Stepping Stones, Shell Fabric, and Walking

Outside of the back kitchen door there are three stepping stones. They had weeds and moss in abundance and I finally decided to give them a little spit shine.

Scraped the gunk away, defined them with a putty knife, then washed and scrubbed the dirt away. Painted two with a base of royal blue and one with teal blue then added swirls of the opposite color and a touch of white.  Much better!!

Browsing in Goodwill, ran across a light gray sofa cover. Currently have a goose feather-filled dark brown couch which sheds its filling on a frequent basis. Snagged the cover and spent this morning manhandling the sofa, pulling and stretching the (probably too small) cover. Well, it worked and of course my creative brain began sparking to come up with different pillows and throws.

Dug through the pile of fabric on hand and made four seashell-themed pillow cases from a table cloth, two cases from a cast-off drape, and two covers from a table banner. Swapped out the quilts on the sofa and loveseat for teal blankets, which are more in line with the beach theme and voila!  New living room decor and no more wild goose feathers!!

Still had energy today to make two loaves of banana bread and a black bean corn salad.

Oh, here's a recent achievement - I started walking every day or, at a minimum, 4 days per week. Trying to fit in a minimum of 5,000 steps each day and have been walking early morning or during my lunch break. And have been enjoying it!!

And it's a three day weekend! This year my company included Juneteenth as a holiday so no work on Monday!!  Will need to meditate on my next craft project!!

Animal Visitors Amongst the Wind

Mother Nature has brought us some feathery and furry visitors along with gusts of wind that rival Kansas!

Here's the neighborhood Bluejay taking a swim in our birdbath, loving every minute of his time in the water.

This deer showed up in our front yard, trying to find the rest of his pack. Pretty rare to see Bambi so close to downtown Longview. 

Here's a taste of the wind we experience so often. We can't quite figure out the reason why we have a channel of wind that surrounds our house - is it due to the river nearby, the large trees, or the cosmos have planted us smack dab in the middle of a windy causeway. 

Odds and Ends

Celebrated Jordan's big 30th birthday with lunch last weekend at Parker's in Castle Rock. Love their seafood fondue!

Watched The White House Plumbers about Howard Hunt, Gordan Liddy, and Watergate. There was this raspy old lady in the part of a Schlitz chugging secretary and she just looked familiar.  All of a sudden it hit me - Kathleen Turner, the sex goddess from 80's and 90's movies!  Wow!!

Reminded me of Jamie Lee Curtis' Academy Award winning transformation in Everything Everywhere, All at Once. Another moment where she was not immediately recognizable.

Decoupaged a wooden art figure to create a doll to hang on my recent mannequin.

There was a large rock near the front door that called out for a paint job.  Turned it into a Queen Moon.

Had a large slab of driftwood that I thought would make a beachy bench. Painted it as a surfboard based on Sam's creative input. The bench idea didn't really work but it still looks good in the flowerbed.

Poor little hubcap Sam found for me had been rolling around the back of my rig for quite awhile. Brought it inside, meditated a few days, and painted it as an octopus.  Just needs some clear coat before it's ready to hang somewhere outside.

The violets by the front door needed a new stand. After digging through the garage, found a substantial vase along with an extra microwave plate for the top. Painted a few large starfish and added glass marbles for filler. Topped it off with baby lights for nighttime jazz. 

And last but not least is a driftwood fish wall hanging.  Inspired by a metal fish sculpture in Joann's. Cut a batch of random fish out of scrapbook paper, painted a few, then attached elevated to driftwood (yes, there is a large availability of driftwood at my house.)