Busy Week

Magnolia from a humongous tree in my daughter and SIL's home yard

Just feel like sharing:

It's just been a busy week. I've done my best to stay up with most of your blogs, and have enjoyed reading what everyone is up to, writing and creating.

My work plate is full, lots of new clients; am down sizing my office. Getting rid of children's games/toy's as, after eighteen years, I no longer work with kids. Am only seeing adults now. Tomorrow someone from an agency will come to take a cupboard full of them away. (games not kids). ;-) And the cupboard will come home with me and I will use it to store fabric for my art quilting projects.

My grand children will inherit some of the games, the doll house, puppet theater, puppets and some other toys. I feel like a cycle has played it self out in my career. Trying to make life easier, less complicated. If you can call a caseload of adults with depression, anxiety, marital issues, post traumatic stress, substance abuse, etc. uncomplicated. I've already decreased my working days from five to four.

With the idea of more time to create art, which I do on the fifth day! And weekend when we are not galavanting all over town or to enviorns close by.

I'm working with some students and counseling interns and it's exciting to see their excitment for their new field, and how clearly I remember being where they are now, and it seems like only yesterday...it goes by so quickly...life does... Fortunately for me, I love what I do, being able to be a guide in peoples lives, helping them to see, to figure out how to make changes in their lives, to make things better, to heal. Such rewarding work.

My latest excitement on my personal front is my son's upcoming wedding. The time draws closer as August is tomorrow and two weeks later we'll be celebrating this new union. Two happy people joining together and joining families, east and west, a time of happiness for many.

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Wonderful Weekend With Kids and Brother

We had a wonderful weekend with our grand kids on Saturday and half of Sunday. On Saturday we picked them up early (with their parents too) and we all went to San Francisco to see the Tall Ships Festival. The little kids really enjoyed being on the ships, hoisting a sail, and listening to sea music. We brought their new two wheeler bikes with training wheels and they biked around the park area we visited next for lunch. It was an exceptionally warm sunny day for a SF summer.


On Sunday, having spent the night at their house, we got up to breakfast together, read some more stories, played indoors and out. This is a sample of my grand daughters art. The long curly line over the girls head is her LONG HAIR with a bow on top. The boy is wearing a crown.
My grandson I learned can write the first names of all his family members, mom, dad, sister and his own. (backwards, but spelt correctly.) They are, he informed me, 3 and 3 quarters now!

[My grand daughter drew some other drawings for me and I told her I'd turn them into cloth pictures...so I must get busy with that project!!!!] Sunday afternoon we bade them farewell, and went to visit my brother who lives nearby. We took him out to lunch, then the three of us "oldsters" went on a two hour hike for about four miles of marsh land. Really beautiful there, windy, but we were dressed for it. The weather having turned from yesterday's sun to more overcast, foggy, and cold.

When we rested we watched these guys para sailing on the bay.

We saw all kinds of wildlife...



What a great weekend it was!!!

Art In My Bedroom

Elspeth misses Henry so he had to get into the act here too...

Henry playing around... and Henry out surveying his territory...
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What I now see first thing each morning when I awaken and last thing

before I go to sleep at night.

The View From My Bed: All four of our grand kids and my Life's Crazy Pieces Textile Art Quilt.

My Artist Friends' Art from Blog Land: CestAndrea from Paris, Cris Artist in Oregon, Sukipoet in New Hampshire, Karen Art in the Garage from California.

View to my right...

My photos under the window...

Passion Flower, Owls in Love, and Dragon fly

My Rose Quilt on its new quilt rack...
Mostly Green quilt on other side of quilt rack...
Remember these? Bottom is Sukipoets' doll drawing, middle is Andrea's mask,

and top is the doll art quilt piece I made from Suki's drawing!

On the wall by my closet...

It's a whole new experience in this room now and I love it. Thanks to all my artist friends!!!!
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Better Post Something!

Well, I guess I better post something...

There are things to tell, but no photos have been taken lately...

so here are hints of things to come:

1. Working on a new quilted wall hanging from Jim's old Hawaiian shirts for his daughter, Abby. 2. Picked up beautiful jewelry from art gallery, friend/director/jewelry maker Judie made for me to wear with purple dress to my son's wedding next month. 3. Knitting new little sweater for grandson about to turn four. The first yarn I chose was too bulky and will be returned. New yarn (from a yard sale) is light green and light weight and will go well with green frog buttons. 4. Will be babysitting on Saturday so am thinking of art project to bring with us for the kids to enjoy. 5. Best childhood friend, Patty, coming to visit on Friday, we'll do lunch and have fun. 6. I found a quilt rack at the thrift store for cheap, and put it in my bedroom with two of my quilts displayed beautifully on it. 7. Getting ready to hang blog friend's art in a corner in my bedroom: Artist's Corner from Around the World! So you can see the potential for lots of photographs to come...stay tuned.

I found shoes for the WEDDING!

The shoe hunt had gone from first finding black Patton sandals with a one inch heel (or less) but they threw my back out even that much off the ground. Then when I was visiting the prospective couple in Oregon earlier this month we all decided that it would be just fine for me to go barefoot. I'd have my toe nails pedicured in deep purple (me thinks) and they were okay with that. But today I found some silver shoes that I think will be perfect. They are FLAT and they are strappy and they are silver. My girlfriend Patty had told me from the get go that I needed silver strappy shoes to go with the purple dress, she said they were all the rage this season.

I would not know from "all the rage" or "this season" either so I need help in this area.

And having given up the hunt today I accidentally stumbled upon these in Target while looking for something else altogether. And they are silver and they are strappy and they are flat and they look great with the purple dress and my soon to be silver and purple jewelry! Ta Da! I already feel like a grand belle of the ball, mother of the groom style!

And best of all they are from an Israeli designer. And isn't that appropriate when you realize that my son who is getting married was born in Israel? I think so.

(Be sure to go down one post to see the sweater I finished for my grand daughter today.)

Finished Knitted Sweater for Grand Daughter and yarn for #2.

This is yarn for a second sweater for my grandson. I tell you about his buttons down below.

Sometimes the buttons and added decoration is the most fun of a knitted sweater to me.
I love finding buttons that I know will delight the child's eye. These flowers, butterflies, lady bugs and bees are sure to fit the bill for my grand daughter, aged soon to be 4. The yarn is soft boucle and is machine washable and dryable. Only the ladybugs are working buttons, the rest are for show! ;-)

Do double click on the photos to see the richness of this yarn close up and the embellishments too.

uhoh there's a bee on her sleeve too...

I love the varigated yarns that surprise even me the knitter, while working and changing design mid stream. Next I shall start on one for her twin brother in blues, and his buttons are green frogs!

I taught myself to knit when these kids were born. And I'll tell you each year has produced an even better done sweater than the year before, if I do say so myself.

House Cleaning by day, Art Gallery, Marina Walk by Night

Well these are a bit backwards but that's okay...you know how that goes...

this is part of the gift shop area at the art gallery and I have cards for sale on the rack there. There was also some very beautiful pricey jewelry for sale...

this is some art that is outside
This is later in the evening when we went to Suisun and walked along the marina.

There was some entertainment in the park, and these three young ladies sang in harmony

like you would not believe. It was amazing!

We also saw this California Sunset boat that you can take rides on down the slew.

And we thought it might be fun to do when our grand kids come to visit...

but DH would really like to rent a Kyak and go that mode of travel.

The sun was setting after we'd walked for maybe half an hour.

Another of our impromtu romantic dates! ;-)

We invited our neighbors, Dave and Donna to go with us tonight, but Dave had to work on his car...we said bye as we were leaving for the art gallery... I really liked this oil painting of a couple being reunited after the war.
OH, here's my piece...fancy that, on a nice wall at eye level too!

I liked this mixed media piece as well...an apron, cutting board, flour sifter, on a tray that was decoupaged with recipes from the era...


Just back from art gallery show, found out I won two door prizes from the last juried show. One is funny. It's a free appraisal for jewelry at a jewelers. I have NO jewelry, nada. I'll give it to my girlfriend. Or see if they'll appraise my mother's silverware again.
I also won a gift card from a local Mexican Restaurant. My girlfriend, Patty, won a free hair cut and style. I do believe she bought both of our tickets for the drawings so by rights all the prizes are hers! LOL She's coming up next Friday, we'll have to go to that Mexican restaurant for lunch together and see how much they'll cover it.

Not a huge crowd at the gallery, and when we got there everyone was listening to a speaker who was talking of her time in Japan in the war. Not the Holocaust as I had been led to believe. So I never saw anyone looking at my piece.
At least it got a good spot on a wall this time at eye level. DH looked at it and read the two page piece I wrote about it.Then we left and drove to a nearby town and walked the marina there. It was a bit breezy out but nice none the less. I took a lot of photos.

Did I mention that we cleaned the house good today? Got a lot done, a lot more to do however.
I hung my quilts in places that give them good individual viewings throughout the house.
My own personal art gallery!

Speedy Recovery Wishes To Con and Cris

Our Cris's husband Con is going into surgery this morning for his recent "saw accident" to repair his fingers. I am sending him lots of positive energy, good wishes, prayers, for a complete and speedy recovery.
May this go easy on Cris as well.

Flowers and photos from our recent visit with her in Oregon.

More Wild Life

The grasshopper who got a ride from us somewhere in Wyoming...for Hopper! Silly little chipmunk running around on beautiful rocks
A beautiful rabbit outside Sylvan Lake
Awesome Prong Horn Antelope
And humongous buffalo
It's hard to admit vacation is over...nice to have photos to go back

over and over and re-live it all again.

More of our visit with Sam in Oregon on the Forth of July.

I love visiting my friend, Sam, in Oregon...see her beautiful smile? (This photo should be on it's side as Sam was lying down, having put her back out the day or so before we got there...) but her smile was there anyway, through all the pain...and grief...
Her sense of humor in tact, her garden in bloom and all her creative and artistic talent inside and outside her home. I love walking around it with my camera and taking photos of all her artwork. We always stop at the Umpqua River before getting to her house. It is so beautiful and peaceful. It felt especially so this year as we rested there before going up to be together with our friends knowing we were entering a time of grief for them and us.


Happy Forth of July...Sad Forth of July...but promises for spending future Fourths of July's together.