for the weekend


Every day I am grateful.... sometimes more than others... and for different reasons, but grateful none-the-less.
And while living here can often have it's difficulties... there are always good things to look for and appreciate if you take the time.

And it's the weekend... always a great thing.
Per my usual routine (well, not the last couple of weekends....) I've got some links to share with you all:

*what I am listening to right now
*book I've just finished
*many have asked.... what camera do I use? Well, I was a Nikon girl forever... but about a year or so ago I switched to a Sony mirrorless. I have a standard 50mm lens, and a small zoom for it. I hope to get more lenses as funds allow.... but this is what I have.
*watercolors by Moira Hahns
*a very cool ?waterfall?
*mural in Montreal
*how cute is this?
*now here's something I've never seen
*art with found plants
*wow.
*a suit of armor --- (wait for it) For.your.cat. yep.
*and in case you didn't know already... this.
*California pipevine Swallowtail butterflies
*I have dreams.... this is one.

Have a great weekend folks! I will see you all back here on Monday...


8-12-16


Yesterday, of all things, I got food poisoning.
All I can say, is that in the decades I've been alive, I've only had food poisoning one other time... from a quick trip to a fast food place. And this time, it was something we made at home. I had made chili ... and I am blaming the beans. I know we cooked them properly, so I am not sure what went wrong... but I am awfully glad I ate only a small bowl... and not the larger bowl I had intended.
>>sigh<<

Seems like when you are the very busiest... is when something goes inexplicably wrong... 
and things come to a stand-still very quickly. Such is the case, so I am taking it as a "sign" to slow down for a day or so.
See  you all tomorrow for my weekend post...


8-11-16


A friend of mine has the most amazing Stargazer Lilies in her yard.
I have never tried to grow lilies... but if I did... these beauties would be on the list.
Their vibrancy and patterning just shout out "Summer!" ... and they are a real show-stopper.

My grandmother always had day lilies planted around her house... she had the orange variety, but there are yellow ones too.
And a couple in my neighborhood growing up had the most gorgeous Turk's Caps and Tiger Lilies...
and I have not seen anything like those in years... at least, not here that I have seen.

Ah the beauty of summer... and all it's stunning flowers.
Hope you are able to get out and about and see a few ❤
---see you all tomorrow.



8-10-16


Several weeks ago, I started a new "series" of posts... if you will...    
 And so on Wednesdays; I intend to post an old photograph to inspire your creativity.  Write a poem!  Plot out a short story! 
Have inspiration for a piece of art or composition.... let your artistic soul shine.  
 (you can click on the photos in this post to make it larger to see).

I love this photo.
I know nothing about it... other than the mysterious sign on the camp that says "Moon-Lite."
Was that the name of this place? And if so, why does it say "Cotton" underneath?
According to google, there is a Cotton County in Oklahoma...
and a town named Cotton in Minnesota.... so maybe this refers to the location?

Either way, the young woman on the porch seems determined to hide from the camera...
and her dog seems to be nosing around in the dirt... perhaps for a lost morsel of food.
Searching Cotton, Minnesota... it looks like only about 60 people live there, and there are lots of camps. Perhaps this is one?
How lucky to be able to spend a summer there, lazing about in the hammock... watching the dog run around. Or, sitting in one of those pretty white rocking chairs, watching the sun set over Long Lake (which is apparently near to Cotton).
Perhaps though... it's not so innocent after-all.
Could these folks be hiding out after a horrible string of robberies?
Which explains why she is hiding from the camera?
A small town like Cotton would be a perfect place to hide.
Only you know the story that could be told....

8-9-16



There's an old adage that goes something like... if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes; it'll change. 
I think for photographers, that is also true for light. 
These photographs were taken less than a half hour apart... and look so vastly different.


...see you all back here tomorrow.

8-8-16


It's "Maker Monday!" ... my series of posts where I share something the daughter or I have made (or are working on) 
and encourage the maker lifestyle.

As I mentioned this weekend, I've been helping a friend out with some of her gardens these past few days. I love working with plants, and if nothing else, this has been a great opportunity to get some photographs of some awesome flowers and veggies.

And you know I make my version of mandalas, using my original photographs and working them up through the use of a couple programs and techniques. The one for the top of today's post, I made last night using a photograph I took earlier in the day of a gorgeous pink zinnia. It had all these stunning layers of petals, and was quite extraordinary looking. It's always fun to see how these mandala designs turn out. 
Here is the original photograph I took:


One of the "perks" of helping out, is that I also get a small stash of whatever has ripened that day. The other day, I brought home a gorgeous eggplant. My main recollection of eating eggplant as a child is not a pleasant one... and I've been reluctant to try it since. My daughter did remind me the other day that I have had eggplant in a couple India cuisine dishes... and loved them... so I thought I should try it again.
Looking in my "old faithful" cookbook (a Fanny Farmer from decades ago)... I read that you should slice the eggplant, salt it, and let it sit for an hour... and then "mop" it off before cooking. So we did that, then the daughter lightly tossed it with some olive oil and seasoned it with coarse salt and ground pepper before putting it on the grill. She also cut up some green tomatoes that had been casualties of heavily branched tomato plants. In my cast iron skillet, I cooked up 3 fresh, sliced onions and some garlic (along with some olive oil), salt & pepper.
All I can say is "wow!" ... it was so good. There is something to say about eating fresh, local and organic... and it is all positive. We combined it all with a healthy chunk of baguette bread we purchased at our local farm market on Friday... and ate our fill. Salty, sweet... almost buttery... and oh so satisfying. It was awesome.
Keep creating folks! ... and I'll see you all tomorrow.


for the weekend



So, it's late... and I find myself realizing that even though I thought it was Friday all day today... it is indeed Saturday. 
I have been so crazy busy all this week (and will be next week as well).... that I seem to be losing track of time. ... eeeeeehola.
It's maddening... but it's good, I suppose, that there is much to be done.
It could certainly be worse. And we are very grateful that we are able to do what we can.

The good news in all this running about... is that I have picked up a couple part-time/temp jobs. One, is that I am doing promotional work (photos and design work) for a friend's business, and the other is helping out at a friend's farm. I love working with plants and gardens, and for a few days I get to hang out with some fabulous garden plants. I've come to get to know old friends again; like zucchini and squash, and meet some relatively new ones... like purple beans!... and some more "exotic" ones like eggplant. I've never grown eggplant... and one of my few recollections of eating it is not a pleasant one... so we're giving it another chance.



And tomorrow... I hope to spend a bit of time in the studio.
I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend... and I'll see you all on Monday.

8-4-16


Working in the studio... running errands... trying to catch up on some things...
Here's a sneak peek at part of our work space.



8-3-16


Several weeks ago, I started a new "series" of posts... if you will...    
 And so on Wednesdays; I intend to post an old photograph to inspire your creativity.  Write a poem!  Plot out a short story! 
Have inspiration for a piece of art or composition.... let your artistic soul shine.  
 (you can click on the photos in this post to make it larger to see).


I love this dapper dude. His stache is amazing.
...I imagine ...
...this gentleman was a "little" (Lieutenant) Colonel in the Army... or perhaps the book-keeper for the General store?
His wife...  Isabella, was a war bride, brought over from the Spanish-American War.
She loves to cook, ride horses, and drive him to distraction with her feisty temper.
He would much rather be poring over the store ledgers...

8-2-16


I think August shows alot of what Potter County, PA is about. 
Farm markets, veggies growing in the fields, cows lazing about under blue skies, the fair, 
the festivals, campfires and cookouts... it's all here... and it seems to be all happening at once.
Enjoy it! my friends... see you all tomorrow.

8-1-16


It's "Maker Monday!" ... my series of posts where I share something the daughter or I have made (or are working on) and encourage the maker lifestyle.

Hard to believe August is here already. ... and thankfully, with the new month, have come the rains. And I am grateful. It's been so hot and dry here... unusually so.
We are crazy busy ... and will be for the next couple of weeks... which is awesome. Work is good.
We've been trying to finish up some of the "smaller" projects we have started...
Here are 3 that Kristin did this past week: A jewelry display/ organizer unit that can hang on the wall. It is made from a random, solid wood drawer we salvaged. She has painted it in the Pantone colors for this year in soft pastels. It has lots of hooks both inside and on the bottom for jewelry and such... and flat space on top for photos, a cell phone... what not.
She hand-painted a skipping stone she found near our house. I think it's super cute. It is sealed. Perfect to hold down your papers or to decorate a shelf or table.
Then she also hand-painted a porcelain picture frame we found at a garage sale. It is also sealed, and  has a Dia de Los Muertos theme, and would be perfect to house a couple ancestral photos or daguerreotypes.


I'm afraid I don't have as much to show here this week. I've been doing lots of work on the computer, making promotional materials for a couple groups/businesses... but that's not something that is eminently show-able. I did, however, finish a piece of jewelry.
This is a super long piece, 41 inches! of infinite wrapped/ wire wrapped gemstone round beads. Each loop is interwoven into the next loop.... and so it goes. It makes the "chain" portion much stronger, and less likely to break apart. It also looks pretty cool; even though it's a bit time consuming. I have selected a variety of gemstones... Citrine, carnelian, snowflake obsidian, quartz, rose quartz, Amazonite, jade, goldstone, mother of pearl, onyx... and more. It has a super strong magnetic clasp, and is long enough to wrap around your neck loosely a couple of times, or around your wrist 5 times for a fun BoHo look. All the wire is tarnish resistant, and is silver plated. I have enough of this size round beads to make a couple more of these necklace/ bracelet wraps... and each will have it's own color combinations.


Hope you are all having a great beginning to your week... and I will see you all back here tomorrow.

for the weekend


It's the weekend! 
And I am still feeling waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on things.
Sometimes it's like that... and the next couple of weeks are looking like they are going to be super busy as well. The "funny" thing about PA is that events and such tend to all be grouped at the same time. I suppose, on one hand, it's nice to have lots of things going on at the same time so that you can "make the rounds" and see everything. On the other hand, it's impossible to see it all because you want to take your time... and there is just too much.
But alas. .... it is what it is.

Our garden is kind of like that too. Nothing, nothing, barely anything... 
then all of the sudden WHAM!!! it's all over the place (as evidenced by  the squash leaves in these photos).
Our herbs seem to be doing ok.... although the deer have, quite selectively, been eating our parsley.
(and they got all our brussel sprouts too). The woodchucks are (finally) leaving the lettuce alone... so we might actually get some... (yay!)... and we've got 12 (yes 12) tomato plants coming that we did not plant. We planted one... a very large one that I had gotten for my mom, and she decided was not doing well, so she gave it to us. But now, suddenly, we have all these other tomato plants. I am not sure if they miraculously appeared in the soil, or if one of our seed packets mistakenly had tomato seeds in it.... or if they are just "gifts from the universe".... but at any rate... we are happy they are here. I believe they are all varieties of cherry tomatoes.... but we will see.

We have one lone stalk of corn... but sure where it came from...
And all the flower seeds that we planted from seed packets in my mom's garage... for the most part... have not come up. There are a few surprises here and there.... 2 Icelandic poppies! a bachelor's button... but mostly it's marigold leaves at them moment.

So we have: lettuce, a couple pepper plants, tomatoes, a couple varieties of squash, a couple cucumbers, onions, chives, rhubarb, beans (not sure if they are going to do anything yet, but they are growing), and herbs. 
We did harvest some potatoes already... which I will tell you about in another post this week...
But for now, I hope you are enjoying the remainder of your weekend... 
I will see you all tomorrow for my "Maker Monday" post.




7-28-16

so, as you know... the daughter and I have been upcycling and (sometimes) restoring stuff we find into new, (hopefully) more functional things. It's a process. And sometimes projects take longer than we thought... or things just don't work out the way we thought... you know how it goes. Anyway. I am a huge lover of plants. When we lived in Albuquerque I had started growing succulents... but once we moved here, they were difficult to find, or more costly than we could do.

This past week, I splurged; and bought half a dozen beauties online. They've arrived.
And after letting them "settle in" for a couple of days.... we went about finding just the perfect containers for them.
The grouping in the photo at the top, are two we are keeping. I've put them in a very old Maxwell House coffee tin that I found in a friend's basement. I love it. I love the kitch, I love that it's coffee... I love the weathered paint. For today's post, I thought I would share with you photos of some of the others... which we will be listing for sale on the yard sale page here. I am thinking they would loook super adorable in someone's office... on the kitchen windowsill... on the kitchen table... there are just so many possibilities. I hope you like them... 
See you all tomorrow.





7-27-16



Several weeks ago, I started a new "series" of posts... if you will...    
 And so on Wednesdays; I intend to post an old photograph to inspire your creativity.  Write a poem!  Plot out a short story! 
Have inspiration for a piece of art or composition.... let your artistic soul shine.  
 (you can click on the photos in this post to make it larger to see).

I love this photo.
I love it because the couple seems to be having a great time...
I love it because someone took the time to try to hand color it...
And I love it because on the back it says "Jim and Mae West, July 1937"

Now, I find it hard to believe that this is indeed Mae West. 
In 1937, she was (by all accounts) just past the height of her career in 1933-35, and finishing a string of movies. 
She would then go on to radio shows and more; so I don't think she was just hanging out in front of the house posing for photos.
And, I think the woman in this photo is older than the 44yrs that Mae would have been in 1937.
But it's still an intriguing thought.

Even if it was just a lady who thought of herself as similar to Mae West, 
what a great story! Was she gutsy? Did she aspire to make movies?
And who is the fellow? with his dapper hat and suit?

Let your mind wander.... get your creativity tools out and see what happens...
See you all tomorrow.

7-26-16


There are days when I feel like I am just filling the cracks in the dam...
treading water in an endless swirl of undertow... just about to go under.
And, there are days... when I float. 
Staring up at the sky and wondering how it can possibly be any more blue than it is at this very moment.

I think we all have our days. Days that are hard... days when it seems like we are smooth sailing.
The catch.... is to remember that the other exists. 
And to tread...ever so lightly.... ever so thoughtfully... ever so appreciatively... on.

See you all tomorrow.

7-25-16




It's "Maker Monday" ... my series of posts where I show you something I've made (or am working on)over the course of the previous week... and encourage the maker lifestyle.

Yes, I am a bit behind today...
It's been so hot that I feel like I am not getting a whole lot done, and then my daughter reminds me of all the things I do every day... and I feel a bit better. Yesterday, we dug up several bushes and plants from a friend's house, and while they look (mostly) dead (because of the heat and no rain)... the daughter dug holes in our back yard and plunked them in. If they live, next year we might have some blueberries and a currant bush... and maybe some rhubarb. She and Jim also dug up a fledgling maple tree... that is also now in our back yard.
While they were doing this, I planted 12 planters of flowers... the flowers were from a friend who thought they were (mostly) dead. But after a couple days of TLC here, I got them all planted... and took 9 of them back to her late last night as a surprise. That left me 2 for my mom's porch, and one for us. We also planted some succulents (hence the photos for today) into various pots.... and they now grace our front deck.

So... my "Maker Monday" post is about taking care of plants... even when you think they might be a goner... you just never know.
And this afternoon... as if to reward us... it rained.

See you all tomorrow.

for the weekend


I love teasel plants.
According to one online source, the name of the genus of this plant comes from a word that means "to thirst of water"; and refers to the cup-like shape of the plant. Apparently, rain, indeed... collects at the points where the leaves meet the stems, which is thought to deter certain sap-sucking insects and aphids from harming the plant. Isn't that cool?

It's amazing what information you can find online... although I have been trying hard to read more (actual books) lately. We've been without tv for several months I think now, and while at first I missed certain shows and such... I've gotten accustomed to not having it. And there are certainly ways around it... shows that can be accessed online or at Netflix and such. 

And, of course, it's summer and there is ever-so-much to be doing anyway.
That said.... per my usual weekend blog-post routine... I've gathered some links to share with you all:

*Shout out to New Mexico car culture
*some fantastic metal sculptures
*ever hear of a "spider frost?"
*25 books to read when you feel the world is falling apart
*South African Elephant murals
*miniature artist Ali Alamedy
*peaceful Tokyo
*have you heard of Karen Mueller? listen here 
*and then, there is this.
*and this.

I hope you have an awesome weekend... get some rest! 
And I will see you all back here on Monday for my "Maker Monday" post.


7-22-16



So, my friend Chris has the most amazing gardens... and I aspire to have something like them; some day.
They are lush... and productive... and gorgeous.
Today I am working on lots of things around my house, including weeding my own (little) garden.
Hope you are all doing well, and I will see you all tomorrow for my weekend post.