WHERE HAVE I BEEN ?

 ( Newest painting -" Lady's Mantle")

Hello Bloggers!

If by any chance you are someone who visits my blog on a somewhat regular basis...my apologies to you! For some reason it seems that a virus has struck me down.  I think it's call "short on words".  Have you heard of it?  It's a terrible virus that causes you to think that you have nothing of interest to talk about!  Along with this virus, here are a few other excuses for my absence...Studio Tour...started a new job...two boys in high    school...filling card orders...painting...creating...but not blogging!  I guess we all have those times when the days pass by too quickly and there seems to be endless amounts of things to accomplish. I have checked in on other blogs and find it so fun to see what all of you are doing! None of the other bloggers have the same virus that I have!

To let you in on the "uninteresting" things I have to talk about...here is what I am getting ready for:

The First Friday's Art Walk this October 1st.  I will be showing my work with two other great artists at the Fairbank Construction Office building from 6-8pm.  This will be a great event to attend and it coincides with the Bainbridge Island Wine Weekend (another fabulous reason to visit the island!).  The two other artists that will be joining me are Ron Crabb and Jenean Cameron.  Thank you so much to the Fairbanks who invited us to be a part of this event!

One thing I have not previously done but am seriously contemplating is teaching a class at our wonderful local art store called Oil & Water.  This should be a fun workshop and I will keep you posted on information for the class if it happens. 

And...Last but not least...the Winter Studio Tour.  This is such a great event and a wonderful place to buy loved ones unique Holiday gifts. 

It's great to be back in the blogdom...Hope you are all doing well and hopefully none of you catch my virus!

PARADES, BAGPIPES AND FIREWORKS GONE AWRY

Hope you all had a great 4th of July.  Here I am standing in front of my most FAVORITE thing of all on the 4th of July...BAGPIPES!!!  And if you look carefully you can also see one of the best resale shops around right across the street...The Trading Post.  Right next to where we were standing this amazing bike was parked right next to us...I want this bike!

Now I would have to get in shape enough to ride it up hills...but isn't it so cute!  They call Bainbridge Island celebration of the 4th of July "The Grand Ole 4th"  And there are so many great vintage images.  Kind of like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Our oldest son managed to make it onto 2 floats...Here he is with all his enthusiasm on one of them...

(He is the one looking like he has an opera song going on)

I thought these girls were so adorable with  their Annie signs... and next is the famous Bainbridge Island rope skippers.  They were in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade too!

Later that night we had fireworks in our neighborhood...been doing this for years...well, something went a little haywire when a box type one that shoots off multiple rockets decided to fall forward and shoot several of them straight at the crowd.  Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt...however there were many traumatized children.  But after all was said and done I looked down into my teacup that was sitting next to my feet...and there...right inside the cup...was one of the rockets that went awry.  Thank you Lord for your protection!!!

Hope your 4th of July was fun and full of great memories!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Here's to a wonderful 4th of July to all of you out there in Blogland.  I hope it is a great weekend full of fun festivities for all of you.  Break out the lemonade, watermelon, potato salad and hamburgers...enjoy the hot sunny weather...wait...I forgot that I live in the Pacific Northwest...summer doesn't start here until July 5th!  Oh well, we'll still enjoy all the food and festivities...a little rain slow us down!  

A RUN IN WITH 2 MICE AND A RAT!

Today was a day that I will be glad to set aside...now I have never considered myself to be a real girly girl and at the same time I am not a tom boy...I am somewhere in the middle.  Not afraid to break a nail or get my hands dirty but also get excited over a new tube of lipstick.  I'm guessing many of you women are the same way.  But one thing that I am noticing is that I am getting a little weird about spiders and rodents.  They provoke a scream from within me that I never expect.  Today that scream came out...LOUD! 

We have a little mouse problem at work.  The other day, around 11:00am, a customer was coming into the store where I work and encountered a mouse sitting in our doorway.  The mouse scurried INTO the store and we haven't seen it since...until today during my lunch break.  I had just sat down to eat lunch and heard a scratching sound under the table in the break room.  I looked at the mouse hotel that was waiting to catch its prey and realized the scratching was coming from inside the "humane trap".  I...being so courageous...went and got my manager to look at it.  (My manager used to be in the Marines...OK...this makes me feel better about being a mouse wimp)  My manager picks up the trap and tells me there is nothing in it when just at that moment...out it comes...that scream I was telling you about and the mouse! 

As if it wasn't enough getting over that mouse encounter I soon ran into a RAT.  He was about 6'2" tall with gray hair and had a very bad attitude.  It was actually more difficult dealing with this RAT of a human than it was the mouse in the break room.  I don't need to go on any more about the RAT other than not understanding why it is that some people can wait until the very last minute to do something that they should have had done a LONG time ago and expect it to become your EMERGENCY!!!  UGH!!!  That's just life I guess.

You would think that this would be the last of the rodent episode...but no...tonight at dinner we were going to BBQ some burgers.  Now it has not been that long since we have used the BBQ but apparently it has been long enough because when my son went out to light the BBQ he was surprised by a MOUSE living in the BBQ!  What has this world come to today?  Where are all the rodents coming from?  All I have to say is RATS!

ROTARY AUCTION

This Saturday was the 50th annual Rotary Auction on Bainbridge Island.  They hold it at a local school and allow the public to drop off donations throughout the week.  You cannot believe the sheer sea of STUFF that they receive and sell.  They have this down like a well oiled machine.  There are thousands of people waiting at the gate to be let in at 8:00 am when they RUN to the areas of interest.  The night before they sell a preview ticket for $1 so you can figure out your plan of attack.  At 7:55 am they raised the flag on the flag pole and a very talented singer sang the national anthem.  Seemed kind of funny for some reason.  

The family went to the preview together the night before and spotted several items we thought would be good purchases.  We took a pad of paper and wrote it all down...very organized, don't you think!  The next morning I felt a little uneasy about my plan of attack when I saw hundreds of people in line ahead of me.  After the national anthem and the running...sort of...I got to my area of interest.  The one thing I really wanted had already been snagged by someone much faster and earlier than me.  What a bummer...I am still regretting not getting there sooner.  If you were the one who got that awesome tablecloth with pictures of the garden tools on it...we need to talk! 

I did however get all of the other things on my list...makes me question how good my taste is!  Anyway, if you have been reading my blog for awhile and happened to read this you would know how much I love the color of turquoise.  Happy I was to get a few more turquoise colored bottles.  Hubby helped me to hang these cute shelves that my SIL Holly was sweet enough to give me and now I have a great place to display my TURQUOISE!!!  Thank you Hubby...Thank you Holly!!!

It's a start...I'm actually not a huge collector of anything...but there is just something about this color that calls to me.  The other thing that I saw at the auction that I thought was cute was this enamelware pot that I thought would be cute with flowers in it...

After such a successful time at the auction I thought we should sit in the sun and celebrate with a little refreshment...

Here's to good deals!  Wish you could join us.

more on "Welcome Home"

The last post was rushed and without photos so I thought I should add a little color to my time at Welcome Home with Diane.  Diane is the sweetest lady with a darling shop in St. John, Washington.  She sells lovely new and like new items in her store to make you house a home.  I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to sell my note cards in her store.  

(here is a picture of Diane and myself at her store last Friday.  Isn't she a doll!  She's the adorable one on the left.)

I did a little show of my artwork and had a great time meeting some of her customers.  The next day our family had a lot of fun celebrating my sister's birthday and Father's Day together at her lake place.  Look at this beautiful view she has from her deck...

Eastern Washington has such a different kind of beauty than Western Washington.  It's called high Desert and the climate is much warmer and drier.  (finally...some heat!)

On the way home we passed this...

 It was huge...took a long time to pass... What is it you ask?  It is a blade to one of these...

Wind Power!

A Great Day at "Welcome Home"

Last Friday I had a great opportunity to meet Diane White.  Diane is the owner of a great store in Saint John, Washington called "Welcome Home".  She sells a great selection of new and like new items along with my cards!

Saturday was a big day in Saint John with their annual sprint boat races so there were lots of folks in town for that and Diane was sweet enough to ask me to come to her shop for a "meet the artist" afternoon.  There are some really nice folks in Saint John and I enjoyed meeting them.  If you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods stop by her shop.  You'll be glad you did...I managed to find a wonderful treasure and you probably will too!