Missing and a Trip

Lately I have been having a hard time getting here to post. I have been feeling a lack of inspiration in many areas of my life and, really, that isn't very surprising given the last year or so has been filled with upheaval, change and sadness. But, given that, I decided it was time to move forward and for the last several weeks I have been giving The Artist's Way a go again. If you are not familiar with this book, it was the first written by Julia Cameron and it is about how to get creatively unstuck. Some of it is hard work but so worth it. I immediately felt more energetic and now I have some ideas that I am working on in the studio.

In the midst of all of this my dad and I went on a short weekend trip to South Dakota to visit my great uncle and his family. The weekend was gorgeous and we took a really fun side trip to find the cabin on Big Stone Lake that my grandparents once owned. We only took one wrong turn but when we found the right road we knew it immediately because of the steep hill with a curve at the bottom that leads to the cabin. Of course it had changed some but it was still recognizable. There had been a large bank of windows all across the front of the cabin that have been replaced with two smaller windows which I am sure are more energy efficient but I thought the panoramic view of the lake was spectacular back in the day.

My great uncle had been a farmer and he had taken the farm over from his father, my great-grandfather and it is still in the family being run by my second cousin and his two sons. It is not the same farm I remember, but farming is not the same as it was 40 years ago. Visiting a farm in the fall when the harvest is coming in is truly a fun event. Enjoy the photos of the cabin, lake and some farm scenes!

P.S. I'm going to try to be a more regular blogger!

Pinterest

I ran into an old friend a few weeks ago who told me about a website that she loves, Pinterest. It is the strangest sight but in a really good way. It is a place for you to create virtual pinboards and place upon it any image you might find on the web or on their site. You can create your own categories and have as many boards as you want. You can comment and "like" other people's pins as well as repin them to your own boards. In addition, when you pin something you get the original website or blog link the images was from. That makes it a great place to save recipes and diy tutorials. The image above was my first "pin" and I am in love with that space. Can't you just imagine curling up with a good book and warm cup of tea in that porch?

The only catch to joining pinterest is you must have either a facebook or twitter account and if you have an aversion to those sites you are out of luck. However, the inspiration is worth it! The only other drawback I heard from my friend was that it takes awhile to get a reply if you want to join, so getting an invite is faster.

Early Harvest

Last night there were predictions of frost and it seems my garden is at the height of its productivity. We had a very late spring and I didn't get to it for several weeks after it was possible so the plants are acting as if it is mid-July, although the days are getting shorter and the temps cooler. This frost prediction is about a month earlier than normal, whatever that is anymore. I went out and harvested all of the tender plants - lettuce, basil, flowers, beans and lemon verbena that I thought wouldn't make it. I covered as much as I could with blankets and happily we stayed just above freezing. However, I now have all of these vegetables and herbs that I have picked. I'm planning on making big batches of pesto with the basil. After I make it I put it in ice cube trays and freeze. Once the basil cubes are frozen I pop them out and store them in a freezer bag. They are great for adding to pasta sauce all winter long! I think we will be having a pizza tonight with pesto, sundried tomatoes, calamata olives and marinated artichokes on my half! Delish! One more thing...today is my birthday, so this is birthday basil!

Patterns!!!

At long last I have gotten myself together and finished the patterns I was making for the Matryoshka dolls. Actually the patterns have been done for a long time but I just converted them into PDF files so they could be listed on etsy. A PDF is a much speedier way to get them on their way. So, if you happened to like them head on over to my etsy site and shop away! The patterns could be waiting in your inbox in just a few hours!

School Days!

This morning I drove by the elementary school that is just a few blocks from my house. I noticed little bicycles in the rack and the sign in front of the building noted that today is the first day of school. It made me think back to all of the excitement as well as trepidation that day usually brought. Deciding what to wear on that first day was one of the biggest decisions of my life back then. I found an old picture of myself standing in our front yard waiting to head out for third or maybe fourth grade. I'm wearing a dress that my grandma had made me. I think she spent quite a bit of time making me dresses for that year. Note, I said dresses, because it would be three more years before we were allowed to wear pants.

I have always looked forward to the new school year, even as an adult. Maybe because of the many years I spent as a student and then as a teacher, I have always found fall, rather than January, the time of new beginning. So here's to a grand new school year!

Cool Plant Stand and Inchies

Last weekend we discovered a really cool consignment shop called Milo Milo (sadly they don't have a website) in Appleton, WI and found this really great plant stand. I am quite sure it is a one of a kind made from a variety of wrought iron pieces that have been welded together. The minute I saw it (and saw the reasonable price) I knew it had a place in my garden.

It is also Every Inchie Monday and I've posted two this week. I missed last week and the theme was imagine and all I could think of was John Lennon singing the song of the same name. So, here is a version of his self portrait in felt and thread. This weeks theme is change. My line changes color as well as goes from straight to curved. A bit lame but it's all I had this week!

Carol Eckert

I have been pondering several things lately, among them are what to make and what to write about. I am interested in retablos, small wooden boxes that have vignettes or iconography in them and highly deocrated, and so I was doing an Internet search. I came upon the work of Carol Eckert, who calls the sculptures she makes retablos, although they are not in the traditional sense. The wonderful bird and animal sculptures she makes are copper wire wrapped with DMC embroidery floss. I thought they were amazing. Follow this link to the Jane Sauer Gallery to see more of Carol's work.