It's the End of an Era

Most of you have probably already read in one place or another that I had a house fire. The good news is  Piper and I made it out safely. The bad news is my house will need to be completely gutted, sealed and rebuilt. For such a small fire that was so quickly contained, the devastation is unbelievable. 

They tell me all this will take somewhere between 10 and 15 months to complete. So, for at least the next year, I have no way to stock, pack and send out orders for Stampeaz. In any event, all the Stampeaz inventory was covered with soot and had to be removed from the house before any remediation could occur. All my personal belongings leave the premises beginning tomorrow. 

Four intrepid souls showed up at my house yesterday to empty the basement of all Stampeaz stuff, since it isn't covered by insurance and could not be included in the cleaning and restoring. I'm very glad that this part of my world isn't simply going to a landfill, which would have been the alternative and would have totally broken my heart. I hope they find a way to share the wealth with other lovers of printmaking in all its forms. 

There are still 60 sheets of Tan-Z Kut (54 x 12 x 1/4 inch) in the garage. They have escaped most of the soot and smoke damage. If you are in the area and have a truck, come and get them. They, like all the rest of the Stampeaz stuff is free for any who dare come to the site of devastation. (The garage isn't bad at all, compared to the rest of the house...) 

(Baloo welcoming the first shipment of Tan-Z Kut!)

The story? So many things went right, for all that went wrong. My alarm clock went off, as usual, but instead of getting up immediately and heading out of the house with Piper, we lazed around for an extra ten minutes and I was just wondering what I'd made for dinner the night before, since I smelled something funny. Mere seconds later, every smoke alarm in the house started screaming. I opened the bedroom door and followed the smell down the hall, through the laundry room and to the basement door and when I looked down the stairs I could only see smoke. 

I closed the basement door, closed the laundry room door and dragged Piper out the front door with me and closed that door, too. The fire chief told me that those three things kept my house from burning to rubble, so I still have a structure for them to gut and restore. 

Piper and I stood on the front lawn for about four hours, while ten fire trucks full of first responders battled the fire on, of all things, First Responders Day. I'll never forget that date again. 

I've closed down the Stampeaz website, but I will still be hanging around here. I even have a series of mushrooming pictures I had prepared for a post, before, well... before. Give me a little while to regroup. It's been a rough few days here.

Sorry about the rambling post. There are so many interruptions right now that it's hard to gather my thoughts into a single, somewhat coherent pile.  

Fingers Crossed

I think Stampeaz.com is back up and running as it should be. I think... I hope... 

The site is browsable, searchable and otherwise visible. I will only be fully confident again when a real customer out in the great wide world actually has a successful purchase experience going through PayPal. Fingers (and eyes after all the screen gazing) crossed. 

And speaking of crossed eyes, I may need to join Piper for a nap! This stuff is exhausting. 

I got to work on my very own puzzle mystery! 

:)

Technical Difficulties

Well, I'm taking a short vacation and visiting my family, so the kind folks hosting the Stampeaz website took the opportunity to change some of the code behind the scenes and something broke. 

Yes, Piper and I are grimacing about the whole thing. 

Connectivity out here in the woods is a little spotty, so it may take me a couple days to get things up and running again. Your patience is much appreciated!

Thank you!

Sunrise, Moonset...

Yesterday morning, I took Piper to the lighthouse park to watch the full moon set and the sun rise. 

Seagulls were wheeling around in the sky and the colors were beautiful and soft. 

As the moon got closer to the horizon, it got huge even though it faded as the sun began to light the morning. 

The sunrise side of the equation was just as lovely with sunbeams making the clouds glow with pearly light. 

The reflection in the still water added to the quiet beauty. 

It was also fun to watch the seagulls perch and preen on the rocks. 

Sometimes, it seems like there's a seagull on every boulder. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of that to put in a future post. :)

Fall Floral Fantasia

Autumn marks the end of the growing and blooming season in these parts, but fall blossoms can be amazing and vibrant! Piper and I see all kinds of late bloomers when we're out on our walks. 

Jewelweed's brilliant orange flowers contrast dramatically with the dark green of late summer foliage. I also love the little dark orange-red dots on all the petals. 

Morning glories are glorious this time of year. The one above almost looks like it has a light glowing from within. 

Nasturtiums just keep on dazzling with their bright (and tasty) flowers. 

The red nasturtiums sport an appropriate color for the peppery flavor the flowers impart to salads or garnishes. 

Finally, sunflowers are in their heyday. Finches flittering around and taking full advantage of ripening seeds (and bugs) were fast and always sticking their little faces into flower heads. This flurry of activity made capturing a photograph of them among the golden petals difficult. I did manage to get one (sort of) in focus. I'm always grateful for what I can get! :)

Throwback Mystery Solution

 Before we have the big reveal, let's recap the clues. 

The first clue was a little distant, but careful observation might just reveal the subject(s).

Clue two is a closer, clearer view. 

In the center of the pictures above is this sweet Mother Goose. She was nesting in the reeds and sitting very still, trying to escape discovery. 

Father Goose is off to the right and a just little closer to the top edge of the picture. 

I hope you enjoyed this small mystery throwback. :)

Throwback Mystery Clue #2

We're continuing with yesterday's mystery. 

Above is clue number one again. 

This is clue number two. Once again, clicking on the picture will enlarge it so you can take a closer look.

And remember, don't stop with just one. :)