Fierce little huntress—
Done stalking prey for the day,
She captures my lap.

For my sister’s birthday, I wrote and painted this portrait of her cat. Adopted from the animal shelter, this tiny but fearless black cat has proven her worth: she kills rats that are almost as big as she is.

Let the nectar flow—
Rivers of golden honey
Will carry us home.

Thanks to my beekeeper husband, I live with about 20,000 Russian and Italian bees. This piece is part of my honeybee series, which celebrates the secret life of bees and the pleasures of honey, as well as the richness and abundance they represent.

Long walks on the beach
Adoring, soulful gazes—
True love comes on paws.

They shed and slobber, they bring in fleas, they run up vet bills, they exhibit behavior problems—and unlike children, they will never grow up to take care of us in our old age. Why do we love our dogs so?

Banana slug track
Leads up my office window—
Slug career ladder.

This piece, though light-hearted, reflects the sense of bemusement I feel about the traditional “career ladder.”

Petal by petal
You help women discover
The beauty within.

I handed over this commissioned piece today, a gift for the volunteer president of a local nonprofit organization in thanks for her service.

Purring in our laps
Cats somehow make it easy
To love and be loved.

This was an especially fun commission to take on: a verbal and visual portrait of a man’s beloved cats, to be presented on his birthday. It inspired me to write several more poems about cats and their quirky ways, as well as our heart connection with them. I’m looking forward to illustrating those. And I’m in the midst of creating a goofy-sweet series about dogs that I’ll share soon.

Perfume bottles: five
Tee-shirts for four days: 13
Daughter packs for camp.

You may be going into the wilderness, but there’s no reason not to look and smell your best!