“Pink and Green”
“Pink Roses”
“Pink Wild Rose”
Paul Militaru Photography
The Vet’s Office – Take 3
Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Good Morning!
Whoever “Sam” is, I applaud this drawing. I love the color and the sense of humor! Great job!
This morning I’m remembering our recent vacation, where we drove to Thibodaux, Louisiana to visit our cousins/good friends Murray and John.
To say we had a wonderful time just doesn’t say enough. I’ve been having lovely, random thoughts and emotions ever since we came home. Here are some of them –
- CHEESE GRITS – I really can’t eat regular grits, no matter how they’re prepared. I avoid them like the plague. When Murray served them a couple of visits ago, I dutifully put a very small spoonful on my plate, trying to be polite while I grimaced inside. I was really glad grits wasn’t the ONLY thing on the breakfast menu, and figured one spoonful wouldn’t kill me. I’ve never been so shocked in my life. They were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I have to admit I made a pig of myself, timing getting more after the bowl had been passed around the table each time. My husband simply said that “Linda has to have cheese grits” almost as we walked into their home! I was embarrassed. I wasn’t going to ask because both Murray and John had been ill recently and I didn’t want to put them to the trouble. Murray served them on our second morning there. I ate all that was reasonable, and was delighted when they packed a doggie bag for me to take home. My husband and I enjoyed them our first morning home. Since I’m trying to get the lard off, I won’t have them again until the NEXT time we go visit – IF Murray will be kind enough to make them.
- HUGS – I probably drove them nuts, but I sneaked in as many hugs as I could while we were there. They make us feel so welcome. The love simply pours out and embraces you. It’s hard to leave.
- STORIES AND CONVERSATION – I love their home. Everywhere you look there are treasures. Some have been in the family for several generations. Other things bring memories of trips. All have been gathered with love. I can’t tell you how I love hearing the story behind new things I find each visit. We laugh at the funny stories. We tear up at the memories of ones we love. If it’s possible, we feel closer to each other each time we visit.
- FRIENDS – This visit we got to meet some of their good friends – Matt, Ann, Gordon, Jacque (sp?) There was good food, of course, but the conversation was priceless. I teared up several times at how they teased each other (as really good friends do, if you’re lucky). I noticed how Murray would ask someone a questions, or ask them to share a story, and some of the richness of their friends’ lives flowed over and around the group. Many laughs were shared. One example: Matt calls himself ‘The Dumb Plumber.” He has been so successful that he can now pick and choose the jobs he takes. He has chosen million dollar homes as his specialty. He loves to hunt and has four college degrees. His accent was a bit difficult for us to understand, but I could have listened to him forever. His eyes danced as he talked, taking in everyone in the room.
- OLD ESTATE – This is one of my favorite places in Thibodaux. All four of us went this time. My husband found earrings he wanted me to have, plus a sign that says, “In dog beers, I’ve only had one.” (It’s hanging on the wall in our kitchen now). This is a beautiful combination of goodies shop and art gallery, owned by a friend of Murray’s and John’s. (Murray calls it “Jerome’s). I look forward to finding a new treasure to take home each time we go.
I could go on. I find a happy image floating in front of my face from time to time. Or I grin, thinking of something we talked about. We are so lucky to have relatives/friends who encourage us to come see them, make us SO welcome when we do, give us such good feelings to enjoy long after we come home, plus memories to last a lifetime.
Filed under Family, Friendship
What Are You UP To?
An amazing 2 letter Word
A reminder that one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition.
UP
Read until the end ….. you’ll laugh.
This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘UP.’ It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].
It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.
At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, the earth soaks it UP. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP!
Oh . . . one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?
U
P !
Did that one crack you UP?
Don’t screw UP. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book . . .. or not . . . it’s UP to you.
Now I’ll shut UP!
______________
*Thanks to my friend Marsha Koenig, for sending this email.
Filed under Grin for the Day
Shovel Bird Refurb Project – Take 1
We made a shovel bird for our good friends, the Taylors, and gave it to them several years ago. Mother Nature has done a number on him, as she always does, making it necessary for some serious refurbishment. I’ve taken pics of the sweet bird BEFORE I start cleaning and repainting him.
One of his googly eyes fell off, and his beak looks like it was never painted.
Even with using rust resistant paint and then spraying on several coats of polyurethane, there are patches of rust. Of course, he’s dirty, also, having stood in the garden, weathering wind, rain, sun, and snow.
The first thing I did was pull the other eye off. Then I spent a long time cleaning him from top to bottom with Simple Green. Now I’ve painted the first coat of paint.
It will probably take two or three coats of paint, then I’ll use a silver pen to do the ‘feathers.’ I’ll paint on some polyurethane, rather than using just the spray, for as much protection as possible, and finally, I’ll glue new googly eyes on him.
I’ll take pics when he’s ready to go back to the Taylors.
Filed under Lewis yard art, project refurb
Happy Halloween – Take 1
videohive.net
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I could only carve the most rudimentary of jack-o-lanterns, but I love seeing what creative people are doing these days, from the very traditional to objects-d’-art.
collegehumor.com
Needless to say, I also get a kick out of creative Halloween costumes, particularly ones that are DIY and the product of wonderful imaginations.
A hundred years ago when I was a child, we hadn’t become aware of the awful things that could happen to kids out alone at night. My friends and I went trick or treating together as a group, walking several miles to gather goodies, having the best time ever. I brought my candy home. My parents took a perfunctory look for razor blades in apples, and then tried to get me to eat only one piece – a thing that never happened.
I always wanted a costume from the store, a thing that also never happened. Usually I ended up with a mask, carried a sack, and enjoyed every minute.
As an adult, when my husband and I lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma in a neighborhood FULL of kids, we took our son out to houses we knew, gathered a bit of candy, came home early and went through each piece carefully, and then gave him a couple of pieces to eat. He was very young and didn’t have particularly characters in mind that he wanted to be at that point, so we did the best we could do fashion something he liked.
My husband enjoyed dressing up and giving out candy. One year, in particular, he dressed up in a scary rubber mask, a big blanket over a humpback, etc. The kids would scream bloody murder when they saw him. Then – they would tell all their friends and come back! Everyone had a blast that year, but we spent WAAAY too much for candy. (I went out twice to get more when we ran out.)
Now we live at the top of a ridgeline up a steep driveway with few close neighbors, so the trick or treating thing is only a memory. So I look online at Jack-o-Lanterns and great costumes that I’ll happily share with you.
I hope you enjoy them!
20 Quotes from Children’s Books Every Adult Should Know – Take 11
E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web, via Encurious.com via Melissa A. Eastman
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
Lost in Translation – Take 3
Evie Zimmerman, trendingly.com
Filed under Grin for the Day, lost in translation
Kids and Pets – Take 4
Thanks to Emily Davis, trendingly.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, Family
The Vet’s Office – Take 1
Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Fall Garden – 10/9/2016
I enjoyed harvesting some lettuce and a batch of radishes today.
We put up another raised bed planter recently. It’s the first of three on the north side of the garden.
You can see that I’ll need to make more Mel’s Mix to fill this planter up. You can also see the template we use to figure out where to drill the holes for the planter legs standing up against the back fence of the garden.
This picture shows the spot between the raised bed planter and the last on-the-ground square foot planter. I dug the Mel’s Mix out of the one in the middle, putting it into three trash cans, waiting for us to install the 2nd planter. That will leave just one more planter and our project will be finished and ready for next spring’s planting.
Meanwhile, we’re really enjoying the fall garden in the raised bed planters on the south side of the garden. Here you can see the empty square where I harvested the batch of radishes. I’ll plant some more in the next day or two. The empty looking square next to the corner one has a piece of celery trying to grow.
The other two planters have a bunch of healthy looking greenery from cauliflower and broccoli plants, but nothing that looks like veggies yet.
This is a close up of the lettuce plants. Some are called ‘salad blend,’ and the bright green are head lettuce. (Please pretend you DON’T see the little weed in the bottom right hand corner…) :0)
Filed under Arkansas, Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
“Ornamental Flowers”
“Ornamental Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Fall Flowers
We aren’t the only ones happy with the cooler temperatures. Here you see some of our twice-blooming iris, and a resurgence of bloom of a nice pink perennial flower.
It really makes me happy to be able to bring some of our flowers inside. Happy fall!
Filed under Mother Nature
I Missed You!
We left Monday morning to drive 9-1/2 hours to Thibodaux, Louisiana
to visit our relatives/good friends, Murray and John. We got there about 5:00 in time to relax before a wonderful dinner and great conversation.
I can’t say enough about our visit. It was so good to hug their necks and have two full days to enjoy them. They always offer to take us all kinds of places, but we wanted a relaxing visit to catch up on what’s been happening without a huge schedule to follow. Our time with them was perfect, though never long enough. We drove back Thursday, getting home about 6:00 in the evening.
I came home with goodies – some beautiful earrings from a shop called Old Estate (I think), though our relatives call it “Jerome’s” because they know not only the owner, but the whole family. My husband chose the earrings, so I love to wear them, knowing they were hand picked.
I also came home with things that have been in the family for years. I’ll treasure these, finding each a place to live in our home.
We made a shovel bird (our version of a bird feeder with personality), since Murray has a gorgeous court yard type of garden lovingly tended by Robin, whom we met. She’s a lovely person, taking good care of their yard and all the plants. The shovel bird was new, so even though it had bird seed in the shovel part, no birds were using it. I figured the paint and polyurethane smell, plus its being new in the garden, made it unattractive to the wonderful variety of birds they have. Murray texted me while we were on our way home, saying, “A bird is in the shovel bird!” :0)
Murray and John are watching sugar, too, and introduced us to many things that made my sweet husband start to believe that avoiding sugar doesn’t have to be the end of the world! We found
- ICE – flavored water. It has zero carbs, zero sugar and comes in many flavors. We got some of these at Walmart today.
- sugar free apple pie – we’ll look for one the next time we grocery shop
- sugar free candy
- OUTSHINE frozen fruit bars – taste like wonderful popsicles – we found these at a local grocery store
In my own efforts to get the lard off, I’m reading a lot of information on the paleo form of low carb eating. I downloaded and printed a bunch of information and will plow through it this weekend. I’m trying to get my body’s attention, since it seems to have gotten used to my regular efforts and I’ve been on quite a plateau.
We’re pigging out the rest of the weekend and will get serious Monday morning.
Happy vacation to us! We couldn’t have had a better time.
I hope that you had a great week, too.
Filed under Family
Bye!
spectrumnews.org
Too much to do now to have fun posting to you. Have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you again soon!
Filed under opportunities
20 Quotes from Children’s Books Every Adult Should Know – Take 10
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, via Encurious.com via Melissa A. Eastman
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
Excited!
We’re excited! Things came together quickly for a quick trip to see our dear friends/cousins in Thibodaux, Louisiana!
Our wonderful house/animal sitter will be here while we’re gone to take care of things so we don’t have to worry. :0)
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!
Lots to do today to get ready to leave. WONDERFUL!
Filed under Childlike Fun, opportunities
Scarecrow – Lewis Mailbox Decoration
I love getting to put up this decoration because it means we’ve finally started the fall!
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
20 Quotes from Children’s Books Every Adult Should Know – Take 9
Frank Braum – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz via Encurious.com via Melissa A. Eastman
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Reading is FUNdamental
Kids and Pets – Take 2
Thanks to Emily Davis, trendingly.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, Awe-Inspiring Photography, Family
“Shady Alley”
“Shady Alley” – Paul Militaru Photography
I want to walk here!
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
October 2016 Creative Artworks Contest
“Task” Grocery Tote Bag by Linda Lewis
From the “Love our Green World” Series. 18″ wide x 12″ tall x 5″ deep, with open gusset in the bottom. This 100% natural canvas bag tells us, “The oldest tasks in human history: To live on a piece of land without spoiling it.” Aldo Leopold Quote. The design is on both sides of the tote.
Nice, big tote with woven handles and double stitched into top. Hand wash in cold water. Lay flat to dry. Iron, if needed, on the wrong side. This bag would also be great used for knitting supplies and current project, crocheting, books, beach, shopping. Even a green grocery bag! Possibilities are unlimited!
To enter the contest –
email linda@creativeartworks.cc with
- your full name,
- full shipping address and
phone number (optional) This will be kept confidential and won’t be shared – EVER. It’ll be used only if you’re the winner and I can’t reach you via email.
The winner will be chosen October 31st. Good luck!
If you would like to see my work on Creative Artworks, click here
- Hand painted tote bags and purses
- Hand-painted glassware
- Memory Boxes
- Hand painted stationery and note card packages
- One of a kind greeting cards
- Hand painted baskets
- Mosaics
- Stained Glass
- Decoupaged Gourds
- Hand painted serving trays
- Hand painted place mats
- Hand painted aprons
- Christmas ornaments and decorations
Filed under Uncategorized
Sept. 2016 Creative Artworks Contest Winner
This is the wonderful hand-painted Halloween Pumpkins and BOO Set by Jane Loedding offered for the September 2016 contest on Creative Artworks.
The lucky winner is Brenda from Plymouth, Massachusetts! Congratulations, Brenda!!!
Brenda’s Halloween decorations are well under control now, but YOU can find some CUTE things from Creative Artworks artists here
Jane Loedding makes baby keepsakes to die for. She also creates custom hand-painted signs for your children’s rooms, special ones for teenagers, pets, and even businesses! You can see ideas for your sign here.
Jane’s creativity knows no bounds. Browse through her work to see
- Mommy clocks
- Teacher Plaques
- ACEOs to collect or trade with others
- Wall Art
- Fridge Magnet Sets
- Original Paintings
- Notecard packages
- Pencil Home Portraits
See all of Jane Loedding’s unique, creative work on Creative Artworks here
Filed under Uncategorized
creativeartworksblog 