Caterina 'Rina' Salzano, budding artist and York HS senior

I'm a bit behind in my blog posts again. So, what else is new?

Rina and Julianna Christmas 2011

Anyway, in mid December we attended an art show at York High School to view works by Bob's two talented grand daughters, Rina and Julianna (a Freshman).
The show mainly focused on Seniors work, and they each made a 2 wall display to show their work. Other pieces were scattered around. Rina received several ribbons. She is considering art school, as well as other options..

Rina with one of her prize winners.
 It is a street scene in Italy. 

The friendly pink gorilla is her's too.

Street in Italy

Grand-dad Bob taking lots of pictures

When I entered the atrium I recognized Julianna's self portrait instantly. I was just glancing around and did not know what to look for.

It is a pencil skecch and I think it's quite good. What do you think?

Julianna's self portrait 2011

Major Excitement!!! John Williams WGN radio host talked about ME!!!

So, have I ever told you I love John Williams? I've been listening to him on WGN for years. He's this nice, down to earth, did I say nice? really nice talk show host who shares his opinions but doesn't insult or put-down others with differing opinions. Anyway, he's always getting his listeners involved in 'good work'. Most recently, he had a 3 day 'Peanut butter and Jolly' campaign because he became aware of a need for peanut butter in Chicago area food banks. He rounded up 4,500 jars from his fans and $1,000 in other donations.

So, I wanted to help promote his show and do something nice for him. I made a sign and hung copies around our building and in my studio window, took pictures and sent them to him with a little note saying I would like to make a john Williams doll. He replied immediately, and was very excited about it. So, that was Friday and we are leaving for vacation on Wed. morning.

On Monday, first thing on his show he talked about me, my doll business and that I could make portrait dolls for others. He clearly gave all my contact info!!!!

I had to sew fast, which I did. Doll is ready to send. I wish I had time to bring the doll downtown when he's on the air... oh well.

Here he is sans cape, with crown adjusted, holding roses for his wife Brenda.

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!