A week in May

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. I keep forgetting it is here and devoted to non-art related stuff. So with my friend Joseph in town, I thought it was the perfect week to do this, since I actually brought my camera several times. I also had friends of my neighbor come to town and we also spent time together, as well as Joseph's friend from Cleveland who flew in to play with him and ended up staying at my place. Yes, it was a fun week in May, 2009.

May 8, 2009

The first day of Riverfest, our annual spring festival found Joseph and his band playing in the central court to kick off the event. Here he is setting up on the right under the star.

After they played for an hour and a half, they took a break. I tried to capture the colors of the banner in his steel drums, but what I saw in the viewfinder was not what came out of the camera.

Joseph was met by family and friends during the break. Two of the girls are former girlfriends who came to say hi, along with his brother and sister in law (in the beige pants and striped shirt).

There was a parade, but I had trouble getting close. It seems that anyone could enter the parade, or least there were a number of very silly floats.

After the parade, they played again from 7:00 to 10:00. I was amazed at the energy of these guys. They kept it till the very end.

After the concert, Joseph and I came home and folded fliers. The only thing on the table that belonged to me was my coffee mug. Joseph has a way of spreading the "love." And, yes, we folded all 1000 fliers before we called it a night.

May 10, 2009

No photos today because I forgot to take photos at my house. However, my friend Kathy and her husband stopped by to bring my tomato and pepper plants I accidentally left in her car about a week or so ago, just as Joseph was on his way to the airport to pick up his friend Alex who was flying in from Cleveland.

In the meantime, Sally’s son Jeff, and his partner Dion stopped by for a few hours of fun and games (dominoes and cards at the now clean kitchen table). Jeff invited Sally and me to breakfast the next morning at his hotel in Old Town. I was excited to see the newly opened hotel, since I had heard it was really well done. It was renovated into a hotel from an old downtown warehouse.

May 11, 2009

Early Monday morning Sally and I were greeted by Jeff as we made our way into the lobby of the Old Town Hotel. The appointments were lovely,

and I was impressed by the light fixtures.

Even the elevator was grandiose and I got many "Jeffs" in the photo.

This is the building as it looked back in 1915.

Everywhere you turned were vignettes of lovely antiques from that original era.

I stopped to take a few photos of the courtyard

and the fountain,

while Sally and Jeff hoofed it to the room, barely taking in all the lovely art and photographs on the walls.

While Sally got comfortable,

Jeff showed me around the well appointed suite.

Of course, Dion had to tease me about the Lakers' loss to Houston the night before, since everyone knows I'm a die-hard Lakers fan.

They had spectacular views from their many windows,

including this one of the Wichita skyline. Yep, that's our skyline and we're the largest city in the state!

After taking many photos of their suite, which I won't share, since the rest were just bedroom, jacuzzi, and a bath room larger than my living room, we worked our way to the courtyard where the buffet breakfast was still being served.

Jeff is on his way to the buffet bar.

I was very interested in the architecture and appointments.

Sadly, my camera couldn't get the entire scene in one shot.

After breakfast, Dion and I looked at all the lovely plants and flowers that graced the courtyard.

As we worked our way back to the room, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the table where we ate, which still held our coffee cups.

It was now time for the guys to finish packing and get ready to leave. Their plane would soon whisk them back to California.

Jeff and Sally took time to pose for one last photo,

then Dion and I said our good-byes, too.

May 12, 2009

On Tuesday evening, Joseph and his friend from Cleveland played at a local coffee shop called "The Perk." My friend Dana went with me and took this photo.

Although it had just rained, the weather was perfect for sitting outside. Dana brought books and her journal. I brought my camera.
After the first set was over, I took photos through the window. You can barely see Joseph in the background. He was "working the room" as he normally does between sets.

I loved all the reflections and the barely visible steel drums through the glass. My camera is so simple, it doesn't even have a preview screen, let alone anywhere to add a polarizing filter.

For the second set, we moved inside. The lighting was bad and I don't have a flash on my camera. You can barely see Alex (from Cleveland) on the left and Joseph in the middle. As you can tell, the small coffee shop was packed.

Joseph's friend Derrick, who used to play in a band with him when they both lived in Wichita, joined in to play the bongos. Derrick is on the left and Joseph is on the right in this photo. It's too bad there wasn't a recording of the night, because they sounded really good.

May 13, 2009

One of Joseph's former girl friends had four tickets to a sneak peek showing of Angels and Demons. I never go to the movies unless it's with Joseph, so I was thrilled to be invited. Here he is texting and conducting business while we wait for the tickets to arrive.

Alex and I amused ourselves by talking abut him while we waited. Unfortunately, I had to leave my camera in the car, so I got no other photos. Although I enjoyed the film, I really liked The DaVinci Code better. I don't think I'd give this film a "Two Thumbs Up."


Although the rest of the week involved more performances, more fun, and more times out and about, I didn't take my camera. This has been a fun week, made possible because Joseph was here.

The mess before it's over

I'm the type person who subscribes to the "handle once" philosophy, but every holiday I stage my decorations on my kitchen table. It makes it convenient to wrap, pack, and store them this way, since I can set boxes on the chairs and don't have to stoop over. It also helps so I know I haven't missed anything. Christmas is no different.

This mess only lasts a couple of hours. Soon everything is in its specific box, bag, or container for special storage. One last look around the house before I close the containers shows me I haven't missed anything this year. Why? Well, I guess because I only put out about 1/3 what I normally do each year, so it was all easier to collect this time.

Winding down the year

My Christmas holder, empty when I first set it out in late November, is now so full with goodies I'm having trouble keeping them all in. What a joyous site for me, knowing these came (many of them handmade) from my dear friends who I consider my family.

This was a not so plentiful Christmas. I placed the pieces I was giving around the small tree on the dining room table.

Like many people, I pared down this year, making only handmade gifts. Some I had already handed out when I realized I should take a photo for posterity. So, meager as it may seem, each of these gifts was made with love and affection.

Changed my mind and more house photos

I decided to cover my table when I started getting gifts to put under the tree. Yep, a gal has a right to do that.

Here is the tree from my craft room door.

I have trees everywhere. These are on my front porch. For some reason, I couldn't wait till morning and had to take photos late at night with only the porch light on. Not the best shot, I admit.

Back inside, I noticed I hadn't taken any shots of the north side of my living/dining area. Every decorator I know says "don't line your furniture up against the wall in a row." But there is no other place for these if I don't. As I said before, I have a very small house and a lot of antiques that came from a huge Victorian. You can see my kitchen and kitchen table in the background. That's the one I sometimes take photos of my art on when I don't use my guillotine cutter in the craft room.

Here is a view of my other kitchen cabinet. This one has a flour holder and sifter behind the long upper drawer.

The cabinet sort of defines the area between the living and dining area. Note all the trees, including a candle and a glass one on the small half round table.

Close-up of the kitchen cabinet from the dining area.

And of course, by backing up, I can get the fern stand in the photo.

Finally, here is a picture of the tree magnet I made. I try to add a tree each year, so this one was handmade. It will probably be the only year I use it. I'm not fond of it now that it's finished and it doesn't exactly go with my white/cobalt blue/copper kitchen.

Trees, trees, trees (and rocking horses all around)

I want to begin by saying I have a very small house and a lot of oversized antique furniture. I moved from a large Victorian in MO to a small Bungalow in KS and kept only my antiques. So, there are no TVs, couches, or coffee tables in my house. Having said that, we will begin just inside the front door.
This is a map cabinet. I keep some of my paper in it. It is just outside my craft room (door on right). The tree is for holding my Christmas cards I might receive. The small metal piece on the lower right with the handle is a tea light holder that has tree cutouts. The thing next to it is an antique shoe scraper. It is very heavy and metal. The picture above was painted by my friend Joseph. It is a silk screen of him playing his steel drum.
To the right of the front door is my Grandmother's sewing machine. Yes, those are trees and a rocking horse. Behind it is my front porch and you can just barely see the outline of a tree that is sitting out there.

A closer view

and a wider view.

Next to the rocking chair is a small library table that has ball and claw feet. I keep a few of my altered books under it. I normally place a tree skirt on the table, but decided to leave it plain this year. Sorry, but the color is very dark.

You can also see rocking horses if you look close enough.

Turning slightly, you'll see my large library table. On it, you'll find trees, rocking horses, and a cup and "sandwich" which is really a coaster set, all ready for Santa.

You can see how small my house is from this view. You can see the dining area in the background.

Now we're in the dining area, where I always have lots of candles on the buffet. However, some have gone away to make room for the ones that have trees on them. Possibly this view will also help orient you to the living room in the background. Also, the open door on the right is my craft room/studio.

Backing up a bit, you can see more of the living room and the Advent calendar tree on my craft room door that I designed in the shape of a tree. If you are an altered artist, you can see what is in each of the boxes as I open them here.

Here is another view of the buffet from the walk through area. Again, depending on the angle I'm shooting from, the photos come out very dark, and Photoshop doesn't want to correct them, only make them darker.

These three trees found a home on my antique fern stand for the first time. It usually holds the rocking horse that I had to place on the floor. On the left is a "kitchen" cabinet (some people refer to them as "Hoosier cabinets," but that was a brand name. This one has a flour bin in it. The small metal tin on the left has trees cut in it. It's a muffin tin, but I use it as a tea light holder.

I have some stockings that have rocking horses on them, but I can't find them. I put out the first two I found. The holders are a tree and star. The one on the right is Bleubeard's. Note that his already has stuff in it.

My sideboard usually gets decorated like a mantel, with trees, etc. However, I normally store this clock (along with other pieces I remove in order to put out my trees) in my craft room closet. It is now so full, I couldn't put anything in there this year. Therefore, I had to forego the decorations on the sideboard, other than a tree candy dish and a tree candle holder.

Here's a better view of the candy dish and candle holder, and of course a few rocking horses.

This is my other "kitchen" cabinet. It has a pie safe behind the left (long) door on the top.
This is my dining room table, chairs, and cabinet. The buffet is behind me. And, yes, it's a bad color shot.

Here's a view of my dining room table from my kitchen doorway. This is the first time I've had this tree on this table. I think I like it there.

Here is a picture of the kitchen cabinet with the pie safe looking into the kitchen. Rocking horses and trees are everywhere on this piece.

It's no secret my kitchen has only cobalt blue, white, and copper. Here is the left side of my kitchen window.

This is the right side of my kitchen window. This side normally has nothing on it, since I really am a minimalist at heart, even though my living and dining area don't look like it.

This is the entire window. The tree on the left has a battery and it blinks, but you can't see it during the day.

Yes, I decorate my bath (and the rest of my kitchen), but that will have to wait for another day. By the time I got to the kitchen, I was so cold, my fingers weren't working properly. It's no secret I keep my house cold, but today it seemed extra chilly. Luckily, tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.

Today I cleaned up my front yard for winter. I mulched all the leaves, at least until I ran out of gas in the lawn mower. You can see how many leaves there were by the ones that have accumulated in my fish pond that no longer has fish in it. Can you see the one lone rose still on the bush?

The leaves were piled up so high before that you could barely see the "flower bed."

I spent over four hours getting the leaves mulched and the rest of the perennials cut down.

I'm so happy with the way the front garden now looks. In summer it is completely filled with flowers and plants, but in the fall, it's a magnet for catching leaves.

You can see the part that I didn't get finished.
And finally, I took a close up of the front porch between holidays, to show my teeny tiny mailbox (and a few of my many wind chimes that line the front porch).

Stuffed peppers

Vegetarian Stuffed peppers

Ingredients:
Green, red, or yellow bell peppers
Brown or white rice (1 cup for each 6 peppers)
Oil (1 T for each cup of rice)
Tomatoes (2 for each 6 peppers)
Onion, chopped (1for each 6 peppers)
Genovese or Thai basil (1 leaf for each pepper, torn into pieces)

Instructions:
1. Pour oil into saucepan and allow to heat.
2. Add chopped onions and rice to oil. Stir often until rice is slightly puffed and brown, and onions are translucent. Do NOT use Jasmine or Basamati rice, since they don't work well for this technique.
3. Add two cups of water for each one cup of rice. Cook per instructions on rice package.
4. While rice is cooking, pare and core peppers.
5. Parboil peppers in boiling water for three minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
6. When rice is cooked, add tomatoes, basil, and seasoning of your choice to the rice mixture.
7. Stuff well with rice mixture.
8. Place stuffed peppers in a cake pan.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Here are my peppers ready for the oven.
9. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes.
Here's what they look like when they are cooked. Wonderful and tasty.

Optional additions include black beans and cumin, or a fresh dill sprig instead of basil.

I don't salt my rice or peppers, but you could salt the rice at any point.