Once begun, what may follow............

Greetings old friends......

And a hearty "Hello! to those of you meeting me for the first time.

Lots of folks start blogs because they want to hear themselves write and see themselves take photgraphs. Hey! - I admit it! Me too! I'm going to regale you with stories of some of my dearest friends and some characters I wish I knew better - these being the animals around us. I'll post vignettes of the dogs, cats and horses who live or have lived with me, and glimpses of the wild creatures who have passed through.

First off, I'm no mountain climber, movie star, bounty hunter or jungle explorer with great adventures to tell, but I hope my stories (True Tales) will elicit some grins - and an occasional "OHMIGOD! Did that really happen!" Yup! No fabrications for this gal - it's really, really true that "truth is stranger than fiction." Ok, maybe I'll add a few spicy adjectives to the narration, and maaybe when I tell an old story my recollections will have expanded somewhat (or a lot) - but it's all to keep you folks hooked and coming back for more adventures. (Oops, I think I just said, a few paragraphs back, that I don't HAVE adventures. But I qualified that - I said GREAT adventures. All of us have adventures. Spilling a bag of apples all over the floor at the grocery may be someone's big adventure of the day)

But, I digress.

I'll also talk about my art, because, guess what? -- I am an artist who draws and paints animals Naaah - I can't leave that out! Included here and there will be sketches to add to the fun. Portraits of pets and partners and slice of life drawings of our wilderness pals.

So, who am I to elbow my way onto your screen? Well, I am Suzi Fourness, and I currently share my space and time with two huge black and gray tiger cats named Siegfried and Roy.

Here's them.....

And here's me....

We live in Lewiston, Maine. The storied vacation land of woods and lakes and mountains and gorgeous beaches and deer, bear, moose, and... did I say Moose? Egad!! Huge beasts with spreading antlers who inhabit the woods and waters of northern Maine and which are ogled by all who happen to come upon them. (here comes my first story)

Now, I have lived in Maine for over 5 years, and I hate to admit it, but I have yet to see my first honest-to-geronimo wild moose in these here Maine woods! Course, I havent spent weeks exploring the wilds of Aroostook County, but I've been out and about - Grafton Notch, Rangely, Lake Umbagog, the White Mountains, and guess what? NO MOOSE YET! Sadly, a young moose walked through my neighborhood one day two years ago, but drat! I didnt happen to be home. One was spotted swimming in the Andrscoggin River in downtown Lewiston earlier this year, but I was hard at work, chained to my computer, creating advertisements for the Lewiston Sun Journal. Yeah, I'm a graphic designer, but again, I digress.

Back to meese - er, uh - moose. You notice I said I'd never seen a wild moose in Maine? Well, once, about 7 years ago, I stopped at a big strip mall in bustling Salem, NH, almost over the state line into Methuen, MA.When I walked into a convenience store, everyone was clustered at the rear entrance. So, of course I hurried to join the crowd. And, what were they looking at? (You saw this coming, right?) A huge wild moose, standing on the edge of the parking lot, looking dumbfounded by all the cars and people.

GO FIGURE!