In the Obvious Department

Really???

Finger Labyrinth Rocks

When Mum's Cambiando friends came over for a visit, they came with little Elizabeth, 5-years-old. Just about my favourite age. Down came my curtain to reveal where I store all my art stuff. And by curtain, I mean vintage fabric tacked up with a coupla push pins. I had already shown her some of my labyrinth rocks, so it didn't take too much to entice her into creating her own rocks. We did 2:


I didn't photograph the other side before I applied the dimensional paint, but here's what we did:
Heated rocks up in oven (I already had oven on making a de-licious roasted vegetable medley).
Melted crayons on hot rock, let cool & solidify.
Painted other side of rocks, let dry. (And by "let dry," I mean used hairdryer).
Added sparkle paint. Let dry.
Added sparkle varnish (bigger sparkles, different colours). Let dry.
Added finger labyrinths with glow-in-the-dark dimensional paint. This is tricky & takes a steady hand, so I drew that part for her. She did everything else, tho. This paint takes way longer to dry, even with the hairdryer. We got it set enough to put them in a box so the lines wouldn't get squished.
We could have added jewel embellishments, like on the elephant rock I did, but Elizabeth was happy with her creations. FUN afternoon! :-)

Day of Rest: Back Porch

The inspiration for the porch clean was a vizzie from Mum & her friends. But I must say, I am v. pleased. The inevitable comment from anyone is, "You know. You oughta screen this in." Yeah, I know. ;-)

Still, it's nice to sit and have tea . . .

and watch the hummingbirds . . .

SO SWEET. HAPPY Sunday, everyone. :-)

FREEDOM DAY!

I took this picture of a T-shirt in Walmart. May today be a day of CELEBRATION, lots of LAUGHTER & general merriment. May you eat delicious food and enJOY whatever company you happen to be in. Yes, I know. Ending sentences with propositions-I-mean-prepositions, again. I'm living on the edge, now. Have a FABULOUS day!

HAPPY 4th on the 3rd

Today is Mum's annual 4th of July picnic/concert. Every year it's held on the 3rd. I LOVE fireworks. Maybe it's a characteristic of being a visual person, but I have an excitement and wonder that is brand new, every time I watch them. I forget until I remember just how much I remember liking them. One of my favourite memories is with my nephew, who was 5 at the time. "WOOOOAH! AWESOME!!! This is better than Christmas!!!" SO. CUTE. I thought, "Another one of us. He gets it." So we'll go and spread out the blanket, and Mum will complain about the gnats, and we'll complain about the concert taking too long and how they should start the fireworks as soon as it turns dark instead of waiting until 10 p.m. And then! THEN! It doesn't matter because the fireworks start and it really IS better than Christmas. :-)

Dave Dobson Story

One of my favourite stories is about a guy we used to have here on the island. In the heat of the summer, he would be wearing one of those real old, thick, World War I army overcoats. And if you were downwind, you could smell him thirty feet away. He had a little twitch, and one day I accosted him and said, "How come you do that?" He said, "Simple, it protects me."
I said, "How does it protect you?"
He said, "Keeps the elephants off the island."
"There aren't any elephants on the island."
He said, "I know! It works!"

Change

I haven't been too caught up with all the news surrounding Michael Jackson's death. I look at him and see a tortured soul who was, nevertheless, a tremendous talent. Jerry sent a link to this video, so I'm sharing it here.