Lordy, Lordy, Lordy....is it hot!  We have all been following Lucy's lead by just sitting in front of a fan, trying not to move too much.  We don't often feel the need for AC here in northern Michgian, but I have to tell you I have tempted more that once this year to run out, get a window unit, turn it on high, sit myself in front of it and not move until fall!
So while things have slowed down around here, they haven't stopped completely. 
I've finally gotten some time to organize my new studio.  When I started the room looked like this....

Not organized, but at least everything is in one corner and in a semi-neat pile.  After several days of work, the room now looks like this......

Don't even ask me what that cat carrier is doing in there. 
You know how you begin an organizational project and about half-way through it looks about a hundred times worse than when you started.  That's where I am right now.
If you will excuse me, I'm going to get a nice cold glass of  ice tea and then will join Lucy in front of the fan.

Sailing....Sailing

Hey Lucy,  Wanna go for a boat ride?

Are you kidding me?  Let's go!

Oh.....maybe I should have thought about this a little more.  This is kind of scary.

Wait a minute!  Are those fishies down there?

Yep, the life at sea is the life for me!

Rug Love

One last post on the Manistee Rug School.

As I said, I took a class from Susan Feller. The purpose of this class was to design our own folk art rug. At first I was a little nervous, because drawing and I are strongly linked by an eraser and I am more that a little intimitated by it.

Susan, however, made it very easy by providing templates of different fraktur designs.

Here is the table of all the designs.  So the scary drawing part wasn't even in the picture and we could all get right down to the fun desing part.  Some of us made smaller mats; others large rugs with many different designs.  A couple of students came in with their own designs and worked on those during the week.

Here I am in the background hard at work....

Susan's rugs are beautiful and photos just do not do them justice.  Here are three just to give you an idea of the work she does...

This is part of a long runner.  The colors in the actual rug are much deeper and richer.

Another runner.  I love the clamshell border on this one.

Another favorite of mine.  I love the cheerful flowers and bird.

Catch Up Day

Or as we called it, back in my Kindergarten Teaching Days--Catsup and Mustard Day. Oh yes, we so hearted ourselves with our cleverness.
Anyway, SO MUCH has been happening around here, I don't even know where to begin. So I think I will just do the nerdy thing and bullet everything. And add a picture of some rugs from the Manistee Rug School, just to keep your interest.
*First, I retired--oh yes I did.

And you're right if you detect a little giddiness there. Because I am--giddy, that is. And a little.....apprehensive is the word I think I'm looking for. What will my life look like now? What will I do? Will we have enough money? Oh the questions! With no real answers, of course. Like most things in life, things will just have to evolve.

Love, love, love this chicken.

*Next, after firmly telling family and friends that I did not want any retirement foolery--did not want a dinner--did not want a party--did not want, nor need closure--the people who love me just ignored my crabby self and gave me a wonderful surprise dinner. And it was a surprise! I had no idea anything was going on. And if that wasn't enough, those crazy fools got so tired hearing me whine about how much I wanted--no needed--an IPad, that they bought me one.
Yes, you read that right.
Gave. Me. An. IPad.
I'm not sure if it is an indication of how happy they were to get rid of me, but my take on this whole craziness is that I have wonderful, amazing family and friends who can ignore my crabbiness and general Eeyore attitude toward life.

*And then, to make life even more interesting, I turned sixty. Hmmmmmm........I've never been one to do the whole birthday/growing older thing. Life, so far, has truly been an adventure; and while I can't say I've enjoyed every aspect of it, it all has been a learning experience and has brought to the place where I am now.
But sixty......really? Anne Morrow Lindbergh calls sixty "the youth of old age." Let's just say it's giving me an opportunity to think about things.

This was my favorite rug in the rug show and this photo DOES NOT do it justice. The colors and the design....the whole rug just glowed. Let's blame this on my crappy camera and my even crappier photo skills.

*Oh yeah....the house is gone and we bought a very small (720 square feet) condo. We still have the lake house and I think we may end up spending most of our time up here. I'm used to spending summers here, but that's not really being part of the community. So I'm on the look out for rug hooking groups, knitting and/or quilting groups, churches--things that will help me become part of this wonderful area.

I don't want to give up my ties downstate. After all, my life has been there the past sixty years and my friends and family are there. But making this my main home is another new adventure.

This is my friend Susan's rug. It is a self-portrait and the first she has ever done. She tries something new every year at rug school and always does an amazing job.

So I think that's about it. Oh, my husband found me a very cool bike at a garage sale and fixed it up for me. Learning to ride it will be another post!

Busy!

So much to talk about.....last days of work......packing.....moving.......
In the middle of all this, I did take a week to go to the Manistee Rug School.  I probably should have used the week to continue packing, but-hey-sometimes you just need to feed your soul. 
I took a class from Susan Feller.  She works with you on designing a folk rug based on fraktur designs.  She has templates you can use to help you in this process.
If you go to Susan's website you can see pictures of some of her rugs.  I can only tell you that you MUST see them in person to get the true feeling of depth and color in her rugs.  They are beautiful!

This is Susan holding the rug she made that will be part of the Celebration exhibit at Sauder Village this year.
This is one of my personal favorites:

which inspired me to do something a little different in the rug that I designed.  I'll tell you more about that next time.  Now off to unpack more boxes!

The Desire to Create

During our spring break this year a teacher friend and I headed off to Washington DC.  We spent our time doing the usual teacher stuff--wandering around museums, visiting the Ford Theatre and the Library of Congress.  And, of course, eating and trying new wines.  If you know any teachers, you know that the last one is probably the most important. 

The museums were fun, probably because we weren't there with a bunch of antsy school kids who all needed to use the bathroom at the same time and no one was spilling their box of juice all over a very important national display.

 No, this time we were by ourselves and could wander about having only to keep track of each other.  This is no small thing for a teacher.

One of my favorite museums was the American Art Museum.  And my favorite part of that was their folk art collection. 

 I know that if you have been to any of the Smithsonian museums that there are signs all over the place saying "No Picture Taking Allowed."  But before I SAW the signs, I asked the guard if I could take pictures and he said to go ahead.  It is also very important for teachers to follow the rules. 

I love folk art.  I especially love folk art done by people with no art training.  People who have a burning desire to make their lives more beautiful.....who are driven to create using the things they have at hand.  I love the quote from this artist:

 And the carved animals that he created:

 This one especially touched my heart.  The artist was a woman who was confined to a state hospital.  Her desire to create beauty led her to embroider this state-issued hospital gown

As you can see, she covered every square inch of the gown.  I can only wish that it brought her joy and hope in what had to be horrible circumstances.

Today's Nap is Brought to You By.....

No one takes a better nap than Moses.....

No.One.

Oh.....wait........

As you can see we take our naps very seriously around here!