nanke's stuff

Not far from our house is a beautiful trail called The Lakeland Trail.  It used to be a railroad track, but for many years now it's been a trail for non-motorized use.  Lots of horseback riders use it, bicyclists, and of course walkers.  For the second time this week, Abby and I took a hike along the trail.  This is a beautiful time here - the trees are changing colors, large flocks of birds are preparing  to migrate, the air is clear and crisp, and (possibly best of all!), there are no mosquitoes!  I've had a pedometer for quite some time, but I couldn't figure out how to use it.  My sweetie got it set up for me, so today I used it for the first time.
Since it was pretty cool, I wore a lightweight, zippered sweatshirt under a lightweight denim jacket.  Abby decided to go au natural, so all she wore was her collar and leash.  We passed 2 women (we also passed them Monday), and they had their 2 dogs with them who wore matching checkered jackets.  The dogs were very polite and kept their distance from Abby, who is not very friendly with other dogs, to put it mildly.  Next we encountered a woman walking her dog off-leash, but when she saw us coming, she promptly put his leash on him, commenting as we passed that her dog is not very friendly with other dogs.  Even so, both he and Abby behaved nicely and there was no barking or charging from either of them.  Lastly, we met John, a portly, old, gentleman whom we met for the first time on Monday.  He remembered Abby (but called her Angie .... she didn't care a bit and greeted him warmly), and while petting her, confessed that one of his feet was hurting him today.  "I've come down with a new condition",  he said with a twinkle in his eyes.  I told him I was sorry to hear that and hoped it wasn't serious.  He replied, "You've heard of AIDS?   Well, I've got WOBS!".   Even though I'm a nurse, I'd never heard of WOBS before.    "I've got Weary Old Bones Syndrome", he laughed.  I laughed with him.  He said he made that up himself, and I offered that he might be able to sell that one to Jay Leno!
I took a picture of the trail with my phone.  I was annoyed that I hadn't brought my camera, when at the very end of our walk I remembered my phone.  So, here is a picture of the trail at the place where Abby and I started.  I'm planning on taking some real pictures and using them as subjects for paintings and drawings.  Until next time ....

Our company has left, and I've been able to continue working on his costume. Today I finished the shirt, belt, bag that hangs on the belt, and the beard. The beard has been quite the challenge. I looked everywhere for a beard I could use, but all of them were giant, and they were either red, black, or brown ... definitely the wrong size and color. The Halloween shop suggested I use the glue on kind (I think it's sort of gobs of fake beard glued onto his face, then removed with some sort of solvent .... No Way on CC's little face!!). So today I went to a fabric store and bought some fabric that's called something like curly fleece. It's white and is indeed curly. I cut a beard shape, sewed a casing on it and threaded a piece of elastic through it. Then I tacked it to the inside of the hat. I thought that way the elastic in the beard could help hold the hat on his head. I know the beard is way too long, but I'm going to leave it that way and let Sarah and Ben trim it to size.

I'm anxious about the costume fitting him. I did my best to fit it to the measurements Ben sent me, but still, without him here to try it on before I did the final stitching makes me feel a bit wobbly. I'll be so relieved when I get a picture of him wearing it. Now all I have to do is find a box big enough to hold it for mailing! I had one of the kid's old Teddy Bears model it for the photo, then laid it out on the floor so you can see the whole thing. Let me know what you think!

When my sons were little, Halloween was a really big deal at our house. I made all their costumes (until they were older and wanted to put their own costumes together). We had pirates, bumble bees, lions, aliens, wizards .... well, all sorts of things (one year one of them was a bag of candy!). So now I'm a grandmother, and my grandson is 18 months old, so I'm making his second costume. This year his parents decided he should be a garden gnome. I started making it yesterday and I decided that I would make the "fur" boots first. I thought they might be the most complicated part of the costume. Today I finished them. They were a bit tricky, but I think they turned out just fine. The big thing will be if they fit him. I'm in Michigan, and they live in Tennessee. Even though I have all his measurements, it's always better to be able to try things on before the final stitching is done.
I thought I'd just post some pictures as I go along just to keep up with things. Besides the boots, I will make pants, a shirt, belt, hat, and a little drawstring bag to hang on the belt. I think I should put some of those chocolate candies in the bag that look like gold coins ... what do you think? He will also need a beard, which I may or may not make. The beard has become the biggest challenge, but I'll figure something out. So, here are the boots!

Today I finished painting my friend's apartment. Well, she refers to it as "painting her apartment", but what I really did was paint 2 bedrooms and was very happy to be able to help her with her move. I'll go back Wednesday to do some touch-up, but for the most part, it's done.

I also finished baking all the cookies for the party that my son and daughter-in-law gave for her sister. It was a surprise party on Saturday, the weather was wonderful (even tho rain and thunderstorms were predicted), and we had a really good time. I made Spritz cookies, oatmeal/date cookies, brownies, chocolate chip, lemon bars, Norwegian almond bars, "no-fuss" bars (graham cracker crumbs, coconut, mini choc. chips, nuts, and sweetened condensed milk) and peach bars that had coconut in them. There were some left over - enough for Carrie's (my dil) sister-in-law who is due any day now with their second baby, to take home and enjoy, which made me very happy. There was a bonfire, great food, fun and interesting people, and best of all, Carrie's sister Lauren, whom the surprise party was for, was totally unsuspecting and surprised.

I have a new computer (which I'm using as I speak), but it doesn't have everything installed yet (including my email add. book, which is Most Inconvenient), but I love it. It's a Mac (so was my old one), and has a giant screen, no hard drive box, wireless mouse and wireless keyboard! I'm really excited about it.

Since I've been sort of busy lately with non-art things, I'm posting a Zentangle that I did in my last-year's journal. ...... I have to save this post and try to do the download using my sweetie's scanner and computer because we haven't figured out yet how to get my scanner to work with this new baby. He's been really busy, too (right now he's trying to balance the checkbook which I've screwed up yet again .... I try really hard, but every month there are several (or 1 big one) deductions that aren't recorded. He's so sweet about it - never gets mad or anything - I don't know how he does it month after month. I can't tell you how lucky I am. .... This month I made about $1,000 worth of mistakes. Not my all-time high, but getting close.

So, anyhow, assuming I'll be able to use his equipment (with his help), here's the Zentangle. Until next time!

I've been really busy lately, and haven't taken (I almost said "haven't had") time to spend on art. I know that the time is always there - I just have to find it and do it. But, sometimes I get distracted and find that by the end of the day I'm really tired and just can't find the energy to go to my studio and do anything. Also, I've been in a bit of a slump lately when it comes to knowing what to do and how to do it. So, I decided that I would do a bit of collage (which I haven't done in quite awhile), and just play with paper and ink. Since I have a few postcard addresses from Postcrossing that I want to take care of, it seemed like a perfect match.

I'm not sure this card is finished yet, but I thought I'd share it anyway while I ponder what, if anything, to do next on it. I first covered the background with ink using a makeup sponge, stamped and embossed the plant on the left, added the torn paint chip in the lower corner (which is textured like sand), then put the picture of the fairy and Pinocchio on it. The blue paper on the top is a torn napkin, and I stamped the 2 birds on. I have a really ancient manual typewriter (I'll post a picture of it some day - I mean it's really, really old) which I used to type the quote on old, yellowed paper that I have, then added the red German scrap top and bottom. The silver star is cut out of some stickers that a charitable organization sent in a "send us some money, please" mailing. The card is nothing special, but at least doing it gave me the feeling that I spent a bit of time on art.

Tomorrow I'm going to a friend's apartment to help her paint it, then Friday I have to finish baking 24 dozen cookies for a party my son and his wife are having. I have 4 kinds baked and frozen, but I have 4 or 5 more kinds to bake by Saturday afternoon. I'll try to post again before the weekend .... I'm sure I'll need the break from painting and baking!

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary! We celebrated yesterday by going to dinner to a restaurant we love in Chelsea called The Common Grill. There's nothing common about the food. I had a wonderful goat cheese ravioli with a delicious sauce with large chunks of lobster in it. My sweetie had a stuffed chicken breast that looked wonderful. We shared a dessert of some sort of warm, crispy, chocolate affair with candied pecans as a garnish.
When we came home, we sat on the porch and I did a quick sketch of Abby, our special spaniel. (She tells us constantly just how special she is). She's very sweet and laid back, great with children of all ages, and most agreeable. I love her dearly.
Soon I'll be leaving to join up with my friend Vicki, for a day of roaming around checking out second hand shops and who knows what else! It's always a fine time and we'll also have a spot of lunch somewhere. So, until the next time, I hope your day is filled with moments of pleasure, joy, and gratitude. nancy

We've been to Nashville to see little Clyde, our grandson. He gives me such joy just to watch him toddle about. I love how he swings his left arm when he's on a mission - he's all business then, and knows just what he wants to do. He makes me smile and laugh like no one else can. Here's a picture of him in his brand-new boots (which he loves!).


While there, we took him on a couple of little outings. One of them was to the Opry Mills shopping center to see the fish and ride the merry-go-round. There is a large, shallow pool there filled with stingrays, and for $2.00 you can get a little plastic container of shrimp to use to hand feed them! Of course, I couldn't wait to do it, and since the walls of the tank are clear, the baby could watch from his stroller. The stingrays are very gentle, and most amazing to me is that they like to be petted! I'd never seen them "in the flesh" before, only in pictures and on TV. For the first time I saw their underside, and they have very sweet little faces under there! They are gentle and take the food carefully from your hand. They are very smooth and sort of velvety to the touch. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of them - we left our cameras in the car, and I didn't think to use my cell phone. ...... I guess I'll just have to go back soon, don't you think?

I took some art supplies with me, but I was busy the whole time doing fun things, and didn't do a single drawing. Also, I put all of my art groups on "no mail", so as not to have so much in my inbox when I got back (there were still 154 of them) and now I feel like I have no idea what's going on. It's sort of like starting out new again. My computer is very slow, both because it's old and because we can't get a very fast connection here in Hooterville, so trying to go back and look at every ones postings and blogs just takes me way too long. I'm waiting for a new Mac computer to arrive any day now (hooray!!!), and I'm very excited to start using it. My sweetie will help me get it all settled in, and I can't wait!

So, in lieu of new work to post, I'm posting an ink drawing from my journal. It was a rather quick sketch on paper that has texture to it - not the best choice for the medium I used, but it was what I had available at the time. After I got home, I trimmed it and pasted it in my journal. I'm hoping to have more time now to get back to my art!

See you soon~