Gone to Philadelphia With Warren And Homer

This afternoon Warren and I are heading down to Philadelphia to attend college orientation. This is going to be an interesting trip for a couple of reasons : 1) Warren and I have a fairly contentious relationship.I think it's because we have similar dispositions and he's definitely pulling away in order to flex his independence. Lately, we seem to spar constantly over ridiculous, often trivial things. 2) This will be our first ( and maybe only) mother/son road trip. I'm excited and also a nervous wreck.
We're inaugurating the 'new' Tomtom GPS that my hubby gave me for my birthday LAST year. I hadn't taken it out of the box until Friday!My husband Kevin-- or MapBoy as I call him--has a briefcase full of Rand McNally maps which he pores over for every trip and claims to be excellent at directions, but we get lost more often than not.
I am going to print the directions off the college website and set up my GPS and take a deep breath and try like the dickens not to argue with my son. And any time we think we're lost, we'll just find a Dunkin Donuts and regroup over caffeine and sugar. Which is appropriate, because my Tomtoms' voice is Homer Simpson. WooHoo! D'oh! I can't stand the bland voices they program the GPS with so I purchased Homers voice at the Tomtom site. I'd rather laugh while getting lost, than feel more stressed.

Not sure why I'm so worried over a three hour trip to Philly...when I once drove 12 straight hours from North Carolina to New York by myself at night...but I also figure, if you don't fret and worry beforehand that's when things happen.
We won't be back til Tuesday evening. I won't be back here until maybe Wednesday.
Please don't forget my blog giveaway...a few posts below.

See you all in a few days!

Apologies...

I had every intention of coming back here yesterday--and even this morning--and posting my picks for the two lovely blog awards I recently recieved...but yesterday afternoon the very first bill for my sons college was waiting for me in the mailbox. I knew it was coming. But it was a bit of a blindside when I opened it. Right now, I'm completely wrapped up in figuring out this maze of loans and whatnot so that my mind and stomach can stop twisting.
I know that there are lots of parents all over feeling exactly the same and wondering all the same things I am....
Hopefully I can do some good research today and feel a little sounder about this by tonight.

Lemonade, Premio MeMe, and Tag

Well, it's Monday. I've recovered (mostly) from turning another year older. Ice cream cake helped. Alot. And this morning I discovered I'd been tagged by Cindy and awarded by Suzi and Silke. Plus, there seems to be some interest in my little blog giveaway...Yay!
So... in response to the TAG, here is the 1st photo in my 10th file (or was it the 10th photo in my 1st file...? I'm only on cuppa joe #1 for the day...so bear with me).
This photo is from my 20th anniversary. Hubby and I took a little trip to Lancaster County, PA and spent a weekend with trains, historic sites,pastoral scenery and great food. This picture was taken by me at a gorgeous historic home whose name I've forgotten. They were having a Civil War weekend with crafts and reenactors. These lovely ladies were having a chat on a bench at the kitchen entrance to the home. I love this photo. Thanks to Cindy of Vagabond Artistry (http://vagabondartistry.blogspot.com/) for tagging me. And Thank You to Suzi of Art With A Touch Of Whimsy (http://suziart.blogspot.com/) for the Lemonade Stand Award.

And also a Thank You is due to Silke of Metamorphosis (http://silkepowers.blogspot.com/) for this Premio Meme Award; which means I have to share seven things about myself with all of you. Hmmm...this is harder than it looks.......
1) Trains are very important in my life. My husband is a tremendous train buff and a model railroader with an HO scale railroad layout that is rapidly taking up the entire circumference of two rooms of my basement. I met him at my fathers' Model Railroad Club. Nearly every family vacation we've ever taken was planned around proximity to trains.
2) I was 12 and my husband Kevin was 14 when I first met him. I had such a huge crush on him. We became friends and didn't actually start dating until he was in his last year of college.

3)Cindy of Vagabond Artistry and myself are Sisters-in-law; as well as best friends. She's married to Kevin's brother Bob. Bob is the one who coined our 'Nome-de-Craft': The Sundial Sisters. We're notorious for going out on Saturday afternoon jaunts 'for a few hours' and then losing all track of time and coming home sometime after evening has fallen. Can we help it if there are so many crafty fun things for us to do when we're kid and hubby free?

4) I got my driver's license the year my sons' started school. I learned on a Cadillac Coupe DeVille. I adore Cadillacs, but I also love my current car: a Ford Taurus wagon.

5)I love long hair. My hair currently hangs to my tush. It's been longer than that at least once; I cut 2 and 1/2 feet of it for Locks of Love. I've also had super short pixie-cut hair when I was pregnant with my sons. I looked like Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. Long hair is better on me.

6) Even though I'm Scottish and Irish (on my dad's side), I get my red hair from my Swedish great grandfather on my mom's side.She was also Italian. What a mix.

7)When I get annoyed and/or frustrated, I swear like a sailor. Actually, I might swear worse than a sailor...I don't know. I'm kind of like Ralphie's dad in A Christmas Story---I've invented some new variations and words.

Okay, those are my seven things. I think I may have worked in a few more than seven, but there you go. I know I'm supposed to nominate seven others...but I haven't thought that far ahead. I'll come in later and post my choices.

Once again thanks to all for the awards and tag.
Oops! It was supposed to be the 10th photo in the 1st file! I knew I'd screwed it up. Here is the 10th photo in my 1st file. It's my nephew Zachary--Cindy of Vagabond Artistry's son--at his first communion. I'm leaving the other picture up anyway.

Birthday Month Giveaway

It's my birthday month. I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy baby; born on the Fourth of July--which some say, accounts for my red hair and fiery temper! When I was little, my mother got out of having too many kiddie birthday parties by telling me that I was so special everyone in America celebrated my birthday and the day was one big party...with fireworks to boot.
This year will be my first birthday without my mother calling me up to wish me a Happy Birthday and then tell me the story of how she missed the fireworks that year to have me. My dad would always tell me I was my own kind of fireworks. I think maybe, my long suffering hubby concurs with that.
But I digress... The purpose of this post is really to let everyone know that for my birthday month...I'm having a giveaway on my blog. Starting today--this art box/art book is up for grabs. It's called 'Flower Of Inspiration'. I created it over a period of about a month or so in the early spring.

It's entirely hand-painted; with four muses around the sides of the box and a goddess of Inspiration on the bottom. The top of the box (which I forgot to photograph) is done in flowers and hearts.

Inside the box is a fabric flower which is the actual book itself. I took the flower apart; adorned each petal with a word or phrase cut from old books. The words and phrases are randomly chosen for inspiration: key to life, fragrance, cake, blackbird, snow are a few examples. I hand stitched the flower back together. It nests inside the box, but is removeable in order to be read.

The inside of the top lid has 'directions to the muse'--cut from old books.

I made this with the intention that it would be a sort of trigger for my own muse; for my own inspiration...but I want to pass it along and send on the inspiration.

So...here's how this will work:

To enter to win "The Flower Of Inspiration" post a comment here and I will count that as one entry. If you post a link to this post on your own blog, that will count as an additional two entries. On Wednesday, July 22nd I will put all the names in a hat and draw a winner. That way--with shipping time--you should have the Flower in your hand by month's end.
Good Luck to everyone...and Happy Birthday month!

The Graduates

Here they are: Wyeth and Warren....as photographed by Jeff Goulding of the Times Herald Record. This wonderful photo was taken by our area newspaper and is up on their website. I was able to email it to myself and save it. I was too far away to get any great shots like this. I still have to upload all my pix... Interestingly enough, on their very first day of school--all those 12 long years ago--they had their picture taken for the paper. Sundial Sister Cindy pointed out how it's all come full circle. Neat.
It was a great night; the ceremony was held outside on the school athletic field; the thunder clouds held off until just after the ceremony finished so, unlike my graduation 25 years ago, everyone actually got their diplomas.
We didn't actually manage to get seats. It was packed. But we had a great spot overlooking the whole field and not obstructed by anyone's head. My sons happened to be seated almost directly in front of us,so that worked out well.
The Saturday BBQ was hectic for me but, everyone had a great time and that also turned out really well. And now....I have a few days to pause for breath and maybe even celebrate my own birthday and then we're into prepping for college and all that fun stuff.
So...for the moment...join me in admiring these two high school grads. Class of 2009......Huzzah!

New Painting: Camillia

Sunday, I wished my hubby a Happy Fathers Day; gifted him with a beautiful train photograph (not done by me) and a silly card (an audio card of Napoleon Dynamite listing all his 'skills') and then spent the day in the studio painting this little girl above. Her name is Camillia; she was inspired by my Edward Gorey calendar. And I had Interview With The Vampire playing on dvd in the background so maybe she has a bit of Claudia in her too.
She's painted on heart shaped wood that I covered in torn up phone book pages and sanded down. I love how the wrinkles and creases give it almost a stone-like texture. I love her mixture of rough and delicate. I'm planning on adding a little bit of charcoal detail to her wings and coating her in beeswax.
I also spent some time tweaking Theodora a little...and here she is.

I overlayed her hair and eyes and the lighter part of the background with Perfect Pearls...also painted some into her rabbit suit. I love it. It's hard to convey in photographs (for me, anyway) but she has a glimmer to her now. She really catches the light and glows.
I'm glad I had a fruitful studio day Sunday, because the rest of the week is just crazy. My sons are graduating tomorrow night. I'm up to my eyeballs in cleaning and shopping and prep for a celebration BBQ we're having on Saturday. Luckily, it's all close friends and family and they all know that dust is an accessory in my house...but I still have tons to do.
I'm stealing this moment and hoping for at least one or two more before Saturday. I know this busyness is a mother's defense. In a couple months my sons will be 18 and college freshmen in different states. Wow. It boggles my mind.
Well.....off to 'chore-land'.
I think Camillia is laughing at me...

Some Sunny Pictures For A Dreary Day

I'm always facinated by the way the sunlight comes into this wonderful old house and plays with everyday objects, making them into something different to the eye. These photos were taken in late afternoon this past Sunday. Something about these pictures makes me feel like they're almost images from my houses' past. Quilt rack in the bedroom. The quilts actually are from the houses past: they were handmade and embroidered with the names of my husbands family(on his fathers' side).

Sewing table in my studio. When we first came through this house before moving in; I knew this would be my art room/studio when I saw the light that came through the windows. It's not a very big room, but the light is so awesome. At certain times of day, this room absolutely glows.

Cabinet in the back of the hall; between the kitchen and the family room.

Another view of the cabinet with the reflection of the lace curtain on it.