New finds

I found a really two really cool blogs this weekend. "Dabbled Experiments in Art, Craft & Food" and "Melissa Valeriote's Fantastical World of Holidays." Both appeal to my dark side, but without being morbid. If that appeals to you, check it out. You can find them in my blog roll. I also found Twitter. Not sure if I like it or not, I'll have to use it and see. So many things to keep you connected, informed. I am drawn to these things but they have the ability to suck away your precious time if you let them.

But on the brighter side, my orchid is blooming. Two years in a row now. I guess ignoring it and lack of water does not deter it!

Enjoy,
-Roberta

funny thing

today was a busy day. dog day afternoon happens every eight weeks. i take the dogs to the groomer and run errands between the time i drop them off and pick them up two hours later. the upside is that i get to pick up really clean handsome dogs! the downside is i spend all afternoon in my car. i had to go pick up our csa delivery today. we get a huge box of fresh organic veggies every two weeks direct from the farmer. i just love it. you just can't believe how fresh they are unless you get your food this way OR you grow it yourself. speaking of growing your own, if you remember a few weeks back when i was on my VICTORY GARDEN soapbox, my garden is growing quite well, thank you. i've got baby pumpkins right now, some baby cucumbers, and the tomatoes are finally going gang busters. they are ripe yet, but when they are i will have a bumper crop! plus i have one pepper just about ready to harvest.

you are probably wondering why i have two photos of cows here today. these photos were actually taken two weekends ago in musoda (pronounced "musk-oh-day"), wisconsin. we were driving back to the b&b from my art workshop at valley ridge art studio and just down the road from there the sky was so beautiful, i asked marc to pull over so i could take a photo. i hadn't noticed the cows outright, until i was outside the car along side the road taking photos of the beautiful sky when marc exclaimed, "all the cows are watching you!" sure enough, the whole herd had stopped grazing and were all looking up at me. the expression on these cows summed it up so well, i couldn't resist sharing them with you. even the one cow, who's mooning me has turned her head all of the way around to look at me. another reason not to eat meat!

this weekend we are going to research solatubes. this is a kind of skylight thing that brings light into an area where you normally wouldn't place a skylight. we want to put it in my bathroom. there are no windows there and it's dark all of the time. you always need a light on if you go in there. this would make it so much more brighter. maybe i could even put a plant in there? i love plants every where...

we are getting closer to picking a color for our roof shingles. "weathered wood" or "cedar shingle" is the top two candidates. weathered wood is more grey and cedar shingle is more brown. i will have to live with this color choice for the rest of my life here as we don't want to move. we love our house. especially when we eventually get done fixing it all up. so far, we've updated the electrical system, the hvac (furnace & central air conditioning), and the kitchen appliances. painting will be next year. it's a joy and a pain to own a home. i am just not apartment dweller material. i need the privacy a home and yard of one's own provides. also i love to garden, so it's hard to get that with an apartment.

a taste

here is a taste of what i'm working on in my spare time (which is hard to come by). i am experimenting with filters and effects in photoshop elements and then printing them in new and exciting ways (more on that to follow). i took this photo today of a little building that is in the local cemetery. not sure what purpose it serves. it appears not to be used, actually. it has stained glass windows that are totally covered by trees now. the roof and gabels are awesome. the gutter end caps have fleur de lis on them. how cool is that? i actually got VERY little time to work on art projects today. i took a few moments to take photos at the cemetery, more will follow. watch my 4th of july posting.

i did get the rest of my plants planted. some years they sit there until august before i get them all into the ground. i tried not to buy too many this year. i do feel good because i do have a little veggie garden planted. i think every one should plant a "victory garden" to grow their own veggies. it may not be enough to live off of for the year, but it helps cut down on the amount of gas utilized because all of our veggies come from far away states or countries even. i don't consider myself all that old, and i'm fairly certain that when i was a kid the bulk of my food did not come from mexico or chili. i always try to buy locally grown (in the spring, summer & fall). winter time you just can't help it if you want fresh veggies. i will buy frozen or even freeze my own sometimes.

just don't get it

ok. i really should just go to bed now instead i'm blogging again. tgif. the economy is going to hell in a hand basket. at least that's what the news has to say. very depressing news on the economy today. difficult to be upbeat on that. especially when filling up the gas tank, like i had to do today. i'm always on the look out for a bargain, especially when it comes to art supplies. sales are the way to go now-a-days. we are heading down to illinois on sunday. there's an antique radio show there. it's supposed to rain, but hopefully it will not be a wash out. we already have the tickets to go. 

good news: the peonies are starting to open as of today. that means summer is here. the irises are starting to bloom today too. even the siberian irises. i just love them. daffodils and siberian irises are my favorites. don't get me wrong - i love just about all flowers. especially my orchids (which are still blooming), but daffodils and siberian irises are the top on my list.  yesterday and today were HOT & HUMID. yesterday was worse of the two days. tonight its actually mild enough to have the windows open. there was more of a breeze, but it has subsided it seems. tonight i made for dinner, chicken breasts on the grill (my favorite) along with asparagus and salad - more of our CSA veggies. we've eaten most of them. we get the next delivery in a week. can't wait. i did give the rhubarb to a woman that i work with - i'm not all that fond of it and it's on my list of foods to avoid. besides, i don't need any more sweets than i already eat. 

tomorrow marc will be busy for the majority of the day so i will have plenty of time to get some things done around the house and some art project time too. finally. i did do some creative work this week, including making a tiny scrapbook (keychain sized). it was very fun to do. i'm not really into the whole "scrap" thing, but i did love this. i have another one to make. maybe i can work (its not really "work") on that and/or the pet projects i've got going on. i'll try to post some photos this weekend.

flowers and butterfly wings

alright, i am over due for some photos. let me try to make that up to you. first we have a photo taken of my current project: flowers and butterfly wings. it is pfd fabric, to which i have applied using gel medium - clip art butterflies printed onto bond paper. this is then painted with textile paint with layers, and i've drawn the flowers and then painted with more textile paint. i still have more painting to do. here is a shot of my basement studio. a section of it, anyway. it is a mess! if it looks in a disarray - you can thank my cat, beanie. she loves to rearrange things.

well, that is what i've been up to lately. working on this project. i am following directions from the latest cloth paper scissors (actually last two issues, its a two parter!) from the artist, judy coates perez. she makes little houses, bird houses and the like. i haven't decided if i'm going to make houses or what with my painted cloth, but i am having a blast. with the extra long weekend i hope to get further along. i'll keep you posted.

heres a photo of the little garden that marc and i planted this last weekend. you can see our "barn" in the backyard. inside it we have a farmall cub tractor. marc will be taking it out soon, i'll be sure to post photos. i know, i changed the template format again. sorry (unless you like it) i like to change things up every so often. if you're one who is not fond of the black background, don't worry, lighter color will come back soon. i just feel like black right now.

blue monday

monday morning. just getting ready for work. i did sleep last night, but because i stayed up late (posting blog) i am still somewhat tired this morning. still groggy from allergies too. how can the spring blooming, which is so beautiful, make me so miserable? it seems to get worse each year. tree pollen will subside soon, i hope. 

i set up my drafting table in the studio last night. it has a solid oak base with cast iron supports and an elm/oak table top. the covering that was over the top of the table is gone. I cannot tell what was on it at one time. i need to figure out what to cover it with so it doesn't get totally ruined by paint stains. for now i'll put plastic over it and then put the fabric down on it, held in place with clamps. it is so cool. i found it at the elkhorn flea market yesterday, along with an antique "edison no. 12 mimeograph". it is not a mimeograph machine, it is too old for that. it is over 100 years old. it is a totally awesome box with a plate on it telling what it is. when you open the box, it has this wooden framed plate, which was used with the roller. the roller is there, but missing the actual rolling part of the roller. it has the handle and pins that hold the roller in place. there are two tubes of ink also! i cannot imagine how gummy and yucky they are by now. there is also a paper tube which holds the wax paper which was used for creating the stencils which were used for the copying process. it was used, as the plate is covered with remnants of ink. not sure if i should clean that up or leave it as is. the instructions are even still attached to the box. i will post photos, but i've been lazy and having downloaded pics from my camera in over a week. i have to sort through them. 

i got more cabinet cards yesterday too. they call to me when i see them. i found some more interesting characters. i am looking for photos of interesting men and couples now too. there are so many photos of women. 

wren is singing outside while i write this. he must have found a mate, as he's been busy building his nest on the northwest side of the house. i have three wren houses, and every year he has trouble deciding which one is right for him. he usually picks out that one in the end though. we clean it out every year before he comes. one of the houses is difficult to reach, so this year it did not get cleaned. i hope he doesn't mind. i need to put out my hummingbird feeder and oriole feeder (which some oranges). i get all of those birds and occasionally a blue bird. i do not have the right spot for a blue bird house, so they only come by to visit, not live. i'd love to put up a bat house, but again, i don't have the right location for it. we do have lots of bats because there is a tiny lake (used to be a quarry) nearby. they like water - lots of mosquitos.  glad i can oblige them. at least someone likes mosquitos. we had to cover the newly planted garden last night. it got down to just about frost last night. don't want to loose my plants! marc planted a whole bunch of raspberry plants this weekend too. he loves his raspberries. so do i, but i don't always enjoy picking them. i usually get pricked by them. i planted asparagus over 8 years ago here, and we get a handful of the tasty treats each season. i'm sadly disappointed by their performance. maybe they need fertilizer? they need some sort of help. my whole garden has been sadly neglected lately. for the past couple of years anyway. that's directly related, in part, to my passion for creation. i've been redirected to put-zing in my studio the last few years. hurting my foot two years ago (thanks, guinness) didn't help either. i was laid up for the entire summer that year.