There's a new man at Barnhouse....

And his name is Dexter. A wonderful warm, loving, soft spoken, big gentle giant of a cow. Isn't he gorgeous?!! Jermonne & Joe have added a few more livestock to their collection. Dexter, 3 cuddley (sp?) kittens (my daughter & nieces thought they should be called Twitter, Myspace & Facebook ha) 2 llamas and a cutest can be goat named Olivia.

My sister, nieces, daughter & I ventured down to see the boys of Barnhouse & discuss the plans for Saturday's HUGE flea market. Egads, it's THIS Saturday!!! I am feeling the pressure!

Besides Dexter pictured, there is my baby girl Maddie holding one of the kittens and where our space will be. I cannot believe the transformation that happens. Sunday the boys were so hard at work. Moving, building, making time for us, etc. It is pure magic how it all transforms into a wonderland. We will be down this Friday to set things up and do some decorating. This is going to be a blast! I see something already I would like to call dibs on pictured on the BH website!

Barnhouse Flea Market & new project

Next week Saturday, July 18th, in Battleground is going to be a mini Woodstock of fleamarkets. The boys of Barnhouse is having a huge fleamarket with over 20 vendors. These are over 20 of the most gifted, talented vendors that you will ever see. They take decorating their booths to a level that you have never seen. There will be a booth competition as well as a bake off. It is going be CRAZY wonderful. Not to mention the unbelievable great finds these vendors have. My stomach literally aches because I can't buy everything!

My sister and I will be there serving food. We will be serving breakfast items, cupcakes, cakes & for lunch, marinated grilled skewered chicken breasts with salsa salad. I am debating on the salad. I am nervous, anxious & excited. I know we will serve great food, just worried about keeping up. I will just keep a Cosmo close by. Ha.

I also have been working on these peat pots. I may have them there to sell as well.
I haven't decided yet.

Rosenthal, Cameron & Taylor

Two of my favorite photographers, Ken Rosenthal, Julia Margaret Cameron & an amazing digital artist, Maggie Taylor.

Barnhouse May 2009

My sister and I visited the Barnhouse boys in May. They were so gracious to ask us to come the night before and have a sleep over along with Cindy (of Queen of Tarte fame). What a treat. Being around Jermonne, Joe & Cindy is always such a delight & inspiration. They are incredibly talented & so much FUN! We came well equipped with some fun in a bottle. We stayed up late preparing the barn for the next day.

The event was hectic, crazy and fun. I have met some fellow bloggers & Sally Jean Alexander who I shamelessly asked if I could be squeezed into one of her upcoming home/studio classes.

In a couple weeks, July 18th to be exact, BH is having a HUGE fleamarket with over 20 vendors. My sister, Carrie (aka Bertha ha) are going to have a food booth. A bit daunting as BH had attended Farm Chicks last month & have a massed even more fans so no doubt they will be venturing to BH on the 18th. I am excited & a bit nervous but most of all, looking forward to be part of the fun. Oh, and this event will be covered for the January 2010 issue of "Somerset Life"!! Cindy is in the current issue! I am bringing my issue on the 18th for an autograph!!

Madeleine and Malina

Maddie and Malina, taken last summer. They have played soccer & baseball together now for 3 going on 4 years.

Maddie has since gotten her hair cut. She wanted it cut short. Tried to talk her out of it but a few other of her soccer buds got their hair cut short so I gave in. She has a cut similar to Posh & Kate (Jon & Kate). Have to say, it is very cute although she went looking like an 11 year old to a 14 year old. :( Why couldn't there be another decade in between 10 & 20 so I could have her small for awhile longer.

I love memory

My computer was driving me nuts. Too slow & uploading images took too long. Purchased some more memory & what a difference!!

Some old photos & new. The new, was at Ruby Beach in May when my sister's boyfriend from England visited. Old one is of a shed at Brown's Point & a infrared picture I took of Maddie in the bath tub when she was about 5.

Hat

Queen of Tarte Grand Opening

These pictures do not do justice to the magic that I participated in on Saturday.

My sister Carrie and I began our trek down to Cindy's Queen of Tarte Grand Opening of her new space (a huge barn) at 4 AM. After 2 1/2+ hours of driving we arrived in Oregon City. Walking through the doors was like walking into Wonderland. It was breathtaking! Cindy's guest vendors were the Barnhouse men, Joe and Jermonne and their area was the icing to Cindy's cake. Their styles compliment each other. It was all simply beautiful.

I was to get there early to help before the hoards of folk began coming. I helped a little but I was to unfocused because of the beauty that surrounded us. I couldn't decide what I wanted. Every thing was a must have. I came home with some wonderful treasures.

"If you build it, they will come". They did and I will again. Please see her site for upcoming events.

I wish I could paint!

Laurie Meseroll

Spring fever

We have had some beautiful days up here in the NW. I am getting antsy to work in my yard. I have neglected my yard for over a year so it's going to be alot of work to get control of it again but I am looking forward to the hard work. The picture is part of my back yard. This was about a year + ago. It's a bit more overgrown now & I have to get in there with a machette. The small gold fish pond is barely noticeable but that is the way we like it. A small hidden surprise.

Sparrow Salvage
One of my very favorite blogs.

Grace Madel McAfee Parry

Here is a drawing that Mrs. Parry did in junior high school around 1927. I luckily inherited it this week. She was an amazing woman. She was a teacher in a one room school in Eastern Texas. She was an equistrian. She traveled. She was ALWAYS positive and never had a disparaging word to say about anyone. She would turn a negative into a positive and so patient. She watched my two youngest children when I worked. She would make the kids the priority every day. She would play games with them all day long. One day when I was picking up Dylan (he was about 4) she told me that she and Dylan counted to 690 while he was on the potty. She would sit for however long it took for them to do whatever they needed or wanted to do. Even if she watched them all week long she would always tell me she would be glad to watch them so that Ron and I could go out on the weekends. And she meant it.

I looked through my previous postings & surprised I hadn't posted a picture of her. Since I have Mr. Parry below it's only fitting that I have Mrs. Parry too.

Bathroom

A constant work in progress. Still not quite happy with the results but it's getting there. The bones are done but I need more interesting filler. I couldn't make last weekends flea market in Clark County where the Barn boys and Cindy participated. The good news is that the flea market season is gearing up soon! I also see on BH website that the "Glitter Queen" (the lovely Linda and her gorgeous husband Ludmil of Willow Nest ) will be gracing us in August from Texas!!!

The Greatest Generation

Elfed Haydn Parry. My father-in-law passed away, January 4th, 2 days shy of his 90th birthday. He was a Welsh immigrant and proudly served in WWII. He was a member of the "Greatest Generation". A generation that believed that through hard work anyone's dream can come true. A generation that was proud to be an American. A generation that believed in morales and manners. A generation that only blamed themeselves not the government for making misguided choices. A generation that took responsibility and was responsible. A generation that believed in families and strong faith.

He served his country, owned a jewelry store in the Proctor district in Tacoma. Was a Grand Mason (not sure if that is the correct title) and also ran for Tacoma City counsel back in the early 70's. He was extremely opinionated and not very tactful. He didn't win. That may have been a good thing. Ha. He also had his own radio program on NPR called "Yesterday's Sunshine". He loved the music of the 20s. He had amassed a record collection of over 70,000. These were 78's. When the Canadian government found out about his collection & that he had hundred's of Henry Burr's 78's they traveled from Quebec to acquire them for their museum. Many of the records he had were the only ones left that they knew of in existence. Henry Burr is a big deal up in Canada. He was the most prolific recording artist in the early 1900s. Mr. Parry was extremely happy to have these records in their museum/archives.

We grieve for him but we also are very happy that he is now finally back with his Gracie who passed 4 years earlier & not a single day that passed since then that he didn't speak of her with tears in his eyes. They were married 8 days after meeting each other. They were together until her death for over 60 years. They are together again.

OMG

I figured how to make a hyperlink below. Dang, life is good.

Ink and Peat

Last month on House Martin blog, home to "Ink and Peat" fab store in Portland, I had to have some of the lovely Christmas items pictured. I contacted Pam, the owner, and she was lovely and wonderful enough to send them to me! My present arrived today and I couldn't be happier.

These are pictures from her site. She does floral arranging as well as having a to die for shop. Please check her out at House Martin

My hopes...

These are my recent "hopes". The first is to finish one of the downstairs bathroom, the main one, or as Maddie had named it, "the broken bathroom". It has always been in some sort of disarray for a couple years. I keep changing my mind on wall color, wallpaper, etc. But I think I have finally made up my mind. I have purchased many years ago 2 very large vintage french dictionarys. Larousse Supplement I believe they are dated the late 1800's. It's beautifully illustrated (black & white and a few color plates) and yes, I am, using the pages as wallpaper. I struggled with this for awhile because I love these books but I love seeing it on the walls. It is perfect. Now I can shower, primp and learn french!

Now the second "hope", Laurie Meseroll is doing more paintings & I love the one posted here. Not sure yet how big & how much, if I can afford it, but it sure would work wonderfully on my very chic french dictionary walls! So I am working on attaining this picture. Check out her blog http://www.folkart.typepad.com There is a painting of some farm girls, this might look good on one of Joe & Jermonne's (of Barnhouse fame) walls. Hint hint. Ha. And of course you can find Laurie & others at http://earthangelstoys.com and tell Jen that Kathy in Tacoma sent you! Why aren't they hyperlinking??!!! Oh well, copy & paste away.

Tip Toe

A favorite picture I found of Maddie taken in 2001. I did a bit of enhancing and I think I like it better...maybe.

Oops...one more then good night

Good Night Brits

Did I ever mention I love photo booth pictures?

These are very European looking to me. The first one looks like she has a very thick cockney accent and her name is Sibelle. The men look like they are German with names of Horst and Manfred. The last woman, not sure. Very 1930's mid-western dustbowl sturdiness. Her name is Vida.

More tweeked pictures

The bottom picture is my maternal great grandmother and father and the woman in the middle is my great great grandmother. From the old country, Germany.

Middle gnome picture is my Aunty Priscilla. She is my favorite aunt on my father's side. She has alzheimer's and my cousin tells me that she had applied her eyebrows with a sharpie. My poor dear Aunty. It took many a scrubbing to get those Grouchos off.

The top Queen picture, have no clue who it is, just a picture I got off of Ebay a couple years ago.

Back to my favorite thing...old pictures

A quiet day here so I thought I would post some old pictures of mine between doing the laundry and making room in my art room for another project.

I am sad that the snow has left us but I can't forget what a gift it was when we did have it.

Merry Christmas

Snow days

Nature's Snowcone

Yes, it's been snowing here in the Great Northwest like CRAZY. My family and I are absolutely loving it and can't get enough. I would love another 8 inches & be snowed in for the rest of the winter would just suit me fine. I can always find tons of things to do, projects to finish or fine tune, cookies to bake, recipes to test, etc etc. Now I love my husband to death but I think I would like him to go to work at least every other day. He's been home since Friday as I have and I am thinking yea, maybe every minute of every day together can't be that great on a long term relationship. We have been together for 23 years and known each other almost 30 but if we were snowed in for an entire winter I don't know who would be the one to walk out of here alive. Ha. Who am I kidding. It would be me. Ha again.

So we have been walking every chance we get and riding our sled with Maddie. My oldest son Justin joined us last night. The sled we have is one that I have had since I was about 10 years old and got it when we lived in Germany. There is no steering mechanism, you just have to learn to use your body to steer. Maddie had become quite good at it and I just use my feet to steer or to halt before careening (sp?)into a ditch.

The picture above reminds me of the snowcones I use to have everyday after school in Hawaii. The snowcone truck would be parked outside after school and I would always get a strawberry lilikoi flavored snowcone for 25 cents. The ones the sell here just aren't the same.

A very muddy game

Last weekend my daughter Maddie's soccer team had their first real muddy game. The field was so thick with mud that the ball would stop dead in it's track after a powerful kick. They were thoroughly drenched but they were enjoying it.

I never played any organized sports in school. As an adult I played a few years on a volleyball team. Women's and mixed. It was such a blast and I think had I done sports is school, I would of been pretty good. So that is a thing that I now regret I didn't do.

Collage

A while ago I was sifting through some items I saved from my son Dylan's 10th grade English class. I came across a poem assignment he did so I used it in a collage. The picture on the collage is of my maternal grandmother holding my mother in Germany around 1930. I forgot who the others were. The other child may be my Aunty Hanne.

Here is the poem my son wrote which is on the bottom left of the collage in transparency:

A Personal Poem

this daylight cannot compare
to the moon's silver stare
but i'll still be here
when the twilight comes

the trees will continue to sway
because the wind is at play
and it will continue to cheer
when the twilight comes

i can still hear the voices
as the sky rejoices
and sheds a peaceful tear
when the twilight comes

as we lay here tonight
it will be your turn to recite
and make it incere
when the twilight comes

Barn House Season Finale

Saturday was the season finale for Barn House. It was to say the least incredible. Of course. Nothing these guys do is any less. Cindy of "Queen of Tarte" was their special guest/vendor. You can see her touches throughout the barn. Natalie of "Vintage Sparrow" (ok, I have to learn how to make these a link to their blogs!!) was there as were others. I was in my absolute glory buying like crazy.

The barn had been tranformed into a forest filled to the brim with had to have beauties. Everywhere I looked I saw something I just simply couldn't do without. Alas the winning lotto ticket was not mine so I had to refrain.

Halloween is around the corner!

I love Halloween.

Last year I had a Halloween party for my daughter & her soccer team. I wasn't going to have another as it takes a bit of time pulling together all the decorations & to do something different this year than last years. A few projects going on but I think I am getting the itch as it approaches. I think I will make some plaster like ghosts out of sheets to float from the trees and have some eery (sp?)uplighting. We already put all the purple lights through the wisteria on the front porch with some figures hanging from them as well. The boxwoods are draped with orange lights & in the dark they look like pumpkins. A few ghouls in the yard. I still have the interior to do and the party favors and the music and food and...oh all the screaming crazy girls! It will be fun.

First picture is a part of a painting I have by Laurie Meseroll. One of many Halloween paintings by her I have. She is my fave.

Barn House in August 2008

Here are some much delayed pictures of the Barnhouse event in August. I think it was on the 22nd.

Yesterday on Barn House's blog, Jermonne talks about getting caught on his deck in limited attire. It made me laugh and reminded me of a similar incident in our home.

About 3 weeks ago, Josh, my son's friend who has been staying with us for the summer, woke up to get ready for work. Much to his & my husband Ron's surprise Josh caught him eating his breakfast,a piece of chicken, over the sink in his tighty whiteys. Poor Josh, that no doubt will be etched in his mind forever. And a lesson for my husband to put some pants on.

Blush

I love the color pink yet I hardly have any of it in my home. I am working on changing that as soon as I get done with the other gazillion projects I have going on right now.

I want to paint our living room in the Spring from "Coco" to "Roman Ruins". It's a frenchy gray. At Barnhouse last weekend I purchased 2 pink dupioni pillows made by "Worthy Goods" and some ironstone from "Sparrow". So pink, gray, creamy white and some gilded things is what I am aiming for. The furniture I currently have is Ikea's white slipcovered "Ektorp". I LOVE it. It's so inexpensive that I have 3 sets of white slipcovers just in case. I recently discovered that they now offer the slipcovers in PINK!

Last days of Summer

Where has the summer gone? These pictures taken last month of Madeleine and the other of her, her cousin Carlie and Maddie's friend since kindergarten.

Madeleine and Carlie are more like sisters than cousins. They are 6 months apart and since birth have always been together. They laugh so much and it's hilarious when they are arguing. Their arguments only last minutes and they are back to giggling again.

My friend Gretchen mentioned how much Madeleine looks like Charlotte Gainsbourg (sp?). I have to agree. I have been looking at pictures of her and there is a strong resemblance. My poor darling, she couldn't sleep tonight because she said she kept thinking of sad things. I asked her what kind of sad things and she replied about people dying. She once cried that she was sad that she was the youngest as that meant she would be alive longer and didn't want all of us to die. Breaks my heart. She is our youngest. Our very much wanted surprise baby. My children are 27, 24, 19 and Maddie 10. She is all of our pride and joy and each one of my children spoil her and treat as the princess she is. She has such a good heart. All my children do. Who could ask for more.

More Barn House

Barn House Fleamarket

Saturday was another Barn House event. It was, as always, spectacular!

When Ludmil and Linda of "Willow Nest" fleamarket fame moved to Texas, I thought who could possibly come close to filling that void. Well, I do believe Joe and Jermonne have. They create that same magic atmosphere that was at Willow Nest. They also imppecably choose just the right vendors to compliment their flair.

Saturday's guest vendors were Sparrow, Worthy Goods, Little Byrd and Second Childhood Girlfriends. I wanted everything of course. At these events you can't think about your options or wonder if what you want will fit anywhere. You have to grab before it's gone. When the gate's open the rush of like minded women (and a man here & there) are like sharks in a feeding frenzy. I quickly forgot about my sisters and friend that came along with me. To each his own and I was in a state of bliss.

I came away with a nice cache of goods. I am a very happy gal in need of a bigger home.

Another TTV

TTV

I have been wanting to learn TTV (Through the Viewfinder) but just haven't yet. I have done some reading on it & got a viewfinder camera on Ebay but it's on the long list of things to do. This month though in the new "Memories" magazine is a tutorial on how to do a digital TTV. So this picture and the one below of Maddie are my first one's. Not bad. Maybe I should blur it more around the edges.

Madeleine

I have been away far too long. I wish I had the time to do everything I would love to do. Today may be a day when I can. I finished working on the yard early so here is one picture I worked on. It's an older image of my youngest, Madeleine. I think it's when she was 6, so that makes it about 4 years ago.

Mary's Little Lamb

Couldn't resist....last picture of lambs or any farm animals for a bit. Until I can find some new ones. There has to be some cows out in Fife. I don't know if my district manager had farm animals in mind for our website to depict us fine state workers. Ha.

We do have a great view of Mt. Rainier from work but the last several days it's either been clouded or hazy. Then maybe I can photoshop Barney Fife climbing Mt. Rainier & see if she notices. Hee hee.

Speaking of work, it's 2:36 and I have to get up at 5. Arrrghh. I hate it when I have insomnia or in tonight, fall asleep for an hour 1/2 only to be woken up by something & for the life of me can't stop thinking or worrying about stuff that keeps popping in my head. I took 1/2 of a sleepy pill and I think it's beginning to work. I won't get up in time but oh well.

Watson't Nursery in Puyallup

Fushia baskets are abound at my favorite place to garden shop, Watson's Nursery in Puyallup WA.

There were these huge incredible baskets everywhere. Plants, shrub, trees, all ready and waiting for someone to take them home. Alas, I walked away with sugar snap pea plants and my favorite candles by Root, the Ginger Patchouli scent. Yum. Fingers crossed that 3 of these lovely beauties will be mine for mother's day for my front porch. I hope, I hope, I hope.

Baaaaa

And here are the sheep that live down the road from goat. When we drove into the small driveway with a ricketty fence simply held together by a thin wire, they all came running up to the fence no doubt thinking I had something good for them. They hung out a few minutes more to give us an opportunity to dig something out of the car for them and then slowly one by one walked away. I want sheep now too.

Maddie and the Goat

One day on my way back to work from lunch we spotted a very large goat standing so proudly on top of a dog igloo. I asked my friend Lee to slow down and I rolled down the window to make a goat sound. I don't know why I feel the need to speak animal when I see one but I do. Then this goat understanding my goat speak leapt from the igloo & perched herself almost upright on the fence. I didn't have the nerve to get out of the car to find out if she would take my fingers off and we were late getting back to work.

So on Sunday I ask Ron if we could drive around Fife for some photo opportunities because I am on a committy for our webpage and was asked to find some lovely sites in and around Fife instead of what we currently had. A picture of Barney Fife. Now I thought that that was pretty funny but our district manager thought perhaps it gave an impression that we child support collecting folks maybe like Barney...bumbling, never get it right, etc etc. I said to me it shows that we had a great sense of humor and we don't take ourselves too seriously. Guess who got out voted. So off the 3 of us (Ron, Maddie (quite reluctantly) and I) went off to Fife. I myself looking at farm animals and I remembered that goat. We drove past the house slowly, I rolled down the window, made my noise and sure as heck she came running up to the fence. We got out and after talking to her to get a feel if she was a good goat or a nasty goat the good goat won. I slowly began touching her and after my finger not being taken off I was hooked. She kept pressing in me with her horns for more. Maddie finally got the courage to come over & give it a try. This is the picture when the goat got up on her hind legs & stood almost upright to take a closer look at Maddie. The goat has her tongue sticking out if you click on the picture for a large view. She was just so much fun and I was noticing that she was kept in the front yard. I couldn't see any food or water for her but she seemed healthy. I also noticed in the yard.....no poop! My yard with my 2 Yorkie Poms make bigger poo piles then this goat did. So now I am working on my Ron for a goat. And maybe some sheep too from further down the road. He said maybe but I am thinking he's blowing me off.

It's a wonderful life

This is Princess. We adopted her from Linda and Ludmil Markov of Willow Nest along with Sister.

She is enjoying the sunshine in our living room. My cats life is something I wouldn't mind having a few days a month. Just laying around cleaning yourself and basking in sunshine. Get up now and then to eat, get a few human strokes in and it's all good. Princess is especially docile. She's very slow in her moving and I don't think there is an ounce of preditor in her. What is so funny is watching her trot. She doesn't run, she trots and when she does her belly flab swishes from side to side. I have never seen anything like that in a cat. It almost swishes so hard that it looks like it's going to slap her sides. Quite funny.

Rampart auction part 3 is tomorrow. Hoping I win the bid on the companion cabinet. Only thing is with that cabinet. Steve, the deceased owner, had written a few gentlmen's names and numbers on it in premanent ink. I guess he didn't want to loose those numbers. How to get it off without having to paint it all. I will have to google to see if it's possible.

The Rampart Auction

Yeah!!! I got the one thing at the auction I wanted. The bead board cabinet! Now to get it home by Wednesday. Haven't told Ron yet. I will wait til the last minute. Ha.

The second auction at Rampart in Tacoma was held today. A couple weeks ago I went to the first one in hopes of winning a spiral staircase. I couldn't stay and figured I would be outbid anyway. It went for a song but I am sure had I been bidding too it would of gone more for anyway. That's what I tell myself over and over again.

So today was par deux of the sale. There were so much things, stuff, junk, etc. Steve, the gentleman who passed away and owned, amassed some wonderful collections of NW memorabillia, old bar games (Pak Man, Destroyer, etc) vintage posters, art deco things, and on and on. Next week will be the final phase. The first auction was of the store items. The one today & next week was of all there was in his loft which is above Rampart. Next week I hope to get the other piece that goes with this one. We'll see. Saw Linda aka Lulu and Virginia there too. They are so much fun to with an auction with. They have a good eye and we have not competed on anything that we each wanted. Yet. Come to think of it, I see the same faces at these auctions each time. A gentleman that comes to these for the Tacoma Library NW Room. He was thrilled when he won an old ledger of the first Tacoma Public Utilites clients. It was cool.

Our reward

Gretchen, her dogs Ursa and Cowboy and my Ron. Ron is talking beer with Gretchen. No doubt talking about his favorite type, IPAs. Our reward for dealing with some "amazing" folks during the garage sale.

It's a strange crowd that wakes up at the crack of dawn to arrive 30 minutes before the sale begins. Then you have the few that will talk you down on any price that may be on the item. Even if it's a deal of the century, they still want it for less. I am not like that. I rarely ever ask if they would take something less than what it's priced for. I figure I am getting a deal already.
Then there are some that take the price stickers off in hopes that you would give them an even lesser amount than what was on there. Geez, just pay the measly sticker price.

Then there are the old folks that come in. They warm my heart. They have a story to tell to anyone that wants to listen. I love to listen to them. One woman who had to speak with one of those speach things held up to her throat was so sweet. She bought Gretchen's old rattan crib/swing that her parents had her in. This woman must of been 75 and sweet as can be. She had to go home to get one of her sons to help her get it home. That is when she told me she had 9 sons. Oh, and 6 girls. Wow!! Can you imagine that household? When I was 13 I had wanted a huge family like that too. I am glad I stayed at 4 although I still wish I could have just one more. 5 is a good number.

The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe Garage Sale

Yes, it's the VM on a piece of toast. A multi-person garage sale at my friend Gretchen's house on Saturday and Sunday honoring the VM of Guadalupe. Why? Just because.

There was about 8 of us selling whatever was laying around taking up space in our world. We had some extremely cool music (thanks to DJ Gretch) to move around to to keep warm. Saturday we had all four seasons in one day but that did not keep the hourds of people from coming to buy to their hearts content. We roasted hot dogs on a fabulous rotissere machine. I have never tasted a hot dog so good before. Could be that I hadn't had anything all day except for that hot roasted hot dog. Man was it good. 2 o'clock came around and it was beer time. A beer and another dog was just the ticket.

My Rosenthal

When I was 8 and living in Germany my mother bought me and my older sister a set for 12 of Rosenthal dishes. This is my set and my sister got the set that supposedly JFK had. My set has every extra dish there was to be had. I love my dishes but unfortunately I am afraid to use them. I have only 3 times used them and each time was at family gatherings with my mother (Thanksgiving/Christmas). She didn't help matters any by telling me that someone was going to break something so only the older adults got to use the good stuff, the rest had to use the everyday plain white sturdy restaurant style dishes. Each time someone would walk with a plate I could hear her suck in air. I swear each time she comes over she takes a count of them in the hutch. Ha. My mother is very proud of those dishes. She bought mine and my sister's dishes with her own hard earned cash. She cleaned other people's houses in order to get us these so I understand and so appreciate what she did for us. She is so German and it was very important to her that we have a good set of china. My father, not so much & that is why it was up to her to earn her own money to buy it for us. That was alot of house cleaning and I am forever grateful and lucky.

Beginnings

A work in progress, well actually it's done but this is when it was in progress. I love this picture. The middle woman is my mother-in-law, Grace Madele Mcafee Parry. The closest to a saint I will ever meet. She was the most absolutely patient person. She took her sweet southern time about everything. She was after all, Texan. Mrs. Parry was a school teacher in a one room school in Texas in the early 30's. I called her Mrs. Parry because first all I only call my mother Mom and I couldn't call her Grace, that seemed to disrespectful so it was Mrs. Parry.

Mrs. Parry would watch Dylan for us while we worked. She would sit with Dylan while he was on the potty and read to him or just talk. One day when I arrived to pick him she told me on how she sat with him while he was going potty (Dylan was about 4 yrs old) and they counted to 600 together. 600. My jaw must of dropped. I couldn't imagine me sitting there for how long counting slowly to 600. Then when Dylan began going to kindergarten she picked him up from his school and he feel asleep in his car seat. She didn't want to disturb him so she stayed in the car with him and worked on some crossword puzzles until he woke up from his nap. She always put my children first before anything else. My Dylan looks so much like her. And her faith has also impacted Dylan. He is the only one of us that goes to church every Sunday. He's 18 now.

Mrs. Parry watched our youngest Madeleine until she started kindergarten. She would of continued to but we live in a different school district and she was 84 and we really didn't trust her too much to drive across town to pick her up but made sure Maddie would see her on weekends and every school holiday. That is what kept her going. Maddie was her purpose to go on each day. We lost Mrs. Parry in 2004. I still can't believe she is gone. If everyone could be just a little like her, the world would be good.

Arrrggghhhhh....banner fitting problems!

How the heck do I make it fit. So fustrating. Oh well, until next time, it's a bit off.

Chocolat

Great chocolate store in Seattle. Stopped in when we were at the Fremont Market.

Pretty in pink

An older small collage I did a few years back. Still love it.

A day in Seattle

A spur of the moment decision to go to the Fremont Market in Seattle today. I was going to get so much accomplished at home and kidded myself that we (or rather I) can just go up there, look really quick and come back to get all my work done. Ha.

I asked my sister and her daughter Carlie to come with us. Ron was our driver. He happily comes along to these ventures up to Seattle because his reward is a stop at Bottle Werks. A micro-beer lovers mecca.

I have never been to the Fremont Market. Don't know why, just haven't. Turned out to be a pretty decent day and I got some vintage only I could love dolls, tags, a necklace and a wrought iron plant stand. I would like to be a vendor this or next year there. The beautiful tags and necklace were from my friend Linda's booth. I meet her years ago when she owned a shop in the Northend of Tacoma called "Frona and Zig". I LOVED that store. It was on my weekly shop stop list. She moved then downtown Tacoma for a while. When I went down to visit one day, it was closed. Much to my excitement when I went to my first event at Willow Nest, there she was!! As always, she had something I just had to buy. I never leave her shop or space without having to have something. She now has a blog called Luluz, the link is under my favs to the right and is at the Fremont Market most Sundays. So nice to have found her again. You can purchase some of her wares online, see her blog.

Then off to Chinatown to have some dim sum. The pictures above are of my niece Carlie and my Madeleine in Chinatown. We were stuffed ourselves and then walked around to burn some of it off. Seattle is such a different world that we live in just 40ish miles away. It's a wonderful place to visit but I love our quiet little corner down south.

I love Crows

Some art for Gretchen and my artists reception at The Lark Gallery.

G&K's Artist Gallery Reception

Isn't she the cutest muffin ever? This is Nannette and her darling daughter Naftali. They attended Gretchen's and my gallery reception last month at The Lark Gallery in Tacoma. It

belongs to G and her friends. Last month was our turn to display our collaboration. It turned out wonderful. We managed to make 23 pieces and sold 15. Unbelievable! Tacoma doesn't dig deep in their pockets for art so this was amazing.

I will post more pictures. The next project Gretchen and I are working on is a carnival theme. I love old carny pictures. So we will see what we come up with. I think we are planning to have the show during "First Night" a New Year's celebration downtown Tacoma.

Good Kids

I think I am a pretty lucky person. I have a wonderful husband and children and a great family.

What more can anyone really ask for. They love me unconditionally and I them.

Here is a picture of our youngest son Dylan (one on the left) with his friends and of course my darling Madeleine our youngest daughter. His friend Chris came to say goodbye (he's the one in the suit) on Easter Sunday as he was leaving to join the Air Force. My Maddie has a little crush on Chris. All of Dylan's friends are such good kids. They love Maddie hanging out with them. Never complain that she is always there in Dylan's room to play video games or just to talk. There is hardly an evening that we don't have 6-9 cars in our driveway and the house full of boys and a girls. I love that they like to hang out here. They eat me out of house and home but that's ok, I prefer them here. Safe.

One evening when Ron, Maddie and I just finished dinner and cleared everything. Dylan and his friends returned. I set the table for maybe 6 of them to eat. I put the food on the table and I thought for sure all these big boys and girls would be diving in and grabbing food like crazy but they all bowed their heads & took each others hands and said a prayer of thanks. Then proceeded to break one of the 7 deadly sins.....gluttony! Ha. I was very touched that these kids said their prayers and not for my benefit but their's.

Dylan and the 3 guys at the end of the picture went on a road trip last night to Los Angeles. They decided they wanted to go down there to go to a restaurant owed by a band member in Tool called "Cobra and Matadors"? I worry about them going down there, it's so different and a much tougher rough crowd. But he's got to spread his wings. Ugh my stomach hurts! They will be back on Sunday.

Under the weather

It's been a while since I posted anything. I was so busy with our gallery event & then when that ended I got sick. Got that cold/flu crud that has been going around & still not feeling chirper yet.

Will post this weekend. It's been so long since I have been this sick. I certainly do take feeling well for granted.

Bird houses by Ludmil Markov

When I first visited Willow Nest (www.willownest.net) back in April 2007 not only did I love everything there is about Willow Nest but also Linda and Ludmil's cats, Sister and Princess. I had told Linda if they ever needed someone to take them I would be more than happy to give them a home.

As you know Linda and Ludmil sold Willow Nest (their home in Washougal Wa) and moved to Texas. OMG, what flea markets are there!!! Anyway, so Saturday Ron and I went and picked up the girls. Ludmil was there loading up his moving truck and unfortunately Linda was ill. We got the girls loaded and Ludmil allowed me to take a sneek peak in the gymnasium. The new owners will carry on the tradition of Willow Nest and are having their first event next month. See Aleta's blog www.thesillybear.blogspot.com It will be called "Flourishes". I already have my eyes on 2 armoires there. It is going to be an event you won't want to miss.

Demure

Daddy Daughter Dance

Ron and Maddie attended their first Daddy daughter dance on Friday.

Maddie looked like a little Cinderella and her father quite dashing in his suit. Although Ron doesn't wear his suits often, infact this particular one he hadn't put on in months & he was horrifed that he couldn't button it. He actually had to lay down on the bed to get it buttoned. Hee hee.....welcome to my world! But my heart did hurt for him as I can't even imagine having fun and dancing in pants with a waistband that is 3 inches too small. But he sucked it up, literally, and had fun. He managed not to embarrass our tender 9 year old and kept his hands down at a respectable level while dancing. No flaying about feet kicking 80's dancing that night. After, a few of her friends and their father's all went out to the Keg for a nice dinner. My Ron gave his darling daughter a wonderful memory and she too gave him a night her will never forget.

The Crow King

I know, it's a bit warped....a headless doll chasing a crowned crow. But it's based on a Marshalese folk tale. This is the last piece I did yesterday in Trish's class.

Encaustic classes with Patricia Seggebruch

Yesterday Gretchen and I took a all day class with Patricia Seggebruch, http://www.pbsartist.com/contact.shtml, of encaustics. She incorporated beginning with advanced class. I had some experience with encaustics so she did the advanced for me. I picked up some wonderful tips and new treatments. We were so fortunate to have only 3 of us in this session and she allowed us to stay and work on our art for as long as we wanted. What a treat.

Her studio is located in Snohomish and she has a beautiful 5 acre parcel and the detached looks like 2 RV garage is her studio. We had a great time learning and creating. The art below is created by Trish. She is also in current issue of "Cloth Paper Scissors" http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/cpsmag/cpshome.html. She is also going to be an instructor for the 2nd time (lucky her) at Teesha Moore's "Artfest". See http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/1/temp.html.

Encaustics class

Art by Patricia.

Here is Gretchen loading up at the end of a inspiring class. We then and went to have a beautiful bowl of Pho and when I got home to top the evening off I soaked in a warm bath with bath bombs made by Gretchen. Geranium. Ahhhhhh.

Window of Forgotten Souls

This is a window I did for our store Folie a Deux. I previously posted about my fascination with old pictures and sadness that they would end up in some pile at a garage sale, antique store or Ebay. I intentionally blurred the images used here to show that they were a faded memory.

Smooches!

And one more time....

Maddie lifting her dress so it wouldn't get wet. She wasn't happy with me. I didn't want her to where her shoes for some shots. Other side is called "It's All Relative". In the picture is my great maternal grandparents and sitting is my great great grandmother. I don't think they would appreciate me making them look like a nice family of elves.

I wish I had more time to create and a studio in an old barn. Now that is my heaven.

More altered book pages

I did this as, I said below, a few years ago & now I see that I spelled "can not" wrong! $*(*#&$). Oh, que sera sera. I just noticed it now.

Pages from an altered book

Here are some
pages out of
an altered book that I did a few years ago.
Maddie is the queen of the fairies and I cut her ears a tad bit pointed. I look back at my work and it's not pink and frilly. I would like to be pink and frilly but it just never seems to go there. I see other sites that have lovely light bright pink fun stuff and mine veers off to somewhere a bit darker and a bit quirky/odd. This spring I am going to try and just be a bit different. Challenge myself. I am throwing the gauntlet down. I love pink, soft grays and taupes so why aren't they more in my art?

Guidance

Sometimes when I am faced with a project I will have a total mind shut down. Then there are other times that I work at my best when I am under pressure. It's slowly coming around to the later. Last night Gretchen and I worked on pieces for our upcoming show. This is one that I did. I think our show is going to be called "Bezerk and other Myths". Will post more pictures another time.

The Princess with far away eyes

That is what Madeleine calls this pose.

The Darling Diva.....Madeleine

Maddie looking dramatic. My girl loves to pose for the camera. Whenever she sees me take out a camera, she strikes a pose. She says when she grows up she wants to be a model, chef and a doctor. All three. Isn't it wonderful to have dreams. When I was her age I saw the Singing Nun and from that point on I wanted to be one. There were many a days that I walked around with a pillow case on my head as my habit. Needless to say, I never fulfilled that dream but I still have a fascination with nuns, cathecism and Catholicism.

Inspiration

Many months ago I had bought these fabrics and a wonderful apron pattern. I was so antsy to begin. Well, I got home, opened up the pattern only to have just 2 actual patterns (of the pockets) and the rest instructions. That dampened my enthusiasm. I just wanted to lay all the pieces and start cutting away. No major thinking just lay and cut. Needless to say I put it away for another day.

A few days ago I visited Cindy's Queen of Tarte blog and she had made these incredible aprons. That was it, I was going to pull out that pattern and my fabric and begin again. Seeing her aprons was just the push and inspiration I needed. So I blew off the dust of my sewing machine, got the fabric out then the pattern. Oh, yeah....the pattern. I put it away again. I have to find me a no thinking pattern. The pattern I got is called "Absolutely Apron" and it's adorable. But not for right now. So off to the store tomorrow to look for another pattern because I must have cute aprons. Thanks Cindy!

Pink cupcakes

Buttercake cupcakes. Yum. My favorite. I was in the mood to bake today. Since Valentine's is around the corner I tinted the frosting a pale petal pink.

My oldest daughter Elisabeth has an upcoming Valentine's day cupcake contest at her work. She's asked me to bake some. I think I will make these. This month's issue of Country Living has one's that are beautifully decorated using some tinseled wire and a vintage Valentine picture. I may use that as an inspiration.

Under construction....

Working on my header & new picture. Arrrghhhhh.....want the picture to stretch the length of the header. I'll keep trying.

565 Broadway Tacoma

Spanish stairs of the Elks lodge
The Elks Lodge

This is my favorite building in Tacoma. It is the old Elks building. As a teenager my husband Ron use to work there as a bus boy/dishwasher. In it's day it was a grand facility with a pool, ballroom and a theatre. Cotillons, weddings and every other major social event was held here.

It has been vacant now for many years and the person who bought it in the 70's or ?? hated the Tacoma city counsel so much that he was going to just demolish it out of spite. Fotunately the city took him to court and stopped him. We had all hoped that the Mcmenamin brothers (http://www.mcmenamins.com/) were going to purchase & refurbish it as they had done with many other properties but a Portland group bought it. There is still some hope that they will be collaborating on the revival of the grand old Elks lodge.

Jennifer Lanne

Here are some Jennifer Lanne paintings on my dining room wall. The urn painting is about 3 1/2 feet square. See earthangelstoys.com to purchase her paintings and so much more.

Newly painted dining room

I decided to take my branch ceiling down. I do miss it but wanted a change. Painted the walls same color as in the living room, Cocoa and Whip for the trim in Devine paints. I also decided to paint the china hutch, dining room table & chairs. I replaced the knobs on the hutch with some vintage crystal door knobs I picked up in an antique store. Hung an old chandelier that I got from a friend and am very happy with the results. For a year at least. I LOVE to paint. That first swoosh of the paint brush on the wall gives me such a thrill. I am already thinking about what the next color is going to be. Something grayish....maybe.

I don't understand why people are so hesitant to paint or they take forever deciding on the right color. It's just paint. If you don't like it, paint it again. I have friends that take WEEKS before they decide on a color. I just can't imagine. I think I have about 5 of my layers of paint on our walls on top of the previous owners various experiments. Our home is built in 40s and we may be the 3rd owners of this home. I will have to research that.

Good night Madeleine..Your mother has gone YouTube crazy!!!

Here is a picture of my little darling Madeleine. This was taken in 2002. She is going to be 10 this year. Time truly flies.

Couldn't sleep so decided to look up some of my favorite artists on Utube. And needless to say was very happy....so happy that I decided to share some of them with you! Ha. They are wonderful artists and hope you do take a listen. The french artist Charles Trenet doing "Boum" below, did a song a song called La Mer in 1946. Most of us know this version by Bobby Darrin "Somewhere, Under the Sea" he did in the 60's.

The video clip of the 1928 movie "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is my favorite silent movie. The music on the DVD is Richard Einhorn's "Voices of Light", unbelievably beautiful music. I remember one night seeing this amazing movie on TV by accident. I was mesmerized, moved and in awe of a movie that was made over 77 years ago (it's now 80 years old). It truly is a feast for the eyes and soul.

Lisa Gerrard.....OMG. If you have never heard of her please listen. You probably have but didn't know who it was. She did a song in the "Gladiator". I can't remember the name of it now...it's the song that is playing as he's dying and seeing his wife and child again. I was a blithering blob during that scene and what made it so powerful was her song. "Now We Are Free", that's it. She got her start in the band "Dead Can Dance". If you have not listened to them, it really really is worth the time.

Sam Phillips. She is married to Tbone Burnett and I think produces her albums. I love listening to her when I am working on some art project. It's a tie between "Martini's and Bikini's" and her 2004 album "Boot and a Shoe" as my favorites.

And last but not least, Madeleine Peyroux. I would love to see her perform live. She is American despite her french name and singing quite a bit in french. She has a Billie Holiday kind of voice.

So that is it. I really hope that you take the time to take a listen. I don't think you will be sorry. I will try to refrain from finding anymore clips for awhile. What fun that was!

Charles Trenet....wow! Can't believe I found this video of him. Love this music!

Madeleine Peyroux

Lisa Gerrard beautiful haunting lovely

Lisa Gerrard...another favorite

Love Sam Phillips

Speaking of old movies...Joan of Arc 1928

Hello Sailor!

Doesn't she look a little like Shelley Winters in her prime? Maybe from the movie "The Night of the Hunter" with Robert Mitchum and one of the Gish sisters. Get them mixed up. There is nothing like a good old movie.

Yummmmy...Red Velvet Cupcakes

For Gretchen's art gallery opening last month I made some Red Velvet cupcakes. I love making cupcakes. Actually, I just love cooking. Especially for people that love to eat and love food.

I took a buttercream decorating class yesterday in Seattle. Tobey Rodriquez, owner of Sugarcakes gave the class in Sugarcake's kitchen. It was me and one other girl so we got Tobey all to ourselves. Well, I am a spaz rose maker. I really need to practice! Tobey is a wonderful instructor. I learned a few tricks of the trade and I can pipe a decent border.

I have a coworker who fell in love with my cupcakes and asked me to do them for her wedding. That is in May so I am getting in all the professional decorating training I can. I will probably just do it as in the picture and rely on the staging to boost the simple decortation of the cupcakes. I don't know. We'll see how good I can get with those roses.

New Project

My friend Gretchen owns the new art gallery in downtown Tacoma, "The Lark Gallery". Next month we are collaborating on a show. One of the subjects of our project is the head above. I made his features a bit bird like as he is going to be our Icarus. I took a photo of one a dolls head she had and tweeked his eyes, ears and mouth in PS. I am not sure if he looks wicked or naive.

He's going to be on a canvas that is about 4x4 and we managed to make a bit of progress today. We gave him his wings and used beeswax to adhere them to the canvas. We hand dyed each feather and attached it. It's not quite there yet, but it will be. I am now looking through all my vintage pictures to pick the right feet. I think we settled on one. It's the feet of a little boy in stockings & balloon pants. I will keep looking just in case I find something better.

I love working with Gretchen as her imagination is so dramatic and lively whereas mine can be a bit tame. She dares to be drastic and I lean towards the safe side so together we make a great pair. I at times pull her in and most times she makes me stretch. I need that.

I would also say that G is fearless. She isn't afraid to put her expressions, imagination and creations out there. I am always worried that it's not good enough or I see all the faults in my work and the first one to point them all out.

This is our second time working together. The first time we did three canvases and lo and behold they sold. And for a very pretty penny too. I was shocked. A realtor came in my shop "Folie a Deux" and bought all three and a few assemblages that I made. That was an exciting day to have sold that many pieces of art at one time.

So next month when we are done with all of them I will be sure to post some of them.

Hail Mary, full of grapes

December 11, 2007

I did this collage above for a winewalk we were having at our store "Folie a Deux". There was much drinking, eating and making merry. Just a whole lot of fun.

I truly cannot believe that Christmas is 2 weeks away. I have gotten only one gift so far for my son Dylan. It's getting harder and harder to get special gifts for my children. My youngest is still easy. Hannah Montana is the it thing to have for a girl 10 years old and she can never have enough clothes. To tell the truth, I think I can't get enough clothes for her because she just looks so darn cute in anything she wears. It's my fun.

On Friday, while my husband was away helping to take care of the clean up of hazardous waste down in Chehalis Washington due to the flooding, I decided to paint our bedroom. I painted it with Devine paints (it really is divine, I used it in my living room a few months ago Cocoa) in "Reflection". It's a watery frenchy blue. I painted the dresser and the mantle in our room with "Whip". I hung a chandelier up and it is on the road to being fabulous. Need a few more accessories. Hmm....Cindy Queen of Tarte sale coming up and I am sure she will have just the right piece to pull it together.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

This weekend I continued my Christmas decorating. We had the perfect weather for it. Sunday it snowed...ok, it teased us with a sprinkle but it sure looked good for about 10 minutes. Then Monday came the downpour. Over 10 inches of rain fell & did some major havoc. But alas not to the building where I work.

On Saturday I sent my fabulous husband on a flocking spray run. He went to 7 stores & couldn't find any. Of course this is the first year I decided we needed a flocked tree and every other year before we would see that flocking spray but none this year. I finally told him to forget it and I will just go with a silver & glass glitter tree. It turned out just wonderful but I know that it would have been outrageous had it been heavily flocked. Oh well. I am thinking Paris pink for next year.

I also purchased 10 rolls of wrapping paper. Ron, my husband, thinks I may have gone just a bit too far with my control issues. I plan on giving the wrapping paper to anyone that is wrapping a present for under our tree. I want everything to just blend together nicely. No Spongebob (is that 2 words?) or dog & kitty wrapping paper under the tree that I painstakingly picked out each ornament to work together with each other . No way was Spongebob Square Pants going take all the focus away from the first view of the tree. Do you think that's overboard? I don't...but then again? Ehh.

Christmas decorating continues

Separation Anxiety

December 3, 2007

A close-up of a beeswax assemblage I did last year.

Imogen Heap

A day at home

Decided to stay home today and get some much needed sleep and work on some projects.

This is one of my pieces called "Meet". The line is from a Sylvia Plath poem which for the life of me the title escapes me.

Checked my email today and was very excited to get an email flyer from Cindy who owns "Queen of Tarte".

I was introduced to her wares at the June flea market at Willow Nest in Washougal. Her work is fabulous. I have included her in my list of favs.

Christmas is coming!

So I began just a bit early this year. I took down the Halloween ceiling and up with the Winter white ceiling. This ceiling is over my dining room table. It changes with the season, holiday, event, etc.

I can't wait for Christmas this year. I am usually just ragged by the time the 25th hits. I pledge not to let myself do that to myself. I will plan things better so that I may enjoy the season more.

I try so hard to stay away from the malls and find quaint shops to spend my money. I plan to make a few gifts. Massage oils and cupcakes. Gorge then lube up! I can't wait to design the label for the oil. And a few art pieces for my oldest daughter Elisabeth.

Got my husband one of those turntables that have a USB thingy to plug into the computer so he can begin to take all his albums and make CDs or direct to his IPOD and there is a program with an equalizer dodad. Can you tell I don't know much about of this stuff??!! So here comes the King Crimson, Marillion, etc. etc. CDs. We don't listen to much of the same music....he is still trying to get me to appreciate his. He's a musician so he so analyzes everthing he listens to. I just like to have fun and not think about it too much.

Good night Elisabeth, your mother is 50!

It's the big 5-0 today. I don't feel any different. I am just now able to join AARP. Ugh.

I have been away for so long. So much to do. I also got a new computer so that I wouldn't have to share the family computer but it's not the same. That is why I haven't been here or Flickr in so long. All my pics are on my computer which is in the middle of my out grown craft room. I can't concentrate in there. I wanted to make sure and make some sort of post on my 50th birthday.

Decided that this was it. I have to try (I mean really try) and be more healthy. My sister and her kids and me and my youngest, Madeleine, went jog/ran around the track for 1 1/4 of a mile. Good start. I also got that new thing, the Kettle something. It's fun......for now. When I'm done with it it can become my doorstop. But I am determined not to let that happen for at least 6-8 months. I have to make this 50 thing the new 30 thing. Ha.

I will get back to posting art and pics soon. Just been in one of those slumps.

I am drinking a beautiful Malbec right now that is making my toes curl with delight. I am also trying to get use to drinking more red wine for my health along with what Dr. Oz said almonds, pomegranite juice, tomato sauce, olive oil and ???? can't think of that 5th thing. I feel bad that I am not posting a picture. Ha, found one of my second daughter Elisabeth. My most trying daughter with such a mouth on that one but love her to death.

Good night Aunties Priscilla, Edna, Grandma, Aunty Lurline and Mom

You gotta have friends....

I can't help myself. I love old tattered scary dolls. The crackly, ragged, worn the better. I like having dolls that have pieces missing. I wonder if in decades to come that all my daughter's Brat dolls with all their feet missing will attract someone like me. She can never keep their darn feet on. They are interchangeable and like their clothes, they somehow mysteriously disappear. And of course she was practicing to be a beautician by all the frizzy hair or butched hair jobs that they now sport. I remember when my Barbie's took a lickin'. Although their hair was not made to be combed back in my day. They had tight doos with little pearl earrings or was that what I put on them. You know, the ball headed needles in a variety of colors? I guess we all tried to "improve" our dolls.

Annie

Made this beeswax collage a couple years ago. Have to take pictures of more recent artwork. I was (and still am) so into wings. At Michael's they use to have feather wings for sale but I haven't been able to find any since the bird flu scare. I'm sure that it's a coincidence but that seems to be the last time I saw them for sale. I have a few left but my supply is dwindling. Used some rusty things I found at a junk yard for her "glasses".

I have found so many wonderful rusty things at "Mr. Jones" junk yard. Old windows (I think I have about 50 of them in hopes that one day soon my husband will build me a big greenhouse studio on top of the flat part of our roof) old doors, fencing materials, buckets of rusty gears and thingys. It's always an adventure rummaging through items tossed by others as junk and found by me as treasures waiting to be incorporated into some piece of art and to have a new life, new meaning.

Jack and Lulu

My little guys. I got so tired of finding little fur bunnies everyday, even though I vacuum each day, that I just took the scissors and gave them a cropping. Not too bad. A bit choppy but ok.

Tonight I am organizing my studio so that I can finish some projects and start some new ones. Looking at all the great blogs out there gives me inspiration. But before I can start to create, I have to make pretty. I can't focus on art if there is a mess in front of me. And after each project, there is a BIG mess.

I bought some semi-vintage metal cabinets. It's rusting just a bit on the top and that makes it even more beautiful to me. Ron hung them up in my studio and they look great. It's almost a Robin's egg blue. Seems to be THE color now. Or am I behind in the color times?

Isn't she lovely, isn't she fa-bu-lous....

Goodnight Mary and your little lamb

Barn sale at Willow's Nest

Last month my business partner, Lee, and I went to a barn sale at Willow's Nest. Oh did my heart skip many beats! It was fabulous. Linda & Ludmil own this property which has a barn, an old 1500 sq ft. gym & they live in the school house. Here is the website http://www.willownest.net

They hold barn sales and flea markets a few times a year. It was just simply breathtaking. The surroundings and the shopping. The sale was in the gymnasium instead of the barn. A handful of vendors were participating along with Willow's Nest owners Linda and Ludmil fabulous finds. When they opened the doors at 8, I walked in and could barely catch my breathe. So much to look at. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the inside but I was too busy shopping. We loved it so much that we are going to be a vendor in the flea market on June 23rd. I can't wait and yet I am a bit frightened. I need to produce alot of new things to take down there to sell and you should see some of the other artists work! It's a bit intimidating but I just want to be a part of it from the other side of the event. Oh and by being part of the event I do believe I may have the priviledge of being an early shopper!! I have my eye on a project that Ludmil is working on. It is a metal frame, looks like a small house, that was from France and used in a cemetery. He had a name for it but it escapes me now. A part is damaged so he is going to weld it & make it into an Aviary. Be still my heart!! He said it would be done by the June event. Now, I am not sure I would be able to afford it but we will see. I have a feeling that all that I may sell will just end up being spent there.

Goodnight Madeleine

May Day!

I cannot believe it's May already! Does time fly faster as you get older? Or is it we are just more aware of how little there is? Am I sounding like Carrie in "Sex in the City"? Ha.

Time just does seem to slip by so quickly UNLESS of course when you are at work thinking about all the things you could be doing at home that is soooo much more fun or for that matter, just getting the laundry done.

To be so lucky to love the job you have. To look forward to going to work each day. My job isn't a bad one, just isn't as challenging anymore and at my age and trying to find one that pays as well as this one does isn't that easy. Not that I am too old, but no spring chicken anymore. And where I work is pretty relaxed so that is a huge benefit. If any of my children or other family member needs my attention, there is never a hesitation in letting me go. It's understood family comes first. Oh and there is almost no dress code. As long as nothing is hanging out then it's pretty safe to say you can wear it. We very rarely have to actually see the public. All of it is done on computer and contact by phone. But I am luckier than most and that I try not to forget.

Different subject....my sister, Maddie and I were in the car. We are at a stop light and Maddie is reading a sign and pipes up from the back seat asking who in the heck would want to "Rent to Own" that pole? We had a good laugh about that one.

Up to my eyes.....

in projects and in various stages. Although I complain just a little bit about all the things I have to do, I am not sure I would know what to do with myself if I had some free time.

And yet, I create even more things to do and my mind is constantly racing on an idea for the next one. So much to do and so little time. I try to condition myself to be one of those ones that don't need a lot of sleep. I love to stay up late and love to sleep in but I feel so guilty that I had wasted the day away if I sleep in past 8. My youngest, Madeleine, is 9 years old now so we do get the luxury of not having to get up at the crack of dawn even on our days off.
My third child, Dylan, he sleeps in until 1 on the weekends. You would think that would drive me nuts, but I figure his time will come so sleep while you can honey. Now as for my oldest daughter, Elisabeth, she too use to sleep in when she lived at home. The only reason I would let her sleep the entire day away is that it was just easier on me. She is my most vocal child and I simply loved it when she rested her mouth. What is it about daughters? I have 4 children. 2 girls (9 years and 22 years old) and 2 sons (17 and 25 years). My sons you can't drag a complete paragraph out of them whereas my daughters you can't run fast enough to get away from the constant yakking. I never never ever had a moment of peace when my daughters are around. Never. I couldn't even take a shower or go to the bathroom in peace. They would be knocking at the door and the would be yelling in the crack of the door some inaudible extremely urgent question like where's my socks or something.

I digress...projects. So many I want to do, so many things I want to learn and so many classes to take. All I need is the time.

Good night chair

Folie a Deux

Some pictures taken by a fellow shop owner, Paul Uhl, who is a photographer, of our shop Folie a Deux. Collectively we are called "The Middle Floor Merchants". He took pictures of most of the shops and we now have a Myspace website. I will have the link posted to the right. Nothing great right now, but it's a start.

In August I am on the decorating committee for our Prom Night. The theme will be "One Night in Bangkok". Couldn't we all have come up with something a bit more easier to decorate?? I have some researching to do. We are going with a vintage Bangkok meets American 50's sort of theme. Will definitely be a challenge. Anyone with ideas, I would certainly love to hear them.

Good night Stella

Salad

I cannot photograph food. Not to mention I think I need my eyes re-examined!

So here is the Caesar. At the request of my sister, she wanted lots of croutons. Granted.

In the summer is when I like Caesar salads the best. I like to top it off with grilled Lemon Garlic Prawns or steak marinated in rosemary, garlic and red wine. Making my mouth water thinking about it. By the end of summer I am so tired of making it because so many people request it. So now my taste buds (and hands from cutting the artisan bread) are ready for the season.

Green grass

Break in the weather today, took this picture of part of the back yard from the deck. It's amazing how well it looks from a distance. I neglected my beds last year and this year they are full of grass. Doh! See that I left the cord out from yesterday. I never seem to put everything away. Always a tool left in the dirt, a cord, the lawnmower, etc. I have more rusty tools than anything. I think I work for hours in the yard and when I'm done, I'm done.

This is the best time of year for my yard. Everything so green and either getting ready to bloom or in bloom. Come summer, not so green. It gets pretty hot here. At least to me. Even though I am part Hawaiian, the perfect temperature for me is about 70'.

Stormy day...

Having a cup of Green Ginger tea and enjoying the stormy weather here. I am so glad I got all my weed eating & mowing done yesterday.

Was going to take a picture of my Caesar last night & my batteries went dead so will have to take one today. I am curious how it will look. There is such an art in just presenting things to photography.

Here is another one of my Laurie's. I am an out of control collector of all her work. I shamelessly have about 45-48 of her paintings and Wall Dolls. Isn't this painting cute? The cat looks like my kitty Sabrina. Just love the basket of kittens.

Got back from the nursery as well and bought some herbs. My FAVORITE herb to cook with is Majoram. It is so lovely to add to goulash and to stuff under the skin of a whole chicken.

I shall return later today.

I

Sunday..a day of rest

How I wish. Sundays seem to be my

crunch day. All the things that I hoped to accomplish and hadn't needs to be done today.

My husband, Ron, has been on a business trip to New Orleans for two weeks. I had such plans on what I was going to do while he's gone. I was going to totally gut the garage and edit putting things back in. While he's gone. That was the key. I (I wish WE) have a rule...if you haven't touched it in 5 years, it really may need to be gotten rid of. We haven't been able to park a car in there for 10 years. I have visions of moving my studio to the garage where I can have a huge long farmer's table to work on. Right now I have the old master bedroom, which is big, but I ran out of space quickly.

Ron is back today and my best layed ( or is it laid??)plans are out the window. Oh well. I am just glad he's coming home. So tonight we will barbeque up some steaks and I will make Caesar salad with my own dressing and homemade croutons. My friends rave about my Caesar salads. It is very tasty. I made it once for our office of 100 and knocked their socks off! HEY! I have a blog now. I will take a picture of it tonight!!

Good night Angel

Aunty Priscilla

I credit my Aunt with my love of cooking. When I returned to Hawaii after I graduated, I lived at my Aunt's house. My cousin Carol and I had a room with our own entrance and bathroom. Life was good.

Every morning before leaving for work, she would have breakfast made for us and when we returned, dinner was on the table. I was so very surprised that, at least the 9 months I was there, she never had a stove fire. She had this peculiar method of keeping her stove clean. She would lift the silver thingys up around the element & line newspaper up all around it. It sure did the job but what a fire hazard. She had been doing it for decades so she had it down to a science.

My Aunt hummed and la di da'd all the time. It made me happy to be in the same room with her. She loved the Mike Douglas and the Dinah Shore Show. I too became to love them.

My cousin, Father Scott, cares for her. She has Alzheimers now for 6 years. The last time she was up here I played music from the war years for her. She was so happy, sang alot of the songs & said that those were the happy years for her. She is such a beautiful woman.

It's funny how a terrible disease like Alzheimer's can be a curse and a blessing. It has protected her from retaining the memory and feeling the long term hurt of losing her daughter Carol to breast cancer in July.

Folie a Deux

Not thrilled with these pictures. That statue in the first picture is something that we just got & have to take home to finish someone's paint job on it. The first two pictures are of one room and the third is the second room. They were two shops and the owner of the building put a french door size opening between the two for us to double the space.

Next week Lee and I want to make it to a barn sale at Willow Nest. It's about 2 hours + from Tacoma in Washougal, Wa by the Columbia River. I will put a link to the right. It's hard to find things for a cheap price to pass it along to customers anymore. What once was everyone's junk is now alot of people's treasures.

Lynn Whipple

In the Great NW, today is just beautiful. I know we are known for our rain but the rain has it's pay off. We are much like England here. Weather wise that is.

A great day to get outside and do some weeding. Nah.

Going to the shop today and I will take some pictures. The ones I have are of November (except the one below). It is a very cute shop, if I say so myself, but so many people that come in say so too so it must be so.

Here is 2 of my Lynn Whipple "Ninnies" is what she calls them. Aren't they just bizarre but loveable? That is what I love about them. Just a touch over the line out there. Website link to the right!

Good night Marion

Calvary Cemetery

I love cemeteries. Catholic cemeteries. Old Catholic cemeteries. Love the religious statues. Some have pictures of their loved ones on the headstone. Just love it. There is one in particular that I go to. It's in Tacoma on Orchard. Now having been to Europe and seeing the cemeteries there, ours is nothing, but the Calvary Cemetery is the closest one to my memories of what they were like.

I am off on Mondays and last year during the spring I would go and walk around. I took many pictures there, laying down under the statutes to get a different angle. The groundskeepers began to get use to my quirkiness. I would walk around and (this is a bit weird) read their names on the tombstones out loud. I wonder how long had it been since anyone has ever said their name out loud. Some have been gone for 80-100 years. Where ever they are, do they hear me? Do they get a tingle or a warm feeling that someone had just actually said their name out loud. It's just so peaceful there. Landscaping is beautiful and the have the most beautiful peegee hydrangeas there.

Kitty looks like my Sabrina

Darn, this picture I couldn't/didn't photograph so well.

This is another one of my favorite's of Laurie Meseroll's. Who am I kidding....they all are.

You can purchase them from Jen O'Conner at Earthangelstoys.com She will do layaway! Now that is the best way to buy art! Remember Laurie is listed on Jen's site under "Mudcakes".

The little girl is holding a kitty that looks like our Sabrina. She was the runt of the litter but she is the feistiest one. She has no fear and everything fears her little scrappy thin body. She is the great huntress (which I don't like and she knows when I am not happy if she has a bird when I reach for the hose). In contrast, there is her sister Gorbie. She must weigh 25 pounds & just is one huge snowball. She can only catch bugs. She has never had to be hosed.

Marta

Sorry, about the glare on this one. I scanned an old tintype, a little bit of tinting, applied some grunge brushes & wings glued the print about 16x20 to canvas and then of course brushed beeswax on it.

I can't figure out if her face is haunting or pi**ed off. She almost has the look of Mona Lisa. Something brewing in that brain of hers. Maybe her husband forgot to put the seat down (even in out houses, don't they have or had seats??). Or she is just so tired of working all day and the last thing she wanted was to sit veeerrrrry still for a photo.

I noticed that in most early pictures, no one smiled. Is it because they all had such bad teeth? I think it's because they really had to keep still for a few minutes for the picture to take so there was a greater success rate if they didn't smile (which sometimes if you smiled to long you begin to twitch and then caused a blur). That's my take on it anyway.

Gone Walking

Another one of my Laurie paintings. I love the

colors and textures.

This painting is so rich and fabulous in person. You have to see one in person to get the full impact of one.

Laurie mentioned that she may do some landscapes. I am hoping one day for a mermaid. Fingers crossed. Hint hint Laurie! Please visit her website Mudcakes and at Earthangelstoys. Links are to the right.

Good night Madge, Ingrid, Emily and Ellen!

Fading Memories par deux

Here is my Aunty Priscilla. She's not lost or forgotten but the look on her face is so grim that I had to use it in the series.

All the pictures I have taken over the years, I wonder where they will be in 50 or 100 years. Will they still be in our family? Will someone understand the importance of family history? I hope one of my children will have the same passion and a bit of fear of that I have of being forgotten. Even if it means just opening a photo album once a year and looking back on all the relatives and remembering. I think their souls feel it when we remember or speak their name.

Fading Memories

I am facinated with vintage photos. It breaks my heart to see photos at a garage sale, ebay, antique stores, etc. I wonder where are the family of these folks? Why aren't these old pictures a family treasure? These are forgotten lost souls.

I put together a collection of these photos and purposely blurred them to make it look like they were a fading memory. They were lost and looking for someone that would love them again. One group of the photos I put behind panes of glass on a huge old window. Souls looking into the world of the living. Wanting to be remembered again.

Good Night Madeleine

Mmmmm....Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Here is what I had for lunch. I can't get enough of fresh spring rolls, Pho and Bahn Mi.

I tried to artfully to arrange them but didn't quite get it. Especially with the tape dispenser in the background. I so admire another blog (that I didn't get permission to link) called the Passionate Eater's pictures that I thought I will try and post one. Think I will stick to what I had been doing.

They were so delicious. Vien Dong in Tacoma makes the best spring rolls. I have to have lime & my fav chili sauce with them. 2 limes & one container hot sauce per roll. Making my mouth water right now.

A Bit of Folie a Deux

The shop that my business partner and I own is called "Folie a Deux". It's downtown Tacoma in Sanford and Son. Sanford and Son is a 3 story antique store. On the second floor, Alan, the owner, created shops, about 20 of them. We started out with one small shop, moved across the hall to a bigger shop & when the next door shop became available Alan took out his reciprocal (is that what it's called?) saw and opened up the wall to combine the 2 shops. We are called collectively "The Middle Floor Merchants".

I fell in love with the name "Folie a Deux" when I first heard it on a X-Files episode. It is a

condition in which symptoms of a mental disorder, such as the same delusional beliefs or ideas, occur simultaneously in two. A shared madness. I knew that if I ever owned a shop, this was the name.

Paris in her Bones

This kind of reminds me of that British show back in the 60's. I think it was a spin-off of "Secret Agent Man" called "The Prisoner". The actor was Patrick McGohan. At the end of the opening credits, just his face zooms up to the TV screen and bars slam shut. Maddie's head reminds me of that. That was a very British show. Weird, quirky and mod. Ha. Mod. How often do you hear that word anymore.

I remember watching those shows and also "The Avengers". We were in Germany when I first saw it and in German it was called "Mit Schrim Charme und Melone". I have no idea why I remembered that. I do know that "schrim" is an umbrella, can't remember the rest. I think alot of us young girls at the time wanted to be Emma Peel. She was so cool.

Good night shoes

Shoes. Obsession with shoes. I use to, then 4 kids came along. Now I am down to 2 living at home and I don't think I could ever get my foot back into something fashionable. My feet are too use to "sensible" and "reasonable". Ugh....I've gotten old. No matter, I never leave a pair of shoes on my feet for very long anyway. Prefer to be barefoot. Gotta be the Hawaiian in me.

Good night.

Lips Like Sugar

My friend, Gretchen Bailey, and I collaborated on 3 collages in February. We had a "Forlorn" art show in Sanford and Son. We used this picture I took of the dolls lips in a encaustic collage. I moved up from plain beeswax to beeswax with damar resins. Makes the beeswax harder and it polishes up so beautifully. I have to get a photo of our completed project. You can kind of see it on the wall in the Bit of Folie a Deux post.

I had just read this evening on Faeriewindow blog that it is proper etiquette to ask someone if they would like to link. I had no clue and I apologize for linking people without asking. Now should I remove them? Nah, I think I will just ask from now on.

Lori from http://faeriewindow.blogspot.com/ asked if we can link. Thank you, yes!

Catholic Wannabe

Another day, another picture. This is my favorite one. Same kids that I posted with Folie a Deux on it but used this in another wax collage. I have such a thing for vintage Communion pictures.

I have always been a Catholic wannabe. I had a friend in grade school who was Catholic and I would go to church with her sometime and was just in awe of all the ceremony and the religious art. My dad's family was Catholic and my cousin, Father Scott, a priest in Hawaii. Never ever would have thought he would of choose that path with his love of the party life. He became a priest I think in his early thirties.

I remember one night my cousin Carol and I were sitting in her parents living room. It was about 2 am and we just got home. Shortly thereafter, Scott also came home & literally fell onto the sofa. About 30 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the police. The officer asked who's car was in the driveway. I looked over his shoulder to see a Scott's car with his fender missing. That was in the street. He apparently side swiped many cars on their street coming home. I woke up my uncle, who luckily worked for the Honolulu Police Department, and somehow things got straightened out. This was a usual occurrence for the now Father Scott. I guess since he had such an "adventurous" life he can give good life experience advise.

Good night Lulu

More art stuff

Took pictures of a doll, grunged them up with brushes, dipped in wax glued to vintage french ledger paper & glued to painted canvas & dipped in wax again. Thought I was loading these at the bottom of this entry, but guess not. Still such a novice at this.

Another assemblage of my youngest daughter. Got a thing for wings and hats. Everything (except the box and moss) is dipped or brushed with beeswax. I discovered beeswax from Claudine Hellmuth about 4 or 5 years ago. Her website is http://claudinehellmuth.com. I have 2 pots of wax in my studio and when they are on, they fill the house with the most beautiful smell. It's more of a fall smell for me. I guess I tend to do it more in the fall & winter because of the added heat to my studio. One pot is clear wax and the other natural.

I was fortunate enough to take a class from Claudine when she was in Washington. She is such a sweet person and she just blew me away when she said she thought she sucked sometimes. Even an artist like her had her doubts about her work when working with the likes of Teesha Moore http://teeshamoore.com, Judi Reisch (favorite assemblagist (is this right?), Lynn Perrella, Sarah Fishburn and Lynn Whipple (another one of my all time fav's http://whippleart.com). So I guess even when you are established those doubts never do go away.

After all these entries, I will have to go back to writing about my cousin. The weather has given me such a rush of energy and a sense of well being.

Ta-da! I figured it out how to drag the picture to where you want it. Now, if I can only remember it tomorrow! Ha.

I love Hens and Chicks or Chicks and Hens, whatever, however you or they are called. I call them Chicks and Hens. Succulents. I have them tucked everywhere. This was taken today. I found this salvaged piece of concrete tube and fill them with my little chickies.

Great Uncle Leonhardt Kamm

My artistic side must of come from
my mother's side (according to my mom, all good is from her side, everything else, it's your father's side). This is a painting hanging in my living room by my great uncle. For the life of me right now I can't think of his first name! Just called my mother (I can never just get an answer to a question, had to listen to some complaining about my niece first), Leonhardt Kamm. He painted it in 1923 and the woman is supposedly of my grandmother. But I think I saw this painting in a book once. I'm not sure, but I love it.

I am always amazed at painters. How they can take a blank canvas and make
it come alive. Wish I had that much
talent. I didn't start creating until I
was in my early 40's. Gasp, I
will be 50 this fall. Time has certainly
flown by.

I am so new to this blogging that I
wish I could move the pictures myself. Anyone know if that's
possible? Also would like to make
my own background and banner. Is
that what it's called?

Favorite artist, Laurie Meseroll

I am fortunate enough to own this one and about 50 more! Yes, I have an obsession with Laurie.

Laurie and I have been emailing back and forth today. I am ecstatic when I catch her online and we can "talk". She is this wonderful, funny and immensely talented woman. I have yet to meet her. But one day soon. I would love to see her come up to the NW for a show. She is right up Teesha Moore's alley and hoping to put a major bug in Teesha's ear and come up with some sort of Fall event.

You must check out her website http://www.primitivepaint.com/ but she is updating it BUT you can purchase her work under Mudcakes at Jen's website

http://www.earthangelstoys.com/. She has many more artists there but my preference is of course Laurie.

No, it's not Anna Nicole!

Seem to be on a roll today. Kids aren't home and all is quiet. Bite my tongue.

I don't get much alone time so I am just loving the computer to myself!!

OMG, I was going through my pictures to see which ones to post and I SWEAR that this was taken waaaay before the Anna Nicole one. Check this out. This is my daughter and we were getting her ready for the Animalocity Parade last year in Tacoma. She and her cousin were dressing up and taking our two Yorkie/Poms. I think the deisgner name for them is Yoranians. Or something silly. Anyway, here it is.

All things rusty and old.

Isn't this beautiful? I love rust. So on the side of my driveway, I have 14 of these wonderful old radiators. They were taken from the old (I think it was called) Mecca Hotel in downtown Tacoma. It was above the Mecca theater, which was a porn theater, but has been purchased & is currently being renovated into a pub.

We will be selling them in our store, Folie a Deux, and I will also be using a few in the yard as an interesting divider or something and use some in my house as legs for a table. Get some tempered glass & set it on top. We'll see how that works.

I have so many old windows, a couple of sinks, lots of moulding with wonderful chippy wood all just waiting to become my next project. My kids and husband will be glad when everthing is in use.

I began collecting big old windows in hopes that one day my husband, Ron, will make me a huge greenhouse studio on our flat roof that is over the 80's addition. Then I can gaze at the stars at night while creating. Sigh.....one day.

Home Sweet Home

Part of the front yard. My cat Gorbie chewing on some delish new growth of something.

Project number 243 is to redo the concrete whatchamacallit wall. I did the wall all by myself one day. Yep, got a flat bed, went to Home Depot and got about 150 of these babies & took each one out & put it up my raised bed myself. Who thought you would have to kind of support it so it wouldn't slope as years went by.

The wisteria will be in full bloom at the end of the month. It just drapes off the walkway to my front door & I have it all intertwined with white Christmas lights so it just glows at night. Love twinkle lights. It's all over my yard, tucked everywhere.

Rhoddies rhoddies rhoddies

Back to spring....if I could I would love to just stay home and do nothing but art and yard work. That would be heaven to me. Having a full time job, a small shop called "Folie a Deux" in downtown Tacoma, keeping up with the house and artwork, I feel my yard suffering. I am not the type to let things go for the sake of the other so that is why some days I get alittle crazy. My poor daughter told my sister that "Mommy just loves me so much in the mornings, but not so much after work". That mad me laugh and at the same time broke my heart!!! I get a bit militant when we walk in the house & start giving commands like a drill sargeant for everyone to just pick up after themselves. Deep breathe. That is what I have to remember to do. What is more important after all? I keep asking myself that but I tell you, it's the German in me, I can't help it. I must have things perfect which is impossible, thus my craziness.

Lolly

I have always loved things just a touch on the "different" side. Like old doll parts. LOVE THEM! I have just a small collection of....shall we say, well loved dolls. Some call them creepy but I think they have such stories to tell.

This head found it's home on my assemblage. Her name is Lolly.

Reach Out and Touch Faith

Reach Out and Touch Faith details

Part of one my assemblages. It's my ugh, can't think of the word, but to it's my ommage??? to Depeche Mode called "Faith".

I bought a few shadow boxes from Ikea, now I wish I bought a lot more. I can't remember the name of them. This is my favorite one that I have done.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It's wonderful here in the Northwest. All my plants are budding and the cherry trees are in full bloom. I love the spring in the NW!

I can't believe the deer have not eaten my virbirnum blooms yet. I am torn between letting them have what they want because we are encroaching more and more on their way of lives and my poor plants!! Oh well.

The pinks on this are the best. I wish I could recreate these colors and I would love to paint my bedroom shades of pink. Not sure how wonderful my husband would think it is. He's pretty easy going so it wouldn't be that hard of a sell.

I have been indoors today working on reorganizing my studio. Today I have decided to stop calling it my "craft room" and bumped up in the world & it's now my "studio". I guess since I have sold many of my art pieces I can begin to call myself an artist. I feel funny saying it though. No formal art education and still learning so I quietly call myself that & roll my eyes when someone else calls me an artist. Being an artist is so vunerable and scary. I think that is why "crafter" is so much more forgiving.

Hawaii 1961

Ha! This is in Hawaii about 1961. Carol is the one with her foot extended and that's me with the pacifier in my mouth. The other two are Lolly and Bully, my other cousins. Bully's real name was Elliott. Not sure how he got the nickname Bully. I do not believe he was one.

During these years we spent alot of time at my Grandmother's home. I remember me and Carol following our Tutu (Grandfather) in the back yard. There was an outside shower in the back. I remember that we looked under the wooden shower door to take a peak at my very private Tutu. He shooed us out with his foot.

Other memories were New Year's Eve. In Hawaii we always had TONS of fireworks.

Sadly this is about all that I remember with my cousin until I returned from Germany when I was about 11.

My cousin Carol

Carol Kahilulumoe Kaleikilo

"Peaches"

She aquired the name Peaches in high school. She said it was because she use to love "Peaches and Herb" and I thought it was from something a bit more crude. Anyway, she was Carol to me and the family.

We were born 2 months apart in Hawaii. I really don't remember our time together then. My father was in the military and when I was 5 we moved to Washington. Three years later to Germany. Then when I was 11 we returned to Hawaii and this is when our real closeness began.

I am just having fun uploading images right now.

Here is the darling Madeleine. She is my favorite (and most willing) subject.

It's Thursday and I am waiting for dinner to finish cooking. In the background all I can hear is the thud thud thud of my daughter's CD something something High School musical. That's her to the left, Madeleine.

Well, now it's Friday and I guess I am not going to work tomorrow seeing that it's 12:46.

Well, now that I have a blog, what do I do with it? Got to write something so I can just see it in print. Hopefully I will be able the ability to delete or edit past entries.