Back into the routine

Home again, back from a wonderful week at the beach with multiple members of the Kleeman family. We spent the week catching up, eating, sunning on the beach, swimming, eating, and just hanging around. The Outer Banks were in the throes of the East Coast heat wave, with heat indexes of 110 degrees. Not usually a problem with an ocean right there, except the water temperatures were in the mid 50s. It was numbingly cold and only the bravest (or most foolhardy) of our group spent any time in the water. But the houses come with swimming pools, where the water was just the right temperature. When it got too hot on the beach, we would run up, jump into the pool, then return to the beach. The most difficult decision we would have to make was what to cook for dinner.

This is my family - husband, son, daughter, significant others, and grandchildren. I hope you can see the t-shirts - click on the picture to get an enlargement. Each one is painted slightly differently and they were a big hit.

We returned home on Saturday to 100+ degrees only to find that our air conditioning wasn't working. A call to the service got us in the queue for repair and the man showed up yesterday afternoon. The compressor is under a 10 year warranty, but of course the problem was the capacitor, not under warranty. The compressor will wait until next summer, when it is out of warranty, and then go up. We are cool again, and happy. And ready to think about Quilt National. Time to get stitching!

Artful Home Studio Sale

The Artful Home Studio Sale has started and will continue through July 29th. This is an opportunity to purchase artwork at a discount anywhere from 20% to 50%. I have a lot of work up there, some fairly recent but some really pretty old. The prices on the older work are not anywhere near where I'm currently pricing my work, and then they are further discounted. I would love to move these pieces out of my house and into someone else's!

OH NO 50!

©2010

This is a piece I did when I turned 50, so you know it's pretty old. Or maybe you don't, so take my word for it. This and other work is available here.

Next week is my family's triennial reunion, held for a week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Actually, it's my husband's family. He's the oldest of nine children and nearly all of them are married and have their own children. Some aren't coming this time, so there are only 30 of us. We rent two houses right on the oceanfront and have a wonderful time. We always do a t-shirt to commemorate the event and this year I commissioned one of my granddaughters to draw the logo. I modified it into a line drawing, had t-shirts printed up, and then we hand painted each one individually.

Here is the drawing; I think it's pretty clever. And the painted ones are fabulous. When we do our group photo I will post it and you will get the full effect. Our houses are supposed to have wi-fi and I hope it works so I can post stuff.

Home from Wyoming

We returned yesterday from a week at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It was fabulous! We had a great time and it always makes me think that I would like living out there. But then I think about winter and since I have never experienced winter in Wyoming, it may not be something I would enjoy.

We hiked every day, and by the end of the week had gotten our routine down pat. I'm sure to those who live out West and who hike all the time, our treks might seem less than spectacular, but to us almost-city folks who live at sea level, we were quite pleased. Our longest hike was 9 miles up Cascade Canyon at the Tetons. My biggest problem with these mountain hikes was not the uphill, but the downhill. Steep hills just absolutely killed my rotten knees. I spent one afternoon icing down a knee, and Aleve helped lots also.

For the past year I have looked at the webcam aimed at Old Faithful nearly every day. So while we were there we stood in front of the webcam and called our kids. They brought up the web page and here we are:



We're the two people in the center of the image facing the camera. Nearly every time we walked along this boardwalk we could see people doing the exact same thing. Waving at the camera with a cell phone in their hand.

I will upload some pictures later on. Today I have to catch up on all the things that didn't get done while I was away.

On the Road Again

This time tomorrow I will be sitting on an airplane waiting to take off on vacation. We're off to Wyoming to Yellowstone and Grand Teton. This is about the 5th time we've been there. I just never get tired of that area and there is always something new to see. We've got some hikes planned that will be new to us and will provide all sorts of opportunities for taking pictures. I think that the majority of our luggage is electronic: cameras (many) and a laptop computer. Clothes, the bare minimum. I always pack too many clothes so I'm trying to be very efficient. It's odd to be packing for freezing weather when it's been so hot here, but the lows at Yellowstone have been in the 20's. Yet by the middle of the day, it's t-shirts and shorts. So the word is Layers.

These are pictures I took last year. Old Faithful erupting at dawn.


And a view of the Tetons.



Here is a link to the webcam that looks out onto Old Faithful. I have checked this webcam nearly every day this past year. In the dead of winter when the roads are closed and there are no tourists, it's sort of cool to be able to see what's happening, or not happening. Sometimes bison or moose cross the geyser field.

There's no Internet access in the National Parks so I will be out of touch until I return home with lots of great pictures and interesting stories of wildlife encounters. Just not too close.

Back to reality

Vacation is over. The tri-ennial Kleeman Family Reunion is now history. We had a wonderful week filled with fabulous meals, terrific beach time, laughs and stories, and just reconnecting with family. In the two side-by-side houses there were 43 people and 11 Harry Potter books. All week long at least one person had his or her nose in the book.

The surf was great after the first two days when it was so rough the No Swimming red flags were posted. The rest of the time we spent either body surfing or using the boogie boards. In my first venture into the surf it was immediately obvious that I wasn't going to be able to hold on to my board and also keep my bathing suit pieces in place. Luckily I had also brought a one piece suit that was ideal for riding the waves. Thirty years ago when we were on these jaunts I would spend hours and hours riding the waves. Now that I have 30 more years on my body, it was not nearly so effortless, especially the standing up quickly enough to not get knocked over by the next breaking wave. I came home with many scrapes and cuts and some very aching body parts. I need a vacation to recuperate from my vacation.

We always do a group photo and I've posted pictures from some of our previous reunions, except I can't find the post. Here is the latest and greatest.

The theme for this year's reunion was pirates and so the 'crazy picture' featured a lot of pirate paraphernalia - beards, eye patches, swords, etc.

And then we do family groupings, always a challenge when there are small children who just can't see the point of taking all these pictures. Until we look at them months later and say Remember how much fun we had? So here we are, and we are a gorgeous bunch, if I do say so myself.

So now I'm just about totally unpacked with everything put away, the laundry is done, the grocery shopping for the week is complete and I have no more excuses for not getting back to my art. It seems forever since I was able to devote time exclusively to my own work. I spent most of May preparing for the classes I taught at Miami University and gathering supplies for the classes I took at QSDS. Then I spent 10 days at QSDS, 9 days at Miami U, and a week at the ocean. And don't forget the birth of my new granddaughter. First thing tomorrow, I promise.