Fun Weekend Upnorth with Friends.

Fixing the pier dock and the view of the cabin from the lake.


We had a wonderful long weekend 3 hours north with friends Sue and Randy at Randy's cabin. Spent Thurs. night to Sunday night away, having fun, enjoying the weather, the cabin, the lake and friends. John and Randy did some repairs and improvements while we were there, Sue and I did some cleaning, reading, sitting in the sun, napping, and more too.


We went to a wonderful Memorial called The Highground War Memorial in Neillsville, WI. Here are some photos from the visit. A wonderful yet somber tribute to our veterans.



There are names engraved on the chimes of those who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.



Many of the memorials were tributes to the native americans who fought in the wars too.






Fun on the boat, touring the lake, enjoying the sun.











Jet, Randy's dog, enjoyed the weekend too!

Happy Father's Day

This weekend Kaine & Jorden came home on Saturday, and they both will be here a few days... Kaine until Monday, and Jorden until Wed. It's been fun so far having them both here!!
Today was a great day for Father's Day... and for the beginning of Summer too! A hot day, in the mid 80's, sunny, and fun times!

I started my morning early, up at 6:30 to start baking 2 rhubarb cakes (Jorden, Kaine, Kasey & John all still sleeping)...by 6:45 Jorden was awake, everyone else still sleeping, so she "helped" me.. ha! John was up by 7 so I was able to get the cakes in the oven soon after that. (One for the pie/cake raffle at Church, one for John & family to eat at home.)

Time to play with Jorden, make her some breakfast, and peel some potatoes to boil for the crock pot roasts I had made the night before for the Father's Day Brunch at Church.

Then it was rushing around trying to get things done and ready to head to Church. It was a good Father's Day Brunch, still don't think I like the later Church time however (10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.) because it gets us out over an hour later too.

Back home for Jorden to take a nap before heading out to Dad and Mom's for a Father's Day weenie roast with my side of the family, but first it was time to dip about 60 strawberries in chocolate to take along. Yum!! (They were devoured within 10 minutes of getting there!)



It was a fun time at Dad and Mom's ... Kaine & Jorden shot hoops between the big boys games.


John-John and his boys, Jake, Josh & Jeff posed with Grandpa John and my Dad (Papa) for a 4 generation photo.





Grandpa John & Kasey both had fun with Jorden.





And Jorden had fun with Big Red, who just wanted to sleep in the shade ..






And then...it was time to come home, Kaine went to a movie with his girlfriend, we played & laughed a lot with Jorden, then it was some dinner & then bath time for Jorden before bed. ... a looooong day, tiring, but a great one!!


I am thankful for MY Dad, and all the men in my life...Happy Father's Day!

Alice's Wonderland assemblage

Hooray! I received the lucky rabbit feet I'd been waiting for in the mail today... so I was able to complete this assemblage.


Here it is in the beginning stages... just an idea in the making...






And then as it progressed into the final stages....

Alice, a vintage marionette puppet, holding an old skeleton key, is suspended in the shadow box that I painted and stained red & dark walnut. On the outside of one side is an old brass door handle, with a mirror (looking glass) insert.


The back inside of the shadowbox I've put a reproduction of a tin sign that reads, "The White Rabbit Saloon". Also added is a framed picture of the Cheshire Cat on the tin sign, but it's behind Alice and doesn't show much. On one side wall are 4 white rabbit feet and on the floor are numerous bottles, that are labeled "Drink Me". The Dormouse also hides behind some of those bottles.

Maybe this should be titled "Alice's Nightmare" instead ... obviously, something has gone terribly wrong, Alice must have drank too much in the Saloon (as evidenced by the empty bottles), and she is aghast at what must have been the demise of the White Rabbit since his feet are hanging on the wall.



The Dormouse, one of the characters from the story of Alice in Wonderland appears to be hiding behind her, as the Cheshire Cat (which can't really be seen in these photos) smiles menacingly in the framed picture.

UPDATED LATER ... I also added some of those mushrooms with secret powers to the top of this piece... heh heh...

Some cool found objects for use in future assemblages...

After the grandsons left this afternoon I went uptown to the local antique mall and then to Good Will again to see if I could find a few things.. I was looking for a mushroom a brass one, or a paper weight one with lots of colors - didn't find one...BUT I DID find some other cool things I couldn't pass up...

This & That - Freaky & Cute - Grandsons & Art Progressing

My Thursday became Grandson Day today when a sitter was needed for the 3 boys.. I worked for a couple of hours, EARLY, before they arrived, and from home after they were here, then we pretty much played and ate the rest of the time they were here.

We came home with Happy Meals and went to eat them on the back deck when we discovered a BAT sitting on the railing near the steps. What on earth a BAT is doing out in full sunlight I have NO idea? I threw some things at it and it moved a little but didn't fly away at all. We snuck past it and ate our lunches on the deck only to have some irate sparrow come about 4 feet from us and started to chirp madly at us. The birds in the bush next to the deck were going nuts too chirping up a storm, usually by noon they are pretty quiet, but something must have been going on with them?? Freaky! John and son John came home about an hour later and the bat had moved to the sidewalk, near the corner of the house ...so John scooped it up with a shovel and took it to the back of the yard and threw it into the bushes, it fluttered up in the air for a second before flying down into the bushes ... *shudders*, hope it doesn't crawl back up here!



The boys also pulled out some of the costumes to dress up in, they are getting smaller and smaller on them, I'll have to look for others at Good Will for them since they're getting bigger...I could barely get the cow costume off Jeff..*L*

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So, I am slowly progressing on two assemblages ...
I am waiting on some lucky rabbit feet I bought on EBay to add to the Alice's Wonderland piece...but here are some portions of what I have done so far.





And here is part of what I am temporarily calling Redeemed II - not sure what I'll title it when it's finished... and not sure these pieces will stay exactly like this either, but I do like these elements together so far.
MORE TO COME....

Membership Privileges III Assemblage - Free Wine Tasting

Membership DOES have it's privileges, eh? *S*
I've done several of these, all a bit different, but with the same theme. A framed cork assemblage I found and took out some of the corks, added the Last Supper sculpture, some grapes, scrabble letters, put it on a base, and tahh dahh! I may add a wine cork remover if I can find a cool one later on for on the top...we'll see.

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Oh, and here's some progress on the shadow box frame that will eventually house my Alice's Wonderland assemblage ... I painted it red, sanded it down and have now stained it with a dark walnut stain, and am in the process of of putting some polycrylic finish on it before continuing with adding the back, etc. (This is it just after sanding it)
I also bought some natural-look lucky rabbit feet on EBay to use in this assemblage as well... it may be a kind of bad girl Alice I'll be portraying? *L*

MORE TO COME....

Alice's WonderLand...the beginning of something...

I have a few really cool found objects I've been collecting, and am in the beginning stages of putting them together ... here is just some of what will be in an upcoming assemblage. The main found object in it is a cool vintage Alice in Wonderland marionette puppet, and for the background of the shadow box is a tin reproduction of an advertising sign for The White Rabbit Saloon, the old brown bottle (which will eventually have a "Drink Me" label) is one my husband found in our garage when we bought the home we live in 35 years ago.

There is an old door handle that I think I'll put a mirror insert into (kind of a thru the looking glass entrance handle)... and I want to find a few vintage characters from Wonderland, Queen of hearts, Cheshire cat, maybe a few lucky rabbit feet too?? *L*

Anyway...I'm about to paint and stain the shadowbox to house it all ...
More to come...

Work In Progress....

I've been working on getting the sky scene background (inside the box frame) how I wanted it for the last 10 days or more.. I found the frame at Good Will a year or so ago, and recently had John make me a box so I could put this dear distressed black doll in it, with antler wings (which I am thinking of cutting to fit better as wings, but before I go and do that, I want to make SURE) ... it's just resting in the box right now, I finally think I have the background the way I want it, and the frame needs to be secured to the box yet.

I've made the outside of the box match the frame pretty good too .. and put satin finish polycrylic on the inside and outside of the box.
So now I can play around with the contents and what else I want to go with my "little distressed angel". I was thinking of calling it Redeemed II , but not sure if that's the direction I want to take or not?



Anyway.. I have old door handles, or decorative old distressed things that COULD be a part of it.. decisions, decisions... I'll be adding things in the next few days, stepping back, looking at it for an hour or two, or a day or two before deciding on affixing things permanently.

MORE TO COME...

Grandson Day... 4 Year Old Kindergarten Graduation

This morning was a nice program at grandson Josh's school for his 4 year old kindergarten. Here is the proud "graduate".

And here is part of one of the cute songs they did... Josh shows up in part of this, but for the most part a taller girl was in front of him, she looks like a 4th grader compared to him.. haha.



Congrats Josh!! We're proud of you!

This Little Piggy Stayed Home - Assemblage

This is a whimsical found object assemblage inspired somewhat by some surgery my Dad had last week.
My dad had the toe next to his big toe on one of his feet removed. It had been broken several times and arthritis was making it so it would bend under the other toes and was affecting his feet in various ways. So, they amputated it. If you are at all familiar with the nursery rhyme where you wiggle the toes of a baby or child it was the toe that would have been "the little piggy that stayed home".
As in...
This little piggy went to market...
This little piggy stayed home...
This little piggy had roast beef...
This little piggy had none...
And This little piggy went wee-wee-wee, all the way home.

My dad offered to give me his toe to use for one of my assemblages, but I declined that gruesome offer.. *L*

Buddha Vane Assemblage

"You're so VANE, BUDDHA, you probably think this piece is about you, don't you, don't you?" (apologies to Carly Simon..heh heh)
Buddha Vane, an assemblage using parts from a rod iron weather vane, where formerly a rooster sat on top, now the head of a buddha is on top.

Four arms attached next to the N., S., E. & W. letters rotate along with the head of buddha and can fully spin. The framed heart shadow box with a small brass buddha on top is stationary on the 4 footed base of the buddha vane.

I may add something to the back side of the framed heart, not sure what yet...?

Grandson Day - Visit to Fire Station

Friday is our grandson day! Jeff had been asking Grandpa John to take him to the fire station, so this afternoon John finished early and took him to see the trucks. All kids must love to be able to climb up and try out the trucks, Jeff was no exception.



Although John is no longer able to do much on the fire department, (since his accident where he broke his back almost 2 years ago), his locker and equipment are still there, so Jeff had fun trying on his hat too.

Thanks Grandpa John!!

War Babies Assemblage

This is a sad one, because it's every parents nightmare ... thinking of our sons and daughters (our babies) going off to war, and praying they come back alive and well, and soon,... and that we don't have to have a memorial like this one to them.



And here is the assemblage used in an installation of things I have... PEACE