Artful Adventures

Alpacas & Architecture

So what did you do exciting for the holiday week end?  We didn't go far, but did take in the everyday sights of the area, visited some friends, and just chilled out.  Had Gary not retired last year, this would have been his week end to work, so he was thoroughly enjoying being able to just go & do whatever he wanted.  It was kind of funny, a little like a kid on Christmas morning:)  We drove through the little town of Kewaunee yesterday, and went down Dodge Street, which has some of the coolest old homes, all renovated, painted up in fun colors, some are Bed & Breakfasts, a few single family homes, but all fun.  So thought we'd share a few of the house in that few blocks.  Hope you enjoy! 

Too bad there wasn't a little sun shining, but you should still be able to see all the trim work, they paid attention to detail! 

Still trying to get used to the new format here on typepad, need to get my sizing figured out!  It's funny how each of these house are painted a different color, I always wondered if they held a meeting or something to make sure they were all painted different colors. You can't tell by the picture, but this one is painted a shade of pink.  I remember when they started it, thinking it was an odd color, but they did it up right!  If you look close at the shingles near the peak on the front, the different colors form flowers.  And the gardens are spectacular here!  All done up in pink, a wonderful arbor to walk under, with a matching martin house behind it in the yard.  it's called Hollyhock House and is a bed & breakfast-it would be tempting to stay there, I have a feeling that the inside is spectacular!  Blue is my least favorite color for a house, but once again they paid attention to detail & pulled it off!  These homes are huge, maybe they give tours at Christmas or something-----something to watch for! A pair of gargoyles flank each side of the driveway of the first house in the picture, a perfect fit for the house.  Are you still with me on this little tour?  I'm really hoping you enjoy seeing these homes as much as we did!  From here, we went on up Hwy 42 to go to a little antique shop that we both like.  It's run by the nicest man, and his big old black dog named "Bear", I always breath a little sigh of relief each spring when I see that the dog is still there, he's old now & has a snow white muzzle, and the man obviously adores him.  He is pretty cute-the dog, that is:)  We picked up a bunch of old books there, one is an old dictionary that had several dried flowers and a 4 leaf clover pressed between the pages.  Makes me wonder who did it, what was the significance, there had to be a story behind it!  From there we stopped in at Amanda's to drop off some extra plants we dug up, dropped off a couple of chairs to see if her husband could spot weld them to fix them, and have a cup of coffee-nice visit!  From there, we went abut a mile up the road to Kele Alpacas to get a picture of the new baby Alpaca that was born during the week, and were treated to getting to watch them shear one of the older ones.  A lot of work goes into this process to make those wonderful soft fibers that you fiber artists love to use!  A specially made table keeps the animals safe, as well as those shearing, so it's a relatively stress free situation for all.  Kieth & LeAnna were so calm, had a system worked out, that they didn't even really have to talk-they all knew just what had to be done and when.  They're a couple of the nicest people we've had the pleasure to meet out here, so it's always a treat to pop in, see the critters, & chat for a bit.  Here's "Gabby" with her new haircut:)  There's not much left to them after you remove all the "fluff" is there?  Such sweet animals-when I was grooming my dogs for show, they weren't nearly as well behaved! And here's the baby (they're called a crea" with her mama.  We took so many photos of her, it was hard to choose, but this one will do:)  Gary walked right into the field with them to take the pictures, and the baby was curious enough to walk right up close to him.  They have the longest, blackest eyelashes that you've ever seen!  No visit to Kele would be complete without a pictuer of Ajax!  He's 16 years old, and a great ambassador for the breed, always curious, friendly, and willing to pose for a picture:)  When I met him, is when I fell in love with alpacas, how could you not??  Now I want to follow this shearing thing through with LeAnna, watch how she turns the fibers into roving, uses the spinning wheel, all that fun stuff!  One of these days, I'd love to try the spinning wheel out-not sure if I'd be any good at it, but it looks like fun and would have the potential to be calming-maybe not in the learning phase, though-lol!  Today was beautiful-80 degrees & sunny-finally!  It was warm enough to actually be able to sit on the lake for awhile, first time this year, and it felt good.  When we got home I picked up a book to read that I had barely started the day before, but more about that tomorrow.  Fair warning though, you're going to want the book-it's a great one!!

What's Blooming Now--

Yesterday early morning, I stepped outside the back door and was greeted with the heavy, sweet scent of lilacs.  The breeze was soft & coming from just the right direction to blow right at me, and the scent was strong with them just begining to open.  Will have to cut some tomorrow & bring them in the house, they don't last long but they certainly are a treat.  It's still on the cool side here in WI, I think we've only had one day reach the 70 degree mark so far.  But that means the spring flowers are lasting longer so it's ok.  The downside is that being the impatient gardener that I am, we bought plants early (telling myself it was to make sure we got what we wanted, but we all know that wasn't the real reason!) we've been hauling them out during the day, and back into the garage at night becasue it's been too cold for some.  We left a few out last night though, and they were fine-whew!  The old apple tree is still blooming, another one that doesn't last long, but what a beautiful flower.  Half of that tree blew down during the first spring storm that came through the year we moved in, but it keeps hanging in there-tenacious old thing! 

The allium are about to pop, they crack me up, looking like some sort of alien creature standing tall & proud in the garden.  Note to self-remember to dig them up & move them this year to another spot, they take up too much prime space for a plant that goes dormant for most of the summer.  For the last 3 days I've been feeling sick again (what the hell, I never used to get sick so often!) but today we got out of the house anyway, not a very perky road trip, but a road trip nonetheless.  We went into Green Bay to Summerplace Gardens where I used to work & got some more annuals for containers.  Oh, check out the website, I'm doing it for her so be kind-lol!.  Just started it, and have a long way to go, but at least it's started.  Came home & had a quick lunch, then off to The Flying Pig for a cup of coffee and of course had to buy another plant while I was there, too.  Plants can be almost as addictive as art supplies:)  But there was a big beautiful Kent's Beauty (a flowering oregano) that I couldn't resist.  Will take photos of containers soon, as I plant them-maybe tomorrow:)

Of art & birds--

Who says bigger isn't better?  For the last few years, robins have been adding onto these nests, rather than build new ones.  That's something I'll have to google to see if that's normal behavior or not, seems weird to me.  They were under an overhang and built so high that they couldn't in the big one anymore, so finally abandoned them last year.  Not quite sure what I'll do with them, but they are pretty cool-a true robin high rise! 

Remember me posting last week about my oh so beautiful new walking stick, If not, just click here and you can see it.  (ok Bonnie & Tammy, I changed the verbiage as suggested and it does sound much better than "cane"!)  Today we were lucky enough to meet the artist and his wife, Gary & Kathy Ferron, while we were at The Flying Pig today for our weekend outing/coffee break.  This wasn't planned, just turned out that we walked in shortly after they did, how cool!  They're both wonderful people with a beautiful take on life, making it a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.  Seriously, I keep telling you all, good things happen while at "The Pig"-come join us for coffee sometime:)                                                                         

On the way home, we opted for a quick lunch and ran into Subway for a (healthy version) sub which we took to the beach in Algoma and ate on a picnic table there.  After following the Four F's food plan for a couple of months or so, this was a real treat!  The wind was fierce coming off the lake, but neither of us minded a bit, as long as it was finally warm enough to actually do this-it was an absolutely gorgeous day today.  The kind of day that we WI folks wait all winter for, and don't waste a minute of it!  For the last few days, I've been working on 2 large canvases at the same time, as well as some other things.  As usual, there are many layers on each, so I've been trying to balance time-time to lay on a coat of something-time to let it dry-enough time to do something else-then time to let that dry-you get the picture.  In the meantime, I'm running out of space here to have multiple projects going at once, there are only so many horizontal surface in this house, and I already have too many of them covered in "stuff".  So I've also been plugging away at putting things where they belong, you know when your studio (or house) gets to the point that you can't even find anything anymore and you have to spend more time searching than arting?  There's barely a dent made in that project, it was a productive (for me) week, but frustrating.  I want to keep working, and working faster, but the pain level for most of the week was hellacious, so moving at all was a challenge, let alone faster.  So I keep plugging away, reminding myself that this is how it is and not get frustrated by it, which just adds more aggravation-another vicious circle.  Tonight things are drying, and tomorrow I can start all over again, with the first thing being to draw another face, fun!  But I digress, on the way home this afternoon, we finally stopped and got a picture of these goofy geese that live in someone's front yard all year long.  We know now to slow down, because if they're in the road, they'll move when they damn well feel like it, and not a moment sooner.  What a life, they do look like happy little campers, don't they?  On that note, I hope everyone has a happy productive week ahead of them!     Now why does all this text look like  a link?  Another mystery!                                            

Why waste a Worry?

The other day I was talking to an aunt on the phone, and she made the comment "why waste a worry?".  I'd never heard it before, but after thinking about it, she's so right!  I'm a first class worrier, about anything & everything, whether it makes sense or not, I worry about it.  I worry so much, that when the kids were home & little, I figured I did enough worrying for all of us, so everytime they started to fret over something, I told them in any given situation they had 2 choices-deal with it, or change it--but don't waste your energy worrying about it.  Now why didn't I take my own advice?  Good question!  Which in a convuluted sort of way, leads to "The Socks":)  Which by the way, are the coolest things I've seen in a long time, let alone bought for myself!  Socks used to be my thing when I was single-the more wierd, the better.  Somewhere along the line (probably when I had kids & started worrying!) I got practical and wore practical socks-and I've still been wearing the damn things-until now!  LIfe's too short, and it's certainly too short to wear matching socks, which happens to be the logo on the socks:)  So no more boring socks for me, I'm on a mission for different socks, stripes & polka dots, matching or mismatched, I don't care, but no more white ones!  These are Tulip, and I also got 2 more pair, Crocus & Daffodil-are these fun or what??  And where did I find them? The Flying Pig of course, who also just got a shipment of art from Jen Worden!  If you think you like her art online, you should see it in person, what a treat! 

Speaking of a treat, Sunday morning when I sat down to drink my coffee (after I'd already dumped a glass of water on a laptop) I found a piece of paper laying on hte table with the above sticky note attached.  Curiosty got the best of me (about 5 seconds!) and I flipped it over to find a picture drawn of Gary & I-with no signature.  When Jeremy got up, I asked him about it, and after awhile he finally fessed up to having done the drawing-this coming from the kid who swears he can't draw a stickman!  He did say that I almost ended up with no teeth, and he was surprised there was paper left where Gary's eyes are drawn.  And that he didn't know how to draw gray hair, but figured that I wouldn't mind:)  But he did manage to shave years & pounds off of me, so it's all good!  Seriously, I'm thrilled at how well he did and hopes that he continues.  Now Jess, I know you're reading this, and I know you can draw-so draw something and I'll post it here, too.  When the kids were little I hung their art on the fridge, now I can hang it here:)  So keep it coming!  Pretty damn good, especially for a first attempt!

Happy Sunday!

That's as close to an Easter bonnet as we'll ever get in this house:)  Oh, where do I start, it's been a goofy week!  Probably start as usual by bouncing from one thing to the next.  Spring has been flirting with us, 40 & sunny one day, and then cold the next.  But it's here, not only does the calendar say so, but I've heard the sand hill cranes and have seen a robin.  They may have taken a look at all the snow & quickly flown back south, but at least I know they made an appearance:)

And then today, for about 15 minutes, snow started falling like crazy, big flat flakes that cut down visibility.  It was over as fast as it started, now the sun is out, welcome to spring in WI!

Yesterday, we went toThe Flying Pig, our week end trek to the other side of the county, for a cup of coffee, eye candy (and this time, a glass head full of candy!), good company, and seeing the new art that must be arriving daily in preparation for the summer season.   

We even caught a glimpse of the Easter bunny, getting ready to make his rounds.  Disguised in cement for the time being, but ready to spring to life:)

Both kids couldn't make it home for Easter this year, but Jeremy managed to make it (despite having his trip delayed a day due to a foot of snow in Madison on Friday) and promised to plan Easter dinner & prepare it-and he did, not only was it a feast for the eyes, it was delicious!  For a kid that was THE pickiest eater when he lived at home, he constantly amazes me with his food choices now.  In support of my new healthy eating habits (ok, I'm trying) he chose the menu accordingly, and make Moroccan couscous, balsamic chicken, sauteed veggies, and herbal sauteed mushrooms.  He did all this, despite the fact that the first thing I did this morning was dump a glass of water on his laptop!  I was horrified, trying to clean up the water, and then it wouldn't work, but after a while it started up-whew!

Last week I worked off & on with a 2'x3' canvas.  After a boatload of layers and it's refusal to come to life & tell me what to do next, I moved it off my table & set it on a shelf directly across from me, so I had to look at it everyday.  Good thing, an idea popped into my head, I shoved it back, but it wouldn't budge, so I followed my muse (she's back-yay!!) and started painting a face.  Do you believe it?  Not just a face, but a HUGE face!  I've been taking photos as I go, so I can post the whole process when it's done, but so far I'm pleased and can hardly believe I'm doing this-but I'm loving the challenge!  Having kept a low profile for most of the winter, a couple of friends called to make sure I was still alive & kicking, phone calls from both Annie and Corinne did wonders, we giggled like fools, caught up, and have made promises to meet up someday.  Another blogging friend, Tammy Vitale , had a 60th birthday the other day, so I surprised her with a phone call, the first time we've ever spoken.  It's always good to hear a voice instead of the clicking of a keyboard.  If you've never read her blog, treat yourself & start visiting it-you'll love it over there.  Each post is ended with a thought for the day, with this one being an excerpt from I'd Rather Be In The Studio, a book just written by Alyson Stanfield.  That's all it took, I ran right over & ordered the book, and can't wait to get it in my hands!  There's more to write about, more photos to share, but for now I'm calling it a night.  Oh, one more photo to prove that spring's coming, our little creek is running strong!     

I'm still here!

This past week we went up to Sturgeon Bay to get our taxes done (refund coming-yay!!) and were treated to seeing the biggest snow sculpture/snowman that we've ever seen!  This thing stands well over 8' tall, standing proudly on a corner, directly opposite of the Fairfield Museum.  All of the streets in town had smaller ice sculptures, not sure what the occasion was, but looks like we missed out on watching it all happen.  While there, we stopped in at the Artists Guild where the inventory line just keeps growing & growing, if you want it or need it, odds are that they have it-if not, they'll gladly order it for you.  And those folks know their products inside & out, I always learn something each & everytime we stop in there.

As to my disappearing act the last couple of weeks, well, what can I say?  It's been a damn long winter that just isn't going to be over anytime soon.  And I'm sick of it:)  For the most part, it's either been below zero or snowing, seems like just about everyday this year.  But today, today is absolutely perfect!  You have to live in this climate to appreciate it, but having the sun out, not a cloud in sight, and the thermometer hanging out around 20 degrees (above zero for a change) feels like a freaking heat wave!  Now it seems possible that spring will really come-sometime!

So today, I'm crawling out of my self imposed hiding, have stopped feeling sorry for myself, and am enjoying the moment.  I've been busy having a good old fashioned pity party here.  After deciding to get my head out of the sand and stop denying that I have RSD, I went digging around for more information about it, the more I read, the more angry I got.  Story after story about folks getting poor treatment, misdiagnosed, doctors trying to tell you that you shouldn't be in pain (when YOU know that you really are), implications of being a drug addict or a procedure seeking kinda person, and on & on.  But also finding good information, discovering that some things that have been happening with me are symptoms of the disease, like short term memory loss for example, I honestly thought I was losing it!  So if I repeat myself, or forget to email you (and I'm so behind on that!), or can't think of a name, it's really nothing personal, please bear with me.  Finding an online support group has been a huge help, people all going through the same thing, a place where I can ask questions & get answers, thank you, thank you!!!  Also found a diet, the four F's diet, that should help a bit.  Although giving up my coffee will be hard:)   

Now it's time to think spring, planning classes to take, looking forward to sitting outside in the sun and baking like a turtle on a rock!  Baby plants are arriving at the greenhouse this week, although I can't work anymore, I can sure go sit in that greenhouse and play in the dirt a little and soak up some sun-can't wait!  And the mailman brought me the class schedule for the summer session of classes at the Peninsula Art School, only a little over an hour drive from here.  Go look at the class line up, there's anything in the arts that you'd like to learn in that schedule!  So if you've ever wanted a reason to go visit Door County, or come visit me and go hang out at The Flying Pig, or just take some good classes, here's your chance!     

This morning we ran over to The Flying Pig for our week end run for coffee, and to visit with Robyn & Susan now that they're back from their vacation.  If you go onto their blog, you can see some photos of their trip to Mexico, those warm sandy beaches sure looked wonderful!  They're also updating their website, giving it a whole new bright & colorful look, we got a sneak preview and it looks great!  And new artwork is starting to arrive there for the upcoming summer season (do you think if I keep saying the word summer, it'll get here faster?) that looks wonderful!  There's some pottery from Betty Young Ross that you have to see in person to appreciate-AMAZING STUFF!!  They told me that I could see more of her work at the Naked Art gallery website, so I came right home & googled "naked art", big mistake!  I got a whole hell of a lot more of naked results than art results-lol!  Amazing what's out there on the internet!   

Last week, I got an order from Rio Grande, sat right down and cut wire into hundreds of pieces (seriously!) to make some components ahead of time, like "easy links" and "s links", following directions from Sharilyn Miller's book, Bead on a Wire.  My ears are still ringing from all the hammering, and I've decided that "easy link" in this case really means "time consuming link", but it was extremely therapeutic to hammer with everything I had (nothing dainty about that part) and worked out a lot of frustrations in the process.  So, I'm back, my friends:)  Now to go through my mailbox and try to answer a couple weeks worth of emails!      

 

 

A day out!

The other day was one of those days when we had to go into town with a list of places to go, and limited time to do it in.  Probably a good thing, spend less money that way:)    

We've been trying to get in the habit of taking the camera with us wherever we go, but then normally forget it in the car-this time we actually used it for one stop anyway, The Mother Bead.There's never a problem of finding something I like in there (and the pile of gemstones in my studio is proof of that!), the place is jam packed!  Right now, they're offering an online only sale of some fabulous grab bags, so click away and check them out.  I'm tickled that I can share a local sale with my online friends:)

The first stop of the day was at The Assemblage Studio, it's been too long since I've been there, and it was jam packed with goodies, too.  My main mission was to pick up the new issue of Artful Blogging, but couldn't resist the most darling pair of vintage baby shoes that I'd been eyeing up since before the holidays.  The fact that they were still there must have meant they were waiting for me to come back, at least that line of reasoning worked for me:)  I've been "collecting" stuff for a rather large assemblage (large for me anyway) that's been in my mind for over a year, can't rush these things, the idea is still brewing, which is odd, normally I just fly by the seat of my pants instead of doing a lot of planning.  I'm hoping that's a good sign!  After haircuts for both of us, a stop at the grocery store, and a few other quick errand type stops, we had to get back to pick up Jeremy's cat from the vet's office before they closed.  She had to have her tail amputated, but I suggested he get a price from the vet we use, good thing he did, it saved him about $400 by having it done here than the vet in Madison!  So poor "Tabbers" looked pathetic with her Elizabethan collar and short little bandaged tail.  And I'm sure she was glad to get back home and out of this house with dogs that seem to think cat should be on the menu!  It was a little tricky making sure the dogs & the cat never crossed paths, but we did it.  So all in all, it was a good day, and it felt great to be able to get out & actually walk around and shop like a normal person, with the help of that cane.  Apparently, I pushed it a little too much and paid for it that night & the next day, but now I know-take it slow and it'll be fine.  You have no idea how good it is to be able to say that!!                                                                                          

Images from yesterday

Pulling open the drapes yesterday morning, gave us a glimpse of what turned out to be some of nature's best art, a fresh snowfall.  Every branch & twig perfectly coated in a way that could never be duplicated by man. 

Check this out, isn't it beautiful?

We leave our garden art outside all year long.  Here in WI, anyway you cut it, we have more winter(or have to stay inside kind of weather) than the warm stuff.  So you'd better find something to like about it, or at the very least, something you enjoy looking at outside through the windows, or you'd lose your mind! 

      

This metal dancer, hanging from a shepard's hook has been photographed so often, it's likely that you've seen it before.  But she just looks so cool ( no pun intended!) with the snow stacked up on that thin edge of metal.                                                  

Same with this chair, you've probably already seen it, but with green plants surrounding it, instead of the snow outlining the features of the face.   

Dec. 19 was Gary's last day to work, after over 30 years of working at Georgia Pacific, he took an early retirement.  But instead of enjoying it right away, he went in yesterday and had carpal tunnel surgery done on both hands at once-as a friend said, she can't decide if he's crazy or brave, haven't quite decided yet:)  The surgery went well and we were home by late afternoon.  Jeremy came home a little early for the week end, so that he could come up to the hospital with us, which was much appreciated.  So here's a view of all the "boyz" last night, both the 2-legged variety as well as the 4-legged, all of them chillin' on the couch watching something on TV that involved aliens, I'm sure!  And now we're off for a cup of coffee, more to tell later!    

Can I tell you a secret?

I'm stuck!  Stuck with a list of things to do, all of equal importance, and don't know where to start-I hate it when that happens.  So this morning I made a list and will start checking them off as I go, hopefully it will provide a little motivation, as well as that good feeling we get when we accomplish something.  Right?  Right!

Saturday morning we went out to Kele Alpaca, one of my favorite places to be.  What's not to love about an alpaca?  Leanna has over 35 right now (she lost count!) of all sizes & colors, everywhere you turn there's a field full of alpacas, it's great!  It always amazes me at how sweet they are, you can walk right out into the fields with them and they'll come right up to you to check you out, no fear at all.   

The quick trip to Madison last week was nice, but still seemed like we were rushing around.  Next time around, we have to get an earlier start in the morning, and/or stay an extra day.  We did have time though, to go check out Dig & Save Outlet, a division of St. Vincent Depaul, a great 2nd hand store.  At this outlet, most things are sold by the pound, 35 cents/pound to be exact.  There are huge boxes filled with clothes and a room full of long tables, all heaped with anything & everything you could imagine-like a gigantic rummage sale!  They also have a lot of furniture, lamps, tables-all dirt cheap and all just begging to be taken home & painted or altered.  Oh yeah, we'll be going back there soon:)  It's pretty close to Jeremy's apartment, and he'd been telling me about it forever, knowing that I'd love it there-he was right.  Even though there's every kind of ethnic food available in Madison, having lived in the sticks for the last 20 years where there is no delivery of any food available, we decided to get pizza delivered to the hotel room from Glass Nickel Pizza Co..  We both like pizza (who am I kidding, I could live on it!) and this was some of the best I've ever eaten, check out their menu, they don't make those kinds of pizzas around here!  Right across the street from the hotel room, was this wonderful bead shop, Bonjour Beads.  The owner was so nice & helpful, the selection was good, and the prices were great, I'm glad we found it, and will be going back there, too.  The one thing we didn't get a chance to do while in Madison, was to visit with my friend Judy-next time around, that's the first thing we're doing-I miss her!  She's good for the soul, whenever we get together, we laugh so hard that our faces hurt-something we all need to do more often.  One more thing before I go, Valley Ridge Art Studio has a brand new website with classes for the 2008 season listed, make sure you check it out, amazing line up of the best instructors!  I usually take a couple of classes there every year, how I'm going to choose this year is beyond me!  Ok, back to my list to check off making this post and getting the dishes washed, I feel better already:)               

Quickie update

The last couple of weeks have flown by, but then so has the last few months, unbelievable!  And now there seems to be this strange sense of urgency to get things done, finish projects, start projects, order supplies, and there's just been so much going on lately that I feel like the puppy that runs in circles, chasing it's tail!  That said, some projects are started, some supplies got ordered, Jessie & Michelle got moved into their first house, the rummage sale is done & over with most of what's left either packed up for next year or been donated to St. Vincent DePaul.  Just found out this week that Gary's early retirement is starting a little earlier than planned-by the first of the year, he'll be retired.  This will be a major change for both of us, which may account for this unsettled feeling, this as yet unknown life style coming up so quickly.  Tomorrow we're going to visit some old friends that I've known for over 30 years-and we'll laugh, party & get silly just like we did when we were 20, it'll be a good day, with stories to share when we return:)