Doodles

No, as much as I wish I were talking about cheese doodles, this is something completely different.

As yummy as they look with that other worldly, beautiful orange color, I'm talking about doodling as an art form.  I have mentioned before that I think everyone has an artist lurking inside their bodies, and a good way to nurture that artist, is with another kind of doodle.  As you may have seen over the years, a whole new wave of books and blogs and such have been dedicated to Zentangling.  Poo on that, I am talking about sitting around drawing while you watch television.  Nothing with a fancy-smancy, made up name, just drawing or doodling. 

Oh, now you are getting ready to whine, I can hear you tuning up.  "I can't draw", "poor me, I'm being left out of all the fun".  Shut your crying, you big baby and go get your notebook and pens.

You can use a composition book to draw in, and just a good old fashioned ballpoint pen will suffice.  Personally I like to add a bit of color and I have boxes full of markers and pens at my disposal.  If you prefer pencils that's fine too, as long as you don't postpone the drawing by erasing everything that's not perfect...grrrr, don't get me started on that.  Can't draw a straight line?  Duh, find something with an edge on it and use it as a guide.  I'll bet you have a credit card in your purse...use that if you don't have the world's most perfect ruler.  As you can see, I am eliminating all your pitiful excuses for not drawing.  So now get off your butt...oops, I mean get ON your butt and draw.

Absolutely cannot think of anything to draw, because you are still trying to fight me on this??? Draw a letter or two.  Yeppers, you heard it here first.  Alphabets or monograms are some of the best things to start on.  Who doesn't love a monogram or a fancy drawn letter?  There are gazillions of decorated monograms that have been created since the beginning of your specific language.  (see how p/c I'm being here?) If you still need a nudge, do an online search for ideas. Pinterest or Google or Etsy. You know the drill, stop dragging your feet on this. (Y'all know I'm just kiddin' dontcha?)

Anyway, here are the monograms I drew this week while sitting on my keister watching the telly.

S is for Susan, as most of you know.  It's a fun letter and you can do all kinds of things with it.

T is for Timothy.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned his name here, just calling him DH for dear hubby, but he does have a name and it has many fine letters in it.  Starting with T.

Ok, now scroll back up to my letter and click on it.  You will see that I started out with the letter S and embellished it with those silly little petal flower that everyone has been drawing since first grade.  That's what it's all about.  Your favorite little thing to draw, be it flowers or moons and stars or Scottie dogs, I don't know...just draw in some little things in to fill out the letter some. I often add leaves to make things look "viney" and I love circles so I do lots of circles.

OK, now scroll back down to Tim's letter and you will notice several things.  One it has additional lines added that make it look.....drum-roll here please... "3 D".  One of the most fun things to do is to add perspective to doodles.  It's really easy to do.  Just check out the internet for drawing 3D and you will find easy instructions.  "What?  Shoot, quick stomping your foot.  I'll do it for you."  Here.  Satisfied?

Seriously though folks, I used black felt tip pens and then filled in (we are too old to just say we color) with markers.  You can use markers or crayons or other dry media that you can just grab and use.  Keep it simple to start.

Hope you have fun drawing your letters.  Send me a picture of your finished art and I'll post it here.  I really will.  You'll be instantly famous.

Another experiment...

So, at the risk of boring you all to death, I'm posting another picture of a bracelet.  Practicing beading can lead to one of two things...either something that works in jewelry or something that doesn't.  This most recent piece was supposed to be a wide cuff, but I made it too wide and it was uncomfortable on my wrist.  So I sewed the edges together and made it into a tube and it still works as a bracelet.

 I purchased the size 6 beads in Autumn colors, which worked well together, and while it doesn't really match anything else I have, I think I can find something that will coordinate with it. 

As you can see, it looks different on a dark background,

so perhaps a navy blouse or the ever present black top will work with it.

While going through my stash of beads last week I came across this owl pendant.  I got this in a grab bag of  broken jewelry at a flea market and it just so happens that I have a friend that collects all things owl.

Yes, this little pendant is going to my friend and trainer, Chelsea.  Sweet little Chelsea was recently diagnosed with cancer and after trying various treatments over the past few months, her doctors told her yesterday that she will have to start undergoing radiation.  Hopefully a little vintage owl pendant will help keep her mind off of things a bit.

Well, that's it for today.  Hope everyone is hanging in there and getting ready for Fall.  I'm not sure what is on my agenda for today.  I deconstructed the shawl that I showed you last post and I'm thinking about making granny squares with the yarn.  I found a pattern for a granny square sweater that looks promising.  I'll keep you posted.

See you soon.  Let us hear!

Peyote

I remember hearing murmurs, back in the days of my youth, that someone "was doing peyote".  Well, the peyote that they were doing was certainly different from the peyote that I am doing.  The peyote they were whispering about is a cactus that has hallucinogenic properties and has been used for years in religious ceremonies of various "indigenous people" of America  (for those less politically correct...American Indians).  During these ceremonies bead covered gourds are used and over the years the beading technique used for this decoration came to be known as peyote stitch, or gourd stitch.

I have a fairly ample supply of seed beads that were a gift from a very lovely gal some years back.  I have used these beads in jewelry making, as well as bead embroidery and even mosaic work.  They are so pretty, sitting there in their little plastic tubes and I love how colorful they are.  Over the years, as my cataracts gradually began affecting my sight, I stopped using my seed beads.  As many of you know, I had my cataracts removed so I am now delving back into my stash of tiny beads.  With the help of various types of magnifiers I am attempting to relearn peyote stitch.

Just to get back in the groove, I started out with larger sized beads.  Using various colors of size 8 seed beads, I whipped up this little color block bracelet. 

I fashioned a button and loop closure for the bracelet and added some larger glass beads for fringe, as well as weight.

Now I'll tackle peyote using much smaller beads and see what I come up with.  I purchased this magazine

 at Books-A-Million this week and it has fun projects in it.  I also have a very nice loom that another sweetheart of a gal got for me, and the projects that you can make on a loom with the tiny beads are really nice.

When not reading or beading, I've been crocheting a shawl, and I've done this much so far...

At first I thought it was finished, but when I tried it on I realized that it was too thick to be a scarf, but too narrow to be a shawl... so back to the hooks for me.  I'm currently adding a triangular shaped piece to the back to make it more shawl like.  I'll keep you posted on that.

Hope everyone is having a nice September and if you're like me, you are waiting in anticipation for Autumn.  I love Fall and everything that goes with it.  Sweater weather is what we called it when I was younger and it's not here yet, but almost.

Well, children, that's it for now, but take care and remember to stay creative. xoxo

Empty Chair Day

Today is Empty Chair Day.  This is a follow up to the speech that Clint Eastwood gave at the RNC, where he spoke to an empty chair on the stage and was addressing questions to it as if the current president were there.  We watched the speeches and I thought it was very well done.  He ad libbed most of it (meaning actually that he didn't use notes or the teleprompter) but he IS an actor and presented in a way that made the non-conservatives go crazy.  They just didn't get it.  Anyway, this led to people hitting the internet via Twitter, etc, with all kinds of things that they would have said to the (empty chair that is the current) president.  Many of these comments were accompanied by pictures of an empty chair.  Hence Empty Chair Day.  Hubby posted this shot with the following caption...

"Forced to carry his own clubs, Empty Chair prepares for a day on the links".

Normally, I don't blog about politics, but I think that it's a good way to get people to speak out about things.  People that normally don't speak out took part in this over the last several days, and I think that is good.

If you are interested in seeing what folks are saying on Twitter, just go to the site and search for #EmptyChairDay and the tweets will start rolling up.  I'm sure there will be similar things happening that are related to or are a result of the DNC which is this week.

That's all for me today and by the way...Happy Labor Day.

Calling it quits...

Calling it quits??? Is she crazy? Naw, I'm not quitting blogging, I'm just finally throwing in the towel on my current painting.  It started out to be an actual representation of a photo that I took of Peri in the train station in San Fran on the morning of our initial departure.  Once again I am reminded that a pretty cool photograph doesn't always translate into a beautiful painting (even when the subject is beautiful in her own right).

I may have mentioned that I take photos during my painting  process to  see what errors jump out at me.  Well, after forty photos and forty changes and forty layers of glazes, I have completely changed the photo from a bright sunny morning shot to a very dark and moody painting and it's still not "right". 

I'm going to post it anyway and say up front to my sister, who I love dearly, that I'm stumped and am calling it quits...I mean complete.

Keep it mind that this is a somewhat large painting, approximately 16 x 20 and I painted it on watercolor paper instead of canvas.  Originally I wanted to convey the brightness of the sun coming into the windows reflecting the lightness of our mood and our anticipation of the trip.  This never happened to my satisfaction.  I kept all of the photos of the process and will perhaps put them on my Flickr page at some point.  In the mean time, I give you a very different version.  The original plan was too busy and didn't highlight Peri in the way I wanted.  So I basically just blocked everything out with shadowy greys and blues and chalked it all up to experience.

I did finish up the crochet tote bag that I was working on.  I haven't made a handle yet, because it worked so well containing my wayward yarns that I don't want to empty it yet.

I have no new projects in the works, except a crocheted shawl that is working up slowly.  Who knows what I'll do next week.  Might be jewelry, might be sewing, might be more painting.  I guess we'll see.

Have a fun weekend and don't forget to stay creative.

Another week, another project

Well, another week has passed and I do have a new painting on the easel.  It's one from our train trip, but I was almost done with it when I realized the perspectives were off in several places, so I'm going to let it sit for a while until I decide what to do with it.  The good parts are very, very good but the bad parts are very, very bad.

Now with all that being said,  I went ahead and started a crocheting project.  I suppose you realize now that I, for some reason, must have something to do with my hands.  I just can't not have a project.  Currently, I am crocheting a tote bag/basket to use as storage for my yarns. Sounds sort of freaky doesn't it?  Storing yarn in yarn...somewhat cannibalistic.  Anyhoo, I've looked at Etsy, and I've looked at Pinterest and I've looked at lots of fiber sites like Ravelry.  After doing much research, I decided to wing it and design as I go.  I really like doing crochet this way.

So, that's all for today.  Hopefully in a week or so, I will have a picture to share of the tote/basket which I am making using a large hook (M) and three strands of different colored yarn.  Wish me luck.

Another Monet

Well, I didn't work on any art yesterday because it was our anniversary. YaY, twenty-four years! If you're new to my blog you can read about us here.  It's a re post of a post, but the sentiment is still the same.

We had a quiet day, ate lunch at a little barbecue place and watched old black and white movies together at home.

Last week I started another Monet painting, just to practice the technique.  I enjoyed your suggestions on the next one to do and even Peri's suggestion of using this technique on one of my own photos.  I'm having so much fun I'm sure all the suggestions will become paintings and yes, I'll send it to my very special friends that suggested each one...cause that's how I roll.

Back to the matter at hand, I thought it would be fun to post the steps that I used to create my copy of one of the versions of Claude Oscar Monet's "Woman With A Parasol".  Actually the reason I chose this one for my next practice piece, is the fact that there is no detail in the face and I like the wiggle room that this style affords me.

So here we go...

 In stage one, I drew the outline of the woman holding the umbrella.  To do this I traced the picture from my book onto vellum and then used the grid method to enlarge and transfer it to my sheet of watercolor paper whichI had measured out and taped down to my piece of Masonite board. It's a fairly easy process.

Next I blocked in some shadows and clouds and such...

Here I have really tried to begin developing the sky.  I worked on this for a long time, probably longer than necessary, but I was having fun.

This is the version that was almost complete.  In order to see where there are glaring mistakes, it's a good idea to either take a photo of your painting and look at it on the digital screen, or if you are still holding out and haven't gone digital...sit down with the painting to your back and using a large hand held mirror, look into the mirror at the painting behind you, basically from a different point of view.  It really helps to see things like clouds that need reshaping, or a dark area that draws too much attention to itself, thus moving your eye in the wrong direction.

Here is the final version.  I did some finishing glazing with a grayish blue watery paint to push the sky and clouds back a bit more behind the subject and decided it was done.  Knowing when a painting is done is one of the challenges that I often have.

Well, hope you liked this little tutorial of my progress.  I'm chomping at the bit to do something else, so it's back to the drawing board for me.  Hee hee, get it?

Copying the Masters

Every artist, whether it is the scrapbook artist working at the kitchen table or the professional painting for his livelihood in a huge studio, at one time or another, needs inspiration.  We have had the "to copy or not to copy" discussion several times, so I'm not going there.  What I'm doing today is showing you my latest painting.  Inspired by the age old tradition and learning technique of copying masterpieces of years gone by, I present you my version of Monet's Boating on the River Epte. 

I chose this particular painting because I had just painted over a used canvas with black gesso and was looking for something that would benefit from a dark background.  While painting, it seemed to be getting darker and darker, so I used my artistic license and lightened it up a bit.  It is sometimes hard to copy a painting on a smaller canvas.  The canvas I used is 16 x 20, which is fairly large for me, but not the large format that Monet used on this painting. It was originally painted on a 52 x 59 inch canvas and the tone of the original is a bit different from my version.  That being said and also pointing out that, as so often happens, the girls on the skiff look very much like my sister and me when we were younger... I have to say I'm quite happy with it.

It is done is acrylic heavy body paint, versus oils as in the original.  I haven't decided if I am going to varnish it or not.  As a general rule, acrylic paint doesn't need varnish to protect the painting, but if you are going for an "oil painting look" a gloss varnish is sometimes used.  What do you think? Gloss or not? Also, what painting from Monet's collection should I do next?  Not sure, feel free to browse through his collection at this website and make your suggestion.  Who knows, if it looks good upon completion, I just might send it to you.

Oh and here is the original version....

I see now that my oar need to be curved much more, but still I'm happy with it.  Let me know what my next Monet should be. 

No, that's not what I do...

If you think that I sit around all day eating bon-bons, no, that's not what I do.  Only because I do not have any.  Seriously though, when I'm not reading or cooking or watching the tube, OR doing needlework, or blogging, or surfing Pinterest and StumbleUpon, I create art.  As I said in my last post, not all paintings are successful, but you cannot have success without practice (that's what I call most of my art, anyway).

Here are the most recent practice pieces...

 (Edit:  I was just told in a very snarky fashion, after posting this painting on my Pinterest page, that this is Mount Garfield in Colorado. To which I thanked her profusely for making my day by recognizing it from the painting.)

This is the painting of the neighborhood at the bottom of the rock formation.  The  picture that I took is so much better than this rendition, but still I can find things about this that I like a lot.  The smaller house on the right side of the scene and the larger one just to the right of middle.  I like these.  The mess over on the left looks like a monkey came in during the night and played with my paints.  This piece was done in lots of layers of thinned out liquid acrylic.  I think I will probably try it again in pastels when the notion hits me.

This next one is completely out of my comfort zone.  Peri calls this style poster art.  It is done in acrylics and I was going for a graphic artist look.   My initial thought was to do several styles of painting using the colors pink, cream and green.  I was wanting to frame some art for one of the bedrooms and that is the color scheme.

I am doing these paintings on watercolor paper, but I may switch over to stretched canvases.  This next one was going to be a companion piece to the heart, but that studio monkey paid a visit and I had to change it significantly...

I went on and signed this, but it still needs a great deal of work.  So far the only thing I like about it is the signature and I messed up the date when I went to put '12 under my name and it looks like 72.  I know I'm probably too picky, but you know how that goes.

So that's it for today.  What's on YOUR easel?

You are what you are...right?

My next post was going to be a tutorial of a painting that I have been working on, but it turned out so awful that I may not even post the finished piece.  I know that having a piece of artwork turn out to be unsuccessful doesn't mean I'm unsuccessful, it only means that it's a work in progress. 

Speaking of a work in progress, aren't we all just that?  It's all about growing and becoming what you are destined to be...at a certain time.  What you will grow up to be, perhaps.  I remember telling my mother that I would be so glad when I grew up, because then no one would be telling me what to do.  Well, I guess I never grew up, because that never happened.  People still tell people what to do, from what foods are good and bad for them to what clothes and makeup to wear.  Which brings me to the purpose of this post. (nice segue, huh?) In the 1980's I had my colors done by a friend that was working for a cosmetic company called BeautiControl.  It was the home party type of deal where the demonstrator decided what colors you looked best in by placing swatches of different color fabrics under your face and had you to look in the mirror to see whether the warm swatch looked better than the cool color swatch.  It was fun and a new take on the at home selling party.  It was just the beginning of me being totally convinced that I could not, EVER, wear certain colors on or near my face.  She decided that I was a Winter and should only wear silver jewelry and jewel tone fabrics with the addition of black or white. 

I suppose for the most part she was right, but I didn't realize how firmly she believed in her work until I invited her to a Christmas party.  There was another guest who had also had colors done and was not supposed to wear warm colors  or jewelry.  The girl made her entrance in a beautiful sequined party top that belonged to her mother. This was a really high end piece of clothing and the mom had relented and let said daughter wear it to my party.  Well, let me tell you, Cindy, the color lady, almost fainted.  She went from being shocked to being mad.  Her word was law and that girl had no business wearing those colors and to top it off...she had on GOLD jewelry.  Cindy could not enjoy my party.  Ahhh, but I digress...

All of this is leading up to the fact that I went to the mall yesterday after finding that we now have a Bare Escentuals retail store in town.  Good thing I didn't know that it's been here for almost a year now. ( My loving sister got me the Bare Minerals starter kit and lots of brushes and accompanying eye shadows several years ago when I visited her and we went to ULTA, another great store. Thanks, Peri!)

I went in to replenish my foundation, because I have been making do with Merle Norman for several years and it's just not the same as Bare Minerals.  It's pretty good, but not the same.

I was waited on by the nicest young man, by the name of Tyler.  Tyler and I hit it off immediately.  I knew he was a professional because he had his brushes in a apron around his waist and he was whipping them out like he was a gunslinger in a spaghetti western.  He knew his stuff and showed me colors that he thought would work for me and when I told him, "oh, I can't wear warm colors",  he took his wrist and stroked a warm color foundation on his wrist (he is more of an olive complexion) and then stroked the same color on my wrist.  Guess what?  The color worked for both of us.  He told me I can wear any color that I want to, there is no one to stop me.  He reminded me to wear what I liked and not worry about what I'd been told in the past.  He didn't try to push anything on me and simply showed me that sometime things work that you didn't know would.

Well, $150.00 later, I'm restocked on all the colors that I KNOW work for me and I also indulged in the desert colors that I didn't think would work.  So, here are some photos of me wearing warm colors ON and NEAR my face.

The title of this post is "you are what you are...right?" because I decided not to photo shop out my wrinkles and saggy eye lids and double chins.  And yes, I'm wearing that same twenty year old tie dyed shirt that I cut the neck so it wouldn't choke me.  It's a recurring piece of clothing in this blog.

Please do not be alarmed at the drooping eyelid on the right.  It's just gravity taking hold after all these years.

Now my hair is actually longer than this, but I had both arms raised trying to take these pictures myself.  See those lines along my throat?  I am hoping that they are also due to the positioning of my arms, but I'm not too sure.

Here is a similar shot, but if you look closely, you can see the pepper part of my salt and pepper do.  It is still quite dark in the back, but when I wear it down it is covered up by the top layers of silver.  I have so much hair that it's like wearing a hooded sweatshirt.  With the weather in the triple digits almost all of July, that means pony tails and buns for me.

Actually, the main reason for posting these not-so-flattering shots is just to say hi.  Also, to let Peanut know that I'm still alive and kickin' and to remind myself that even though there will always be someone telling me what to do, I'm going to do what I want to anyway.  After all, I am what I am, right?

This is not my art

No this is not my art.

I am seriously considering doing something similar and this tutorial is extremely good.  It shows how a few simple shapes and watercolor washes can create a really nice piece of art.  Check it out here.

Seriously, go to Grow Creative for an excellent tutorial that will inspire those who think they couldn't manage a painting this complex.  You'll be surprised, I'm sure.  I haven't met Elise but she certainly has an impressive blog.

Now, if I can just get motivated enough to actually get my art supplies art and make some room to do some art.  My studio table is covered with everything from beads and wire to polymer clay and saw blades.  My own dear Mother, RIP, used to say to me that if there was a flat surface in the house, I would make sure to clutter it up with something.  I think I can make room on the kitchen table for some watercolor supplies.  I think I can....we'll see.

Happy Sunday

Well, the storm is over and the sound of chainsaws is finally dwindling down.  The streets are stacked dangerously high with tree limbs and branches.  There are still folks without power in other neighborhoods. 

Since it's been too hot to go out to do anything much, I'll show you several pictures of toppled trees from last week.

These were trees at the mall...

Every street in every neighborhood we passed look like this...

and the work removing them began almost immediately...

but the thing I like to remember is that when things are broken and we have survived the storm...

God shines His light on you.  Please join me in breathing a sigh of relief and saying a prayer of gratitude for surviving the storm.  I feel in my heart that those who lost their lives in the storms and the heat and the unusual accidents that seem to be plaguing this country are in His arms.  I try to remember to pray for the ones still here because even though they know their beloved ones are with Him, it is so hard to let them go.  I've been reading Ecclesiastes recently and this verse comes to mind... 

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die ... a time to weep and a time to laugh ... a time to mourn and a time to dance...
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-4)

I hope you have had a good week.  Try to stay cool and comfortable and thankful for weathering the storm. Perhaps this week will be your time to dance.

Whew...

Picture this.  Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner getting along well enough to get up on the roof and chainsaw (that's a verb in these here parts) limbs off a tree so it is no longer a danger.  Wile E. (who is wearing very low slung cut off jeans, no skivvies and possibly Crocs), is going to have a severe case of crack sunburn tomorrow. Road Runner is carrying a branch at a time in her beak/hand.  It's 90 degrees before eleven a.m. and no doubt Wile E and RR are hungover from the 4th of July festivities. It seems my neighbor has "saved" a bundle getting his kids and spouses to take care of the results of Friday's derecho wind event.

Such are the viewings from my computer room window.  How is your day shaping up?

What a Peachy Keene idea!

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?  Well, when life melts all your Popsicles, you adapt also. I have been meaning to try this idea, but I thought it was too simple to work.  Too good to be true, that sort of thing.  For once, and mark your calendars, folks...I was wrong. Yep, you heard it here first. I was wrong. This is the best idea that I have seen in a long time.

Freeze the peaches (in the can-unopened), I used the kind canned in their own juice. When completely frozen, remove them from the freezer and run the can under some hot water for about 30 seconds (still unopened).  Then remove both ends of the can (one end of mine was a pull tab and the other end required my hand opener) push frozen peaches into either a blender container or bowl suitable for mixing with a stick mixer.  Pulse blend the peaches until they start to look like this...  I was astounded.  Not only that  it worked so easily, but at how delicious they are.

I did place the mixture back in the freezer (after several tastes) and am now getting ready to sit down in front of the fan (the storm cooked our air conditioning unit), eat yummy peach sorbet and catch up on my shows.

So remember when life gives you lemons, oops...peaches, make sorbet.

Home again

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.


Back at home. Will have to replace all the foods in the fridge and freezer,  but other than that life is good. 

we are ok

Just a quick post from a motel room nearby...we are ok. No power or cable or phone, but we are ok. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe!

Happy Friday!

Another Friday has rolled around and I'm touching base with all my peeps...

 This was going to be just a usual post to let you know what is going on in my part of the world, but when I Googled "Peeps" I got over 45 million results. Yes you read that right, 45 million results for the word Peeps. This bears more research.

Those little tasty bits of marshmallow, that so many of us love have a huge cult following.  They have their own Wikipedia page, which clues us into their history and other various reference links.

They have their own webpage which seems to be geared to the younger set.  With lots of fun things to do, including a fan club and recipes for various holiday themed peeps.

There is a research page dedicated to the little  bits of fluff, with research having been done as to the longevity of the species, as well as various results from experiments being conducted regarding the destruction of these critters.

They have their own Facebook page, there is even a diorama contest, where there are entries with peeps placed in everyday settings, such as this...

Yes, you are seeing this correctly.  Pole dancing Bunny Peeps, being ogled by overweight business men who should be at home with their families.  Tsk, Tsk.

I have said for a long time that everyone has an artistic streak in them, and the fascination with Peeps seems to reinforce that thought.  Life can get tedious and sometimes it can get downright mean for some folks, so if playing with sticky marshmallow candies helps them temporarily lose the heavy thoughts that have them bogged down, then I say "go for it".  I would like to remind folks that moderation is the key here, as with so many fun things, don't let your love for peeps take over your life.

Personally, I don't eat Peeps, they creep me out.  When a friend at work gave me one, instead of eating it, I promptly placed it into the mouth of the baby alligator head that I kept on my desk. Said alligator head was presented to me by that this same friend as a souvenir from his Florida vacation.  Why I keep  calling this person "friend" is beyond me, he was a bit funny turned, to be sure.

But, in any event, I can no longer recall what today's post was going to be about, but here I am saying have a good weekend and stay creative...(and  cool).

Billy Goat's Gruff

No, it's not what you are thinking. This post is about my adventurous husband and the brush cutter.  It's called a Billy Goat and after delivery on a truck that was waaaaaay too large...

Seriously, the mower looked so tiny on this huge truck.  Then after it is unloaded from the truck, it looks more like a piece of machinery that can actually be used...

It's a pretty meaty mower.  This souped up mower is supposed to cut and mulch thick brush and even small saplings, and my hubby is raring to go.  When gazing at the brush and weeds in our wooded lot, I'm not too sure that either one is up to the challenge...

We usually have a tree cutting service bring a heavy duty piece of machinery in to do the cutting.  After all we have almost an acre of woods.  Although this is a huge undertaking, we started doing research and found a walk behind brush cutter and decided to rent one to see if it would even make a dent in it.  If so, this would save us several thousand dollars each year on brush cutting.

There was a bit of a learning curve with this machine, and while it wasn't easy to operate over the very rough terrain, it was doable.  That's not to say hubby didn't have to man-handle it a bit, but for the most part, it worked pretty well.

The thing he really liked about this mower/cutter is the ability to go around the trees.  The tree guys aren't able to do this with the tractor and attachment that they use and more often than not, lots of what should have been cut was just being crushed by the wheels of the tractor.  Not with this machine, it really did cut and mulch the sticks, weeds, ivy and such.

It took the better part of two days, working in 2 hour segments at a time, taking periodic breaks for water and a bit of rest.  Actually the first machine had a cable break and we had to have them bring another one to replace it.  After the delivery of the second machine is when the real work got done.  Hubby is quite a go-getter and he was determined to make sure he got the job done...

So with all that being said, let's look at the after...

So, that's what we did this past week. He really worked hard at this project and found out that for the price of rental and delivery, under $200.00, to be specific... woods maintenance is something you can do yourself. Just count on sweating a bit, using plenty of Off and some slightly sore muscles.

Hubby's main reason behind making sure we got this done, was the fact that my second cataract surgery was Wednesday.  Everything went fine and each day my vision is better and better.  I can read the closed captions on the TV's at the gym and hubby is astounded at how fast I am walking.  He has been so supportive of my decision to do this, as has my sister and my friends.  I told my surgeon when I went back for my next day check up that he did more than corrective surgery on my eyes, he actually did surgery on my confidence.  I feel like a different person, and I realize now that I was dealing with much worse vision than I realized.

I'm seeing life in a different way... and it's looking good.

So with all that in mind, I can honestly say now...I'll see you soon.

Quick post, mostly pictures...

Even though I had my surgery almost immediately after I got my new metal working supplies, I did find time to get in a little soldering practice beforehand.  Both pendants are made from copper sheet metal, not soft enough, by the way.  I had to anneal them with the torch when they became work hardened.  The only solder I had on hand was plumber's solder on a roll, heated with a hand held butane torch, actually did pretty good.  My next purchase is jeweler's solder and a specific head for my torch.

Both pieces turned out quite nice, considering the rustic nature of the work.

As I patiently wait for my eye to heal, I'm trying to read with glasses, trying to read without glasses, digging in the old Fred Sanford drawer for drugstore readers...  I even removed one of the lenses of my regular tri-focals, but that didn't help much.  Here is a shot of one of the things I tried...

As you can see, this is me with no make up, the day of the surgery.  I'm still figuring it out. At least I'm staying on top of the drop-in-the eye regimen. Sheesh...these things will never end. By the way, hubby is looking for a Beanie Baby parrot that I can perch on my shoulder. Argggg, matey.

In addition to showing how beautiful I look sans paint and spackle, I am going to share several more pictures that I took when sister was here in April.  Our uncle was quite house proud and tried to keep everything looking so nice.  His house was filled with family pieces of furniture and the outside was ablaze with color each summer from the flowers that my grandmother (who lived with him) kept in the planters on the front  porch.  Geraniums of various colors, scarlet sage, indian paintbrush...every summer people came by to see "Ethel's Flowers".  Alas,  Grandmother and Uncle have both gone to their great reward and since the house was left to us kids, we decided to sell.   Neither Peri or I wanted to pack up and move back.  Once we left the small town we grew up in, we realized we were much happier.  All that being said, you can be sure that Grandmother and C.B.  are spinning in their graves every time they look down and see this...

What in the H-E-double hockey sticks has this woman done to our house?  Apparently she is a fan of  University of Virginia, which would account for the orange shutters.  The reason for the pink flamingos I'm sure is to just p. everybody off.  As in thumbing her nose at the rest of the neighborhood. Actually, it's kind of funny.  The best looking house in town turns out to be the worst looking house in town.

Our Mother's house, on the other hand, looks much better than it did when we sold it after she passed away.

We all spent many hours in this house and it does a body good to see the improvements that were made to it. 

We visited three cemeteries and I took lots of pictures of gravestones.  This little cemetery is where I played when I was a little girl living with Gram and CB before we moved to the new house. 

You will see in the left of this shot the glass doors of the firehouse.  This is where the house was that we lived in.  Torn down to build the firestation.  There were lots of hedges between the church and our house and I loved to duck through the bushes and play in the graveyard.  I'd be willing to bet that I played Barbies on people's graves.  Things certainly seemed different back them. 

So I guess that's all for today.  I'll leave you with a picture of two cute babies...

Fooled you, didn't I?

Have a great week and stay cool and happy and soon enough I'll be posting about having my other eye fixed and then who knows what I'll get into.

Cataract Surgery

Well, chilluns, I had my first cataract surgery Wednesday.  Started off with writing the check, of course, then I went into pre-op.  I was expecting the surgery to be done in an examination chair, but I was put on a gurney, just like in a traditional operation.  Not all cataract surgery is done this way, but it was comforting feeling.  I was hooked up to monitors, given several drops, several times.  Repeatedly asked my name, birthday and surgery.  I had so many people working with me, that this way there would be no confusion.  When I was in the operating room and they asked what surgery I was in for, since it was the last time...I responded with "appendectomy".  They all laughed and the doc said "no way" .  Dr. Strelow, talked to me throughout the procedure and told me what to expect.  What I would see, that they were beginning the oxygen, etc.

It was an easy procedure and quite interesting, because what I saw looked very much like the old liquid light shows of the 60's on a much smaller scale.  Something like this...

There wasn't any red, like shown on this overhead projector liquid light show.  It was mostly light colors with a spider web effect along with the bubbles.  Visually pleasing, actually.  It helped that my eye was completely numb and I was being given a light sedative with an amnesia additive.

Recovery time was quick.  They brought me out on the gurney and hubby said I looked like Bride of Frankenstein, being raised up on the gurney and swaddled in blankets (looking like I was wrapped in bandages).  When I went to get up, my feet felt soooo heavy, but other than that I really don't remember much.  Good thing hubby got the post op info cause I barely remember the ride home. 

I have drops that I have to put in on a certain schedule and a hard plastic cover that I tape over my eye when sleeping.  Other than a bit of flickering in the eye as it heals and the new lens becomes part of me, I'm not experiencing any side effects.

Well, that's it for now.  Just wanted everyone to know that all went well.  I wasn't nervous and I attribute that to the power of prayer.  Mine and others.  Thanks to all who have been thinking and praying for me.  I have my next surgery on June 13th and I'm sure everything will go just as smoothly.

By the way, I walked the track today without my glasses.  Feels a bit odd to be able to see out of one eye without the glasses.   I was talking to Peri on the phone when I realized I could see out of my "new" eye, so she got to experience that with me.  This time next month I'll be done with both eyes and will have a whole new outlook on life.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Take care and don't rub your eye!