Sun showers, Mojitos and a Clutch of Eggs

I wanted to blog several times this week but my tendinitis is back with a vengeance so I wasn't up for typing on the computer most days. My camera agitates the condition also, the lifting and holding of that big DSLR. But, I would rather just suffer the pain than stop taking photos! So, my week of exceptional and magical moments is getting condensed into one post and with little prose. Was your week full of exceptional and magical moments?  I bet they were...it's up to you to spot them! :)

Had a huge thunderstorm earlier in the week but this time, despite all the heavy thunder and cracking lightening, it stayed sunny the entire time...the rain was heavy, loud, a torrent. But, the sun shined on as if to say, "you aren't ruining my day!"

The sun was low in the sky after the rain had stopped, a perfect time to head to the garden to capture glistening little beads of raindrop diamonds.

How about some Pink Diamonds?

On Friday, I accidentally ate some moldy food, had to rush my cat to the vet, tried to swat a mosquito and hyper-extended my elbow...the one already inflamed with tendinitis. So, when my husband said let's meet at the Outback for dinner, I didn't hesitate to give a very enthusiastic YES!  

I said yes, not only for the great (non-moldy) food but also for the delicious Mojitos! Give me two please!

I hadn't had alcohol since Jackie and I had champagne during high tea in London back in December so it didn't take long before I was loopy and flirting with my husband who was busy snapping pics of me with his iPhone, complimenting the "mood" lighting that sat above our booth.

Creative Saturday was a Traditional Art day and Lita came over to mess around with our oils and watercolors. The night before I had sketched this image of a Buddhist Nun using a doll owned by Richard Simmons as my reference and anticipating that I would paint it with watercolor the following morning.

However, I really loved the sketch and didn't want to ruin it with my horrible watercolor skills so I decided to scan it and paint it digitally first before I watercolor the original. We began the morning instead by working on the oil paintings we had started last month. Lita worked on her still life bananas and I added more layers of thin oil paint to my Girl with Horse.

There is still a lot of work to be done but I'm getting closer to adding details which is my favorite part.
After lunch we headed to the bookstore and picked up some books on Japanese and Chinese Ink Painting.  However, not having the proper inks, we used our watercolors instead and learned to make the four main strokes for Japanese Ink painting.

 I'm going to head to the art store sometime this week and pick up the proper equipment for ink painting and continue to study the two books I purchased and attempt to master the art of Japanese and Chinese Ink painting! I also messed around in my art journal using markers and watercolors to create a pineapple. I will add some words to this page such as "juicy" "delicious" and "sweet" before calling it finished.

Sunday was a very active day starting with a 3 mile run/walk followed by a 4 mile bike ride before heading out into the garden for a few hours to weed, plant and clear out some of the dead leaves and then finally a swim in the pool! The first swim of the season! Yay for pool time!
This being Mother's Day, it was appropriate that I found this in the garden hidden behind some pots:

Our first clutch of the season! I was getting worried because we haven't had any ducklings so far this year and usually by this time we have had two sets. Meadowlark (so named because she likes to sing) probably thought that the garden was a good place, close to where I feed the ducks and to the lake. However, it's also right next to the home of the Palm Rat so if she leaves them at night, she's bound to have one or all missing. I hope Meadowlark gets the chance to hatch her eggs. Here she is sitting on them:

Perhaps I'll be taking pictures of cute little ducklings soon!  Fingers crossed! Happy Mother's Day Meadowlark and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's out there including my own!

Me and my lovely Mom in Scotland

Have a great week!