Day 370: A family picnic ...

A family picnic at Lebanon Park!

Families arrived late afternoon.

The kids took over the playground ...

the adults visited and arranged food.

4/5 original cousins, missing our cousin Nancy in Florida.

So good to see all the faces, 45 of them ...

lots of photos, but I didn't catch everyone ...

many hugs, great food ...

 the playground, slides, squirts guns, frisbees ... 

and with daylight savings time ...

it didn't end till nearly 10 PM!

A great time was had by all, especially me.

Day 369: The look and feel of Indiana ...

A week ago, I flew to Indiana.

My goal was a week with family, cousins.

No shops, museums, shows ... just family.

I wanted to watch, listen and get to know.

The corn was high, and tasseled during my week.

After being picked up Indianapolis Airport (in socks)

by cousins Martha & John, I spent the night 

with cousins Sheryl & David in Carmel, Indiana.

I was greeted with an original song by Masin 

and watched artwork from Lucie Pauline.

The next morning we took the girls to their golf lesson.

Then it was on to Cousin Donna & Bob's in Lebanon.

A beautiful home and Bob's yard were put to use by ...

the younger cousins.

And the cousins played games indoors.

And this is just early afternoon.

Tomorrow's blog ... the picnic with 45+ cousins!

I hope you'll stay tuned for more?

Day 368: The story of the disintegrating shoes!

It was a very early Wednesday morning.
I was dressing to fly to Indiana.
I had planned to wear a nice pair of black shoes.
But, I pulled down a box of black sandals ...

They looked brand new, but I didn't remember buying them?
Not as stylish as I had planned, but after trying them on
I decided they were a good choice for walking at Dallas Airport.
And that's how this story begins ...

As I boarded at Orange County, I noticed a loosening
on the left shoe, but dismissed it. 
I slept during the flight to Dallas ... 
but my shoes were hard at work!
As I deplaned, the shoe battle was escalating ...
and I didn't realize the extent of the war ahead.

On arriving in Dallas ...
the uppers had pulled away from the sole ...
and the sole cracked!

then the heel broke away!
So by the time I walked from terminal A gate 8, 
located and boarded the sky train, 
and walked to terminal C gate 37, 
I had been conquered by a pair of Naturalizer sandals!

I took these photos with my iphone as proof ... 
as I just knew none of you would believe me.
Next to me, a lovely octogenarian, Mary, in a wheelchair. 
Mary was clearly enjoying this layover entertainment.
Smart-aleck daughter texted to buy flip-flops ...
but C terminal didn't have duty-free shops, 
just the news & food shops.

God is good, so I had packed a pair of socks in my carry-on.
I put on socks and walked to drop the shoes in the trash.
A barefoot child passed me and I shuddered, 
realizing how close I came.

I called cousins Martha and John ...
 telling them my flight was delayed due to lightning.
And, that on arrival in Indianapolis ... 
I'd be the one at the curb in socks!

So as I sat in my window seat, in my socks, I decided ...
that I would just deal with it, act normal,
yeah, that was the plan.

Note to self: 

Never, ever again wear shoes so old ...

that you don't remember buying them.

Day 367: So hard to choose ...

Sometimes, I scrounge to find a topic for this daily blog.

But, right now, I have so many, it's hard to choose.

I finally have access to 300 vacation photos ...

but I have just completed a demo at OC Fair ...

two more next Friday, August2nd 1-3PM & 3-5PM.

If you haven't been to the Fair ...

here's the view from the giant ferris wheel...

And,  I taught a fun class at Catalyst on Saturday!

So, being a teacher, I have decided to go with

the work done yesterday in the collage class.

a great group!

I like students to get immediate feedback and

I was so impressed with their ...

work within this three hour class!

I thought you might like to see the

progression of their work on canvas?

This was Anne's first collage, bold and terrific!

Brandy loves cats, and tried a great new color scheme for her!

Fran is a noted mixed media artist, known for whimsical animals!

Marie is a lawyer, patient, precise and wonderful!

Marsha is a well known local watercolor artist, great design!

 Sylvia is an artist, curator responsible for many fine exhibits!

Thank you Catalyst and Rebecca for hosting this class.

Day 366: DST = late sunset!

I  arrived at Indianapolis Airport at 10 PM.

Just in time to catch the sun disappearing.

Daylight savings time makes for a late sunset.

This was the beginning of a week vacation ...

filled with family and memories.

Details and pictures to follow.

Day 365: Happy Birthday little random blog!

 When I started this little blog ...

I said I would blog daily.

And I did.

One year today!

They weren't all gems ...

but hopefully they were ...

varied enough to be interesting?

And now, a quick commercial ... just in case.