But, I patiently cleaned and chopped the bunch of them for dinner last night, and they were tasty {added to some potatoes, parsnips and carrots from our first Berkshire Organics box, that is}.

Normally I would listen to my mother’s advice and leave them in the ground until after the first frost (tonight?), to add some sweetness to the roots. But this year I had to get ‘em out sooner, because the plot where they were planted was all part of the big landscaping project (remember Operation Rain out of the Basement? It’s about done, I’ll show you soon!). There are some grass seeds there, now trying their best to sprout before the long winter.

I also had to cut these bad boys down, to make room for landscaping. These three were all that came of an entire package of seeds, though I have to say that bottom sunflower was mighty impressive. Dinner-plate-size!

I got to go apple-picking with some of my favorite folks, too. A perfect fall-in-new-england activity.

This lineup is a few of my apple-picking finds, plus some pears, apples and plums from the afore-mentioned Berkshire Organics box. Not sure how often we’ll have a delivery from them, but I’m thinking every other week will keep us eating well through the winter. I missed visiting a CSA this summer, and being forced to cook something healthy with all that produce that I didn’t even pick out myself. Having to look up recipes and try new things, it’s really one of the best ways to learn to cook, don’t you think?

yup, it’s fall in New England. A nice peaceful rainy sunday here today. Lovely.

There was a really nice article about BerkshireMade in our local Berkshire Eagle newspaper yesterday. If you missed it in print (in the Berkshires Week insert) you can read it here. {The link will only work for a few days, though, before it’s archived, so head on over and read-it-up now!}

We had a nice time as a group at Pittsfield’s Third Thursday last night. There was some really awesome music being played down the street, which made for lovely ambiance. I was also able to pick up my completed order from Pasko Frame & Gift, a custom frame for a “Bound on Earth” print (photos soon) from the incomperable Lizzy House, my printmaking and pattern design teacher at Squam Art Workshops. Sarah and I each snatched one up from her buzzing table at last June’s Art Fair at Squam. I’m so glad to have it ready to hang up! {I’m also a little sad, because the Sept. session of Squam is in full swing this week and I’m not there. I’m really not sure what I was thinking, not signing up? I’m sure everyone’s having a magical time, though, and I wish them all lots of happy campfires and loon calls!}

We’re home from a great (and hot & humid!) time in DC, and I promise I’ll post some photos and stories soon, but in the mean time….

I’m so excited to announce that a big handful of my BerkshireMade pals will be joining the fun at the SoWa/South End Open Market on Sunday September 13, from 10 am to 4 pm. Come visit and see some amazing BerkshireMade craft and artworks!

I’ve been doing a little playing with my camera and image editing settings. Whatdya think? (I like ‘em! Click on each one to see it bigger — ’specially the kitty!)

It’s hot here today. Jane is staying inside today, occasionally venturing into the cool basement. Happy has been in and out of the house and in and out of the sun all day; I think despite her black fur, she’s a sun-dog at heart. She loves the heat and hates to get wet or cold. She has taken to refusing to go for a walk in the rain, which has made things a bit difficult around here this summer, as we’ve had mostly rain all the time. But not this week! It’s nice and sunny and warm and SUMMER! I’m keeping the shades and curtains drawn to keep the house nice and cool. One advantage to living on the cold side of a mountain with limited sun each day is that we haven’t needed air conditioning. Sorry to rub it in, but it’s true. It gets pretty warm upstairs on days like this (90+ with humidity), but as long as I keep the shades down it usually stays comfortable enough, especially when we add a fan to the mix.

And that …. well… I thought it was a pretty amazing sight the other day, and I just had to share. I had seen it once before, without camera in hand, but this time I caught it! I think it has something to do with eating bugs off the goats’ backs? I really don’t know. Poor Pepper (the goat) doesn’t look too happy about it, but I really think if she wanted to get out of the situation she could just shake the chicken off, don’t you?