Journal Pages

As I have mentioned before, I had taken an online class from Junelle Jacobsen this summer called Wildflowers and I thought I'd share a couple of more pages from my "Junelle Art Journal"...

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea . . .

This one is not yet finished . . .

I have several more pages in the works and one of these days, when I finish them, I will share . . .as you can tell, I love Junelle [as I have taken all of her online classes], her style of painting and sketching, her inspiration is never-ending and I love the words she writes.  I would love to take a "live" workshop with her sometime.

Hope you find peace and happiness on this beautiful day . . .

5th Annual Family Camping Trip - 2013

For the past five years my entire family [meaning my sister, brother, me and our families - 23 of us] descend upon an unsuspecting camp ground for our annual end of the summer bash!!!  Well, not so unsuspecting as we had to rent the cabins ahead of time - the owner's just didn't know what they were getting into!!!  This year Loon Lake was our playground for nine days - Aug. 24th through Sept. 2nd and playing we did.  I happen to have friends, Skip & Mary Kaneg, who have a great lake house on Loon Lake [right on the water] and we spent time with them and their family as well.  As luck would have it, for us anyway, they were actually right across the lake from us so it made visiting convenient - just had to boat over.

Of course there was the usual disagreements [not as many as you might expect], much laughter, poker,  alcohol [poker & alcohol not always a good mix], plenty of good food and the fish were abundant.  The little kids had a spectacular time fishing, swimming, tubing and jet skiing [thank you Kaneg's for taking all of us out on the jet ski].  My nephew Jonathan had a new toy this year in the form of a motor boat named Il Coglione [please don't ask what that translates to] and gave young and old rides on the tube and boat.  Here are some visuals:

Kaneg's Lake House

View of our private beach from our cabin

Niko with his big catch

Nonno and Mahina fishing

Beach scene - Kaneg's lake house is on that island

Our cabins - we occupied 5 out of 6 cabins on the grounds 

Breakfast

Mahina on the beach

Niko tubing

Niko & Mahina jet skiing with Jennifer Kaneg

Kaneg's dock - Jonathan's boat is second on right

The gang [few people missing from picture]...

Well the owner's must have thought we were OK as we all have our deposits back 

already and there was no mention of us not being welcomed back next year!!!

A great ending to Summer of 2013!

Time Flies. . .

I don't know where the time goes but it flies right by me!  I can not believe July 4th has come AND gone already.  I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I have always felt that the 4th of July marks the "middle" of summer - everything after this is downhill!  I don't know why that is but it is how I feel.  But, on the other hand, this hot, humid, sticky, miserable weather we're having is saying anything but!  To further my feelings of the summer slipping by I was recently, two weeks ago, at our local Hobby Lobby only to find them stocking the shelves with Autumn AND Christmas merchandise! The Autumn products were in the aisle right next to the 4th of July decorations!!!  Nothing like rushing through the seasons......when do you think they will be stocking Valentine's Day goodies - my guess is right after Thanksgiving?!

My last post had me describing the "tornado" that passed through our town and the mess our chicken coop was in.  Glad to report, although no pictures, it was repaired and up and running three days later thanks to my husbands diligence.  The "Ladies" were very happy when their roost was restored.  My husband even build a small coop for the "babies" - they were moved outside by the end of June and they love it.  All is well on the "Coop Estates"!

I do have some art to share with you today.  I was recently in a tag swap and my entry was this:

This was the front of the tag . . .

This is the back . . .

We were to create a #8 size tag in the fashion of Tim Holtz....no specific theme had to be followed.  This swap is being held on a monthly basis - so the July tag is due the end of the month...I hope I get it done.

I have also been busy repainting my granddaughter's play table and chairs.  We had gifted her with this tea table for her 3rd birthday; it is in her bedroom and she uses it daily.  One day she decided to remove her nail polish with real remover and, of coarse, spilled it on the top of the table.  So Meme [that's me] told her not to worry I would fix it for her.  The table top was plain white when it was new and this is how I altered it:

Her name is Mahina and she loves, loves, loves hearts . . .

Part of Mahina's 4th birthday gift was a set of three "dresses" that I painted and were wall hangings....they never got on the wall so I altered them to this:

Now it is functional as well as sweet . . .

All this was done while my son and his family were visiting my DIL's family in Hawaii...so she was surprised when she came home.   We also surprised her with a new ceiling fan and altered the chandelier that was hanging in her room to a swag light:

She really loves pink . . .

My grandson was wondering why we didn't "alter" anything for his room but he quickly put that idea aside when we handed him three more "Skylander's" to add to his ever-growing collection.  Boys are so much easier!!!

I am also busy taking two online workshops - one with the amazing  Martha Lever and the other with the amazing  Junelle Jacobson.  I don't have anything ready to post from Martha's class but I do have a couple of little watercolors I can share with you from Junelle's class:

Glampers and Wildflowers . . . 

As I progress through these classes I hope to post some more "art". . . 

Until we meet again, keep cool, stay out of the rain and enjoy . . .

The "ladies" Big Loss

I'm not talking weight here, I talking about the "ladies" being homeless.  The previous post had pictures of the chicken coop that was installed on our property in April.  Today's post has the most recent pictures of the "ladies" home after a tropical storm passed through our neighborhood last night.  Thankfully, no one was injured - not us or the "ladies", just their new home.  Amazingly, this giant limb had missed our big shed - I don't know how, but it did.   And we are thankful that it was just a limb and not the whole tree.  We had some water in the just recently finished basement due to a window-well that filled with about 8 inches of water in less than 1/2 an hour.  We also had a 10 hour power outage and had to clean up in the basement in the dark with flashlights.  Tony, our truly wonderful neighbor, came right on over with a generator to hook up our basement water pump.  All in all, we managed to get through it thanks to God and Tony.   I can not even comprehend what it is like to be in the midst of the destruction that recently happened in the Mid-West!  

There were a couple of the "ladies" who insisted
on laying eggs "Al Fresco" . . .

They were really complaining - hard time getting into their home!!!

As I said, we were so fortunate not to have this mammoth tree limb hit our home!  My husband and son are off buying a chain saw to see if they can rescue anything!  Just praying that they can handle the chain saw!  Hopefully the "ladies" are not in too - much shock and will not be homeless too long!

good wishes until next time . . .

A trip to Vegas and the arrival of the 'Ladies" . . .

Hi Friends,
I know it has been awhile since I last posted but life has a way of altering your schedule!  Super busy with gardening, chickens, grandkids and a few days in Vegas.

Our chickens have gotten big - I will post pictures soon.  We have also added a new coop that came with 14 chickens....our baby chicks 'the Girls', 11 of them, have not been added to the coop as of this posting as they are too little to be put with the Ladies. . .

The arrival of the coop from a Bed & Breakfast in MA
 - thanks to my nephew Angelo - he let us borrow his flatbed . .  .

My DIL, son, husband, two nephews Jonathan & Robbie
and our friend Tony unloading the coop . . .

Ready to add the run . . .

The 14 Ladies" survived the road trip . . .  the grey chicken
has been named "Hazel" . . . she's kind of bossy . . .

This is "Birdie" making herself at home [she is my favorite - but
don't tell the others] . . .

The end of April my husband and some of my family visited Las Vegas for the first time.  I tell you it was exciting but also overwhelming!  It is like New York City on steroids!  You never know what time it is or what day it is for that matter.  Everyplace is busy ALL THE TIME!  Sadly to say I left all my $$$ in Vegas, but one of my nieces and her husband had a very profitable vacation.....good for them!  Although we were overwhelmed we probably would go back and try it again.  While we were there, Vegas was experiencing a early heat wave....a couple of days it reached 98!  It was too hot to sit by the pool - the water was warm and the heat intense [not like our heat here in the Northeast - but still very, very hot].  Only I, who truly hates the heat, would be there at that time.  Oh well, we still had fun and many memories were made.  Here are a few pics to share...

Here is our group minus one - that's me with the finger pointing . . .

Imagine - my husband wanted to take one of them home for a souvenir ?

Light show at the Bellagio . . .

Paris in Vegas . . .  just beautiful [my favorite place]!

Paris - inside - it really felt as though you were walking on an
outside street . . .

Fun, fun, fun on Freemont Street . . . 

These two pictures are of New York, New York -
all inside - I felt like I was in Brooklyn . . . 

The Venetian . . . absolutely mind altering!  Actual gondola's with
singing gondoliers and remember it is all inside the building . . .
I have been to Venice and this was pretty darn close . . .

Waiting for the shuttle to take us back home . . .

Well, vacation is over and life has resumed it's normal craziness.  I will be posting pictures of our baby chickens soon as well as some art I have managed to create in the middle of life. . .

Wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day . . . remember all the brave service men and women who have given their lives to keep us free!  Thank you for keeping us safe and may God be with them . . .