Rolodex card swap

For my "non-arty" readers, I use a Rolodex as an art object filled artwork that is the size of a Rolodex card, some mine and mostly others. I find it lovely to look at and inspiring. It's also a wonderful reminder of the friends I have around the world who share their art with me.
These pieces are from a recent swap with my byhandartists yahoogroups friends. Our theme was "Quotes". I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.


Kathleen

Marg



Me


Mary-Beth


Judy


Irene


Anne

Linda C

If you're just looking for 5 minutes to put you in a good mood

I hope I'm like this at 85, dancing or not.

A Tuesday market

I went to the Tuesday Phoenix Hill Farmer's market. Mostly, to see my friend Sue, but also to get a few things we didn't get Saturday. I hadn't been to this market before. It's much smaller than ours, probably 7-8 vendors and some good music. Some interesting offerings not found at our, too! These green beans were beautiful and so was the squash. I got both from the woman who also had the Zinnias.

Sue maintains the blog for Phoenix Hill market and I had the added treat of seeing her daughters, Shameka and Kendra. I've known them since they were little and came to live with Sue and Shawn. A few years ago, Sue and Shawn were able to adopt them. They are a wonderful family and didn't need the state to pronounce them that, but it does insure the girls of some benefits they wouldn't have had without the formal adoption. Shameka is headed to college next month and Kendra will be a senior this fall.

Aren't these beautiful? I never tire of Zinnias. I have a hard time picking them out because there are so many little variations in them and the colors are all so great!

How about this granola! I had a sample and it came highly recommended by Sue so this bag came home with me. I ate a little for some energy on the way to Jazzercize.


These little jewels are chocolate dimples. Who can't like something with a name like that and as my friend pointed out, they come ready to go in a cute box, too. Sue had bought some and so graciously offered one to me. Yummy chocolate, made with butter, and a delicious raspberry filling on top. I have always been a sucker for anything chocolate and raspberry. A wonderful combo.

Sure was a great way to spend an hour on a pretty July day.

You know what Saturday is............

Today is a hot, but thankfully, cloudy day. If the sun were out it would be sweltering. We ambled down to the market today and I realized I rarely post a picture OF the market so I climbed a little knoll in front of the Deer Park Presbyterian Church for this photo. Dogs are not allowed this year, so there are usually a few with owners in tow, on the fringes of the market.



Here's my stash for the day. A lovely mix of color it is! I always like posing my finds and revisiting what I got today.


Here is a picture of my sticky bun (I like the one without pecans, which doesn't seem to be as popular). I've got to stop eating these. Behind it is white corn, probably Silver Queen, but I didn't ask. Our peaches and cream was fair last week but not as good as what we got from Happy Jack's the week before so I returned to him. Peaches were yellow this week and not as big as last weeks yellow ones, so I'm anxious to give these a try. I got that pretty bourbon-soaked, leaf wrapped goat cheese to take to the Kissel's farm where we are going for a swim and cookout today.

I got a few new things today, the lemon cucumbers, which I think is their name. That are wonderful on a salad. The skin is soft and doesn't need to be peeled. They will be on the salad along with blueberries, maybe mandarin oranges, almonds and a lime and lemon thyme vinaigrette I like to make and will also head to the farm. The blackberries looked fabulous!


The tomatoes are Peach (little yellow ones), Pink Girl (small pinkish red in front) and Cherokee Purple. All heirlooms, which is all I buy in the summer and worth every penny I pay for them. And a little peek of last weeks Sweet William.




A cucumber for sandwiches later this week, the purple carrots that are out of this world. He says he could pick until he couldn't pick any more and he would always sell out! And the flowers of the week, something that starts will an "L" that I don't remember, but they sure are pretty, huh? They got a compliment from the owner of Sweet and Savory (my future business, she doesn't know it yet....)where we had breakfast again. I must get to the bank for more cash before Saturday. We run out before we get our omelets. Next week for sure. Yummm, I can taste the sweet beets in that omelet already!

Another joy, a lovely daughter

Time for the second of three installments on my children.
I know Amy is mine, we look the most alike of my children, we are driven and competitive in the same way(well, ok she much more than me)and both have taken many daring roads with our hair over the years, though we might have to throw Brian into the family mix here, too. We fret over things and wonder with envy at those who do little fretting. We both chose life partners (her lovely Rachel, who is graphic designer extraordinaire, who is designing my web page!)who fall into that mysterious category. We both like to travel and experience new things. We get a lot out of life and I think life gets a lot out of us, too. She's a wonderful, doting auntie.
She was born 5 weeks early, a Saturday morning surprise. But, still weighed in at a reasonable 5lbs 7oz, which seemed big for a preemie but when her brothers were born I understood, both were over 9 lbs. Her name is Amelia Shaw, but it seemed way to big for this little bitty thing that fit between my crooked palm and elbow, so "Amy" seemed right.
She went off to Western KY University to get a Bachelors in Nursing and never came home, hardly, even for a summer. Left there and headed to Washington, DC to do an internship at the National Institutes of Health, stayed another 2 1/2 years there and went to work for a non-profit homeless clinic, SOME,in the heart of DC. She wrote an article for a public health journal with the doctor she worked with there. She champions the forgotten and ignored. She left there for graduate school in Seattle (could she go further from home? -yes, but let's not encourage her) studying Public Health. Finished that up last summer and immediately went into a doctoral program in the nursing school at UW. This week she finished interviewing for a university-wide two-year HIV fellowship, her area of study. She also applied for a NINR-funded T32 training grant (don't even ask what it stands for) from UW that was chosen by the nursing faculty. She received that one and withdrew her name from the other. So, she will be a biobehavioral nursing fellow for the next two years. Really nice that she will be paid to go to school, have full tuition and expenses, too. Best of all, not have to work, which she has done most all of her education. Being a single mom for almost all of their lives, college was at their expense for the most part. I've always wished that was different.
She did short-term volunteer work in Florida after Hurricane Andrew at 16 or 17 and short-term mission work in Jamaica. She went to Africa two years ago and did work and research in Uganda. She applies for anything and everything where someone else will pay her to go somewhere interesting. She was a finalist two years ago for Nick Kristof's ( NY Times) Win a Trip contest. She didn't win but went to Africa anyway, wrote him and he wrote about her later again, on his blog. She wanted to go to Europe after her junior year in college (good luck with that) and wrote a paper for the International Nurses Conference that happened to be meeting in London that year. They accepted it for presentation by a student. They paid her way and let her fly early and leave late. She traveled around and gave her paper and met bigwigs from the WHO and CDC, she was 21 that summer, I think her 21st birthday may have been in Europe.
Just a little glimpse of this wonderful, caring woman who I, luckily, call "daughter".
I think I'll call her now....

Tea atc

This is one of my atcs for the byhandartists yahoogroup for July. Our themes are black and white and tea. I used distress ink in tea dye, brushed corduroy, and vintage photo for the background on watercolor paper. stamped background stamp with ColorBox Chalk Ink Yellow Ochre. The stamp is from All Night Media Anna Griffin Espalier. I stamped a quote from Quietfire Designs with Brown Archival Ink and attached a little brass cup and saucer with fibers through an antique brass eyelet.
I flipped the cup up so the atc would scan better.

Iced Coffee

My favorite drink in the summer. I was telling my sister how to make it so I figured I'd do a quick post. The great thing is that it is so smooth because it is cold brewed.
Put water in a pitcher, I use about 9-10 cups. Doesn't have to be exact. Add two measuring cups of ground coffee of your choice. I like dark roast. Give it a quick stir to get all of the grounds wet. Let it sit for about 10 hours. If I make it in the morning, I strain it late that afternoon. If I made it in the evening, I strain when I get up. I put a filter in my coffee maker and pour the wet coffee mix into the filter. Not into the maker where it will heat up and run through. Big mistake. You just want to separate the coffee from the grinds and this lets gravity do it for you. My coffee maker has one of those doodads that lets you remove the pot while liquid is still goes through the filter. I probably change the filter twice, occasionally three times. I found a good trick is to NOT stir right before filtering. It seems to keep a lot of the grounds in the pitcher so you can dump all of those out at the end and it filters faster that way. I learned this the hard way.
I store it in a pitcher in the refrigerator. This skinny green one fits on the door so I use it.
In the morning, I get a to-go cup (I reuse these and also take them to the coffee shop if I want a different iced coffee for a change of pace, they give a discount if you bring your own cup, hot or cold) I keep lids from the coffee shop refills to top my cups. A dash of fat-free half and half(yes, I know it has TERRIBLE things in it and I probably go with regular half and half, oddly, half of the time!)and a couple of splenda packs. I learned to drink coffee with milk and sugar when I was about 10 so I've never changed. I always have a stash of bendable straws, the final, crucial step. It helps prevent stains on the FRONT of your teeth. You will appreciate that. The concentrated stains on the back of your teeth however, will not be appreciated by your dental hygienist who will have to work her fingers to the bone (and probably have multiple surgeries)to remove them!
Enjoy!

Rolodex Swap

I've been a busy poster this weekend so you probably won't hear from me again for a few days. I have to go in to "work" mode!
I love my rolodex art. I'm always on the lookout for a circular rolodex holder, but my flat one is fine for art display. I'm hosting a swap this month for the byhandartists yahoogroup who want to add to their rolodex. I have a lot of quote art in mine and decided to keep going with that theme, though I do love my pink ones, too, even though pink is not a favorite color of mine.
I used watercolor paper and the same technique used for the atcs in June, you can scroll down, if you like, to see the details. Some have a bird in flight mask and others the dragonfly in the June post. I like it better for smaller projects, though the birdie will be great on a fat book page or scrapbook page in the future. I don't think I'll use it for atcs or rolodex again. I used the wet mask to stamp the backs, and in one case the front. Seeing the negative and positive is interesting to me.
The quotes are from Suzanne's collection at Quietfire Design. I think her calligraphy is fabulous.
Here are a few others from my collection to enjoy. I would scan them all if I had time!

Yes, and it's a farmer's market day, too!

Jim and I made our way to the market on this incredibly pleasant 4th of July morning. We've been blessed with moderate temperatures and low humidity this week.
We slept later than usual and missed blueberries from my favorite vendor and tomato pie, again. The bread I like to use to make bruschetta was also gone, but I have a half loaf still to use. Another very sad week for cut flowers, too, though they they are planning to finish the season with a bang! I did find some blueberries from Huber's for my blueberry "fix". See the gooseneck loosestrife from two weeks ago?

I did get four ears of peaches and cream corn, and another bunch of that celery we've loved. I think there is a pot of vegetable soup in my future according to Jim, our resident chef. I think some of the greens of it will be great in the soup and I'll use the rest to add to salad.
This was the first week for local peaches, I got one BIG yellow one and several white ones. They were sweet as sugar and so delicate we couldn't get them home with out a few bruises.
There was a small purple cauliflower, just enough for the two of us, that I snagged along with some baby russet and French fingerling potatoes. We, also, got a 1/4 pound oyster mushrooms from a "new to the market" vendor. He fried them, we're having them in the soup.
And oh, what joy! My first Cherokee Purple tomato siting of the year! Promise of good things to come. These will ripen for a few days more before slicing and a little pepper makes my mouth sing!




Now for the plants,

I couldn't pass up this Puerto Rican oregano. I'm hoping to over-winter it for next year. They haven't grown it before and don't know about its performance. It has velvety, fat leaves more like a succulent and smells so good. I'm hoping my friend, Donna, knows more about it. If you want to see some beautiful plants in a yard, head over to her blog.
I also added this little hosta beauty to my garden. I forgot to ask the name, but will next week. Hope she knows it. I'm trying to label all of my hosta.
Lastly, six little stems of Sweet William (I have two sweet Williams in my family, William Eric and William Ezra). Three red for the bedroom and three pink-purple for the guest bedroom.
We grabbed buffalo(ground, stew meat and brats) and headed to Sweet and Savory, my future place of business (remember?)

Happy 4th of July!

Hoping you are finding some way to celebrate today. While I am not particularly over the top patriotic, I do appreciate the fact that I live differently from the vast majority of the world. And I appreciate the freedoms I have greatly, mostly free speech and religious freedom. I have done short term mission work in developing countries and seen first hand their poverty and political unrest.
My father was a veteran of WWII, enlisting when he was just 17. He served in the Navy on a support ship in Italy. Like many other WWII vets, he rarely talked of his time during the war.
My niece's husband leaves for Afghanistan next month for a year. Their first baby is due the first of August. We are all hoping for him to have a bit of time to enjoy his son prior to his deployment. I'm sure being essentially a single mom the first year will have its challenges.
These flags were flying among the petunias at Churchill Downs yesterday. Yes, we went again, our last visit of the spring meet and a record 4th time.

In my work world

(I post this with written permission from the parent of those pictured here, she took the photos.)This is two year old, "V" and her brother, oh, and yes, I do see stuffed animals, too. I came to know their mother when she filled in for the dentist I work for during her maternity leave. She is artistic, witty and fun. "V" has been quite ill and has hopefully finished all of the treatment she will need. She came in for her first visit recently. Her wispy hair was a stark reminder of illness in an otherwise normal two year old girl. I love that she was wearing a crocheted cape that had been her mom's when she was little, sort of like being wrapped up in love from many years ago.
It is relationships like this that make me love my work. I have patients I've seen for 30 years, in some cases 4 generations of a family. I consider myself so lucky to care for and be a part of so many wonderful people's lives. I look around my house and see tea towels that Anna brings for each holiday during the year. I have ones for Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I get them out over and over again and think of her. She also feeds my doughnut craving when she comes in and occasionally, "just because". I have a beautiful quilt, a wall hanging, skirt and a few appliqued t-shirts made by Jude, and quirky glass plates that have faces made by her older sister, Naomi. I've known them since Jude was 2. They are the third generation of their family that I have seen on both their mother and father's side. Each are expecting babies this year.
I'm lucky to have meaningful work, and even though there are days I've hardly gotten through for one reason or another, I count myself lucky to have rarely not wanted to go and do what I do. I've often been sad for folks I know for whom work is "work" and retirement the only benefit.
Lucky me.