Sorry I've not been around, I've been quite sick.My u.colitis has been very active for the last month & a couple weeks ago went completely crazy. It got so bad that I've not been anywhere for 2 weeks now, had to miss the antique show as well as this months book discussion. I'm feeling kinda down, since I'm not getting to enjoy the nice weather, summer is passing me by. Over the weekend, it began stabilizing and while there's been some improvement, I still have a ways to go.Next week is the county fair & I'm trying to be optimistic about attending it. That's always a highlight of my summer. I'm going to think positive and hope I get to feeling better.

    
   This is the demonstration piece I did at the Nature Fest back in late April. I did the entire thing over the 2 day festival, starting the preliminary sketch Sat. morning, transferring it and completing the picture by Sunday afternoon. It's done on scratchboard, a paper coated with clay and ink, the drawing is made by scratching through the ink to make white lines. It's a good technique to use for demos, as it's uncommon, so people are curious about it, and there's no paint to smear or water to spill as people jostle the table. This portrait is of an alpaca, a South American relative of llamas and the wiggly lines I used to make the fur was a bit different than my usual strokes, so it was a challenge to keep that texture consistant. A lady who is very familiar with alpacas praised it and told me that the cuddly looking animal hum when they are contented, which I never knew before.  I'll mat the picture before the next local craft show in December, where I'll add it to my wares.

   Not only did Petitti's have loads of plants, but also garden equipment, yard decorations & bird feeders. They had a display of designer purses, too, which seemed to have no garden connection at all. Mary Ann dismissed the purses as "anything to make a buck". As we stepped into a room full of patio furniture, we faced a giant brown jar, about 7 feet high, which turned out to be a fountain, as water poured from the top and ran down the side. It reminded me of something from DeMille's film, The Ten Commandments and I half expected to see Yul Brynner stalking by exclaiming, "Etcetera, etcetera."There was other fountains, from huge baroque edifices that needed a courtyard, to small Zen trickling ones.
    Further back in the greenhouse was a roof covered with flowers,planted in sod and draping over the sides. It looked like something from the children's book Heidi. I wonder how they watered the plants up there.

    We went outside where there was at least an acre of shrubs & trees. It was like walking through an orderly forest. A red-winged blackbird perched on a post and sparrows hopped about the ground.The strange things was that at the far end of the property, an Interstate highway ran alongside the lot, but all the trees muffled the roar somewhat. It was a strange juxtaposition, huge trucks rumbling past tidy rows of trees.
     My favorite flower of all is irises and they had quite a few colors of them, but I still like the deep purple best. There was so many beautiful flowers and plants at this place that I felt overloaded with the beauty of them. I wanted a big yard and lots of money so I could take a wagonload of them home to enjoy. It's something to dream of....

      
 
     
   In May, some friends & I were going to go to a park after our book group meeting, but it was too chilly & windy, so we postponed it till June. Instead, Mary Ann & I went to Pettiti's Garden Center nearby. I hadn't been there since it opened a couple years ago and so was happy to go. It's gigantic! A huge green house covers a couple acres and there is a large outside area filled with trees and shrubs. It took us at least an hour & a half to get through it all at a leisurely pace. 
   There was all sorts of flowers, both exotic and common. Even when they were familiar, they had unusual color variety, such as these roses that looked like a candy cane.

   This tree was nearly 8 ft. tall and reminded me of Asian paintings and Tiffany stained glass. I have no idea what it is, but it was pretty.
 

  
         
   I've seen many photos of fields in the Western U.S. filled with lupines, but have never seen the flower in real life. At the garden center they had some, with large strange looking petals, but we were disappointled by their unpleasent smell. 

   
        
There wasn't only pots, of flowers, there was some strange items in the store as well, but that must wait till the next installment....
    

 If
you'd like to see the fireworks without leaving home, simply go to
www.cyberfireworks.com  &
create your own. You have a choice of venue (bandstand, carnival, ball
park, etc.) & you click in the sky where you'd like the
fireworks to appear. There's even sound effects. All the fun
without the crowds or traffic jams.