Meet Bob !

The new 2 pound 13 ounce spitfire that we have added to our family.

And see the new additions I have added to the American Harvest Theatre Mystique Halloween Open House.

You can see these and more at 10 am on Saturday,

August 16.

Visit American Harvest

438 Main Street

Pleasanton CA

(925) 485-1577

Pop on over

to my "available" blog to see new Halloween treats...

Please check back...

On Friday, August 15. I will be doing a little Pre Halloween web sale on my available blog. Sweet witches, pumpkin girls and even a theatre will be arriving. See you then!!

Summer time...

It always flys by much too fast. It's been very busy around here.

We have been doing a little of this...

I've been doing as much of this as I can...

and I am slowly making progress...

We always find time for this...

And I even found a couple of hours to play paper art with my friend, Connie Govea Stuart and my new friend Leticia.

Hope you are making the most of the long warm days and beautiful evenings. We are off to the lake next week but I will be back with a Halloween update on my available page.

Traditions

The handing down of customs from generation to generation.

I sometimes wonder what traditions we have in our family that will give my children great childhood memories. What traditions will they carry into their own families?

My husband grew up with many family traditions. I love to watch him tell the boys stories about "when he was a kid". One favorite family tradition was their annual car trip back to Oklahoma for the family reunion. Once, they made a stop at the Grand Canyon. They all got out of the car to take a look...and after 2 minutes Poppy (my father in law) said "Okay, you have all seen it now get back in the car so we can get back on schedule."

Coming from a farming family there was a lot of time spent in the kitchen. Big breakfasts of biscuits, gravy and sausage. My mother in law makes THE BEST scrambled eggs. Why is it that farming wives are the best cooks? I have done my best to take one of the husbands favorite traditions and introduce it into our family.

Apricot Jam

Summer no longer seems complete without a day or two of slicing apricots...

Chopping them into little pieces...cups and cups and CUPS of little pieces...

Standing over the hot stove, stirring, stirring and stirring some more...did I mention that we do this in Summer??? The HEAT of summer?

And in the end...having beautiful jars of jam to share with our friends.

I will never forget the first time I joined in on this family tradition. I was 9 months pregnant and because I was ready to burst, my mother and sister in law gave me the job of stirring with the reasoning that I could sit on the stool and do it. Looking back...no air conditioning and being 102 that day...I don't think sitting had anything to do with it. They were breaking me in and they did a good job.

My mother in law no longer participates on those hot summer days but she still enjoys the bounty of our hard work. I wonder if one of my sons future wives will be interested in joining our little summer party. I think she will have to start off by stirring...

Mark Your Calendars

An intimate new show featuring some of the nicest women you will ever meet...oh and they are wonderful artists too! Their work has been seen in Artful Blogging, Victoria, Somerset Studio, Art Doll Quarterly, Somerset Workshop and more. Sign up to be on the mailing list...you won't want to miss it.

What is it...

about the end of the school year that makes kids go all loopy? My kids anyway? It never fails that as we enter in the last week their minds start wandering...what kind of crazy outfit can they put together...what can they write across their foreheads...their arms come home covered in the signatures of their friends...and sometimes their clothes too. Is this their way of celebrating? Their way of showing they are soon to have freedom?

This one...



...who is all too conservative, never likes attention on him and pleeeeeze...do not tell him he is cute or that you like his freckles. He decides he wants a new haircut for the last day of school. A mohawk maybe? A reverse mohawk!! yeah...that's it. Ummm...no...could you just shave my name into the back of my head? Thanks mom!

Whatever!!