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Pleasant Hill LA....

Retirement home????

Bonifas Art Show Escanaba, MI

We had a wonderful show on Saturday November 7th at the Bonifas Art Center in Escanaba, Mi.

The wide variety of artists was truly inspiring!

Thank you Bonifas for a wonderful "Indian Summer" day in Escanaba! We really enjoyed spending time with you and look forward to next years show!

Boulder Junction FLEA-MARKET!!!

my solid perfumes in my vintage pill boxes...

lavender cooling mist with vintage buttons...

My very first attempt and success at felting soap...

Just some odds and ends ....

What a pretty table....

Bruce and I woke up at 3:00 this morning for the long drive to Boulder Junction where we did our 1st really big flea market. Over 10,000 people were supposed to be attending and we had to be there at 7:00 to claim our spot, a 12 X 12 foot area with an enormous pine tree smack in the middle . Coinciding with the flea market there happened to be aWalleye Tournament, going on, a juried craft fair (waiting list of 5-years!) and an antique car show. WHEW! The weather held and it didn't rain, but we expected a better turnaround than what we did get. Oh well....there will always be another craft or art fair to look forward to in just a couple of weeks.

We set up and had possibly one of the poorest showings of all of our shows. We exclusively do shows which are juried art fests, etc. So this was a real challenge. I did happen to find some adorable things like the little girl I have listed. Ain't she sweet?? The artists name is Kathryn Petersen from Rubicon Wisconsin. Such talent!! And her creations just make you want to laugh they are so dear!

BLUE RIBBON!

Thank you Lakeland County and the quaint little town of Arbor Vitae. We had a blast...see you next year!

My very own Art for All......

Since I wasn't invited "this" year to our local Art for All in Menominee, I decided to have my own!

It was very successful and I walked away with a substantial amount of profit for the afternoon.

Now why didn't I think of this before??

PlainSong

"PlainSong"

~any simple and unadorned melody or air~

I finally did it! My solid perfume is ready to go!

The scent is enchanting with notes of citrus, rose with just a smidge of sapmoss and other essential oils. My perfume expertly crafted with only natural vegetable oils; coconut oil, pure virgin olive oil and bees wax.

It glides gently on pulse points.... and can be kept in your purse or pocket without fear of breaking. How convenient is that??

Each perfume pill box is snuggled inside a plain muslin bag, placed in a handmade sea beach blue box and then beautifully labled.

Price for each is $30.00 which includes shipping.

www.lemonverbenasoap.etsy.com

Czeslaw Milosz

Slow River...

There has not been for a long time a spring as beautiful as this one; the grass, just before mowing, is thick and wet with dew. At night bird cries come up from the edge of the marsh, a crimson shoal lies in the east till the morning hours. In such a season , every voice becomes for us a shout of triumph.

SUN...GLORIOUS SUN!

False spring?? Opened windows and doors and breathed in the cool freshness of a March morning....

The pebble--- by Zbigniew Herbert

The pebble

is a perfect creature

equal to itself

mindful of its limits

filled exactly

with pebbly meaning

with a scent which does not remind one of anything

does not frighten anything away does not arouse desire

its ardour and coldness

are just and full of dignity

I feel a hevy remorse

when I hold it in my hand

and its noble body

is permeated by false warmth

-Pebbles cannot be tamed

to the end they will look at us

with a calm and very clear eye

Emily Dickinson

Ample make this bed.

Make this bed with awe;

In it wait till judgment break

Excellent and fair.

Be its mattress straight,

Be its pillow round;

Let no sunrise---yellow noise

Interrupt this ground.

TURKEY WORK!

Just finished these over the weekend.

I love turkey work!

You can find these adorable covers for sale at my shop...

www.andsewitgoes.etsy.com

Summer Soap

Bayberry, Lavender and Oatmeal Milk & Honey....

Busy making soap today.

It's hard to believe that in a few short months we will travel the "circuit" of art shows and festivals.

BY THE BAY SOAP COMPANY

This is my front parlor where I keep a display of my soap, lip balm, salve, salts, dream pillows and sachets.

We do a lot of soap "shows" juried and unjuried during the summer and boy are we looking forward to it this year!!

http://www.bythebayhandcraftedsoap.com

Mr. McGregor's Garden Shed

After visiting the botanical gardens in Green Bay a couple of years ago and after taking many pictures of the children's garden and Mr. McGregor's Shed...my husband and I built our own little garden shed with three raised beds where I grow herbs; chamomile, rosemary, woolly thyme, to name a few and wildflowers. I use many of the herbs in our handcrafted soap! We also have a Wisteria Arbor and after 3-years she is finally producing big purple flowers!

Looking for a sunset bird in winter-Frost

The west was getting out of gold, the breath of air had died of cold,when shoeing home across the white, I thought I saw a bird alight. In summer when I passed the place I had to stop and lift my face; a bird with an angelic gift was singing in it sweet and swift. No bird was singing in it now. A single leaf was on a bough, And that was all there was to see in going twice around the tree. From my advantage on a hill I judged that such a crystal chill was only adding frost to snow as gilt to gold that wouldn't show. A brush had left a crooked stroke of what was either cloud or smoke from north to south across the blue; a piercing little star was through.

Snow Flakes-Longfellow

Out of the bosom of the air, out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, over the woodlands brown and bare, over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent and soft and slow descends the snow.
Even as our cloudy fancies take suddenly shape in some divine expression, even as the troubled heart doth make in the white countenance confession, the troubled sky reveals the grief it feels.
This is the poem of the air, slowly in silent syllables recorded; this is the secret of despair, long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, now whispered and revealed to wood and field.

A time for quilting...

My frame is placed in the front-room parlor of our old house where it is the sunniest and warmest. Sometimes, my tuxedo cat Tibbits, hops up to take a quick nap, but not for long!

Winter thoughts

Winter has settled in and so has the family. This old Victorian creaks and groans with each blast of arctic air. I dread the thought of going outside even for the most mundane of tasks as it takes me forever to get warm again. I keep the wood stove stoked while the kids are in school and it helps to keep the furnace from running, but the mess is incredible... blankets of dust envelope the entire house. A small price to pay to keep warm!