A Long Time!

Hello all!  It’s been years since I have posted.  I guess I fail blog school.  Since I last posted, I have gone back to work, then after 2 years, I re-retired, this time for good.  Now my husband and I and our 2 dogs spend lots of time on our screen porch, enjoying our summer.

The dogs are getting older; Banjo is going to be 11 and Darby will be 10 this year.  We still walk every day that we can.  Today we saw a doe and her fawn, and another doe and her twins.  So beautiful!  We see turkey vultures, eagles, bunnies, Johnny the horse (we give him an apple and a mint), ospreys, and so much more on our walks.  One day, as we sat on our porch, we saw a wolf!  That was very exciting!

 

Banjo

Darby

Retirement is wonderful.  You can put off today, what you can do tomorrow.  Sometimes that means I don’t get stuff done.  Oh well.  I am enjoying the journey life has laid out for me.  I just got back from a trip to Michigan.  I took my 10 year old granddaughter with me to visit my daughter and her family in Grand Rapids.  We had a blast.  My other granddaughter is 11.  The cousins enjoyed every minute and so did I.  We took the S.S.Badger across Lake Michigan.  This was taken from their website:  “The S.S. Badger offers the largest cross-lake passenger service on the Great Lakes and an authentic steamship experience. The relaxing four-hour, 60-mile cruise takes passengers, autos, RVs, tour buses, motorcycles, bicycles, and commercial trucks across Lake Michigan between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.”  

At the beach in H

Since my last posting, I’ve created lots of art and taught myself to crochet.  More about that in later posts.

It’s good to be back!  Enjoy your day!

Winter Artwork

I have been keeping myself busy, this winter (and oh!  what a winter it is!!!), by working on some art.  I started out wanting a winter painting to put above my mantel, where I have a collection of snow people.  Now that winter has gotten old, it was doubly hard working on a painting of winter!  But I persevered and finished it last night.  I got the idea from a Christmas card a relative sent me, but the painting scene is mine.  The card had a quote that I love and repeat often.  I put the quote on the painting. It is the first time I added script to a painting.  I deliberately changed the script style for each line, just to add interest.  I hope you like it.

I also saw a beautiful design and decided to recreate it for a card.  I am posting a picture of it also.  I have looked and looked for the original artist’s name, and can’t find it. If anyone knows it, I will be glad to post it.

Another thing I have started this winter, is art journaling.  I enjoy posting some kind of picture each day, a small watercolor each week, and various other entries I am putting into the journal.  It will be fun looking back at it, at the end of the year.

What are some of the things you have been doing to keep cabin fever at bay?

Winter’s Opportunities

We are in the heart of winter.  I am sure I’m not the only one dreaming about spring.  Another “Polar Vortex” is approaching.  All of a sudden, we have new terminology I have never heard before!  And now, intense storms are given names, like the hurricanes.

I do several things to keep myself entertained during the long winter months, and believe me, there is truth to the word “long” living in Wisconsin.  At this time I am working on a new painting.  I have a mantel decorated with snowmen, and it needs a winter scene above it. i am working on a surprise for my daughter, so I can’t divulge that project to you.  I have also decided to try my hand at art journaling. 

Whenever I try anything new, I get a book to show me how to do it.  I purchased my book, purchased my journal, and am busy setting it up.  My goal is to journal artistically every day.  I am one of those people who need to be inspired, so anything I can do to jump start my creativity; I am a willing participant.  Luckily, I have a lot of art supplies on hand because I have been through schooling for art, and have taught art classes.  I am thrilled to be able to take the supplies out of storage and use them again.

I am inspired by the beauty of winter.  I know it may seem stark to some, but if you just look around and become aware, there is a lot to see.  We have bird feeders right outside our screen porch, and the birds are enjoying the menu we set out for them.  We are visited by juncos, chickadees, woodpeckers, and beautiful red cardinals, to name a few.  Turkeys and deer walk past our yard all the time.  In the still of the night, I hear the owl hooting in the woods.  And the almost daily snowfall is beautiful as it gently (sometimes, not so gently) coats everything in white.

The dogs are fun to watch as they run, play and roll around in the snow.  Sometimes, Banjo just likes to lay in the yard and watch over his domain.  He has a nice, thick Aussie coat by now, and he loves it outside.

Winter is long here in Northeast Wisconsin, but it doesn’t have to be boring.

Screen Porch Build – Building finished

View from the outside. We will have the gutters redone in the spring. The indoor/outdoor carpeting will be laid on the 18th. The dogs seem to like coming and going this way.
Now the fun part begins…the decorating of the inside. That should be fun, but most will have to wait for warmer weather.
Thanks for joining me on this journey! It was fun and without too many complications. Now, time to settle in for the winter.

Screen Porch Build-The building part is done!

Looking out the back. You can’t tell by this photo, but it was very cold today. The poor electrician had to put up the fan and connect the electrical in wind chill of about 20 degrees. He was a brave man!

Screen Porch Build – Day 11

 

After two workdays lost to lots of rain, the knotty pine interior is being put up. It is actually starting to look pretty inside. Birds have been coming in and can’t get out, so I have to go out and gently herd them toward the doorway. All the screens are in, except the doorway. Tomorrow we are expecting more rain. Heavy sigh….

Screen Porch Build

We just completed days 8 and 9 of the building process.  Day 8 shows that the siding was installed and the roof finished.   This is good because we are to have a soaking rain tomorrow, for Halloween.  Poor Trick-or-Treaters.

Day 9 (today) the contractor started on the inside.  So the picture shows the knotty pine going up.  Also, any siding that wasn’t completed yesterday, was finished today.

Over the weekend, we purchased a ceiling fan/light to be installed.

We have been so lucky with the weather.  Even though it was very windy and cold yesterday and very cold today, the builders were able to work.  Tomorrow, I think they can work because they are doing inside work.  And the weather is supposed to be near 60!

And, just sayin, How Bout Those Packers!?!!

Screen Porch Build – Day 4

A lot was done today on the screen porch.  It is beginning to look like a screen porch!

As with any construction, it was pretty noisy, which was freaking my Aussie out!  He kept hiding in the furthest bedroom from the noise.  He just doesn’t know what to make of all this!

Luckily, we were between the snow showers.  They went south (Northern Illinois) and north (the Upper Peninsula of Michigan).  It actually was a pretty nice day, though it started out very chilly.  I offered the contractor and his helper a place to come in and warm up.  They told me they were used to the cold, and it wasn’t even cold yet for them. 

I will post tomorrow evening with updates!

Sreen Porch Build

My husband and I have wanted a screen porch for many years. If any of you have ever traveled to visit my brother, the famous actor, and my sister-in-law, the award-winning educator (now retired), and enjoyed their screen porch, you will understand our love of all things screen porch.

We are finally having our screen porch built. I am so excited about this, that I can hardly contain myself. So, I am documenting each day’s work, so you can follow along on its progress. When it is finished, unfortunately, it will be too cold outside to enjoy. However, next spring, summer and fall will be “screen porch time!” We are planning to have a big “screen porch initiation party” to celebrate its reality.

I am attaching some pictures. A before, Day 1 and Day 2 pictures because that is only how far along we are. We are hoping the weather cooperates with the build.

Trying New Things

I have been absent a lot because summer came and all of a sudden there is so much to be done!  Those include tending the garden, mowing our almost 2 acres, and trying out new projects.  Some of the projects have turned out ok, and some….well; not so ok.  Remember my  table and chairs project?  They turned out quite well, but not for long.  I used the wrong stuff to fill in the cracks and the top sides of the table cracked and started peeling.  So I have removed all I could of the old grout and filler and sanded the wood.  Now I have to regrout, paint, and seal the table and hopefully, get it done soon so we can enjoy it yet this summer!

I tried making things out of resin.  I found I do not like making things out of resin!

Now, I am working on stepping stones.  We have a huge yard, and I would like to have stepping stones going from here to there.  This will take many summers, I am sure.

So, I am enjoying summer, gardening, walking the dogs with my friend, and trying many new things.  I hope your summer is going well and you are enjoying new things and old things, as well.