A SECOND HARVEST (OF SORTS)

Late Fall sneaked up on me. It seems like we were just enjoying the trees' colors at their peak, and now we're in the midst of those gray, November days. There were 6 Blue Jays at my feeders this morning and that was about all the color there was!

My garden has long since been harvested, pulled up, and hauled away. We've finished raking leaves which are now on my compost piles and flower beds are mulched in.While finishing up with storing away statuary and the last minute chores, I enjoyed a second harvest of sorts. In addition to leaves gathered during prime color and pressed in my trusty encyclopedia, I found 2 little nests which were blown from the front shrubs. I cut back my hydrangea before mulching and covering it.

I've framed 6 of my "harvested" leaves and the nests and hydrangeas have been sprayed with hairspray. My second harvest has brought more fodder to use in my art.

The Last of the Shirleys

   

   Sometime, during the months after my mom passed away in April of 1997, I'd stopped in by Daddy on my way home from work to check up on him and to spend a little time.  I found him sitting at the diningroom table looking through a flower catalog that had arrived in the mail that morning. He pointed out, sort of forlornly, a variety of tulip named "Shirley". That was Mom's name. So I decided to order a bunch of Shirley bulbs for the two of us to share. The bulbs arrived that Fall and we split them up and planted them.
      The following spring arrived. The last thing I had time for was to check on my Shirleys, let alone Daddy's. He'd been diagnosed with cancer and was staying with Jeffrey and me. I was doing other things--lots of other things.  Daddy passed away that June and, oddly, I honestly don't know if he ever saw his Shirleys.
   Over the years, my Shirleys have poked their heads up each spring, blossomed, lost petals, and retired until the following year. I've planted tother tulip bulbs, dug up bulbs, stored bulbs, moved bulbs, lost bulbs. My Shirleys sort of waned. THIS spring, after planting many, many inexpensive bulbs in October, I had lots of tulip color. Last week when I was out diggin' in my tulip beds, I found 6 precious, precious Shirleys! The last of them came up in 3 different areas of my yard.
  My Shirleys have been carefully marked. As soon as the leaves start to brown and wither, I'm going to dig them up and move them to the sunniest, warmest spot in my yard, right next to the Clematis. Now, I'm wondering if there's a variety of tulip named "Alfred". hummm..........
 

All Things Happen for a Reason

Yesterday, April 2nd, marked 16 years since my mom passed away.  I was thinking about her, on and off, all day.  I was busy all day and it's not as if I was grieving or anything. On April 2nd, though, I just take time to reminisce.

Since I started drawing faces, portraits if you will, I've so, so wished that I'd saved some of mom's "ladies" as we called them. When we were little, she'd draw her ladies in that 1940's-'50's style. We'd beg her to draw a lady--just the face-- so we could complete the hair. I don't think Mom ever took any sort of art classes, but I believe  she had more talent than was ever known. Because she never kept a journal or sketch book,  her drawings were just tossed away.

Right now, after accumulating lots of "stuff" over the course of 31 years, we are downsizing. Last night, while going through boxes, Jeffrey came across a box of my things. Can you believe it? Tucked away in a file, I found these 2 little sketches of mom's ladies. I was almost crying when I found these! Idon't know when these were drawn or why they were ever saved. I just know that I'm thrilled to have them. Now why in the world did this ever happen? When it did?  There's a reason, for which I'm not sure. For right now I'm thrilled to have these and need to get them matted and framed to hang in my studio.

Turning The Page(s)

We are faced with some challenges in 2013, Jeffrey and I. No, not just the "fiscal cliff" which the president and Congress are toying with and the awfulness in the news, and everything else that we ALL are trying to deal with. The new year has in store for us some personal challenges. We are not alone, though. Of that I'm positive. But, as is the case going back to the 1970's, we will, together, face them head on. In spite of it, I am SO ready to turn the page and embrace the new year, bad and good. What helps me is my marriage, my faith in the Lord, and my art. The 2013 pocket calendar for the studio is finished, I'm just about finished with my garden journal, and I'm ready to start sketching in my "Fifteen Promises of Mary"  Ave journal. I know that I'm going to be published once this coming year. I'm signed up for on-line classes hosted by Strathmore, am contemplating another on-line class, and will be doing another art exchange. These are all good things. I hope anyone reading this has good things in store for them, as well, in 2013.

Turning Another Page

Since I last posted back in February, I enrolled in another Pam Carriker class "Pursuing Portraits". I went through the entire process of downloading PDF's, taking notes on her videos, and  of course practice, practice. It was an incredibly slow start for me, being a "non-drawer". But I hung in there and to this point I'm satisfied with my progress. This is a final piece I posted on the class blog. And now? Well, I'm on to "Still Pursuing Portraits", a class which she is teaching through An Artful Gathering. I'm learning and working and trying to develop my own style.

Three Months? Really?

     I decided, today, to take a quick look at my blog before I am off and running. October. My last post was in October. I guess the holidays, my art, everyday stuff just fills time.
     It's a brand new year--in fact January has come and gone--and it's started out pretty much like others. I've undecorated after the holidays, spent 2 weekends at the snowmobile races at Eagle River, Wisconsin, and of course made art.
     My on-line class with Pam Carriker called Journal 365 will come to an end at the end of March. I've been trying to catch up in it. It helps me a lot to just watch her videos and try to pick up on different paint techniques. I started a new on-line class with her called "Shades of Grey". For some reason, I just took to it. I've ALWAYS envied drawer-types but drawing never came easy for me. Working with shading and Pitt pens has helped me with it. I've been making little books, a little bit of jewelry, art journaling, and of course sewing.
   Winter is turning out to be very mild this year, so our snowmobiles have 0 miles put on them so far. Still, life is busy and there are 11 more months in this year to fill.

  New Year's Resolutions? I'm not really big on resolutions but I've decided to try to make more art, try to be a little less scattered in what art forms I embrace, and of course to get more EXERCISE!!!

It's Ingrained In Me

 My (art) passion this week has been paint, textures, and faux encaustic. This, of course, means layers and drying in between layers. I manage to keep busy during the "drying stages". Aside from housework, I putz with other art projects. Like, for instance, these little numbers.
 When I was growing up during the '50's and '60's, we really didn't have much. Money. For things. Growing up like that I learned about hand-me-downs, about rummage sales and second hand stores, about sewing and "making-over" clothes. I learned how to work hard to earn money for things I wanted. And to look for bargains to make my hard-earned babysitting money go further. So what does all this have to do with my accordion files?
  I was "mousing" at a craft store this week---therapy shopping as I call it---and I found these in the clearance section....for next to nothing. It's ingrained in me to mouse through clearance racks.  I knew I could use these for my ephemera and my schnibbles and my "junky little pieces" that will one day find themselves in a collage. I knew that with a little bit of imagination and Mod Podge and junky little pieces and letters, I'd make them into something for my blissroom. So in between layers of paint and gel medium, I made these. They're pretty simple. But they're mine. From the clearance section.  Happy.

Shame On Me

  When I decided to make a blog, like so many other bloggers, I told myself that I'd post on a regular basis, not letting lots of time pass without adding new posts. Unbelieveably, 2 1/2 months  have passsed since I've added anything to this.  So what's my excuse? So what have I been doing?
  In addition to working at our office, taking care of our house, yard, and my vegetable garden, spending time with a friend's mom, escaping "up north" a few times, and learning my new smart phone, of course I've been making art.
 I've finally learned to solder. Admittedly, I've not quite mastered it to the point where I'm very comfortable with it, but I've done a few nice pieces. I've been introduced to Zentangle which is very relaxing for me. For a while this summer making little books filled my time. I've played with a little bit of decoupage and just played with projects from magazines. Of course I've done a few journal pages, sewn aprons, submitted one project for publication, and made a monthly project for an art exchange I'm doing. Oh. I did a wallhanging for my bliss room and made greeting cards for our church....and I'm trying to keep up with an on-line art class.
 In retrospect, I guess in the future I should put down the paintbrush or soldering iron or put the sewing machine away, let the house or office work go for a bit, and post to my blog. Well, maybe at least let the office and house work go.
 

It's the Little Things

My flower beds have been overtaken by weeds. The incredible heat and humidity, not to mention the mosquitos and biting flies have made it a monumental task, right now, to do much about it. So, after making art this morning for a while, I decided to weed before I freeze more beans. The martins were flying overhead with their brood (Yes! they've flown the nest!!!), the bird feeders were being emptied by finches, and my hydrangea plant was blossomed out so beautifully. It's all these little things  that add up and help a person through it all. At least for me it is.

YOU HAVE TO WONDER WHY

     I had to work this morning. My end of the month bookkeeping doesn't do itself. Just before I was going to head into town, just by chance, I looked through the local newspaper (Friday's edition) and checked out the classifieds. Mind you, we don't even get the newspaper. Jeffrey had picked it up for his dad. I found an ad for an interesting estate sale. It had started the day before and was running through today. I thought maybe I'd check it out.
   Like (most of) the rest of the country, I prioritize my spending. You know, sort of like a food chain with food, clothing, and shelter being on top, then fuel, then....well non-necessities. But I thought a little therapy before the office would be good. I didn't expect to find much anyway.  I was so wrong.
   It was the estate of a lady who died ONE DAY before turning 100. She had been a crafter/seamstress/ crocheter and had actually grown up in this house. Admittedly, I was disappointed to find out that the day before many, many old buttons had been sold, but there remained boxes of tatting thread and old wooden spools and tatted and crocheted edgings. I found stacks and stacks of linens and handkerchiefs with crocheted edgings. There were even old doll clothes. So I had to use my noodle and think about what would I make use of. How many of those old childrens' books should I take? Should I take linen table cloths, or table runners? About 1/2 hr. later I left happy.
   I don't really go to many estate sales but when I do, I feel a little sad and guilty. I always think that I'm handling things that were once someone's treasures. You have to wonder why you were led there and are seeing these things. Think about it. What are the odds that I'd go to the estate sale of a woman who once did what I love to do? It's the second day of the sale and there are still tons of items left that I can only dream about finding! So, now I have wonderful stuff for projects. And somewhere in that GIANT craft store in heaven there is a 99-year, 364-day old lady smiling to herself and thinking "I knew there was a reason for saving all that stuff".

THE END

     I (finally) saw the last Harry Potter movie. No, I didn't dress like a wizard, go with a bunch of friends, and buy a large soda and popcorn WITH butter. I went alone, held my purse on my lap, crossed my arms over it, held on to my tissue, and SUCKED it all in. I loved it. For you non-Harry Potter, muggle-to-the-bone people who wonder why a 59 year old woman would do this, I'll explain.
   First of all, it's the J.K.Rowling story itself. I'm not easily impressed by people, but this author, truly, impressed me. During the midst of a huge struggle in her life, she creates this entire series of books. Now, not to get out the violins or anything, but I, like a lot of baby boomers out there, know what it is to struggle for something that you really, really want. I worked my way through college AFTER spending a year getting certified as a lab technician so that I could earn more than the minimum to pay for it all. At the end of it I had a degree and a good job, but I didn't CREATE something as wonderful as she did for practically the entire world to enjoy!!! I think she IS a wizard!!
   Next, there's the story itself. The good vs. evil. The love for and of friends and family. The tiny stories within the big story. The lessons. Harry Potter knew what to do with that Elder Wand. I asked myself, honest to God, how many politicians, world-wide, would know what to do with that wand?  And Professor Snape. Almost my favorite. I had my suspicions about 3 or 4 books ago about him. Who could do what he did? And what about all those wonderful magical apparatuses! A Time-Turner!! How about the Mirror of Erised. Get it non- followers?? E-R-I-S-E-D.......D-E-S-I-R-E.  Mirror???  Yes, Rowling is a wizard. Then to top it all off, in the movies we had the absolute eye candy of all the costumes and scenery and special effects. How the heck can those grey steeples of Hogwarts with a grey background be so beautiful!?
   Of course the biggest reason ( and the need for the tissue while watching this last movie) is the fact that it's all over. Not just the books and the movies, but the entire decade. Done. My youngest sister and her kids introduced me to  Harry Potter. You see, without children of my own, I really miss out on a lot. If not for them, I'd never know what a muggle is for Pete's sake! Or a Whomping Willow. I remember laying on Callie's bed (goddaughter) reading Harry Potter. I remember reading HP in the Twin Cities airport. I remember buying a book at a grocery store in Carson City, NV and another in North Dakota somewhere. I remember sewing wizard robes and trick-or-treating in Carson with the kids. For me it's been magically wonderful.
   So now it's over. I have all the books, a Harry Potter lightning bolt rubber stamp, a Hogwarts necklace, and a millllllllion wonderful memories!! (wish I had a Time-turner) ! Thank you J.K. Rowling. The End.
  

THEY WERE RIGHT

     Early evening on Friday, Jeffrey walked down to the mailbox to check mail, something I'd avoided, as I didn't care to look through bills and junk mail. He walked into the kitchen and handed me a piece of mail and said "For my "published girl". "Told you so, told you that jacket was a keeper". It was my complimentary issue of Altered Couture. I'd been published for the second time within a year. They liked the jacket that I'd altered and submitted back in December. I was thrilled.
    Exactly 2 years ago this very month, I'd reached a point where I knew I wanted to do more with my art. For years I'd dabbled in lots of different crafts. By summer, 2009, I'd made hundreds of greeting cards for church and had made a few scrapbooks. I liked paper crafting and decided I would take it to the next level. Maybe mix it up a bit and play with  mixed media art. In various art books and magazines, artists were referring to their experience as a "journey", as "taking flight". Well, if it was going to be a journey, I had no road map, just a desire to try new things and a lot of encouragement from family and friends.
    Well, now it is 2 years later. I've been published twice, doing a second art exchange, taking 2 on-line art classes, doing soldering and encaustic, got a Facebook account and made this blog! Go figure! The artists were right, though. They were right. It is a journey of sorts, though at this point I STILL don't have a map.  I still make cards for church, still love my sewing machine, have a WIP scrapbook. My only real goal is to some day have the time and money  to attend an art retreat....oh, and to learn to solder better. For  now I'm just doing what makes me happy. I encourage others to do the same. You just never know where it will take you.

THEN AND NOW

    Sometime, back in the 1970's, my mom bought a clematis plant which she planted on the south side of the house in a sunny spot. Weeding the flower bed, watering it everyday with soapy dish water, and occasionally cutting it back a bit was the extent to which it was cared for. It flourished and my mom always took great pride in it.
   In the late 1990's, shortly after my parents both passed away, my brother decided to raze the house and rebuild on the property. What was to become of the clematis? It grew right up against the house. So, I GUESS before the excavators with their heavy equipment arrived and demolished the house and everything in their way, Jeffrey and I went and dug out mom's clematis.
   Recently my youngest sister, Letty, and I were comparing clematis photos. She brought it to my attention that my clematis is actually mom's clematis! I totally forgot about moving mom's plant! I suppose it was the craziness of the time--dealing with a lot of "stuff".
   I found a photo of mom's clematis which she had taken probably sometime in the 1980's. It's a little faded. At first I thought that this couldn't be same plant, but Letty assured me that I had told her about rescuing it. The recent photo of my plant is actually 2 different species of clematis. The darker one is mom's and the lighter buds are from a plant I bought about 3 years ago.
   Needless to say, I'll be handling these two plants with TLC. I'll maybe even use a little bit of soapy dishwater on them.

Finally, Purple Martins

After 15 years of trying to attract Purple Martins to nest in what was once his Grandpa Check's martin house, Jeffrey has finally succeeded! Over the years he's cleaned and repainted the house, put it up, taken it down, shushed away sparrows, cut trees for a better glide path. This spring he even bought the decoy which perches on the top of it. For whatever reason, on Sunday there were 2 pair of martins checking it out, and now they are building nests in it! Yippee!

Running a Little Late

Yesterday, the first day of summer, seemed more like a spring day here in Newton. It was cool, rainy, and foggy. Around 1:00 in the afternoon this guy came strolling up the driveway. He was crossing the road from the neighbor's pond, presumably heading for our pond. About 2 weeks ago a smaller turtle had made the same yearly, spring  trip (with the help of a neighbor and myself in order to avoid the "traffic" on our road). After this photo-op he strolled off heading toward the pond. About an hour later I spotted him heading up the road and another neighbor was helping him out of traffic. Not only was he a little bit late for the "spring" crossing, he couldn't find the pond. She shushed him into the ditch, and hopefully he's in our pond, now, with his  friend. Better late than never.

A LONG TIME COMING

I like to think that I'm the type of person who has enough interests to stay busy, no matter what the circumstances. Even though winters get long around here, Jeffrey and I snowmobile, I do lots of art and crafting, I volunteer for different things at church,  and I still work in our office. In spite of all that, winter seemed never-ending. Then, to top it off, we've had a cold, wet spring. Well, FINALLY, the nice weather is here. I have my vegetable garden all planted, the tulips and daffodils have long bloomed and are drying out, and peonies, bridal wreath, and irises are opening. It's been a long time coming. Admittedly, our 3 1/2 acres is a lot of work, but I love all of it.

Long Days

I love that the days are getting longer. And I love all the activity that's going on in our yard. This is one of the 3 pair of geese with babies that are visiting the pond these days. I think there are 8 in this photo.  Another pair has 5. There is a 3rd pair, but they are still a little timid, so I don't know how many babies they have.

I did a stupid thing last spring. I planted about 7 wild raspberry bushes on the south edge of  my vegetable garden. Well, duh, they totally overtook that end of the garden. I spent 3 hours today digging out MANY tiny raspberry plants. I had to get rid of the original 7, too.

And another event of the day was the return of the turtle. Last spring I posted on my Facebook page pictures of the turtle that comes from our neighbor's pond, crosses the road, and finds her way to our pond for the summer. I was just thinking about her when I was digging out the raspberry bushes from hell. Well, late this aft while in my kitchen baking a cake for my father-in-law, I saw a jeep come to a screeching halt in front of the house. So I walked out to the road to find a neighbor from about 2 miles south on Union Rd. frantically trying to direct a snapping turtle out of traffic! (These days traffic is lots of HUGE tractors pulling planters and othr equipment.) My turtle was back!  I got a shovel from the garage and we scooped her up. Just as we were carrying her to the side of the road, the 4 PM school bus came along, stopped, and the little kids on the bus were totally jazzed about our "rescue"!

Such are the long spring days here in Newton. They're pretty simple, but I love them.

Nature or Nuture?

Jeffrey and I gave this book to my mom for Christmas, 1980. She loved to feed and watch the wild birds. My dad raised and raced  homing pigeons. So I wonder, is my love for bird watching due to nature or nuture? Yesterday around my feeders, I had yellow finches, orange orioles, and red cardinals. Throw in spritzes of brown sparrows, and red wing blackbirds, and it was something akin to an artist's palette. After 5 months of winter, it was eye candy, really.
So, last night I sat down with one of my art journals and colored pens and started listing all the birds I've seen in, around, or flying over our yard. The result was 40 different birds. I started with the littlest one, the hummingbird, and worked my way up to the 4 ft. sandhill crane. So glad spring is finally here.

BLISS FELT HERE

I suppose this makes it official. My studio REALLY IS my blissroom. My long-time friend, encourager, enlightener, and fellow artist, Linda, was home for a 10-day visit. She surprised me with this very wonderful banner for my newly cleaned and rearranged blissroom. It is SO Linda, filled with the most wonderful embellishments of all kinds, ephemera, flowers, and uses pretty, pretty pastels which I love. So now when I'm going through one of those non-creative, barren dryspells, I know where I'll look for a little creative inspiration. Bliss.

Is it settled then?

Just how long will we be capable of maintaining our 3 1/2 acres here in Newton? Fifteen years ago it seemed effortless to mow, trim, plant, weed. But the task seems to be getting bigger as the years pass. It's not like we have a "Ponderosa" sized place, but the trees, shrubs, pond, orchard, vegetable garden, perenniel beds make for a lot of work. We love it all, but it's a lot of work. Last week we got this little tree, for free, at Lowe's. It 's the exact same size that Daddy's was when he gave it to me 14 years ago. So if he makes it OK and we let him get to the size of my dad's tree planted out in the front berm, we could plan on another 14 years here, God permitting! Is it settled then? We'll see!