TO THE BEACH !!!!!!! NOT...............

I want to go to the beach !!!! But Lawrence says no - we are going to stay home and do things in our area. People travel from all over the United States to visit our area. Local attractions include the Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, Graves Mountain Lodge, Montpelier, and Monticello. Washington, D.C. is only an hour and forty minutes away. He says we are going to do things closer to home this summer. People are calling this having a Staycation. I call it having a Fakecation !!!!!!!!

THE TWINS WERE HERE

Yesterday twin fawns were in the backyard with their mother eating some of our plums. They have been grazing in our wildflower meadow for the past three weeks and this was the first time we could get a good picture of them. They are really beautiful and we don't mind their eating some of our plums.

BACKYARD BEAR

This afternoon we had a bear in the backyard eating plums. This one looked like he weighed about 175 pounds. This is the third time in the last 6 days that we have seen bears in the backyard. On Friday there were 2 here at the same time. We told this one to "get outa here" and he ran back up the mountain. The plums sure have been popular.

MORE GOOD NEWS

The results of Paint The Parks, which is one of the most prestigious juried art exhibitions in America, have been announced. There were 200 paintings selected nationally and 3 of them are paintings by Lawrence !!!!! Needless to say, we are very happy about this. They are pictured below. More of Lawrence's work can be seen at altafferart.com.

Taggart Lake oil 24 x 36 $4,900

Pyramids Of The Badlands oil 16 x 20 $1,600

Path Ay Jenny Lake oil 18 x 24 $2,200

BAD DEER

This afternoon when we looked out of our kitchen window there was a deer standing on its hind legs eating the plums off of our plum tree. We love our deer but we don't like them eating our plums. Lawrence opened the back door and I barked at the deer and it ran away. I'm going to have to keep a close guard on our plum tree. Deer beware.

STATE DEPARTMENT EXHIBITION

Recently Lawrence was asked by the State Department to lend some of his paintings for an exhibition in the American embassy in Honduras. This is part of the Art In Embassies program. He is lending two of his earliest works from his personal collection. They are pictured below. So head on down to Honduras and take a look.

The Landslide oil 11 x 14
In The Harbor oil 20 x 16

MY FAVORITE COMICS

Each morning Lawrence and I look at the comics on the internet. My most favorite comic strip is Overboard. It's about pirates on a ship with two dogs, Louie and Raymond, and mice and rabbits and sea monsters and a mermaid. It's really funny and Louie and Raymond are two cool dudes.Of course I also love Snoopy who is in the Peanuts strip. He is a beagle and we are distant cousins. Snoopy speaks for all dogs and we all look up to him. Maybe some day there will be a comic strip about me.

ANOTHER NEW PAINTING

Lawrence has been busy in his studio and just finished this interesting painting of a marsh with large patches of violet wildflowers.