Hidden Messages

Hi to everyone who has been patiently waiting for me to reply to their comments. I just found them all! I thought nobody was following my blog anymore - not that I'd blame them. I haven't been blogging much lately.
anyway - I'm not sure what happened, but something changed in my blog settings and all my comments were put into a folder and considered spam by blogspot. I'm so glad I found them and I think I fixed the setting. I hope someone will comment so I can see that it is working again. I'm so sorry... I hope you haven't given up on me.

I found another picture from Cindy and Lon's wedding that I thought you might like to see. It looks pretty good in small image.

And, here's one of Bob that I took last Saturday. We were out to breakfast, talking about the great time we had at 'Tracy Fest' the night before. We celebrated Scott Tracy's (10-5) and Bob's (10-6) birthdays with family - lots of family.- about 30. Bob's brother and sister-in-laws family were almost all present (13 little kids under 5 included) as were Bob's, less 3. We had a great time at Pal Joeys in West Chicago and our waitress was amazing! Wish I knew her name.

If you notice a halo over Bob's head - I didn't put it there. You can draw you own conclusions. LOL

Cindy and Lon were married last Saturday, September 17, 2011

Cindy is Bob's younger daughter. She and Lon planned an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect! It was held at Lilacia Park in Lombard at 4 p.m.
There was a pond with a fountain behind them and a beautiful green lawn filled with white chairs in front of them.

Above is some of the group at the rehearsal Thursday evening. It was chilly and damp, but everyone was smiling.

They cleaned up well, didn't they?

Cindy and Lon with their three sons and Jean, after the sand ceremony.

Juliana and Jacob (in foreground) at the reception.

Ryan with Lucky Cooper, the ring bearer, wearing the collar and tie I made for him. (See earlier post.)

Arcadia, Michigan August 2011

 

I'd been there before, but not in a long time. And then, we drove right through and out to my SIL's farmette on Joyfield Road. We'd visited Frankfort, and - I think - Beulah, but not Arcadia. Since my niece and nephew and families live in Arcadia, it was time. Arcadia is a lovely, friendly, very compact, small town. I'm not sure but I'm guessing it's about 9 square blocks. They had told me that things were 'close' but I had no idea... For example, I have been sending packages by UPS, and the Post office is right across the street!! Closer that my car in our parking lot! The two families' homes are 2 blocks apart.

Anyway, my Mom and I were there to see everyone, and to celebrate Lauren's 5th birthday. Lauren is the little cutie shown earlier in this blog, named 'little miss independent'.
The picture shows (l to r) my grand nephew Oliver his Dad, my nephew Alex, grand niece Janey, GiGi (my Mom), my niece Hilary and grand niece Lauren.

Dog ring bearer collar and tie

Two of my favorite people are getting married. Bob's daughter Cindy and her fiance' Lon. Lon's Boarder Collie  'Lucky' is going to be the ring bearer. Cindy asked if I could make 'something' for him to help him carry the rings. This is what I came up with. The bridal party will be wearing navy blue, too. The ceremony will be in a beautiful park setting.

Spring is (finally) Here! Next week, it will be Summer (sigh)

This morning when I opened our garage door, this was my view. Beautiful, isn't it? I love the flowering trees and tulips. Soooo pretty!

My DIL 'Martha Stewart'

Kim, my favorite daughter-in-law, is amazing! She is an R.N.; she manages the employee health department at CDH; she and Tom grow crops on a farm-ette; raise bees; have a huge garden, two great dogs and two great, grown up boys! There's more - Kim is a Master Gardner, and Card Maker extrordinaire. She's also a wonderful cook and hostess. I could go on and on, but I won't. 

Here are a few pictures. Eggs from the farm, that are almost to beautiful to eat, and my Kim-made Mother's Day card.

One of my favorite pictures of Kim and Tom. I call it their 'yearbook' picture - don't ask me why.

Wonderful Mother's Day

My beautiful Amy hosted our family celebration and every one had a great time. My favorite daughter-in-law Kim, made a delicious strawberry salad with home grown spinach, feta and her own dressing. I call her 'Martha'. Tommy had to work - his shift has worked every holiday lately! I hope that changes soon. My Mom will be 91 in a few weeks! She's still driving and has a cute condo in Wood Dale where she enjoys the pool and visiting with her neighbors.
I 'borrowed' these pictures from Amy's blog because we haven't downloaded ours yet. There may be more coming.

Amy's house is all fixed thanks to her friend Mike. The previous 'tenant' really damaged the kitchen and other areas, so it's wonderful to see it back to it's 'best' and then some. Thanks, Mike! You do good work!!

Final Frog Purse

Finally finished! Frog Purse - just in time for Spring. I've had a customer waiting for this so I'm glad to be finished. Designing takes time. Pattern is ready. Phew!

Florida Carriage Museum

http://www.fcmr.org/wordpress/

While visiting our friends in The Villages we had a special outing - a surprise visit to the Carriage Museum in neighboring Weirsdale. The grounds are absolutely beautiful - a former horse farm with acres of green grass and beautiful rolling lawns. The link to their web-site is above.

I'm including a few pictures of my favorite carriages, plus one modern interpretation for Joey. The carriages are amazing and go back to Roman Chariots and even earlier. This is a visit I'd recommend to anyone in the area, or traveling to central Florida.
The front yard of the Carriage Museum.

View from the front porch of the Carriage Museum

Carriage of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria circa 1850. It has been completely restored, including real gold appointments.

Opera Carriage. They have a carriage for everything, but I can't imagine people changed Carriages for their various activities.

Wedding Carriage

A horseless carriage? Wouldn't you love to go on a picnic in this?

And for Joey, a brand new Hummer, modified to be pulled by horses. Some artists statement...

The reason I've been MIA

Well yes, for those who didn't notice - I've been away. Did the Envisions show, then spent an intense few days including Sunday working to get the new web site finished and usable so Joey could up-load it. YES!! There are still a few little 'defugelties', but it works. Only took 2 years for the web guy and another few months for me to 'populate it' and learn how. phew!

Departure from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Took off Wed. morning very early (6 ish) and I tried not to wake up 'til we reached mid-Indiana. We drove to Atlanta, then drove to Ocalla on Thursday. Friday morning we drove to Ft. Lauderdale and boarded the Carnival Miracle. It's the perfect size cruise ship (not too big) and we had a great cabin. It was unusual because it was a 'handicap accessible cabin' which meant that it was BIGGER. It had a very nice balcony, too. Oh, and it had alarms all over the place! We found all but one. Casey, our cabin stuard was very patient with us. Thank God, we didn't pull the one in the bathroom! Actually, one was positioned right over the headboard on the bead, so it was hard to miss, if you raised your arms. We learned not to raise our arms. Another one, positioned right outside the door (like a door bell) made noise like a smoke alarm and flashed a bright light. We didn't set that one off - someone passing by pushed the button, which we later realized is a door bell.

Bob, enjoying our little balcony. He liked sitting out there.

Street scenes in Curacao (pronounced cure-a-sow). We stopped in the little restaurant on the left, for beverages and free wi-fi. Needless to say, the wi-fi didn't work, but the drink was good. Pina colada.

We opted to be dropped off in town after our tour. No sooner had we left the bus, than it started to rain. It began with a deceptive mist but grew into a real storm and didn't let up. We had wanted to cross over the water on the pontoon bridge, but took the fairy instead. Some people got caught on the bridge and had to ride it out, in the rain. I love the colorful store fronts and houses in Curacao - it's a very interesting city. Lots of unique stores, and tons of banks.

The Dominican Republic was a study in contrasts. Some group (the cruise line, I think) has tried valiantly to carve out a desirable city and tourist attraction here. I took a picture from the ship as we were arriving, because I noticed the sudden change in scenery. Haiti is at the top, but I'm not sure it's visible - the bare ground may just be un-developed land.

So, they took us to this cute little area where famous people own homes. (Clinton flies in to golf frequently. He has a villa there. So does Bush Sr. among others.)

Then to a lapidary museum which was conveniently located inside a jewelry store, where we had lots of time to look around. (Actually, I think we could have stayed as long as we liked within the limits of the tour.) Outside the store were dancers and musicians in native garb for picture taking. They tried hard to work up some excitement, but it was very, very hot and we weren't used to the heat. 

                                    

This picture reminds me of an old ATM commercial. Do you remember it? The tourists hand the kid with the donkey, their camera so he can take their picture with the donkey. They take the leash and he walks off thinking he traded the donkey for the camera. LOL

We cruised the Southern Caribbean - first 2 days were 'fun days at sea' then stops in Curacao, Aruba, the Dominican Republic and Grand Turk - the last day was another 'fun day at sea' and we arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale 8 days later. Very fun trip.

BTW - I read two book I probably would have missed, from the ships library. I recommend both highly. Marlo Thomas's memoir Growing Up Funny, and John Grisham's The Confession, about the death penalty. Very interesting.

A special visit with Barb and Charles Sullivan in the Villages on the way home, made this a perfect trip.

Envision - Women in Art, Design & Wellness, March 4 -5, 2011

One of my friends, Roz Long, has this great ability to envision new ways to produce  'fairs', and they just keep getting better. Roz is the founder of Art in the Park, which has been an annual event in Wilder Park for many years. This is the first event for the newly restored Wilder Mansion. It was a beautiful venue, and Roz treats her vendors very well.

I'm going to post some pictures of Vendor Friends, along with some pictures of my booth. I do hope this becomes an annual event, too. Thanks, Roz!

This is my display. I tried to keep it small and easy to move. Also, did not want to confuse people with 'too much'. I like the way it turned out.

Erika Mock, a very imaginative and talanted fibre artist, and all around sweet person. She was fun to be neighbors with. Her studio is in Superior, Wisconsin - she travelled a long way for this show. I purchased two things from her. Couldn't resist. One is a great pink scarf, the other - 'pulse warmers' (she named them) which are like long gloves without fingers. It's always so cold in my studio they are very comfortible. These are difficult to describe so I'll try to post pictures later.

This is Alouette Artisan Jewelry by Jamie Anne McClellen. She and her friend made the show fun by being next to me.

The Cookie Fresco Italian Bakery is new to Elmhurst, and conveniently located only two blocks from us at home. (580 N Michigan, on back side of Mimo's on York.) Yummm. They generously gave out samples all show long - delicious!

Tim Gurrie, Pampered Chef and good guy - he didn't seem to mind at all being the only male vendor. Love the apron!

Tiffany Baker - one of the sweetest, most talanted artist you can meet. She continuously creates new and unique items that are irresistible, and soooo girlie. I love them!

I think this is Donna Costellanos, I'm missing some cards. I loved this art work, too.

Harris Bank was a sponsor of Envisions, and their rep's were delightful.

Some business cards that I collected have 'gone missing' so I hope someone will help me fill in the blanks and correct any errors.

F*R*O*G*, part II

Still working on frogs. I've made 3 cell phone holders, which are OK, I think.

The large frog purse however, still needs work. I have a finished green frog that is probably a step in the right direction. (You be the judge.)

. . . and a snaky, mutant type croc-frog.

Maybe I should just make a baby crocodile???

On the green frog, I'm going to give the head more definition and make the legs a little finer, and the front feet smaller and more defined. I was trying to avoid stuffing it, as I don't know how it would stay in place without stitches on the outside. It does have a purse shaped lining. Stay tuned . . .