Sunday was NOT a day of rest

I have been trying to post since last Sunday but Blogger wasnt allowing me to upload pictures. Hopefully better late than never!

The wonderful people at Play Dog Play asked me if I could do a couple signs for their fine establishment. When i met Masha at Play Dog Play for the first time, I was incredibly impressed. This is a very cool, very clean and very dog friendly place. You MUST check them out. Seriously, go now and come back and finish reading this later!

Masha also asked if I would be interested in taking part in this years South End Art Hop. I had always wondered about how someone went about taking part in that event so I jumped on her offer to host my work. And then she had one final surprise. She brought me outside to show me a blank canvas. A 12' x 95' wall in need of some artwork. Yup 12' x 95'!!! Check out what it looked like that first day:

Big, huh?! I couldnt say no. The wall had been sealed so first came the priming. Thanks to some major help, in about three hours we covered most of the wall with primer. Did I mention it 94 degrees that day?!?! We ran out of primer and neither my helper nor myself could reach the upper most corner even on ladders so that had to wait until next time. I forgot to take pictures of the primer stage. *sorry* You arent missing much.

Then after the realization I was not going to be able to tackle the last of the priming and the base coat of blue myself, my very busy but very very sweet brother, Randy, came to my rescue. Sorry ladies, he wouldnt let me take pics of him. My niece Sydney joined us and she kicked butt!! She can help anytime. It was in the 90s that day as well but this is what we ended with:

You cant really see beautiful the blue is in this pic but the important part is the wall is now fully covered, top to bottom, with the base coat. Oh, I forgot to mention the tons of other helpers we had all along the way:

Daddy long legs. LOTS of them. When we were priming, it was like they were falling out of the trees above us to see what was going on. While doing the base coat of blue, we didnt see as many but we saw enough. We did our best to not give them a base coat. We were partially successful. I have just decided to spare you the pics of the ones that didnt make it out of the way of our rollers.

Ok, NOW to the happenings of this past Sunday. I headed over in the ate morning to work on the grass. I thought it would be quick an easy but with the temps hitting 108 degrees near the wall, it took me longer than I planned. It is hard when your paint gets to the consistency of glue! But here is the final result and some of the company I had that day:

Oh, and how could I forget?? Here was my bestest buddy on Sunday. Meet Gus:

You cant tell by the pic but Gus is HUGE. He was the first dog to greet me that day and he reminded me very quickly that you should always greet a dog with your mouth closed. I know. Ew. But I never expected this big guy to raise up to be face to face with me to eagerly and so easily. I know, I am an idiot. But cute, huh!?!?

After a yummy milk shake from Champlain Chocolates and some very yummy (so I guess) treats from Pupkat Bakery for Jackson courtesy of Masha, I dragged my tired hot butt home. I unloaded some stuff from the truck and hung with Jack while he ate his treats but then I had to hit the showers.

I could not cool off or relax so I shut out the lights (you cant tell from the pic but it was really dark in there) and resorted to candles. I cant believe I am admitting this but sometimes I am a bit girly I guess. Anyway, then i realized I was starving and there were some booty from the Farmer's Market waiting for me.

My favorite; cucumbers, radishes, cucumbers, baby carrots, cucumbers, Cabot cheddar and did I mention, cucumbers? I added a glass of tea and it was all good. Consider the above the 'before' pic. And here is the 'after':

Yum. Nuff' said 'bout that.

And then I tried typing this blog entry. Blogger just wouldnt accept my pics. I was getting upset and glanced out my window to see this:

If you really look behind the tree in the center of the picture you will see a hot air balloon. NOT a common sight in my neighborhood. The pic stinks because I stood there in awe that a hot air balloon was floating down my little back street so close I could see the and hear the people very very clearly. Then I ran to the camera but the card was in the card reader trying to upload to Blogger. By the time I got back to the window this is all I could get as they were heading to safer areas. Crazy! Im easily amused.

As long as Blogger and I can learn to play nice, I will have lots of new stuff to show you. Mark September 11th and 12th on your calendars!! I hope to see you at Play Dog Play for the South End Art Hop!