What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Creative Self, Curiosities, Illustration

May the 4th (Star Wars pun not intended) was the last piece I’d posted before our summer vacation started at the end of May. Our district is done before Memorial Day, and they had their first day back yesterday. We spent a lot of days reading (naturally we did the Summer Program through the library), evenings at the bookstore,

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cooked, vacationed (along the way I’d met up with one of my clients, and quick FYI, this was rootbeer, from Sprecher’s),

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saw some barn quilts, took in some fireworks,

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We really enjoyed Stranger Things and cannot WAIT for the second season! Speaking of stranger things, our older son has been writing for an online magazine, at 14, about comics, film and television (everything he loves). I can’t believe it, we’re so proud of him!

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canned, knitted (some for a hospital, some for friends and fam), sewed (some for RARE Science, some for friends and fam).

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Drew, a lot,

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celebrated birthdays, cooked some more, attended the county faire,

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and just all around have had a lovely summer! We are looking forward to Autumn though, with all its fab color, crisp nights, sunny days, and again with more of the cooking. I’ve heard there’s a pumpkin shortage coming, but each year we’re overwhelmed with them, I think being the number one producer and exporter of pumpkins skews our perspective a bit!

I did make a video of the process and progress of our garden, from May to present. The beds will also be “hoop houses” so we need to still attach more pipe to the sides, get the smaller pipes for the hoops, and I need to make the covers…

Music is Ghosts ‘n Goblins by Thiaz Itch under Creative Commons. Hope you’ve all enjoyed your summer, will post more soon!

a : )

Seedlings, And Some Culture

Creative Self, Curiosities, Illustration

The first photo is my sketch from last night, just some seedlings that I’ll take to a final pattern. The second and third photos are from the Chicago Cultural Center, where we’ve wanted to go forever. There’s mosaic and stained glass everywhere, and yesterday, Theo Jansen was there with his Strandbeests. They truly are amazing, and way larger than you think! I took lots of photos and movies, but none of them do these DaVinci-esque beasts any justice!

 

Knotting Time

Creative Self, Curiosities, Making

I decided I wanted to knit up some neckwarmers for my brother and my sister-in-law. They’re always bringing things back from Japan for us, and remembering the boys on their birthdays, and, it’s really cold where they live (they’ve got a long walk from where they park at work to the door). This is an ombré that reminded me of a Japanese yarn, but that one is a little out of my price range! This was a great substitute!

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Chocolate, ‘Nuf Said

Curiosities

My parents are visiting for the Columbus Day weekend (the boys are off) and we went to Woodstock today! If you didn’t know, it’s where Groundhog Day was filmed, and there are signs everywhere! If you ever come to Woodstock, save up your change and spend it all at Ethereal Confections. They have the most amazing chocolate truffles, so rich and, well, you need to be rich to patron them regularly! ; ) From top left: Pumpkin, Apple Pie, Violet (and maybe lemon?), and Salted Maple.

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