Drums of October

So my ability to log onto Facebook and post bits everyday and read bits from friends has obviously put a damper on my blog posts, but hopefully I'll be keeping things up a bit better as the baby is due in the next month or so and I'm sure we'll have plenty of photos to share there as well.
Mom left today going back to Alabama after a short weekend here and she'll be back a day or so after the baby is born, so we'll try to get her in some pictures - as well as visits from Dad and our planned trips to Maryland to see everyone there.
For now, I'm also working over at Loimestudios.blogspot.com to put up some of my new artworks as they have come along.

Family photos

Courtney, Bryan, Ayden and Dilyn come for a visit

One tired pirate
Dilyn and Liam both doze
Snuggling with Coutney
Checking her out

The Family That Pirates together

A Sharpie, some felt and an old sash ... everything you need for an entertaining day
Vanquishing the intruders

Exploration Debriefing

Ian animates the days explorations through the Natural History Museum while Liam demonstrates a new found origami method.

Life with Cousins

Its Firefighter surf genre ... you might not understand
The cousins!

Summertime swinging

Heather takes Liam's swing for a spin ... baby feels dizzy

A Day of Natural History

"I'm not going to fall for the joke about something being behind me again dad!"
Who does this guy think he is? Teddy Roosevelt?
Thought baloons from Firefighter's head: "Wonder what a dinosaur tastes like?"

Superhero Unmasked

You've discovered my secret identity!

The Sleeping Storm

The morning we are leaving for Maryland

The Natural History Museum

A grand time was to be had by all as the Bell's and Bagley's tagged along behind the dynamic duo of Liam and Ian - like veritable Boondock Saints cutting a swarth through the resistant crowds of people, like Dirk and Al on the quest for buried treasure, so were the mini-explorers in there search for Dino bones and mammoth sea creatures.
After spending an extended amount of time in a minivan trying to find a parking place (for some reason everyone, their brother, and their cousin from out of town was in DC at the Smithsonians today), which on a positive note gave the boys a grand time to catch up and examine each other's explorer costumes, we arrive and wound our way through exibits of pre-historical life before getting a great show at the IMAX theater where we watched "DINOSAURS: MONSTERS OF PATEGONIA" in 3-D, which scared the daylights out of Liam. Not that I blame him since I dodge the frothy breath of carnivorous dino myself.
After such a great day, it was only fitting to top the trip into DC off with a late lunch at the Dubliner Irish Pub with a pint of Magner's Cider and a few pints of Guinness to wash down the fish and chips, smoked salmon and Shepherd's Pie and Guinness Burgers. And by the time we made our way back up D Street to Union Station to get the car, we were full and happy and looking forward to our next day together.
Tomorrow, we transendental travelers head for the great North of Pennsylvania for a quick over night at Jeff and Ashley's then off to the Eastern Shore.

A Quick Trip

As soon as I make it out of bed, after staying up till 2 am watching Jimmy Buffett at Wrigley Field and then NCIS, I'm packing the car and we are off to never never Maryland for a short week of high activity, then back to Tennessee in time to open the house to my god-daughter Courtney and her family, including there 3 week old baby Dilion James.
Looks like a week of stormy weather for us, but hopefully it will dry by the time we head back home - since we are buying a bed in Maryland from IKEA and will be zooming back home with it strapped to the roof of the car. Now where did I pack the duct tape?

This is why we homeschool

Pirate Day and learning to write Gaeilge words related to pirates

A Gulf Coast Vacation

Feeding the gulls
Walking the pier
Christine with the catch of the day

Man, the things a child can talk you into

Swashbucklers in action!

On returning to the mountains

After an adventurous run down to Alabama to visit with the family for a Memorial Day gathering of Jacobson's, we have returned to our misty mountain hollow of a home, and a deep sigh as we get ready to head out again, but first ....

With Heather in school and needing to check into her online classes every day, it has become very important to find Starbucks, since they have about the easiest means of getting Wi-Fi when you're on the road, not to mention plenty of coffee to keep me happy. Being in the backwoods of Alabama's Gulf Coast, we weren't able to find any available signals for Wi-Fi in my mom's hometown, so we had to go about 30 minutes down the road to Daphne, Ala., which unfortunately put me in close proximity to bookstores and art supply stores, so I returned with plenty of books and bags of inks, markers, paper and an assortment of other things. Heather's school time also gave Liam and I plenty of chances to spend all day on the beach at Fairhope and even a great trip down to my old stomping grounds in Gulf Shores. We even packed along a couple of younger cousins for a great day on the most pristine white beaches in the world.

The trip to Gulf Shores also provided a great chance for us to go to LuLu's for lunch and let me just say, the oyster loaf and Gumbo were divine! Heather and Liam both had the Mahi Mahi and thank's to their meager sized stomachs, I was able to help them finish there courses as well.
Though I don' t have the time to go into it now, it was a grand trip and we have returned tanned and refreshed and ready for the next adventure.

A Pirate Looks at Four

An Artist at Work

Rarer postings

With Heather knee deep in  baby birthings, prenatal appointments and an online midwifery school, use of the computer can get rather rare. Add to that Liam's deep affection for the PBS kid shows we can get on our NETFLIX account, and the moments to use the computer become even rarer, but here I am at 7 am, blogging along, hoping for the chance to add a few photos to the blog this morning, so with that, I'll bid off.

By the way, I've got a grand total of 4 projects going on right now. The first series is "Ceol Na Mara," (Songs of the Ocean), second is "Máthair Grá", then "A Cuan Airithe" and finally .... I can't remember the name of it, but I'll get back to that later. And I'm writing again, so hopefully that will come along as well.

Back in Business

So, returning to the pages of Brendan's Isle after an extended absence, I am happy to report we are settling into the Northeastern-most corner of Tennessee quite nicely ... for a while anyway.

I have decided that this reason is obviously not the part of the South that gives said region a reputation for friendliness, as I have neighbors who don't even try to cover their disgust at my presence in their little hamlet of scenic mountain views. Needless to say I was raised in the region that gave the South that reputation so I do not flip them off. Not yet anyway.

Heather is busy with birthing. She is currently enrolled with Aviva Institute which is a midwifery college out west. Heather is not commuting, as she's taken a page from my college pursuits and is enrolled in online classes. She is also actively working with a local group of midwives and is out there meeting mamas and assisting in homebirths.

Liam is thrilled to have a new pool and seems to be becoming a bit more ... exuberant ... lately. He has also decided that Blues Clues is his favorite pasttime.

I am painting ... well, actually I am inking, but that just sounds weird, so maybe I will say I am arting and since I am taking the time out from spending the majority of my time laying down lines on paper to write our family blog, I guess I should probably restart Loime Studios blog as well, and speaking of Loime Studios, the official, everything on board, launch of the website is coming shortly as I just sent the webmaster photos of the artwork and their titles. Now begins the process of working out what to do with everything.

Now, to see if I can get some pictures back up ...