Craft Room Project ~ Throw The Ball

What does waking up to this face inspire?

(Sweetie)

Or this wiggling little body with a Mickey Mouse shaped doggie hair pattern?

(Sissy)

They inspired me to paint a "Thank You" gift for my sister Madonna and her Apeman for hosting our stay with them last month:

Throw The @#$%^ Ball!

Now go outside and play!

Windows Are The Eyes To The Soul

When I was little I loved to walk at night and look in the windows of the houses as I passed by. (Technically, it's not peeping if you're 20 feet away and you keep moving!) The sun was just setting and the lights inside were just turning on with a warm glow. I still like to do that just to see the way the occupants have decorated inside, and to imagine what view of life they see from the inside! Is that why I love old windows? Can you imagine what views these old windows might have seen?

This long old window was a gift from the creek behind my house--it washed ashore during one of last winters downpours! I don't see it as trash, I see it as so many possibilities!

They help make a house a home. And with all the memories they harbor, they don't deserve to be tossed away! I hand paint the silhouette in reverse, and back it with specialty paper or fabric, sometimes.

I paint custom designs in them, too. This was a custom window for my friend, Janelle, done in her bedroom colors:

Here's one I made for last month's sale at the shop:

Do you have an idea for a "new view" you'd like to see on your wall? Maybe you'll be hanging one in your house like this one that BekahJan bought a few months ago, to add personality (and a change of scenery!) to her new home.

Picture Album ~ New Orleans

So off we headed to New Orleans for the last leg of our trip. We were lucky in that my brother-in-law, Albert and sister Donna, decided to go with us! We were unlucky in that my sister injured her foot at the last minute and couldn't go. She tried to hide the tears at first. Then we both let it all out as we said good-bye.

We were soon on the road with Albert driving. We were so thankful for that. Not only did we not have to rent a car, but he knew all the highways that would get us there. We passed lots of tiny little towns and one had a Piggly Wiggly!

Four hours later we made it into New Orleans. It was the day after the big Mardi Gras festivities there, so there were beads in the gutters. We drove through the city to our hotel, taking in the sights (and smells!).

After checking in, we walked the streets and acted like tourists; poking our heads into the stores, looking for souvenirs,

(yes, they're real!)

listening to the music,

gawking at the residences and the ironwork,

Marveling the architecture,

and photographing Little Pink Houses!

Here's the church through the street.

And in all it's glory...

Hey look guys, it's the world famous Cafe Du Monde!!! (Huh)?

Albert's daddy used to work here!

Typical tourists!

And this is were my vacation ended, really. We all went back to the hotel to rest before dinner, and I felt sick (I think those beignets were just too rich for me!), so ended up going to bed. Rick and Albert headed out and had a great dinner. The next morning, we slipped a "thank you" note under Albert's door, and flew out at 6 AM, and back to our own bed in the Little Pink House.

Picture Album ~ Found In The Fields

It's nice and warm inside, but after you've had your morning coffee outside on the front porch, thrown the ball about a hundred times for the dogs and taken a shower, it's time to take a little walk around outside the house to see what you can see.

Last time I was here I walked through these fields

in between the dirt rows of newly churned cornstalks and found lots of treasure. Broken china, a porcelain door knob, a few buttons and a bullet from the Civil War! So in some big 'ol foul weather boots I again headed to the muddy red-earth field.

And here's what I found this time!

(You can click on the pictures to make them larger)

the inside plate of a watch, a keyhole, milk glass bits, pressed glass bits,

the feet of a figurine, glass knob, broken glass and china bits, a porcelain wheel,

dolly arms and legs, glass marble, more china,

lots of blue china, glass, stone and metal buttons, glass and stone marbles,

stoneware bits, some interesting rocks for my gemologist father, and a cracked bottle of Dr. Tichenor's Antiseptic. I spent about two hours finding stuff, and ended up keeping only about half of what I found (you have to pay for your luggage by weight now!). I also found clay beads, tennis ball-sized gourds, and lots of horse and cow teeth!

While I was out in the field, I was telling it that I wanted it to give up another bullet to me. Something told me to "stay right here". When I stopped where I was, I looked down all around my feet and there on top of a furrow was a bullet! I gave that one to my brother-in-law, thinking that if the earth had been so generous to me with the excitement of finding my second bullet, that the least I could do was leave it behind in the area to which it belonged.

It is such a thrill for me to find and hold in my hand the pieces of plates that people of the past used, toys that children played with, buttons that kept shirts closed, and bullets that were shot, all from over 100 years ago, in this generous field!

Next Post: New Orleans Bound!