family – Page 29 – Karla's Cottage

An Angel for Joan

By Karla Nathan / July 23, 2017

Last month, my husband's mother came very close to death. Members of the family raced across country to be by her side as she was lost in an unresponsive state, having one major seizure after another.

We were told not to expect a recovery.

But the angels were looking over her, and next thing you know, we were gathering again, this time to wish her a happy 85th birthday with her beating everyone at card games, laughing with her kids, sharing hugs, and telling stories.

We stayed at a home on Lake Alcova in Wyoming. When I travel to lakes, rivers, and sea shores, I keep my eyes open for stones or shells to create a fairy to leave behind as a thank you for the loveliness of the beaches. This time, in honor of the beings looking over Joan and saving her so that we could all be together to celebrate another year of her life, I made an angel of desert rock.

This family is always loving, kind, sharing, and full of laughter. But this reunion was even more filled with love than usual, we were all aware of how lucky we were to still have Joan with us and to be celebrating her life and the years of joy she has brought to us all.

First vet check, and trying to convince the doods to get in the crates

Dew Drop, dogs, family, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2017

Getting the pups to the vet for their 6 week shots required a couple of side kicks to help me load them up.

These guys are not yorkie pups, that is for sure. When Twinkle had babies, all 9 could go in one carrier. These ginormous fur balls generously filled 2 crates with three in each. In many ways, golden doodles are easier to raise, they are hardier and more independent. Yorkies are such tiny, delicate babies that they require more hands on care. This litter, lives in the breezeway with the door open so they can take themselves out to potty. Twinkle's pups lived indoors, in a wading pool, and I picked up the itsy bitsy poops to keep the area clean. I still have to scoop up after the doods, but at least it is out in the yard. Those pups are great about not going anywhere near their nest, since they have a full run of the yard.

It has been a lot of work, though. The first hour of every day was spent cleaning up, changing bedding, disinfecting their area when they were younger. Now that they are older, I'm still out there every morning, cleaning up, but it is with a grabber, picking up piles from the yard. And I'm doing it over and over throughout the day to make sure they have a clean area to play in.

And each day, those dogs get larger.

And larger.

You can almost watch them grow.

But they are laid back for pups, pretty easy to take care of. When my assistants and I took them to the vet, they cooperated very well, none ran off or caused too much mischief.

The doc gave them all good health reports. None cried when it got a shot, either.

Sugarwings took notes during the appointment for us.

It was all pretty cute. A crowd gathered around at the office, smiling and laughing a the scene we made carrying in the passel of pups and getting them weighed.

Here is a little video of the girls loading them up for the trip. (Please excuse the messy garage.)

I hope you aren't sick of all the pup pics, just in case, here is one of some roses I am painting.

Golden summer skies and goldendoodles

Dew Drop, dogs, family, Garden, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 22, 2017

Sugarwings keeps a ladder under the mulberry trees for the whole berry season, for easy access when she needs a snack.

What on earth is better for a kid than running in the clover fields with puppies and climbing trees to eat berries on a sunny, summer day?

The grand fairies and the babies raced across the field, collapsing onto the ground for wriggling hugs when they got worn out.

It really doesn't get any better than this.

Perfection!

PS- Happy birthday, Guncle Randy!

Dewdrop and the doggies

Dew Drop, dogs, family, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 17, 2017

While Guncle Randy was here, pet butlering and then hanging out in the studio with me, we had a room full of pups, along with one grand fairy. She saw us taking photos of pups (and being a bit of a ham herself,) she scooted off to her dress up closet and wriggled into a gown that would be properly eye catching for a photo shoot.

Nope, not exactly a wallflower, huh? She was into posing.

And made an adorable model, huh?

Her furry friends were slightly cute themselves.

Oh, this baby looks so sweet and tiny here! The puppies are growing so fast! This was such a short time ago, but they look nothing like this now.

Time with babies is precious.

The time slips away so quickly.

A creekbed fairy in Missouri

family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / June 11, 2017

The Steve Miller concert and Sacred Circus acts were cancelled due to monsoons, but the weather didn't dampen our whole weekend. By Sunday morning the rain was gone, and we ventured out of the little trailer we'd tucked ourselves away in all night.

The rain was gone but left behind plenty of mud. Which the grand fairies found as soon as they left the camper.

There was a creek right by us, so we went down to rinse off.

And stayed most of the day!

Sun had come out, the humidity was shooting upwards, but the cool creek bed was shady and inviting.

There were about a dozen kids playing down there, and I offered $10 to anyone who could find a heart shaped rock.

The winner?

Sugarwings!

She found a few other ones too.

So did my son, who stacked them up in a gravity defying tower.

I found the right rocks to make a fairy on the mossy shore.

With some help from Dewdrop.

It was quite disappointing for the family to miss out on performing due to weather. And I hated not getting to see the Space Cowboy.

But the weekend was still magical. I'll take rockin it with the grandfairy babies over rock and roll any day!

But it was nice to get home to our other babes after the adventure was over.

Randy the Pet Bulter

dogs, family, guncles, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / June 4, 2017

Deciding to have pups is a major commitment of time. We had a window of time where we had no travel plans, the weather was warm, and it was ideal for babies, and we decided to go for it.

Then, my son and his Sacred Circus family were asked to perform at a big music fest, right after one of my faves, Steve Miller!

So, what do you do, when you are knee deep in fur babies that need constant care, but your human baby has a big deal show that you HAVE to see?

You call the Pet Butler!

I knew the babies would be in better hands with him than just about anyone else, including myself. He was great, just as I expected. We had some airline points, so flew him up from Florida and we were free to attend the concert with no worries.

(Although, we should have been worried about weather, storms canceled the show and we arrived at the tail end of a huge storm, that turned into a constant drizzle for the rest of the night)

All of the puppies were in good hands while we were gone, and Guncle Randy stayed on a few days for some fun time too. Although, he was still mopping up after, cuddling, and feeding puppeesh even though he was no longer on the clock.

We had time with grand fairies, and got in lots of studio time too. A perfect visit.

I always love it when my baby bro comes to craft and hang out, but everything is even better with puppies.

My Own Birthday fun

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / May 28, 2017

This year, I had quite a birthday. It was such a jam packed week of celebrating, that I've probably used up my quota of birthday fun for the next few years. Seems like there was one special thing after another, it was really something. If my birthday gets forgotten in the future, that is just fine because I got more than my fair share of celebrating this May!

Caike baked a white chocolate flourless cake, Thia made a sculptured edible rose to go on top of it. My husband's boss sent flowers! Honey had puppies. The whole family came over and Adam treated me to a wonderful shrimp and pasta dinner that I didn't have to help cook., then he gave me some new paint brushes too.

Some dear Birdsong friends took me out to lunch, cupcakes, and shopping, Tami even made this necklace for me. (notice the little birdie?)

My friend, Shanna, made a fairy garden, and sweet treats for her craft day party. Earlier in the week, a group of friends had me over for a dinner party. Ryan took me out for pizza another night. the little grand fairies and I went out to the T Rex cafe for a big meal to make use of the $25 gift card that the Landry's club gives on every birthday if you sign up for a membership, and I bought myself a tee shirt with the $10 that Kohls gives out on birthdays. I still have a free popcorn coming from the movie theater and I will not let that go to waste.

Cards came in the mail, too.

From the family, I got the mixer I'd been wanting for years and years.

I was kind of overwhelmed by it all. Yep, it was the best!

Cyclone

family, Sacred Circus

By Karla Nathan / May 24, 2017

Our girls were in a wonderful show recently, based on Oz, and titled Cyclone. Avahni was a Poppy.

Kia was a flying monkey.

They are part of an ariel troupe in KC, this is the first performance of it that I've seen, and I was impressed by the quality and professionalism.

And of course, I'm always smitten by any version of Dorothy's story.

And doubly smitten by my flying fairies.

Especially when I get to have the littlest fairies on my lap while watching the show.

Portraits from the past, thinking about Mother’s Day

family, paintings, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / May 21, 2017

I used to do a lot of portrait sketches. This was one of the very first ones, a charcoal pencil drawing of my grandma (Dad's mom) when I was 16.

These are colored pencil from a few years after the first. My other Grandma and my Mom. All of these pictures are on a shelf hanging in the stairway landing, in a grouping with other family pictures.

This shot from my wedding is one of my faves, it is the only picture I have of my mom and grandma together (along with my sisters and I).

The wall is a mix of paintings, drawings, and photos. None of the art is all that great, but it is sentimental to me. This watercolor is of a photo of my husband's grandma, Gladys, with one of her quilts behind it, and a gladiola in front.

The area is a quiet corner of our home, we rarely use the upstairs unless we have guests, or the grand fairies are sleeping up there. So, the mix of portraits aren't a focal point in our cottage, some of the frames are cheap and cheesy, like the one from the 80s on the drawing of my grandma, but the collection means a lot to me.

I take time to stop and look, sometimes will go upstairs just to think about the pictures and the people in them. Especially on Mother's Day.

Speaking of mothers- I can't leave you without pics of Honey and her pups, can I?

And of Twinkle, who has had her own share of puppies, wishes these babies were hers.

Mother’s Day

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / May 18, 2017

Our Mother's Day was a full one, with a cottage brimming with loved ones.

Miss Tree's mom, aunt, grandma, and dad, along with my husband's brother and many of his family joined our regular bunch of kids and grand fairies, for a pretty, spring day to hold puppies and feast on a big Mother's Day lunch.

I don't think those pups were in their nest for more than time to nurse, throughout the day.

Before everyone arrived, Sugarwings whispered an idea in PopPop's ear- they should mow the word,"MOM" into the field.

The O was even a heart!

Sweet, huh? I hope your day was special too.