Sunday, February 20, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday


 
At the Oceanside, CA library
An art installation at the Oceanside Museum of Art
I haven't participated in Shadow Shot Sunday for a while but I haven't stopped shooting.There are a few more shadow shots in my previous post from the Oceanside Museum.



Friday, February 18, 2011

Suzanne McNeil's yearly visit and Zentangling on gourds

Suzanne comes to California every year for the Craft and Hobby (CHA) trade show. We had participated at these shows for years (maybe 20). We met her at one of them several years ago and have been friends ever since. She has a book publishing business (Design Originals) much like ours used to be. She's still going strong while we've gone off in other directions. We don't have to do trade shows anymore which is both good and bad. We don't miss all the hard work but we do miss seeing all our old friends and customers.
The first day Suzanne was here she went to the Welburn Gourd Farm, one of her favorite places. She bought a lot of gourds. She gave one each to Nancy and I and showed us how to Zentangle them. First we painted them with acrylic paint ( you can also use gesso). Then we tangled with a Micron pen. The ink goes on perfectly. Suzanne and I got most of ours done, but Nancy isn't as addicted to Zentangling as we are and didn't get very far.


Suzanne catches us up on all the news and gossip from the CHA show and we always do a little sightseeing with her while she's here. This year we stayed close to Fallbrook and went to the Pala Indian Reservation. There's not much there except a big casino (which we didn't go to) and a small mission with a museum and gift shop. When we got to the mission it was closed even though I had called ahead to make sure it was open.


There's an interesting mission cemetery with both ancient and new graves. 


It wasn't a very pretty or well-kept cemetery but the graves seemed very well-loved and well-visited.






The next day we went to the wonderful quilt show at the Oceanside Art Museum (Quilt Visions).

 Just one of the beautiful quilts.

Then we went into one of the other galleries in the museum ( Imogene Cunningham's photographs) and while taking pictures we noticed our own "shadow pictures". So we had fun making shadows to post on "Shadow Shot Sunday" .

 After that we went to the farmers market that they have every Thursday right outside the museum.


 The library, which is in the same block as the museum, was having a book sale so we ended the fun day by buying more books to fill both of our overstocked home libraries.

We had a great time and hated to see Suzanne go.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Zentangle for Artoo

Laura Harms, who hosts the weekly Zentangle challenge at I Am The Diva has a baby boy, whose nickname is Artoo. He was born prematurely last October and has been having lots of problems. He's doing well now and just got out of the hospital after having some breathing problems. The latest challenge was to create a heart using two of the previous challenges. I didn't follow the rules exactly but here's my Zentangle for Artoo.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Love poems, etc. in my great grandmothers autograph book


 
La Moille, Jan. 8th, 1888  Remember me when far, far off 
Where woodchucks die of the whooping cough. 
Your friend, E.L. Anstith  

Roseland , March 13, 1890 
Friend Katie,  
Let your moto(?) be honest and truthfully, 
and I hope someday you will make 
some man a happy wife. 
Your true friend, R.S. Bayler

What care I for gold 
or silver, or all the money 
in the land, Give me a 
wife and sixteen children, 
a bobtail horse and a 
peanut stand.  
Van Orin Shambaugh


 This one is legible.  It must be from one of my Aunts.

Sublette, Ill., Dec. 28th, 1887
To Katie, 
You may fall into war, 
You may fall from above, 
But be careful, Katie, 
Don't fall into love. 
Boys are handsome, Fellows 
are plenty, But don't you 
get married Before you are twenty. 
Your friend, Henry Biester.

 As sure as comes your wedding day, 
a broom to you I will send, 
in sunshine use the bushy part, 
in storm the other end.   J.W. Stoll

Sublette, Ill, Feb. 2 1905  
Dear Mother: I love you little, 
I love you big, 
I love you better than 
The groundhog day.  Your Daughter Mabel

 And finally some good advice:

Sublette, Ill. Feb. 2, 1905  
Dear Katie, Don't have any more 
children then 1/2 dozen, 
for those are plenty for you.  
From your friend Katie Shraemer (?)

 My great grandmother, Kate Daehler on the right

click here to see more Sepia Saturday


Monday, February 7, 2011

Fallbrook's wonderful new library


Mosaic murals including bits of memories supplied by the community.

The roof of the patio

More mosaics, more bits of memorabilia. Notes in the bottles.

There's even a very classy fire pit. I think this would be a very cool place for teen-agers to sit and do their homework.

Nancy and Beth try out the huge avocado couch in the kid's room.

Even the tiny kids are enjoying the libraries computers.

More mosaics. This one, of Fallbrook's claim to fame- the avocado. Notice there are also several old photos embedded in the mosaic. These were contributed by the community members.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Weekly Zentangle Challenge- Breathe



The challenge was to breathe while doing your Zentangle, also relax and smile. 
I guess this is where the "Zen" comes in!

See others at: http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com






Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Lunchtime walk photos

A bubbling brook after a heavy rain

The lover trees

A coyote's half-eaten meal




Look closely and you'll see another wood gnarl discovery- a bunnies head!

A teeny tiny mushroom

This is how teeny tiny !

An omen?