Deep Creek Maryland

That's where we went, and it was really nice. We got to RELAX.

We stopped in to see Robert's folks in Mount Airy and had an awesome meal while catching up on things.

Here's the view from our room, overlooking the lake (which was HUGE).




We went to the town of Oakland, MD, which was like stepping back in to the 70's. Amazing. This was an antique shop with lots of cool stuff, but the BEST part was the fountain soda shop at the back of the place. We were so disappointed that they had closed when we were there. I bet they had great milkshakes and fries, ya know?

Here's something else - the meters here at home are 12 minutes for a quarter (RIDICULOUS). Who carries that many quarters?? This meter was wonderful. Check it out.

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
And here's where we had lunch - where you could get a grilled cheese sandwich for $2.50 and lunch for 2 for under $20. Very cool place. 1975 era.

And here's some place I DEFINITELY didn't go.




Found a farm named for my beautiful daughter, and the farm was just as beautiful.




Painting possibilities, hmm?
So all in all, a nice time. I'm feeling a "got your back" kind of love. And when it's real, no amount of buzz-wrecking from anyone or anything or any set of circumstances can get in the way of what's real.

Off to see the wizard

For those of you who know Robert and his current situation, tomorrow is his big day. Say a prayer for him (and us). When that is over, we are going "away" somewhere. Tomorrow is my 31st birthday and Robert is surprising me with a road trip. I can't tell you how much I would like to be AWAY somewhere, with nothing to do and no phones to answer. I hope to keep my phone off, but I'm sure I'll check it now and then...

I won't be posting while I'm away, but will put any worthwhile pics on here when we get back. Enjoy your week and your Labor Day weekend, I know I will.

Namaste!

Photo credit

I'm posting an email from my daughter, regarding the beautiful picture of the ramp down to the beach at the CBH. It's the first photo listed in my last blog. I told her I'd give her credit. Her "thank you, come again" is her 7-11 tribute. IT'S A LOVELY PICTURE HALEY!

mother,
i think you need to recognize on your blog that my daughter took this picture whom wants to be a photoagrapher ( the one of the little boardwalk things going down to the beach at the childrens place thingy)
thank you
come again

Children's Beach House BBQ and art auction

We had a fantastic time at the CBH BBQ on Saturday night. The adirondack chairs that we painted a few months ago were auctioned off that night, bringing in around $16,000 for the Beach House (which benefits children with special needs).

The Beach House is located DIRECTLY on the Delaware Bay and the view is amazing. The weather was perfect, and we watched sailboats and people (and dogs) play on the sandbars for quite a while, all while the sun began to set.



The place was decorated with a "boardwalk" theme. There was tons of food and drink (the Margarita Man was there)....a dj, a sandcastle artist.....yup, look at this...



There were firedancers (very cool!!!)


and good friends....

a cutthroat game (or two) of tetherball in the dark....



and tony saying "duh".....(he gave me hell for taking this picture. Sorry Tony.



Haley dragged me out to the "dance floor" - SAND.

Here's a shot of the people checking out the chairs before the auction came to a close.


Many thanks to Rich and all the CBH staff for a really incredible night.

Last weekend

Last weekend was the Rehoboth Art League Outdoor Show. This show is very close to the beach, with Henlopen Acres bordering the beach on one side. Here's the beautiful beach at 8:15 that morning.

One of the best times to be on the beach....empty, quiet, serene.
There were a few fishermen.....

and a lone woman. (I envied her at this moment)

But it was not a day at the beach for me and a bunch of other artists. Here's where we were.


On the beautiful shaded grounds of the Art League. What a setting.






And here's something kind of funny. I like to feed the birds (and the squirrels, and the deer, and the hummingbirds) in my backyard. Under the bird feeder grew a sunflower plant. Not your typical sunflower, this one was more like a sunflower bush, with lots and lots of flowers. I loved it, as it grew on its own and was a nice surprise. One day I noticed that there were piles of petals on the deck railing, and that the bush looked like it had been stepped on. I figured it was my kids messing with it, and didn't think much more about it, other than I'd wish they'd leave things alone. Then I started noticing the petals under the deck table and in various other places on the back deck. One day I saw the culprit with my own eyes and laughed. Robert was lucky enough to capture the thief IN ACTION!


Who'd have thought? I've never seen this before. This little guy looked like a 60's flower child, running across the deck with a flower as big as his head. I guess he eats the seeds out of the flowers and leaves the petals as an offering. Cute, huh?

Tomorrow is the Children's Beach House show. Should be a fun time - noticed they have margarita machines set up....mmmmm.

Children's Beach House

The Children's Beach House Beach BBQ will be held Saturday night from 6-9 at the CBH grounds on Lewes Beach. The Adirondack chairs that were painted a few months ago will be auctioned off, and the 12 artists will also be showing six other pieces of artwork respectively. Should be a fun time. I'll take my camera and let Robert take the pics, since I'll probably have some wine. :)

Lots of birthdays this week - Happy Birthday to my son Dustin, Dave Johnson, my best friend's husband, Diane Besbris Krammes, Kirsten Schell. I've got one coming up too, but I don't like the number, so let's just ignore it this year.

Summer......slooooow down. I'm definitely not ready for it to be over. It always goes too quickly.

Rehoboth Art Show

This was my first year doing the Rehoboth Outdoor Show. It runs for two consecutive weekends, but I only did the second weekend. Turns out that was a great thing, because there were serious thunderstorms with hail last Sunday.

The Art League has such beautiful grounds, it made for a very pretty art show. Lots to see and quite a few amazing artists. I have some photos, but no time to post them this morning. It'll have to wait.

This is one of those crazy weeks. Too much on the calendar, and too little time for running or painting.

Just to put this to rest....

I sent a letter to the company that makes the make-up I use for face painting, asking if the product was safe to use on children's faces. This was their response:


Absolutely……

Mehron is a 80 year old Cosmetic Manufacturer using only Grade A Cosmetic Ingredients which clearly means safe for use on face and body.

This particular product is water based and goes on and off easily with water. Should any residue of color remain, soap and water will do the trick.

Have fun and don’t worry for a moment!



Regards,



Shelli Farber
Product Sales and Education
Mehron, Inc.

Face Painting

To T. Faulkner and "anonymous" who posted a comment about face painting: I don't use acrylic on the children's faces, I use theatre make-up, which is also used as clown make-up. Thanks for your input.

Oh, and the term "monstrosity" had to do with the size of the set-up, not the very nice people.

In progress

This is the latest in progress painting. I haven't gone back to the commission piece yet, because I've been trying to get a few more originals ready for this weekend. This one is NOT DONE yet, but it's getting there. It's of a farm/barn in Lewes, across from Cape Henlopen High School. It'll be ready in a day or two, hopefully. It's a BIG one!

This weekend

This Saturday and Sunday (August 16 and 17) is the Rehoboth Art League Outdoor Art Show. It will be the first time I've participated in this one, and I'm very excited. The show also went on this past weekend, but it POURED on Sunday, so I don't know what happened...if artists stayed, packed up, moved inside or what. I felt so bad for them, whatever happened. Hopefully this weekend will be dry. Come out and see some art!

I'm working on a large oil of the farm across from the Cape Henlopen High School. Hopefully that will be done (or close to done) by the weekend.

An unexpected rainbow...the best kind.

I don't know why there is a rainbow outside the house right now...it's not raining, and it hasn't all day. The sky, however, has been incredible. Big, puffy clouds with all kinds of shades of blue and indigo and the brightest white all mixed in. And to my surprise, right outside my window, this beautiful rainbow. I look at rainbows as signs of hope, and we all could use a little hope these days.

This one's for Robert, by a more well-known Robert.

Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

Robert F. Kennedy (1925 - 1968)

Summertime at 13

Another sleepover, a different gigglebox. They just got done watching "When Harry Met Sally", my all time favorite movie. Now they're (ANXIOUSLY) awaiting Domino's delivery. Domino's has a pizza tracker when you order online, so you can see when your order is placed, prepped, baked and finally enroute. When the enroute button lit up, they ran out front to the end of the driveway to wait to pounce on the driver. Here's the pic.



They've also decided to "camp out" in the back yard. They put this tent up by themselves, not an easy job. I was impressed.



And this is what they're sleeping under. Hmmmm....maybe I'll join them.



I remember my 13th summer - it was magical. Remember yours?

A parting note

Just a quote from a John Mayer song that I thought would be pertinent for today.

"Power is gained by power being taken"

Some of my friends and loved ones have been going through some crap lately and so much of it seems to be about power. Just thought I'd put it out there.

Small victories

YES, I did run after work and actually did some speed-work as well! Yes! It felt really, really good to flush out my legs and clear my head as well. I was doing pole-to-pole work, sprinting to one telephone pole, slowing down till the next, repeat....

My kids are back home and chaos reigns. My daughter, the sleepover queen, has two giggle-boxes spending the night. My son was playing Guitar Hero in the kitchen, volume turned way up, trying to compete with the volume of the television airing "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" in the other room. My son's room is resplendent - (is that a word?) with clothes, towels, plates, glasses everywhere. Life is normal.

Work

Work is definitely getting in the way of my leisure/painting/running time. It used to be that at 5 or 6 clock, I was just getting "geared up" for the night. I always considered myself more of a night person than a morning person. That changed when I had children and has never returned. Now that I'm, ahem, older, it's gotten ridiculous. After an 8 hour day, I'm done! In the wintertime, it's jammy time after work. (Pathetic). At least in the summer, the daylight prods me into staying dressed and active, but I'm usually pretty tired. I've been working quite a bit these last two weeks and haven't gotten a lot else done. The house is a wreck, I have 3 almost finished paintings in the studio, and my running! Fughetaboutit! I had planned on running this morning, but my slug-side came out again and told me that I could run after work. I cheerily went along with that idea, but YOU KNOW that at six o'clock, I'll have another excuse. At least maybe I can trudge in to the Y and get on a machine if I don't run. (Though that doesn't even sound appealing now, let alone at six.)

Still a little slug left.

So, last week was my worst 5 miler, and today I followed up with my worst (at least in a while) 5k. Aren't you proud of me? Just didn't have the competitive spirit today, so just kind of plodded along, just letting myself enjoy the run. So now I've allowed myself to be a SLACKER for two races, and that's enough of that.

What a beautiful day! Too bad I'm working, it'd be a great beach day. I'm watching all the traffic go by on Route 1. Lots of people here on vacation.

After work today, gotta hit the grocery store and get the house cleaned. Haley is coming back tomorrow from her trip to Florida and then to her Dad's house. Her room has been clean for three weeks now - a RECORD. Of course, the fact that she hasn't been home probably had something to do with that. Dustin's room, on the other hand, not so much. The room has taken on a decidedly "funky" smell, that could be described as "eu de 17 year old boy". When I pulled his dirty clothes hamper out of closet, I almost tossed my cookies. Blecccch. He is so big now that he dwarfs his bed. He has a queen, and his arms and legs hang right off the edges. Even though they are both slobs and use me as a taxi service/maid/cook, I still miss them when they're gone.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll get some painting in tonight when all the other crap I need to do is done. Have a good week!

Digging my way out...

I think maybe the rut is pushing off. (yay) I think it could have been a bit of "painter's block". The painting I was working on was not making me happy, and then I had a large house painting commission that I have been procrastinating on. The house is lovely, but large and detailed. I finally broke the seal by just painting in the sky yesterday. That was enough to get me interested. Then I went back to the other painting - a beach painting, which is a departure, but something I'm trying to do more of. I think it's going to be okay. I'm still working with it, but it has possibilities.

Here's a shot of the beach painting so far.




And here's a shot of the house commission that's being blocked in. See what I mean? It's going to take a while.




Now I think I'll go rollerblading. Would like to run, but tomorrow is a race and that would not be too bright on my part. Hopefully I won't fall and break a hip or something.

Clontoo Grand Opening

In my slug-like manner, I neglected to post the pics from the Clontoo Grand Opening last weekend. (It's just been that kind of week...Mercury must be in retrograde or some damned thing.)





This is a print of a Modigliani that I love and covet.



Rich Garrett- one of the owners. Doesn't he look lovely against the red backdrop?



Kevin Fleming's photography booth.



Some miscelleous paintings from the Kennedy Gallery.




John Donato's booth - a "people's favorite", and a very nice guy.




Sherry's beautiful furniture.



Shawn (?) Faust's booth - have to recheck his first name. Beautiful equestrian art, and some incredible detailed and gorgeous local scenes.



My favorite booth - Divine Finds. The name is so appropriate, all kinds of cool "stuff"!



Dave Ashby's photography.



Abizak's collection of cool Christmas stuff. Funky!



Some cuties that were there for face painting.