ellenmillion

I owe a weekend report! On Thursday night, I drove out to Chena Hot Springs, all by myself in the van. I camped there overnight, soaked in the morning, and met Layla for a plein air watercolor painting class. Yes, I was torturing myself again with Things I Am Not Good At. Patreon patrons will get a look at what I painted! Friday night I camped out with Layla, Saturday was another day of painting outdoors, and then Saturday night Layla drove back in and Jake left Guppy with the grandparents and drove out in his fancy car. We stayed until Sunday afternoon, soaking and enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

It was a gorgeous time. Sunny weather the first day, threatening clouds the second - but no actual rain until we were tucked into bed, long after a lovely fire and marshmallows.

I brought my iPad and keyboard with me, and actually managed to write a few thousand words, as well! Not-a-book is up to 40k, and I've got just another scene (maaaaybe two) and a fluffy epilogue still to write on it. I've mocked up the cover and drafted the blurb. It feels like it's stampeding to the finish line now! It's eating my brain, big time.

Tomorrow: a massage, the farmer's market, a new artwork release, and maybe a thousand new words, if I'm lucky. All the paid #junicorns are mailed except a few I'll take into town with me tomorrow. (And one more original sale would make me over the moon! I made a special folder at my artist Facebook page to show which originals were still available.)

Crossposts: http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1625107.html

So, we were planning to go camping this weekend. That was before the forecast called for 4 INCHES OF SNOW and winds of up to 60 MPH at our campground. SO that ended up being a big NO THANK YOU, and instead we're working on home improvement. Think warm thoughts for all my poor flowers. The lettuce baskets and potatoes were in the garage last night, and this morning I woke up to buckets of snow coming down... but not sticking for very long at all. It was just wet, and warmed up quickly. Nothing looks frosted. (Though we did lose power for an interesting 20 minutes or so...)

For my birthday, I got hacked. Okay, that's not entirely true - it's still the day before my birthday. But I'm cranky about it! I think it's all cleaned up, and nothing was compromised (just some crap that got added to an old forum and a defunct folder at EMG-Zine). Passwords updated and all the folders in question were summarily deleted (or are still processing through deletion).

In other news, I did finish some client artwork! This is part of a filed trademark application:

And I'm well into inking another sea monster piece that I'm really hoping to have finished up to post this month. :) I have another commission to do in color, and then everything is off my plate. Until the next big secret project, which supposedly I have until next March to complete. (The last secret project hit some delays, but should be out of the gate... by March, I suppose.)

Now, it's time to get birthday dinner ready for the best husband in the world.

Crossposts: http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1617868.html

Thursday we took Guppy on her first not-a-baby camping trip. Getting out was a little more complicated than we'd hoped, as the fridge had mildewed, and the coach battery was dead. But some genius from my husband and some elbow grease from me fixed both items, and we had a smashingly good time.

Guppy's summary of the event (picture her sitting on her bed at home pretending to read to me from an imaginary book):

We went camping! The woods were very very very long, and we slept in the van and had a BIG fire.

We did have a lovely fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (she was unimpressed and only ate half of one) and sleeping was just fine once she was un-excited enough to actually sleep.

The 'very long woods' is a description of the hike that we took, the morning after camping. The first part was quite nice - dry, level ground, some wooden bridges, clear trails. Then we got to the river, and realized that parts of the trail had very recently been underwater. There were washes of sand and very slippery mud, and lots of downed trees to scramble over and duck under. We had to strike out into the woods to bypass water in several areas, and the last short bit - we could actually see the end trailhead! - we had to ford in ankle-deep water*. It was quite an adventure.

I can't wait to go out again. Once my shoes are dry.

I have a new portrait up! I was stretching my comfort zones, and wrinkles are unexpectedly fun:

*Jake says that this doesn't really sound all that adventurous, and suggests I say that it was fast-flowing, waist-deep, and had sharks. I concur that sounds more exciting, but I have journalistic integrity to maintain...

I got poor sleep last night and can no longer brain.

So, you get the super abbreviated cliff notes of this last weekend, with photos, and a promise to tell the mammoth story at some point.

This is what we bought last week. I am all smiles and glee.

So we took Guppy camping!

( Photo )
This bugnet was made for her stroller (more on that below), but worked great over the carseat and bouncer, too.

( Another photo )
(Next time we won't bring the bouncer - too big, and the carseat and stroller did the same job.)

You can see a little of the van behind her in that first photo - it has a fridge, some cabinets, a little sink and double stove, a propane heater for cold nights, great lights and beds top and bottom. There are tables that set up in the middle, and the front captain's seats swivel around to face in. It is a '97 VW Eurovan pop-top camper, and I already love it. It brings back many memories of camping with my parents in their early 80s VW Vanagon.

( Another photo )

(You may recognize this camp spot from photos I posted two years ago - this is the spot we always try to get!)

The weather was not awesome. We had some cloudy days, and on Thursday night it was so windy that the grommet tore out of our tarp. On Friday it POURED down rain and was cold and nasty. And we were all deliciously, comfortably warm inside our cozy little van.

( Another photo )

Elsa took naps on the seat, and that bench pulls down into a nice double bed where we slept at night. Jake took the upper bunk, slightly diagonally, and we all got great sleep. (Comparatively, I mean - my new definition of great sleep, which probably doesn't actually qualify.)

( Another photo )

Here, we're getting ready to go for a walk in the wet outdoors.

( Another photo )

I've got a whole post brewing about this stroller, but the very short version is: BEST STROLLER EVER. It's been through everything.

And, Guppy's general reaction to camping? This just about sums it up:

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Entries tagged with camping

Brief weekend recap and writing report.

Thursdaily with Changes of Plans and Fridaily with Snow

Not-a-daily, with new portrait adoption piece, and camping report

Tuesday starts the week...

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August 2024

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