Cat Portraits

I've been painting lots of miniatures for the show on January 8th at Trish Harding's Studio UFO. The last three I did are 10 inch square paintings of our three cats. They are "Fiona Queen of the Universe," "Mehitabel the Wild Child," and "Duma the Wonder Cat." I had fun painting these.

Winter walk in Whatcom Falls Park

Happy Days, Bill and Vicky came to visit

It's been so long since we've seen Vicky. She's becoming a beautiful young gal. We've known her over ten years and it's been great to watch her grow up. She is like a grand daughter to us. Her dad Bill is a good friend, as we say "a close personal friend of the Chaikins of Bellingham." He's the one who coined the phrase and it stuck. It's also true. He's a fine photographer and Vicky is following in his footsteps. So great to spend a few hours with them.

Christmas Kitties

Fiona Queen of the Universe

Duma the Wonder Cat

Duma and his sister Mehitabel

Mehitabel the Wild Child

Before we took off to visit Dave and Nora in Anacortes we spent the morning at home with the kitties. We gave them their Christmas mousies and played with them. It was sunny and beautiful, a perfect day to take some photos of the cats. Fiona is looking and acting younger than she has in years. The two so called kittens now weigh more than she does and are pretty close to full size. We are so lucky that they are all in our lives.

Christmas 2009

Our View

Emmett

Arvin looking at the orchid in the table bouquet

Nora and Spencer

We decanted and drank some of the Mate wine we got in Tuscany

Elegant flowers on the table

Emmett and Spencer

Jennifer helped in the kitchen - the biggest potato in the batch

Dave used his new napkin holder as a hat

Steve and Kai opened presents together

When we woke Christmas morning it was a gorgeous, sunny day. The view out our kitchen window was spectacular. We headed to Dave and Nora's again and had a wonderful time. Steve and Kai joined us for roast beef dinner, present opening and games. Another great day.

Christmas Eve at Dave and Nora's

Dave and Nora's kids were all home for the holidays. We joined the family and Nora's brother Paul and his wife Cathy for Christmas Eve dinner. Traditionally Nora serves Dungeness crab and speghetti. Yum! Emmett was looking a bit the worse for wear due to a black eye he got in an accident in Seattle. Jennifer was looking as elegant and beautiful as ever. Spencer was eating his usual massive amount of crabs. We had a lovely evening.

More Goofy Duma Pictures

The first was the other night in Arvin's study. The other two I took this morning while we were playing. There is no doubt. Duma is a goofy cat.

Ersatz Kids and Grand Kids Visit

Yesterday evening our friends from Vancouver came down for a Christmas visit. We think of them as our pseudo kids and grand kids. We've known them for six years since Steve and Susan introduced us. We've watched their family thrive and grow. We love to see them and appreciate their coming down since their lives are extremely busy. In the photos are Annika, Aiden and Kaelyn and their parents DJ and Rikki. Also my brother Steve and Arvin.

Palette Princesses

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of our book club, Palette Princesses. We met at Pat's house. As you can see from the picture Pat's table was gorgeous and we all brought delicious food for our lunch together. Here we are - Nancy, Trish, Donna, Pat, Eve, Helen and Cindy. I'm taking the picture of course. (Isn't it funny how non-stop photographers manage to stay out of the picture? Tee hee.)

In the Park with Steve

Sunday afternoon Steve and I met alongside Scudder Pond and walked down into Whatcom Falls Park. The walk began with a bit of sun peaking through the clouds and ended under full cloud cover and the cold of impending snow. It was a beautiful day in the park with a dusting of snow from the day before. I took both stills and movies.