#2824 weekend wrap-up

It’s been a pretty good weekend. Yesterday might be my favorite day of the year so far. I slept in a little, then took the dogs for a walk and some outside playtime in the backyard. I went to a coffee place that is new to me, Brew Monkey, and it is so cute! 

It looks like a place I might like to go just to read and have a nice coffee and a change of scenery. The coffee, by the way, was quite good. Each month they have new specialty coffees. The one I had was called a Mocha Borgia, and it was a mocha flavored with cinnamon and orange. Yummy! I didn’t drink it there, though. I brought it home and enjoyed it with a sweet roll from Beardall’s Bakery. I was supporting the Magna small businesses! 

After breakfast, it was time for art. I am in a group hosted by Jill the Artist. Each month, she does a workshop for members through Zoom. I was unable to attend the live workshop event, but Jill records the workshops and posts them for the group, so I did that on Saturday around noon. It was a lot like some of our workshops in Crete in which we did some writing and some sketching and painting. It is good and fun.  We did a couple of sort of Valentine’s-related sketches, then we messed around with still life sketches and paintings. 

Drawing clusters of objects is a challenge for me. I have learned that it is easier for me to take a photo of a thing and sketch from the drawing rather than from the actual 3D reality. I didn’t take a photo of my collection of things that I drew. Maybe I will do that tomorrow and try it again. Anyway, here’s what I came up with yesterday:

It was kind of cool, because I painted the background first. The colors are kind of muted here, but it was mostly pink and orange. I let that dry, then I sketched in the candle, the mug and the plant. I decided to use my watercolor marker brushes to “paint” the objects.  

I can’t get over how enjoyable the “arting” is for me. Even when the results are wonky, it’s fun to try. Painting with watercolors is great. 

In the evening, I made myself a pizza. Using pizza dough I’d purchased at Trader Joe’s, along with marinara sauce and quattro formaggi cheese blend, I cooked it up in my cast iron skillet, and I thought it was good. Simple and tasty. I also took the dogs for a walk and had more outside playtime, and everything was working out nicely. 

I picked T up from work, and a couple of hours later, I picked MT up from the airport. It was nice to have everyone home! Stella even came up and slept on the bed with us. Yes, we had all three dogs and both MT and I in the bed. It was mostly fine. Stella would yip on occasion if someone got too close, but mostly, she was really good. I wonder why she decided that last night would be her first night on the bed? I could tell she was feeling very comfortable during the day because she had come up to my room while I was getting ready for the day or whenever I went upstairs to use the bathroom. Here’s a photo of Stella watching Harley wrestle with Mac: 

This morning, we all had a nice lie-in on the bed. MT was telling me about his vacation, and the dogs were being so good and everyone was calm. I took them out for a walk, and it was drizzling. By the time we got home, it was starting to snow, so we cut outside playtime short. I went to the grocery store. We had some inside play time, and then Mac and Stella got into a big scrum. They were fighting over a toy. Actually, each of them had their own toy, but they put them down near each other, and then got all territorial over the toys when they picked them back up to play again. It was awful. I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid to reach for them in case they got confused and tried to bite me. It was very noisy and seemed to last forever, although I’m sure it was less than a minute. 

Now it is really quiet at my house. Stella doesn’t even want to play. She is up on the bed with MT, staying far away from Mac. The behavior is so unlike her, it breaks my heart. I was thinking that we were all getting along so well, now I feel like we are back to square one. The trust between them is broken, at least for today. They did go out for a walk with MT this evening and had their dinner, then Stella went right back upstairs. Mac is staying with me down here in the TV room. I hope we can get back to fun play times. At one point today, each dog had their own toy and I was tossing toys all over the place, and each dog was being very good about playing with her own toy. It was fun and it was so cute. Harley likes to have a ball rolled so she can chase after it. She then wants me to take it out of her mouth, and she gives it up pretty easily. Mac likes to have a ball tossed in the air so she can catch it, then she wants me to tug it out of her mouth, if I can catch her.  Stella likes to run after her toy and bring it right back for another throw. 

Mac and Stella both just went outside together, and although I can see that Stella is super wary about Mac, it looks like Mac wants to be friends again. She is wagging her tail at Stella and giving her space. I’m glad I’ll be home tomorrow to monitor their behavior. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for peace amongst the doggos.