Lines and Contours

Hi everyone. Happy Thursday to you.  And Thursday means it is time for Rain's challenge.

Today for Rain's challenge her theme is Lines and Contours. I'm thinking about Lines in a very different way than from an art perspective, that is family  trees, which as you know contain lots of lines and connections.

Last weekend my niece was married in Maine. My husband and I took a trip to Waterford for the wedding, where we rented an AirBnB house for a couple of nights with my daughter and her fiance. The house worked out great and was very convenient for the weekend celebrations. (There were events both Friday and Saturday evenings, but my post today is only about the Saturday wedding itself.)

The best thing about the weekend was being able to see my family. I hadn't seen my brother (although we speak every few weeks) since covid began. It was also good to see my niece the bride, my nephew and his family, and one of my cousins and his family. Although I have a slew of cousins, this one cousin is like my second brother. ( And the only one invited to the wedding because he's the only one out of all my cousins that really knows my niece.)

And no, for those who know my mom is still alive,  my mother was not at the wedding. At 92 (she'll be 93 in 2 months) with short term memory dementia, she doesn't do well in places she doesn't know. Plus she's been suffering from some small health issues lately, nothing horrible. My brother and I talked about her attending, but we both agreed she just wouldn't do well with the whole event nor with the travel. She was never comfortable with traveling even when she was a younger woman.  I am sure all of us will share photos with her, and since she won't remember anything we shared, it gives us something to talk with her for several visits.

The wedding venue was beautiful.

You can also see all the chairs were in lines, just to relate back to Rain's theme a bit. 

The wedding was at 4 in the afternoon, and by evening, the view was especially beautiful. 

You can see the inn where the wedding and reception were held in the next photo. The barn on the right was where the reception was held. It was a bit crowded in the barn, so I was very happy we were seated next to the wide open big barn doors and weren't surrounded by the other guests. You can't see those doors in this photo. 

The other buildings are rooms that you can stay at, or in the case of when the venue is rented for an event, that you must also rent out. The bridal party stayed here for the weekend.

I was  seated next to my cousin, his wife and his 2 daughters. As kids, my brother, my cousin and myself were often like the 3 musketeers. 

I know you may not be interested in family photos, but here's myself and my cousin. You can just see the edge of the open barn door near us.

And in this next photo,  throw in my brother too, the father of the bride. 

Weddings are always fun, but this one had a bit of sadness  since my brother's wife, the mother of the bride,  had died in 2019 from breast cancer. 

They had a nice memorial for her, and they even shared  a glass of wine which she would have enjoyed.  It was a day with many smiles and many tears too.

And just so no one says that I didn't include the bride in my post, here's a photo from the wedding service.

I must say my favorite part of the event was being outside on the lawn of the inn. They had cornhole games as well as some other yard games, and even a couple of fire pits. As it was getting dark, my husband and my cousin got a fire going in one of the firepits. My cousin’s kids had left, but his wife, my daughter and her fiance joined us.

By then the guys had had a bit to drink, and the banter going on was quite funny.  I was impressed that the inn provided bug spray and blankets as well as all the materials to get and keep a fire going.   I don't know why  my daughter is giving me the look, unless she is looking at my cousin who was sitting next to me on the other side. 

I thought I took photos of dinner, but I must have totally forgotten to do so. I can tell you the meal was served family style to each table and was delicious, but sorry I have nothing to share this week for the dinner part of Rain's post. I actually give the inn very high marks for service and quality of food. I also think my niece did a lovely job planning the event so everything went off without any major problems, and of course, I must thank my brother for paying for the wedding. As my brother told me during the event, our Dad taught him to always be sure your guests left with a full tummy and that they had good time. That does sound like my father. 

That's my post for today. I hope everyone's August has started off nicely.

 

 

To My Dad

 Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week. 

Today I'm celebrating what would have been my Dad's 98th birthday. He passed in 2004, but of course, he is never far from my heart and thoughts. I was definitely Dad's girl, and I definitely not only look more like him but have more of his personality  than that of my Mom. (Although I must admit I am getting slightly more like my mother in some ways as I get older.)

I don't know how old he was in this first photo, 

but he looks a lot older than a man in his late teens or early twenties in this photo taken during his service in World War 2.

I wish now I knew the dates of these photos since I can't ask him. In this next photo he is celebrating a younger birthday. I'm guessing he was in his twenties then. That's his sister, my aunt, in the background. The old washing machine is pretty interesting too. We actually had one like that when I was a very young girl.

He looks totally different without his glasses. With him is my Mom as a young woman.  I don't think they were engaged or married yet based on the ring she is wearing, and I'm guessing my dad was around 30 here.

The other day I made his favorite cake in honor of his birthday. He loved a pound cake with walnuts and maraschino cherries. I used to bake them for him when I was a teenager , and I must have the taste of it embedded in my memory so come around early February most years I need to make one.

This is an old photo. Even though I made this cake in this same pan the other day, I forgot to take any photos. Probably because I took the cake out the pan while it was too hot, and I lost a big chunk of it. I was very disappointed it broke. It tasted good though. My husband and I managed to eat most of the crumbs so now I have a cake that is an outline of a heart but not complete.

To make this cake you take any plain pound cake recipe and add some chopped walnuts as well as some drained, patted dry and then chopped maraschino cherries. I've never seen this combination in any recipes, and I don't know when or where my dad had it, but he always asked for it. 

I am linking up this part of the post to Kathy's Food Wednesdays.

And since I can't celebrate with him any longer, I made an art journal page in his memory. My Dad loved to go fishing in his little boat, so I made a fishing page for him.

If you look carefully in the close up in the background, you might spot a stamped fish or 2. I stamped these before I ink the background. The hooks, bobber and fishing pole are hand drawn. I added a tag (not one I made), a ruler sticker, a couple of Art by Marlene algae plants and waves, a stamped and fussy cut fish on a car image as well as some die cut borders made from a torn out page in a book which was also about fish.  Finally I added the little metal button sticker, a few little blue plastic pearls as well as a few things left over and sitting on my work table.  I wrote in the quote.

This quote was on a signboard that first hung in my grandparents camp, then in my Dad's area of the basement, and now my brother has it. It says: "All fishermen are liars, except you and me. And sometimes I'm not sure about you."

 

It's a quote that comes to mind when I think about my dad. 

Since this page is full of various eclectic items put together, something I like to often do, I am going to link up to Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's challenge at Art Journal Journey.

Happy Birthday Dad. I hope where ever your spirit is, you are out catching a big fish with your fishing buddies.

And to you who read through this post, I hope you're having a wonderful day and week.

Thanks for visiting.

T Stands for Lots of Birthdays

Hello T Gang ladies and any other visitors. It is Tuesday again (and already). Time for T.

Stop by  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog and join as we share our drink related photos.

Last weekend seemed to be a birthday celebration weekend for me. No, it was not my birthday.

On Friday after work we had a little get together for one of my colleagues who turned 50 at New Years. Our  group hadn't gotten together outside of work for quite some time, so it was fun to have a chance to chat and socialize. 

In this restaurant where we met was a specialty tequila bar. And you might know I like a good margarita. So even though they were twice as costly as most Mexican places charge, I ordered one. So did 3 of my other co-workers. And oh my goodness, it was horrible! The worse margarita I have ever had. My co-workers had the same thoughts too.  I certainly won't order one if I ever go back there, but I don't think I will be rushing back.

And then on Saturday we had my Mother-in-law's 85th birthday. She isn't doing all that well, so my sister-in-law (with whom my MIL lives with now) had the whole immediate family over for lunch.

I was most surprised when my sister-in-law asked if I would make the birthday cake. Her husband is a professional pastry chef, and I just assumed he would make the cake. But he didn't have time, so she asked me. 

I felt a little bit like I had to make it special.

And it came out really good too. It was devil's food filled with a white chocolate espresso ganache and with a vanilla buttercream. (No calories in this cake either-ha-ha!)

I got the 2 thumbs up from the pastry chef.

And it was a good time to take some family photos too. You can see my husband and I were getting ready for Sunday's football game as we were wearing out team shirts. (And you can tell it was a really cold day with my big sweater under my football shirt.)

And then there was a photo of the granddaughters (except one who was away at college) and their beaus.

And of course since it is T Day  I need to show you my drink. Back when I went to Vermont in early December I had tried a drink called a holiday daiquiri. Well my brother-in-law the pastry chef managed to replicate the drink and so I had one.

Way better than margarita!

Wishing you all a happy T day!

And thanks for visiting.

Weekend Wind Down

Sitting here relaxing. It's Sunday evening and another weekend is almost over. As usual the weekend flew by, but at least this week at school should be more "normal" since spirit week is over. However it is the last full week before quarter exams which means I need to push those kids so we can finish up the work needed for exams. 

Well, at least I will try. :)

Yesterday I met my daughter, and we went to visit my mom. She recently turned 88 and we went to have a little birthday celebration visit.

Mom commented how the 3 of us have the same smiles.  And that we do.

On the way home we did some shopping. Next weekend is the hubby's birthday and we went on an expedition to find him a couple of gifts. We had success too!

Today was another beautiful day when I took the dogs out for our morning walk. I also enjoyed the colors of fall.

And I noticed this tree had been cut by a beaver. That might be the dam to the right, and next walk I am going to take a better look. I've walked by this little swamp many times and never noticed the tree (maybe the leaves blocked it).  I wonder if it's recently been gnawed down.

And after a very long and productive play time with paints and some coasters, I relaxed with my latest book and this book of cookies.

Oh yes, they are back! Last year I devoured about 5 boxes over the course of the fall pumpkin cookie season. I ate way too many out of this box too.

And I did finish up a tag I started for Tag Tuesday. The latest challenge is Autumn/Halloween.

I am all about Halloween art lately. I think it's the one time of year I can let go and just let the little bit of dark side out. ( You may have figured out I am NOT a dark person. My dark side art isn't even very dark if you  haven't noticed.) 

So the weekend is ending with  the Outlander tv show overlapping with the Patriots football game. Such conflicts mean there is only one outcome.  Seeing the hubby is a huge football fan and also has become a  Outlander fan, (but not as big a fan as he for football), Outlander will have to be recorded and wait until tomorrow night.

Sigh The reunion of Claire and Jaime will have to wait for me.

Happy new week everyone. Hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Families

I had a very nice trip down to visit my mom yesterday.

I brought down lunch and afterwards we sat outside on her porch and chatted for like 4 hours. While we chatted I sat there and knitted some more of my patriotic scarf. It was a very hot day but there was a nice breeze.  Exactly the kind of afternoon my mother loves.

And Sunday we spent the day with my husband's family.

(counter-clockwise starting with the girl on the left in the chair) My daughter, sister-in-law, my niece and 2 of her friends enjoying the afternoon on the dock.

Afterwards there was a run on the margaritas. Here you can see both of my husband's sisters and my daughter and on the right my niece. Somehow my mother-in-law moved back to miss being in the photo. We were teasing her since she had already poured herself a glass of wine and then got handed a margarita. A two fisted drinker.

While we relaxed and chatted the guys were busy fixing the deck that got ripped apart by this past winter's ice.

They stopped a lot and went for a lot of swims and also for a few beer breaks  so its not like they didn't get any play time either.

So now the July heat is really here, along with the high humidity, I plan on spending my day inside the nice cool house. Sounds like a good art day to me!
I think today is Canada Day too for those you just north of me over the border. Happy day to you.

And wherever you are have a great day yourself !

Look Who's Having Birthdays!

Woohoo!

Time to celebrate!

Today is the hubby's big day

and tomorrow my baby turns 22.

22?

Not possible.

Here they are on our family vacation last summer.

And I made them both a card,

of course no store bought beauties for them.

No siree

Only my best home creative efforts here!

For my 22 year old. I used white cardstock and some Dylusions spray inks and Crafter's workshop stencils.

And then I picked up a birthday die from Taylored Expressions. You can see the little eat cake-right off the Big Kick. But I also used the same die to make the mega cupcake. I die cut the image from the same Taylored Expression die set and then ran it through the Scan and Cut. I was able to save it and then enlarge it and then even get it cut out for me. I added the Viva paint pen color and some sparkles and then a die cut candle once I glued it down on the card..

I do find that the Scan and Cut doesn't cut everything- simpler pattern work better-cutting out the image on black paper and then cutting helps too. Or stamp in black on white paper, but no too complex of an image. I really like to draw my own images and then Scan to save and then cut copies of them. My biggest complaint- the sticky sheets aren't so sticky. I usually have to add a dab of glue stick to hold my paper down. Then I wipe everything down with a baby wipe. So far, that helps. And use a brayer to roll everything down so it really sticks. I didn't think the user learning curve was bad at all but there has been a learning curve.

Ok, since I have gotten off track

here's the birthday card I made by hubby man.

Truck is an older set from Cornish Heritage Farms.

The tire tracks and the sign shape with the one way words is from an older clear set. Not sure who made them- my brain just can't think of who it is when I am trying to write and the hubby is chatting with me and the tv is on-

drives me nuts when the brain won't pull up a name-

maybe Gel-a-tins?

I do the words are from Darkroom Door Co.

Old car set with words.

Love them.

Good for a guy who is in his early fifties and can take a good tease.

Enough said here.

By the way, if you don't listen to NPR-The World, there's this great story which talks about the habits of highly creative people.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-10-28/6-highly-effective-habits-creative-genius

Thanks for stopping by and

make it great day on your end.

And Visions of Sugarplums

Yummy! Tis the season for gingerbread...Here's more snaps from Christmas past.

Katie made this gingerbread train in 2008.

Don't know if we shall have snow for Christmas (we have BARELY a dusting right now though yesterday was an ICKY drive to work-light snow and icey roads...), but in 2008 we did! LOTS and LOTS of it, along with the BIG icestorm. 

No, I was NOT naughty! I was NICE!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa's elf!

A handsome elf guy too.

2 cute Santa's helpers. Christmas Eve, 2008.

Its always a Snoopy Christmas in our house.

And for the puppy dog Santa's helper...a cat he can chew on!

Two more days of school...counting the minutes!