Horseshoe Wreath

There were days in the past when I spent time cussing the skittish horse I rode because he was standing on my foot with this metal device nailed to his hoof.  No amount of pushing him or elbowing him in his belly would convince him to move even a little bit.   I have found a better use for these metal shoes!!!  Thanks to the Mr. and his ability to weld, I was able to give to my good friend Barb, this versatile door wreath.  Red for Christmas, pink for Easter, red, white and blue for the Fourth of July and so on and so on. The first picture shows the unpainted shoes placed in the pattern I decided would work and the second has been primed, painted and adorned with two western handkerchiefs.

One thing we discovered was that horseshoes are not cheap, but luckily, they are priced by the pound.  Since, we were not concerned about the weight, we went for the lighter ones. We are struggling now with additional pounds as a result of all of the wonderful food ingested over this past few days.  We had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family, however our children  and their families were missed and each year I think we miss them more.  They are miles and miles away and we have had so very much snow that they would have had bad roads or airport delays I am sure.  I  have discovered that you can't get here from there...where ever that happens to be. New projects are on the horizon, a hair-on-hide, padded headboard in the works, more progress on the previous stained glass piece and painting projects for January...posts to follow.  

So as I try to keep from shoving another piece of fudge in my face..."Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself."--Rita Mae Brown

Creativity

"I have too much creativity to be contained in one medium."  This is a quote I heard this week and quickly wrote down, but in my haste, I forgot the origin of the quote and don't know who should receive the credit.  I do know that I feel it totally expresses my feelings.  My greatest fear is that I will not live long enough to accomplish all that I want to do.  A few earlier posts I published a stone slice which I wanted to incorporate into a piece of stained glass and I did find the pattern which will allow me to do that.  These few pictures here will show some of the progress.  Tools, pattern and the beginning of the glass cutting process.  More pictures to follow as I progress.

Today I was able to wander back into the past with the opportunity to be among the cattle.  My good friend, Debby and I had coffee this morning and then she invited me to go with her to "feed" the cattle.  She has purchased several head of bred heifers which will calve in the spring.  We drove the ol' truck with hay bales in the bed across the snow covered field. (you need a 4 wheel drive with as much snow as we have now) All animals, including humans become creatures of habit. The cattle followed the truck, knowing that it contained their breakfast and when we came to a stop, they hurried to catch up, kicking their heels and crowding around us. As Debby broke up  the bales for them, I asked her if she had named them.  "Some", she replied.  The one with the number 69 green tag in her ear was "Bingo....you know --under O for 69".  She has named others but I don't recall their names.  As we drove down to her favorite spot near the creek and in the shelter of the trees, it reminded me that so many people would not understand what peace a place like that brings to some of us.  The snow began to fall and I remembered days as a child when we would go out and break up hay bales for the cow and horses, and break the layer of ice on the stock tank of water and the calves would splash warm milk on us as they sucked from the buckets we held for them. It was, at the time, only work for us.  We complained and it did no good.  Chores had to be done before school. Even as I did chores, I remember daydreaming about drawing, or designing a dress for my dolls, or some such creation. I don't like rules....I think they stifle creativity.  Who knows, even feeding the cows may inspire some young person's desire to be creative. 

Busy Days

Above are the shots of the leather belt that the Mr. completed for a little girl we know. She won a beautiful buckle for barrel racing and for Christmas, her mother wanted a belt with tooled horseshoes.  But the Mr. found these jeweled conchos and the belt really turned out nice.

This week has been so busy.  One day this week my very good friend, Barb, came and we spent all day baking goodies.  For 38 years this month, we have known each other.  Our friendship has endured years of drama and sadness and happiness.  We helped each other with sick children, she pushed me out of snowdrifts when my old VW got stuck, she convinced me to take classes with her.  We took tailoring classes, cake decorating classes, ceramic classes and some I can't remember. I moved away for 3 years, then she moved away for 10. We saw each other through the death of our parents, the births of our children and grandchildren.  My daughter still has the baby blanket Barb made in pink when I was thoroughly convinced I was giving birth to another boy.  But we have never quite conquered divinity.  I am speaking of the candy...although we may think we are nearly Divine.  We made two batches this week of this sticky white sugary confection.  The first was way too dry and we argued  if perhaps beating the egg white too much or the entire mixture too much was the cause of our failure.  Never to be discouraged we tried again.  Success at last, after 38 years. As I prepared to take my soaking bath that evening for my aching feet which supported me all day, I brushed my hands through my hair and to my surprise----divinity. When you insert a spatula into an electric beater before it stops moving, the substance on the beaters flies in many directions and in this case, the divinity deposited itself in my hair.  Thanks Barb!!!  (we had a great day and I hope you all are blessed with a friend as wonderful as mine).

More simple things

On Sunday mornings I sit with my cup of coffee and my two faithful dogs and the temperamental cat and watch CBS Sunday Morning News.  In this complicated world, it truly is a program of news....most often very wonderful stories.  Sometimes, they even depict stories of much simpler times.  Two stories today of particular interest were of the success of singer Michael Boble` and his Frank Sinatra  style.  For those of us who remember, that brings back memories of much simpler times.  A time for the most part after world war II, was a time of prosperity for most of the nation and we were at peace with the world.  The other story that sparked more good memories of those simple times was that of the doll house.  I am sorry that I didn't get more specifics of the featured personalities, but the miniatures were detailed down to the decorations on the Christmas trees...and when I was a child, they were ALL Christmas trees.  I didn't have a doll house as a child but my sister, Joan, did and we spent a good deal of time playing with that little tin house.  The furniture was plastic and after saving the few pennies and nickles we could get from returning pop bottles at the gas station across the street from our grandmas house, we could go to the drug store and buy a piece of furniture.  That little doll house couldn't hold a candle to the ones on today's program, but it gave us such simple pleasure.

I spent a few trips to flea markets and junk shops last spring searching for Christmas cookie cutters.  Below are the pictures of the cutters as they made their way into a garland for my kitchen. 

Sprayed with primer below , then sprayed black, then dry brushed with parchment and finally in a garland at the top.

Simple things

A warm hug from your devoted dog, a fluffy snowfall, the aroma of the turkey broth (from the Thanksgiving bird's carcass) simmering on the stove--all simple things that bring us joy!  These are some of my favorite things.  As I find myself well into the last half of my life on this earth, I also find myself remembering more of those memories from the past.  After all, that really is all that we can depend on--our memories.  My siblings will probably agree that those days when we grew up in a much less complicated era, were some of the happiest, and this time of the year causes me to reflect.  Growing up in a small town with two very frugal parents, we had no idea as children, that we were poor.  We had everything!! With five acres to romp on, and always a lot of snow, we would bundle up and head out to build snowmen, and snow forts, and throw snowballs.  As we continued to get colder and wetter, we would eventually relent and go in to warm by the oil stove in our small living room.  (We eventually got a wall furnace, but we couldn't all back up to that as easily as the oil stove.) Our thin knit gloves, and the wool "headscarves" that we girls wore didn't keep us very warm, but we sure had fun!  Mom would make snow ice cream.  It had to be clean snow of course, and then she would pour homemade syrup over it.  We had lots of chickens and a cow, so dad would make homemade eggnog.  I still make old fashioned fudge that you cook over the stove and stir forever.  Mom always made that at Christmas time.  I always saw beautiful trees at my friend's homes and vowed that I would have one when I grew up...and I did.  But we always got our tree Christmas eve and Dad would bring it home....he probably got it for a few cents and it was always such a pathetic looking tree on a wooden stand.  It truly was a Charlie Brown tree.  But after we put a lonely string of lights, and the worn tinsel and garland on and added the few old ornaments as well as the homemade ones from school projects...it was beautiful. I sit here and look at my 5 Christmas trees all decorated with lovely glass ornaments collected over the years and still remember the simpler times with family and homemade fudge and that beautiful scraggly tree.  We got a silver aluminum tree later.....not nearly as memorable. 

Not so much of a simple thing is our new Mac computer above.  Note that we had a wet bar in this area and we decided to make a home for the new computer.  My dad would be so amazed at the technology at hand now for all of us and as I post this blog, I still sometimes long for those wonderful simple things. We  had a radio as our only means of getting  news of Santa, the old wind-up Victrola, the old oil stove and fudge and the Charlie Brown tree. 

power shopping

OK, no pictures today as I am posting on my new IMAC and we are still trying to figure everything out.  I had some pics on my old computer, but not everything has been transferred.  My very good friend, Barb and I embarked on our annual power shopping trip Black Friday.  For over 30 years, since Erica was a baby, we have done our holiday shopping together.  Crowds? Not a problem. Lines? Not a problem. When you live in the outback, any chance to mingle with civilization  is an adventure.  What has changed is that now, thanks to all of the technology that we attach to our bodies, we are but a finger's touch from anyone.  We get calls from family and friends asking to pick up "this or that" if we can find it.  They know we love the challenge. We got great bargains, had great food and spent time with dear friends and family members who so graciously put us up.  Thank you Ruth and Pat.  We did have a tire repair (a large screw had the nerve to embed itself in my tire) which caused a little delay on our trip back on Monday, but the shop was close to shopping and food, and the tire repair guys were feeling generous I guess.  We weren't charged for the repair.  All of the red and green decorations and the music have put me in the spirit of the season so with the turkey bones in the freezer it is time to start the Christmas cookies.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It feels like Christmas at my house this week as I begin to think about thawing the ol'bird and planning the rest of the feast. The reason for this is that I got a new recliner for my livingroom and we got a beautiful leaded glass oak piece of furniture on which to place our large flat screen. In addition to that, we have ordered a new computer--a Mac with the new Leopard operating system. Brown should bring it this week and in the mean time, the Mr. is remodeling an area in our kitchen that was designed to be a wet-bar. In the early 80's I am sure it was quite stylish, but when he completes it, the Mac will have a new home.

The gourds above are from a couple of different artists, but my friends and I are painting the one with the little penquins this week...so it does feel like Christmas is just around the corner!!

Such spectacular sunsets as the one below fill our Wyoming skies frequently and no matter how often we see them, they never cease to thrill us. We have a few more snaps that we viewed from our back deck tonite and will post them later as well as the renovation in the kitchen area.





"Teach us delight in simple things."-
Rudyard Kipling

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

I have been so busy!!! I have pictures to download and a list a mile long. Time is just whizzing by me. With Thanksgiving just around the corner and friends and relatives coming to help eat the gobbler, I haven't decided how yet to fix the ol' bird. I watched Martha making a brine this week and think I will do that. I did make a cranberry bar recipe (and I can't even remember where I got the recipe), which is absolutely to die for I think. Cream 1 cup butter with 2 cups of sugar, add 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp almond extract and 4 eggs. Mix well and to that add 2 cups flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder. Ad 1 cup of chopped fresh or frozen cranberries and bake in an oiled or greased 9x12 pan at 350 for 25-30 min. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool. Yummy!

The Mr. played in a pool tournament in Cheyenne this weekend and didn't make it very far into the competition, but had a good time. I shopped and met my sister and her daughter and granddaughter and ate way too much. Food has become foremost in my mind with the holidays upon me. My favorite time of the year so we will eat and eat and eat some more and gobble, gobble, gobble up all of the leftovers.

Food

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I am drooling over all of the recipes I am finding in the multitude of magazines which inhabit every corner of my home. I just have such a difficult time pitching them and have some favorites which will go with me to my grave. (or where ever I go when that time comes) I always cook for that holiday and we have dear friends, and this year, family to join us. Yeah!! When I was at Erica's, she made a wonderful squash soup that was "to die for". And this was on her old one burner stove. Check her site as she has posted the picture of her wonderful new cooktop. We also went to brunch with Karan who is a blogger, and found Erica's site before she moved to Olympia. Thank you Karan for befriended my daughter!! And we(E & J & I) went to a Mexican restaurant the last night I was there. There were other meals out at great dives so FOOD is always high on my priority list also.

On a really sad note--our aspen alley is dying. To quote an article in our local paper last week.... "Aspen Alley is one of the places being affected by a phenomenon which scientists believe is caused when drought weakens elderly trees, making them susceptible to several diseases, aspen bark beetles and wood borers." Most of these trees are elderly, more than 100 years old. We have some talented photographers and realizing that never again in our lifetime, will anyone get another fall picture of this area, (at least as spectacular as the past ones), the Mr. and I decided that we needed one. I was able to get a beautifully framed photo this weekend and it hangs in a place of honor in our living room wall next to the fireplace.

We are headed to Cheyenne for a weekend of frivolity. Well, serious stuff for the Mr. He is playing in a pool tournament, but I am off for flea markets, shopping, and food, food, food.

Wind versus rain

Although it didn't actually rain the day we went to Seattle, it did rain just 2 days the entire time I was in Olympia. The picture below is one that Erica took when she and I went to Seattle to the big Market there. Now, those of us who live in the west, especially here in the wide open spaces of the prairie lands and sage brush valleys, are so accustomed to stepping outside to take a deep breath before running to the car or truck. This is to escape the gusty wind...it will take your breath away!! No tree in it's right mind grows straight in Wyoming...they all lean away from the wind. That should tell us something!! But in Washington, I noticed that everyone carries and umbrella. I don't even own an umbrella. In fact, I've seen pictures of what the wind does to an umbrella....ugly! Pike Place Market in Seattle ...WOW. It was amazing. For a hick from the sticks it was a feast for the eyes, not to mention the palette. Food everywhere and fresh fish!!! And speaking of the palette, Erica and I had brunch at La Pichet which is a very authentic French cafe. (The menu was in French with English translations.) However, the French don't typically have buttermilk biscuits and gravy and chicken fried steak for brunch I realized. Most of the limited items included a pate' of some sort with bread..you know-- liver and such. But you could have french toast or yogurt so that worked for me. Lucious!! Coffee choices were abundant also and in the city of Starbuck's that works too.
We also went to Tacoma to the glass gallery/museum and had brunch with one of Erica's friends. Will post more about that later.

"EVERY CHILD IS AN ARTIST. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.--Pablo Picasso

Home again, Home again

The little guy above is the next project for my painting buddies!! Isn't he cute? He is done on a 12 inch rusty ceiling tin. One of the girls found a source for these and with the snow season upon us, he is perfect! This is a pattern from the December 2001 issue of Painting magazine by Susan Pisoni.

I am home again, home again!!!

Bloom where you are planted!! How many times have we heard that one. Some of us put down solid roots where "we are planted" and happily wave in the breezes not ever venturing away from that safe garden spot. It is where our grandparents and their parents before them planted their offspring. It is where our parent plants carefully placed us to grow and cared for our tender systems until we could withstand even the most forceful of gusts and storms. Well, quite often, something comes along to JERK our root system out of that familiar environment. That happened to me, which brings me to believe that we must learn to grow and bloom where we are TRANSPLANTED, not PLANTED!!! And like my ventures in gardening, not all root systems are happy where they are re-planted. Sometimes they flourish and sometimes they die, yes they die. But where some families continue to multiply in the same garden like weeds, my family and that of the Mr. scattered seeds all over the country. We have strong winds here in the west. One advantage is that in order to get a "family fix", we get to travel great distances to get that "fix". I have just come back from Olympia WA for a kid fix and it was wonderful! Of course it wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted and we had to cram so much into so little time. The weather was great and although trying to get out of here is not an easy thing because it is over 100 miles to the airport and a layover in SLC it was worth it. I love Olympia and I think I could be transplanted there and my root system would survive and I would bloom. I will post more about the trip later.
Thank you Erica and Jeffery for a wonderful visit!

Pumpkinfest

Well, these are not exactly pumpkins..but they are the contents of the box of gourds that I received via my UPS guy, Dave, from Welburn Gourd Farm. Aren't they great? All cleaned up and ready to paint. And the service was unreal with turn around time being only about 3 days from sunny CA to snowy WY. More about these gourds in a later post. About the pumpkinfest--a friend here asked me on a whim if I would like to go to Longmont, CO to an antique show, farmer's market and spend the night there. Antiques and food? Wow, don't ask me twice!!! We drove over the snowy range on Saturday a.m. but before that we stopped at a yard sale in the countryside here and scored some major stuff! Just the perfect way to start a gal weekend. And.....we saw a large bull moose just off the highway as we meandored through the foggy morning. We may very well have made our last trip over the snowies for the season as it closes with the onset of snowfall. It was misty, and we did have a blanket of snow along the side of the roadway among the pine and aspen trees. The event was held at the Boulder County Fairgrounds and what a wonderful display of antiques, crafts, junk and food. I even met some people from Pierce, CO which is where I grew up. A school teacher who began teaching there after I left, but knew my mother who worked in the cafeteria there. We took a break for lunch and for a five dollar bill we were served a bean soup, roll, drink and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Yummy! We had so much fun and spent a little money on stuff...even stayed until they closed. We checked into a motel..got the last room and were stuck between a group of young people who were loud, and cooking their dinner outside on a small grill. No need for concern...they invited us to have a drink with them and to have a braut with them and promised not to make too much noise. We were tempted as it smelled to wonderful and they were having so much fun. Shopped some that night after dinner and hit more antique shops in the a.m. Did encounter a little moisture but no snow.

Kitty, kitty, kitty. Just can't resist taking a picture of Hojo whenever I see him like this. Look at his feet. He has the BIGGEST feet.
OK--this is my millet just before we harvested it last week. Look how tall it is. There is my shoe with the hens and chicks just below it in the earth.

I am headed for Washington this next week to spend a few days with Erica and am really anxious to see her. Will take some pictures and hopefully have some great experiences.

Garden

These candles are painted with acrylics and the pattern is by Charlene Barlow in the Special 2007 Holiday Issue of Create and Decorate magazine. My friends and I will be painting these next and we love the primitive-style pattern which will make nice gifts to give to friends. Below is my garden pest. His name is HOJO and that is short for Howard Johnson's I guess. Our grand child, Lexi, called him that when he was a kitten and it has just stuck. Notice that he is perched on my crowded art table under the warmth of the light and when he is not patrolling the garden for bugs and birds he pushes his way into my space. He is not very ambitious so the birds have nothing to fear, but it makes him feel like a hunter if he can stalk and pretend to hunt.

I have been trying to prepare my garden for winter. My garden guru "Bonnie" brought a wonderful new green coneflower and about 25 tulip bulbs. Soooo....they had to get planted before the really heavy stuff starts to fall. Working away in my favorite place and happily digging holes for the bulbs, I hit a buried black plastic tubing which is like those used in sprinkler systems. The Mr. happened to be out there and I brought it to his attention. When this home was built, it appears that an elaborate sprinkler system had been installed. I didn't discover it until I was digging for my pond last year and the rototiller chopped right through one of those black tubes. The previous year, in an attempt to terrace for a garden, I had already hauled in loads and loads of dirt and this buried the sprinkler system even deeper than mother nature had already done in the many years of neglect. We couldn't revive the system so just chucked it up to experience and disconnected everything out back. My Mr. told me to cut the black tube so that I could plant that precious bulb, but when I couldn't, he tried. He poked a small hole with a pocket knife and "ol' faithful" erupted. Water in a line no longer used and not for years? He took the pick and plunged it into the tube to relieve the pressure and more water appeared instantly. We now had a small puddle. While standing there scratching our heads, it occurred to us that our pond had quit pumping. We had punctured the water source to our pond and there is no end to the stupid things we do. A trip to the local hardware store and a few hours later, I was back to planting bulbs. I can hardly wait for spring now to see the beauty that arises from these little bulbs.

Teach us delight in SIMPLE things. - Rudyard Kipling

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Wow! This is what we woke up to a few days ago! Although it wasn't cold, it felt like winter and even though the picture is a little bit shaded, I was afraid that I would miss it if I waited for the sun. The lighthouse is nearly obliterated by the "white on white". We drove to Laramie and then on to Cheyenne today for groceries and a much needed trip to the big box craft store. Yeah!!! The trip is a little over 2 hours one way, but the ride over the Snowies was magnificent and me with no camera. Go figure!! The contrast of the aspen and their brilliant colors against the dark of the pine forest and the sprinkling of white snow is something you have to see to believe. Maybe I will venture with camera in a few days and still get something to post. My garden club met this week and the topic of discussion was "How do you winterize your garden?" Realizing that most of these ladies have lived for about 70 years, the majority have such a sense of humor when it comes to gardening in high altitudes. The general response for the younger crowd was to mulch, deadhead, clean up leaves, etc. The seasoned gardeners however, just leave everything the way it is and see what comes up in the spring. My kind of winter preparation!!!

My painting group met on Monday and we finished the Halloween pots and will start on the pumpkin jar next. Note that we get creative here in the isolated part of the U.S. of A. We meet and paint in a bar...well, not in the bar but in one of the rooms adjacent to the bar. When we arrived, we were met with an aerobic group who is now meeting just before we paint....yes in the same bar and they hung MIRRORS on one wall! Yuk! Old ladies in their grubbies staring back at old ladies in their grubbies. Debby what were you thinking!? I don't even know if I remember when I went faithfully to an aerobics class in my cute little skin-tight outfit...and ladies we all did.

Mirrors don't lie! Soooo...all kidding aside and I am just kidding, Debby more power to you for getting creative. I don't like rules and I always tell people that I think rules stifle creativity. So I think it is great that Debby has given us all, old ladies in grubbies and perky little gals in the aerobics class, a place to express ourselves. A bar, an exercise room, a painting studio, a banquet room-- the possibilities are limitless if you are not afraid to color outside the lines.

Painted pots

For my friends with whom I paint, this is the jar from "Gift jars and Tags" completed with Folk Art Enamels. Hopefully this is a better picture of the lid and tag than the previous clip.
These are the completed pots, from recycled corn husks. The pattern is from the October issue of Quick and Easy Painting designed by Monika Brint.

So, considering the fact that we woke up to snow....YES SNOW..this morning, fall is definitely in the air and how many days 'til Christmas? Yikes, my tomatoes are doomed if I don't rescue them tomorrow. Pumpkins and Halloween and witches come to mind.

Ships ahoy!!

Here is the lighthouse which is made from 4 flower pots and a solar light. Cool huh?!! At least the ships and the ducks and the rhinoceros won't collide in the night. This is just a quick post. I have had a bug and saw the Dr. for some drugs on Thursday. I don't do SICK!! I don't have time for SICK! As you can see below, this is the finished phone case. I just love it!!! Thank you Mr.

We're all in the middle

We are all in the middle!! Jamie Lee Curtis has a new book out for children titled "Is There Really A Human Race?" What race? Who wins? The idea is that we are taught as children that we need to do the best we can, but we are encouraged always to win the race. Be the first, be competitive, win, win, win. Well, this story will hit home to a lot of us, especially the older generation whose life is slipping away faster and faster. I am not by nature a competitive person. I do not like conflict. I don't need to win. I have always known this and-- try to explain that to someone who excels at anything. They don't understand! I am content to muddle along behind everyone else, the middle would be nice, but usually I am the last to do most anything. Computers boggle my mind and although I am struggling with this, I get it done at my speed. Her point is that we are all in the middle of the race. One may win a foot race, but be last in a spelling competition and in the middle of the choir. Those of us who are at the end of the race, get to stop and smell the roses, pet a cute puppy, make a new friend along the way and essentially win our own race which is most important of all!!

Some of my friends who paint with me, don't feel as talented as others, but for me it is important that they have fun!! It is NO race. There is no human race to win. Thank you Jamie!!

Next post will be the completed cell phone case below. My beloved heard me say I needed a phone case and ask and ye shall receive!



These photos show the Mr. tooling a leather phone case for me. The first step involves dampening the leather and beginning the tedious stamping and actual tooling.



As you see, the progress has produced this wonderful snake!!! Yes, that was my choice!

We went to a ranch auction this weekend. We were interested in the log beds, but lordy, lordy, as with most auctions, they were sky-high. Heck, you can buy a new one with no shipping for less! People just go ape at an auction. However my friend Debby did score some irrigation stuff! That sounds like work to me. Another thing we did was to put our camp trailer up for sale. It was used when we bought it and we had it for 14 years, but it served us well!! The fridge quit working and the heat was really temperamental. Put up a flyer yesterday and sold it today. Yea!So kiddos, hopefully we will have a new one next year with a real fridge again.

So be in the middle and from James Leo Herlihy..."Be yourself. No one can ever tell you you're doing it wrong."

Fall projects

White beans?Pumpkin seeds? White brownie mix? Gotta have something white in the jar to get the full effect and I see that I cut off the top of the lid. Next time a full picture. But it turned out OK. My girls like to try different things and painting on glass was something new last year for them. Nothing says fall like pumpkins. This pattern from "Gift Jars and Tags" was inspiration for the container. The FolkArt Enamels are great for this type of project and it seems to cure better for me if it is baked in the oven, following the instructions on the paint containers. These make great gifts and if the project turns out really awful (and some do), give it to someone you don't like. It especially looks good on my orange countertops...excuse me Persimmon Formica countertops which are over 25 years old and, dang it, are still in pretty good shape.

Below is the first project we are embarking upon. Recycled corn husk flower pots. Who'da thought? They are lightweight, inexpensive, and I can think of a million and one things to do with 'em. This shows the progression from an antique olive original color, to a primed surface, a coat of paint followed by an antique...wait a minute. Aren't we back to the original color? Well that surface proved to be too glossy and waxy to paint on and believe me I tried sandpaper and even a coat of gesso to no avail. So...it will keep the girls busy. These are supposed to be Halloween bells, but I haven't gotten the jingle bell for the inside yet so will continue to brainstorm and post the finished projects.

I belong to a garden club and for our garden therapy project, we celebrated the September birthdays at our local nursing home by supplying sherbet, angel food cake and music from the 40's. Those ol' coots wanted so badly to get up and dance. It meant a great deal to them we realized, to have their birthdays celebrated. Some don't have family visits very often. This residency is one of the best in that their activity director schedules so many wonderful things for them. So to my wonderful two children, thank you for remembering my birthdays and please don't commit me just yet. (I had a very dear friend who was so very goofy! I loved her and she constantly embarrassed her grown children. They always threatened to have her committed!)

I just about have the lighthouse finished and will put it out by the lake (pond) tomorrow. It looks so cute!! Did you ever talk to a frog? We have about a dozen little frogs in and around our pond, unless some of them ran away. Some still had their tadpole tails this summer when we released them so they are pretty young, but they have started to croak in various pitches. I can hear them croak and I can croak back to them and they answer. I just suck air up threw my throat and make this funny croaky noise. If I could just figure out what I was saying...oh well. Please, please kids, DON'T have me committed yet. I really can talk to the frogs.

Catch-up

It has been a few days since I posted...The cookies are nearly gone. I photographed the horseshoe again with the macros on, but as my age continues to prove my inability to remember things, I think I have posted the wrong photo above. Oh well!!! Below is a sliced stone with a version of the famous painting...THE END OF THE TRAIL. I found it at a little gift shop and my intention is to put it in a stained glass window or lamp. I can't hardly wait to get started!!
Living in the Cowboy state has some advantages. One evening when we were camping last I got this one. Not as spectacular as some, but in the spring this meadow is totally covered in wildflowers and as the season changes so does the landscape and the sunsets. The milky way was awesome too. Learn to take pleasure in the simple things.
With the onset of fall, comes the end of the garage sales. I LOVE GARAGE SALES!! You get such good stuff and I overheard a lady ask another this weekend what she had found. Her reply was "I don't know, but I don't have one." My kind of shopper!!! My finds? Well, I got a FREE basket, a brown Pyrex bowl from the 70's, (I collect this particular pattern, sort of, at least I have 4 now), a CD rack for $2.00 and a cool Charlie Brown-type of Christmas tree for $2.00. My philosophy is that one cannot have too many Christmas trees. Where would I put all of the vintage ornaments that I glom on to at other garage sales?

Now, I have begun to prepare for fall classes and have finished two of my first 3 projects. I will post them next time, but I spent the better part of today painting. Once I get started, I don't want to quit....it is like an addiction for me and the ideas keep coming. I get my inspiration from other artists and then adapt or change as my mind keeps spinning. Tomorrow, I am heading for town, to paint with 3 of my friends. We intend to have a lighthouse for the yard when we are finished. We hunted for 3 of the right sized flower pots and solar lights and searched for lighthouse examples (remember we are on the prairie). It will be so comforting to have a lighthouse for my pond so that the ships sailing this body of water won't collide with the rhinoceros or the ducks. Well, it will be cute anyway. I hope also to inspire some of my students to do these lighthouses for a class and at least will give them the opportunity to do them.
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."--Milton Berle

Cookies

Yummy!! Every so ofter the Mr. gets a hankerin' for cookies. He spent the better part of the day on the roof scraping and painting a primer on the trim boards. We own a stucco home, but it has a lot of wood trim detail and hasn't been painted in a gazillion years. We have lived here 3.
The wind blew like crazy and he is a little bit wary of high places. He deserves cookies!!!
These are peanut butter and I think the recipe is from Martha.

I changed the recipe a little bit by using half shortening and half butter. In case I am wrong about the source here is the recipe:
1 cup of butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 2 cups of flour. Pretty simple. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars together and add vanilla and eggs. Mix well and slowly add dry ingr. Roll into 1 inch balls and flatten with a fork on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly on sheet before removing to a rack. Makes 50 to 100 cookies, depending on size.

In getting ready for my first painting class for the fall, and wanting a nice fall project, I found a pattern for cute Halloween bells using 4 inch flower pots. NOT available here!! But thanks to a future student, I found a source for recycled corn husk flower pots. With one phone call, I was able to secure at least 40 of these and since I am trusting that they will suffice and perhaps be even better than clay pots, we will venture over the Snowy Range to Laramie tomorrow. There is a greenhouse/nursery there that carries these. Wish me luck and I will post the results.

Horseshoe update

Just a short post to let all see how the sheep wagon and sheep turned out. Realizing that the surface is rough, and rusty and only 5/8ths to 3/4ths of an inch wide, I hope it will please the owner. I am not exactly sure what she is expecting. Trying to interpret another's ideas onto a canvas is not always easy. Below are closer images.

It would be of some help if I were a better photographer. Not my forte. Worked all morning in the garden and am just about ready for winter...mulched, dead-headed and weeded.

One of the interests I have is building birdhouses. Although I have been collecting "goodies" all year to embellish these creations, I have not had the time to construct any new ones. I have lots from past creative moments and more ideas in my head for these rustic abodes. One such house sits on my window box ledge out front and was constructed from a yard lantern piece which had a collision with a tree limb. (Never throw these treasures away). For the last 2 summers I have had families of swallows move in and raise young babies. Mind you, this house sits not even 3 feet from the ground and the shelf affords my cat as well as the neighborhood cats a prime perching place. How these birds manage to swoop down and avoid being slapped out of mid air by the prowling felines, baffles me. I need to do some repair work on this house and will post a picture of the before and after. It is in pretty sad shape. Live each day as if it were your last..especially if you are a swallow.

Wierd Plants

Isn't this a wierd blossom? I have no idea what it is but it is blooming in my kitchen and I think it is really strange. It is also in it's own way very beautiful. Look at the vibrant color!
If anyone knows, please let me know. I have a good friend who keeps me supplied with house plants. She has a green thumb deluxe when it comes to the world of botany indoors, but doesn't do much outside. Most of what she gets are rejects from the retail business where she works. They are doomed to be destroyed when they don't sell or are near the state of suicide, so she takes them and nurses them back to health sometimes. This one obviously wanted to live!!! Now below are two of my three tomato plants. The third is camera shy evidently, but after a chilly camping trip this weekend and threats of snow at 7,000 feet which includes us, I had to break down last night and cover them. No snow this morning and my tomatoes live on!!



We were lucky to have mostly beautiful weather, even though it was a little chilly and fall is on the horizon. Both nights were pretty much two dogs nights and for anyone who doesn't know what that means, you don't live where the nights get cold. Our old, but cozy camp trailer has a temperamental heater so we add a dog to the bed, the colder it gets to keep our feet warm. Hopefully, we will get out another time. Bow hunting season is in full swing and there were quite a few of them out sneakin' around in their cammies. They think they are invisible dressed like sticks and dried leaves. Maybe they are to the critters, but the people we camp with saw a moose family as they were coming down to camp Friday night. We had a bachelor group of 3 bucks grazing on our lawn Thursday evening and no matter how often you see them, they are still amazing.

Garden

A walk through my garden brings me happiness!!! (Mainly because I have defeated those garden gods who plot against the high garden enthusiasts like me trying so desperately to grow anything other than sage brush and Russian thistle.) Mornings are getting crisp and the threat of frost creeps ever so close. When I acquired this garden area it was nothing but a blank canvas...not totally blank mind you. There was the ever present bind weed and other un-named species not found in the flower books along with a few wheel barrows full of rocks. But looky now!!
Above blue morning glories and tansy and below more morning glories. I belong to a garden club, but discovered after joining that it doesn't really fit my gardening style.
Enough of that!! I have a wonderful group of students who supported my attempts to teach a decorative painting class here last fall. They are so much fun. Sooo, with fall coming and the days getting shorter and the fact that we are miles from civilization, time has come to gather the flock. Trina, get your butt back here soon!! Trina's mom Debby and I had coffee today and we determined our schedule. Debby is my support system in this venture in that she provides the most perfect place to paint. The room is large, with each gal having her own table and the lighting is amazing. I am hoping to do a mosaic class or two and will post some of these projects.
"Art washes away from the soul, the dust of every day life."--Picasso

The Ol' West

I really don't know the history of this old skeleton of a cabin, but we pass by it on our trek to North Spring Creek Lake. Years ago, when we first went up and the kiddos were babes, it seems to me that it was in a less dilapidated state. Also we could drive up to the lake although the road was pretty tricky, even in the old 4 wheel drive. There has to be a story and below you can see that even this late in our season, there are still wild flowers blooming.
IF WALLS COULD TALK!!! Below is an old horseshoe sculpture of sorts. This belongs to a friend who lost her husband a couple of years ago. He was a sheep rancher and I think it may be a brand?? I forgot to ask. I had a visit with her earlier this summer when we were invited to a picnic/barbecue near Encampment. Knowing that I dabble in acrylics, she asked if I might be able to paint a sheep wagon and some sheep. I am always up for a challenge and it is a "small canvas of sorts", so I will embark upon that hopefully in a few days and will post the results...stay tuned.
We live in a neighborhood with the best residents!! One such character came by last evening with a squash of some sort, which I didn't recognize, and a zucchini (whatever else we cannot grow here, we do grow zucchini). Everyone shares and cares. Chocolate zucchini bread is the fate of that one. Maybe I will post my recipe when I find it. It is yummy! I guess I will have to distribute my "tomaters "won't I? They are doing so well. Have a great and safe holiday weekend.