Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, MUG WISDOM
We’re continuing our virtual trip to see the beautiful quilts in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.
Today we look at some of the quilts by Cynthia England.
I really find it difficult to believe these are quilts. These fiber artists are beyond amazing. I’m so glad that a museum celebrating this talent exists for people to enjoy. I’m delighted to be able to take a virtual tour, even if we can’t visit the place ourselves.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, quilts
I absolutely LOVE this piece by Gregorio Catarino. It makes me happy and hopeful just to look at it.
Speaking of ‘happy’ and ‘hopeful,’ we talked to our son across the world last night on our conference call program. It was wonderful to see his FACE and be able to talk to him real time. There are 12 hours between us, half the year more with Daylight Savings Time, so we aren’t all functional at the same time on a regular basis. I’m STILL smiling and my heart is full after making him smile, and even laugh at one point. :0) He’s such a wonderful guy and I’m delighted that he is healthy and happy, doing what he wants to do. I’m also grateful that we’re close, that we communicate on a regular basis. It means the world to me.
After at least a couple of weeks of yo-yo-ing results on the scales, I’ve FINALLY reached an interim goal of 35 pounds down from my worst this morning. (Actually, 36.4 pounds less of me today). I feel newly encouraged that I CAN do this if I just keep on keepin’ on. Next goal: 40 lbs off.
I ordered more blank wooden signs and pegs to attach to them yesterday. I’m researching some decorations to burn into them. Meanwhile, I’ll continue cleaning up one area each day up in my art room.
My husband checks to find the mug I gave him to use each morning. If it’s in the dishwasher, waiting to be washed, he pulls it out, rinses it, and uses it. I think he LIKES it. :0)
Happy Friday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
“Bloom” is what I finished yesterday and it’s listed on Etsy now. I did the wood-burning, then used alcohol ink and finally pastels to finish.
My good friend, Marsha, suggested that I do some practical items, such as pegs on signs, and I’ll think about that next.
Meanwhile, I’m heading back upstairs to do a bit more cleaning of the art room. If I live long enough, maybe some day the room will look halfway organized again!
Filed under HandmadeHavenByLinda on Etsy, Lewis Art
As we’re getting older than any dirt around, we’ve slowed down on doing some things.
We made twice as many mailbox decorations as we have months and used to change the decorations on the 1st and 15th of each month. We have all our decorations hanging from an overhanging rod in the shop, each hanging on a hook. It is getting more difficult for us to get a decoration down and back up again safely. They are heavy and awkward to handle and trying to get them down and back up, standing on a ladder, trying to balance them and get them off and on the overhanging hooks is hard.
I, of course, suggested that we make a huge set of slots that could run on the floor along one wall of the shop, so we could slide each decoration in and out. This was greeted with a, “Humpf.” response I’m taking as a negative. I’ve planted the seed of the idea now, so it MAY take root eventually.
Meanwhile, we changed the decoration yesterday, after I was talking about how the Amazon delivery lady had been quite complimentary about the critters up and down the driveway and our mailbox decoration. I said I thought he should choose which one to put up.
We had his favorite decoration up –
This is his favorite because of the legs on the Roadrunner. It was the first time we tried to go 3-D on our decorations. It was a challenge, but turned out reasonably well.
We replaced the ‘Sonic’ decoration above with this –
This is another favorite of my husband’s. The character’s name is “Wonder Warthog.”
“Wonder Wart-Hog is an underground comic book character, a porcine parody of Superman, created by American cartoonist Gilbert Shelton and first published in 1962.” ~ Wikipedia
As with most of my husband’s favorites, he is described as, “Fearless, Fighting, Foulmouthed Wonder Wart-Hog” in Bacchanal (Mar. 1962)
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations
I’m having a wonderful massage this morning. Ahhhhh! Then I’m hoping to have a good visit with my friend, Linda, who lives at the retirement place where I now get my massages. It’s a great combination of seeing two good people and easing all of my knotted up parts. :0)
I am 2/10ths away from my interim goal of 35 pounds down. I’m hoping I’ll reach that tomorrow. It would be a nice spur to my motivation to continue trying to lose the lard.
Today is the last day of super-nice-weather-for-August-in-Arkansas before the ‘intense heat warnings’ start in again. We’ve had about 3 days here of amazingly cool days and evenings with a soft breeze. We actually kept the car windows open on the way to our errands yesterday, thoroughly enjoying how beautiful it was.
I finished my latest wood burned piece yesterday afternoon. I’ll show you a pic later and I’ll try to get it listed on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy this afternoon, as well as do another session of trying to clean up my art room.
I hope you have a joyful day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I’m just now back at the computer after errands and chores.
We went to two grocery stores, then got our mail on the way back. We carried things in and put everything away.
I then got the makings of chili in the crock pot for tonight and then cut up a humongous Honeydew melon my husband grabbed. It took three large storage containers to hold all the chunks.
Then we cleaned up and started the dishwasher. WHEW! That’s a lot for these years-challenged people.
Now I’m resting, drinking both ice water and coffee at the same time. I know, it’s weird, but I need the coffee to stay awake until I can fix and eat lunch and then I’ll take a nap. I need the ice water to re-hydrate and cool off.
The rest of the day, once lunch stuff is cleaned up, will be devoted to fun stuff.
Filed under Challenges
“Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz was an American cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts which features his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy.” ~ Wikipedia
“By the wishes of Mr. Schulz’s family, no new strips are – nor ever will be – drawn and published. There are new animated specials in development, but the story lines are based entirely on themes and dialogue from the strip’s history.”
Peanuts is one of my all-time favorite cartoon strips. Charles Schultz was so talented and we’re lucky that he shared his gift with us.
As with Winnie the Pooh, illustrated by E.H. Shepard, others are drawing the characters and selling products based on them.
I prefer to honor the original illustrators, even though some of the drawings are good. A couple of days ago I found a whole bunch of Snoopy quotes illustrated by AI (Artificial Intelligence). I don’t know how this is done. I love the quotes, but the the illustrations were just ‘off’ to my eyes, and this is in direction opposition to the wishes of his family. I guess there isn’t anything the family or we can do about it, other than to avoid using these images or supporting these products.
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Friendship
Hahahahaha. I love this. :0)
I hope things are going well for you today. I’m still trying to wake up.
We’ll do errands this morning and then will be in for the rest of the day. The weather is gorgeous right at the moment, with a temperature of 70 degrees, just like civilized people. Isn’t that GREAT?
I had a good day yesterday, vacuuming like a fiend with my big Dyson vacuum and then cleaning out my battery-powered one I usually use for the tiled areas. Its poor head was really clogged with dog hair. It’s good now.
I also spent some time in my art room, working on my wood burning piece and then cleaning up one area. I hope to do that again today.
Enjoy your Wednesday!
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
As much as I gripe about my husband, threatening to throw him into a huge hole in the back yard from time to time, there is a sweet side that comes out from time to time, showing me the man I married.
This was just delivered today. He’ll go get the mail soon. :0)
Thanks to a comment from Carol Janson, I’m researching the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky online, since I’m not able to actually visit in person. I thought that you might enjoy a virtual trip there, too.
“The National Quilt Museum, located in Paducah, Kentucky, is an art museum that exhibits fiber art and quilting from around the world. The museum is recognized by USA Today as one of the world’s top quilt displays.” ~ Wikipedia
Today I’m going to share some of the work of Susan Carlson.
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, quilts, Susan Carlson Quilts
It was cooler yesterday, but seemed really hot when my husband and I drove the trash down the driveway yesterday. We had to stop SEVERAL times so I could get out and gather and/or drag branches that had fallen into the driveway from the storm and throw them off to the side of the driveway. The trash can had blown over and was partially filled with water. I managed to drain it and then drag it down to the bottom of the driveway. We put our trash in for pickup today. We got our mail and then it took the two of us to straighten our robot.
The robot is about 200 pounds and stands, welcoming people, toward the bottom of our driveway. We had winds blow him down once several years ago and practically killed ourselves trying to get him up on the driveway again. So we wrapped a big chain around his neck, securing one end to a pole behind him and the other end to our driveway gate in front of him so that he can only LEAN now. The storms were enough to make him lean, and my husband pulled on him while I found rocks to shove under his right foot to steady him.
That said, what we dealt with was nothing compared to what a lot of people in Arkansas suffered. There were a LOT of power outages, power lines and power poles down, trees down, roads had to be closed, flooding, etc. And this was from a storm I didn’t even know about when we went to bed. Another rain followed that one the next night, causing more outages and damage.
I THINK all is okay now. I don’t mind a good storm, but I wish Mother Nature wasn’t quite so dramatic, causing good people to have problems.
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I had a good time in my art room yesterday afternoon. I’m working on a wood-burning piece, trying different techniques and having a blast learning. I even put away a few things while I was up there, but you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The only time it looks reasonable up there is when nothing has happened, nothing is in progress, and nothing is planned.
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My husband mowed yesterday – telling me happily how much easier it is to mow now with the new mower – and I used the leaf blower to clean off our front and back sidewalks and driveway pad. Even though it was cooler yesterday, I was wringing wet when I came in. I’m ready for fall.
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Have a wonderful Tuesday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art, quilts, Sandra Mollon Quilts
It stormed again overnight and we lost power for a bit. I didn’t realize it until later, when I woke up and saw the bedside clock flashing. I thought it was a bit past the time I usually wake, so jumped up to get dressed. When I got in the bathroom, though, it looked really dark outside. I checked my watch that was with my clothes and it was just a bit past 4am. SIGH. I tried to go back to bed, but was awake every hour and couldn’t make my watch light up. (When you hit anything other than the light button, the readings go wonky and I was in no shape to work on that. )
I checked with Lynn, my sweet massage therapist and friend. They got a generator, but have public power now. So the worst seems to be over for now. It’s rainy now, but the rain is supposed to stop this afternoon. Then we’ll gather and take down our trash and see if we have mail. That’s it for outside today, unless we have to spend time picking up clusters of leaves and branches and stuff on the driveway. I really hope we can mainly ignore it.
I got a good start on a new wood-burned piece yesterday. I had a great time, but I really need to start cleaning up my art room, one area at a time. It looks like a bomb went off up there. I have my little area on the drafting table where I’m working – the one area of ‘calm’ in a disaster area. Maybe I can get started on THAT a bit while I’m up there…
I hope that things are good where you are today.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, JoppaMTNPottery on Etsy
Filed under animal paintings, Cat Leonard Art
Shout-out to Lynn, my magnificent massage therapist and her family who lost power during the last, sudden storm we had a couple of nights ago and are still without power. She said they may have to go until Monday or more without power, due to downed power lines and POLES close to her house. Her husband had gone to borrow a generator so that they could plug in their fridge plus maybe a couple of fans. With all the watches and warnings we are under during the summer, we didn’t even hear about the possibility of rain this time.
*Speaking of power, we just lost OURS for a few seconds. Just suddenly, while I was typing, everything shut down. It came back on, thankfully, and we don’t hear our generator running, so it seems to be public power. Wonder if this is caused by all the work probably being done to restore power to so many good folks.
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I’m still avoiding looking at our driveway. It’s my extremely adult reaction to the possibility we might be in for a big clean up after the storm. The Amazon delivery guy remarked on the stuff in our driveway when he came up yesterday. I’m excusing the fact I haven’t checked it out because he said he didn’t have any trouble getting up the driveway. Fingers crossed about the driveway, too.
Things are quiet around here so far this morning. My husband is thinking he’ll mow if the ground dries up enough during the day. I’m thinking I may get up to my art room today.
I hope you are safe and dry. May power be restored to those waiting.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I am definitely in the running for ‘worst-housekeeper-on-the-planet’ and I’ll continue to show you – embarrassing though it is – examples. I’m not ‘dirty,’ but I tend to do a lot of stuff at once, like reading several books at the same time, and the ‘stuff’ piles up.
Most of the things on my chair table actually belonged elsewhere and had gravitated to the table over a period of time. I’ve also won championship stars for ‘IGNORING’ and ‘PROCRASTINATION,’ two things that aid and abet my ‘worst housekeeper’ title.
Every once in a while the chaos finally gets on my nerves and I decide something is my project for the day. Right now I’m amazed at how much SPACE I have on my table. Monster Cat even looked at me in amazement when she walked around on it last night, big-eyed, obviously wondering where everything went.
SO – today I bask in the glow of having a pristine table beside my chair in the living room, and will choose from a myriad of other candidates for my cleaning out-cleaning off-re-organizing efforts.
SO MANY CHOICES – SO LITTLE TIME OR ENERGY… :0)
Filed under cleaning, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
I finished reading this book yesterday. The Cyclops Effect is written by CJ Williams, a husband and wife team. I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but my husband practically insisted I would like it. HE. WAS. RIGHT!
Asha loses her eye in a car accident. This is replaced with an implant by a gifted surgeon/inventor. She discovers that the implant does more than even the surgeon expects, making it possible for her to SEE the Internet inside her brain and react with it.
The plot is well written and action-packed. In fact, I told my husband I had to take a break from time to time to ‘rest’ and let what I had read settle a bit before continuing. I read it in two days, though, completely drawn to the story and the characters, wanting to find out what happened.
I highly recommend this if you enjoy strong women characters and complex situations written in a way that allows you to follow, even if you’re not a science fiction aficionado or techie.
I’m going to look at their other books now.
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews, CJ Williams
My husband and I are a weird couple. We agree on little (we don’t even use the same salt) and to say it makes life together interesting is quite an understatement.
The latest example of that is my husband got a jury duty summons in the mail last week. He WANTS to do it. “I” REALLY don’t.
I wrote down on my desk calendar that he is supposed to appear at the court house in Greenwood at 9am on September 5th. I left the filling out of the two-page form to him.
He actually filled it out and we mailed it back. He gave MY phone number for any communication since he won’t answer his phone, only using it to get the occasional code when he is online.
I’m secretly hoping that the form he filled out will indicate that he might not be the best candidate, though he won’t admit to any health problems (Type II diabetes, 2 strokes, high blood pressure, etc.) He also will not admit having to go to the bathroom urgently or taking several naps daily because he doesn’t sleep well at night.
The reason he wants to do this is that he wants to throw a wrench in the system. He will listen to what is presented, make up his own mind, and then vote that way, dying on his sword if he has to. He would love to be the only vote that keeps a person from being convicted, or making it so the person IS convicted when the rest of the jury wants to let the person go. He loves being perverse and has great confidence in his ability to judge. He won’t tell the truth when asked questions that he knows would cause them to knock him off their list of jurors. It should be interesting.
I really have no room to talk, though. I was called for jury duty YEARS ago here in Greenwood. I sat through two days of routine court stuff. Finally they asked me directly if I would follow the judge’s instructions. I said honestly that I would if they made sense to me. Otherwise, no. Then they asked point blank, if I believed in the judicial system. I answered, again honestly, that I thought it was MEANT to insure fairness, but that it failed miserably in practice, and that I had little faith in it.
I was then invited to leave, and I guess they not only marked my name off the list, but probably BURNED it off. They haven’t contacted me since. I’m definitely not what they are looking for. :0)
SO – two attitudes about serving on a jury. What do you bet my husband sails through with flying colors and is chosen to serve on a jury?
Filed under Attitude
I tried to get up to my art room yesterday, but ended up trying to find Jet (aka Monster Cat) OUTSIDE. I looked and looked inside, but couldn’t find her. When I asked my husband, he said, off-handedly, that she MIGHT be outside, since he found the door from the utility room to the garage standing wide open.
I quit listening at that point and ran outside to walk around and around the house, calling for Jet, getting more and more upset as I searched.
Finally, the third time around, she was at the steps in the garage. I brought her in, checked to make sure she was okay, and gave her some food in her bathroom. I then read my husband the riot act, and went into the office to try to calm down before poisoning his dinner.
Filed under Challenges
Right now it’s 77 degrees and quite dark and rainy. This is a huge relief this morning, so I’m grinning as I type. Bring it!
However, we got SO much rain overnight, with accompanying thunder, that we’re under both a ‘flood warning,’ and a ‘flash flood warning’ until around lunchtime.
To round things out, once the rain stops today, we’re under an ‘intense heat warning,’ with a heat index of up to 115 until 9pm this evening. It could be REALLY interesting if snow were added to the forecast for the day…
Filed under weather
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