I have picked a winning name for the name that cow contest!  My newest, sweet little cow painting has been named…

Gwendolyn!  I kept looking at her and that’s just the name that stuck for me.  I’ve also always liked the name AND “Gwendolyn Penn” was a role I played in college and the name became my British alter ego when I was being an immature musical theatre major.  You know how they are.

Anyway, I absolutely love all of the names suggested and thank everyone so much for taking the time to share your ideas with me and even some wonderful personal stories and pictures of you with your Holstein cows.  I love this one of Breida in her dairy whites with her cow, Verona.

Your comments will be a fun part of  Gwendolyn’s history, who, if I went with every suggested name I liked, would have a name longer than any of the British Royals.

Many people suggested the name, but the first and the winner of the antique hemp sheet is…

Melinda Ann who said,  “She looks like a Gwendolyn or a Gabriella to me.”  Congratulations!

If you’re in love with Gwendolyn (maybe Gwendy or Gwen on some occasions) as much as I am, you can get a giclee print of her HERE.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this…  Me scrolling through listings for houses is as dangerous as a dog-lover going into the SPCA…just to look.  Of course, I always intend to just look, but then my heart starts to flutter and my mind starts to redecorate and next thing I know, I’m pulling up a mortgage calculator to see if it’s even possible and deciding what furniture I would sell if we moved.  It’s just silly, but it’s what happens to me when I look at houses.  Especially ones like this historic beauty…

…and stone houses with lots of property and barns…

…and old homes stunningly restored…

Sigh.  I know it’s just “lost house syndrome.”  I want to buy them all and enjoy giving them a makeover.

But then I sit back with a level head, knowing that the timing isn’t right to move and I remind myself that there will always be homes and farms and property for sale and one day, maybe, everything will be right for me and my family to call one of those “houses that makes my heart go all aflutter” home.

Tell me I’m not the only one with this syndrome…