Grandson Overnight Weekend...

We have all three grandsons (ages 9, 6, and 4) for a fun overnight until Sunday afternoon. They arrived about the middle of the afternoon today and I headed out with them to see if the nature trail nearby had been finished yet.





But NO luck...Still in disrepair. But, we managed to see some interesting things on our hike (like giant dried thistles, and dead mice..ewww). The boys had fun rolling down "Deadman's Hill" many times too! *L*



The boys thought it was spooky that a black sweatshirt had been hung on a pole along the trail, and the sign that was there was broken to bits ... so we decided not to go deep into the woods, just incase it was some kind of warning to "BEWARE". *S*





The boys also had fun at the playground at the top of Deadman's Hill...







After a long walk around town, we headed back home, rested for awhile, then went to see what treasures we could find at GoodWill and at the Dollar Store before coming home for baths, then pizza and fun.

Surprisingly the boys asked to go up to bed before 9 p.m. .. must have been all that fresh air and walking (or rolling down the hill over and over) that tired them out! *L* Either that, or they wanted to check out what they could get into in Kaine's room, since they were sleeping there tonite. But when I checked in on them, they were fast asleep within half an hour... ahhh, peace and quiet and rest time for Gramma!

Tomorrow is more fun!

Pedestal Art... getting it done...

My husband made me a pedestal loooong ago... and gave it to me for Christmas last year. It was actually a project he did for a customer who had these bases as bannisters for a stairway in an old house. He remade some for them, and did a great job!! I loved them so much I asked John to make me one to use as a pedestal... which he surprised me with, and added a top piece to place my art on. I like to distress my pieces, so I had spray painted it a ruby red, then sanded it down, and there is sat, on the back porch for months and months. I finally decided to stain it, and LOVE how it's turning out. I put a second coat of mahoghoney stain on it this morning, and I think I'll add a coat of polycrylic on it in a few days. It's going to look GREAT with some of my art on it, and it will match the old church altar rails I recently dumpster dived for and repainted and stained.







Here are some before and after photos from the project....






And here's the altar rail... It will go GREAT with some installations for shows~!

YES, I DO love this red distressed look!!

Autumn ... LOVE IT!!

My favorite season of the year...FALL, Autumn ... love the colors...love the weather...love the apples (cortland apples are my favorite!). I have such great memories of going to the apple orchard each year as a kid... and still LOVE going to orchards at this time of year.

I love the leaves, the colors they turn... we are suppose to get our first frost this weekend, so the colors will be even BETTER after that!
Here are some leaves that floated onto the back deck, that I stuck in the planter on the picnic table... aren't they gorgeous!

This afternoon, between doing work things, I stained the pedestal my husband made for me last year (I had painted it red, then sanded it to stain, but it has sat on the back porch for months now - finally got to it, I think it's going to match the old church altar rails I rescued from the dumpster a few weeks ago)... I want to put another coat of stain on it tomorrow... will post photos then... so far I LOVE how it's turning out.

A Whale of a Tale... and other treasures at GoodWill today...

After work, Kasey and I decided we needed to SHOP! Since I still have gift certificates from my birthday gifts to GoodWill, I told her I'd "treat" her to a shopping spree..*L*

I found this great tin whale there for under $5 - I don't know what I will do with it, but for that price how can one pass up a whale of a deal?!

I also found some table legs I'll use in an upcoming assemblage piece, and a cool glass bubbled paper weight.








Kasey found some cute tops, and an old, vintage, weathered chair for a future photo shoot (probably using it this weekend). After we got home, she took a 12 pack of Pepsi down to the garage where John was working and after sweet talking him, he re-glued the chair for her (while she drank his beer *L*). After the glue dries, by tomorrow, the chair will be good to go and ready for photo shoots!

A good day of GoodWill hunting for us both!

TOUCHDOWN!!! Yay Jake!!

Great game tonite, a playoff game and the Cougars WON!!

Grandson Jake had a good game as well. He stripped a ball from the opposing team, and ran it back for a touchdown!! Whooo hooo!

He had quite a few other good plays as well ... even on offense!



Proud Mom, Janel, congratulates Jake.. and Jake shows off some muscle (egged on by Aunt Kasey to do so), while proud Dad, John (also one of the coaches) looks on.
Gramma, Gramps & Aunt Kasey were proud of you too! x0x0x0

Keep it up Jake!! GO COUGARS...on to the next playoff game next week!

A Remake - Cleaning Up

Here is a piece I did a few years ago. I didn't like the background I had used, and it sat in the basement, collecting dust. (no pun intended, since there is a dustpan in the piece..*L*)

I had inspiration from another assemblage artist who used a crucifix and dustpan, I really liked that piece, but I added more things to the one I did, and I didn't like it so much.

So, I decided to redo this one. I took off the checkerboard background, and stained/painted the cross to match the dustpan more, and I switched out the corpus of Jesus, and added a dove (Holy Spirit) descending above Jesus. I kept the pieces of a globe in the dustpan. I have also decided not to post any kind of explanation as to what I intend to convey here...but to have people decide what it is they see in it.



I like this much better now ... but I am thinking I may use this, not as a separate piece, but in some kind of installation ... yet to come... we'll see.

A Myriad of Handicap Devices...

Okay... so, it appears I have started a collection of items used by those who, for whatever reason, have some kind of disability, and use these items to help in their lives. I, on ocassion, have used a couple of these myself... crutches, wheelchair.. and my husband has also used them (more than I have), crutches, wheelchair, walkers, canes, braces and more.

The most recent item I've come across is a lower leg prosthesis. I didn't paint the "dripping blood" on this one, it came that way, someone evidently had a sense of humor.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this ... although I was considering using it in my war chest installation assemblage.. but now that I have realized I have many such items, I may do an assemblage tribute to disabilities? Not sure, but it's an interesting idea to gather ideas for.



Here are some of my other items... I have a wooden cane collection that hangs on a coat rack in my hallway.



I also have a few wooden crutches ... and a couple of years ago, I bought this old wheelchair at an auction for a couple of dollars ... I would really love to use it somehow.





Sooo, any ideas out there? I'd be glad to hear some..thanks!

A Monk's Rosary Prayer Assemblage Remake - Take TWO...

A day ago I posted part of this... and I didn't really like how it turned out... so here is my second attempt at using some of the things I loved. Sometimes less is more ..so I took off some of the rosaries, the candle, the base it sat on, and switched them out. I like this a lot more now, but it may not be finished yet... sitting, pondering, and thinking of other ways to showcase some of these things.

I appreciated the comments from Robin and Maureen on the former try at it ... hope to hear what they and others think too.

Puffball Season - My Puffball Assemblage

A puffball is a member of any of a number of groups of fungus in the division Basidiomycota. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage.
Edibility and identification
While most puffballs are not poisonous, some often look similar to young agarics, especially the deadly Amanitas, such as the Death Cap mushroom. It is for this reason that all puffballs gathered in mushroom hunting should be cut in half lengthwise. Young puffballs in the edible stage have undifferentiated white flesh within; whereas the gills of immature Amanita mushrooms can be seen if they are closely examined.

The giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea reaches a foot or more in diameter, and is difficult to mistake for any other fungus. If collected before spores have formed, while the flesh is still white, it may be cooked as slices fried in butter, with a strong earthy, mushroom flavor.




My Dad often collects puffballs each year, in September usually. Ever since I was a kid I've loved them, and Dad often shares some with us when he finds them..this year was no exception, and my Mom brought a half of a large one over for us.
So, tonite we had puffball for dinner.

There are several ways we've eaten it before. Here is the half of the large one we had before cooking.





The way I cook them is slice them, cut off the outside skin of the puffball, dip them in an egg & milk mixture, coat with flour, and fry in butter. Depending on whether we'll eat them with syrup or just salt and pepper, I season them while they are cooking. (Not so much salt or pepper if they are going to be eaten like french toast, which they do taste like with syrup.)







So, here are some photos of the puffball cooked... plain, and some with syrup... YUMMM!!

This half of a puffball MORE than fed our family tonight, and believe it or not, sometimes there are puffballs that my Dad finds that are more than twice this size!

Puffball season around here is only a couple of weeks ... I remember, as a kid, going out in the woods, and kicking the puffballs, when they are past the time for eating, and the insides were dry, usually there is a cloud of spores that fly out of them when you kick them, and float all over the place.... a real mess, but fun to do as a kid. *L*

A Monk's Rosary Prayer Assemblage

So, I found a bottle, in the shape of a monk's robed body, and I found a wine bottle stopper that is a candle holder. I had several rosaries, and religious necklaces that I draped on it, and added some arms to the sides of the candle holders, a candle in the center and stood back, took a few photos ... and I don't think I like it.

It may be the background (I didn't take out my usual background, just used an old tablecloth, which I don't like), and my flash might have been part of it too, since I didn't have the item in a kind of photo box, and the elements I used with it too I don't particularly like.

I'll be letting it sit here for a few days, and hope to find some other inspiration perhaps? So much for my Thursday inspiration ...

Thank You Jesus ....

It's been a long day. I left at 5:40 a.m. to head over to our older son's home, to babysit our grandsons, get them up, fed, and on the bus ... while my son and daughter in law went to the local hospital for some needed same day knee surgery for son, John.

After playing with grandson, granddogs, washing up breakfast dishes, and almost missing the bus, along with the younger granddog almost jumping on the bus with the kids (LOL), I headed to the hospital to sit with our daughter-in-law, Janel, and wait for surgery to be completed.

It went well... around 9:45 the surgeon came out and told us he was happy with how it went, and there was no arthritis showing in the knee, and that the patient should be good to go home in about 2 hours. Thank you Lord!!

So, knowing the youngest grandson had to be picked up in an hour, I left Janel there and went back their house to wait for Jeff.

We then headed to the grocery store, to pick up items for lunch, dinner and snacks to help in the "recovery" of the patient and for all the family.

We made chicken noodle soup, purchased chicken legs and potatoe wedges for dinner (which the other grandsons had requested before they left for school), got things for grilled cheese sandwiches, which Jeff had requested for lunch, and headed back to their house to wait for the patient to get home.

They arrived about 12:30, and John was looking pretty tired, still doped up some, and after getting in the house with the newly acquired crutches, he went straight to bed. The patient certainly needed his sleep!

I went home for a few hours, then came back to babysit both son John, and two of our grandsons while Janel took the older grandson, Jake, to his football game, an hour away. John, who is one of the coaches for Jake's team was sorry to have to miss the last game of the season, but there was no way he could have gone. He rested off and on, did get up to eat some chicken and some ice cream, but then dozed off again.

The grandsons, Jeff and Josh were very good, as were Buck and Cooter, the granddogs..*G*

So, all went well... and great news was that Jake's team won their last game, 20 - 6, and Jake himself got an interception!! Hurrah Jake!! It made your Dad and Mom very, very happy!! ..and gramma and gramps here too!!

So, finally about 8 p.m. I got back home... a good day, and thankful for good results so far from the surgery... praying for a speedy recovery, and for all my "kids".... AMEN!

Amazing Auction Opportunity!! Beautiful Antique Organ at a steal...

Okay all you antique appreciaters, you KNOW you want this... so bid already!! *S*

Bidding Time Left: 1 days 10 hours +

HURRY!!! Only a short time left... shopgoodwill.com has a beautiful piece for sale, but the catch is, you have to pick it up in Indiana.

$152 bid and it's all YOURS!! Check it out at shopgoodwill.com

John's Project - Make an Altar & Remake Lecterns

Some of these materials that were removed from the Church during the ongoing renovations were to be used to make other things. John has been hired for that project. The old lectern will be used to make a new altar for the Chapel, and other parts of the half wall will be used to make two new lecterns.



So John loaded up the material and has been working on cutting down, remaking some parts, and putting things back together.

I can't wait to see the finished projects... but here are some photos of the work in progress. The altar base will be a kind of round one, to go in the center of the Chapel, it may also have a stone top to it, but that hasn't yet been decided for sure.




John will be using the top from the original lectern, and the posts from the walls to make another smaller lectern, then making another top for the second one too.

Scarecrow Fest... another Creation Sundae (on Saturday) Outreach

Today our Church participated in the community Scarecrow Fest by offering free ice cream sundaes. Creation Sundaes - we did this in August and it was such a big hit (gave away over 270 then), and we had leftover things to use from then, so we decided to do it again.



Unfortunately at first, the weather didn't cooperate, it was rainy and there were no people out, but then it cleared up and we served over 100 free ice cream sundaes. It was a lot of fun, and the 3 hours sped by... we even stayed open about 20 minutes longer because the crowds were still around. There were lots of nice comments, tons of thanks, and both kids and adults LOVED them!!



Our Creation Day people did a great job, and the outside "hawkers/barkers" did a great job of getting people to come in too! Each business, or individuals also can enter, does a scarecrow outside of their place. We did an "Adam" scarecrow to advertise the Creation Sundae Giveaway... people can vote on the one they like the best, and the winner gets a prize (not sure what the prize is this year?), but the contest runs until the 27th of Sept...so GO VOTE FOR US! *S* (Good job by the ladies who made our scarecrow this year!!)

Since our theme was Creation, I displayed my Adam(s) and Eve torsos, and used the refurbished altar rail for the first time too...it went well with the theme and between serving ice cream and chocolate syrup as the Day One of Creation person, I overheard some nice comments on the torso assemblages, so that was pretty cool too!



We had counted on giving away more sundaes than we did, so I have two pans of blue jello left... anyone want some jello?? FREE!! *L*

Mon petit (no, GRAND) chou...

Mon petit chou is a term of endearment in french... literally translated, it means, my little cabbage, but some references say it refers to a french pastry, not a cabbage as we know it... either way ... my reference is to the LARGE, GRAND cabbage that our grandson, Jake, grew for a school project.

Last school year, all of the third graders @ Clinton Elementary school were sent home with a cabbage plant through the "Bonnies Cabbage Plant" program. Each school district chooses one child's cabbage photo to be submitted for a $1,000 college scholarship. Jake's photo was selected for their district. There is one winner for each state. Jake's mom, Janel, says she only saw one other entry for Wisconsin on the Bonnie's Cabbage Plant site.

Wish Jake luck! You can check out his photo on the Bonnie's Cabbage Plant site also!

Congrats Jake!! You and your Dad seem to have the knack at growing giant produce!! You are a winner in our book!! xoxox