June 2021 – Karla's Cottage

Fresh paint

By Karla Nathan / June 27, 2021

We have had some cheerful, fun relatives visiting for a few days, just what we needed after the loss of Twinkle and Albert.

I thought I’d spruce the place up a bit before they arrived and get a much needed coat of paint on this swing.

While I was at it, I spray painted the old, metal chairs white and used some of the blue paint on a few flower pots around the yard. Those rusty chairs have so many coats of paint on them, I’d say they were more paint than metal. But that wouldn’t be true, because they flake off so much.

Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to be a person with brand new stuff instead of junk…

But new stuff wears out too, right? It needs painted after years of wear. IF it holds up that long. These chairs are probably from the 50s. So, I guess I’ll stick with them.

I guess the swing has been painted a lot too. This is the first time it’s been blue.

It has had many incarnations in white and one in cream. Blue is a pleasant change.

(Little Buddy, on the left has become available again, if you are looking for a mellow ball of fuzzy love to snuggle)

Our family just left this morning, and we missed them already. We went boating, out for a run, did some paint pours, belted out some karaoke, but mostly played with puppies.

It was relaxing to hang out in the courtyard after dinner and watch the pups wear themselves out.

Every family reunion should feature puppies!

He was a good boy

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family

By Karla Nathan / June 23, 2021

Before we could recover from the loss of Twinkle, Albie had a sudden illness and died also.

He was Twinkle’s son from her large litter of nine. Dorothy was from that same batch of puppies, as well as my sister’s Frodo, my pal Shan’s Oscar, and our neighbor’s Scruffy.
So many good babies!

Albie and Dorothy were lifelong besties.

Albie was an odd little guy, a mix of worry and adventure but full of devotion.

He was at the same time, hanging in the background and being first to join in on any activity.

He never wanted to be left out of anything, and was worried that he might be. We went out of our way to reassure him and in the last few years, his confidence grew to the point where he thought he was one of the big dogs, not part of the group of Yorkies.

His nickname was “The River Dog” because he loved kayak trips. We feel that separating him for things like this, and giving him alone time away from the five other dogs was part of helping him find his inner big dog and making his personality bloom.

He spent most of his free time perched on the back of a chair, where he had a good view of what was going on in the house. He liked to be on a chair with us, so he could be nearby, but he wasn’t a cuddler. He watched every move we made, always on alert for what he could do to join in and stay close, but didn’t want to be held.

I think he thought he was our protector and always had to be on guard to keep us safe.

Albie watched over us all, including the puppies.

He was vigilant when there was a new litter, keeping an eye on them, but never venturing too near.

From the very beginning, he was closest to Dewdrop. I think he might have thought he needed to watch over her like he did the puppies.

He might have a worried look on his face in this photo, but he was pretty dang happy. She was one person who he liked being held by. He followed her everywhere when she was at the cottage.

That boy loved coming to work with me in the studio, too. He had a habit of jumping up into whatever chair I just got out of. If I was at the computer, he was on my chair in my work station. When I came back to the table, he’d hop in my desk chair.

When we got Honey, he wasn’t too happy with us and there was a long adjustment period, with the Littles against the Bigs. Eventually, they all became one pack and Albert was right out front when running with the big dogs in the woods. He thought of himself as a leader, although I don’t know if any of the large dogs acknowledged his role as boss. They indulged him, and let him think what he wanted.

But no matter how important his role was in guarding the family and telling the other dogs what to do, he always had time for the girls, and enjoyed the special attention they gave him.

I will miss his subdued enthusiasm in joining everything anyone was doing. His quiet joy in being a family leader. The unending love he had for us all.

When I buried his mommy, Twinkle just a few days ago, he sat by my side the entire time, and watched me put her in the ground. Afterwards he sat there a while, like he was taking care of her, watching over her body like he watched over us.

He never complained, he never demanded. He was 9 lbs of bravery and sweetness, with a little bit of worry and a lot of caring thrown in the mix.

He died very bravely too. Rich had been out of town ten days, and Albert stayed strong until his return. I think he was hanging on to see him.

We held Albie and his sister in our arms together as he slowly faded away, whispering his favorite words to him, telling him how much we loved our River Dog.

I will miss my funny, weird little guy. He was a good boy.

Pretty stones

Corona virus, cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, Ryan

By Karla Nathan / June 19, 2021

When Twinkle passed, I brought her home from the vet’s office to show her to the other dogs. I knew they would look for her if I didn’t. You might think it’s odd, but we showed Ryan’s body to our pets too. They were overly excited about a room filled with paramedics and other professionals during a pandemic when they hadn’t been around many people, so it wasn’t exactly a moving moment.

But at least they knew why Uncle Ryan wasn’t around for ear scratches and walks any more.

It would’ve been easier to have Twinkle cremated, my husband was out of town and it was 100 degrees that day. But I hated to think of the other dogs always looking for her and not knowing where she was.

I buried her next to Ryan’s memorial tree.

A dear friend and her daughter had engraved and painted rocks for me and I’d been planning on placing them by this oak. I am glad I hadn’t done it yet, they were just what I needed to top Twinkle’s grave.

I used some of the rocks in planters too.

Ryan is never out of my thoughts, but I still like to have little trinkets and mementos of him around me.

To Twinkle, with love

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, Sugarwings, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / June 16, 2021

Twinkle was born on Valentine’s Day and was my sweetheart of a dog. Sugarwings was just big enough to grab her and giggle when the pup came to live with us, and from the very beginning, that little dog never complained about how rough she might be treated. She kept running back for more, more, more.

Tinks was the perfect pet for a rough housing kid. She might have seemed fragile, since she was a Yorkie, but that dog was one tough chick. She was always there just waiting to be included in any game her girl wanted to play with her.

They could spend hours together splashing in the water hose or digging in the mud together.

As babies, they shared toys, beds, and as Sugarwings would insist, no matter how hard I tried to keep the milk away from the dog, the little girl shared her bottle with the little dog.

Twinkle was devoted to us all, and one of her favorite words was ‘work’ which she knew meant we were going to to studio together, where she’d climb into this bowl of lace I kept on the floor. Since she decided it was hers, not mine, I changed out the art supplies for a pillow and let her keep it.

She raised her children to love napping in the bowl too.

And she had a lot of children!

She was a great doggie mom. She was meticulous in caring for her babies, still holding 8 year old Dorothy down to give her a good cleaning every evening, up until poor Twinks wasn’t healthy enough to be the caretaker.

She was a dog who lived to love, and was devoted to us all. She was curious and excited about life, up for any adventure even if it was just a trip to the laundry room to check on the load of clothes in the dryer.

And she loved to pose. When she’d see my camera in my hand, she didn’t consider that I might be wanting a photo of a project or something to list in my shop. She KNEW that the picture had to be of her. I sometimes had to pretend to take one of her, so she would relax.

The only thing she didn’t like was Honey. You can tell by the way she refuses to look at the camera, that she wasn’t too happy about us getting a new puppy. Twinkle thought that she was one of our kids, since she was raised with the grand fairy, and didn’t think we needed to get a dog.

There were some battles for a couple of years between the two. But by the time Honey had her own puppies, they’d reached a truce. Twinkle was allowed to wash those puppies and nanny them.

Honey must’ve appreciated the vast experience that Tinks had to offer.

But it wasn’t until the last couple of years that they actually became friends. Twinkle had gone blind and discovered that Honey’s thick tail made an ideal bed.

The first time she waddled over to it and laid down Honey seemed shocked.

Then snuggled up to her.

Since then, the truce was done and they became family.

Over the years, one of her favorite things was going boating.

The words ‘boat’ or ‘“lake’ would send her running to the car, ready for a day on the water.

Twinkle was more than just a dog to me, she was my friend.
And a very good friend, not just to me.

A little bit of painting

dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 12, 2021

While the cuddle bugs have kept me very busy, I still have managed to do a few creative moves. I spent time pour painting again, and tried something very different. I enjoyed crafting this circle of women so much, I think I could repeat the theme with winged fairies in pastel colors too.

I’ve been doing puppy portraits too.

And I turned some pours into landscapes. Although this one looks alien.

This one is soothing.

And here is a masterpiece! Although, I haven’t sat it out yet, 8 of the 9 pups were spoken for by the time I got the sign ready. I used this sign on a door in my yard for Sugar’s first litter and sold most of the pups this way.

It needed repainted a bit because of changes and touched up from storing it, but was a minor task to fix up. Now, I need to set it outside and see if I sell that last, sweet boy.

Birthday goodness

celebrations, collections, friends

By Karla Nathan / June 9, 2021

With puppies coming on my birthday, I have been completely absorbed in furry, cuddly fun. And I forgot to show a couple of beautiful birthday gifts that I was honored to get. I have a painting from Clover, that I am calling, “Our Lady of the Swans” and have her displayed with the Swans from Lesa’s class at our last arty gathering here before the pandemic struck.

The teeny swan was an adornment on top of this overflowing box of delight from my pal, Angie.

Not only is the old, glass box beautiful with its vintage ribbon and silk rose trim, it is filled with timeless treasures.

See what I mean? Filled to the brim with lovely packages, too pretty to open (but I did!)

There were layers of Good Stuff supplies inside that I can’t wait to use, but haven’t yet due to my fuzzy, little friends.

I did pull out some of the frothy, lace hankies to show off on a couple puppies.
This tiny, black pup took on an RBG vibe, didn’t she?

And Miss Daisy looks like a doll baby.

Speaking of dolls, my sweet grand fairy, Clover was so thoughtful to share her artwork with me. That kid has skills!

Before I know it, my time with the babies will be gone and I’ll have plenty of time for crafting. It will be heart wrenching to see them go, so it is helpful to have such delicious goodies to delve into once they are gone, to take my mind off missing them.

Puppy Time

dogs, Goldendoodle Puppies

By Karla Nathan / June 6, 2021

I promise, these guys really do have soft pillows!

But yesterday, they preferred rocks.
It was their first, big day out and they were so into being outdoor dogs, they embraced every aspect of it.

Including using the upside down fire pit as a den. They also discovered it makes a good slide while playing King of the Hill.

But the day wasn’t just about playtime. We got some work done too. Here they are working as hard as they can to master Crate Training.

I put a kennel in their sleeping area and propped the door open for them to crawl in and out. By the time I am ready to shut one in with the door closed, they won’t even notice.

Painting a cement floor entryway

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), how-to projects, Kitchen remodel, paintings

By Karla Nathan / June 2, 2021

Years ago, I covered my steps in mosaic, on a whim. Not much planning went into it, and very little skill. My dad was ill, I was waiting to hear his diagnosis, and needed a big project where my fingers were busy, but my mind could wander. I didn’t have a design or the right supplies on hand, I just used what I had, and then had to make runs for more marbles and squares to complete what I’d started.

My dad was a lifelong gardener, and I think the abstract vine pattern just sorta formed itself while thinking of him.

Luckily, it hasn’t fallen apart, at least not too much. Even though it wasn’t done correctly. There are a few tiny cracks in some tiles, and a couple marbles popped out, and were glued back in.
The 100+ year old cement floor by it also had some issues. The paint on it had started to peel.

So I thoroughly scrubbed the floor and while I was at it, I went after the steps with a brush and vinegar and got the tiles to sparkle again. Then, I added a big scoop of plaster of Paris into some exterior latex paint and repainted the floor.

That gives the paint some “tooth” help it adhere to the cement.

I hope that it works, because I got carried away and started to paint vines on the floor to coordinate with the steps. That won’t be an easy patch job if the paint wears off, it will need a total redo.

We are not able to use rugs on the floor here because of this critter, Dorothy happily tinkles on any rug she sees, thinking I generously supplied her with a pee pad.

My design makes this into kind of a painted, pee proof rug.

Yep, I know it’s pretty busy. Especially when you add in the hand painted roses on the wall. But it is a very small space and not visible from the rest of the house.

(by the way, there is only a small window of time when the hooks are not layered four deep in jackets, backpacks, hats, leashes and more, I just did spring cleaning and the re-piling up has not yet begun)

After the vines dried, I brushed on a brown glaze and wiped it off, let that dry and coated the floor with semi gloss Polycrylic. I’d rather have used a stronger topcoat but I was worried about the odor and my baby puppies. So, I stayed with water based.

Fingers crossed that the paint lasts a few years!