Weekend Journal and Monday Musings

IMPROMPTU

adj.

1. Prompted by the occasion rather than being planned in advance: an impromptu party.

2. Spoken, performed, done, or composed with little or no preparation; extemporaneous: a few impromptu remarks. See Synonyms atextemporaneous.

adv.

With little or no preparation; extemporaneously.

n.

1. Something, such as a speech, that is made or done extemporaneously.

2. Music A short composition, especially for the piano, performed in an offhand or extemporized style.

And so went the weekend and the "Weekend Journal".  Impromptu was the definite theme over the last three days!  There was an impromptu picnic dinner at the beach, impromptu (and much needed) trimming and mulching of landscaping, and an impromptu cookout with my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law.  I even squeezed in some impromptu art, and yes, here is your impromptu, combined Weekend Journal and Monday's Musing post!

The week was no less busy with planned activities, such as the graduation celebration for the women of the SMART (Single Mothers Achieving Real Triumph) program.  Dr. Charleyse S. Pratt, Director of Learning Communities Programs and Partnerships at Cleveland State University was the inspirational, guest speaker for the event.  I was deeply moved by both her story of achievement and her no-nonsense perspective of life and education.

SMART PROGRAM

It always gives me an enormous amount of pleasure to facilitate the end-of-year art project with the women of the SMART program, and this year was no exception.  I met with them several weeks ago for the art workshop where they made flower magnets illustrating the "seed of change" that prompted them to go to college.  After sharing their story with us, they each ceremoniously placed their magnet on the magnetized painting that I was commissioned to create three years ago. After the ceremony, the painting is returned to it's home in the Women's Center and all of the blossom magnets (from the previous years, too), are hung.  It's always a heartwarming, uplifting tradition.

My heartfelt congratulations go to each and every one of these women who have successfully completed their first year of college!

HOLMES COUNTY

Keith and I celebrated our April 30th, 35th wedding anniversary in the Holmes County area - where the world's largest Amish population lives.  We spent Friday and Saturday nights in a fantastic log cabin that we really enjoyed. It was so good to get away, and it was so peaceful there that I quite frankly, did NOT want to return home on Sunday.  Here are some of the many images from that weekend.

The first stop - Cindy's Diner.  Looking out the window while we await our burgers and fries.  We love this little diner!

The cabin where we stayed, Harvest Cabin.  It's one of the two cabins at Fields of Home.  This cabin has a loft where there's a toilet, hot tub and bed.

A typical Amish meal.  I don't think any further explanation is needed for this photo!  This was our meal at our favorite restaurant off the beaten path, Beachy's.  We had an incredible dinner buffet at Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen, too.   How good was it?  There were as many horses and buggys as cars and a 45 minute wait.  Worth every second.

Our view from the front porch of the cabin.  I could have watched the horses grazing all day long.

Photo by Keith

Photo by Keith

More photos from the surrounding area.  The beauty of Holmes County really makes me speechless.  I never missed the Internet for one second...

Photo by Keith

Photo by Keith

ART AND ORIOLES

Meanwhile.......back at "the ranch" my life is sadly devoid of horses now, but not to despair - the orioles have returned right on schedule! They arrive promptly on May 1st, and I flee to the store to get grape jelly.  I haven't gotten any pics yet, but I did create a journal spread just for them.

Well, I think that's about all for today.  The sun has come out after a cool, drizzly day, and I hear the orioles feeding.  Speaking of feeding, it's also time to think about making some dinner.  Has anyone seen Mrs. Yoder around here?

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Musings: My Babies Are Back!

I'm so happily excited! My Baltimore Oriole babies are back!  I dutifully hung their feeder filled with grape jelly and nectar, early yesterday afternoon in eager anticipation of their arrival.  I have learned to mimic their call well enough that they often answer in reply, but try as I might, I could hear no lovely Oriole songs.


The day turned rapidly into evening, and I gathered my journal and a few supplies to work outside on the deck.  I was deep into creative mode, when suddenly, I heard it - the beautiful sound of the Orioles calling back and forth to each other near the river!


It's amazing to me that they arrive on May 1st each year, and not a day sooner!  I didn't see any last night, but this morning, I've watched about half a dozen beautiful males come to the feeder.

Meet "Red".  He is the first Oriole that I saw at the feeder this morning.  He is so named due to his bright, red orange breast.  I have never seen an Oriole with so much red in his breast!  He slowly approached the feeder as I stood at the screen door waiting to get some pics.

He moved in, slightly closer, until he was certain I was coming no further.  Once his safety was established, he came to the feeder and hungrily devoured some grape jelly.

I managed to capture a picture of him with one of his family members.  You can see how much more yellow his friend is, and that is the color that I'm accustomed to seeing in the males.  I haven't seen any females yet, and as I see the males carry off beakfulls of jelly, I can only assume that they are tending to the nests.

So, my babies are back, right on schedule, and all is well with the world.   As I sit at the dining room table with my laptop, I can hear their song as they come to feed.


On the art journaling front, I leave you with a video I created and uploaded to YouTube last week.  Some of you may have seen it already.  Enjoy your day and remember to take time to enjoy the spring blossoms, the sunny skies, and the new arrivals in your backyard.  And as always, remember to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

Last Day of Summer

It's the last day of the 2010 SUMMER Party and your last opportunity to enter links to your SUMMER journal pages for a chance to win the *ARTtastic giveaway HERE.

Summer came in with blue skies, the eager song of Orioles,

and lots of opportunities for bird watching and creating art on the deck.

There was plenty of time for dreaming

and remembering summers past.

SUMMER 2010 may only live on in footprints

and shadows,

but the road ahead looks bright with the promise of more incredible tomorrows and "Happy Creating!"

"Let Your Art Shine All Over The World"

Dine & Dash

I love this time of year and often enjoy creating from our back deck where I can keep an eye on the orioles and other "Geographic moments" that happen to unfold.  I'm often gifted with surprises (and horrors!) from mother nature among as assorted creatures stop in for a visit. (I count praying mantis larger than hummingbird among the horror!)

Friday was a lovely day perfect for creating on the deck, so I gathered my supplies and several projects and headed outside.  I've been working on another "Outside the Book" journal project, "I", and finished that to near completion. ( I know you can't wait - I'll be posting that later on in the week!) I then turned to my journal. 

I really had nothing in mind when I started.  I only knew that I really felt like writing about some of the things I had been thinking about as I worked on my "I" project, so I used a marker and began to write.  When I finished writing, I covered my writing with a thin layer of  yellow, white and orange colored craft acrylics.  I like the look it creates.  What I wrote wasn't important to my finished spread, but it added great texture and I got my thoughts out on the page.

I still wasn't certain of where my spread was headed, but I knew I wanted more paint dripping, oozing and splattered.  I wet the left vertical edge of my spread and dropped in blobs of turquoise and purple and let them run in horizontal streaks across the entire spread.  While I was waiting for it to dry, I watched the orioles come in to feed.  They had been amusing me all afternoon as they swoop in, chatter at me, and indulge heavily at the feeder all in a matter of about 40 seconds.  That's when the idea of "dash and dine" came to me, and all the turquoise and pumpkin colors in my background were a perfect background for a jar of grape jelly and the bright orange feeder and orioles.

I began by adding "Dine & Dash with white acrylic.  I then lightened an area for the sun and sketched it in lightly along with the feeder using a marker.  Next, I added a rough sketch of my generic grape jelly jar.  After those items were completely painted, I added the birds.  Lastly, I added the white highlights in the lattice and around the bird on the feeder.  

I included 2 other regular feeders and lovers of grape jelly; the house finch and the cat bird. The orioles have begun to take chunks of jelly with them as they fly off - I think the babies are here!  The finch are very fleeting and don't like their photos taken, and the cat birds are comical and brazen and have no fear of me.  I love their little "mohawk" hairstyle.  They all get along very peaceably at the feeder with the exception of  the occasional squabble.  I think there might be a lesson in that for all of us.  Happy creating from my fowl friends and me!

Photo:  Nick Thompson