Winter storms remind me of my beloved Beethoven. 
It was autumn when we found our 1820s farm house in Hunters Valley in south central Pennsylvania. We had the illusion of owning half a hemisphere. We were surrounded by forests, streams, fields, and state games lands and at the time, couldn't see another house from horizon to horizon.  One Christmas, a friend who owned a similar property, convinced me that we needed a little more activity on the vacant acreage.
So on Christmas morning, I prepared two large golden packages. They were wrapped so the lids could be removed immediately for the comfort of the temporary guests inside. The backs of the boxes were completely open to prevent the tails from being crushed, and the girls positioned them so all the feathers were hidden beneath the Christmas tree. Mike’s face lit up when he opened the boxes to discover two peacocks!
​Fast forward.
It was mid-April when I heard Mike on the phone with Ruth Buck, a reporter for the local newspaper. “Well, we have at least three hundred birds,” Mike stated casually. I stopped and turned. Stunned.
I knew the collection had grown - iridescent white peacocks joined the blues, there were Bourbon Reds, Bronze and Royal Palm turkeys, Golden Pheasants, rheas, Dia Rhea and Gonna Rhea (another story- these two made NPR news!).

If it were up to me - and of course, it isn't - this is the young lady I would choose for Zippy. But I realize that she is not his type. Zippy likes long legged brunettes. Tashi, Mycala's black lab, was his first love. Together, they looked like Boris and Natasha. And then came Queen Esther.  So I'll stay out of it, but isn't she adorable?

Today's Creative Content Camp session advised us to take 10 photos a day for the next week of projects were working on - our images, in situ, our offices, studios and photos our selves in the process of creating. One suggestion was featuring out pets. Zippy doesn't get involved with my art, even though he is always near by, whether I'm paining, sewing, writing or in the garden.  Rocky, on the other hand, would sit on my lap, on top of my watercolor paper,and  nap in m basket of home made collage papers.I miss you Rocky.

Mycala suggested we enter Zippy in the Visionary Arts Museum Pet Parade. It was last minute so we scampered to find an outfit and settled on a star spangled America's Sweetheart lollipop T-shirt. To complete the look we found a hat and adorned it with red, white and blue lollipops. He smiled most of the day, loving the attention, prancing happily in the parade and having his few minutes of fame on stage for the talent show. He fell asleep at one point and was too tired to participate in Musical Chairs, but all in all it was a wonderful day.
There were dogs of every shape and size, one cat, a bunny, two iguanas and a snake. The costumes were phenomenal and included baby carriages decorated as floats, with owners dressed to match their dogs costumes. We were threatened a few times with lightning and potential storms but they magically help off.
Next year we'll start earlier and create a costume worthy of the occasion!  

Halloween in our new home was delightful! We had over 200 children of all ages stop by - many spider men, possibly attracted by our over sized spider, princesses, a cupcake, two dalmations accompanied by Cruella DeVille.This is the first time we've lived in a community where they have a lot of kids trick or treating in years! All of the neighbors were out on their porches and we all visited and talked in between visitors. It was a warm and wonderful evening in Lake Walker!