HAS IT REALLY BEEN 5 MONTHS???

I don't know about you all but time just gets away from me
and especially when I start making products for our show.
During this lull in posting we made
2 more floor cloths and lots of merchandise for the show.

It has also been a busy time with family. Our grandson Joe graduated from UW Steven's Point in June (as did his girlfriend Taylor), 2 great-grandchildren had birthday's, Miranda turned 1 and her brother Zayne 9 years old in June a week apart.

Then in July 2 grandchildren had birthdays a week apart. Aidan turned 14 and his sister Miranda 10 years old. Busy, fun and 'expensive' 😁

Joseph and his girlfriend Taylor

Aidan and Miranda

Kira

Zayne

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm so ready for a vacation but don't see that happening until mid October when the show is over. Not sure where we'll go but hoping for either Savannah, GA or Maine.
We have never been to Savannah but been to Maine 4 times and still would go again.
I guess we have time to figure it out.

~~~~~~~~~~

As I said at the beginning we made floor cloths and I think they turned out quite nice - hopefully they will sell at our show.

The lighting is not very good on them - in person the gold isn't as bright as it looks here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Back in March we ordered a brass lantern to replace the one in our courtyard area - I thought I liked our old one but this one is now a favorite!!  We ordered it from Irvin's Tin

(the old one is sitting behind it ready for the trash pickup)

                             ~~~~~~~~~~

A couple weeks ago when it was so beastly hot for several days straight we had a visit from our neighborhood hawk.

~~~~~~~~~~

A couple weeks ago we were invited out to Dan DiPaolo's cabin for a cookout - we had some awesome burgers made from the meat of one of his beef cows....it was soooo good!!!  Plus we got to meet some of Dan's great friends. (and it was on my birthday so it was double fun).

~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a VERY SMALL SAMPLING of some of the products that we will have at our show.  There is just way too much to post pictures of.
Our show is Saturday, October 1st so it's coming up fast!!

Thank you so much for visiting today - hopefully it will be sooner than
5 months when I can post again!!

Karen

You've got to be kidding!!!

Well if this hasn't been the most fun week I'd be lying - Ops,  I'm lying!!!!!

Our sweet little town of 10,000+ was hit with historical rains on

Tuesday afternoon and into the night.

We had 12+ inches in less than 6 hours and the town flooded.

It came on so fast the town really was caught by surprise but I must say

they jumped into recovery mode fast.

Back in 2008 the dam crested at 12 ft. This time it was at 15 ft.!!

All of Wednesday we were able to use the shop vac and get water out of the basement -

well, not out, just tried to keep up with it until around 4:00 when they did a shutdown of the sub station...it was under water and they did it for safety reasons.

Our 4 bridges that run right in the middle of town were all closed -

the rushing water was incredible.

By early Thursday our town was full of Army National Guard standing at all intersections keeping people and cars from crossing plus there were search and rescue from 4 different cities plus WE-Energies from several cities to build 2 portable sub stations.

Power was restored around 7:30 Friday evening.

We were finally able to get back down to the basement to soak up the rest of the water and Sat. and today (Sun.) was bringing everything up to the garage so we can scrub down

the basement with bleach and then put up new paneling and paint...

it will be ongoing for a couple weeks I think.

But this town...how they pulled together was/is incredible!!!

Here's the dam on Wed. - by Thurs. there was no definition of water flowing over it.

A few people had cars under water

This is our bank from the back side

Here's the reason the bridges were closed - the water was rushing against them - and it's near the top in this picture...they feared they were breached but as of yesterday 3 were opened up and just one is closed yet for further inspection

Oh...I just now saw this fish was jumping! Didn't see it before

This is our new Veteran's Terrace building they had a whole lot of damage...the whole bottom level was totally flooded

The out door wedding/reception area at the Veteran's Terrace - there was a wedding scheduled for Friday evening. Not sure what they did about not being able to hold it here

I won't bore you with more pictures - there are so many that I took off of the Burlington

site but just wanted to share a few.

On a brighter note - we got to enjoy Miranda's 5th birthday party.

It was a Moana theme and she even had the outfit!

Besides a sundress and some toys we gave her this pool turtle and she loved it!

Last night there was another storm that was to roll through - it missed us but got Darren and MaryAnn's place. They had hail damage on the car, house, pool cover, gazebo and deck.

Hope you all have a great week - thanks for stopping by

Karen

Preparing for a show!

Good morning this last day of June!

I wish I could say summer was here but again the weather just doesn't cooperate - 

hot then cold and 'repeat'.  

Summer decorating here has been sparse - didn't put out as many geraniums this year as 

I usually do. I lost my mojo for some reason but that's not a bad thing...

less to take to the basement in the Fall.

We didn't do much for outside potted plants either and the few we did buy are getting pelted with downpours - I like rain for the flowers but it really beats them down.

I may change out some of my 'placement'of geraniums each Spring/Summer season but this one will always be in our long wood trencher on the dining room table - 

it is my favorite grouping.

Normally I would put real geraniums on this bench along with the birdhouses but couldn't find a potted one that looked nice - may have to assemble one myself.

I love this arrangement of flowers that we bought at the Mukwonago flea market a few weeks back.  When the sun is out it is gorgeous but the rain pushes it right down!!

Last week a very dear friend and I had a wonderful lunch and visit in our screen room -

I love this lady with all my heart.  We worked together for 20+ years and she's part of our 'former' co-workers  'luncheon' but this time I wanted it to be a

one on one with her and so did she.

She lost her 16 year old grandson on Memorial weekend in a horrible car crash that claimed his life and 2 of his friends.  The car hit a tree and exploded and they literally burned to beyond recognition.  Her heart is so broken and she needed to talk, so we did.

This community was so awesome - it pulled together for these 3 families - the high school held the visitation and funerals and the local food market donated the meals.....you have no idea what this community did for these families...it was beyond amazing.

I love you sweet Darlene Lemmon!!

Last month we went to the huge flea market near us and for some reason I was taken in by this beautiful pine box....it is actually a fruit crate

and I loved the patina on it and will use it at the show we are doing

in September as a display prop....isn't it great!!

For now I have it sitting in the dining room next to a cupboard and I'm putting my 'finished' penny rugs and other smalls in it for safe keeping for the show.

It does have one crazy screw in the handle that Doug will most likely take out and try and replace with something not so ugly....but I still love it anyway even if he doesn't get it fixed.

And this past Sunday we went to the same flea market and FINALLY bought a weather vane for our now, 10 year old screen room cupola - it's a weathered copper...

isn't she a beauty and just in time for the 4th...she flies high!!!

It was worth the wait.

All of this month I have been making canvas board prints for the September show.

These are two of them that we tried over our fireplace...a tad small for the space (16" x 20") so I am in the process of making two larger ones with an older looking couple (20" x 30").

So far I have made 14 different people.

Here are some of the ones that I have finished

These are the two I am making for us for over the fireplace as a 20 x 30 -

plus there is a pair in the 16 x 20 size for the show.

Even though their backgrounds aren't the same I still like them together.

Last week we celebrated our grandson Aidan's 9th birthday and tomorrow we will be celebrating our granddaughter  (his sister) Miranda's 4th birthday.

(Darren and MaryAnn's children) 

Here's the show we will be vending at.
I will post updates every now and then and when it gets closer
I'll hopefully have a list of vendors.

I can't think of anything else to chat about today so I'll say good bye for now and hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!!