a long weekend

a tuckered pair.

memorial weekend was spent in the minneapolis area with naphtali and aidan. for the last several years james and naphtali have gone camping over this weekend and i've gone up to take care of aidan. with james in china this year i made the trip with charlie and we spent the time doing projects and dodging rain. we had rain on the way up, rain on the way home and rain off and on in between.

saturday morning we took in a farmers market and river walk.

a rainy afternoon's entertainment.

aidan on his bicycle during a weather break. we had such fun together. covered a lot of territory, got a lot done. slept well every night....

charlie travels well. the gas wasn't as high as i'd expected. naphtali (and aidan)can rival the energizer bunny on his best day. tim had his projects under control back home - plumbing was on the agenda - none of his joints leaked!! we're glad to be home.

happy birthday kate!!

sunday is our daughter-in-law's birthday.
kate is a student at eastern connecticut state university. and we're proud to tell you that she's carrying a 4.0, on the dean's list.....looking forward to an easier summer load. just one class. and work. and shasta, lola, baby and jacob to care for.
happy birthday, kate.

oooohhh

oooohhh
aaaahhh i'm thrilled with how these turned out!!
another long, dirty, sweaty day of errands, dog, garden, mowing....but a fun phone call from pam in pennsylvania. another granddaughter has been added to the family. and a call from naphtali confirming plans for the weekend. (when i went in jacob had called and was on the cell with tim!) and at this point i just want a shower. i have clothes to fold and some mending to do and i'm too dirty to touch anything inside the house. i get in the door and what do i see but an unexpected pile of rhubarb that a friend dropped off while i was outside on the phone. wouldn't you know 2 of them are the perfect size and shape to cast. it's such a lovely night. it really was a lovely night. charlie's not ready to go in either. so, yes, i'll mix a batch of cement and process these 2 new leaves....
i finally got my shower. the clothes are folded, another load in the wash and i'm going to do that mending.

the leaf castings turned out well enough that i'll give it another try.
i did make a couple more flat disks. they have leaves from my tree peony imprinted on them.
and the original rhubarb leaf flat. paint will be added on wednesday.
we had quite a weekend. mowing. garden and cement work. progress in the bathroom. water in the basement. we'd had heavy rain a week ago and had water in one corner - my sewing room - so everything had to come out. tim fixed the problem and this weekend i started putting evrything back. but in my mind as its already out it should be sorted, evaluated, shelves cleaned etc. a long job. but i have started. with tim in the middle of projects it's hard to knnow how involved in my own i can get. there was no point in doing my standard weekend cleaning,the water was off and on all day so no laundry, so i thought it would work well to start on the piles from my sewing room. well, then he realized that a book shelf would have to be moved so he could cut into the ceiling/floor to do the drain for the tub. so now i have to find space for the books off the shelf and the pictures off the wall. just keep adding to the piles - garage sale stuff. my sewing room stuff. and now books. lots of books. it is a big shelf. it all got done. and about 9:30 last night i thought it would be good to throw in a load of clothes....water everywhere. i'll spare you the details but we had water on the floor. again. i think we're both glad to be back at work today......

today i tried a project that caught my eye last year.
i made a cement leaf casting. i worked with rhubarb leaves. tomorrow night or the next morning they should be dry and it will be interesting to see if i have a knack or can develop the touch... if they turn out at all well it will be a fun project for me.
i had a little concrete left and so i made the flat one in the pan with the leaf pressed into the surface which is an interesting alternative.