Lost Summer, Mislaid Camera and Other Travails...

I know I have been away for quite a while; well over a month, at least. Iwas beginning to wonder myself, whether I could find my way back to my blog. My Sundial Sister Cindy told me I was taking a blog-cation; stepping away for a while in order to focus on other things.

Those other things--namely getting my sons off to college and getting our first tuition payments, etc. under our belts--have taken most of the summer. I feel like it was a lost summer...for so many reasons.

My sons and I would always go on wonderful daytrips and adventures when they were younger. Our summers would be filled with everything from trips to The Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium to hikes on local nature trails and visits to some of the many historic sites that dot our part of the Hudson Valley. On really hot days we'd splurge on matinee movie tickets and soda and popcorn and go see the summer blockbuster--whatever it was.

This summer...they've been holed up in their respective rooms or off with friends. Last weekend we dropped Wyeth off at Champlain in Vermont. Warren has a little over two weeks left before he heads to Philly to start his term. I've been swamped in paperwork and mothering. Getting in my last licks before they truly become the men I can already see in them.

I've also been completely sucked in by the world of facebook. I joined up, ostensibly to keep up with my sons in college and to connect with other college parents and I have been hypnotized by being able to reconnect with long lost friends and the games. Who knew I was a game maven? I now have a few virtual apartments, a few virtual pets; I'm a supermodel and a restaurant owner among other things. It's very distracting and time sucking, but also the perfect easy go-to-spot to destress.

I haven't abandoned creative pursuits. I'm actually pursuing them harder than ever. I have a series of handpainted pressed paper boxes done and another one in progress. I'm painting Day Of The Dead skulls and also doing handpainted ornaments for Christmas. I'm experimenting with materials. I'm also working on a series of simple, hand-sewn prim-style dolls...flower faeries and the like.

I'd have oodles of lovely photos to show you......only I've managed to mislay my camera for the third time this summer. No idea where it is. I had it in hand a week ago; I was taking self-portraits for my facebook photo. I set it down--most probably in some clever-at-the-time spot and now I've been pacing round and round my house looking for it and desperately wishing it had some kind of tracking device on it. I have pictures of my recent painting projects and was intending on posting them.

So.....for now, all I can give you is this texty post reassuring you all that I haven't abandoned my blog or my art.

I promise I'll post pictures as soon as I can. And I won't be away for nearly as long...

Forgive my absence and neglect and forgive my lack of pictures if you can.... (the photo of the rose was taken by my husband...I just couldn't post w/o a picture!)

Giveaway Winner

Hello everyone... I didn't vanish from the face of the earth. I actually had a wonderful trip to Philly with my son; with only the minimum daily allowance of angsty teen. And since we stayed in different buildings and had to attend different programs during the orientation, we were able to 'avoid' each other for large portions of time.
The GPS worked perfectly with only one hiccup-- at the end of the trip it tried to send us into the heart of NYC instead of onto the Thruway North. I ignored it and we made it home fine.
Since the trip, I have been swamped in college preparations and loan paperwork, etc. It's all very overwhelming and daunting and very nearly took all the 'creative sauce' right out of me. I haven't blogged because I've just been plain exhausted. I have all these lists of things I need to remember and/or do and I carry them with me with a click Sharpie in my other hand , crossing things off, adding more things in... I'm back to wanting to find a cave to hide in. **sigh** But the real reason I am here tonight is to anounce the winner of my giveaway. This afternoon I wrote all the names down on paper slips, folded them up, put them in a bowl, mixed them up and had my two year old nephew Brian draw the winning name.

The Winner is............................................purplecat!!!! CONGRATULATIONS.....and thank you to everyone who posted and linked an entry.
I will be in touch--via email--to get your address and info. I'm hoping to be able to get this sent out by the weekend.
I'm also hopeful that I'll have some new art pieces to post by the weekend too. I'm working on some little handpainted boxes and a new doll pattern. Stealing moments here and there.
Until then, I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. I try to take a moment or two each day to relish the beauty of this season. I have a jenny wren nesting next to my front door; who sings to me every morning to remind me to be in the moment.
Even this craziness, worry and stress is a gift.
I should write that on my list so I remember it.

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!