Artful Adventures

It Was a Great Day!

 

Jessie, our first born, came out to spend the day with us for my birthday a week or so ago.  It was nice, very nice actually, since we don't often get those "one on one" kind of days with her.  It was just a low key day, just the way we wanted it.  We decided to go over to The Flying Pig, since I've hardly been there at all this summer.  I think I've mentioned that recently, but you seriously feel like family when you're there, and you'd miss your family, right?  Gary likes to always drive a new route to wherever we go, always promoting a car full of groans, as some of short cuts add on a ton of time:)  But this one was perfect!  I couldn't make it to the Art Studio Tour this year, and I really wanted to see Bren Sibilsky's sculpture work.  If you haven't clicked on her name, do yourself a favor and do so, seriously, she's so talented!  Brenda lives just on the outskirts of Algoma, but coming in from the other side of the Flying Pig, so we took that route so I could see where she lives and her sign proclaims that "The Idea Factory"-it's perfect!  Can''t wait to call & go see her!  For anyone wanting to give sculpting a hand, she also teaches at the Peninsula Art School.  So, on with the tour----we came up on this little park, and I do really mean little, but it's charming in a rustic teeny kind of way, and I do want to go back. 

We stopped & had to do a little exploring, the place was full of tangled tree roots and even some of the trees-couldn't you just see those couple of archways for fairies? 

Everywhere you walked, there were those crazy roots and green rocks that lined both sides of the water.  Having been raised "up north", this kind of thing is like going home, finding little creeks, swimming in a river, finding magic wherever it seemed it should be.  Now on to "The Pig" for a cup of coffee, a little birthday treat, and a glimpse of their fall gardens.  Come on up here sometime, and we'll show off the magic that's hidden in this farmland!

  
 

A little entertainment---

Just recently, Eli Mattson announced that he's going to be the new spokesperson for Cellcom, the company that our daughter works for.  A couple of weeks ago, there was a small intimate kind of concert given by Eli, that some of the lucky Cellcom employees could attend, and Jessie was one of them!  She could bring a guest, and because her partner couldn't attend she decided to bring either
Gary or I with her.  Hmmmmm, who to go with her:)  As much as I'd liked to have seen this concert, I told Gary to go ahead & go.  I knew he'd love it, and a little father/daughter bonding is always a good thing, so off they went. 

But I did tell them to get some pictures, and Gary also brought home an autographed CD.  Cool!  Eli went to high school out here with the kids, I'm think he was a couple of years behind Jeremy, and I'm not 100% sure, but he & Jeremy most likely performed together in one of the high school musicals that LC was known for.  This photo of Jessie & Gary with Eli, will be one that'll bring back memories for Gary & Jessie for years. 

A little over 10 years ago, when our good friend Russell tried to explain to me what winterguard and WGI were, and that Jeremy should be doing this, little did I know that it would change his life for the better, enrich our lives for having been involved in this activity from the sidelines, and that he'd still be active in what is referred to as "The Sport of the Arts".  His marching days are over, but this past year, he was a staff member for Velocity, helping to write some of the choreography for this year's show.  Click here and you can watch the show that they performed this year.  Watch closely, it's hard to see that besides the obvious dance movements & flag work, they're tossing rifles and sabers up into what seems like the sky, and catching them.  Beleive me, it's not as easy as it looks!  Here's a few more pictures from the dress rehersal.  I didn't realize how much I missed hanging out around all the kids & the activity, until we went to watch this.  Maybe next year---

Unless you're lucky enough to be involved in this activity in some capacity, you wouldn't believe how hard these kids work!  And they learn life lessons that put simply, helps them grow into good people, learning teamwork, work ethic, and good sportsmanaship to name a few.  Ask me sometime and I can elaborate much more:)  This year's season is done, but if you have a chance to catch a show somewhere near you, or better yet, have an opportunity to volunteer & help them out in some way, do yourself a favor and participate-you won't regret it!

Jeremy's on the right, Alyssa on the left, and Russell in the middle-all staff for Velocity and friends for life.  They're like proud parents after watching the perform their dress rehersal!  And by now you've all quessed that I despise being in front of a camera, but I'm breaking that rule for a moment.  A picture of Norm, a good friend, my fellow chaperone when we took the winterguard kids to Amsterdam for a show in 1999, and well, just one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, was there and we had our picture taken together, me with my bad hair day & Norm with his arm in a sling from having shoulder surgery earlier in the week.  But it was so much fun chatting with him, talking about the fun we had in Amsterdam (hush up, Jeremy!), and just catching up on things.  That's all for today-hope you all have a great week end!

A Belated Happy Mother's Day!

Another of the necklaces from last week, carved jade, onyx, turquoise, freshwater pearls & a skeleton key-it's a little chunkier than what I've been doing, but fun, and green just like it's looking outside!

I was planning on blogging about the ArtBeet meeting held last night at Clay on Steele in Algoma, where Mark Fraire from the WI Arts Board came to speak to our group about grant writing.  But due to a swollen up knee, thought it would be in my best interest to stay home, feet up, and rest it before it got worse, turned out to be the right thing to do.  This morning Amanda and I met to have coffee & be inspired & work on some art together.  We've been getting together once every week or 2, just to keep each other on track, bounce ideas back & forth while we work, that kind of thing.  It was hard (not hard, just felt strange) for me at first-not sure if it's because I'm not coordinated enough to work & talk at the same time, or if I'm just so used to working alone, but it's working out well and has been fun.  This has been something I've been wanting to do for years, find a like minded person to be able to share the process of making art & work together on a regular basis so we could both grow, and it's finally happening.  So go grab yourself an art buddy & give it a try!                   

Now lets back up to toMother's Day.  This young couple, Ali, Jason, and their baby(the horns from the assemblage behind her are quite the addition!), Penelope (don't you just love that name?) spent the previous week end with us.  Ali is a co-worker of Jeremy's & they were all in town for an annual Autism conference in Green Bay, so stuck around and spent the night here.  On Mother's Day, I couldn't help thinking of Ali and how she might feel on this first Mother's Day as a parent.  Do you remember your first Mother's Day?  I do-it was scary and grand, all at the same time.  All the thoughts that still roll around in my head on that day, thinking of when I became a Mother, having a Mother & what kind of relationship that was/is, hoping I've done an adequate job of being a Mother but also knowing that all I could have done was what I did-the best that I could do at the time.  Naturally I think we all wish there were some things we had done differently, or is it just me?  

In the meantime, Gary & I spent the day together (Kids will come another day) with him treating me like a Queen for the day, starting off with this gorgeous vase of flowers the day before, and then presented me with these goblets that I've been eyeing up since last fall-aren't they cool?  We drove up to Sturgeon Bay to The Artists Guild to pick up some more large canvases, always nice to stop in there & chat and see what's new-they've really expanded their product line and seem to have a little of everything. From there we had brunch at Scaturo's-it was delicious!  Stopped at a greenhouse & got a few plants to start container planting, stopped at the gallery for coffee & bought a tree while we were there:) 

For years, every Mother's Day I got a tree, but somehow that tradition stopped.  This year though, it changed again and we got a birch tree ( Betula pendula 'youngii') that has a wonderfully contorted trunk-it's gorgeous!  I've always wanted birch trees here anyway, now I'll have one!  Even though I'm a couple of days late, my wish is that all my friends had a great Mother's Day-doesn't matter if you have kids or not, you've all mothered something or someone, somewhere along the line! Some pink flowers, Bonnie:)

I'm a lucky gal!

There's not a lot of positive things that come to mind about living with

RSD, but having a reason to own & use a cane like this is the best I can think of.  Yesterday morning, when I woke up & came downstairs, I found this beauty parked near where I sit for my morning coffee.   Jeremy had come home the night before for a 3 day Ju Jitsu seminar, and brought this home after Friday night's training, but I was already out cold for the night.  He had one of the guys that he trains with, Gary Ferron, make it for me.  Gary (dh Gary) had let it slip a while ago that a cane was being made for me, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect this, it's so perfectly perfect and besides that, it's beautiful!  Jeremy had told him that since he was an artist, to just look at my blog and/or website, to get a feel for what I like and then make whatever he wanted.  Apparently, he thought of Alice in Wonderland and of the flamingos used for croquet-and then he went to work, carving this out of birds eye maple.  I honestly could not have told him to make a cane that would have been more perfect than this one-he nailed it!  It's back being cut down to the right size for me, then I get to go out & show it off.  A while back I asked if anyone was interested in arting up a wooden cane for me, I haven't forgotten, just keep forgetting to pick them up while in town.  There was a part of me that was hoping I wouldn't have to keep using it, but that doesn't seem to be the case, so I'll get them soon & send them out if anyone is still interested.  This cane has me excited at just how cool they can be!  Thank you Gary for your incredible talent, and to Jeremy for getting it for me, I'm speechless and that doesn't happen often:)         

A Surprise!

There's so much happening this past week, that it'll take a few posts.  But I have to start off with the best mail day EVER, that'll be a tough act to follow!  I was sitting out on the patio working on some art stuff, when the mailman drove up the driveway, which always means there's a package-and there was, but it was for Gary.  When I saw who it was from, I ripped the box open, and there it was-an absolutely beautiful necklace made by the most talented Nina  !  He's terrible at keeping a secret, so I knew there was something coming, but didn't know which necklace it was.  Nina knows me well enough that she chose the perfect one, and put a special inscription on the back, just for me-thank you so much for that special touch, my friend:)   
After seeing an article in a Somerset publication (can't remember which one) about using vintage wooden hangers for display, I grabbed one & pounded some small nails on either side of the hanger part, and hung it on the wall in my studio to display my Nina necklaces.  It seems so silly to keep them in a jewelry box, when I can look at them all day instead! 
And yes, he's out of the doghouse:)