For the Love of Greyhounds . . . .

Oh my, how the summer is flying by!  It seems like only yesterday that I posted my last Wordless Wednesday photo from Lee's and my most recent road trip, and yet it's been nearly a month.  Wow.

Between enjoying the company of traveling friends and  house guests, planning for upcoming trips, plugging away at some badly neglected yard work, and trying to get caught up on my cardmaking, I've not had (or taken) much time for my Blog these past few weeks.  But hopefully, I'll be catching up with that soon!

Today's Blog Post is on a topic near and dear to my heart:  Greyhounds.

I imagine that some of you have already heard about the recent discovery and rescue of 28 dogs from a horribly neglectful situation in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Here is a news article about the event.  At least 17 of these dogs were greyhounds, and others were greyhound and/or sighthound mixes.  I don't know (and probably don't want to know) all the details, but it's my understanding that these dogs were being kept in cages without food and water.  Most, if not all, were tick-infested.  One of these poor greyhounds has, sadly, already succumbed to his weakened condition.

The rescued greyhounds have been divided between the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (GALT), and Greyhounds Unlimited (GU).   An online benefit auction is currently being held by Carpe Canem to raise desperately needed funds to help in the care and treatment of these greys before they are in good enough shape to be adopted.  Many of my greyhound friends over on Facebook, fellow artisans and craftspersons, and the dog and greyhound "community" in general have rallied together in order to donate hundreds of items for this auction.  Lee has donated a matted photo from his personal collection of photographic art, and I've donated a number of handmade cards.

The Emergency Carpe Canem Auction for Rescued Texas Greyhounds  is about three days into its run and will continue until Wednesday, July 28.   Please, if you have a chance, take a few minutes to visit the auction, and also to share this info with any of your friends that you think might be interested in learning more about and/or helping this cause.

Thank you, once again, for visiting my Blog.  And, please feel free to comment and share!  I love to read your comments!

Until we meet again. . . . I'd like to share one of my favorite photos of Lee's and my sweet greyhound Harley, along with one of my favorite quotes. . . .

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."

~ Anatole France ~

Whimsy Wednesday: Canine Edition

Whimsy Wednesday: Feline Edition

Gold Hydrant Award!

I can’t quite recall how I first came across the Life with Dogs blog. But I do recall that it caught my attention right away, and I’ve been a fan and regular reader ever since.

Life with Dogs is truly one of the most unique and cleverly written blogs I’ve found in my blog “travels” over the past year. And I think if you’re a dog lover and enjoy a healthy dose of humor as well, you can’t help but be entertained by this fun blog about the "antics" of a greyhound, and two labrador retrievers (a golden and a chocolate) living in Vermont.

The Life with Dogs blog has recently added a new weekly feature . . . something called the “Friday Five”. Each Friday, the writer highlights five other Blogs that have caught his interest, and to which he gives the Life with Dogs “Gold Hydrant Award.”

And guess what! ~ ~ My blog was one of those named among yesterday’s Friday Five! I’m pleased and honored to have my little blog mentioned among these other exceptional and creative blogs.

Thank you, Life with Dogs! I'll be proud to display the Gold Hydrant Award logo here on my Expressive Papers blog.

I hope you can take a few minutes to head on over to the Life with Dogs blog, look around a bit, and also check out the other four blogs receiving this week’s Gold Hydrant Award.

In honor of today’s doggy-themed blog post, I’ve decided to give our sweet greyhound Harley, some air time once again. . . .I’ve been saving a couple of special photos (taken by my husband Lee) for just the right blog posting occasion, and I think today is it!

Thanks, once again, for visiting my Blog. I hope you all have a LOVELY weekend!

Wordless Wednesday . . . . .

Sharing the Love . . . . .

Funny, isn’t it, how LIFE sometimes gets in the way of BLOGGING?? I’m afraid that is what’s been happening to me lately!

Ever since Lee and I got back from our Montana trip a month ago, it seems like I’ve been playing catch up, both inside and outside the house. Spring has finally sprung here in Utah, and there’s SO much yard clean up to do. . .not that I’m complaining! Indeed, I’m welcoming Spring with more than my usual enthusiasm this year, after the long cold winter we had.

And, of course, I’ve also been playing catch up on my cardmaking, as I try to get some new inventory into my Etsy and Artfire shops, and complete a few custom card orders.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time I’d like to keep up with my important blogging activities! But I’m hoping that will change, starting this week. For the next little while at least, I hope to be able to do more regular updates to my Blog, keep more current on reading the blogs on my blog list, and continue to discover and share any new and interesting blogs that I LOVE to read!

And on that note. . . I’ll be focusing several Blog posts this week on the theme of “Sharing the Love . . . .”


Thanks to the kindness of some of my fellow Bloggers, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by over the past few months by three different Blog Awards. And now I’m happy to be able to “share the love” by passing along these awards to other blogs that I consider particularly worthy. I will be posting several blog entries this week along this Sharing the Love theme, each in regard to a different award.

The Blog Award I'd like to pass along today, is the One Lovely Blog Award, which Teddyree of Excerpts from the Edge, was kind enough to bestow on my blog. I’m honored that she considered my blog worthy of such a title! Teddyree, Thank you SO much! (I think YOUR blog is lovely too!)

And, I in turn, would like to pass this award along to the following four blogs . . . . .

Sassy Glass Designs – This great blog never fails to disappoint, with blog giveaways, featured artists, interesting articles and fun photographs. And an added fringe benefit of this blog is being able to see this talented blogger/artisan’s fabulous handmade jewelry!

Original Miniature Art of Melody Lea Lamb – I’m truly in awe of Melody’s artistic talent and her wonderful drawings of various landscape scenes and animals. Melody's deep and enduring love of nature and animals is apparent in her art. She is also a member of Art for Critters, a group of artists who donate a portion of their art sales to animal charities.

City Gal moves to OZ Land - I love visiting Oz Girl’s blog! Not only is she a talented photographer, but her posts are particularly nostalgic for me, as they bring back memories of growing up in Kansas. And sometimes I go visit just to listen to her blog music!

The Photography of Lee Everett Robinson - And last but (certainly) not least, I love my husband Lee’s photography blog! Lee rarely posts narrative, but he does post a new photo almost daily, and I think you’ll agree that his photography is exceptional. (I like his blog music TOO.)

I hope you’ll take a look at these four LOVELY blogs! And I hope that each of these deserving One Lovely Blog Award recipients will take the time to pass it along to a few others of their own choosing!

More blog awards to come later in the week, so I hope you'll check back.

Until we meet again . . . . .may your days be lovely.

Look What I Got for Mother's Day!

In all the months (about 9) that I've been blogging, I don't think I've EVER posted two Blog entries in one day. So, this will be a first.

But, I'm just SO thrilled by my surprise Mother's Day present today, that I couldn't help but share it with all of you!

My husband Lee and I don't have children, so I'm not a mother in the biological sense of the word. But, we have had dogs throughout our entire married life, so I suppose our dogs have always been my "surrogate" children. And over the years, it's not been at all unusual for one or more of our dogs to give me a special Mother's Day card (with a little help from Lee, of course!)

As most of you know by now, our current "dog child" is Harley, a beautiful ex-racing fawn colored greyhound. He's not only handsome, but smart and sweet too.

Well, both Lee and Harley outdid themselves this year. This is what they gave me for Mother's Day . . . .

Some of you may recognize the image of Harley, contentedly snuggling into our comforter that had fallen down over the edge of his doggie bed. I happened upon this photo opportunity a few months ago, and used the photo for one of my Wordless Wednesday posts.

Well, unbeknowst to me, Lee decided to have this image enlarged, matted and framed for me as a surprise Mother's Day present!

How greyt is that???

And as if that weren't enough, the present was accompanied by a wonderful handmade card, done by my talented husband (with a little help from Harley, who posed for the picture) . . .

Here's the outside of the card:

And the inside of the card:

Today, I'm feeling like one very lucky dog mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day!

And in honor of this very special day, I'm dedicating today's blog post to all my fellow bloggers, followers and friends who are mothers. . . . .

Some of you may be mothers in the most traditional sense, and will likely be celebrating this special day in the company of your children and/or grandchildren.

And yet others of you may be mothers in a less traditional sense, with beloved pets in the household who look to you as their "mom"!

But whatever your particular maternal role or roles might be . . . .

I'd like to wish you all a Very Happy Mother's Day!

Wordless Wednesday . . . . .

You Know You're in Montana when . . .

I promise this will be my last post about Montana (for the time being anyway)!

After all, Lee and I have been back from our Montana vacation for almost a week now, and (as you may be thinking) it’s time we get back into our regular routines here at home, right? Right.

Indeed, we have begun to resume our normal schedules.

Our sweet greyhound Harley is blissfully home again, after having spent WAY too much time in the kennel (in his mind, anyway).

I’ve emptied our luggage and travel boxes and put things away (taking less than my usual two weeks!) and I’ve already completed several loads of dreaded “trip laundry” .

Lee has gone to work back at his office, and I am beginning to launch into designing some new handmade cards.

And soon, hopefully, I’ll have some new card creations to blog about. . . .

But, before that, I couldn’t resist just ONE more blog entry to share a few more photos and memories from our recent trip to the beautiful state of Montana. So here goes! I’m calling this post . . .


"You Know You’re in Montana when . . . ."

the décor in your condo unit/hotel room has an unmistakable “Western” flair . . . .




you don’t even have to get out of your car to photograph local wildlife . . .

you can’t drive anywhere in the countryside without crossing or coming up alongside a fork or a tributary of the Flathead River . . . .

one of the locally brewed beers on tap in bars and available in restaurants and grocery stores is actually named “Moose Drool” . . .

you find yourself driving in a snowstorm the second to last week of April (of course, HOW is that different from here at home in Utah??) . . .

murals and wall art take on an entirely new dimension . . .

Thanks for visiting my Blog!

And until we meet again . . . may all your travels, whether near or far, be memorable.

Another Glimpse of Big Sky Country . . . .

Well, we're a couple of days now into our trip to the Big Sky County of Montana, and the weather so far has been gorgeous!


According to the local weathermen, from tomorrow on, it will likely be cloudy and possibly rainy, so Lee and I are making the most of the warmth and the sun while we can.

We spent yesterday and today taking scenic drives around and inside Glacier National Park.

We knew when we scheduled this trip, that parts of the Park might not be accessible this early in the year, but even so, we were hoping we'd be able to venture farther into the Park than we've been able to do.

We found out yesterday that the Going to the Sun Road that crosses Glacier National Park from east to west and goes through some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes in the Mountain West, is open for only 10 miles right now.

But, we went ahead and drove the road yesterday as far as we could, and were able to find some lovely views of Lake McDonald, a long and narrow fresh water lake along the western edge of the Park.

The photos that I'm posting in today's Blog entry were taken around Lake McDonald. I hope you enjoy them!

Until we meet again. . . . May nature's beauty surround and delight you.