A three pelican morning...

I had a nice 1-1/2 mile morning walk on my county road. Wish I'd taken my camera along. As I approached the wetland/stream area a threesome of pelicans in formation flew overhead slowly and majestically. Then a blue heron rose from the reeds and flapped its large wings as it circled the marsh. No camera! But I stopped walking and soaked in the spectacle. Sorry I can't share pictures. :)

After my walk I did a few stretching exercises. I highly recommend this book to my "well-seasoned" readers. (Like me.) My mom sent this to me years ago. It had been packed away since my last move and I recently came across it in a tote in the barn. I really needed some exercises for keeping joints working freely and stretching muscles.

Audrey finally got her cast off yesterday! She's enjoying her new-found freedom. I took this photo earlier this morning as Audrey and Hazel did their morning chores, which include keeping the horse's water tank full. 

My car went kaput yesterday. I, being the car expert that I am, thought maybe my transmission was going out. But Adam, after a quick inspection, said it was my muffler. Apparently it's rusted out and will need replacement. Adam and Micah have a good, reliable and affordable mechanic who is also a friend of theirs. So, we're going to have him look at it. So glad for family next door to help me through such moments!

For those who read my blog regularly you know my house is about 50 feet from my daughter and son-in-law's house. This photo (not great) was taken out my living room window. Those are the kids' bedroom windows facing me.

Anyway, about 10 p.m. last night, as I was sitting in the living room watching TV, I heard a little 2 year old voice shouting, "Mama, where are you?" (Micah was in the shower. How dare her!) Then it switched to "Daddy!" and finally to "Grammaw! Grammaw!" (Remember, it's hot and everyone's windows are open. He was standing right by the window yelling as loud as he could.) I texted Micah and said, "Is Chuck (aka Thatcher) yelling 'Grandma!'?" She texted back, "Ha ha. Yeah. He doesn't want to go to sleep and he thinks you'll come over and save him!" LOL. No fear. He was surrounded by family. He just likes to get vocal sometimes. It sure is fun having grandkids next door! :) Micah's got 3-4 weeks until baby #6 arrives. Oh boy! Fasten your seatbelts!

What am I reading, you may ask? A book that I highly recommend.

Bob and I have been watching Charles Krauthammer for many years. I've always respected and liked him, but I like him even more since beginning this book. (I'm only on page 87.) This book is a compilation of 2-3 page pieces he wrote for newspaper columns over many years. If there was anyone who had an excuse to have a negative outlook on life, Charles was one of them. But did he? Definitely not. He was paralyzed from the waist down in a diving accident while in college and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. (He passed away a few years ago.) It took him three years to learn to write again. He finished medical school while in the hospital and while undergoing therapy and earned his PhD in psychiatry. Although Bob and I knew him mostly as a political analyst this book has revealed that he was a multi-faceted, good-hearted, joyful and very down-to-earth person. I find myself weeping and laughing, but mostly with a small smile on my face, as I read these short essays. (I really appreciate the shortness, BTW. A quick bit of uplifting writing to read when you get a moment.) He was a lovely man. 

And speaking of lovely, we'll segue to the latest artistic endeavors. But before I show you my ATCs...here's a bit of art by Adam. This is what he painted on Sully and Thatcher's bedroom wall! Love it!

It was loosely based on the technique used in this painting he did in high school.

And on to ATCs. These are starter cards for the Continuous Random Round Robin. (Two more players will add things to them.) The background text on these cards is German in a gothic font and I thought it was really interesting that someone had written a translation of the text in pencil between the lines. (Sorry, but I find that sort of thing interesting, ha ha.)

These next cards were for a Postage Stamp ATC swap. The stamps had to fit the theme "Heads".

Oh, look what I found in a local Little Free Library box. I did have to go through and censor a few photos with washi tape, lol. But overall, it's a fun and interesting book with lots of really gorgeous illustrations. I don't think I would have paid for it, but when it's free...why not?

A few more ATCs. These were for a Pick-a-Theme (PAT) swap. The four people I made cards for asked for themes of: At the lake; bats; owls; and rabbit and moon symbolism. (I had to Google that last one. I guess it's sort of a pagan thing. Oh well.)

And so we come to the end of another blog post!

That's all I've got, folks. :)

Shalom and love to all!

I'll be coming by for a visit soon. 

Checking in!

 I hope you've all had a great Memorial Day! Things were quiet here. Well, except in our little town of Nevis which is overflowing with tourists! They all seem to be having a ball running, biking, eating ice cream, ATVing and anything else summery they can think of. Out at our place the kids are playing and Micah and Adam are doing house projects. I did do my one mile walk, but otherwise I've been indoors. The grands came over for almost 3 hours, which I hope helped Adam and Micah to get their projects further along. 

My flower collection has grown a bit. When I was painting trim on my dining room windows I looked out at the flowers on the steps and there was a little ruby throated hummingbird sipping from the marigolds! I don't have a feeder out (because of the aforementioned bear problem in the area) so I was glad to see this little fellow had found my flowers.

Yes, I did spend day before yesterday painting window trim in the living room and dining/kitchen area. It's about time! Now the baseboards look even worse, so I guess those are next. 

So, here we go, on a willy-nilly trip through my photos. Let's see what's happened since my last blog post two weeks ago.

This is our chicken sauna. Don't you have one of those? Adam's sister remodeled this old sauna to use as a chicken house. He just moved it over here yesterday. It has a little chicken door on the other side. He just needs to make a little yard so the chicks can come outside. It's actually pretty nice and spacious inside. The chicks think it's a step up from the water tank they've been living in. It's just a loan until Adam can construct a new chicken house. :) His sister decided not to have chickens this year. I should get some updated photos of the chicks. The guineas are starting to look like guineas!

This was quite a find at our local thrift store. A Boulder mug! I wonder how that got here? Since Boulder was my old stomping grounds in the '60's and '70's I couldn't pass it up! Like my flour sifter pour over contraption? It works!

I just finished these today for a Lovable Cat swap.

These were for what we call a Trash to Treasure swap. The host sent me an envelope full of scraps, and I make some very silly house shaped ATCs using those scraps. These scraps were from various games.

These clouds looked cooler in real life...

I showed this pointillism mushroom to you a few posts back, but I made three more to complete this What's the Pointillism? swap.

I finished the group of books I mentioned earlier, and now I'm reading these. (Well, I did give up on the wit and wisdom of Harry Truman. You can only take so much of one person's concentrated wit and wisdom.)

I read this one back in my twenties. It seems like only yesterday!

Some cards for an Open Theme swap. 

Some scenes along my walking route.

Cards for a postage stamp themed swap. Our subject matter on the stamps had to be household items or food. (I know. Bizarre.)

And a Sunflower themed swap.

Glenn, thanks for the box of PG Tips tea! I look forward to brewing up gallons of iced tea this summer!

Well, I'm off to enjoy the evening, have some supper and read some more. God bless and shalom to all of you wonderful people "out there"!

Potted up a few flowers!

 I'm a pretty sparse gardener compared to most of you out there. Yesterday I got a belated Mother's Day gift from my dear daughter in the form of a coupon for a hanging basket. That gave me the little kick start I needed to at least get a few flowers!

My bird feeders are still empty. Too many bears around. I'm not sure when it will be safe to fill them again. I sprinkle sunflower seeds on the ground, but I don't dare put out suet or a hummingbird feeder. Maybe the flowers will attract a few?

How do you like my funky flower pots? (below) Everyone was out of flower pots. At least, cheap ones! I punched some holes in the bottoms of these and I think they'll work. 

Marigolds and petunias. That's the extent of my garden. I'll admire everyone else's from afar!

Oh, I wanted to clear up some possible misunderstandings on the pages I decorated in Jolly's little notebook. Most of what you see is illustrations I cut out of books or photocopied and glued in. I didn't do hardly any actual art in there. I did draw the little brown sweater and used a few of my handcarved rubber stamps, but can't take credit for more than that. Gotta give credit where credit is due! (I did do the painting of the loon on the rock though! ha ha)

We almost melted yesterday when it got up in the low 70's. We're pretty wimpy when it comes to warm weather. We haven't had a chance to get acclimated to higher temps. It's getting even warmer today! Our trees are slowly getting some leaves. I think we need a bit of rain to hurry that along. 

I've just finished reading a big coffee table book called Scottish Country. It gave me a fascinating peek into some of the old Scottish country homes and some of their history. I highly recommend it. I also read a novel called A Quilter's Holiday  which I thought was a cozy mystery, but turned out to be a quilting themed novel which was only mildly interesting. I've also dabbled in The Wit and Wisdom of Harry Truman which has been kind of fun. The main book I'm slogging through slowly, because it takes some actual thought, is Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. I almost gave up on it because it does take some mental effort, but I'm glad I've stuck with it because he explores the history of slavery, not only in America but around the world, and the ways in which blacks and whites have effected each other's cultures. That's a very bad explanation, but I think it's an important book. It seems like something everyone needs to read in our current world situation, though it was written 16 years ago. Thomas Sowell is himself a black man, so he writes from some experience. He's also been described as "America's foremost intellectual" and "a national treasure". If he's still living he would be in his early nineties. I've become an admirer.

On to lighter topics. ATCs! :)

Here are cards for my latest swap which is a PAT (Pick-a-theme). I made a card for four other players based on a theme they chose.

(Angels; Frida Kahlo; Purple; and Abstract art.) I found the little Frida Kahlo drawing in a kid's magazine and added some features, ha ha.

I'm working on cards for a pointillism swap. I've finished a mushroom and have sketched out some aspens for my next card. These take so much time! Yikes.

Other than reading and making ATCs it's been mostly walking and babysitting. I have a predictable life. Not complaining! 

I hope everyone is well and thriving! Enjoy your summer and shalom to all!

Bon voyage, Jolly!

 It was fun getting to know Jolly and sharing my north woods experience with him! He seemed to enjoy seeing a lot of nature and meeting some new friends. Everyone has exchanged addresses so they can send actual handwritten missives to one another. That's Jolly's favorite thing!

We thought it was about time he set off to his next destination. I know many hostesses are waiting to entertain him and do a little matchmaking! 

This is page two of the story I wrote to go in the envelope.

Oh, and page one...sorry they're out of order. I can't figure out how to remove and edit pictures, ha ha.

Here are the pages I decorated in Jolly's notebook with some washi tape, rubber stamps, stickers and book pages. Plus some animal drawings from an old Boy Scout manual. 

I just remembered two more things that happened while Jolly was here. Yesterday my granddaughter tapped on my living room window and pointed to the alfalfa field to the south of my house. Here's something I've never seen before! I hope you can see it. My camera isn't the fanciest! Porcupine! (Or porkypine as I actually say it.) He made it safely across the road, whew!

A few minutes later a badger was spotted in the same field, but he popped down a hole and we haven't seen him again. Audrey was giggling at the porcupine's big, furry feet. :)

Jolly also encouraged me to finish painting the "doorstop stone" I mentioned in a previous post. I decided to put it on my front steps instead of using it as a doorstop. (I found another stone for that purpose. I'll probably paint it later.) I kind of enjoy painting on rocks. Dori has her sheetmetal; I have my rocks!

And so, I've stamped Jolly's passport...

and he says, "See you all later! I've had a great time with Lisa and I'm excited to meet Heather!" 

Farewell to the land of Paul Bunyan! Hello Hoosiers! (I thought the heart envelope was kind of appropriate.)

Have a safe trip, Jolly! I'll be watching for your further adventures!

Everyone can follow the next leg of his "Wife Tour" at Heather's blog called Blackberry Rambles!

And for all of you who have been reading, God bless and shalom!