Ginny's Small Studio

Home Again, Home Again

At the stamp convention this weekend several people commented to me that with some people time can go by without any contact, but you see each other and it feels as no time has passed.  That is just how these big, old conventions go.  It was wonderful to see old friends with whom I have been a vendor many times at many conventions over the years.

It is always a wonderful treat to spend time with Chris and Mike Meador of Coffee Break Design and Judi and Rob of Judikins.  We enjoyed some good talks and lots of hugs.

 Karen Morikawa, Mary Jo McGraw and Elaine Madrid were fun to see again at Elaine's booth, too.

I hadn't seen Jackie (Inky Antics) or Michelle Cutts (Art Gone Wild) for a few years and we had a chance to catch up a little bit. 

And, of course, Tim (can't remember his last name, oh yeah...Holtz) is always in a good mood and fun to see again. Also good to see Mario and Ted and so many others that I have not seen in awhile since we have dropped out of the convention circuit.

Connie Williams and I go back a couple of decades.  Connie puts on a wonderful convention.  It is always well attended, well organized and fun.  Thanks Connie, for letting us participate. We had a great time all around.  Thanks too, to all the shoppers that came and spent time with us in our booth.  It was so much fun to chat and laugh and reminisce with all of you.

We had a good space at the show.  Following are a few pics of our booth:

It is good to be home. 

Just a couple of reminders:

We are still taking sign ups for the rest of the Small Studio Workshops.  

Small Studio Emporium and my Etsy shop will re-open later this week.

Road Trip

Wow!  Thank you for the kind comments and e-mails in reference to our 350 project art pieces.  You are the best, everyone of you!

At lunch today we were discussing who should rake the leaves that were falling like confetti all over our yard when it it occurred to us that the trees would be bare very soon. John was traveling the first two Fall seasons after we moved here, so this has really been his first Autumn in the East.  We quickly decided to take a road trip for the afternoon.  Keys? Check. Camera? Check.  Water? Check.  Map?  Don't be silly. John chose South, so off we went in the general direction of South. We drove side roads, of course, not major highways.

We saw more lovely old towns settled in the early and mid 1800s.

 

We drove through rolling hills with picturesque farms.

We dealt with the local traffic with good humor. If you click on the picture above, you can see two small faces solemnly looking back at us.

We found a parking spot in the crowded parking lot.

Our parking spot came without a shovel to clean up after our vehicle!

Home

Finally we are home after driving over 7,000 miles in the last 6 weeks.  First we drove to CA and back and then to FL and back.  Both trips were wonderful, full of family, exploring and shopping for vintage stuff. But we are happy to be in our own home again with our own bed and all our own stuff to amuse us.  

The last trip to FL was fun.  I got to spend quality time with Kurtis and Kelsey, my oldest grandkids. What great young people they are. Because they are my first grandkids, they have always been very, very special to me. Their mom and her significant other, Ted, couldn't have been better hosts. Love those two.  Tobey played tour guide and cooked some great meals.  Ted took John fishing multiple times. Everyone had a good time.

As always we stopped at every Antique Mall and brought home a trunk load of goodies.  It isn't a good feeling though when i see the stuff of my childhood being sold as vintage and antique.  The everyday dishes my mom used are everywhere.  The all-wood Fisher Price toys my kids played with are often in booths.  In one shop I spotted this dress below.

It was the same dress that I wore for my cousin's wedding when I was 12. I am the gawky girl on the right.

It makes me feel, shall we say, mature, too mature, to find my past for sale as vintage.

It is beginning to look like Fall here in OHio.  The trees are beginning to change color and the nights are chilly.  I love the Fall colors.  Be prepared to see more photos as the season progresses.

We partied over at son Tim's yesterday for his birthday and for his son Joey's birthday.  I have mentioned before what a wonderful family my daughter-in-law Karen has.  The generations all intermingle and enjoy each other just as they should.  We overflowed into the patio from the house and as it got chilly, Tim built a big fire in his fire pit.  He wasn't prepared to do this so everything that could burn was utilized.  I called it the recession fire.  It reminded me of photos of the depression when everything that wasn't absolutely essential was burned for warmth.

So now that things are back to normal here at the Smallenburg abode, I will be back to blogging more often.

Hunting and Gathering

Is there anything as wonderful as a stroll on the beach early in the morning before it gets clogged up with people?  This is the beach at our hotel in Redington Beach, FL.  Refreshing and rejuvinating.

There were two reasons for this trip: fishing for John and visiting family for me.  John was disappointed that he didn't catch the big fish he planned for, but spending a couple of days out on the water with fellow fishermen and catching smaller fish is still great fun.

Here is John, the great fish hunter:

Here is one unique thing he caught:

Can't tell what it is? It is a little otter who grabbed the hook, swam away and spit it out. It is definitely the first time (and surely the last) otter John has caught.  He did "catch" a good story though.

What did I catch?  I scored this large bucket full of good size clock innards for some assemblage work we plan to do.

Whilst Traveling Part One

We took another road trip this past week.  This time to Florida to visit more family and for a little fishing. John fished for fish and I fished for vintage goodies. It was a wonderful visit with my two oldest grandkids and their mom and bonus dad.   

Look at this wonderful 75 drawer unit.  It was from the US Patent Office and consisted of 5 stackable units.  If we could have fit it into the car, it would be mine right now. Unfortunately for me, in our choice of mode of transportation, gas efficiency won out over haul-ability. Next time.

This was the view from our hotel room.

The other side of the hotel looked out onto the Gulf.  It was lovely.

Here is number 1 granddaughter modeling her homecoming dance dress for me. Another lovely view.

 

We visited the Salvadore Dali museum in St Petersburg.  What a great museum with a wonderful tour full of information and interesting asides from the guide. No photos were allowed inside but outside they had some Dali inspired views.

Have you ever seen or tasted Dragonfruit?  #1 granddaughter is adventurous in every way and chose this for breakfast.  The outside of the fruit looks like a giant flower.  When the hard outer part is cut, the creamy interior is exposed for scooping. The black specks are little edible seeds.  It has a unique flavor, not sweet, not tart.

Really The End, But The Artsy Part

I thought I was done with the road trip, but alas, I am not.  I have a few odds and ends to tell you and show you that loosely comes under the heading of art or maybe not. Absolutely the best part of the trip for both of us was spending time with family  Usually when we go to CA we only stay a few days and there is just time to spend one day with each family unit and that is usually over a meal.  This time we got to see everyone in John's family several times mostly because of the wedding. On our last day in CA, John went golfing with his old buddies and I took a train from LA to Santa Barbara with John's sister. SB is a two hour train ride from the sweet little Spanish style Glendale train station.

Over the beautiful carved oak doors was a wonderful iron and glass window.

In Santa Barbara, as we walked out onto the pier for lunch overlooking the ocean (sigh), we sw this cool sand sculpture.

We also spent a day laughing (and eating) with my brothers and wives.  Sister-in-law Sheri prepared a huge Chinese feast with a great centerpiece.  She always makes great flower arrangements.

In another room was this tube with flowers in it sitting on a glass top table.

One day John and I went to visit Tamara and her store Zinnia. She has just moved a few doors down from her old store.  We were there on her 2nd day and although she wasn't completely moved in, the store promises to be just as full of character and goodies as her old store. If you are in S Cal, give her a visit.  

Tamara has great Halloween stuff.

The next photo has nothing to do with art, but it just amazes me.

What is so amazing about the Burbank Historical Society building? When I was 5-9 years old we lived in an old, old (for CA old) house that was probably built about 1900 and it sat on the very spot where the building above was built.  It is surrounded by the same less old (maybe circa 1930-1950) houses that surrounded our old house.  Does this make me special or just old?  Careful how you answer that!

Have you ever been to Grand Junction CO?  We arrived there early one evening to our downtown hotel to find a nice street fair going on right on the same street.  Grand Junction is lovely and obviously has a strong art community.  Every street corner had art sculptures on them, sometimes on all four corners of an intersection.  

This a sculpture of author Dalton Trumbeau who evidently wrote in the bathtub.  I am sure that had nothing to do with him being blacklisted in the McCarthy era.

I leave you with these words found on a window of a lovely little shop in Grand Junction:

Living with love and laughter is living rich and well.

End of the Road (Trip)

I think I was most amazed by the the wide open spaces we saw as we traveled along the highways. Yes, we saw miles and miles of corn fields and mile after mile of fields where the hay had been bundled up for the winter.  But there was also miles and miles of gently rolling hills and verdant valleys.  We were reminded of pictures from our childhood history books of the pioneers and their wagons trekking West.  I don't think it has changed much except the herds with thousands of buffalo have disappeared and so have the never-ending flocks of birds.  One is very aware of how small we are when confronted with these vast spaces.  It was beautiful and so varied in texture and flora.

In Nebraska, we were pleased to see wind farms everywhere. As I sit here by an open window enjoying the strong breeze that is ruffling everything on my desk, I wonder why it is taking so long for OH to get their wind turbines up and running.  It seems to be such an easy solution to energy needs.

Also in Nebraska, on just one day we saw easily 50 trains carrying coal East and South.  They were very long trains with 130 or more cars each.  Going in the other direction were just as many empty trains obviously going to fill up again. 

I might have mentioned how much fun we had stopping at as many antique stores and antique malls as we could fit into a day and still get to our evening destination.

I was thrilled to find good quality cabinet cards and many with families and couples including a handful of wedding couples.  I always look for cabinet cards wherever I go, but never find many of couples and seldom in such excellent condition.  I will be adding them to my etsy shop as soon as I can get organized.

I was surprised that I did not see any brass cow tags except in one shop.  After all, we were in cow country.

Look at this lovely collection of old postcards, cheese boxes, yardsticks and old printers' molds!  During one segment of the trip I read all the backs of the postcards to John.  He was captivated.  Well, maybe not captivated, just a captive audience.  

Give Me A Sign

Regular readers are aware that I really like signs and no matter how much you insist, I am not addicted to them.  No. No. No.  But I did spot some choice signs on my trip.

Anyone have any insight into the meaning of this sign we found on the side of a building in a tiny town?

Taco John's is a chain, but not in OH or CA or anywhere I have been before.  We never saw one during lunch time so I cannot recommend it, but John is taking credit for the whole chain.

I am totally behind this sign.

Big deal, you say, just a no diving sign.  Please note that the sign is placed on a deck over sand.  Ouch!

Our hotel in Burbank CA was near the Toluca Lake Bob's.  This particular Bob's is the oldest standing original Bob's restaurant built in 1949.  It was the place to see and be seen when John and I were teenagers. After a date, couples would cruise the drive-in area so everyone could see who your date was that night. Last time we were there a few years ago, Jay Leno was eating at the counter.  This time I happened to look up at the wall above our booth and saw this Beatles plaque.

More Road Trip

Oh, give me a home.......

This one belonged to Buffalo Bill Cody and was built in 1886 for $3900 originally.  It is quite pretty and sophisticated and sits on beautiful grounds. The house has 18 rooms!

Where the buffalo roam...

There was a herd of wild buffalo along one of the highways in South Dakota.  They surrounded the car in front of us and this one was grazing about 10 feet from the roadside.

I know we were acting like tourists, but then we were tourists. We even stopped at CARhenge just so you could savor some artistic talent.  See the sacrifices we make for our blog friends?

Road Trip Three

Often we took the old roads instead of the new highways. Scattered along the old roads were totally abandoned motor motels and other businesses from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Sometimes there were whole towns sitting alongside the old roads boarded up and deserted.

We traveled so many portions of the old roads on this trip and find that modernization and progress can be death to a community that depends on serving travelers who disappear onto the modern highways. John and I both traveled these roads when we were children with our respective families. They had character and were unique and yes, they often had awful facilities.  Which is better, the homogenized facilities of today that all look exactly alike or the small towns of yesterday that had personality? It is comforting to know that wherever we stop we can depend on the sameness of the Hampton Inn or the Appleby's and find a Target or Walmart to replenish what we have used.  But I remember there was something exciting about that small town called Top of the World where we were stranded with car trouble when I was just a little girl of maybe 7 or 8. The cafe owner let me serve the customers and paid me with nickels so my brother and I could give them to the trained brown bear so he would drink colored water.   John and I saw nothing like that on this trip.  Part of me is relieved and part of me longs for that diversity.

Road Trip Two

On our recent trip, we loved the route we took.  We drove along 80 E, then ventured North to Mount Rushmore.  John had been here before, but it was a first for me.  It was amazing. Since John had been there as a young kid, the dirt road has been replaced with a parking tower and a beautiful observation platform has been built. It now is a lovely monument.

As a child we lived in CA but my grandparents lived in NY.  We drove along Route 66 back in those days. My dad did all the driving and each trip he tried to beat his time from the previous trip.  We stopped to see nothing.  Now I am married to an explorer.

John was reminded of his family trips and tells a story from a summer that he and I were a "couple" in Jr High School.  John's family went on a six week camping trip across country.  At one of the stops, Rockerville, South Dakota, John saw a sign that announced an area called "Mistletoe Glen".  He was determined to bring me some mistletoe.  So the next morning he left the campground and took off into the woods.

He walked for hours looking up into the thick branches never finding any mistletoe.  Then he realized that it was getting late so he started back.  One problem.  He didn't know where back was.  So, as he tells the story, he was scared, but not panicked to be lost. He flipped a coin and went that way until he got to a dirt road where he flipped a coin again and eventually found the two lane highway and trudged back into camp just as it was getting dark.  His family hadn't even been concerned that he was gone! 

About a half hour after John told me this story we saw a sign to Rockerville and took the the small road. No longer on a main road, the campground, now abandoned was barely there.

The woods and the path in the previous photo was still there and so was the strip of souvenir shops and cafes, now abandoned.

 

I loved hearing this story about the young John and actually seeing the location of his story, but I didn't remember him ever telling me the story before.  John looked at me for a moment and then said that when he got back home that I had a new boyfriend so I never knew about his adventure.

House Guests

Daughter Amy and her kids are visiting for a couple of weeks.  Her husband will arrive tomorrow for the last part of their stay.  We have been very busy playing and enjoying each other's company.

We caught a jar full of lightening bugs or fireflies.  These are quite the novelty for the Nevada bunch.

We visited the local nature center which has a huge Bald Eagle that we were able to view quite close up.  It is much bigger than I expected.  Turtles were there in abundance which was the big hit with the kids.

We went to see "UP".  What a cute movie with a poignant back story.

We experienced a dramatic and sudden storm with lightening and thunder and a downpour which only lasted for about 45 minutes and then the sun came out for the rest of the day.

We made ticket bowls.

We have completed one 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and have started a new one.

We have had a cook-out at Uncle Tim's evidently so the cousins could have a squirt gun fight and get everyone soaking wet.  Great fun.

Today the Nevada bunch took off for The Renaisance Faire and I will spend the afternoon adding new stuff to my etsy shop while it is quiet and calm here.

All-American Weekend

YESTERDAY

Our 4th of July weekend was a little bit out of the ordinary for me.  Our grandson, Joey, had a three baseball game tournament on Saturday, so the family barbeque was rescheduled for today, Sunday. The lakeside park where he played was full of families watching the many baseball games.  In another part of the park, there was a carnival with music floating through the air and the sounds of kids laughing and shrieking with delight.  Food and drinks were shared among the families gathered on the grass to watch our team.  It was fun being there and it was a nice breezy day.  Afterwards we came to our house (we live the closest to the park) and ordered pizzas since this was not pre-planned.  Joey had a couple of friends with him and they were quite impressed that a famous football player lived across the street from his grandma.  So, off they trudged with paper and pen in hand to get autographs.  I wish I had filmed it.  They were striding along confidently.  That is until they got to his door and then the pushing started, each kid encouraging another to be the one to knock on the door.  They came back too shy to finish their task.  I said to them that they had two choices.  They could tell their friends that they went to get an autograph, but chickened out.  Or they could tell their friends that they knocked on HIS door.  They discussed it and then back they marched.  Unfortunately he did not answer his door even though the kids could see there were people inside.  They were both relieved and disappointed.  It was pretty cute and the evening sitting out around a patio table laughing and talking made me quite happy.

TODAY

Is there anything sweeter than the head of an almost two year old?

 

The official 4th of July barbeque took place at my son's house.  He has a big backyard full of things for the kids to do.  Weather was perfect, the kids were happy and the food was traditional and yummy.

Here is the annual photo of the kids in their red, white and blue.

Here is a photo of the moms trying to get the little ones to smile.

It was such a beautiful early evening we decided to forego the highways. Our ride home took us through backroads and old towns and farmlands.  The normal 40 minute drive took us almost two hours, but it was so wonderful to drive along with the windows rolled down and the fresh air in our faces.  I even had my camera with me so I could share this wonderful old tumbledown barn with perfect patina.

Is it a sign of recession or the natural progression of things?

And what about this mailbox?  Is the owner just thrifty or down on his luck?

I hope your holiday was wonderful.

One Tank Trip/Coffee Break Design.

It surprised me to discover that it was less than a tank of gas from our house to Indianapolis where Coffee Break Design's warehouse is located.  Mike and Chris invited us down for a few days.  

It was time for the annual CBD warehouse sale.  There was quite a crowd and bargains beyond belief. Mike is a collector of stuff and if one of something is good, a thousand of something is better.  He was ready to make room for new finds and the shoppers were happy to help.  I had a great time visiting with some old friends: Gaye Medbury, Marilyn Werst and Pat Pleacher (see her blog link on the left).

I have known Mike and Chris for a decade or two, but had never been to the warehouse.  Mike has some interesting things like this antique perforating machine.  Mike has made many quirky sheets of faux postage stamps over the years and perforated them on this machine.  

While we were there we went to a gallery opening of one of Mike's good friends, artist Mike Altman. You will like his colorful art.  Go have a look.  He was really a nice guy too and funny. The building itself was interesting with this elaborate mural on the side.

We had such a great time catching up with Mike and Chris and their son, Andy. They are a kind, very generous, fun and loving couple.  Before dinner Friday night, Mike took us on a driving tour of all the highlights of Indianapolis.  What a beautiful city with so many parks and century old (and older) buildings and monuments.  It is really lovely there.  We even found another "Virginia" sign for my photo collection:

The other day I mentioned how John and I are fascinated with all the old barns in this area, especially the ones that are sliding back into nature.  We finally found one in a place where we could stop and photograph it.  Click on the photo to see it better.  You can always click on my photos to enlarge.

We drove back today along one of the rural routes that runs parallel to the Maumee River and found this old railroad bridge built over a hundred years ago.  The historical marker said that the rock was believed to be sacred by the native Indians who lived in the area and they held important meetings there.  There was a grea deal of controversy when the bridge infringed on this hallowed rock. The river also boasts some locks from the era of the Erie Canal which was the first planned transportation route in the US.. Construction of the canal from NY to Ohio began in 1817. The canal towpath is still there. 

The battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) was fought near here.  So much history remains in this part of the country and it is still undeveloped enough that the imagination can visualize what the settlers may have endured.

It was a great few days.  Thank you so much Mike and Chris!

Missing You

John and I have been busy doing nothing important, but we have been busy.  We have been puttering when we can in the garden planting and doing some tidying up.  We had three days of dramatic weather with thunder, lightning and heavy, heavy rain.  John loves the drama of Eastern storms after living in CA all his life. The sky gets dark and ominous, maybe even looks a bit yellow or greenish. Often we will get a big burst of wind and then the rain comes down.  Our tender spring flowers have been beaten down and sit in soggy beds. Valiantly they struggle to lift their heads when the sun shines through which it does part of the day, but not long enough to dry everything out.

Medina Town Square

Today we had errands to run which took us down to Medina about an hour away.  Medina is one of those wonderful old towns with interesting architecture surrounding a village green with flowers and benches.  They sure knew how to build towns a hundred plus years ago.  Each building, mostly brick, has it's own distinct personality.  The streets radiating out from the town square have lovely, well maintained old homes with front porches and big shade trees. Medina seems to be hanging in there, too.  We did not notice any empty storefronts in spite of the recession and the fairly new shopping center with all the big box stores on the town border.  People were walking in pairs and threes chatting on the sidewalks and sitting on the benches reading or just admiring the small town ambiance.  It is a real town, not a tourist place.  It appeared to me that the town was built to attract interaction with the houses (and those big welcoming porches) fairly close to the sidewalks.  The sign as you enter town states that it was founded in 1816 as part of the Western Connecticut Reserve.  In the mid 1800s it became known as the center for beehive manufacturing.  In fact the first manufacturer was A.I. Root who made beehives originally, but remains a viable company today manufacturing candles.

Just outside the town, the area reverts back to rural America with small farms, beautiful old barns and winding, tree shaded streets.  We love the barns, some still in use and some leaning and deteriorating, gracefully giving up their useful life.  I keep forgetting to bring my camera on these errand outings. The photo above is from the Medina website. I have been married to John long enough to know that we will avoid the freeways and major highways on purpose.  He prefers to explore and take a different route every time we go anyplace. Our hour drive home took us almost two hours due to many serendipitous turns and new (to us) roads.  

I told you we have been busy doing nothing, but enjoying our days immensely.

Below the Mason -Dixon Line

Guess what!  I have been on a road trip since Thursday.  You may have thought I was here since I have blogged every day, but I figured out how to do my blogs ahead and post them while I was gone.  I am so proud of myself.  We are home now, unpacked and relaxed.

My son Wes and his family live in Virginia and he works mostly at the Pentagon.  He invited us down for a tour and a visit. Neither John nor I had been to DC in years.  I had only driven through Virginia in the past.  What a beautiful part of our country.  And since my name is legally Virginia, I feel a connection. I love the signs that remind me to buckle up.  I am sure they are meant for me alone.

We were fortunate to have a private tour of the Pentagon on Friday.  It is fascinating, huge and has great exhibits.  It must be amazing to work here where history is being made every day. We also saw the very moving 9-11 memorial that was just recently completed on the side of the Pentagon where the plane crashed into the building.  

The Spy Museum was a definite must for all of us who imagine ourselves doing all kinds of secret agent stuff.  The children loved it because it was interactive.  They crawled through air ducts to spy on the people below, they found targets on special computers, they listened in on secret conversations and many other activities.  John and I loved the history aspect of it.  The gift shop was fun and very unique. T-shirts for the kids, coffee mugs for John and a collection of odd bits for me.

It was great to observe 7 yr old Rachel's gymnastic class, twin brother Ryan's soccer game (he scored one of the goals!) and talk to Alli, the oldest of the kids.  

Daughter-in-law Wendy took us on a whirlwind tour of the monuments and historic King street.  We even managed a quick trip to Ikea.  We had a lovely visit in spite of the 101F heat on Saturday in DC.

On the ride home, John and I decided to take scenic route 40 and several of the historic by-passes.  It was jam packed with great old houses, tumble down barns, quaint churches and beautiful old buildings.

Whenever we go on road trips, it seems as though we see many abandoned old farm houses.  We always wonder how they came to be abandoned instead of sold or repaired or handed down to some relative. There really are so many to be seen.  Often they look as though they were once pretty little houses with big shade trees planted to guard them.    

It was a wonderful weekend.  What did you do this past weekend?

Telephone Game

Today is my birthday.  All day I have been playing telephone tag with family.  There are just too many ways for them to contact me and each one seems to be exactly where I am not when they try.  They get credit for trying.  I was really touched that John's son and his fiance called early this morning.  It was early for them since they are in CA and we are a few time zones later.  It was a really nice phone call.

John declared that since it was my day, we would do anything I wanted.  So we took another one tank day trip.  This time we traveled to Ann Arbor Michigan.  Ann Arbor is an interesting old town (1810) with great architecture and lots and lots of arty shops, great restaurants and all walkable.  

First stop was Hollander's, of course.  John had not been there before and as a former art teacher, he found the selection of decorative and handmade papers as fascinating as I do. We spent almost two hours in there and bought paper, a few books and some wonderful stationery.  

After a good lunch, we wandered around, enjoying the different shops and the freedom of enough warmth that we didn't need our jackets.  We ended up back at a shop near our car.  Called "Found", it specializes in vintage goods more for creating than just having and unique items made from found objects.  It is a small store but is beautifully designed to keep you there for awhile.  There are a number nooks and crannys.  There are many large vintage units with drawers.  Each drawer has the contents labeled and the customer is encouraged to forage.  There is product high and low, hanging, stacked and carefully staged.  All together it is very appealing.  John insisted on buying me a few Sally Jean baubles and a Sally jean knock-off.

I love them all, especially the little chef which I think will hang from something in my kitchen.  I am still walking around holding it up here and there looking for the perfect spot.

On the way home I was thinking about some of the pieces of artwork I saw in "Found" and was reminded of how inspiration should work.  It should be like that children's game called Telephone. Remember how the first person would whisper a phrase into the next person's ear and it would be repeated around the group.  When the last person said the phrase it was never anything like the original, but had morphed into something different as interpreted by each player as they listened and then repeated.  That is how inspiration should work.  As each person sees it, they should interpret it in their own way until the finished project only remotely resembles the original inspiration piece.  

Few can replicate the workmanship of the Sally Jean pieces, but the knock-offs I saw today really tried to replicate the art.  

I know I have been slow in adding blog entries the last two weeks, but remember when I said "those who can, create and those who can't re-organize"?  Well, lately I have been the latter. I have spent the last week or more using my afternoons to re-organize my art room.  It required emptying all the cabinets and drawers on one side of the room.  It required John's help to move the storage units around and it required putting everything back.  John suggested bolting the inexpensive white storage units together to give them more stability.  When he finished that little chore, I thanked him and told him it was a perfect solution.  He laughed and said it was perfect for him because they could no longer be moved around!

I moved the black unit down to the end of the wall and put all the white units together along with a tower of drawer units that had been scattered throughout the studio.  This configuration has a more cohesive look, gives me a long counter and all supplies are now right together and all will be labeled. It also allows a few more inches behind that side of my long table for pulling out the drawers, opening doors and pulling out the chairs at the table.  

Now maybe, just maybe I can settle down to some inspired art work and play.  Thank you for all your excellent solutions to creative dry spells.

One Tank Trip

Yesterday morning.  9AM.  Somewhere in OHio.

John who just walked into the house:  I just filled up the car with a free tank of gas! (Ed. Note:  Our grocery store gives credit towards gas with each purchase)

Me running down stairs to greet the conquering hero: That's great!

John who has been suffering from cabin fever:  Where can we go on one tank of gas?

The map book came out.  The possibilities were discussed.  A decision was made.  It took us about 10 minutes to pack an overnight bag, close up the house and be on our way.  Road trip!  

This is the view from our hotel room.  I took the photo right after we arrived in the afternoon.  It was gloomy, but we had this fabulous view of Niagara Falls.

Horseshoe Falls on the right of us.

American Falls to the left of us.

I have been wanting to see the falls frozen, but it has been unseasonable warm there this week, about 54F.  We took a walk, had a lovely dinner and visited the Casino.

We were lulled to sleep by the soft roar of the falls.  Loved it.  I couldn't wait to see the falls in the morning to take more pictures.  We woke to complete fog.  The falls had disappeared overnight.

We explored a bit and drove back home.  It was a lovely, spontaneous little one tank of gas trip.

Niagara Falls Tidbits:

1.5 million bathtubs of water flows over the falls each minute

20 million visitors a year

The water comes from Lake Erie naturally with 90% of the water flowing over the Falls while the other 10% is harnessed for energy.

Sam Patch is the first recorded daredevil to go over the falls.  He dove in from an 85' platform in 1829 and survived.

Annie Taylor was the 1st person to go over the falls in a barrel.  She was seeking fame and fortune. She survived and became famous but died in poverty.

Christmas Road Trip

Regular readers know how much we love road trips.  And family gatherings.  And being together.  

We did all that and more this holiday.  We flew to Las Vegas on the 23rd to have Christmas with my daughter and her family.  Christmas eve was wonderful with the three grandchildren, Arthur, Amy  and Amy's excellent meal. The kids were cute and excited and presented us with a little Christmas program that they had worked out.

Christmas morning we drove out to Los Angeles, experiencing 50 mph winds, driving rain, fog, and heavy traffic.  It didn't matter much because at the end of the drive we had Christmas with John's siblings and celebrated John's mother's 93rd birthday.  She looked wonderful and very happy to have her kids and grandkids around her.  Another wonderful meal, gifts and then we got John's mom to tell us stories about her childhood.  She had a rather eccentric mother so the stories were particularly fascinating.  

The day after Christmas was beautiful, sunny, clear and warm.  

This is the view from our hotel balcony in Pasadena.  If you click on the photo, you can see a distant snow covered mountain peak.  It might be Mt Baldy, but I am not sure.  Here in Ohio, we have no leaves, no color, no warmth.  It was so nice to walk around Old Pasadena and see sidewalk tables filled with customers and no one wearing heavy jackets with hunched up shoulders braving cold winds.

We had breakfast with John's kids and then we walked around the shops in Old Pasadena.  The city had already erected the stands for the Rose Parade.  They fit them in wherever there is a bit of room.

See the stands tucked into the entrance to this lovely old church?  Note the Port-a-Potties on the side street.  Quite a contrast to the lovely church architecture, isn't it?  This scene is repeated all through the parade route.

Californians are always in a hurry.  We know this, but the sign below still made us laugh.

All over CA, we saw these signs on the freeways.  I can't believe people have to be told.  My next thought is to ask how many accidents were attributed to this to cause a law to be enacted.

We had a great time with John's siblings and spouses at PF Chang's.  We laughed, we ate, we laughed, we talked, we ate, we laughed.  It was pretty darn fun.  I always tell John that there just isn't enough Chinese food in our marriage.

I managed a quick stop at my friend Tamara's store, Zinnia in Pasadena.  I had not seen it since she expanded.  She has such a flair for the unusual both in store decor and product.  If we hadn't been flying home, I would have bought one (maybe two) of everything. Go visit her as soon as you can.

Our last of our four Christmas celebrations was at my brother Doug's home.  Leslie is the best cook and baker.  It was just wonderful being with my brothers and their wives.  I miss them so much.  They make me laugh all the time with their elaborate stories.  I still can't get over flowers in December. This rose is on Leslie's front walk.

Driving back to Las Vegas where John won as much money as I lost (see, we are the perfect fit), we stopped in Baker for a cold drink and I finally got a photo of this well-known stop.

Baker is a town in the desert of California.  It is out in the middle of nowhere and consists of a long block of gas stations, restaurants and one motel.  I always wonder where the people who work at these businesses live.  

It is good to be home.  Three hotels in 7 days is tiring, but we loved our time with family and friends. We enjoyed the weather in CA and we were re-astonished at the CA traffic.  It snowed last night. We're home.

Halloween

This is not a Halloween joke.  This morning at the Costco gas pump:

Neither John nor I can remember when gas was this low before.  I think it has been years.  Can anyone else remember when it was?

Last night was Trick or Treating time in our town.  I don't know why, but it was.  Remember a few months ago, I mentioned that we seldom see kids outside playing in our neighborhood?  Well, they were out en masse last night. There were packs of 10-15 kids at a time marching up the street and up our walkway in their elaborate costumes.  Even the parents seemed to be in the spirit with wigs and even a few costumes.  Tonight is Trick or Treating time in the neighborhoods east of us.  We will be over at the other grandparent's house sitting on their big, wide front porch, sipping warming drinks and doling out candy to the hundreds of kids in that neighborhood.  Our shared grandboys will be there and all their cousins and parents.  It is a tradition and it is as much fun for the adults as the kids.

When I was a little girl, I had two aunts who were professional seamstresses.  They always made my costumes and the two of them were very competitive. Lucky me!  The earliest costume I remember was a one-piece bunny suit, complete with floppy ears.  My favorite, though, was a red flamenco dancer's costume with rows and rows of polka dot ruffles and a very satisfying long and twirly skirt. I can remember how beautiful I felt walking down the street, swishing and twirling, much to my older brothers' embarrassment. 

Remember the trepidation after ringing the doorbell at an unfamiliar house? Would they give us candy? Would it be good candy?  Would they smile and comment on our beautiful costumes or just hand out the candy without even a glance? My dad was always the parent who walked with us.  We always stopped at our own house last. We would ring the bell and when my mom came to the door with the basket of candy, we would shout "Trick or Treat", take the candy and then dissolve into giggles because we were sure she didn't recognize her own children.

We were in Cleveland yesterday and crossed over a wonderful old bridge.  Why don't "they" construct things like this anymore?  Or do we not notice the beauty around us?  I think it is the former. Back in the day, they understood the need for beauty in the everyday, ordinary things.  There are so many beautiful buildings in Cleveland, in every older town, really.  Is the cost that different?  I wonder.

Have fun tonight.  Be safe.

Joy Ride

John had a mission to find a particular piece of equipment for his Mexican fishing foray coming up next month.  He had information that there was a store in Strongsville that carried this had-to-have item. So, off we drove, on surface streets, of course, to find this shop.  I took my camera just in case there were some autumn photo ops.

Our drive took us through Olmsted Falls.  At the heart of Olmsted Falls is the downtown historic area called Grand Junction which is adorable and where there is a preserved covered bridge.  It was John's first honest to goodness covered bridge.  He was excited.  Maybe you can tell.

It is so much fun to see all of this again through his new and excited eyes.  

People keep asking john why he would want to move out of CA to Ohio.  The next few photos might explain why.

We stopped at Chipolte for lunch.  I may be the only person around who has never been to Chipolte. If you haven't, it is a burrito buffet.  You pick what you want in it as the server makes it.  Easy to get carried away.  But the cool thing is the minimalist industrial decor.  I liked the wood and metal wall art, too.

I was a bit disappointed that we did not see the perfect fall color to share with you.  I actually think the best color was in our backyard.

Or maybe in front of our house.

The house you see across from ours belongs to a very popular Cleveland Browns football player.  He often has company and the street will be full of SUVs.  One of these days, I want to go over with jerseys and have them sign them for my grandboys, but I don't think I have the nerve.  

I don't want to discuss politics, but I have to voice my displeasure at the very ugly campaign the Republicans are running.  Shame, shame, shame  on them.  

My Art Room Today

I mentioned our Ikea trip last week on here and our purchase of a drawer unit and a work table.  We are still waiting for the replacement work table.  In the meantime, here is a photo of part of my art room as it looks today.  Putting in the new storage unit required some rearranging and moving about of my current storage areas.  I moved two tall wire drawer units into the closet.  They just fit...except the knobs on the doors prevented me from opening two of the drawers!  So, we added new knobs up high.  I love these Anthropologie black and white knobs.  The knobs work just fine in the new position.

Then I had to move the two small drawer units out of the closet and onto one of my cabinets.

My new drawer unit just fits under the slanty wall that gives me so much of a challenge.  It sticks out just enough so that I do not hit my head when I stand in front of it.

The unit is called the Varde and comes with cabinets, drawers or a combination.  It is almost 5 feet wide, standard kitchen counter height and depth.  It has to be assembled which is not difficult but very time consuming.  Once put together, it is really sturdy with strong, easy rolling drawers.  I am very happy with it.   When the table comes, I will do a photo of the whole room.

Here is a heads up for the Keith Lo Bue October tour that I helped him put together.

October 3-4-5  So Pasadena CA @ Zinnia 

This is his first teaching engagement in the Los Angeles area.  (Thank you, Jenny for the correction.)

October 7-8-9 Portland with Michael deMeng

October 11-12 Topfield, MA @ Absolutely Everything

October 14-15 Savage, MD @ Queens Ink

Contact the individual stores for workshop information.

Lastly, I wanted to show you a stock photo of Le Grand Place, the center of the old city of Brussels, Belgium. Every year at this time they create a carpet of fresh flowers.  Three years ago, John and I were there for our honeymoon and they were just beginning to set it up.  We missed the finished carpet.  Amazing, isn't it?

I Love Ohio

John wanted to run over to our favorite vintage hardware store today.  We are looking for one or more large, old hooks or something that we can repurpose into a cool, old hook.  No luck.  The guy told us that hooks are really popular right now and he never finds them anymore.  He went on forever about lost opportunities in the old hook realm of the world.  

We do love to look through the wonderful collection of of old hardware at this antique store.  It is really amazing.  Look at the doorknob backing plates below.  They run between $10 and $50.

Look at the knobs!

We took a different route home (as usual when John the explorer is driving) and came across this interesting mural on the side of an old building.  I am not sure why there are chickens, but there they are.

A few more blocks and we ran right into the famous West Side Market that several of you told me about when I was ranting on about our local farm stand carrying produce from Honduras, Mexico and Chile.  We have been meaning to get over to the West Side Market, but just had not made the trip.  It is in a wonderful old brick building with a clock tower.  Easy parking made the stop a sure thing.  It was lunch time so we decided to eat at the cafe before shopping (always a good idea).  After a terrific lunch we shopped and browsed the two long side-by-side buildings.

One building houses dozens of butchers, cheese stalls and bakery stalls.  The other is all produce, mostly local grown, USA grown with just a fraction imported.  Look at the brick ceiling.  I apologize for the blurry people, but I was going after the ceiling.

Photo above, I have titled "Summer!"  Below is the smiling produce man at the Calabreze Produce stand.  

This next photo is for my brother Doug who loves Rainier Cherries.  These sweet, plump beauties were $2.50 lb!!!  C'mon over.  We will save you some, Doug.

We finished the exploration up, sharing a delicious Cannoli that was every bit as good as my Italian aunt used to make.

We were only gone a few hours, had only gone driven about 15 miles, but felt as if we had traveled far from home.  I love the diversity of Ohio and love our little mini vacations.

Chagrin Falls

Sounds like a cable television mini series, doesn't it?  Chagrin Falls, about 30 miles east of where we live, was incorporated about 1840.  It is as sweet as a movie set of Small Town USA.  There is a small waterfall and a larger waterfall right in the heart of the village.  Click on the image to see the full picture.

The entire town was full of hanging pots of flowers, blooming beds of flowers and patriotic flags and bunting.

The bunting was made in the USA.

Have you heard that one of our congressmen has introduced a bill to have all American flags that fly over government buildings be made in the US and not China?

The town is small, but, oh so quaint.  We decided to take a drive over there today for a little day-vacation to explore and have lunch.  We had such a lovely day strolling from shop to shop.  My very favorite was a small shop called "Chic Stash".  It was full of antiques, vintage goods and treasures.  One wall is covered with yellowing pages of old books while another has woven player piano music on it.  Some display cases were covered in sheet music and just everything was displayed in a very inviting way.

There was even a tiny little bakery in the front corner of the shop with creative and delicious (we were offered samples) cakes, cookies and cupcakes.

The staff was very friendly and helpful.  If you live in the area be sure to check this little gem out.

So there we were...

We just returned from a 10 day trip to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  The main reason was to attend bonus son John's engagement party to his long-time girlfriend, Jessie.  It was held in one of those wonderful old Mission style homes in South Pasadena.  Beautiful wooden moldings, gracious sized (read really large) rooms and wonderful details.  A good time was had by all.  We visited my brothers, bonus daughter Kate and John's mom and siblings.  Even managed a quick stop at Zinnia's to visit my friend Tamara.  

We were astonished at the price of gas in LA.  This photo was taken the first day.  The price went even higher before we left.  My brother asked me not to mention the smog or the dryness of the hills, so I won't point out the smoggy mountains in the background of the photo above.

One morning we had a few hours so we stopped by the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  It is a wonderful mid-size art museum with a great sculpture garden.  The photo below is a Henry Moore sculpture.

While in Vegas, we had dinner with my daughter Amy and her family and her charming father-in-law who was visiting from the Netherlands.  Everything was pretty busy and scheduled.  John had his annual Primm golf tourney with his old buddies for a few days.  Again, one morning we had some free time and went over to the Bellagio to see The Modernists. a show about Georgia O'Keefe and her art cronies.  There was a wonderful documentary film shown on a continuous loop about Georgia O'Keefe and her work and many of her pieces were displayed.  

The Bellagio has an ever-changing garden in the conservatory.  It is always imaginative and perfect. Plus the Bellagio has the beautiful Dale Chihuly glass ceiling.  

The week was full of family, art and friends.  Perfect!  Oh, and did I mention sister-in-law Leslie's mouth-watering Mocha Cheesecake?