I don't know why I always think every year that summer will be less busy than the rest of the year. I've been so busy that the time is flying too fast. My favorite time of year is going by in the blink of an eye. There's never a dull moment though.
After getting back from our trip, I painted a mural at church for the children's classroom area. There is a stage with windows where there will be puppets that is supposed to look like a ticket window for a subway or train and a guy just hanging out by the phone booth reading a newspaper.
Gardening takes up a bit of the time too. We have tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, chard, corn, okra, beans, peppers, and lettuce. Also, we have some fruit. Our blackberries are ready to get ripe and one of our paw paw trees is loaded with fruit. So you've never seen a paw paw before? Here they are. They taste a bit like banana pudding when they are ripe. The trees were a gift from my very generous sister. :-)
I've been making jewelry when I get a chance. A bit here, and a bit there, mostly commissions for local people. Here are a few pieces that I made for a friend who brought me some pearls and leather to make into necklaces and earrings for her.
I've been entertaining nieces also for the last two weeks. Last week, we picked up one of our nieces who was homesick at camp and brought her home with us for 3 days until my mom could come and get her and take her to her parents. This week I had a niece and a great niece for three days also. It was like Camp Stillwaters for all of those days. We did art, played pool, and fished and swam. It was great to get to spend some time with them.
I was surprised when I went to the mailbox one day to find a package from Steph in Belgium with this beautiful necklace and other goodies. She always sends such wonderful surprises. Please check out her
blog and
Etsy shop to see more beautiful jewelry.
Well... now for a relaxing weekend...I hope.
Savor Time
Okay...I know it's been summer for more than a week, but one thing that really makes it feel like summer to me is a trip to the drive-in theater. My hubby and I had a date last night and went to the local drive-in to see the new Transformers II movie. We like to go at least a couple of times each summer to this rare piece of Americana. The movie was fair, but the ambiance was priceless. I always forget to bring my camera, so this photo was taken with my cell phone.
Hollyhocks and gladiolas in front of my chickenless chicken house.
It was wonderfully lush and green and the closest thing to a jungle that I've ever been in. We walked through sprinkling rain to a beautiful lighthouse that was completed in the 1880's.
One day we sent the guys off to fish and the girls and I went to Hilton Head to an art show. There were lots of very talented exhibitors and I met a mosaic artist whose work I have admired for years. Steve Terlizzese calls himself the Mosaic Guy and lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's strange that I had to go to South Carolina to meet an artist from my home state.
On the long ride home, I played in my sketchbook. This is a mixed media collage using some of the materials that I picked up along the way.
Sometimes I want to branch out and do something a little different. I had bought these shadow box frames a couple of years ago and hadn't really come up with a use for them until now. I was inspired by the shadow box creations of Stephanie Rubiano on her site: So I Gathered. The first one is my mom when she was little. I am not implying that she was a "smarty pants" but it just seemed to go with the school theme.
The next one is some long forgotten ancestor whose photo I found in my aunts photo collection. I have no idea who she was, but I hope that her expression was only temporary and not how she looked all of the time.
