The wonderful walls of Shaker Village and the Making of Mice

We have arrived home from exhibiting at an art show held at wonderful Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Ky.

 Oh, how I love this peaceful place!

 The art show was held along an avenue of trees in remarkably perfect weather. I had posted extensively about the Shaker Village in the past, so, today, I only concentrate on one of the most marvelous structural elements that surround this lovely piece of American History,

  Stone walls

 As a great lover of stone walls, I am always mesmerized by these stalwart and meandering masterpieces 

built between 1805 and 1910, not by the Shakers, but by the Irish.

 These walls continue for miles and miles, surrounding dwellings, ponds and running along roadsides and meadows. Shaker Village sits on 3000 heavenly acres of Kentucky land.

I don't know how many miles the stone walls cover, but I do know that the Irish were paid only $1000 per mile..

.

What I would give to have stone walls like these! Some have been standing firmly for over 200 years.

The Village is home to much heritage stock, as well.

 These horses were HUGE!

They are called English Shire horses and were of such great beauty and strength as to be truly awesome.

.

and now, from very large to very small.....

A study in MICE.

I had the chance, (because of my huntress cat, Claudette), to observe a rat, up close and personal. 

 .

 This big guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time; the barn.

Claudette deposited the "expired" rat on our back step. I donned gloves

and took the opportunity to study his little paws, feet and face. 

 It is surprising how strong those little thighs appear, the better for climbing the barn poles.

Studying his toes really helped me out in properly fashioning my mousie and ratty

feet out of wire and wool.

My materials are sheeps wool, wire,and mohair...the sum of parts in the making of a rat.

And here she is, MY soft and fuzzy rat.

 Claudette the huntress cat, pays her no mind.

Below are footsies from more little mice.

 I've become increasingly fond of making mice and have made more than 20 thus far.

 One of my motives for making the mice, is a new book character, who is part of the 3 piece book set I've been working on. You can see her in the drawing above which I created months ago.

Now, I am ready to get serious and finish those illustrations.

The mice also represent all the little rodents in my previous books as well..

all part and parcel of Hopalong Hollow

So what am I going to do with all these little  

Hopalong Hollowfolk?

They will be living in my shop and selected mice will come to the next 3 shows with me:

The Country Living Fair 

in Columbus, Ohio

  http://www.countryliving.com/fair/a4125/country-living-fair-columbus/

and

Madison Chautauqua, 

in  Madison, Indianna

http://www.madisonchautauqua.com/ 

and

  Saint James Court 

in Louisville, Ky.

http://www.stjamescourtartshow.com/

I must admit, my rodents are a bit more lovable than 

 the rat

 the cat

 brought in.

(But he did get a proper burial. )

Batch of buns and back to the drawing board....

Greeting friends!

I hope you are enjoying your June

Usually, by this time in the summer, we have dozens of wee babes waddling round the Hollow.

 BUT... this has been a bad year for babies. Not a single gosling egg hatched out of 21 eggs, poor Alice and Mathila...they tried so hard. No ducklings have hatched despite 3 sitting ducks. My peahen, although she sat on 3 eggs for over 30 days, only hatched one baby pea-chick which died the next day.

To top it all off, My favorite gander, whom I have had for 8 years, died of unknown causes.

 GEEEZ!

Okay, enough gloomy stuff, we get enough of THAT in this world.
Thank goodness for blogs, they are a wonderful escape. Now, I will keep it light.

Despite all the losses, our animal family is growing, as you can see below....

ALL NEW, but none are finished!
 
We did, however, finish the Dovecote, just need a bit more thatch roofing.

The top is for the doves, the bee-skeps open up to store seed and sunflowers,

which is put in the open bird feeder.

Doves are seed eaters, not bug eaters, else I would not have designed in this manner.

The 3rd shelf holds a bar bee hive for honey bees and beneath that is a feeder full of corn 

for my ducks and geese.

The bug haven stands at the end of the structure.

 The gardens are all weeded.

 I even had enough success with my Lavender to actually spare a bundle of it

without trimming it off all of the plants. I am very stingy about plucking flowers. I like to leave them in the garden for all to see. How about you?

I planted 24 Lavenders this year and all are producing blooms, although still youngsters.

 It is time to get back to illustration. There is a new book in the works which I actually started late last year. Thus far, 7 drawing are complete.

I am happy to get out the pencils once again. I miss my pencils when I am away from them for too long, for I love to draw!
So do tell, how are you spending your summer?