November -December Paintings

I have been lax in posting I know but these will get you up to date...almost.

I for some reason didn't take my camera on the day we did the October painting. I think because the class was postponed and on an odd day or perhaps my mind was on vacation. I will take a picture and post it eventually.

I guess everyone does know to click on a picture to make it full size, right?

Here once again are Jan, Olga and my pictures for November.

Now for December.
I think these were the most fun of all the pictures we have done. The whole class loved doing them. Once again in order, Jan, me and Olga.

And here is a bonus picture. Guess whose?

Give up?





Gary, my hubby. He decided to join the class to try it and see what he could do.
I think I was more surprised by his painting then he was. I think he did really well. Especially since he has never painted a picture before and does no arts and crafty type painting either. He will continue going as he found it fun and very enjoyable.

Recent pics of us both

Rarely do I get pics of Gary and I together. I took these on the automatic setting. And I will include a couple of just me cuz I liked the way my hair was..lol.

Huge Cauliflower

Here is the huge cauliflower I found while at eastern Market in Detroit. The biggest I have ever seen. My hand would barely cover a third of it.

September painting

Here is my September painting.
From left to right: Jan's, Olga's and mine on the right.
Hard to believe we were in the same class huh?

2 sided scrollcut figure

This is what I love to do, compound cutting on the scroll saw.
Two views from one piece of wood. One view is a sailboat and the other view is a dophin.This piece is from butternut wood.



This is one piece also as you can see by the view on the right.
It is a ballerina in one view and when you turn it, it is a swan.
And yes...it is extremely difficult to do and only someone that has mastered the scroll saw would be able to do it. This one is made from basswood.

Carving - 8 pointed star

This is the current project for my students. Each star is made from a block of wood. A cube of whatever size you wish. the largest one I intend to do some wood burning on. I just haven't decided the pattern yet. The pinkish one is plastic that car modelers used years ago. The one on the right, greyish, is soapstone. The rest are basswood. All are done with a basic carving knife.

September painting quiz

Here is my painting for September. Now for the quiz part.
Which one is mine and which is the teachers?
Which do you prefer?
Tomorrow I will post mine as well as the ones from my friends.

#2 Pet Peeve

Some people don't know when to shut up. You know those type...the ones who go on and on and on. They definitely do not know how to carry on a conversation.

Information is nice as well as long interesting stories. But stories that lead into more stories and information that never ends are boring. These people barely pause or take a breath. I do wonder how some even breathe because they can go on at length and never seem to run out of air. They never seem to let people respond and go on for so long, that if a point was being made or information was asked to be imparted, it was long forgotten what it was in the first place.

I myself have been accused of leaving people hanging. Personally I would rather people ask me to elaborate more on a topic rather than bore them to death. I do not intentionally....well... not often anyway except when I am playing with someone, leave people hanging.

And this often leads into a companion pet peeve...people who do not stay on topic. Their conversation runs all over the place and make you wonder what they were talking about in the first place. Some are what I liken to a Stephen King novel. They take 500 words to say what can be said in oh say, very efficiently, about 75. And yes...I think King is too wordy.

I will admit to a bad habit I have that stems mostly from being in a conversation with these types of people....that of interrupting. Yes..I have let myself do it with others that don't deserve it. I am the impatient sort anyway and when I have something to say, I don't want to have to wait to add my two cents worth. I just bust in with it. Nasty habit which I am working on.

Enough muttering Twinsy?

#1 Pet Peeve

The thing that bugs me the most is when someone tells me how to do something differently than how I am doing it and go on and on about how I am doing it wrong, or could do it easier, better or faster.

At first, well...most times I will politely listen to their suggestions and more likely than not, go on doing it my way.

Hey people, and you know who you are, if you want it done your way..then do it yourself. If you want me to do it...leave me alone and let me do it my own way.

I know that you mean well and just want to make it easier, but if I am happy as a pig in a mud waller doing it my way...what harm is it? HUH HUH?

It is not that I am closed minded or opposed to change, but 9 times out of ten, I have tried other ways and they took too much time for me to learn or I just plain liked the way I was doing it. There is that one time in ten that I will change.

At least have the common courtesy of backing off after making a suggestion. Don't take it personally if I decide to just go my merry way and do it back assward. As long as it gets done and it is my time.....be glad you are not doing it.

Ayup, I am stubborn and I do like to plug along to the beat of my own drummer.
If you don't like it....don't watch! Come back when I am done and praise me all the more for doing it the hard way. LOL

Copper Harbor and Brockway Mountain

I have no idea what I was doing when Gary took this.This was at Copper Harbor somewhere. The rest I know are from Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor.

Again..I have no idea what I was looking at. Maybe trying not to fall off the mountain. There were no good pics of me I liked so I will just post what G took.

Beautiful scenery...a shame I was in the way.....lol

EWWW...windy up here.
I think I need a perm or a cut cuz all of these show the best my hair looked which is not saying much. Way to humid . I don't think my hair every did dry and when I took it out of rollers..it fell flat in half an hour even with hair spray on it.

I have tons more Gary took but I have to resize them. Some are really awesome scenery. He takes raw format and they are HUGE...about 3-4 mg each. I have some that I did take on top of the mountain myself that I thought I might try to paint....after I get a bit better that is. I will post a few later.

Mystery Plant

I have not the foggiest idea what the name of this plant is. I got it from a plant exchange. Yes..they told me the name but I forgot. It gets huge as you can see from the garden cart. I put that in the pic so you can see the real size of it. It is a perennial and dies back every year. It spreads like crazy but does not flower. It is a nice filler plant. I have tons of it now and only had it two years. I will have to kill some or it will take over.

Castor bean and Black pearl

This is the Black Pearl Ornamental pepper. It is a new species and just out this year in nurseries around here. It is not big and only a foot or so tall but has nearly black leaves and starts with tiny purple flowers that turn to black marble size berries and then turn red as they mature. I hope there are seeds that will make more. I would love a whole row of them but at $3 a plant...rather pricey.


Now that the day lilies have died back the Castor bean has room to stretch. Behind it is purple bean hyacinth. It is a great climber and makes tons of seeds so I will never run out and I plant it everywhere. The Castor bean also makes seeds. I got this one from a carving friend. I planted it rather late...first week of June but it is doing well. I hope the seeds mature.

Coleus on the front porch

With some pruning of the large tree in the front yard, the front porch finally gets a little sun and this Coleus is doing really well. It likes part sun and part shade. I will grow it again next year. It should look smashing in the new red pots I got to go next to the front door.

July and August paintings

My July painting. I was not that fond of doing it and neither was most of us in the class. I am showing Olga, Jan and mine so you can see that while we all painted the same pic in the same class, they all come out different. Which one do you like best? Which one is mine? I will not be hurt if you didn't choose mine as the best. I am not fond of it myself.



I love this August painting the best of all I have done. I feel like I am learning. Pictures of them don't show them off very well. I did sign up for more classes.

There is one a month and so far a bunch of us carvers are still going. I think though Olga has had enough but Jan and I and others will still go.

Female Humor

I happen to know a few of these to be true.

Although I do not think the pain ones funny.

Q. What should you do if you see your ex-husband rolling around in pain
on the ground?
A. Shoot him again.

Q. Why do little boys whine?
A. Because they’re practicing to be men.

Q. How many men does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. One - he just holds it up there and waits for the world to revolve
around him. Or, Three - one to screw in the bulb, and two to listen to
him brag about the screwing part.

Q. What do you call a handcuffed man?
A. Trustworthy.

Q. What does it mean when a man is in your bed gasping for breath and calling your name?
A. You didn’t hold the pillow down long enough.

Q. Why does it take 100,000,000 sperm to fertilize one egg?
A. Because not one will stop and ask directions.

Q. Why do female black widow spiders kill their males after mating?
A. To stop the snoring before it starts.

Q: Why do men whistle when they’re sitting on the toilet?
A: Because it helps them remember which end they need to wipe.

Q: What is the difference between men and women?
A: A woman wants one man to satisfy her every need. A man wants every woman to satisfy his one need.

Q: How does a man keep his youth?
A: By giving her money, furs and diamonds.

Q: How do you keep your husband from reading your e-mail?
A: Rename the mail folder to “instruction manuals”

Grow a brain

Grow a Brain

Here is yet another mega site that will keep you clicking for hours.
Don't forget to check out the "collections" on the right. Tons and tons of great stuff.

There is only one problem with the super mega sites....you can get lost on them for hours and hours. Good thing I am lucky and am a kept woman huh?

Enjoy, Pat

Real Simple

Real Simple

Here is another fantastic site.

A plethora of tips and ideas for everything. I love the "Life Skills" section best but the "organizing" is pretty good too. I have not had time to check out the other subtopics but will soon.

Enjoy and hugs,
Pat

Bored?

Never be bored again. Got a few minutes free time to surf?

Well..this is a blog that will take you to tons of interesting sites on the web. It is updated daily and will take you to stuff you never even thought about and stuff that is interesting to thing about. Don't forget to check out the past links on the right under "categories". I find so many great things to email but it is easier to just send you all here so you can choose to your liking.

Look at This

Stop and smell the chips!

Oh ok…it is really “stop and smell the flowers” but this time it really was chips.

You see…now and then we have to step outside our boxes and do something different.

Needless to say, retirement has not been easy to adjust to for Gary or me. Those that know me , know how true this really is.

This weekend I decided to throw caution to the wind and and take an overnight trip. I suggested we throw stuff in a bag and just go and we did. I think Gary is ready for a change too. He has not been nice to me lately and that is putting it mildly but he has had a huge change of heart and I had to go with the flow and give him another chance. Oh yea…call me stupid for setting myself up for another nightmare trip but in my heart I knew this was gonna be different and it was..oh my.

We headed off to Frankenmuth, Mi mid morning. Almost near there we saw a diner. The old fashioned kind. That is the pic above with me in front of it. As we passed Gary remarked that he wondered what it was like inside and I said that we always said that and never stopped in even though we always had good intentions of doing that on the way home. This time I said…”HEY…I am a bit hungry…it is nearly noon and a little lunch would be nice”. Now normally he would have zoomed straight to the hotel..always in a hurry to get settled in. This time he said…”yea…good idea” and we turned around and went in. I was in awe that he would do this too but delighted.

It was cute inside with original counters and booths and all set up like the 50’s and it also played 50’s music. It was just typical diner fare so we thought. Gary had a sandwich which was served with the house specialty…home made tater chips. All brown and crispy and sooo good. I then noticed a guy come out of the kitchen. He fussed with some things on the counters…went around and rearranged and fussed with stuff on other tables. I told Gary I bet he was the owner. We read on the back of the menu that it was owned by a couple who wanted to make it a home town feeling place. Sure enough…this guy then went to adjust the window blinds . I notice he was not wearing an apron but a chef’s smock. He looked out of place and New Yorkish. I cant' say just what made me fell that but he did. Tall, well groomed with stylish haircut..well...New Yorkish..lol

He came toward us and I spoke to him and sure enough…he was the owner and yes….a chef to boot. He told us a whole long story of how he worked in New York. He had a conference out here in Michigan and fell in love with the area. He wanted to open an upscale restaurant but could not afford the rent. Back home he went. In the meantime the little diner he worked in in NY was moved to Frankenmuth and ran thru several owners and was again up for sale when he attended the conference here again. The same diner he worked at in New York. It was vacant for 3 years and he thought to himself…why not …and bought it.

Being a tourist town, there is not much business during winter months of Jan-May so he does other things to keep going. One is having a small local cooking spot. I went to his web site to check that out. He has an application for people to come cook at his place and be on his show. If you want to know more, go there. I did.

Ken's Diner

I submitted several recipes. I have no idea if they are suitable but hey…can’t hurt to try and who knows…maybe I will be cooking queen for one day.

The chat was about 20 minutes and so delightful. And to think we would have missed all this if we rushed off to our destination first.I might had gotten the time line a bit off as he told us a lot and it was so interesting. But so cute he ended up in the same diner he worked at so far away.

Maybe this is not exciting to anyone but me, but it was an unusual experience to see a chef in a small town diner.

Thus the moral is stop and smell the chips...flowers...something.

July Hair cut

I am beginning to feel egotistical here by posting so many pics of myself. But I figure that since only a few will see this, what they hey? It keeps my friends up to date on how I am aging....and that is certainly not well. I can't hide it so I will flaunt it..LOL.

The dark color has toned down a bit and I like it better and with new cut...I like it even better. The gray roots show up white and never fully get colored...grrrrrr.

I have decided to keep the longer length but needed it trimmed. I like it pushed behind my ears. So I will try it this length for a bit and see if I like it. I still have no perm but with the new mousse I found, it seems to stay most of the day. With hair spray of course. I seem to sleep on my head so even with a perm I still can't just comb and go after a night's sleep. Or else an evil fairy comes in and tangles my hair. Either can be a possibility.

People reading this...please send me a recent pic. You see me..now let me see you!

If a head shot is too much..then send me a finger picture...but not the middle one!

Carving Club Picnic 2007

Ron and Rita Morin

Every year we have a potluck picnic. This year we gave out a special recognition award to Ron Morin. He had done so much for the club and makes the most fantastic knives. Not only does nearly everyone have one..they have more than one.
Here he is with his wife Rita. He was surprised, shocked and happy with the presentation which included an award certificate, a special card signed by everyone with not only their name but a small paragraph of what he means to them, a $50 gift certificate to his favorite restaurant and lifetime club membership. He was speachless after which is not normal for him as he is generally a very chatty fellow. He did accept gracefully once he found his voice though.

Olga and Nick being funny

Nick and Olga being well...Nick and Olga

Jan and Charlie, my friends and neighbors

I would of posted more pictures but not sure if others would want them on the web. Heck, not sure if these people do but they didn't have a choice. LOL.
SHHH..don't tell them.
But pretty sure they will be ok with it.

It does make me wonder how many kids will feel with their parents posting so much as they grow up. I have seen ads aimed at teens warning them of the dangers of posting too much. I will err on the side of caution with this blog.

Yup....Xmas garland

BTW..... that IS Christmas garland still up. and yes..this is July. I got a head start on decorating. Sounds better than too lazy to take it down. But the truth is...we use it as ambiance lighting and I have not found the right grapevines or ivy to substitute for the rest of the year.

New hair color

Gosh...I could not decide which pic to post so I will post them both. Yea yea..it will seem vain of me to do that but what the heck..not many will see this anyway.

The color is way too dark but with the pool being outside gardening it will light up very soon. I prefer a color in between this and the blondish one.

It is so hard to get and keep one certain color..unless I want to wear a wig. And I assure you this is not a wig.

These are not self taken but Gary took them for me. Usually his pics take longer and are not always the best but I had him take these with the same settings I use for the self done ones...they came out pretty decent and he didn't take too long either.

me

Lilies along the driveway

This is the huge bed at the bottom of the driveway near the road. Finally the hostas got large enough to fill in. I will have to divide the lilies next year. The tall plant next to the yuccas is a pampas grass which will get about 7 -8 ft tall with large white plumes.

The same side of the drive but further up near the garage. At least this year the bunnies didn't eat them. For several years they ate all the leaves and they didn't flower. this year the bunnies switched to a new diet...the zinnias. I have only bare stems. I hid them in 4 places and the bunnies found them all. A few are recovering with leaves at the top but I noticed they found them too. Not sure home many times they will keep growing before they give up. sigh..........

May and June paintings.

Here are the first 2 paintings I have done in a painting class.
The teacher does one step by step and we do the same.
It is surprising how every one has a great painting and they are all different, well, with slight variations anyway.
I can't draw and have never painted a decent painting in my life but this guy makes it so easy.

He has a tv show too but unfortunately our cable system does not carry it.
I already signed up for the July class.

May 2007

June 2007

Oh..I almost forgot. His name is Steve Wood and this is his website.
Steve Wood Art

Front garden bed widened

From this

To this.

Widening this took me 3 days. this bed if about 45 - 50 ft long. I trench the sides like I once saw when in Amish country. When I get it to the final size, I will add edging to it.
The nearest end is a lilac "tree" and the other end is a Star Magnolia which gets white flowers before it has leaves in the spring. The middle has Dietuzias alternating with cannas.

Snowman carving

Here is my latest carving. I like to take pics before I paint a piece so you can see what is carved or what is painted. Easier to show my students how to carve it too if they see it unpainted. I got the pattern off the web. Another reason to surf...hehehe

Blonde me

My hair is longer than I normally wear it and lots blonder. The gardening and the pool lighten it even more.

So here me is...blonde and chubby.

Stella Dora lilies

Here is the front "slashes" as we call them. Yup..all the beds have names so Gary can know what I talk about when he askes me what I worked on.

Better view

Here is a side view of that block bed. Now you can see the post.
The big pot in front has 3 pepper plants. Basil and cilantro are in the small green pots on the right. The front tree center is an apple tree and has apples for the first time.
BTW..that pepper pot is huge...30 inches tall by 30 inches diameter.

New rock garden

Here is a new small rock bed I put under the pine trees. I transplanted some hostas to fill it in. I will enlarge it soon with more rocks when the weather cools.

I removed the row of yuccas in front of the rocks and put in cannas. they are just coming up. I will take more pictures as the summer progresses. I also added the azalia bush. I did leave one small stand of yuccas near the drive and those along the back.

I think I rearrange my garden beds more than my house furniture.

Cement block garden

Here is the small garden I made for tomatoes with rescued cement blocks from the construction across the street. I had a few already and just made this bed higher. I also planted plants in all the little hole. Might be a jungle in a few weeks but fun. Might also be the last year for tomatoes here cuz it is getting too shady. I feel another revamped bed coming on..LOL.

Alliums

Alliums are done now but look so pretty swaying in the wind.
The moon flowers will soon fill the space.

Herb Path

Here again are two pics about 3 weeks apart.
On the left are mints: Lemon, chocolate, apple and orange.
On the right are a geranuim, but moved over for 2nd phota and calla lilies added, then a pot with 3 italian parsley, 3 curley parley, a bush (patio) tomato and the last rectangular pot with dill. You can also see chives at the base of the tree.

All herbs can be eaten at any time. I just pull off bottom or outer leaves. So yummy.

In fact a few nights ago I made boiled red skin potatoes with butter, chives, both kinds of parsely and dill. Gary loved it so much he had the leftovers for late night snack.