Cart, Color, Crow, and Courgettes

Manny and I celebrated the 4th with Arlene and Luna in Castle Rock. Gorgeous, sunny day, great lunch, spent time in the river, and even took a tour riding in Arlene's golf cart!

Manny hanging on for dear life

Posing in the glorious garden

Hi Luna!

The three amigos

Sister love ❤️ 

Made vegan brownies for Luna using applesauce, dark cocoa and no eggs or butter - even topped it with freeze-dried figs and oranges bought from the Farmer's Market. Surprisingly, they turned out yummy - much better than I expected. 

Here's a video of Arlene cart cruising.

Arlene sent us home with zucchini so I stuffed a couple for dinner then whipped up two loaves of zucchini bread along with banana muffins.

We've been supplying the Blue Jay's lately with peanuts.  We sprinkle some right by our outside chairs - those birds are fearless when it comes to grabbing shells right by our feet.

There have also been a few more visitors to the house in search of goodies, including George the fat crow and a cute little squirrel.

I've been continuing on my step challenge, making good progress.  On Sunday I took a long walk (over 10,000 steps!) going over both bridges and up a very steep hill.  As I finished over the second bridge, what did I run into but a werewolf perched high in a tree.  Pretty weird. And someone made quite the effort to get a roaring monster so elevated.

Last week had an appointment with Abbie, my hair expert. Toying with the idea of going grey but decided I needed a little more oomph. She added in very light highlights, keeping a good portion of the gray so it would blend. She also weaved in a few purplish pink strands which is just enough sass.

Been on a Watergate kick lately. Watched All The President's Men again then moved on to The White House Plumbers on Max and finished it all binging Gaslit on Starz with Julia Roberts as Martha Mitchell along with Sean Penn as John Mitchell (absolutely incredible makeup job!)

That is Sean Penn on the left believe it or not!

Starting last Friday, I'm on vacation - woo hoo! Scheduled my eye exam for today and my mammogram for Thursday to get those out of the way.  We are definitely going to stay at the beach!! I need some sea therapy!!!

Sister, Strawberries, and Torso Tart

Stopped by the local Ye Olde Paintbox antique store last weekend in search of decoupage materials to use on my mannequin, who's been patiently waiting for a year in the garage to be transformed. Hit the jackpot with 30's, 40's, and 50's sheet music on sale 2/$1 that fit the bill.

Painted the decoullette and back of Miss M with gold paint then tore each cover page, along with the music sheets, into smaller sections so they could easily be attached.   Spent a couple of evenings after work gluing them on to Miss M.  She's now about 90% complete as she needs a finishing skirt or apron.  Should it be made of fringe, lace with glitter, or music sheets?  Or maybe pasties and a garter?  This weekend will be spraying her with luster clear coat and hopefully the right accouterments will pop into mind.

Miss M Naked

A quickie project created last weekend consists of a Dollar Tree plate and bowl along with  $1.79 clay planter to make a mini bird bath.

Today my fabulous sister Luna came to visit. We walked over to the Farmer's Market, which has grown significantly since the last time I was there.  Lots of veggies, baked goods, apple cider, dehydrated fruit and ice cream, and hot sauce.  The most popular item was flats of berries - people were waiting in a lengthy line as if their reward was a new iPhone or Barbra Streisand tickets, not a box of strawberries.

After the market, we hit Walmart then on to Lake Sacajawea as we assumed the Go 4th festivies would be in full force. Well, you know what they say about assuming!  Lots of vendors working on pre-set up but we found the food and sale tents would not be opening until July 2. 

Next stop was Sam's, who deemed Luna "hella cool" then back home where Jordan and Candy stopped by to say hi to Aunty Luna.  

Fun weekend so far!! July 4th coming up so looking forward to getting off early on Monday, holiday on Tuesday, then on vacation from July 7-14. No plans yet but it's going to be in the 90's so we will definitely be hitting the beach!🎆🏖🌞

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.)