Hot Air Balloon Awesomeness

On Saturday afternoon, and then later in the evening, several hot air balloons drifted through our small city.  As we drove home from the grocery store one floated above the car.  Several hours later we were astonished to see one hovering over the tree in our backyard.  As its destination was our neighbor's yard, it nearly touched our house before landing.
Of course my husband's camera was out and he took a lot of stellar photos.  I've never been so close to a hot air balloon- it was a real treat.

Back to School Sale!

After a grand & glorious summer of visiting family and friends, cooking at a local yoga retreat, attending weddings and lotsa hanging out w/ my husband and son, I'm ready to get back to work at Blackbird and Peacock.  My little shop has been sorely neglected, but my husband and I have been creating new designs for cards and journals.  I also just bought a stack cutter and wire binding machine, which we set up this weekend.  So...new inventory will be popping up in the shop soon.  Here's a preview:

In the meanwhile, I have decided to kick off the school season with a much overdue Back to School Sale.  Purchase something from Blackbird and Peacock and receive 20% off the price of your order (this excludes shipping).  Simply type in the coupon code "Back2School" (without the quotation marks) during checkout when purchasing something from  www.blackbirdandpeacock.com   

Here's the link if you are unsure of how this works:)  http://www.etsy.com/help/article/350

This coupon will be good throughout the month of September.  Happy Back to School!

Ghost Stories

Do you believe in ghosts?  On July 31st, my friends and I were able to document an incorporeal being haunting this abandoned house in the Catskill mountains.  Unquestionably, it was the scariest moment of my life.

Although the house was clearly empty, before we crossed paths with the "white ghost" we felt the eyes of someone or something watching us.

At first, the ghost evaded our attempts to come close.  I was able to capture it in the image above from about 80 feet away using the zoom function on my camera.
Eventually White Ghost warmed up to us and we were able to snap some fabulous shots.

Standing in such close proximity to a real life ethereal being sent chills running up and down every part of my body, but I kept telling myself how important it was to record this moment for posterity.

Although White Ghost vanished into thin air within minutes, its presence will haunt my dreams until the day I die.

Cornell Plantations in Ithaca, NY

One of the highlights of June was a quick trip my son and I made to Ithaca, NY.  Downtown is fab- there are so many great shops and restaurants.  There is so much to do in Ithaca that I still haven't seen their famed waterfalls yet- or made it to the Moosewood restaurant.  

Soren and I arrived on Friday and met our friends, Jen, Kevin and Zoe on Saturday downtown before heading to the botanical gardens at Cornell Plantations.  It was a spectacular day for taking pictures.  The plantations are free and really very lovely.  A quiet place to take a stroll and get lost for the day.  We only visited the gardens, but next time I'd love go for a hike at the arboretum.  

Dog Days of Summer

Today in Oneonta, NY it hit 93 degrees fahrenheit.  What a way to end May!  Today I took pictures of new journals I made a few weeks ago, but also had to take some of my buddy, Owen.