Kitty Loco Designs Artsy Fartsy Pursuits

Today I thought I’d introduce you to my two favorite fluffy friends and constant companions (besides the hubby Pedro, of course), Kitty and Rocky.

Kitty will be 13 years old this December and I have had him since he was a wee one. Kitty (the namesake of this blog) accompanied me here to Costa Rica two and a half years ago and has since grown a bit fat and grumpy. It is worth while to check out Kitty’s photo gallery, he’s a very handsome model!

Rocky the miniature pincher has been living with Pedro, Kitty and I (oh and also the two cats that live outside of my house; Little Girl and her son Panther) for about a year now. Before that he was living at Pedro’s parents farm where he enjoyed keeping the cows in line and barking and biting everyone who came too close. Thankfully he has calmed down, though he still bites the local drug addicts and drunks who live in my town.

Rocky is the first dog I have ever had. I have always been a cat-person and have had various throughout my life (along with a newt, a turtle, a couple of frogs that hopped away, some birds, a lizard, many fish and some guinea pigs), but Rocky, being quite the character he is, has won me over to the dog side.

Min pins are the perfect dog because they are cute, entertaining and the same size as cats, perfect for cuddling with! Plus they think they’re tough and are good for protection. Look at how cute and insane my Rocky dog is…

This is a portion of an acrylic painting I did a little while back of the beautiful Quetzal (which I have yet to see here in Costa Rica). The full picture has a teary woman watching the bird. I gave this painting to my good friend Anna, from Switzerland, who was just married…yay. My husband Pedro and I were the witnesses, a great honor indeed…and we ate loads and loads of Japanese food. Ricisimo!

With approximately 850 recorded bird species, the country boasts one-tenth of the world’s total. More than 630 are resident species; the remainder are occasionals who fly in for the winter. Birds that have all but disappeared in other areas still find tenuous safety in protected lands in Costa Rica, though many species face extinction due to deforestation. The nation offers hope for such rare jewels of the bird world as the quetzal and the scarlet macaw, both endangered species yet commonly seen in protected reserves.

from http://photo.net/cr/moon/birds.html

Will the bad luck that seems to have befallen me end? First my near death car accident and then a nice day on the beach turned sour after my dog Rocky the miniature pincher rolled himself joyfully in feces. And finally, a half grown cat left my right leg dripping blood.

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I can only imagine the fresh greens of spring emerging from the darkness of winter. I am missing Toronto a lot and this would be the start of my favorite time of year there. Costa Rica only has the rainy and dry seasons, and there is always green and warmth so there is nothing in that regard to miss or look forward to. So oh how sweet, I have bought myself a ticket home for one month this coming May 23rd.

I am very excited to see all my family and friends. I feel like the city must have changed so much in the year and a half that I have been living here in Costa Rica, for when I left there were huge buildings being erected or renovated and an entire area being transformed.

I had to run out yesterday so I didn’t get to finish up about my car crash. My pal Susanna asked me some questions so I will answer them here.

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This piece for Illustration Friday is titled, “Total Woman” because this sexy mamacita is all woman! Ok, maybe she’s a bit less woman and more of a scanned pencil crayon drawing that was altered and coloured in Photoshop.

I have a live to tell story now… muy asustado… very scary. Pedro and I picked up my parents from the airport in San Jose last Tuesday in a rental car. I was driving. This was my parents first visit to Costa Rica and their first time meeting my husband and his family…oooh scary!

The first part of the drive is up and around and down and around some very large mountains. I don’t really like driving them (being more acquainted with driving the flat landscape of my hometown, Toronto, Canada) but I just concentrate on the road ahead and try not to look to the steep drops on the side and all is fine for me. It’s always much nicer being in the inner lane next to the mountain.

An hour into our drive home I was driving down the mountain when I noticed that a push on the breaks seemed to speed up the car before slowing it and I mentioned casually that the breaks seemed a bit off. I was driving automatic car and my dad told me to put it into 2nd gear, which I did. We just came down around a curve and there was a car up ahead of me going around the next curve. The car was moving quite slow but pressing on the breaks was not stopping the car all of a sudden. I floored the breaks once before again casually commenting out loud, “I think the breaks are not working”.

The rest happened very fast. I looked to the left lane where the street was clear but there was a curving mountain and then to the right, where there was a ditch. I chose the ditch, I thought, I had better stop this car somehow, and I thought as the car was movings slowly the ditch would stop us. So I turned into the ditch and Pedro screamed out, “what are you doing? Don’t do this” and the car bumped down the ditch, flew out and crashed into a metal fence where we came to stop…phew! I had a seatbelt welt and a backache and migraine developed soon after. My dad hurt his back and my step-mom and Pedro, sitting in the back, had a few bruises. But thankfully we were alive and unharmed. Had I continued down the road we would have gone off a cliff. I don’t think I’ll drive those roads again, but rather trust the local bus.

Thankfully the rest of the visit with the parents was relaxing and uneventful.